History Manga / ShimejiSimulation

** Yoshika, Shijima's pencil case, makes an appearance again in Chapter 49, who has been largely absent since Volume 1's Chapter 10, guiding Shijima into finding Majime after disappearing for the past six chapters.

** Chapter 48 has the biggest status quo shake-up not seen in the manga's previous chapters. The most major shake-up is the appearance of Chito and Yuuri, the main protagonists of ''Manga/GirlsLastTour'', whose ambiguous fates at the end of GLT's finale is purely cemented that they died after the BigSleep. Being that the train they ride is a metaphor for the Afterlife, it makes even more sense. It also shakes it up in a massive way, chiefly that ''Shimeji Simulation'' is a StealthSequel that takes place after the events of ''Girls' Last Tour'', as Chito and Yuuri are dead for a very long time, making ''[=ShimSim=]'' taking place in the same universe as ''GLT''.

** Chapter 48 has the biggest status quo shake-up not seen in the manga's previous chapters. The most major shake-up is the appearance of Chito and Yuuri, the main protagonists of ''Manga/GirlsLastTour'', whose ambiguous fates at the end of GLT's finale is purely cemented that they died after the BigSleep. Being that the train they ride is a metaphor for the Afterlife, it makes even more sense. It also shakes it up in a massive way, chiefly that ''Shimeji Simulation'' is a StealthSequel that takes place after the events of ''Girls' Last Tour'', as Chito and Yuuri are dead for a very long time.

* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: ''Shimeji Simulation'' is (in)famous for shaking the status quo, with examples including:

The manga ended with 49 chapters on November 27, while the final volume released on January 26, 2024, exactly five years after the manga's debut.

* AfterlifeExpress: The train that Shijima enters at the end of Chapter 47 is extremely mysterious in nature and it brings passengers to some unknown destination. As an added bonus, it also floats in emptiness. It becomes the principal focus of Chapter 48 when Shijima travels across many worlds through it. And ironically enough, both Chito and Yuuri, the characters of ''Manga/GirlsLastTour'', are in the train, who were presumably dead after reaching the highest layer of the megacity whose consciousness had been uploaded into the simulation.

** ''Shimeji Simulation'' also bears some similarities to ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'', being that both focus on philosophical boundaries between people and the consequences it can cause.
*** In Evangelion, especially the ''End of Evangelion'', merging is done as part of the Human Instrumentality project humans and all life in general are merged into one collective conscious, which was done with malicious intentions by SEELE, before it was reversed by Shinji and Asuka. By contrast, in Shimeji Simulation, complete merging is considered a bad thing, as in one instance it causes massive problems during Chapter 40 where humanity during school festival have been merged into music after the school festival, which heavily plays to Shijima's character development in the latter half of the story, where she seeks out Majime at the end to prevent their merging.

