Made in Abyss

"If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you." - Some anime bad guy, probably.

Well, I've gazed into this abyss long enough. I might get more enjoyment or value from staring at a literal black pit than watching another episode of this plodding, interminable slog of a manga adaptation.

Made In Abyss is enticing enough at the start. The art style, which reminds me of something like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance or Studio Ghibli's projects, is right up my alley. While I could take or leave the OP, the ED is catchy as hell (especially when those claps hit, my God). The ... story's setting is probably its greatest strength, and I was interested in learning more about the Abyss, its inhabitants, and the mysteries it holds after the first episode. Even the characters were initially decent enough for me to want to see more of them. Hell, the second episode is basically a bunch of adults telling the MC in quick succession "Your mom's fucking dead, kiddo." How could I resist? What could go wrong?

The answer: The pacing. The painfully slow, drawn out, mind-numbing, meandering, excitement-killing pacing. That's what could go wrong.

I think the first warning sign was how it took three entire episodes to actually get into the abyss. Now, I'm not saying everything has to be all action, all the time, and there's always value in a good build up, but that felt like wasted time when so much of those episodes were spent on (seemingly) superfluous characters. You want to establish the setting along with Riko and Regu's motivations, sure, but it felt like belaboring the point to the point of tedium.

But while that at least served a narrative purpose, the following episodes utterly crash and burn. For a show that tries to tell us there's some sort of urgency, the pacing sure as hell doesn't reflect that. Worse, the beginning of every episode is taken up by an unnecessary, minutes long recap (a debilitating case of One Piece Syndrome). Then, to add insult to injury, it starts relying on cheap cliffhangers and cliche shonen bullshit as if desperate to convince you that, yes, things are actually happening and this is worth your time.

"Oh, we killed 15 minutes faffing about Ozen's house? Well, now she's acting weird. Spooky, right? Bam. Cliffhanger."

"Here's a protracted scene of Ozen just beating the shit out of Regu and nearly shooting Riko with an incineration cannon at point blank range. How do our heroes get out of this? Ha, they don't, she was just testing them! That doesn't feel like a cheap cop-out at all, does it?"

If Riko and Regu were dimensional enough, maybe they could carry the story, but they feel pretty flimsy as characters. I don't dislike them, but I'm not compelled to keep tuning in to see what happens to them next. A lot of people hype the show by mentioning how dark the manga supposedly gets, but if I'm not invested in the characters, then what does it matter to me if fucked up shit happens to them later down the line?

Look, I don't necessarily mind a show that's slow paced if it feels deliberate and purposeful. The Sopranos is 86 episodes of Tony Soprano going to therapy, dealing with his family, and eating gabagool, and that's perhaps the greatest television program of all time; its length serves the story because it is a complex and meditative character study. Similarly, you don't need action or fights for an episode to leave an impact. NGE Episode 15 is probably my favorite of the whole series, and that one features no angels or mech battles, and is instead "just" about Misato going to a wedding.

So understand that when I say nothing fucking happens in this show, I'm not asking for mindless action and instant gratification. However, I need something of substance - character, plot, a worthwhile mystery - and I'm not getting any of that.

Now, I've got nothing to say about the source material, because I've heard great things about the manga. I hope that this is just a lackluster adaptation that's failed to translate what makes the manga work into the anime format. However, I'm not going to continue watching a bad adaptation just because the original is supposed to be good. I'll just get around to reading the manga instead.

This show isn't the worst thing ever. It's pretty, and it's got a pretty good hook, but it's totally insubstantial and not worth your time. Instead of 13 episodes of Made in Abyss, you could watch any number of more worthwhile shows instead. Believe me when I say you'd have more fun playing cave explorer.

And by "cave explorer" I mean getting a finger up the butt.

Made in Abyss. So many people said so many good things about it around the web, as well as having tons of positive reviews.

I would assume I'm the minority here.

Made in Abyss is a show which follows two main characters- A girl called "Riko" and some kind of a mysterious robot called "Reg". They got "summoned" to the bottom of the Abyss by Riko's mother (which is probably the best cave raider out there).

Now, We have some great "world building"... kind of.

We see interesting layers of the Abyss, and interesting monsters and such, but one thing annoys me the most:

Riko is a kid, she ... doesn't understand anything about the Abyss. Even full fledged adults who have cave raiding experiences of tens of years wouldn't make it to the bottom, so why would Riko get there? A random, normal, 12 years old girl.

So there she goes down there with the robot called "Reg". But let's not mistake- Reg isn't some "military robot" which is capable of some fantasic features, machine guns and stuff. He can extend his arms and has some kind of a blaster (and he collapses after using it).

We see already from the first episode what the horrors of the Abyss are. People sent from down there what they look like. Huge monsters with shields and shells. How the hell are these two kids supposed to beat the monsters? Not sure.

The show just feels extremely unrealistic, and don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with it being unrealistic, but it makes me think like this anime underestimates your IQ.

I can easily say, "Hype killed the anime". You see, it might be enjoyable to watch it, but I don't agree with all the hype and "Wow, such a good anime". This anime will definitely not be anywhere close to my AOTS (Anime of the season).

I think in these paragraphs I've summarised my opinions of the Story, which I'll give 5/10 and character, which will get 4/10.

I'll give art a 9/10. Not too much to say, but the anime "looks good" visual-wise.

Sound- While I don't find any of the soundtracks too interesting or unique, the OP is really good. 7/10.

Last words, enjoyment and overall, I rate it 6/10.

If you got to read the review before watching the anime and you are interested, please, do yourself a favor and watch it before reading anything else about it. The hype is too great you might find yourself hating this anime because of it (Like me).

I think this series is incredibly overlooked and very overhyped at the same time.
Sounds weird, right?
Made in Abyss is prime example of poorly executed great idea. This show had everything to become a modern classic, but wasted it on bland characters, poorly paced dull story and blatant fetishism.

