What is a "Made in Abyss"?
A good way to start any review is to give a proper introduction to the object of review. In this case, said object is the TV show Made in Abyss. The premise of this show is quite basic: Riko wants to explore the Abyss, a massive pit which lies in the middle of her island town that promises riches and wonder to those who enter its depths. There is one major problem, however. The Abyss is extremely dangerous. There are deadly creatures that inhabit it, many of whom prey on the explorers of the Abyss, known as cave raiders. Even this pales in comparison to the strain of ascending, which dramatically increases in deeper layers. This danger is real for even the most experienced cave raiders. Riko is a twelve year old orphan. The question becomes: How can Riko achieve her dream?
Why you should watch the show, pt 1
I don't like to start with negatives, but I feel that a lot of the show proposed a lot of interesting rebuttals to the issues I found with the show. We’ll come back to this.
Why you shouldn’t watch the show
- Nudity - For one thing, the nudity seemed overplayed and made me uncomfortable. I also have a second issue with it. The show generally does a good job of adding some grit and mature themes to the show. However, I get the impression that it believes that nudity is necessary to be a “mature” show. Reg’s reaction to the nudity gave me the opposite vibe. If nudity was treated as normal, I might object to it due to them being children but I would understand. Instead, it is treated as a cheap laugh about Reg’s embarrassment. Needless to say, I did not find it very funny.
- Pace and ending - This problem may get fixed with season two, but as of now this is a problem. I’ll talk more about this later, but most people are watching this show for the Abyss. Based on the high praise for this show and lack of immediate sequel, I assumed that this was a full show. Do not make this mistake. Where a show like SAO had the issue of breezing through too many of its world layers, this show takes too long on them. I didn’t get to really liking the show until layer 3 of the Abyss. This doesn’t happen until episode 9 (of 13, but the last one is double length), so you can understand why this might be a bit of an issue. I felt like as soon as it got good, it ended. Now, moving onto the ending. Once again, this is not yet a complete adaptation. It’s a fine ending to a season, but not a series. I would be very disappointed if I had watched this show while it was airing and had to wait so long for closure. Even now, it’s hard to overlook this glaring flaw. That being said, season two is coming out this year, so this point may become less relevant as time moves on.
- Riko and Reg when things are going well - My favorite episodes were those where either Riko or Reg had a minor role. I didn’t relate to these characters enough for them to carry an episode without a larger conflict or enemy.
Why you should watch the show
- The world - This is one of the coolest worlds I have seen in a TV show. I can't stress this enough. The lore of the Abyss, the creatures, Reg, and cave raiders is incredible. My favorite “character” in the entire show is the Abyss, if you can even call it that.
- Visuals - this show looks amazing.
- Mature themes - While the nudity was a negative to this show, Episodes 10-13 in particular have scenes which are masterclasses in handling mature themes to create tension, dread, and emotion.
- Pace (depending on the movie and S2) - With such a cool world, this slower pace could prove to pay off immensely with future installments of the series. However, do not go into this show with the expectation that it was a complete story like I did.
Conclusion
This show was pretty funny to me. I spent the majority of the first half of the show wondering why I was watching it. Yet I pressed onwards. I think it can be best summarized in the first line of the OP.
“Everyone, unable to resist, goes down in”.
Like countless cave raiders and anime watchers before me, I could not resist the allure of the Abyss. With season two coming this year, I have one question to ask to those who haven’t seen the show: Can you?
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