* SpiritualAntithesis: While the manga is superficially similar to its StealthPrequel and SpiritualPredecessor ''Manga/GirlsLastTour'' (who both have a {{Foil}} duo lead, are SliceOfLife, are written by Creator/{{Tsukumizu}}, are a {{Deconstruction}} of its core themes and are principally focused on existentialism), both works are different in style, execution, setting and tone, as well as its themes and how they tackle existentialism as its theme.
** Girls' Last Tour is a manga about Chito and Yuuri travelling across a futuristic megacity AfterTheEnd that is devoid of natural environment, where both of them have a very specific end goal. Shimeji Simulation by contrast is a manga about Shijima and Majime in an idyllic ThrivingGhostTown that is alive and well, with both of them not having had a specific end goal in mind.
** Both stories are a GenreDeconstruction, but they deconstruct specific genres. Girls' Last Tour deconstructs the post-apocalyptic adventure genre, as to how the story nails the point regarding adventurous life in a dead world, as well as the potential consequences of doing so. Shimeji Simulation deconstructs most of the Iyashikei genre's elements, particularly how SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments are often not as heartwarming as it seems and how nihilism often takes the centre stage.
** Girls' Last Tour's world was destroyed by a RobotWar, which has been dead and has remained that way; it also frequently snows for the bulk of the story. By contrast, Shimeji Simulation is a world that is alive and warm, but is simply a {{Deconstruct|ion}}ed version of a {{Utopia}}, where it is all a simulated reality that is under the watchful eyes of [[TheWatcher the Gardener]].
** Girls' Last Tour's Chito and Yuuri are mainly driven by their desire to reach the highest layer in their hopes of finding new life, but their journey has no far-reaching consequences throughout the story. On the other hand, Shimeji Simulation has Shijima and Majime befriending each other and later realise that their world is [[SpottingTheThread not what it seems to be]], where there are far-reaching consequences to the whole world as the story goes on.
** Girls' Last Tour focuses heavily on classical Nihilism and the meaning of life in Nietzschean terms, where despite the world around Cihto and Yuuri and the life they live in being bleak in nature, both of them still find closeness and enjoyment in their journey who only experience scraps of life in the past. By contrast, Shimeji Simulation focuses on the philosophical boundaries between people and the meaning of individuality in relationships, where closeness between one another is treated as an existential fear, which plays heavily into the manga's plot due to Shijima's inherent fear of being close to Majime, who dreads about herself "changing" when she is to be merged by her.
** Girls' Last Tour has Chito and Yuuri basically having nothing and have to find items across the megacity to survive during their long journey, often having simple pleasures. In Shimeji Simulation, Shijima and Majime have everything in their disposal, more so after they gain RealityWarping powers, thus allowing them to materialise everything out of thin air.

The manga ended with Chapter 49 on November 27, while the final volume released on January 26, 2024, exactly five years after the manga's debut.

* {{Bookends}}: Chapter 1 starts with Shijima encountering Majime for the first time after her reclusion within her own school. Chapter 49 ends with the former reuniting with the latter in the same location, a millennia after being separated by her.

* SpoiledByTheManual: Each of the ".5" chapters, the character manuals, are blatant spoilers on its own. For instance, officer Mogawa's relation to teacher Mogawa as her younger sister was blatantly shown in Chapter 30.5. But the character in question only appeared as an EarlyBirdCameo in Chapter 28 who was mistaken for teacher Mogawa. Officer Mogawa's relation to teacher Mogawa as her younger sister was revealed in Chapter 30.5, spoiling this fact, since their relationship as siblings was not revealed until Chapter 35. One particular page in Chapter 49.5 is a big spoiler where Western Yomogi is revealed to be a computational device used to preserve all of humanity, a fact that was foreshadowed by Yomikawa during Chapter 44.

** Girls' Last Tour has Chito and Yuuri basically having nothing and have to find items across the megacity to survive during their long journey, often having simple pleasures. Shijima and Majime, on the other hand, have everything in their disposal, more so after they gain RealityWarping powers, thus allowing them to materialise everything out of thin air.

** While both stories tackle absurdism and nihilism in terms of setting and its main characters at the same time, both concepts are flipped and are played out differently. Girls' Last Tour's setting is nihilistic and has little to no symbolism; Chito and Yuuri are both absurdists, where despite the world around them is dead, they are still able to go on in their goal and often have a positive outlook despite the contrary. By contrast, Shimeji Simulation is the polar opposite to Girls' Last Tour, where the setting is considered absurdist, as the entire world has a lot of [[WorldOfSymbolism metaphorical symbolism]] rooted into it; Shijima and Majime are both nihilists, where despite the world being alive and well, both have a nihilistic view around them, albeit on polar opposite ends (Shijima is a pure nihilist while Majime is an absurdist).

** Their {{Central Theme}}s of friendship are also played differently. In Girls' Last Tour it's all about enjoying everything while it lasts. Shimeji Simulation is about how friendships play an importance, while dealing with its set of struggles.

* WorldOfSymbolism: The world in itself, particularly Western Yomogi, is a metaphor of an ideal [[{{Utopia}} utopic society]], where [[NobodyCanDieHere death is absent]] and people live in a relatively calm and peaceful world without any of the worries that are omnipresent in the real world. Except that all of it is blanketed under an illusion by its watcher, the Gardener, as the world in itself is not real, but a simulation.