Worldbuilding
Made in Abyss sets up one the most interesting fictional world to explore, but barely does anything with said world. Since episode 1 you'll be showered by paragraphs of exposition and ramblings about great adventures, but the Abyss itself is very shallow. It does look pretty, all thanks to amazing background art, but it's empty as desert. 3-4 ... species of monsters per layer, no foreign delvers, no artifacts to collect, nothing of what you can expect by looking at its map and listening narrator's voice.
I still think Made in Abyss is worthy to watch for the world alone if you are tired from generic fantasy/isekai setting, but actual Abyss is one big missed opportunity in terms of worldbuilding. Monster designs, landscapes, idea of the curse field are great, yet plain and tiresome story doesn't allow them to shine.

Story
It's linear and aimless. The most interesting part of the story are flashbacks and it speaks a lot. Somewhere in the middle of Ozen's arc I questioned myself: "why do we even follow Reg and Riko, when Lyza's past seems 10x times more interesting than her daughter's speedrun?"
The shock value and horror may have worked if there would really be consequences. Despite building up the dangers of the Abyss nothing of lasting consequence actually happens. For every time main characters are getting into troubles there is always Deus Ex Machina to save them.

Characters
I don't have prejudice against children as main characters, I think that immature protagonists can be incredible opportunity for a writers to show how the horrors of the Abyss can warp unprepared young minds. Alas, for an author of Made in Abyss it was an opportunity to show how 12yo girl pees herself almost every episode.

I was expecting the characters to be more developed than what is the standard fare for shounens, but Riko and Reg totally fit into what every main character of shounen series are, despite Made in Abyss being seinen. The worst part is that they don't grow because of their hardships, they just stay as naive as in the beginning so the viewer would feel bad for watching suffering of cute, innocent kids.

Side characters are slightly better, but they don't have enough screentime or proper arcs e.g. Ozen, who was intriguing, but actually exists for exposition only.
Nanachi's part amused me at some point by how writers tried to brush away the fact that cute bunny tortured almost as many people as its creator. I was seriously disappointed that potentially interesting morally grey character turned into a token furry loli at the end.

Drama
I've heard million times how this series is sad and depressing. It's not, if you wouldn't allow to fool yourself by simple tricks. Made in Abyss essentially skips all needed development of emotional connection between viewer and characters and makes you feel bad for them because they are small children. It uses every possible tearjerking trope in a span of one episode from cancer like desease to loss of pet and sweet tragic girl, who fell for some loser. For me, it's jumped the shark.

Art&Music
Background art is incredible, music carried half of the overall enjoyment. I liked monster designs and White Whistles. Architecture of Orth was also great.

tl;dr: Made in Abyss has an interesting setting and the production values are excellent. But it seriously fails with the main characters and with the laughably forced melodrama.

If my experience with this anime had to be summarized by one word, it would be: disappointment.

The series starts off with a rock solid premise: the Abyss, a giant hole through the earth filled with valuable artifacts, uninimaginable creatures and realities beyond human comprehension. A city was built around this mysterious void on the surface and Divers are adventuring towards what seems to be the center of the earth, with their journey becoming increasingly difficult the deeper they go. A story about a giant abyss very reminiscent of Dante's journey through the nine circles of Hell, with a side of archaeology and a good amount ... of mystery? What's more to ask for? As an archaeologist myself and very avid reader, this premise had me extremely excited.

Unfortunately, as the story progresses, everything just falls flat. The sense of adventure and exploration is almost non-existent, the duality between the very young and innocent protagonists and the absurdly dangerous abyss they venture into is negated by plot conveniences, the ethical aspect of the Divers retrieving ancient relics and selling them on the surface isn't touched upon, the mystery generated by the Abyss is for the most part uninteresting because of how easily every question is answered, and the laws regarding the Abyss make absolutely no sense.

STORY

Very straightforward; Riko, the main character, wants to find her mom, a white whistle, who seems to be waiting for her at the bottom of the Abyss. The goal is thus very simple, to descend into the Abyss, but the execution is extremely difficult, facing the dangers this place has to offer. There isn't much to say about the story in itself, it just works. However, what doesn't work is the way it is executed. As mentionned above, I was expecting an adventure full of dangers and anguish, ripe with discovery of an ancient civilisation but also self-discovery, fear and doubts, regrets and hope. Almost none of that is present in this anime. Although the Abyss is presented as a very threatening place to go in, and almost impossible to come back from, the two protagonists of the story seem to just breeze through the various layers of this giant hole. Everytime danger arises, it is quickly taken care of by Reg, who just happens to be a robot equipped with a weapon "that defies the laws of the Abyss". When Reg finally finds himself faced with an opponent too strong for him, it is quickly revealed that she was just testing him and Riko. When Riko gets stabbed by a poisonous creature, a new character is conveniently introduced. She conveniently happens to have a immortal blob as a friend who conveniently can produce an antidote capable of curing Riko. Just when I thought Riko's own actions and carelessness would have consequences, i.e. her losing an arm, she is quickly taken care of and healed.

It is hard to really feel any sort of tension when nothing seems to be able to seriously threaten the protagonists. Reg is a seemingly immortal robot and Riko is equipped with the strongest plot armor she could find.

CHARACTERS

This is by far the show's most prominent issue. Almost none of the characters are interesting. Side characters are very quickly forgotten and don't really add anything to the story. Riko and Reg are headed into the depths of the earth, so one would think that the various dangers and characters they meet along the way would change their perceptions of the Abyss, of its creatures, of its artifacts; they would learn from these encounters and become better prepared to face this place and its hazards. Except they don't. Riko does learn some informations about her past but even this big plot twist actually doesn't matter because it doesn't actually change anything in the story, atleast in the first season. The various species of creatures they encounter also don't seem to alter in any way Riko's view on the Abyss. It's like she doesn't realize this place is dangerous and just keeps running off on her own despite being completely defenseless. This could be a way to add depth to her character and to emphasize her innocence by confronting her with the horrors of the Abyss. But one would expect some sort of character development from these encounters. Needless to say, Riko doesn't go through any developement throughout the series. She simply realizes, towards the start of her adventure that she is defenseless without Reg, but she seems to quickly forget that.

