Made in Abyss Review

Before I get started with the review, I wanted to let everyone know that this review has spoilers! But also, this show is very dark in nature. I will do my best to hide super triggering images and content within a hyperlink, but many of the graphic elements need to be explained in order to get the entirety of the story across.

If you're still on board, get ready for pain! Thankies! 

The Story: What is Made in Abyss?

'Made in Abyss' is a fantasy/sci-fi story (manga first, turned anime) created by Akihito Tsukushi. At least that's what it's typically categorized as. If it were left up to me, I would categorize it as a fantasy/ cosmic horror series.

The story starts in the town of Orth, more specifically in an orphanage.  

In order to earn their keep, orphanage children venture into the first of many layers in the abyss to collect items known as relics (items found from a past civilization). The orphanage in turn sells these items to keep everything running, and the cycle continues on. 

Riko, one of the orphanage children, is drawn to the aforementioned abyss and desperately craves adventure. After an encounter with one of the many wild creatures from the abyss, she stumbles across an unconscious robot boy who she names Reg.  

After regaining consciousness, we find out that Reg has amnesia. Riko and her roommates discuss the potentials of where Reg came from, and come to the conclusion that he came from within the Abyss. 

Some days later, a team of experienced delvers (explorers of the Abyss) come back to Orth, and with it is a note. The note is from Riko's mother - one of the most famous out of all the explorers of the Abyss. It reads "At the netherworld's bottom, I'll be waiting". 

Riko assumes it's from her mother and decides (along with Reg and other friends she finds along who way) to journey to the bottom of the Abyss. 

This is the main synopsis of the story. There are additional themes that I feel make Made in Abyss stand out: 

1. The story follows a group of children whose goal is to make it to the bottom of the Abyss. 

Well yes, of course, that's what you just explained. 

Yes, but what I didn't mention (it's coming a few paragraphs down), is the journey is harrowing. The world doesn't care if you are a child or not.

2. Travelers in this world are known as 'Delvers', and their experience rank is broken up into a a system using whistles.

Due to the nature of White Whistles, the government often overlooks any shady activity they might do because of their significance - This is a huge point in the story.

3. Reg has amnesia.

This gives us a very interesting perspective of the Abyss. Reg can help traverse it, but Riko has more knowledge of the Abyss and its creatures from studying it in school. This begs the question though: Who is Reg? What is Reg? Who made Reg? And finally, what is his purpose for coming to the surface?

4. The Abyss is a cursed deep pit broken up into many layers. The further you travel down, the bigger the toll is on the journey back. 

Depending on the layer you are on, the more severe it is to return to the surface. The recoil damage depending on your depth is:

• Layer 1: (Edge of the Abyss : 0-1,350 meters) Light dizziness and nausea occur.

• Layer 2: (Forest of Temptation : 1,350 - 2,600 meters) Intense nausea, headaches, and numbness to the limbs.

• Layer 3: (Great Fault : 2,600 - 7,000 meters) In addition to the above effects, vertigo combined with visual and auditory hallucinations. 

• Layer 4: (The Goblets of Giants : 7,000 - 12,000 meters) Intense pain through your body, bleeding from every orifice. 

• Layer 5: (Sea of Corpses : 12,000 - 13,000 meters) Complete sensory deprivation, confusion, and self-harming behavior. 

• Layer 6: (The Capital of the Unreturned : 13,000 - 15,500 meters) Loss of humanity and/or death. 

• Layer 7: (The Final Maelstrom : 15,500 - ???) Certain death. (We have not seen the final maelstrom in the manga or anime, so pictured is the diagram from the map.)

There could be more. This is speculative. 

 5. This story is one of no return. 

This is not a story where there are exceptions made for the main cast. Because of the nature of the story and what they are trying to accomplish, we have reached a point where they have made it to the sixth layer, which means there is a possibility they could return, but no matter what they will become deformed. 

This story has hit the point where the only option left is to continue going down.  

Who are the characters?

There are many colorful characters we meet throughout the anime and manga. I will be going over the main cast we follow throughout the story: 

 Riko: A twelve year old human girl who is borderline obsessed with the Abyss. It is theorized this is because she was stillborn in the Abyss, and brought back to life. She serves as leader of her traveling group. 

Reg: An amnesiac robot boy who has the appearance of a young boy. He was sent to the surface to serve a purpose but isn't sure what that is. He has the ability to fire a giant laser that can "rewrite the rules of the Abyss", but causes him to pass out for a few hours to recover. Riko's main protector as they traverse the Abyss.

Nanachi: A "hollow" (someone who has been hit with the curse of the Abyss) that smells nice. Was experimented on to see the cause and effects of a force transfer of the strain in which they were given the "blessing"- Gaining adaptations to help naturally traverse the Abyss without absolute mental loss of humanity. Nanachi's gender is ambiguous. 

More characters come later, but we’ll focus on these for now! 

It's dark? But it looks so cute!! 

"It's literally a story about a group of children diving into a murder hole, what could go wrong?"

I've already broken down the main plot of the story above, so you can already picture what could happen. I want you to throw the idea of "they're children so they're safe" outside of your head right now, because you will get your feelings hurt. 

One of the main turn offs of this series is the brutality to children. Up until the last few episodes of the first season, it could be seen as a dark fantasy, with some grim elements here or there. It takes its time building out the world, and then it takes hold of you and floors the engine from 0 to 100 and doesn't stop.

Past this point, there is nothing short of maiming, psychological torture, experimentation, and many other fun things that happen to children- some of which are our main cast of characters. 

Some of the worst atrocities are not committed by monsters, but by humans.

I won't elaborate. You'll just have to see for yourself.   

Theory Crafting: What is the Abyss?

1. The Abyss is Life Itself:

There is happiness and despair in every day life. If you were to walk into a garden, what would you see? You might see flowers, butterflies, grass, and many other beautiful things. But underneath, an insect might get eaten alive by ants. This is one of the main themes of Made in Abyss. 

There is some unknown tangible force that is in that world, and for some reason it is connected to 'souls'. If something as abstract as a soul can be warped and/or exchanged and used as currency in different situations, the force used to make this possible could be related. 

Plus the bottom of the abyss acts like a pitcher plant and looks like a birthing canal... Or many that's a coincidence. 

 

2. The Abyss is an alternate dimension: 

One of the things that makes the Abyss so attractive to people within the world, is that it can literally make dreams come true. The human body that exists within set principles begins to break down and rebel against the very existence of the Abyss. 

 

3. The Abyss is Hell:

Everything is beautiful, and any wish could be granted... for a price- similar to how a genie in a lamp grants wishes. Everything you could ever want that is just out of reach, to rebound and make everything worse is an ideal eternal suffering.

There is no secret that the way the Abyss functions is based on decompression sickness. You see it happen all the time to blob fish. Mix this with themes from Dante's Inferno and you got yourself a fun murder hole. 

 

4. The Abyss is a black hole:

Things start to become distorted the more they fight against the bottom of the Abyss, and why is that? What is the FORCE waiting at the bottom? Is it everything, or is it nothingness? Black holes in nature pull things into them. The Abyss is similar, and some unknown force hypnotizes people into becoming obsessed with exploring the Abyss. 

Theoretically, black holes pull all matter into them, break them down into their most basic components, and then it gets squeezed into a singularity. The strain of ascension could be the singularity fighting to keep all living matter within the Abyss as it acts like a sinking pit towards the bottom.