Made in Abyss

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

I don't hate Made in Abyss, but it wasn't done as good as it could've been.
Everything about the Abyss itself is great and makes you crave for more. The mystery of what lies at the bottom, the atmosphere of the unknown, dangerous monsters, cute fluffy animals, rich fantasy flora, rare treasures and unique relics, each detail of this amazing fantasy world was crafted with love and dedication. Let's not forget the beautiful art, not only it's impressive from technical standpoint, but even less detailed panels are full of life and emotions. The setting is definitely intriguing and raises a lot of questions by the ... readers, which may be enough for some people to keep following this manga, despite sporadic release shedule.

The problem is that the plot doesn't quite deliever on the level of premise and the hype surrounding this series.
While the concept leaves a lot of space for an interesting worldbuilding and seems like a perfect set up for an adventure, the story mainly focuses on character drama, which isn't a bad thing, when it's done right, but that's not the case. Simply put, Made in Abyss characters are lackluster and even uncompelling, you have basic tropes like a naive girl with a dream to become as great as her legendary parent, an amnesiac nice guy, who wants to protect his friends and does it by magically remembering how to use his powers in the right time, a strict, but secretly caring mentor figure, possessive yandere and bunch of talking plot-devices, some of them died or leave the series when we barely spent time with them. I couldn't even feel anything for them, which was completely jarring. Interactions between characters don't seem to have been enough to generate the feelings they show to each other, a good example is a girl from the fifth layer, who developed a deep connection to Riko in a matter of few pages. If you build a drama on a weak foundation such as cardboard cutouts instead of characters and forced, tropey relationships between them, it is bound to collapse.

However, I wouldn't rank Made in Abyss so low if it wasn't for blatant emotional manipulation. Instead of building up the characters and making me care about them so that when something bad happens to them I get an emotional reaction, author is simply shoving sad tropes down your mouth without realizing what actually makes those tropes sad in the first place. It just throws in a tragic backstory out of the blue, just to make you feel sad, without having the reader connected to the character beforehand. The characters aren't so much characters as they are just sob stories with pretty designs (since lolis are cute and innocent - and will clearly elicit sympathy from readers) and the plot isn't so much a plot as it is a mechanism that allows to read these sob stories, before it throws us contrivances to get some weak emotional pay-off. At which point I didn’t understand why I should give a damn about characters suffering. Normally, empathizing with a character requires first understanding that character as a valid human being, an individual with a perspective the reader can relate and believe in, but Made in Abyss bypass that part by making all participants of Suffering Olympics adorable and pure little girls, often fetishized and reduced to moe fanservice. I started to lose faith with an author once I sensed that he is making bad things happen to a character just as a cheap plot formula and WOW SO EDGY HURTING A LOLI MY GOD ARE YOUR HEARTSTRINGS TUGGED YET?!

That's being said, after certain point the genre of the story shifts from grand adventure to a loli tear-jerker, abandoning all previously estabilished positives and delving deeper in the territory of meaningless mysery porn. The criticism is not that the manga is too bleak and dark. Lots of manga are bleak and gory. The criticism is that Made in Abyss seems to revel in that bleakness like an exploitation movie. Sure, edgy stories can be fun when athours are self-aware and creative enough to entertain reader with their twisted imagination, but when all you can offer is 50 shades of suffering lolis reading it becomes a complete chore, especially when no one of those bloody and disgusting scenes has any impact on the story. Riko's nerve damage and lack of agility in her arm is never used as plot point and Riko herself learned nothing from this failure. Reg lost his arm, but got Dragonball boost and never experienced any troubles while fighting. Faputa lost her arm and ear, but regenerated, two volumes later entire chapter was dedicated to her almost being eaten alive, but she regenerated AGAIN. What makes it worse, 50 shades of loli guro tries to aim to be something more and deeper than is actually is, but the lack of character development is a clear indication that violence and sexual innuendos were written for the sadistic joy of author and some readers. Character progression is basically nonexistant, blink and you miss it all. We are talking about small children here, small children adventuring in the hell pit, where thousands of adults died or lost their minds, children, who went through the loss of limbs, death of their friends and near-death experience, but not a single trait changed in them. By the end of current volume Riko is still a starry-eyed child, who wants to make friends with everyone and totally delusional about her ideals, Reg is no different from any shounen lead and Nanachi is going through the same character arc for the third time. A good author will use a cruelty of the setting to make characters grow from their hardships, but Made in Abyss author uses dark fantasy as an excuse to torture cute kids and show them naked.

Between the rushed pacing of the upper layers, the snail pace of the village arc, disjointed story full of cheap deus ex machinas, shallow characters and their forced drama, the sexualization of kids was just a last straw to the cocktail of disappointment. I've seen some people who are justifying the tittylation of 12 years olds by bringing a good ol' "for the plot and development" argument. Oh, if only Reg's or Riko's quality of writing was equal to the amount of pages where they are displaying private parts. Dostoevsky himself would be in awe of their depth. Ironically, the manga itself is the best proof that you don't need to show off character's erection every 5 pages to make them compelling. The less mangaka sexualizes the character, the better they are written, for some reason a fully dressed villain is the only character who left me in a positive impression, unlike all those poor children that are drawn mainly as a kink fuel.

The simplest way to describe Made in Abyss is unrealized potential: the manga. There are definitely some good parts, a lot of great ideas are burried under the layers of poor writing like a rough brilliants in the mud. I still think that it's one of the most visually impressive manga out of there, the setting itself is really interesting, and does an amazing job making you wonder what's further down and building up a sense of mystery. The antagonist of Idofront arc is also great, he is the closest the characters get to... actually having a character, charismatic personality and plot relevance for more than one arc. An absolute monster, but charismatic one, with his own warped sense of love and care. But as much as I want to love this manga because many of its pieces speak to me, it just doesn’t hold together with the polish it needs. The engaging introduction to this beautiful fantasy world is wasted on a story that makes it difficult to enjoy it. For every great world building element, there is a horny moment which makes you scratch your head. As interesting as the setting is, the disconnect between fascinating dark chasm and the one-dimensional main characters never truly goes away. The greatest tragedy of Made in Abyss is that it tells us the least interesting story possible in this world.