Speaking about Riko, there is almost nothing compelling about her character. Apart from knowing how to cook, she is pretty much useless. The story is basically the same as an escort mission from a video game where Reg has to make sure nothing serious happens to Riko. Reg is not a bad character, he is just very bland. Although he lost his memories, he doesn't seem to question anything around him. Is he a robot? If he is a robot, why does he act exactly the same as a human? Where does he come from? Why was he trying to go back to the surface? Why did he lose his memories? The relationship between Riko and Reg is very straightforward but one has to question why Reg is so intent on helping Riko reach the bottom of the Abyss; after all, he doesn't owe her anything, he's going on a near suicide mission just because? Maybe this will be explained later in the story.

The only other character that matters is Nanachi, and she is by far the most complex of the main trio. Without going into details, she actually has personal motivations which are a clever twist on a common trope and wants to use the protagonists to achieve her goal. Her backstory was way more interesting than anything else and I would've rather watched an anime with her as the main character.

One thing to note about the main characters is that they're all very young. As mentionned a clash between innocence and horrors could be an interesting path to character development, but that development just doesn't exist. I can't help but feel that the same show with adults as the main protagonists would've been infinitely better. Furthermore, the constant sexualization of Riko and Reg is greatly disturbing. Do we really need that many details about Reg having a penis depsite being a robot? Do we really need to see Riko naked at every turn, her clothes drenched in pee? I did say at the start of the review that I wanted a story about self-discovery, but I wasn't really thinking about this. Sexual discovery for children is obviously a very important and interesting topic, but it just seems out of place in the context of this anime.

WORLD

The world that the show takes place in is by far its most interesting part and will probably manage to maintain most viewer's (myself included) attention. It is engrossing, fascinatingly disturbing and frighteningly compelling. An Abyss filled with the ruins of an ancient civilization and grotesque monsters, the potential is infinite. Unfortunately, as I was watching the anime, I kept wanting more. I wanted to know about the world outside the Abyss, about the city around it, about how it was discovered, about how the discovery affected everything else, about the relics being sold on the surface, about the different layers, about the different whistles colors, about the creatures inside the hole, about the relationships between the different species and their environment, about how the Divers managed to go to the sixth layer and come back, about the different manmade structures, about this ancient civilization, ... But the anime just doesn't want to give exposition. It barely explains anything about what makes it interesting in the first place. The story is also full of plot conveniences where rules regarding the Abyss are only explained when the characters need to make use of them. Everything just feels extremely artificial.

It's a good opportunity to talk about pacing here. What makes the world of Made in Abyss even more infuriating, is that the story's pacing is all over the place. The anime spends 3(?) episodes on the surface introducing side characters that play no role in the story. Riko and Reg then take the plunge into the Abyss. We are also introduced to an array of different whistles that correpond to the depth their owner can go to. These actually do not matter because our two protagonists just rush through the first 3 or 4 layers with ease. The anime then spends a few episodes developing Nanachi's character and backstory, which is the best part of the show. And I feel like this is how every layer should've been. An opportunity for our protagonists to encounter side characters which will help them discover more about the Abyss and themselves and become more prepared to face it. But they don't need that because the Abyss is actually not really dangerous or they're just really lucky.

ENJOYMENT

I really wanted to enjoy this show, the synopsis got me very excited to say the least. The start was promising albeit a bit slow, but then the descent into the Abyss was just a mess of poor pacing, plot conveniences, lackluster character development and world building. The mystery surrounding the Abyss and the situations in which the characters could find themselves in still managed to keep me interested and make me watch to the end of the first season.

If you don't mind a mediocre story with even more mediocre characters Made in Abyss should definitely manage to keep you entertained thanks to its nightmarish yet beautiful world.

Anyone who says they had an easy time giving this show a rating is either lying or didn't watch it close enough, Made in Abyss has some of the best moments in recent anime, but it's also got a lot of really big flaws, and sorting through all of them to find out my cumulative thoughts on the show was a legitimately difficult task.

Let's start with the good things though, and the first one is the entire first 3 episodes. They are everything you could want from the introduction to an adventure anime, the monster attack is thrilling, the setting is fascinating, the characters are ... fun, there's that one scene with the great animation and music that makes everyone melt, they're just great.

In addition to the first 3 episodes, the conclusion is great. They make episode 13 twice as long, introduce a totally new storyline, put the characters in an impossible situation that rips my heart to shreds, then sends us off with another gorgeous cinematic display.

That said, for how good the beginning and end are, the middle of this show is a spectacle, just not in a good way. Starting in episode 4, it's almost offensively boring at times, the plot never feels like it's going anywhere at all, and when it does, they retroactively invalid all the progression, the sense of danger the Abyss had is crushed through multiple red herrings that don't actually matter, the great music and animation all but disappear, and I started to realize I just might hate the characters, particularly the main protagonist.