[[https://twitter.com/shojoshumatsu/status/1694394402465357850 On August 23, 2023, it was confirmed the manga would be ending, though an exact date was not given.]] The following month via the end of the penultimate chapter, it was announced that it would end that November. The manga ended with Chapter 49 on November 27, while the final volume released on January 26, 2024, exactly five years after the manga's debut.

* SpiritualAntithesis: While the manga is superficially similar to its StealthPrequel and SpiritualPredecessor ''Manga/GirlsLastTour'' (who both have a {{Foil}} duo lead, are a {{Deconstruction}} of its core themes and are principally focused on existentialism), both works are different in style, execution, setting and tone, as well as its themes and how they tackle existentialism as its theme.
** Girls' Last Tour is a manga about two girls travelling across a futuristic megacity AfterTheEnd that is devoid of natural environment, where both of them have a very specific end goal. Shimeji Simulation by contrast is a manga about two girls in an idyllic ThrivingGhostTown that is alive and well, with both of them not having had a specific end goal in mind.
** While both stories tackle absurdism and nihilism in terms of setting and its main characters at the same time, both concepts are flipped and are played out differently. Girls' Last Tour's setting is nihilistic and has little to no symbolism; the main characters are both absurdists, where despite the world around them is dead, they are still able to go on in their goal and often have a positive outlook despite the contrary. By contrast, Shimeji Simulation is the polar opposite to Girls' Last Tour, where the setting is considered absurdist, as the entire world has a lot of [[WorldOfSymbolism metaphorical symbolism]] rooted into it; the main characters are both nihilists, where despite the world being alive and well, both have a nihilistic view around them, albeit on polar opposite ends (Shijima is a pure nihilist while Majime is an absurdist).
** Both stories are a GenreDeconstruction of their genres, but they deconstruct specific genres. Girls' Last Tour deconstructs the post-apocalyptic adventure genre, as to how the story nails the point regarding life in a dead world, as well as the consequences of doing so. Shimeji Simulation deconstructs most of the Iyashikei genre's elements, particularly how SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments are often not as heartwarming as it seems and how nihilism often takes the centre stage.
** Girls' Last Tour's world was destroyed by a RobotWar, which has been dead and has remained that way; it also frequently snows for the bulk of the story. By contrast, Shimeji Simulation is a world that is alive and warm, but is simply a {{Deconstruct|ion}}ed version of a {{Utopia}}, where it is all a simulated reality that is manipulated by [[TheWatcher the Gardener]].

* Their {{Central Theme}}s of friendship are also played differently. In Girls' Last Tour it's all about enjoying everything while it lasts. Shimeji Simulation is about how friendships play an importance, while dealing with its set of struggles.

** Both stories are a GenreDeconstruction of their genres, but they deconstruct specific genres. Girls' Last Tour deconstructs the post-apocalyptic adventure genre, as to how the story nails the point regarding life in a dead world, as well as the consequences of doing so. Shimeji Simulation deconstructs most of the Iyashikei genre's elements, particularly how {{Heartwarming Moment}}s are often not as heartwarming as it seems and how nihilism often takes the centre stage.