Made in Abyss is a tale of a journey to the land of no return.
It's a dark fantasy featuring obsessed little girls, shy robots and sarcastic bunny critters. Also giant mind-reading porcupines, don't forget those.
It's bizarre, beautiful, inventive, painfully emotional and bizarre (did I mention carnivorous porcupines? Pretty bizarre).
It's one of my all-time favorites, so let me tell you why.

So, what does make Made in Abyss so special? Just about everything.
For one thing, it's the Abyss itself. It's a weird and fascinating place with its very own laws of physics, mythology and ecosystem.
Mesmerizing scenery, lethal monsters, priceless treasures - the Abyss has it all, ... has it everywhere, has it in any combination.
Beautiful flower meadow, eager to kill you dead (or worse)? Coming right up!
Toothy monster of shocking visage that wouldn't hurt a fly? Got one right here!
Legendary weapon that misfires regularly and gets lost all the time? Not even a problem!
You might've seen many a dungeon before but rest assured you've never seen the like of the Abyss.

For another, it's the art. It is amazing. Precise drawing, outstanding design and composition, exquisite shadows and lighting - this manga has it all and then some. It's a visual feast putting to shame at least 95% of all the other manga out there.

Also, the characters. Some of them are extremely likable, some are instantly hateful, some are totally incomprehensible but every one of them (including minor parts making appearance in a couple of panels) is distinctly and beautifully drawn and feels as real and alive as anything ever committed to paper.

All that being said, if I had to single out one element that contributes most prominently to the greatness of Made in Abyss that would have to be the story.
It's exciting, dreadful, weird, breathtaking and totally unpredictable. I mean, you get the general idea and know where it's supposed to take you eventually (although I strongly suspect it's going to be more of a way-point than the finish line) but have you the foggiest what's going to jump in your face when you turn the next page? Not a chance.
Anything can happen to anyone, all bets are off, no happy endings are guaranteed (neither are bad ones, for that matter). Have you ever been too afraid to turn a page but unable not to? You will have this pleasure.
That is something you should be aware of before entering the Abyss - this is not a lighthearted story. I've seen this manga being described as a cross between Ichigo Mashimaro and Berserk and this analogy might just have grasped the gist of it. As the story progresses it grows darker, more disturbing and ominous. It is the main reason I only give it 9 points - sometimes reading Made in Abyss is frustrating and pretty painful. Still, if that is something you can stomach you're in for an experience well worth your while.

Conclusion;
Made in Abyss is an outstanding work of art by any standard. Cute and gritty, vivid and gloomy, delicate and overwhelming, heart-warming and spine-chilling - it'll sweep you off your feet and drag you down into the world of sinister beauty you'll never forget.

NOTE: I wrote the original version of this review when I was 16, I come back 5 years later (2022) and it was still at the top, so I thought I had a responsibility to, at least, update it completely.

Made in Abyss sure is a series that exists, somehow. After watching the second season I knew I had to come back and rewrite this, because I now have even more conflicted feelings on it than I used to. Originally, my feelings on this manga were very positive, I even called it a "masterpiece" (I do not think such a thing exists nowadays), but, as the ... years passed and I got older and gayer, this manga started making both more sense and less sense.

The world itself has largely been about the same so far, still really interesting, but not much else has been shown in these 5 years between one arc starting and ending, another one beginning a few months ago, and a second season that was an aid in me actually understanding what happened in the arc it adapts (this happened probably due to the gaps between chapter releases). So, most of the time, it feels like a world that is stuck in the same place where it was five years ago. Sure, there are more hints towards the actual nature of the Abyss, but nothing very concrete (one recent scene even "censored" something that seemed fairly relevant).

However, the themes of the story have, I believe, gotten a lot clearer (or I have gotten older and now Get It a little better). "One who dares the abyss still goes deeper despite all the horrors and terrors that it guarantees you because it's a struggle that comes with inherent value and beauty" is a pretty sweet Theme that I now understand much better as the whole point of the series (apply this to our current reality in real life and it becomes a lot more hopeful and humanitarian, and I think that's nice).

In terms of the characters, I don't really like the Newer Main Character introduced, but I do still like Reg, Prushka and Riko, while Nanachi is still the best one. They're just a little bit more interesting than the other four, to be honest, since they have stayed largely stagnant (or have just been introduced) and Nanachi feels like the only one that has gotten any kind of concrete development. Reg and Riko have grown, for sure, but it's not like a part of who they are has been shaken to its core like Nanachi's has. Meanwhile, a lot of the antagonists and some of the side characters are very good; some are horrifying realities of science while others are characters I would like to be my friend irl please (this is Vueko).
All of this is ignoring how the show usually treats its main and side cast of characters, usually the kid ones, as almost meat to be consumed. I understand that it may be an attempt at portraying a "raw reality", but it usually comes off as very unnecessary and weird, especially when it comes to showing nudity or the ways the characters interact with one another. Like, I do not need to see scenes of characters molesting eachother in such immense detail. If it keeps going like this it will never beat the "if any normal human being looks at the author's hardrive(s) he will (hopefully) go to jail and this manga will be cancelled" accusations.
Meanwhile, the whole point of the main theme I previously mentioned sometimes feels more like a justification for these kids suffering under a system/place that wants them dead. Which, while a very real issue, isn't really something that can be treated and portrayed the way it is in this manga. It's like we're meant to gawk at it all, rather than make you feel frustrated and angry at the conditions of the abyss. The Newer Character Introduced is probably the worst offender of this, since, besides Her Whole Design, she acts very much like a small kid (because she basically is) and it very much doesn't help that she's so touchy with the other characters, especially Reg (it sometimes even feels like a harem manga, which, uhhhh why?). She also is one that gets to look very beaten up and, basically, with her guts out. Why?