The main character is a girl named Riko who fits the standard "optimistic protagonist" mold we often see in adventure stories to keep things moving, the problem is she is one of the worst examples of this character I have ever seen. She's not so much optimistic as just stupid, she is perfectly fine with the idea the Abyss is just going to kill her in a way no mentally healthy child possibly could be, at no point in the series does she ever display any pre-emptive fear at what she will most likely be facing, and it makes no sense whatsoever. It's made even worse because she's played off to be extremely knowledgeable about the Abyss, most likely so the author has an easy way to dump setting exposition, but in that way, the writer's need to flesh out this admittedly fascinating world directly compromises the plot and characters that inhabit the world. Lastly, the author of this manga is very obviously a huge pervert into no shortage of fetishes that left me personally completely disgusted. There are multiple scenes with the 12 year old main character needlessly naked. There are scenes of her pissing herself. There is a scene that is not called "torture porn" for nothing (to be fair, that scene did have actual impact and brought made Abyss feel threatening again). There's a scene where Riko wets the bed while sleeping with Reg. There's a scene where she gets trapped in a giant carnivorous plant's stomach. And there's a scene she makes Reg take her clothes off then makes fun of him for getting an erection before the show makes the innocent act of Reg performing mouth to mouth to save her life creepy by choosing then to tell her he'd kissed her. When you stop and think about it, this show is disgusting with its sexualization of minors, and it does not apologize for it in the slightest, the only redeeming quality is that at no point does it present any of the said minors being taken advantage of, but that's hardly an accomplishment unless the author wants to oust himself as a pedophile.

All in all, the flaws of the show don't take away from its great moments, but the great moments don't justify the flaws either. This is a hard anime to pin a number to because of that, but I kind of have to, and since at the end of the day I liked the good slightly more than I hated the bad, it gets a 6

It's kinda good i guess? If you're a person with pretty normal expectations of stories and easily like stuff this would prolly hit the spot.

Seeing other people's reviews mention how amazing the world building is really confuses me, while watching the first season of the show I wrote down as detailed notes as I could about every creature, relic, every Layer of the Abyss, classifications of cave raiders as I could, 1802 words in all and over 8000 characters. It's just not that impressive, it's very surface level world building (heh surface level). It's basically just the episodic creatures that cause a problem for a ... bit then disappear, and the relics barely matter, multiple Layers go by in a breeze sometimes without their enviroment ever mattering. I wouldn't recommend you watch it if that's important to you. It's an average story with a setting promising more but never delivering. That stuff that's interesting on paper only exists on paper.

The characters are kinda what you'd expect, most you'll get out of them is "I don't want my friend to die!" and "I like exploring the Abyss!" pretty basic. Best one is Nanachi.

The pacing is brutal, minute long recaps at the start of every episode (worse example is the recap and opening taking over 5 minutes before the episode starts!!!) and just kind of a slowish slog around the middle.

The story is about them going down a big hole. They are trying to survive and go down the hole. There's more to this of course but like, you could easily forget that while watching for a reason. It promises more, but at every chance it has it refuses to do more, the Abyss you want to see explored really bad will be ignored, the relics will be ignored, the world building is just trickery for a pretty average story,

Animation and music really good of course, but personally I don't think that matters to me unless every thing else is good. Feel free to appreiciate the animation, but even if this had the best animation and music in the world, that barely adds anything to the actual enjoyment or quality of any given scene. So while it's a positive thing, I don't feel an urge to blindly open my eyes with wonder and get sucked into the world or whatever people do.

The themes of the story and how dark it is, feel very half hearted. Like VERY half hearted, hearing people online talks about the cosmic horror of it or whatever is SO weird. THE DARK STUFF IS THE EXCEPTION, there isn't any foreboding darkness and horror over the story, it just happens every once in a while and they go back to just regular happy going down the hole time after it's resolved. Like a lot of things, it's surface level.

The sexual stuff is weird, very weird. And it's CONSTANT and OBVIOUS, they'll get strung up naked, gets boners, they talk about sex constantly and it's not part of the story. It's just the author being a pervert. Extremely hard to ignore so you shouldn't think you can either, no good at all!!

I'd recommend most people to watch it, but if you feel stuff has to work hard to impress you, look at something else

Made in Abyss is an anime from last year brought to us by Kinema Citrus (because poor literacy makes for good studio names). Now, I only know this studio because they worked with White Fox on the second series of Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka. I've also heard of this anime because MAL is enamoured with it and my highly intelligent sister hates it. But she also didn't care for Akuma no Riddle or Angel Beats so I may well disagree with her on this too. Of course her big complaint was that it went into super twelve year old edgelord writing during the last part of ... the series and if that is an apt description, I don't think we'll be disagreeing. 


Story:

We open with young Riko exploring the early part of the Abyss, a great and mysterious area where explorers can find treasures but also encounter deadly perils and suffer from a "curse" when they ascend that can wreak havoc on them. After an encounter with a monster that's strangely high up, she finds a mysterious robot boy. She decides to keep  him rather than turning him in and they soon find themselves setting out on an adventure into the depths of the abyss. 

The biggest narrative issue with the series is that the tone is wildly inconsistent. Now, I don't agree with my sister about it going really badly edgelord but it does go from more light-hearted adventure to some pretty dark and gruesome stuff involving unethical medical experiments and bleeding eyes. And that does cause some tonal issues. It's like when Gintama went from joking about anuses to a serious story arc about children being raised as prostitutes or when Galaxy Angel went from zany comedy to a serious episode for some reason. These things don't work well together. 

Now, to its credit, there's clearly an effort put into separating the content to minimise the potential problems from the darker content clashing with the lighter with some work at shifting between them properly instead of just going from one to the other out of nowhere. 

Then there's the curse of the abyss. When I first heard it described, I thought it was going to be like a diver ascending or descending too rapidly, but the series gets a bit stupid with it. There's a point where we see our plucky heroine ascend a slight incline and get hit by the curse. Which doesn't even make sense with the actual explanation they give for how the curse is supposed to work, by the way. The series also has a strange obsession with child nudity. To the point where I have to question whether or not the original writer just has a fetish for it. Seriously, they bring up Regu's penis at least five times and the idea of stringing up children naked is brought up and actually shown in action at one point. 