* SpiritualAntithesis: Despite being a StealthSequel, ''[=ShimSim=]'' has similarities to ''Manga/GirlsLastTour'', with both of them created by ''Creator/{{Tsukumizu}}'', have a {{Foil}} duo lead consisting of a blonde and black-haired girl and also a {{Deconstruction}} of its own themes. But it has a lot of distinct differences that make it different to ''Girls' Last Tour''.
** ''Girls' Last Tour'' takes place in a world AfterTheEnd, specifically in a megacity devoid of all people after an apocalypse drove humanity to extinction. ''Shimeji Simulation'' takes place in a ThrivingGhostTown in the present, where it is at least populated with a few people, with its real nature turning out to be a simulated reality.
** Their {{Central Theme}}s also oppose, despite inclining to the themes of friendship. In ''Girls' Last Tour'' it is about enjoying everything while it lasts, since they all perish. On the other hand, ''Shimeji Simulation'' is about the importance of friendship and dealing with its set of struggles.
** ''Girls' Last Tour'' deconstructs the post-apocalyptic adventure genre, while ''Shimeji Simulation'' deconstructs the {{Iyashikei}} genre.
** ''Girls' Last Tour'' was serialised by ''Kurage Branch'' and it was often released on a single volume in full. ''Shimeji Simulation'' releases each chapters monthly on the [=27th=] of each month (in most cases) and it was serialised by ''Magazine/ComicCune''.
** It also extends on how both mangas ended on their respective stories, despite focusing on the themes of sacrificing everything to reach their goal. In ''Girls' Last Tour'' Chito and Yuuri's ventures ended for nothing upon they reach the highest layer, where they lost their Kettenkrad and the rest of their belongings. ''Shimeji Simulation'' ends on a slightly happier note than its predecessor where Shijima finally reunites with Majime 1000 years later, albeit [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet]], since the world completely collapsed after the clone's actions, Big Sis finally passed away and everyone she knew once were long gone.
** In terms of characters, they are also different, in spite of being in the same black-and-blonde-haired {{Foil}} duo lead mold. Chito is an orphan who was taken care of by her surrogate parental figure only known as Grandfather; Shijima is an ArtificialHuman since she was created by the simulation and only has Big Sis as her surrogate parent. Yuuri, like Chito, is an orphan who is a complete ditz; Majime lives with both her parents in a stable household. Big Sis is seen as a contrast to Ishii, who are both scientists, are TheStoic and are {{Wrench Wench}}es with an affinity for engineering. Ishii is a NiceGirl who is helpful to Chito and Yuuri, such as fixing their Kettenkrad, but her learnings are rooted to the past. Big Sis is an AloofDarkHairedGirl who often focuses on her experiments more than taking care of her younger sister and is also morally ambiguous who is willing to commit such acts to achieve it; plus she leans to the futuristic aspect of her learnings.

** Chapter 48's train sequence isn't particularly shocking until the appearance of ''very familiar characters'' that Shijima meets while riding the train, which is none other than '''''[[Manga/GirlsLastTour Chito and Yuuri]]'''''...

** Chapter 48's last panel shows a familiar-looking world with {{Talking Animal}}s and some fruit-shaped structures that Shijima ends up after a long trip, which is revealed to be the world that Majime created.

* DecoyAntagonist: Both The Gardener and Big Sis are initially set up as part of the BigBadDiumverate, due to their [[EvilVersusEvil differing but hostile goals]] for West Yomogi: The Gardener who wants absolute order of her world at the cost of plucking death, while Big Sis wants to destroy the town's illusion through her inventions as means of freedom, at the expense of turning their world into a WorldOfChaos. They are demoted to this trope when the true BigBad, the EvilDoppelganger of Big Sis, shows up in Chapter 38, who wants to drive the world into chaotic insanity through feedback loop by using the Mosasa Dogs to broadcast the code to allow humanity to change themselves. [[KillAllHumans Destroying West Yomogi and its people are a part of thatr goal.]]