In conclusion, this manga doesn't feel like it's evolved much in the past five years. It's mostly doubled down on all of What It Is and it doesn't help that a lof of What It Is isn't always coherent. The world-building and art (when it's not showing borderline criminal/actually pedophillic drawings) are very good, but the characters that inhabit that world and are drawn by the art aren't always particularily interesting or drawin with respect. Even if Nanachi, Vueko, and a lot of the antagonists exist as fairly good counterexamples to this (it just means that the author has the capacity for Actually Writing & Designing Characters). The themes are so good but they don't really feel coherent with how the show treats its characters and it, a lot of the time, feels like a justification for this very treatment, which just sucks ass and it's probably the worst way to go about such a liberatory thematic core. Basically, go read something else, you'll probably have more fun, and you won't be waiting months for a new chapter which may just have another kid suffering awfully for your supposedly gawking eyes. Unless you're interested in reading it anyway, which, to be honest, is quite in tone with the main theme. So, go ahead if that's what you wish! And good luck!

EDIT: COMPLETELY REWRITTEN (2021)

-INTRO:
Made in Abyss is a manga I often think about. I’m not talking about theories to solve the mysteries that belong to the world. I’m talking about the manga in itself. How did the author come up with such a powerful, engrossing, impactful, memorable and wonderful story. Everything about this manga is perfection. The more I think about it, the less sense it makes. Let me explain. Have you ever seen or read something, and as soon as you’re done with it, the only impression you have of it is “wow”. This is it, Made in Abyss is this and more. If ... you’ve watched some of the interviews of the author, Tsukishi Akihito, even him is amazed with what he created. And I can’t help but agree with the fact that this manga is a one in a million experience you hardly will ever forget. Whether you liked the manga or not, Made in Abyss leaves a mark. In my old review I was almost upset at how underrated this manga was, and when I tell you that I’m truly happy that many more people saw the potential this story holds, I mean it. Let me explain and justify why this manga is the best in its category.

-STORY:
The abyss, a giant chasm. Brought to life thanks to countless creatures, wonderful places you’ll hear about, mysteries no one knows the answer to and a logic that belongs to the abyss and the abyss only. It’s no surprise that the unknown is something humankind doesn’t want to have deal with, and that’s why the first thing you will want to do is to explore all of it, to face with the unknown and to analyze it. Curiosity is the very essence of our species and the main protagonist Riko is the embodiment of it. We follow Riko in her journey, what she discovers, is what we discover. The adventure she feels, is the one we feel. The answers she’s looking for, are the ones we’re looking for. Made in Abyss is first and foremost an adventure manga. This doesn’t mean the adventure in the world of Orth, the city built surrounding the abyss, is all about exploring and nothing more. No, it’s much more than that. Every time I mention adventure, is not the superficial meaning of it, but it’s also the study of one self and what it means to deal with it. Being Made in Abyss mostly a character driven story, is really no use talking about the story alone without properly talking about the characters.

CHARACTERS:
The characters in Made in Abyss have always been a grip for many. The main issue for some people is Riko. Riko is a naive 9yo child that wants know more about the abyss and her supposedly dead mother who’s waiting for her at the end of the so called “netherworld”. The more Riko descends into the abyss, the more she discovers about things she didn’t know about herself. That’s exactly what makes Riko a controversial character for many. She is a seemingly bland and empty character who acts very childishly (and what a surprise, she’s a child!) that doesn’t seem learn nothing from her mistakes. That’s what most people think of her and that’s where all of them make wrong assumptions about her character. As I previously said, Riko is the very essence of curiosity and naivity, and that’s okay. She’s not supposed to be more than that. Riko IS the main plot of Made in Abyss, without her carelessness we would have probably stayed in Orth and never exploring the abyss. If you can’t understand that Riko is adventure itself, we’re are reading a different manga. We have then Reg, a robot, maybe a human, or maybe both, that Riko finds in approximately to Orth in the first layer. Reg, having lost all of his memories, decides to stick with Riko in her adventure. Reg is another character many people are not happy with. Let me tell you again why he’s another outstanding character in the series. While Rilo embodies the adventure, Reg embodies the mystery. Who’s Reg? Where did he come from? Is he a robot or a human? What is his relationship with Lyza? Why did he lose all of his memories? Reg is supposed to be the big question and the key to the whole plot. That’s what makes the character the story itself. The known (Riko) and the unknown (Reg) gets together to embark on a long journey to get the answers we want and to feel the adventure of out two little children. Or course, Made in Abyss has many more characters that embodies even more aspects of humankind. Nanachi is a character that give a meaning to a journey strictly related to death; what it means to lose an significant other and to move on. Ozen, the lost of sanity in order to keep adventuring no matter what. She tries to give us an explanation of why the abyss is so feared yet adored. Bondrewd embodies science. To give answers to some of the mysteries and questions we might have, through science Bondrewd tries to challenge the abyss and its curse. Science always come at a cost, and in this case it means sacrificing someone to reach our own goal. Also, we could discuss about him being one of the best antagonist ever. We’re also introduced to Faputa, the embodiment of value, another character similar to Nanachi, but also not. Faputa is another character goes through the stages of grief and loss, but unlike Nanachi, Faputa stops at the second stage (anger), and itms throughly explored with a very detailed and inner journey of oneself and all the psychological aspects. We have then Prushka, which I can’t discuss about for spoiler reasons and Vueko, another character, more similar to Riko. Vueko is more of an adult version of Riko. But on the contrary, she at some point gives up. Lastly, Wazukyan, one of the three sages. He’s a sacrifice himself, gives up everything for the abyss, and becomes part of it.