With those issues out of the way, there are some good ideas present in this series. The whole set up with the abyss could make for a pretty fantastic dungeon crawler. The concept behind the curse is interesting, even if its not always executed well. When the series is sticking to its normal aesthetic, it has some strong moments. This is a series that could be really good, but a lot of its ideas aren't out of the build up stage by the end of the first series. So, its potential ends up being largely unrealised. 

Characters:

At this juncture, most of the characters are pretty under-developed. Riko is adventurous and knowledgeable but she doesn't have the skills to pull off a lot of what needs done. She probably should've stuck to the earlier layers grinding up her level for a while. Regu is just bland. He's determined to protect Riko but he easily gets his jimmies rustled. Oh, and he has amnesia so his past is mysterious. Yeah, he's one of those rather generic protagonists. Undoubtedly, he'll learn to harness his power and reign in his emotions to emerge as  "the greatest hero" because that's what usually happens with that variety of protagonist. Then we have Nanachi. The androgynous character with the dark past. 

To be fair to both Regu & Nanachi, there's enough room in their back stories for something different and interesting to be put in there. If I review the next series, I'll tell you if that happens. It definitely doesn't in this one. 

Then we have the various secondary characters. I'll be honest, I don't foresee any of them moving past their rather trite archetype forms. Clearly, the story is going to follow Riko, Regu & Nanachi. The rest might show up briefly but I doubt they'll get enough focus to become three dimensional. But maybe they'll pull a Lower Decks on us. 


Art:

The biggest issue is the copious levels of child nudity. Seriously, is Tsukushi on some kind of watch list? He probably should be. Not only is Riko, the child we see starkers most often, all of twelve but the art style makes her look even younger. So, that's uncomfortable for everybody. And the action sequences are a bit weak since they largely involve Regu getting kicked around and then firing his laser or something else happening to just end it abruptly. I will give the series credit on the abyss itself. The environments look great. The creatures are interesting looking as well. 

Sound:

Our main characters are voiced by Ise Mariya, Tomita Miyu & Izawa Shiori. The three of them are pretty good in their roles. Kevin Penkin's soundtrack is quite nice. Really, the sound as a whole is the only element I don't have any major issues with. 

Ho-yay:

This series is like Soul Eater in regards to ho-yay. Whether or not it has a good amount depends on whether or not the androgynous character (Nanachi) is female or male. If they're a girl, there's a fair amount once they show up. Both because of the stuff with Mitty and because of their response to Riko once she starts interacting with them. If they're a male, there's not really any at this juncture. 

Final Thoughts:

Ultimately, I can't agree with the hype surrounding this series. It has a foundation that could be built upon for a great series, but it also has some major flaws. That being said, I also don't agree with my sister. With all due respect for her, the dark moments aren't all that bad and they do at least try to transition to and way from them properly. I would be interested in checking out the second series once it airs to see if it fleshes out the characters and takes full advantage of all the potentially strong elements that have just been built up at this juncture or if it wastes them. But, for the first series, I have to call it average. The flaws and strengths balance each other out pretty thoroughly and it winds up neither good nor bad but with the foundation in place to go either way. Yeah, I'm definitely going to review the second series when it's finished. 

The following review contains a few spoilers.

I would like as many people that love this anime to read this review as possible, because this is not a favourable review, at all. Crazily enough, this review has nothing to do with the sexualisation of children, considering that seems to be the main gripe I find when trying to find other reviews that share my views on the show. Personally, I think it is ignorant to dismiss a show just because it might show a naked kid or something along those lines.

The following review will be based on my initial reactions that I typed to my friend ... on Discord who rated it very highly (10/10, like most). Despite that, I tried my hardest not to let my friend's recommendation or the fact that this show (at the time) was nominated for so many awards affect my opinion or get my hopes up. I'll try to keep some sort of structure but I'm not gonna separate this into "Story", "Art", etc.

Before episode 12-13, I'd describe Made in Abyss (Abyss) as 'interesting, yet boring'. I watched all of Clannad, for example, because I just couldn't tear my eyes away from it, despite the incredibly cheesy beginning. Same goes for literally any other drama/slice-of-life/whatever-isn't-shonen anime that I've watched. I sat through the boring ordeal that was Made in Abyss because I heard good things from my friend and it was nominated for loads of awards. If I just stumbled across it and decided to watch it, I wouldn't have gotten past the trial period (3 episodes). As I was watching, and the main duo were doing their thing, I was wondering what the fuck the adventuring had to do with the plot. I didn't know if the adventure was meant to be a bit of fun that doesn't directly tie in to the main plot but when you've got very pressing issues, and you know how long the trek is, watching the anime take its time down the abyss is excruciatingly painful. My friend said that episodes 1-3 could have been done better, and I agree, but that doesn't matter because I don't think it really got better until the very end, anyway. It's not like a slow build-up of character development, it's just boring. By the time they got into the abyss, and during the time in which they were actually in the abyss, I couldn't give two fucking shits what was it in. I was more interested in the characters that they'd, potentially, meet in there. There were so many 'Whistles' that could have crossed their path but they just didn't. So episodes 1-3 didn't even work for me, in the hype regard, because they hyped the wrong thing (dangerous White Whistles) that didn't appear as often as the other things (monsters).

Now, to preface the following qualm, I have literally no clue about how objectively good the art/animation is in this anime (or any anime). I usually just assume that art and animation choice is a case of design over budget, most the time, so I don't pay attention. With that in-mind, it could have definitely been way worse, but I hate the character design. Their faces look like humans fused with a bit of of the Dango family. I don't doubt the quality but the actual design really isn't for me and I don't understand how others can stand this kind of character design, either. Very popular anime that I have watched before like Bleach is not noted for its amazing animation but I think the characters and art of Bleach is better Abyss's, only because Bleach's character and animation design looks cool and sharp. Looking at the Dango blobs which are the faces of our protagonists isn't very appealing to me, nor does it suck me in to the world it's trying to create. That's just the subjective opinion of one guy, tho. The art isn't my main gripe.

