Made in Abyss
Content warnings: This
series, despite appearances, can get quite intense in terms of gore and
psychological horror, and most of the time the gore befalls children. In
addition, there are a lot of uncomfortable overtones in certain
situations the underage protagonists find themselves in. While I find a
lot of the series to be fascinating and engaging, there are just as many
aspects that turn me away from it, so this is meant to be a primer of
sorts for anybody thinking about watching it. Also, I have not read the manga;
thus, this page will only cover season one of the anime and the interim
movie (season two is currently ongoing). This page is a current WIP.
---
Our main protagonists, Riko (left) and
Reg (right).
Intro
As with so many pieces of media that end up affecting me in significant
ways, the decision to watch Made in Abyss came on a whim
several weeks ago. I had vaguely heard the name before; if you'd asked
me if I'd heard of it, I would have said yes, but I wouldn't have been
able to tell you even one single thing about the series itself. I was
having a very hard time convincing myself to finish any of the anime I
was partway through with, so I figured, why not toss on another one just
to try it out?
After doing a lot of surface-level research to see if I would
be able to handle the show,
I ended up finishing the series in under 24 hours. It's not unheard of
for me to go super hard when I binge a show that hits the vibe I'm
looking for, but I think the last time I finished a whole anime that
fast was... five or six years ago. So that was a real shock to me. I
would have watched the entire thing in one sitting had it not been for
my nervousness about having somebody else in the room during the last
few episodes.
The plot of Made in Abyss is startlingly simple at first. Somewhere in
the world exists an enormous, deep, deep hole, called the Abyss. The
Abyss is home to creatures and treasures untold and unimagined, and has
never been fully explored by humans. On the upper rim of the Abyss is a
city called Orth, where children and adults alike train to become cave
raiders, eager to archive the mysteries of the Abyss and satify the
innate curiosity of humankind.
Our protagonist, Riko, is a plucky 13-year-old girl who is an apprentice
cave raider. She wants to be a famous explorer just like her lost
mother, Lyza, who went on her last raid not long after Riko was born.
She discovers a strange, robotic boy named Reg. Reg has no memories, but
he and Riko believe that he came from somewhere deep inside the Abyss
itself. Riko and Reg plot to run away from Riko's orphanage and brave
the dangers of the Abyss by themselves in search of Riko's mother and
Reg's identity.
However, the journey will not be so straighfoward for the two young
adventurers. The Abyss is sectioned off into seven distinct Layers, each
growing more and more dangerous the further you descend... and yet the
true danger comes when you try to leave the Abyss. Colloquially
known as the 'Curse of the Abyss,' human bodies are wracked with
horrible symptoms upon ascension inside the Abyss. Ascending in the
First Layer will leave you dizzy and perhaps cause a bout of vomiting.
Ascending in the Fourth Layer, however, will leave you spurting blood
from every orifice in your body. By the time you reach the Sixth Layer,
it is physically impossible to ascend without dying or having your body
ripped apart and melted back into something inhuman. No human has ever
returned from the Sixth Layer.
Worldbuilding
The Abyss is a siren's call for treasure hunters, botanists, biologists,
and adventurers of all kinds. While many areas and creatures have been
documented, just as many have never been reported back to the surface.
Although the sheer scope of the Abyss means that the audience will never
get more than a small taste of what exists in the depths, what we do see is quite
striking and unique.
The locations are quite interesting as well, with each Layer being
completely different from its neighbors. Beginning with grassy, verdant
platforms and descending down steep, rocky hillsides, Riko and Reg pass
by trees that grow upside down and enormous mushrooms that spill
steaming water down into the depths of the Abyss. There's even a frozen
ocean with a hole in the middle of its gravify-defying waves. However,
for every beautiful and majestic thing in the Abyss, there is something
equally grotesque waiting just around the corner.
As they descend, Riko and Reg meet another important character, Nanachi.
I don't want to spoil too much about Nanachi, because the introduction
episode comes quite late in the first season, but you'll recognize this
character from the opening and ending, so just know you'll get there
eventually.
The Horror
Mirroring the slow descent into the Abyss itself, Made in Abyss eases
the viewer lightly into the setting and the dangers before gradually
adding onto them with each episode. While it doesn't hold any pretenses
of being a cute and wholesome show - we're treating to nonchalant
depictions of graves, dangerous monsters, and Curse-related vomit within
the first episode or two - it isn't until a few episodes in that more
and more uncomfortable and disturbing elements begin appearing. Even
then, it's mostly in line with what other action series or shonen anime
might deal with - an Abyssal creature eating someone, or Riko and Reg
forced to battle against a force that stands in their way. Truthfully,
while some of it had more disturbing aspects than a more mainstream
anime might and I was surprised by what topics the show dealt with, I
didn't find any of the 'scary' parts that hard to handle in the
beginning or middle of the show.
Amongst 'those who know' (cue Mr. Incredible face), the two problem
episodes are episode 10 and 13. These are the episodes that tend to show
the audience what they're really dealing with. I noted the episode
numbers so that I could be prepared, and indeed, these were a lot worse
than the other episodes. Both of these episodes deal more closely with
the Curse and the dangers of the Abyss as a force that cannot be stopped
or conquered by simple humans. If you want a more detailed description
of each episode without highly specific
spoilers, click below.
