Exploring the abyss
S p o i l e r s - Go watch the anime and read the manga. This part assumes you have done so. Else spoilers.
Made in Abyss is brilliant. That is the only way I can think of, to start this (whatever this is).
The world here is so deep, so ethereal, and the characters really are one with it all. Here, I'm mainly going to talk about those elements of the world and the characters. No plot, only the thoughts these elements invoke.
Hagimemashou!
The Abyss
The Abyss will come up repeatedly because it is the centre of the story, literally. Still, I want to give a sort of introduction on it.
The abyss is a deep chasm that seems to go on forever. To delve into the abyss is a dangerous task and it does have little mysterious effects on the people around it. Even so, many humans settled around the abyss and made a sort of village. The world is obviously different from what is intuitive to us, and I'm talking about the characters now, but it hardly takes any time to connect with them.
Anyway, back to the abyss. If I were to compare the abyss with something in the real world, I'd say it's space (though I prefer saying everything beyond Earth). Obviously, space is much more dangerous and enigmatic, but the abyss is something where you can easily go and do not need rockets and such advanced equipment and thus, it piques more interest for people to go in there themselves, despite knowing the dangers of it. The deeper you delve in... nothing will happen. But once you begin to ascend you face horrible consequences (from a simple headache to nausea to bleeding from your eyes) and yet people go there, searching and searching and searching. Everything, for the mere sake of curiosity.
It is later that we know that there is a force field responsible for the effects, though there are no known counter-measures. And still they keep delving in. Riko is looking for her mother but she is fascinated by the abyss. Reg's origins lie somewhere in the abyss and he feels his sole duty is to protect Riko. They dive and they suffer so much and thus you suffer, because you're attached to them
I'm changing topics so much. Maybe I shouldn't talk about the abyss. But in short, the abyss is this ethereal, enigmatic and crazy place with its own ecosystem... yeah let's go into that.
The creatures in the abyss
These are known as predators. These alien creatures that hold such a frightening aura around themselves. However, they are a part of the abyss. It is their habitat and humans are diving into it. Uninvited guests. Let's go eat them, why not.
These creatures are all quite majestic (they are designed very thoughtfully and go so well with the abyss). The true danger of the abyss is the abyss itself, but these creatures cause one to be at caution at every step. That is why what Ozen did was justified, however harsh it may be (not that I like it).
But anyway, they have their own ecosystem and live by their own instincts and perhaps have something similar to 'the survival of the fittest'. Not only that, the danger each creature poses is so different and so dark, I suppose.
The more dangerous these creatures, the less in number they are (again, ecosystem). But going back to the point I'm beating around... they are creatures of the abyss. That means they understand the abyss better than anyone else and the deeper they go, the more the know. It's the same for us humans, we do form a connection with nature on the fundamental level (we are a part of nature). However those creatures aren't intelligent; they simply survive. Looking for preys, living by themselves, just going on but living indeed. Then there are us humans who are so curious about everything (because of our 'intelligence'), we delve deeper and deeper into their habitat. For example, the orb piercer understands the force field around it (even though it's only at the 4th level) and yes it has its weakness, but in its habitat other than a few white whistlers, no one can defeat it. The white whistlers are those humans with the most determination and perhaps the most curious minds (in regards to the abyss). This makes me wonder, what is intelligence? Is it really something that helps for survival? Is it the impulse behind curiosity and learning? Is it just, thoughts? Is it really what makes us more advanced than animals if it say, dulls our instincts (like the survival of danger instinct)? Is it mean to find the true meaning of life? Even though humans are a puny part of the universe? Is it just something to acquire knowledge, and knowledge and wisdom is the true aim of living beings? When the first humans came, the Earth was as abstruse as the abyss is. Perhaps then, with the abyss being a part of the Earth, something of the humans originate from there? Some sort of connection resulting in that abundant curiosity?
And just what is intelligence?
Let's get psychological
Whom should I start with... obviously Ozen. The mentor of Lyza, the one who will probably help Riko and Reg. And she does help them in a way that is best for the situation of the abyss, even if it's not morally good.
Every driver began because of their curiosity (mostly). These intense delvers like Ozen were obsessed with the abyss's mysteries, not caring for their body for even the slightest second as they went in deeper and deeper. She is also known for her immeasurable strength (Ozen the immovable) and how she developed an intuition for the abyss. She's been alive for so long but it's impossible to tell what her age is, and she now lives in the abyss as she studies it.
Anyway, let's talk about the Curse-Warding box and Riko. She was a stillborn when she was put in the box and was thought to be dead. However that box (most probably) caused her to move and Ozen even confirmed this by experimenting on a 'monster'. Essentially, Riko is a child of the abyss. It is in her instincts to reach the bottom of the abyss and has also inherited her mother's curiosity of the abyss.