The worst part about it was how tacked on the Mitty storyline was/felt. Such a dramatic story that I'm sure I would have cried about if they spent an entire episode making us connect more with Mitty and the one I can't remember the name of and all their motivation, rather than spending 1 entire episode (I think it was episode 9), which is completely skippable considering it's just the main duo fucking around with monsters, doing stuff with no real affect on the plot. I do understand that the Mitty moment was actually only there to introduce us to two main characters, rabbit girl and the mad scientist. I just feel like the transition could have been dealt with much better, especially considering that this storyline was another thing which distracted from the main goal/aim of the protagonists, saving the girl's mother. In the first arc of Bleach, Ichigo is constantly reminding himself and the viewer that he is trying to save Rukia and literally everything he does is to that end. In Abyss, I can't help but think the "trying to save mom" storyline is just a reason to go in the Abyss.

I did think to myself, halfway through, how good the Abyss idea would have been in the hands of the original Dragon Ball, considering that was a show based on exploration, making stuff you met on the way seem interesting. In Dragon Ball, the journey is, clearly, the main aspect, so trawling through the different levels of the Abyss could seem exciting, with excitement and trepidation galore for every level you went down. With Made in Abyss, it felt like the destination and mystery behind the destination was way more important than the journey, so I just found myself saying "get the fuck down there, already". As I said, watching the anime take its time with that was painful.

Another big issue I have with this anime was the symbolism, or lack thereof. There seemed to be seeds being planted everywhere that implied things going on in the bigger picture. For example, you had that artifact the MC had which was pointing to the bottom of the abyss. You had the whole strict orphanage set-up, even going so far as to show you what happens to the MC when she gets in trouble. However, none of these things come to a front. I imagine they will be addressed in future series and may already be explained in the manga but, for now, in a 13-episode series, the symbolism was another thing which just made this show drag on and made me think I was wasting my time.

The emotional parts felt too forced or cookie cutter for me to care. The characters are not interesting at all, with the only exceptions being the Immovable White Whistle that the MCs first meet (the one that saved the MC as a baby, you know who I mean) and the mad scientist White Whistle. However, speaking of the Immovable White Whistle, I absolutely hate either her script/direction or her voice actress. When she was talking for extending periods of time (monologuing), I noticed that every other sentence/word ended with the syllables "eeehhhhh" or "neeeehhhh". I get that, especially with some of the random and unexpected jumpcuts to her face being all scary, she is meant to be a representation of how one can lose their sanity going down the Abyss, but that infliction in her speech patterns made me want to just stop reading her subtitles because her voice kept distracting me, making it a chore, and just wait until she stopped talking before tuning back into the show.

What I'm trying to get across is, this anime, all too often, made me say "why?" and "what's the point?" way too often. It felt like this anime was having an identity crisis. Did it want to be an adventure anime? If so, then why the fuck was the main plot something so urgent? You can't take your time with that. There's probably so much more I'm omitting from this review but these were the points that came to my mind and I thought were prominent. If someone could just put my mind to rest on this issue and tell me exactly why people love this anime so much, I'd be deeply appreciative. I'm not going to lie and say I desperately want to enjoy this anime, because I don't, but it would be nice to be proven wrong because I cannot find a proper substantial reason as to why this anime should be the best anime of 2017.

With all of that being said, I do not hate this anime (I gave it 5/10, after all) nor do I hate anyone that loves this anime. I do not want to get anyone riled up with this review/novel. Thanks a lot for reading this entire review and hopefully other like-minded people will find this helpful, knowing that they aren't the only ones with these qualms.

I'm trying to not to give this an undeservedly low score just to contrast the praise this anime has received. I'll stick mostly to criticisms since everyone else has focused on the merits of this anime.

Firstly, the premise of Made of Abyss is quite an interesting one which lends itself well to developing plot and characters. The idea of a global economy based on useless trinkets from the abyss is the first insult to the viewer's intelligence, but it's such a minor part that it can be ignored.

What cannot be ignored is the completely unbelievable characters.

Let's start with the 12 year old girl who wants ... to be a cave explorer. So, what are her special anime abilities? She doesn't have any. She's weak, of average intelligence, and doesn't possess any special knowledge about the abyss. And yet, she manages to come away unscathed from this place which is supposed to be so dangerous. It's impossible to take the abyss seriously as a dangerous place when you have tiny children managing to survive within it with little issue.

Next, there's the indestructible robot with a particle cannon for an arm. His physical abilities are probably meant to contrast Riko's frailty, but you still never feel that Riko is in any real danger anyhow.

The pacing is bad. The first few episodes do very little to set up the story, and serve only to waste time. Once the main characters enter the abyss, they rapidly progress through this allegedly dangerous place, meeting little resistance. The second problem with them going so quickly is the fact that you don't ever get a sense for the unique aspects of each layer. With a setting filled with such diverse places, you'd expect to get to experience those places with the characters. You don't.

The art is good, but there's too much dialogue and not enough animation. The background music, sounds, and voice acting are good. I'm personally not a fan of the OP. The ED serves as a perfect metaphor for the show as a whole- it's supposed to be dark behind a light and airy facade. Unfortunately, that darkness doesn't manifest itself well enough to feel ever-present. Towards the end, you catch a few glimpses of it.

