This movie rocks… and it also kind of isn’t what I come to Made in Abyss for.

Coming fresh off a first season that totally captivated me - that slow, suffocating descent where beauty and dread are braided together so tightly you can’t tell which one you’re feeling - I had Dawn of the Deep Soul built up in my head as the devastating crescendo. And it does deliver in a lot of ways. It’s intense, it’s gorgeous, it’s nasty in that uniquely Abyss way. But it also hits with a weird whiplash: it’s a fundamentally different experience than the show, like the franchise briefly takes a hard left into a contained action-thriller boss arc. I had a great time watching it, and then I finished it with this quiet little sadness of wanting it to be more Abyss and less "Siege on Bondrewd's Compound."

Most of my hang-up is structural, and it’s not exactly the movie’s fault. The series earns its power through motion: descending, discovering, lingering in atmosphere, letting the world’s rules and the kids’ relationships slowly tighten like a noose. The Abyss feels vast, unknowable, and indifferent - the scariest moments aren't always the monsters (though they definitely can be scary), they’re the world calmly proving it doesn’t care if you’re brave or innocent or trying your best. This film, by contrast, is mostly one place, one conflict, one big obstacle in the road. We’re stuck in Bondrewd’s compound for most of the runtime, trading exploration and creeping horror for arena-style confrontations, plans, and escalation. I get it - two hours can’t replicate a 13-episode slow burn - but the result feels less like a natural continuation and more like the franchise briefly became a different genre. It’s like being served a prime-cut steak when you were really craving the intricate, slow-cooked soup.

Bondrewd is the obvious centerpiece, and he’s fascinatingly disgusting. Conceptually he’s not unheard of - the mad scientist who will sacrifice anything, including himself, for knowledge - but the execution is what makes him feel new. He's undeniably evil and monstrous, but he’s also polite, curious, and almost supportive. Like he’s coaching the kids through their own trauma so he can take notes. That’s the flavor of evil that gets under my skin: not the monster that hates you, but the one that admires you while dismantling you. The way he genuinely marvels at Reg, applauds ingenuity, respects innovation even at his own expense - it’s unsettling, and it’s very Abyss.

At the same time, the writing around the crew’s early dynamic with him didn’t sit right with me. Coming off the end of season one, with the full weight of what Bondrewd has done sitting in your chest, the initial feeling that our crew is talking to this guy like he’s just another obstacle felt baffling. I don’t need constant screaming hatred, but I wanted the film to make the emotional reality of that reunion cleaner and sharper - especially for Nanachi. The flashback material is clearly trying to justify/complicate her connection to him, but it played messy for me in the moment: the timeline feels fuzzy, and the idea that she’d be around helping him do what he does strains both logic and emotional truth, at least as I understood her arc from the show. I’m open to the idea that maybe I missed something, but it landed less like intentional ambiguity and more like the movie needing certain interactions for plot reasons and forcing the character logic to catch up afterward.

Prushka is the other big swing, and she’s... good. She’s sweet, and she adds warmth to a movie that can otherwise feel mechanical. She also fits the series’ pattern of introducing tenderness in the exact shape the story plans to break. But even with the extra setup time, her tragedy didn’t hit me the way Mitty’s did. Part of it is inevitability - you can smell the shape of her fate almost immediately - and part of it is structure: the film echoes season one’s emotional playbook so closely (the late clarifying flashback right before the final mercy) that it feels less like a fresh wound and more like the story pressing on a bruise you already have. The concept is heartbreaking in a very Made in Abyss way - love turned into a tool, intimacy turned into an object, a relationship made literal and irreversible - and her becoming Riko’s white whistle is a grimly satisfying payoff that fits the logic of the world. I just wanted the movie to earn that devastation more cleanly, because where Mitty wrecked me, Prushka had me more acknowledging that the moment was sad, rather than actually feeling it.

Technically and kinetically, though, when this movie hits, it hits. This is the franchise giving Reg going super Saiyan in a way that I'm sure many had been waiting for. The action is the most full-on humanoid-versus-humanoid anime fight the series has done so far, and it looks incredible. Reg’s berserk/smoke-monster transformation (still don’t fully understand what the hell was happening there, but I was glued to the screen regardless) is a visual spectacle, and the crater showdown is legitimately hype. The choreography is readable, the escalation feels earned, and it’s a spectacle paid for in blood and consequence, which is basically the brand. Riko’s calculated use of the Incinerator genuinely had me leaning forward in excitement. It’s exciting and brutal, and it absolutely scratches that itch.

But it also highlights the trade-off: the more the movie leans into more traditional anime hype, the more it steps away from the slow-burn horror-adventure mood that makes the Abyss feel like a living thing. When the setting becomes Bondrewd’s lair instead of the endless pit” some of that cosmic weight disappears. Paradoxically, the film’s biggest strength - the showdown - is also where it most clearly feels like a different kind of story wearing the same skin.

I also can’t not mention the “anime weirdness,” because it’s here and it’s not nothing. The Reg anatomy stuff, the uncomfortable design choices around Prushka - it undercuts the tone, and it can make you feel weird recommending the series to someone you respect. For me, it didn’t fully break the film. I’ve seen more egregious fanservice elsewhere (I recently watched Evangelion and loved it despite some wild choices), and I generally try to assume it's a genre/cultural bad habit before I jump straight to malice. But I’m not going to pretend it’s fine either, especially knowing the author’s reputation exists for a reason. It’s an asterisk on an otherwise deeply sincere story, and depending on your tolerance for that kind of thing, it can be a bigger deal than any pacing issue. For me it was more cringe than catastrophe - a hurdle I wish the work didn’t ask me to clear at all.

I finished it feeling somewhat underwhelmed, but far from unhappy. The film represents an ambitious, finely tuned, and savage addition that pushes the series' fantasy world into thrilling new territory. It sacrifices the wandering dread and exploratory magic I associate with Made in Abyss in favor of a tight, high-stakes, action-heavy detour - and I’m not convinced that trade was fully worth it, especially when some character logic feels shakier than the show’s usually laser-precise emotional grounding. Still, Bondrewd is a compelling villain, the setpieces slap, and the story clears the deck exactly how it needs to: Riko has her white whistle, the crew is staring down the Sixth Layer, and the journey can continue.

Big takeaway: Dawn of the Deep Soul proves Made in Abyss can do a crowd-pleasing, high-octane showdown without losing its soul - but it also reminded me that what makes this series special isn’t the fight at the bottom of the pit. It’s the pit. And even after a loud, flashy bridge like this, I’m still excited (maybe even more excited) to keep going back down.