James Nicoll Reviews

2021’s Touring After the Apocalypse, Volume Two is the second tankōbon in Sakae Saito’s post-apocalyptic iyashikei manga. Touring has been serialized in in ASCII Media Works’ seinen manga magazine Dengeki Maoh since September 2020. Amanda Haley’s English translation was published in 2023.

The utter destruction of civilization¹ along with the annihilation of almost every living human is no reason tourism has to stop. So thinks Youko. Accompanied by (robot? android? cyborg?) Airi, Youko is touring Japan’s ruins.

What could possibly go wrong?

Next stop on the itinerary: Akibagahara AKA Akihabara. Famed for its electronics markets, Akihabara also hosted a thriving otaku culture… or at least it did until the very particular apocalypse occurred and all the otaku perished.

While the human residents are long gone, the gutted shops and markets remain. Ample opportunity for two young women (or a young woman and her gynoid robot/android/cyborg companion) to enjoy themselves. To Youko’s delight, Akihabara has been repopulated by animals from a nearby zoo. She is even more delighted when the tiger with whom she comes face to face does not eat her.

The pair are intrigued to pick up a radio broadcast. Somewhere nearby, a radio station is still on the air. Does this mean there is another survivor or group of survivors? And will they want to be friends with the two girls?

Continuing their journey, Youko is troubled by dark premonitions. The pair discovers that not every discovery waiting for them is a delightful surprise. Typhoons are bad enough, but what waits for the pair in Umitoharo is far worse.

~oOo~

Were you hoping the manga would explain the nature of the very particular apocalypse? No such luck. Nor is there any explanation for Youko’s occasional visions of a pre-calamity Japan.

I am reasonably certain that On the Beach is among the source material inspiring the author, as there’s a scene very reminiscent of an important plot arc in On the Beach. Happily, unlike On the Beach, whatever radiation beset Japan has died down. Also, there are no renditions of Waltzing Matilda.

The encounter with the tiger wasn’t as dangerous as it could have been, as the tiger had just killed a deer. As well, Airi has some manner of overpowered plasma cannon built into one arm and she might well have gotten off a shot before the tiger reached the two girls. Still, as Airi notes, being eaten by a tiger would definitely hurt.

Indeed, this volume’s moral seems to be that poking around the ruins of a once-great civilization is the exact opposite of safe. Wild animals have rebounded and some of them won’t be deterred by Airi’s arm-cannon. It’s a good thing for the teens that this is an ongoing series or they might have been eaten alive, bisected by a wind-hurled street sign, or incinerated by a lightning bolt.

Still, nobody died so this is a funny story. There’s nothing like a brush with death to make one appreciate life and this offers the best kind of brush with death: someone else’s.

I’m enjoying this manga so far. It’s taking enormous will not to simply archive-binge the entire run to date.

Touring After the Apocalypse, Volume Two is available here (Yen Press), here (Barnes & Noble), here (Bookshop US), here (Bookshop UK), here (Chapters-Indigo), and here (Words Worth Books)

1: USA delenda est, but it had lots of company.