I don't regret having watched this, but I wouldn't recommend it to a friend. 6/10

Who lets these naive children go for what they think is a fun adventure in the most dangerous place possible? I just can't get past that part and it was too hard for me to suspend my disbelief constantly as required to go along with this plot. Multiple adults could and should have stopped them because, you know, they are 12 and still view the world through disney lenses. Riko is a moron. She makes dumb decision after dumb decision constantly putting her defenseless-self in danger. She'll smell something or see a pretty color and go charging off straight at it without a care in ... the world despite the numerous times she almost got herself killed doing just that. Meanwhile Reg seems fine letting her wander off on her whimsical flights of fancy while he stays motionless getting lost in his own thoughts. This formula manufactures all of the peril. While it does wind up going how you might think it would eventually, they get lucky far too many times. Nevermind that whole purpose for it is because stupid Riko has convinced herself she has to go save her badass mom ASAP immediately for some reason even though the note clearly says she can wait. Headaches and facepalms abound.

It's too bad because I was fascinated by the world they built and I wanted to learn more about it but they just give you a general idea of how things work before getting to the task at hand. They also needed more Kiwi. He's chill af.

Ignore the sheep giving it tens because they read the manga. Don't waste your time on this one.

Just starting out, I think this show has some of the best worldbuilding I have witnessed in an anime. It is expansive and we learn through the eyes of the main characters just how deep the abyss goes, how many secrets lie in store. I really loved the art, the premise, the abyss.
I just can't get past the weird stuff with child characters, which is why I will not be watching further.
There are just too many weirdly sexual references having to do with children. The story would be unchanged without them. There is zero reason for them to be there other than the author ... just writing their own fantasies in. It sickened me at times, especially toward the later episodes. If you can somehow push past that, then you will probably like this show. If not, I would try to find something else sadly.

"Made in Abyss" follows Riko, a young girl aspiring to be a cave raider like her missing mother, as she teams up with Reg, a humanoid robot, to explore the enigmatic depths of the Abyss in search of answers. Their journey is fraught with peril, revealing the mysteries and dangers lurking within the Abyss as they strive to uncover its secrets.

Before starting to debunk this series into more detailed sanctions – for me personally this was a traumatic anime and not because of the gore and the violence but rather because this violence was depicted on a too small of a children, being drawn even ... younger than they actually are. And this is the reason I have very mixed feelings about this series. The story – good and very enjoyable, the violence over small children – not very good taste.
With that being said lets us dive deeper into sectioning the series.

Story 9/10
Like mentioned – I have enjoyed the story a lot. This is one of the few good dungeons type of animes where we actually have the dungeon as a living breathing thing that hides a lot of mysteries, different creatures and dangers and doesn’t lack a good adventure. The storyline is well driven by Riko and Reg and their different but not so much (as it turs out) wishes to get to the bottom of the abyss. Back stories are well shown as pieces instead of annoyance and are more to show off the characters more depth than to distract from the actual series and the point of it all.

Characters 5/10
My main reason to have my mixed feelings are the characters. Riko is very annoying and always manages to get herself in the very deep sh*t. But despite of that she seems intelligent and is being able pull things together and continue the journey. With all that being said – in no way she is shown, her actions and her overall behavior she is a 12-year-old. Either that or 12-year-old have become very reasonable and strong human beings. With the fact that the series tries to put more mature view on everything, even the most mature 12-year-old would not have that much intelligence having in mind that Riko doesn’t really have any good knowledge of any good education at all.
The over use of child molests and abuse in this series is a bit over the top and doesn’t really help for character development. The one thing that drives those children is suffering and abuse which with different children will have different effects but rather if you look more into the characters, it has one the same effects and the same background story kind of repeats but in a different tone for them.

Art 8/10
The art of the series is rather enjoyable, the only eyesore is the fact that a 12-year-old is 1/3 of a normal adult which is very off scale and makes the visual of the children even more questionable. While with less adults in sight it feels fine. The shadowing in this anime is extremely well-made and compliments the whole vibe very well. This shows that you can have colours and colourfull scenes but with a bit more shadows on the right places you can still deliver the overall vibe of the series.

Enjoyment 6/10
While being torn off by the fact that the storyline is interesting and the fact that those are small children being abused every almost second through the anime my enjoyment level defiantly went down. This is by far not the goriest not violent anime I have seen, but maybe as a personal opinion I am not that interested in child abuse on such levels.

Overall 8/10
Still with al of that in mind the storyline is interesting and the mystery behind the Abyss itself is also worth the while. The anime doesn’t lack good adventure and doesn’t lack a very good style of art and presentation.

13 episodes -------- 5/10

Quick Impression:
The annoying Japanese style of writing loli/moe characters that scream and cuddle each other every two seconds is boring and almost deserves to be thrown away instantly. However, the phenomenal art and world-building make us want to watch a little more. But, by Newton, I almost dropped this anime. Riko (main caracther) is that spoiled child who has lost the notion of ridicule and the real, putting those who love her in unnecessary danger through sheer selfishness. Furthermore, the anime carries an interesting and rich world with shallow characters (Regu?) and little interesting conflicts between them.

The good:
- Good animation
- Good fluidity ... of sounds and sound composition.
- Interesting world

The bad:
- Disgusting representation of loli and moe type of characters.
- Annoying main character.
- Shallow relationships and bad conflicts that make you not care about the characters.
- Fanservice for disgusting weebs

Overall an slightly horrible anime.

>> SPOILER WARNING <<

Made in Abyss was an interesting ride. Despite liking the story, I couldn't fully enjoy this show for two reasons:

1) The first 6 episodes were so slow. I understand, they maybe want to build the world and the characters before starting an adventure but the long dialogues in these episodes felt mostly inconsequential. Not to mention we didn't really see many of the characters developed here in the later episodes. Now in a long series, this may not be a large issue but Made in Abyss consists of only 13 episodes so that's half the series right there. Now granted, a ... second season seems to be on the way so this is subject to change. Anyway, I enjoyed the following 7 episodes a lot more, though there are multiple reasons for that other than pace.

2) Riko. Now before you all despise me let me say I don't hate Riko completely. I actually like her enthusiasm, bravery and clumsiness... I like a lot of her traits but why did they make her a fan service character?