ART:
It’s no secret that Made in Abyss has one of the best arts in the whole manga world. On par with other authors such as Boichi, Inio Asano and Kentaro Miura, Tsukushi Akihito succeed with flying color in giving an identity for Made in Abyss. Each manga page is filled with life. The abstractness, the details, the imagination and the shades all come together to give life to the Abyss and its characters. It’s art that depicts both the beauty and the horror of the abyss. Characters designs are unique and memorable, the creatures are different from one another, the imagination seems to never end, and they never fail to feel cute and fluffy or horrifying and dangerous. There isn’t really much to say here, the drawings really speak for themselves. They are a feast for the eyes and should be a reason alone to give Made in Abyss a try.

ENJOYMENT:
Some people have got many issues and struggle to find a reason of why someone could enjoy Made in Abyss. This manga is not all about suffering and torture porn, it’s absolutely not about the sometimes questionable nudity scenes of underaged children and it’s not a story that doesn’t know what do with itself. The enjoyment directly comes from the story’s unpredictableness to the antagonists that aren’t really antagonist, to the charming character and the many mysteries of the abyss. It doesn’t really take much to give an answer to why would someone could enjoy Made in Abyss. Made in Abyss is in my opinion a one in a lifetime experience that no one should miss out. It is truly the wet dream of everyone who wants to go on an adventure that comes with stakes rewarded by beautiful sceneries and strong bonds. The suffering is just another fun part of the manga, but as I already said, it’s not just that. And agree ti disagree, as weird as the nudity is (and I want to point out that it’s not to be viewed in a sexual way), it really is another aspect to the identity that is Madd in Abyss and make a different kind of story from every other manga. Some might feel uncomfortable, but personally I don’t really care about it and I laugh at it at best. It really is nothing of importance that takes away from any of your enjoyment. If you find it an issue, then you’re probably the issue.

OVERALL:
Taking place in a lovecraftian-ish setting, this manga is not to be missed out. If you’re looking for a sci-fi fantasy adventure manga, Made in Abyss is straight up your ally being the best of the best in its category. Everything it does, is perfection and the author aims at that. I can’t help but agree with the fact that, in my opinion, Made in Abyss is modern classic that will be remembered for a very long time. Deserving all the praise it gets and more, I couldn’t recommend you a better manga.
Thanks for reading and I’m sorry for eventual grammar mistakes or weird phrasing order. Anyways, go read it.

I was wrong. This manga is infinitely more disturbing than Madoka Magicka. Hhem. Anyway. Saw the first two episodes and then slid right into this manga like I've done nothing else in months. There was this quality that just hooked me.

After a while I lost steam but didn't grow disillusioned. The Abyss itself is like an echo chamber...more specifically, its layers--there aren't many things going on overall besides the mysteries and the adventure (spoiler: there's no big bad most of the time). I think this is natural as per the narrative/world structure of this manga which I'll give it brownie points for--structuring arcs of ... interest and certain characters is only natural. I just wish there was more linking them (in maybe a more One Piece like way). Like, an additional faction or a recurring dark horse character. I would have also liked another character perspective on the surface or something. Human society+the government itself seems so dead and irrelevant. I thought we were gonna get something more on Leader, a hint or a perspective shift, and then there's nothing.

But I gotta say that this is forgivable. The vacuum nature does add to the general sense of being isolated and trapped and packs on interest/power/urgency to the journey which is cool. The revelations happen at a nice pace as well and they at least have wider consequences. Well, retrospectively. Still waiting on whether or not the last "boss" defeat changes anything. Also, the White Whistles waiting below is so freakin' hype--the two ones that have shown up were absolutely wonderful. All the characters being left behind also adds to the belivability of the descent...if we were cast to someone on the surface, our sense of being lost in the abyss would weaken. More brownie points to this freakin manga for turning what should be its weaknesses into strengths. Hhem. Tangent over.

Characters: adorable mostly. Though, yeah, a few of them seem like moe fuel - you can tell when most of the important side characters look like female moeblobs - not gonna lie. This doesn't mean their character development is any less nice or tragic when it does happen.

The first (and only??) real villain was a freakin' badass. Shame about the being temporary part. Boo. Maybe the real villain is just the abyss? Conflict: kids v. setting

Controversy: Let it be know that while Made in Abyss is one of those manga you wouldn't really recommend unless the person has disturbed tastes or is into adventure, or just likes cute things being thrown at horrific things (I think it's an actual taste you can have? I kinda like it for non fetish reasons). It definitely doesn't shy away from any sort of body stuff. Yeah, I can't ignore it. You can portray weird stuff like this manga does in a totally harmless and innocent way. But, sometimes, it just doesn't. Be warned if you're easily disgusted.

Art: will melt your heart (n-not that this happens in this manga). The looseness of some of the designs is amazing--especially in the case of Oven's personality shifts being portrayed by the wild inkiness. Cool stuff.

There's a lot of visual thought put into the ecosystems and "science" of the abyss, which is cool. The only downside, like I mentioned before, is that we don't know much about the f'ed up government which enables this delving, or of society itself outside of Lysa's auntie--"But is it really a good idea?" We get that the Abyss is sorta like a religion, the delvers heroes, with an underlying dark doubt in some, like auntie. We don't really see anything much, visually, of the other delvers. It's kinda weird.

But why the hell do I still rate it a 10 with all my complaints? Well, for one thing, I'm an expert complainer. Let me now try to be an expert praiser.

Its loving attention to detail, amazing art won me over. Moreover, the fact that there's BARELY ANY manga like this--call it perverted or not, but you don't get much with this sort of creativity. The emotional peaks are legendary and there's a lot of cute character moments. You as the reader are compelled to go to the bottom of the abyss, too, and that sense of sublime unknowing and curiosity is a rarity in manga. (Let me also say that the abyss is crazy! It's almost like this gigantic being that wants to suck people in and keep them in it) I think we get a lot of that type of thing, but rarely so consistently powerful and alluring. So...do I recommend Made in Abyss? Er. Maybe? I don't know. One hell of an experience is what it is.