Episode 10
In episode 10, we see firsthand the effects of the Curse of the Fourth Layer of the Abyss - namely, the vomiting of blood and bleeding from ears, nose, and eyes. While this isn't necessarily a completely new concept in anime, the bloodcurdling sounds of pain and the grotesquely realistic and chunky consistency of the blood makes this scene really hard to watch. It's accompanied by another harsh bodily injury at the same time, although the show gives you plenty of time to see what's going to happen before it actually does.
Episode 13
Episode 13 shows us what happens when a human ascends from the Sixth Layer of the Abyss.
We've heard before that it causes death or a 'loss of humanity,' but we see it happen for
the first time right in front of our very eyes. The ascent happens not by accident, but is
forced upon one character by another that knew exactly what was going to happen. The scene
is grotesque, highly detailed, and is framed by very upsetting emotional buildup.
---
The Uncomfortable Parts With the Kids
I really wish that this was not a section I had to add to this review, but unfortunately, it is.
While looking up a bit about Made in Abyss and trying to get a baseline
for how 'disturbing' it would be (since that word is quite subjective),
I ended up coming across a worrying comment that mentioned the 'weird
sexualization of the main characters'. Having not heard anything about
that before, I ended up reading a whole bunch of different forums,
comments, threads, etc., trying to figure out exactly how much of that
sort of thing was in the show. And, well, it was very inconclusive.
Some people said it was constant and they were unable to finish the show
because of it. Some people said that it only happened in one or two
scenes and that it's easy to ignore. Others said there was no
sexualization at all and that if you thought there was
sexualization then it was your fault for being weird. Still others said
that while there was nudity and a few sex jokes, it felt in line for how
actual children would talk to each other about the topics at hand. In
the end, I had no idea what the truth was before going into the show,
and I decided I would just have to see what my own thoughts were.
Ultimately, I don't have a straight answer. If we classify any of these
aforementioned levels of weirdness - ranging from one-line jokes, to
short scenes of nudity, to genuinely uncomfortable and creepy scenes -
as a 'weird scene,' there's probably one or two 'weird scenes' in every
episode. It's not like I could just specify one or two things and be
done with it. This is very, very frustrating for me. Usually, you can
talk about a show, and just say something like 'there's a bath scene in
one episode and a bad joke in episode ten' and move on, but with Made in
Abyss, it's so constant and yet varied that it makes it hard to
determine how many of these scenes are actually harmful and how many are
inoffensive/unimportant.
I hesitate to say 'just watch it and quit if you're uncomfortable'
because there ARE scenes in the show that
are genuinely gross on every level. I feel like maybe the best thing to
do is to just list what I remember and have people make their own
decisions. I wish I could be more concrete than that, but unfortunately,
the source material makes me question a lot about the intentions of
these scenes. Also, apparently the manga has a lot more scenes with
uncomfortable undertones, from how I've seen people discuss it.
List of Uncomfortable Scenes I Recall (May Not Be Complete)
- In the first episode, Riko talks about Reg's human anatomy after
she observes him and takes notes on his body. Seemingly played for
laughs and seems like something an overly curious kid would do.
- A common 'punishment' for kids in the orphanage is to tie them up
naked. It's mentioned a few times, and seen once for 2-3 seconds in
the second episode, IIRC.
- This was the worst and most gratuitous part in the series for me.
In episode 4 (I believe), an adult who's looking at Reg mentions
that he looks very human, and pulls down his pants and makes a comment
that he has human anatomy. It's extremely creepy and nobody seems to
have a problem with it besides Reg himself, who is obviously uncomfortable.
- A character that is introduced later is implied to be a young boy who is
forced to dress up as a girl by an adult. The adult later makes a comment about
punishing him by tying him up like they do at the orphanage.
- There's a long stretch of episodes without any uncomfortable scenes,
or at least they weren't as glaring as these ones. The rest of the season
is way less gratuitous aside from maybe the last episode.
- There's a long-ish scene of Riko shirtless because her clothes
were dirty and unwearable. It didn't seem uncomfortable in anyway, although
Reg might have been embarrassed by it. I don't remember for sure.
- Reg seems to have some sort of crush/fixation on Nanachi. He gets very
excited by petting Nanachi's fur and Nanachi takes it as something sexual.
This comes up a few times.
- In the last episode of season 1, Riko and Reg take a bath and are both
naked. Riko comments on Reg's anatomy and they talk about it for a minute
or so.
Season Two is currently ongoing, and I'm watching it weekly. I will probably update
this page later with some warnings, as it's supposed to be
much darker in every way than season one. So far, the most obvious is literally the
opening scene of the first episode of the second season, where a girl talks about the fact that she
was sexually abused and we see her on a bed with a man on top of her. This was too
glaring not to talk about so I wanted to mention it right away.
Made in Abyss: Dawn of the Deep Soul
After the events of Season One comes the movie Dawn of the Deep Soul.
There are actually three Made in Abyss movies, but the first two
(Journey's Dawn and Wandering Twilight) are just recap movies. However,
Dawn of the Deep Soul is REQUIRED viewing. Season One covers the events
in Layers 1-4, Dawn of the Deep Soul covers Layer 5, and Season Two
starts immediately in Layer 6; if you skip Deep Soul, you will miss an
integral part of the story. However, this movie is much
darker and harder to watch in nearly every way compared to the first
season. It was genuinely really upsetting and I had to stop watching
multiple times to get through it.
Because it's such a brutal film, I want to write adequate warnings (both
with and without spoilers) for people who are going into it.
(WIP)