** RealityWarping in both Chapters 30 and 40, with the Big Sis and her clone, respectively. Both want to change reality by breaking the limits of the simulation, with Big Sis done to break the Gardener's imposed rules of it and with her clone wanting to upgrade what Big Sis had done. But their reality warping only brings MAJOR consequences to the table. With both of them pushing the limits of the simulation, not only the people have granted its powers, but they also dramatically destroy the very natural order of the simulation, with the Gardener in Chapter 39 even claiming that it's her (Big Sis) own world that she created in the first place, before the clone dealt another major blow to the simulation's natural order when she gave humanity the power to change themselves. But the most extreme change did not happen until Chapter 45 where everything is on a state of utter collapse and Shijima has to go back in time to reverse it, at the cost of distancing from the people she knows, making Big Sis' previous attempts at making a limitless world to her specifications rather futile.
** It also deconstructs the {{Arcadia}}. While West Yomogi is an epitome of a quiet, idyllic countryside, the town is later revealed to be nothing like a countryside as what it is initially purported as the story goes on. Things like strange rocks popping in and out, {{Bizarrchitecture}}s, randomly-bending roads and empty buildings all point to a much bigger picture: the town is part of a much bigger simulated reality. But neither the main protagonists know who or what goes on initially and there is a DramaticIrony, where the audiences, before the characters, foreshadow who the perpetrator is: Big Sis.
* DecoyAntagonist: Both The Gardener and Big Sis are initially set up as part of the BigBadEnsemble, due to their [[EvilVersusEvil differing but hostile goals]] for West Yomogi: The Gardener who wants absolute order of her world at the cost of plucking death, while Big Sis wants to destroy the town's illusion through her inventions as means of freedom, at the expense of driving their world into a state of WorldOfChaos. But they are demoted to this trope when the true BigBad, the EvilDoppelganger of Big Sis, shows up in Chapter 38, who wants to drive the world into chaotic insanity through feedback loop by using the Mosasa Dogs to broadcast the code to allow humanity into changing themselves. [[KillAllHumans And destroy West Yomogi and kill its people as a part of her goal.]]
* DenouementEpisode: Chapter 48 is the penultimate chapter of the manga, where many, if not all of the manga's loose ends have been dealt with, primarily including the simulation's connection to the past of ''Girls' Last Tour'''s history and the mystery surrounding Majime's disappearance for millennia. It ends with a WhamShot {{Cliffhanger}} where Shijima arrives at Majime's world through the train she rode throughout the chapter, complete with very familiar scenes: the large watermelon structures and [[TalkingAnimal talking rabbits]] that are revealing to be the members of Chiho tribe, ultimately setting up the GrandFinale of the manga as Shijima begins to achieve her one final goal: to reunite with Majime. Chapter 49, the GrandFinale, starts with Shijima arriving in Majime's world within the Chiho Tribe Kingdom, looking for her, before it ends with a BigDamnReunion, where she finally reunites with her at the end of the chapter after one thousand years have passed.

* DisguisedHorrorStory: The manga is what you would expect for every single SliceOfLife story: a story about a girl who leaves a two-year reclusion and tries to find friends played out in a traditional comedy format. Until the next few chapters start to peel that disguise away: it is an ExistentialHorror, surrealism story about Shijima, despite her friendships with Majime and the rest of Hole-Digging Club members, struggling from her inner crisis after her reclusion, giving away from her apathetic and quiet nature. There's the fact that the town, West Yomogi, is extremely empty and unusual, which is a ThrivingGhostTown, a product of the world being a simulated reality, which is only one-half of what this trope embodies. Cue to that said revelation, the story takes a [[CerebusSyndrome very dramatic, if not permanent turn]] when Big Sis battles the Gardener, reads through the minds of humanity with a machine and it doesn't even taking account with how she altered reality in the first place by giving humanity RealityWarping powers to give them the freedom to warp everything to their own imaginations. And cue to another ten chapters, the rogue clone of Big Sis carbon-copied the same thing as what her prime did, except this time she wanted humanity to use the same power to change themselves, destroying the world's natural order and freefalling it to chaos. After that, [[UpsettingTheBalance the fabric of reality takes a massive downturn and begins to collapse]] that it's barely recognisable and Shijima's attempt of kicking Majime out triggered another DarkestHour, before putting her into an unforeseen dilemma where it echoes her reclusive past. And Yomikawa, the PluckyComicRelief of the manga, is an AmbiguouslyHuman who is no stranger to the simulation's mysteries, as she spouts a major reveal regarding how their world is just a byproduct of a simulation, meaning everything that happened through the entirety of it just happens inside a fusiform-shaped {{Cyberspace}}. And the reveal regarding Shijima and Big Sis being mere creations of it hits the nail hard, such as the fact that their orphaned life was not because of their [[ParentalAbandonment missing parents]], but because they were a creation in the first place, along with many others in this world.

* CallBack: ''Shimeji Simulation'', being a work created by Tsukumizu, features a few references from ''Manga/GirlsLastTour'':
** The first page of Chapter 1 features what looked like a wheat farm, and with Shijima's neighbours, who turn out to be identical to Chito and Yuuri, sitting at a bench on the top-right corner. This was almost identical to the final page of Girls' Last Tour's Volume 6, where Chito and Yuuri were standing at what looked like a wheat farm, as well.
** Both Shijima and Majime later encounter a mysterious black cube on Chapter 8, when Majime comments about it having a modern feel. This is a reference to the almost identical black cube that Chito and Yuuri encountered after reaching the highest layer of the megacity in ''Girls' Last Tour's'' GrandFinale.
** In Chapter 13, Shijima's neighbours look like ''Chito and Yuuri'', as seen in Chapter 1's first page. There were many speculations and fan theories in regards to both of them being alive in ''Girls' Last Tour'' after their BigSleep, and somehow got transported into this world through the mysterious black cube. [[{{Foreshadowing}} However, it is revealed that their consciousness was transported to the simulation, as the Chito and Yuuri that Shijima encountered in the train are vastly different, in due to them not knowing anything that their simulation counterparts do including them being neighbours within the same danchis.]]