10/10 because I want more manga to make the reader feel full of velocity and adventurous spirit. Also, to be darker without losing its sparkling hopeful highs.

Mod Edit: this review may contain spoilers.

This manga has gained a fair amount of attention for its artwork, it's absolutely stunning. It has a lovely aesthetic, and there was clearly a lot of effort put into the detail. The settings are unique, and are very telling about the story's world. The whole narrative revolves around descending and ascending "the Abyss", and the surrounding town of Ōsu seems to be almost sliding into the Abyss, pulling you in. The landscapes are very vertical, even the classroom in the orphanage has desks attached to the walls, requiring the children to climb to them. Everything looks large and ... imposing in contrast with the main characters.
I've seen a lot of people compare the artwork and atmosphere to that of Ghibli films, but if I'm honest it reminds me of ecchi works. Right from the beginning, there was *something* about how the children were drawn (especially Riko's cheeks?) that made me question whether or not the mangaka was a loli/shotacon. Reading on, I found that several of these children are shown topless or naked, and the soft way in which they are rendered made me uneasy. There are at least 6 specific instances that I can think of where Reg's genitals are discussed. Many of the children have loosely fit clothing over their chests, even when they are supposed to be portrayed sympathetically. Additionally, the mangaka seems to have some odd interests - I currently don't have the ability to phrase this the way I want to, but there's something about the way that pee and vomit is discussed and drawn that made me suspicious.

The story is decent - the beginning few chapters set the location well, and create a sense of intrigue. As Riko and Reg descend the Abyss, there's a real sense of progression. They are introduced to various sets of characters, learn new things, move on and repeat the process. None of these arcs felt pointless to me. However, in some sections, especially the Bondrewd arc, I felt that the pacing got a little slow, and the story could've been more streamlined.

The characters are fairly interesting, Riko and Reg both have good motivations for reaching the bottom of the Abyss - the former wants to find her mother, and the latter wants to find out why he was made. Riko has been raised in a town where many people aspire to explore the Abyss, and are prepared for the strains of ascending it - being unable to return from the lower levels is just matter of fact to them. Riko has an almost-encyclopedic knowledge of a lot of the known areas, treasures and creatures of the Abyss. Reg, being an amnesiac blank state is an audience surrogate for Riko's explanations. There's a lot mystery surrounding Reg's creation and history, although more questions have been created then answered so far. Nanachi is very sympathetic, though I worry that she doesn't have as much of a reason for being there as the other two - she achieves her goal quite soon after she is introduced.

I stopped reading after the Bondrewd arc. The situations these children were put into made me too uncomfortable to continue. I'm not talking about the body horror or anything, that's fine for an adult work like this. However, adult doesn't always have to mean sexual, *especially* if the main character is a 12 year old girl. It's a real shame, I think that Made in Abyss could've been really good if the mangaka didn't have such worrying tastes.

I came into this series knowing nothing about the story. The anime is praised seven ways 'til Sunday but I thought I'd check out the source material before giving the anime a try. Boy, was that a mistake.

The worldbuilding and lore is interesting. A colony of people live in an enormous pit that descends into the planet and it's the size of an entire continent. Explorers, ranked by colored whistles, are chosen to descend and collect relics that could help their society thrive...only to break down relics to be made into white whistles—the highest rank an explorer can get. If an explorer obtains a good ... enough relic, they will earn more accolades and it could put them up for a promotion. The lower the explorers descend, the higher the chances of altitude sickness and death. The design for the environment and the monsters are stunning and creative. The art style, while serviceable and sometimes beautiful, is made up of unpolished pencil sketches. Everything after that is where the series fails.

The manga has a mature rating for something about kids. I thought that was odd and, now that I've read the first volume, I wonder how it was ever greenlit. First of all, the society sends orphans into the pit as free labor so there's a complete lack of regard for child safety and labor laws. That's not even the worst of it. Made In Abyss contains depictions of children in...compromising positions. The main character—a 10-year-old orphaned girl—is shown naked, tied up in rope bondage, with ahegao face, and strung up to be displayed by an adult in the first chapter. You need to draw the line somewhere and that line definitely should not go that far.

Look, I am by no means a prude but I hope we can all agree that it shouldn't be acceptable for an adult to so much as think about drawing and writing underage girls in inappropriate ways. I hope that the anime is nothing like the source material, but I don't know if I can get over my initial impressions.

Well, it's time to drop Made in Abyss.

Two years ago I fell in love with the world of this manga, I was charmed by premise of mysterious, cursed pit, the sense of adventure, beautiful backgrounds, cool looking monsters and coming to age story of young protagonists.

Even if Idofront arc was a bit of step down in terms of exploration, it fixed a major problem with early parts - lack of interesting and compelling characters.
Not only Bondrewd is by far the best written character in manga, but through the interactions with him main characters finally got some very much needed bits of development. Despite some ... minor flaws, this arc was a great finale to adventures in the known part of the Abyss, and full of excitement I was ready to see terra incognita.

Oh, how wrong I was.

The sense of adventure is gone, because characters had to stuck in the same closed place for more than 2 years and ending is nowhere to be seen. Instead of actual exploration there are massive walls of text or endless flashbacks after flashbacks.

Riko didn't get any development; after 7 volumes long adventures in gruesome, horrible hellhole she is still one-dimensional naive, pure kid. Reg is somewhat here, I guess. Remember how his entire motivation to delve into the Abyss was to learn about himself? In recent chapters he missed every opportunity to reach this goal. Why? There is no explanation for this, perhaps author just wanted to drag the story for the sake's of dragging it.
What happened with Nanachi is just pathetic. I wish author had some balls and gave her fulfilling, climatic death as he originally planned, but as long as characters are selling tons of merch, they are immortal.