Ozen tests this child and her companion just as she tests everyone - creepy face and scary time. She attempted to even convince Lyza to not go delving, but her stubborn nature was the first think Ozen liked about her.
Ozen's creepy face (manga)
Even though she is mostly testing them to understand if they are capable are not, spending so much time in and with the abyss causes her to find it amusing. She's conducting sorts of psychological experiments on children (Riko, Reg, Lyza, Marulk) as she explores the abyss.
Now, let's get to Bondrewd.
This guy did anything to obtain funds for his research into the Abyss, selling drugs made through human experiments on the black market, selling artefacts and relics illegally, and many other questionable acts. Some time ago he managed to steal the special-grade artefact the and used it to spread his consciousness on multiple bodies, creating the Umbra Hands (Bondrewd's group of delvers). When he became a White Whistle, he used his original body as the material for the Life Reverberating Stone necessary to make the whistle, becoming his very own whistle himself. Since then, Bondrewd became nothing but a soul moving between bodies with the use of the Zoaholic. (yes is copied from wikia. Yes I'm lazy).
The guy began to test the effects of the abyss and what not on children, completely abandoned his morality and soul and gave in to his curiosity by conducting literal vicious experiments. He even transformed his adoptive daughter, Prushka, into a cartridge for his soul transfer thing (though her sense of adventure let her go with Riko and the others.)
Bondrewd definitely conducted successful experiments, but they were horrible. So many children survived the 6th layer's curse and the became a narehate (or 'hollow') (I'll talk about the narehates later).
Now the thing about all of this is that Bondrewd and Ozen are white-whistlers. They are respected deeply by the people on the surface. They are respected for their research, but these are the people who are ready to dispose of their bodies, suffer trauma, make others suffer trauma, destroy souls and consciousness for the sake of 'knowledge'. How are they better than the creatures of the abyss who aren't intelligent and have knowledge, but are even less 'monstrous'? What good is such knowledge?
In these kinds of themes the anime gets dark, not the 'gory' scenes. If a person really thinks aout it seriously, the themes in the story can make you question yourself. What physical body, what physical existence? What mind and what instincts? What is the essence, the need?
Narehate - 'nare no hate' - 'the shadow of one's former self'
There's a lot of things to say here but I'll address (what I think are) the main points. We've got two types of narehates known - the ones from Idofront (Bondrewd's experiment) and the ones in the Ilblu village.
Mitty is a narehate from Idofront. As seen from Riko's perspective, her soul was trapped in the narehate body. She could feel but she couldn't express. She was alive, but couldn't live and couldn't die (she's even 'resurrected' by Bondrewd. That guy...). She was one of the children who wanted to really explore the abyss but became a shadow of her former self. Suffering for eternity.
This sort of tells us how important expression is. Keeping your thoughts and emotions buried inside will begin to destroy your humanity. You want death but you cannot die and you shouldn't die, waiting for the right time. The abyss basically dulled all senses and created a soul within an empty mind that somehow still felt, but could probably not really register anything. Existing like that is a scary notion.
The narehates at Ilblu are very diverse, with some even being intelligent. Once they become a part of it they cannot leave the village. They have this value system where if they want something they have to trade it with something of 'equal' value, and the values of things aren't necessarily predefined but mostly vary from person to person. It is clearly shown that the value of a human anything is very large as well as immortality (Mitty, here), and it shows how much these narehates desire humanity, how much they wish to return to their former self. It makes sense, of course, but what's really interesting is that we see the same behaviour in the 'non-intelligent' species. Perhaps their human instincts remain and similarly, because Riko is a child of the abyss (my assumption), her connection with the abyss and those instincts remain. Really, everything in this world is connected.
The last thing: The Three Sages (who created Ilblu). We do not know much about the, as they came during the ending of the manga, but they are now narehates and they are crazy, honestly. They used to be together, had this sort of bond as they searched the abyss but now they have lost absolute humanity. All that remains is the whole thing with value, (like when Belafu buys Mitty from Bondrewd and Nanachi sells herself to buy Mitty, but now Belafu has both Mitty and Nanachi). These three sages only come out when the village is in absolute danger and it's kind of sad to see them not care about much after seeing them in Vueko's flashbacks (ahh Vueko).
The concept surrounding value really makes you think what is valuable and what isn't, and in the end you realise two things - value depends from person to person and they all really don't matter to the universe, but nevertheless it matters so deeply to each individual. How does anything matter? It matters to us personally, and that is enough. But it is important to understand the essence of these values because we often might be wasting our time or are desperate about something we love, like when Nanachi sold herself even when there probably was a better solution.
That's it for now. When the manga update comes I'll probably talk (talk? More like rant) about the cradle of greed.
TL;DR: Made in abyss is brilliant.
