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REVIEW | My thoughts on Made in Abyss

CONTAINS: Made in Abyss Season 1 spoilers, Made in Abyss Movie spoilers, Monster Spoilers

PLOT I finished the First Season and Sequel movie in under 24 hours. I just couldn't wait to know what happened next. The story is incredibly easy to follow, new information about the Abyss, the different whistle ranks, the different types of relics, the different curse effects of the layers on the human body. From the get-go, the way the story-line was laid out carefully layered one curious question in my head on top of another, snowballing my curiosity and my hunger for the next episode. And just when I think that things couldn't possibly get any darker or more heart-wrenching, it gets darker and more heart-wrenching. I don't know if it's because it's not the right timing or simply Baccano just isn't my taste, but I was trying to get into Baccano before Made in Abyss. But I got frustrated with how lost I felt while watching Baccano therefore I decided that I was going to watch another gritty anime instead. Made in Abyss just managed to hit all the right spots that Baccano couldn't. Made in Abyss was easy to get a sense of the Orth world and how that society functions from the first episode, the dark and gore came in at exactly the right moments, even if they were totally curveball, shocking moments. For me, Baccano's gore moments felt out of place and hysterical, maybe I just don't get the sense of humour or maybe I needed to watch the whole series to actually make sense of the unconventional storyline but it was tiring to follow. Made in Abyss is such a great adventure anime with a dark and morally grey undertone, each layer gave a different vibe and atmosphere for the story arc and posed different physical and psychological challenges for the characters. I also loved how they weren't afraid to get into the gritty details of survival. Several moments in the last few episodes I was close to tears and I'm pretty sure in the last episode, I did cry and in the movie I was very close to crying. CHARACTER I thought the characters were interesting but the absolute highlight of the series was for sure Nanachi. Just hearing about everything they went through with Mitty, the psychological and physical torture they endured and just how much they tried to restore Mitty's intellect or try to put Mitty out of her misery... it made my heart break. Second favourite would be Prushka from the Made in Abyss Movie, her storyline is just too sad to put into words. The fact that her love for Bondrewd until the very end and her desire to explore with Riko was so pure and absolutely heartbreaking. Third standout character would be Bondrewd, I still haven't quite figured out exactly how I feel about him. He is just so twisted they way he used those children but why I found his character fascinating because his experiments reminded me of our real-world experiments on animals for cosmetics and non-essential reason. But what he did is so incredibly cruel. It automatically made me re-evaluate what makes the most evil kind of villains and I started thinking about Johan from Monster again. It seems like what makes a villain the most evil is judged on several factors: their intent, who they kill, how cruel they are when they kill, what they get emotionally out of it, what they get physically out of it. But I feel like I don't have enough info on Bondrewd yet to make full judgement about him so, I'll happily wait.

A moment of silence and prayer for Prushka, this girl's storyline is just sad beyond words.

It's interesting that there is a strong theme of love tied with the curse of the Abyss. But the Abyss doesn't seem to care about what kind of love it is, pure, toxic, twisted, profitable, selfish.....I wonder if we are going to get more answers in that department. I think the main character Riko is a good first-perspective character and provide a good sense of balance for the audience to experience the story through her eyes, but I don't feel any particular affection towards her, perhaps because her haven't shown too much emotional growth? Yes, she is a kid so it's good for Riko to continue to display a sense of wonder and lust for adventure but she always seem to need saving for Reg....But that may be because there's only been one season and a movie out so far, I hope I see more development in her skills. Reg does have some character growth and it seems like he is better at reading the overall situation rather than assuming at first glance. I hope that trait continues to shine through. SOUND I really enjoy the OP theme, sets a fantastic mood for an epic story. The ED is very cute and definitely reminds me of rpg games that I used to play as a teenager. Music was incredibly interesting! There were some ABSOLUTELY beautiful ost numbers that really tugs at the heartstrings, especially Hanezeve Caradhina, that song insert in certain pivotal hopeful moments in the anime, that is so beautiful. But what I also noticed was the almost art-music violin solo or cello solo writing in intense scenes, something almost Bartok-like or I would expect to hear in some art-music/classical music concerts than in an anime. The transitions were also interesting, there were hardly any exact repetitions of ost tracks but a seamless blend of one track to another track, almost like when I'm moving a character in a game and they entered a new domain and the music seamlessly shifts. That made me search up the composer, Kevin Penkin, who is actually an Perth-English composer! He collaborated with Nobuo Uematsu, the Final Fantasy composer and he trained screen composition at Royal College of Music, no wonder his music has that game-like element, it suits the style of Made in Abyss perfectly. I liked the Anime series music better than the movie, the movie took a more conventional route, nothing wrong with that, but I liked how experimental he was with the anime series and I wished he continued with that. Voice acting, I can't say much but I am absolutely in love with the slight snarkiness in Nanachi's voice. The voice actor hides Nanachi's vulnerability well behind this layer of slightly nasally, confident and very adorable tone. ANIMATION I am just so blown away by how amazing the animation is. It's so colourful and the contrast between the different layers makes it breathtaking to watch. The action scenes were wonderfully animated in the movie and character designs were very adorable.

One thing, that sort of relates to plot and character as well is that in some moments because of how cute the characters look, it's a bit creepy when there are sexual/puberty moments between characters. They look like toddlers so it weirds me out whenever Reg has one of his *r*ctions. I don't know if that's something the original author included so the anime directly adapted, but it makes me feel like it feeds into the 'lolita' fetish..... All in all, I am so blown away, how can I not be if i finished the whole series in less than a day? I am so extremely curious as to see what happens.

A solid 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔/10

So freaking good!