Ah, I see, following Nanachi's popularity mangaka added another cute furry, but now with 100% more tits and nonexistent personality. The first thing this character did was attempt to get into Reg's pants and it was enough to make this pathetic fandom scream about "best girl".
To be fair, not all characters of this arc are this bad, but the most interesting ones are sidelined, while story focuses on glorified rehash of Nanachi and Mitty backstory.

The shock value lost any weight. It's always the same story about the same naive little girl, who got screwed by Evil Man. If you've seen Mitty's story in anime, you've seen everything this manga can offer. New cute loli appears, something bad happens to her, everyone is sad for a while. Rinse, repeat.
And let's be honest, no one would care about these characters and their tragedy, if it wasn't fo the moe art style and their young age.

I'm actually kind of sad, while writing this review. This manga introduced to me one of the best fictional worlds and my favorite villain, but it's such a letdown in every other aspect. The awful pacing, release "schedule" and weird writing successfully killed my interest.

I survived several months of a filler fight with random monster, one year of boring flashback and after almost three months of waiting I got 10 pages of another flashback. I'm not invested in Big Loli Drama pt. 3, I don't care if obnoxious newly introduced furrybait gonna survive or not (I wish not), or how main characters will plot armor their way to the bottom this time. Now I'm exhausted, bored and disappointed. Someone may say: "but it's all build up for great climax! be patient!", but I gave up. There are a lot of great stories out of there, where I don't need to wait half of a year for a small portion of not so entertaining anymore content or to turn a blind eye on creepy pedofanservice.

May be later I'll check how the things ended on Wikipedia article and i think so far it's the best way to "read" Made in Abyss, since my eyes wouldn't bleed from loli nipples, shota boners and piss jokes thrown every five pages.

This is not a good manga. Most reviews here and elsewhere would have you believe that this is the best series since humanity invented sliced bread but I would beg to differ.

The manga starts with an exciting premise. Our 12 year protagonist lives in a town that surrounds an unexplored hole called the Abyss. No one knows how deep it is or its origins or the dangers that lurk in it. She discovers a mysterious robot on the edge of Abyss that has lost its memories. We also learn that our protagonist has a mother who is the most famous explorer of the Abyss but ... has not been seen for the past 10 years. Our protagonist wants to meet her mom and therein lies the plot. Simple enough. We have three mysteries, all of them tied to the mysterious Abyss.

While it starts simply enough as an adventure, the author brings in mystery, horror and thriller elements to keep the reader engaged. And the manga is brimming with creative art which clearly demonstrates the talent and imagination of the author. Sadly, those are the only positive things that I can say about the manga.

My biggest criticism is that this manga’s narration proceeds like a rudderless ship stranded in the middle of a stormy ocean. It zigs one way and the zags another with no sense of purpose or direction. For instance, in one of the most infamous chapters one of our main characters is subject to physical torture. I’ll spare you the gory details but body mutilation is involved. And yet in the very next chapter, this character fights the villains and almost wins! Hmm. So, was the point of that torture-porn simply to make readers squirm? Here’s another – in this same arc the main side character starts out as the villain’s accomplice, switches sides, then switches side again, is killed, then revived and finally ends up becoming friends with our main characters. Wow. In the currently ongoing arc, a character who was thought to have been dead suddenly reappears, ends up putting one of our protagonists out of action, only for them to leave and our protagonist is now back just in time to help out our two other protagonists. And in the middle of all this, the author shoehorns a 200 page flashback so that he can somehow make the plot cohere.

Al this is clear evidence of bad writing. It indicates that the author has no overarching plot and just makes stuff up. He gets an idea, runs with it, only to find himself stuck and then retcons the earlier events when he feels like it. As of chapter 56, all the original three mysteries that were posed at the start of the series have been conveniently forgotten. Our protagonists are in someone else’s adventure acting like pawns in a game of chess that they should not be a part of. Now while adventure is exciting and drawn beautifully, l as the reader have to sit back and ask – what is even the reason for this adventure to exist? How does this fit in with the original three mysteries? It doesn’t. And for me, it doesn’t look like it will either.

I’m dropping this train-wreck. I’ve better stuff to read/watch.

*This review is spoiler free*

This manga is something that doesn't come along very often and I recommend to be careful when picking when you start reading it; once you start, you can't really stop. That is because Made in Abyss starts off as a subversion of its presentation, the art and the character designs doesn't reflect the themes the story explores.

Akihito Tsukushi's art is what hooked me in, for without his unique art style, Made in Abyss couldn't begin with this subversion. The art is a very well made blend that serves as a well fitting medium through which the story is told. The ... highlights for me are the backgrounds/sceneries and the qualities of the base character design slate that allow for the fantastic variety of character designs and the emotive movements and facial expressions. To go even further, what specifically makes this art special is the weight in the emotional and action climaxes of each chapter that the art creates. When something of note happens in Made in Abyss, it is conveyed through the art with lines and contrasts so perfect for each event depicted that its a little scary how good Tsukushi is at this.

The characters themselves are great, and the main group is naturally the highlight of the manga's cast. Without spoiling anything, Made in Abyss has this ability to make me genuinely feel and root for characters. I think this comes down to the great art; the emotions that the characters are able to express feel real and have the weight necessary to make readers empathize or simply understand them. When a character grieves, I can't really help but grieve alongside them in a weird sort of sympathy.