** In Chapter 44, Yomikawa was seen reading out an excerpt of a book to Shijima regarding a human civilisation that was ravaged by an epidemic, as well as a huge war and the various civil wars after it that destroyed ''countless'' settlements. This is similar to the past of ''Girls' Last Tour'' where the RobotWar completely annihilated all of human civilisation, as well as civil wars that destroyed the remnant civilisation.

** The wheat farm. The first volume's cover shows a suspiciously identical wheat farm that Chito and Yuuri stood at after their presumed death from the BigSleep. At the same time there is Chito and Yuuri ''also'' standing within the wheat farm in the same cover art.
** The infamous arithmetical, linear-shaped machine language, which firstly appeared in GLT, before it makes an appearance in [=ShimSim=]. There is now the inclusion of fishes seen within it.
** The strange black cube that Shijima and Majime seen outside within the former's apartment. It is almost identical to the black cube that Chito and Yuuri encountered in the highest layer.
** Shijima's next-door neighbours bear striking resemblance to Chito and Yuuri, but they wear casual clothing. It is unknown if this is the resultant of what looked like a case of BrainUploading the moment after their "death" from the BigSleep in GLT. [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in Chapter 48 when it is revealed that the neighbours are equally not the same as the ones that Shijima saw inside the train and instead it is the same Chito and Yuuri from ''Girls' Last Tour'' with their consciousness transported into the simulation. Ultimately, this throws all speculation out of the window as it is revealed that the manga shares the ''same'' universe as its spiritual predecessor.
* CentralTheme: [[NotWhatItLooksLike Everything is not what it seems.]]
* CerebusSyndrome: It starts off as lighthearted in the few chapters, until Chapter 9 is where the story gradually picks up the pace, with the creation of the Raw Fish Generator, then in Chapter 29, that's where the climax begins up until Chapter 30, when Big Sis proceeds to alter West Yomogi, marking the permanent change of the town. Chapter 43 pulls this yet again when Shijima becomes fearful of being merged by Majime after she kicked her out, leading her to a more drastic series of events. From there on, Shijima feels far more existential and negative than in the previous chapters, dealing with the consequences of choosing her decision to be alone again.

* LateArrivalSpoiler: If you haven't read ''Manga/GirlsLastTour'', then its most significant plot point is already spoiled. Namely, everything that happened in the previous manga is canon to this manga.

** Chapter 45 has two examples. Shijima finally reunites with Big Sis, only for her to find out that she is dead, with her soul being inside a fish, making the first character in the manga to be KilledOffForReal. The second is the bombshell that Shijima drops: she and her sister are revealed to be [[ArtificialHuman humans created by the simulation]], as well as others.

* NothingIsTheSameAnymore:
** After the battle during Chapter 30, West Yomogi has been radically changed, as a result of the conflict between Sis and the Gardener.
** Additionally, in Chapter 40 an even more extreme change happens because of Sis's conflict with her duplicate. The changes become more pronounced in Chapter 45 when things go bad to worse for the simulation.
** Yomikawa's reveal in Chapter 44 radically changes everything that is known about the entire world Shijima and the rest are in, being that it is revealed to be a simulation inside a supercomputer floating on space.

** Chapter 40. The implications of Big Sis' actions in the past are now also catching up to the present, when her [[EvilDoppelganger rogue, self-aware clone she created from her cloning ability]] drove the free world she crafted into chaos as it attempts to grant humanity the power [[RealityWarper to change themselves]], which occurs in the form of a feedback loop. This resulted in yet another chaotic imbalance to the already warped world.