Further breaking my idea of doing only one review for Fruits Basket on my profile, I have decided I want to express my love for Made in Abyss. As usual, expect bad points, poor explanations and quite a few spoilers. This review also strays a bit from how I styled my reviews previously, as I want to reflect on which parts of the story I love (which is most of it).

Shorter TL;DR: all the reasons are amazing world&worldbuilding, enjoyable characters, great "villains", wonderful soundtrack and non-sugarcoated story

TL;DR (without spoilers, for all three parts):

Made in Abyss main quality trait is it's amazing world - full of mystery, people to discover and challenges to overcome. The show doesn't try too hard to get you immersed into it - it's only a matter of time before you are. The nice pacing of the storytelling alongside the wonderful soundtrack by Kevin Penkin makes this a really enjoyable trip into the world of MiA. The characters range from fairly simple to really complex, and they all have their grounds in the story - and the "villains" are some of the best part of this whole show. You won't find another anime like this.

Do you have a conception of God? The people around here, you see, don't believe in God. Do you know what is it they believe in? The answer is this place - the Abyss itself. (Ozen)

Show starts with a fairly chill scenario - you get briefly introduced to what the abyss is to the people of Orth, the initial characters and what the people at the city generally do. As Riko is a resident of Orth, she's doing the usual thing every other kid around does - go treasure hunting onto the surface layer of the abyss. However, one of her encounters didn't go as planned, and a scary creature from further depths of the abyss has appeared. Not long after that, Riko becomes familiar with Reg, with who she soon has to part with her friends to go into the further depths of the abyss to find her mother, who seemingly has called to her from the lowest depths. With the sad parting with kids of Orth and the abrupt realisation Riko has decided to drop everything just to find her mother, as you can't go back once you're too deep in, Made in Abyss marks it's first emotional impact.

The descent is consistently full of new discoveries about the world of the abyss. The biggest thing about this show is how the world is always full and alive - every layer is lingering with threats, people and random discoveries to make. There's no empty layer in the Abyss - every layer has something going on - and it's much bigger than Riko and Reg. And if that alone wasn't enough to immerse you, Kevin Penkin made sure to fix the gap with his amazing soundtrack.

▶ Eventually, we reach the 2nd layer, which introduces Ozen - a very complex character, who, at first glance, seemed to be a villain about to stop Riko's and Reg adventure there. As it turns out, however, her attempts to stop the kids was merely a test of their skills. Seeing as they're not ready to delve deeper (as her power is only a fraction of what they will have to encounter), she prepared routine for both of them to learn to survive in the cruel depths of abyss. With that, the kids pass the first White Whistle, the highest rank of the delvers. However, you also find out harsh truth about Riko - she was already dead and is only a byproduct of a rare artifact. Nonetheless, that only makes her more optimistic - what more reason do you need to go on a one-way trip?

The characters continue to delve deeper into the abyss with nothing much going on, up until they reach the 4th layer and Reg is first met with a "how do I deal with this situation" moment - as Riko is about to die and he has quite nothing to do. Quite a dilemma when you were the one who was supposed to protect her, isn't it? And that's where Nanachi shows up. She helps Reg with patching up Riko, and they also find out about Mitty - a creature of the abyss, or so you might think. Until you're hit with Nanachi's backstory, perfectly explaining everything without any extra words. Both of them were suffering for so long, and Reg is finally there to stop Mitty's suffering. These episodes hit like a trainwreck, and I can't quite put into words how horrifying, and, at the same time, amazingly executed the sequence is, so I will just leave these videos (spoilers to episode 13).

▶ ▶ The emotional impact you get from these scenes is just, a lot. The way you just got tied to the characters and now you get to find out the other side of the coin and part with them, the way the voice actors do their job perfectly well, the path that led to this and the path that'll lead after this, Kevin Penkin's amazing soundtrack, it all just adds up amazingly, and I can't appreciate this anime enough for the fact it's not the only sequence like this. You just won't find another anime that does something like this.

But even getting this far, you are not getting many answers. The abyss is still as mysterious as it was at the start, you still don't know what kind of dangers will linger in the deepest depths of the abyss, and you're not so sure about how smooth Riko's and Reg's adventure will last from now on. Nonetheless, the adventure continues and it's only getting creepier the further you go. And you're a part of that adventure.

Next up is the Dawn of the Deep Soul movie. I want to describe it in a separate review, as I feel like there is much more I want to talk about (i'll get to it eventually..). But the short of this review is that, yes, you should watch this anime - I absolutely love the world it introduces the viewer to and the story that is not even attempted to be sugarcoated. The characters are all great individuals and you will suffer with the characters. Just enjoy the trip.

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Per usual, you have any major complaints about my review, feel free to message me.