I've thoroughly enjoyed the 47 chapters that have been scanlated, and I can't help but check every other day for new updates. I thoroughly enjoyed and will enjoy this manga; it's so different to anything else I've read. I've personally never really enjoyed genres like sci-fi, fantasy and adventure but this manga... This manga has something special, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

I didn't find it all that original or even enjoyable. I would much rather read a manga adaptation of His Dark Materials. Way better story, characters, plot, everything. Riko feels like an extremely watered-down Lyra Belacqua. I had high hopes after taking a couple friends' recommendations to read it, but I was seriously let down. This manga reads more like a lolicon / shotacon / gore fetish hentai with fantasy elements and half-baked philosophical musings slapped onto it. There are pedo scenes in this manga that are so bad that you are NOT ALLOWED TO POST THEM ON THE ... MADE IN ABYSS SUBREDDIT because they breach the "no lolicon / no shotacon" rule. Think about that for a sec. Chapters 24, 31 and onward.

As for the story, it's all been done before, just not to this particular batch of kids. The drawings are great, and the character designs are cute, but the content just doesn't do it for me. I'm bored of monsters, houses and toilets made out of intestines and teeth. I'm tired of every arc being about some kid getting tortured - in Nanachi's case, tortured in the exact same way twice. I started this story desperate to know more about the star compass and white whistles, but I just don't care anymore.

I usually don't read manga. I don't read them on their own and neither do I pick them up after the anime has finished. But the anime for made in abyss made me want more of it SO BADLY that I devoured the 6 available volumes in less than 2 days. And I do not regret it at all. I have never read anything quite as entertaining as this, the artwork is original, impactful and doesn't shy away from the more graphical side of the brutality that's going on. Speaking of impactful: Being a show about going down a highly hostile hole (alliteration intended) there ... aren't that many characters, but those characters that DO exist, are written and designed really well.
As I mentioned, since I devoured it so quickly, I'm now eagerly awaiting chapter 43 like I'm a junkey who's waiting to get another fix of drugs...

I personally enjoyed it because the balance of fun and seriousness was spot-on. There is enough light hearted fun to not make it seem like sufferporn, but also enough gore and violence to probably get it age restricted almost everywhere. It's a fine line and the author manages to walk it to perfection.

The last arc that has ended was almost too screwed up for my personal taste though, but I still highly enjoyed it. It's just REALLY disgusting at some parts...

Oh boy, this is a tough one.

As many people have noted prior, this story has an issue with drawing suggestive art of minors. Nudity itself doesn't have to be problematic, but the feelings it invokes is anything but innocent, especially since it's not a one-time thing.

However, if you can stomach that, an interesting and unique story awaits, with a meticulous and beautifully crafted world and inhabitants.

The suggestive art is one of the biggest score detractors, personally. There are also some character plots that feel unresolved or missing, but the series isn't concluded yet, so that is subject to change.

It's basically the anime version of: ... "Roadside Picnic"

I can understand that Japanese culture is different from Western.
That the values ​​that my society has today were marked by Europeans, being hypocritical of me to say this, but there is something here that is not quite right. Even if we are different cultures, there are global, general principles, which should never be transgressed, and this manga has a serious problem with minors.

The manga follows the adventure of two orphan children who enter a great fault line.
On the surface of such abyss is the city from which these two come.
Creatures of all kinds inhabit this abyss and the secrets that it hides are infinite.
Up to ... here the proposal is even interesting, adding that it has a cruel way of making this abyss interact with its characters.
Most people have been attracted to this very thing, and it could be said that they are their strongest points: worldbuilding and the cruelty of this reality.

All this fell silent when I caught up with the manga, in the saga of the town of monsters that I do not remember the name, nor does it interest me at this point. In this town there seems to be a kind of connection with the main protagonist's robot friend and a monster princess, daughter of, what appears to be, a tree / monster-creating entity, long exploited as a source of resources by humans and monsters. Such a princess wants revenge for such cruelty.

At the time of revenge there are flashbacks of the robot boy and the princess, which denoted a romance between the two, or something similar. The drawings that followed the images were so grotesque, and the dialogues so crude, that I stopped reading the manga.

I do not know if it is sexualized or not, but the way the princess was represented in the pictures and the angles, adding the relationship that she had with the robot, gave me infinite disgust.

I have seen anime and read enough manga to know how disturbed the people are in this, both the consumer and the creator, but I never knew a work that went to such levels of detail in something totally obscene and unnecessary.

Nobody wants to see the naked body, sexually prostrate, of a 9-year-old girl.
There is no excuse that she is a monster or that she is fantasy. She has a humanoid form and acts like a human girl of the same age. There's not excuse what worths.

Or at least I speak for myself.

Fucking disgusting.

I bought some physical copies of the manga because I was a fan of the anime. I read some and I had to stop after I saw something. Sexualization of children in anime/manga is somewhat normalized, so when I see it I usually skip it and pay no mind. Whoever thought of this, drew it, and whoever let this print and major issues. This made me super uncomfortable. It's a shame the artist did such disgusting things because he is very talented, as shown in the shots of the different layers. I give this a 1 out of 10, would not recommend to anyone and ... I advise you to stay away.

As of the date that I write this, I finished watching chapter 64, made in abyss... what an excellent manga manga is perhaps, along with berserk and hajime no ippo, the only manga that I follow today but what makes made in abyss so good?

The story is one of the most interesting I've seen, how it creates its world building, how the abyss works, the monsters, the biomes of each layer... everything is fine, structure that you believe in that world and want to know every corner of it. abyss but afraid because you know that this world is cruel (the abyss is hell...) and ... the story that we follow with riko and her group is something that really interests you and you want to see how it continues in each episode.

the art of the manga is... amazing the quality, the details in general everything is just beautiful and even when those strong moments happen thanks to the art it really gives you that effect blow to destroy you...

In a few words, if they can endure the strong scenes and the things of the mangaka, it is a work that you will love and hate at the same time

Wow, what a journey this was. Made In Abyss Is the first manga I have ever read and It was an amazing experience, I never thought that I would love reading so much. It started with my passion for the anime, it became my favourite and I couldn't wait any longer to see what happened next, so I read the manga (from the beginning).

The story is outstanding and full of mystery. The idea of this abyss that has never been fully explored and the history behind it not being fully known, along with its relics and creatures. Everything that happens has you on the edge ... of your seat, you always want to keep reading chapter after chapter to see what happens next, and I can say that I was never disappointed. It sounds silly but I never thought that a book would make me cry, I felt a range of intense emotions, I felt sad, disturbed, anxious, it was truly a wonderful experience.

The art in this manga is marvellous, there's so much detail and every character keeps its consistency, emotion is conveyed so well and the action looks so intense for a still image. The backgrounds are conveyed so beautifully and you can really feel out the environment through the pages.

The characters are so sweet and lovable and you cant help but love (almost) everyone you bump into in this book. Their designs are all amazing and all have unique personalities and motives, which makes their actions all the more emotional when they happen.

With a manga to anime comparison, the anime does the manga so much justice, putting colour into these wonderful characters and worlds, and adding so much to the world with its gorgeous sound track. The anime has some extra scenes that are not in the manga, but I wont argue with that, they were still very enjoyable and added some more feeling for the story and its concepts. However the manga has some more visually strong representations of things such as fighting and shows more nudity than the anime.

I cant wait to see what the anime does with the rest of this lovely story and I cant want to see what else is in store for the manga too, it's been a wonderful journey with these fun and lovable characters, and I'm so excited to feel all of these crazy emotions once more. I highly recommend this manga to anyone who loves a story that really makes you feel these dark emotions and has a hunger for mystery and twists.

Made in Abyss is a modern equivalent of Elfen Lied, an exploitation series which uses grotesque violence, unapologetic fetishism and moe fanservice to cover up the bad writing, clichéd plot devices like memory loss and plot convenient power boosts, lots of emotionally manipulative flashbacks, tiny veiled harem undertones and laughably bland characters.

I’m desensitized enough to “Japanese culture” and I’m not going to complain about the mere presence of nudity, but Made in Abyss tried to convey the overly melodramatic story, but it also wanted to mix comedy, ecchi and slices of action in the middle. It got very confusing to read as in one scene ... the underage protagonist would be joking about penises and in the next the characters would be having a competition to see who has the most traumatic and shocking backstory. Which is hard to take seriously with the random bare tits and silly piss fetish scenes. Made in Abyss tries to be many things at once, but masters no one of them. It dabbles heavily in horror, ecchi comedy, adventure, action, and it all clashes with the subtlety of a train wreck.

Made in Abyss has a primary children cast, but it’s painfully obvious it was written by someone who didn’t interact with kids a lot (maybe for the greater good). The series repeatedly uses children to pull at your heart strings and make you feel a connection with characters that are about as well polished as driftwood. These characters exist only as props to be thrown under a bus to make you feel sympathetic and sad. It repeats the same scenarios so many times without a break that quite soon it reaches the point of inflation and makes it hard to care about fodder side characters and main characters with their insane plot armor.

To its credit, I think Made in Abyss has got some intriguing concepts to build on, but alas, while the concept of the story is very interesting, the execution falls flat on its face, trying its best to be dark and mature by throwing in excessive violence and naked children.

Now first i'll say I really enjoyed the anime.
The next thing i'll say is that I consider the manga a step down.

Put your pitchfork and torches down, I have my reasons.
1. Visuals
The manga has great visuals but sometimes the detail is so much that you pretty much can't see or understand what's happening, especially with all the concepts flying in and out.
The humanoid characters are drawn pretty well, the other characters are as if H.R. Giger became a furry. Phallic shapes everywhere with weird mutant fleshy deformities.

I guess that's nice, but it still confuses me and I wouldn't mind something a bit more ... normal, ... I guess?

2. Story
As I said, the concepts are tiresome.
The Bondrewd arch was great, but it was also very linear.
I also noticed that in this supposedly uncivilised world waiting to be explored they spend almost all of their time at some kind of shady bed and breakfast.

I wouldn't mind a little less towns and a little more cool world to explore.
I don't like me being showered with lore either. I don't care about that, I care about the world at hand. Not to mention we still haven't seen traces of Wakuna or Srajo.

I went into this expecting Dante's Inferno meets Girls Last Tour but instead I got Fallout: the manga, traveling from settlement to settlement and having to sit through epochs of fucking lore through conversation.

3. Character
I really like the characters. I could dive deeper into this but I complain better than I praise.
All I have to say is that the characters are diverse and well written. If you like femdom, I really recommend this series. I particularly liked the merchant fellow from the Narehate Village but he's pretty much the only good thing about that entire place.

4. Enjoyment
This manga can be tedious at times because of the incredibly slow pacing. You'd have to wait months to get a glimpse into this new cryptic story that ends in a cliffhanger. I wish I didn't have to rack my brain and quell my haste every time I tried to read this. Don't hold your breath folks, nothing spectacular really happens here.

Even the shock value has diminished.
"XD daddy's rod, aren't I edgy"
":DDD whip sexy naked kids"
"oh shit, it's the anarcho capitalist world DDD:"

I think that sums it up.
Don't enter this with high expectations. This really is quite mediocre, despite what contrarians will say, trying to show how open minded they are by following this new, avant-garde cringefest where the author tries to keep us entertained with the occasional shock.

I've been on the internet for too long for this to work on me.
Liveleak and Bestgore pretty much ruin this manga for anyone.

Made in Abyss is 10's across the board. The manga is just gorgeous, and I am now a manga fan thanks to this manga.

I already absolutely LOVED the Made In Abyss anime and this manga only delves deeper into the extra crispiness seen in the anime.

Made in Abyss will forever be a top 5 anime/manga to me, I recommend it to anyone who is fiending for a unique adventure story in a cute and simplistic art style.

I'm begging for more chapters and absolutely cannot wait to see all of this goodness animated.

It would be irredeemable if you didn't give this manga your time :)