In the first episode I thought her punishment scene was just a way to show us how the orphanage is a dark place and Riko is just so used to this behavior that they are portraying it as a normal thing. Turns out I was wrong, the *strung naked* thing was just a popular discipline technique? Okay I guess. Not an episode passes and Riko starts talking about Regu's genitals? Alright, I mean she does live in a TORTURE CHAMBER so I guess she has a weird side.. whatever.

Um... now she is just leaving the shower naked for no reason. Oh now Regu is looking at her boobs. Skinny dipping, more genital jokes, great. No matter how you look at it, you can't deny that this rather dark show chose to use its 12-year old main character for fan service. This becomes especially apparent when Riko is unconscious during episodes 10-12. Honestly I thought these episodes were the strongest of the series because she was missing.

Moving on from the negatives, the show has some strong side characters and a very good 2nd main character. Regu the "Robot" is more human than anyone in the show starting from Episode 1. He's curious, passionate, dependable, sometimes clueless, sometimes flawed, sometimes a pushover. I just love him, easily the best character on MiA. Then comes two side characters who saved the series starting from episode 7: Ouzen and Nanachi. I won't go into detail, but I found them both interesting and the story did a nice job developing them. I'm hoping to see more of them in the 2nd season.

I can't say anything about the art that hasn't been said before, everything is just gorgeous. Visually it's the most impressive anime I've ever seen. The soundtrack however didn't do it for me. Especially some of the solo piano songs. These background tracks shouldn't dominate the scene and distract me from what's going on, yet it happened quite a few times. But this might just be a me-thing. My favorite song by far was the opening credits song from Episode 1.

Overall, I would have given MiA a 7 if I wasn't so bothered by the fan service and maybe even a 9 if some episodes weren't dragged out. Decent, and I'm curious to see how Season 2 will play out.

It's all my stupid opinion no more and there are no spoilers. Well... Imperfectly perfect, these words describe "Made in Abyss". I can surely recommend to watch, anyway it's better than last titles.

Advantages:

1) Indirect and interesting plot. Story 7/10
There are a little moments, which I know exactly, what gonna happened next, but the biggest part of plot, that I couldn't predict and it a big point to "Made in Abyss".
2) Art 8/10
I think, a such drawing style perfectly suited to composition of anime, If don't count a "cruel moments"
3) Characters 5/10
Riko and Rego. About Riko, on the one hand, she is a ... just immature a kid, who have a dream become the White Whistles, as well as her mother was/is, but on the other hand, she a clever and some way mature girl, and I think it a contradiction. I'm do not like this character. Conversely situation, with Rego a lot a mysteries around him, simply, we don't know what is it, and it's a interesting character I like him and he makes a plot more interested and amazing. His skills, his appearance — it's so cool. I'm like a kid.
4) Music 10/10
With a art and amazing fantasy world these music make me feel something unusual inside, like women/girls feels butterflies in stomach. Amazing, I expect with impatience a music pack.

Disadvantages:

1) Stupid and unserious different moves and moments which inappropriate. No comments, because a spoiler
2) A attempt to combine a fairy tale and cruelty, serious world
No more comments, because a spoiler.

My assessment 6/10

Story:
The disappearance of Lyza, Riko's mother, what starts the real story, feels poor and an excuse for a mystery, as it's simply vague. We already expected the Abyss to hide something important at the bottom and knew that Riko "wanted" to go there, it'd be more original if she had just gone with flow, especially after Reg came up. Even for her, "searching for my mother" seems to be a convenient reason for rushing into the Abyss, since she's not once shown anxious about Lyza's situation after getting in there. Either she is in complete denial or is a shallow character.
Prior to Nanachi's appearance, near ... the end, the show isn't really telling us anything, it's just the author taking us into a tour through the world he's created and making Riko narrate how fascinating it is.
The Abyss does hold some interesting concepts, however, even if they are only zoomed in by the end of the anime.
I thoroughly believe that the planet in which the anime takes place isn't Earth, but we're given almost zero information about the world apart from the Abyss and the orphanage; not even Riko's hometown is well-explored (at least the area around the orphanage seems poor, but how come?).
Made in Abyss would work better as an open world game, that doesn't need a strong campaign because the exploration makes up for it.

Characters:
Characters are eccentric and have got an eccentric culture that allows children's mentors to tie them up naked to the ceiling and leave them hanging. That arguably makes sense, given the society they live in, made up of people that engage in the Abyss (keeping in mind that it has a curse that can mess with people's head) or are religiously terrified/fascinated by it. Still, that trait creates distance between them and the audience, including me; personally, their reasons feel hard to understand. Also, I believe the author resorts too much to the Abyss for making sense of things, including the characters; it's basically the only thing that matters in that world and that strikes me as pretentious.
Riko is childish enough, what makes sense (although sometimes I feel she's only depicted that way to attract lolicons, for example, when she pees herself out of fear). On the other hand, she's basically an encyclopedia (though she's shown fast asleep during classes at the very beginning of the series) and cooks very well. Those traits are supposed to balance the duo's skills, with Reg's focused on acrobatics and offensive and hers on subsistence and tactics (?), but that's exactly why they feel artificial. Besides, she's done no preparation before jumping foolishly in the Abyss, so I'm not convinced she could have acquired all that knowledge.
Something that is unconceivable to me despite every explanation is that, after a very traumatizing experience, Riko bounces back to her normal high spirits in the blink of an eye, only after a single round of crying. That's made me wonder if the girl is seriously bipolar or broken. Nothing got to her core, if so, only for a fraction of a second (it's seriously creepy). A time-skip seemed to follow every acclaimed awful circumstance she faced, because, after those, it was like nothing had even happened.
Reg is more cautious and cogitative but also seems to leave his suspicions aside easily. For whatever it's worth, though, he's adorable.
Their relationship is cute, but the author forces that, by making Riko appear naked in front of him and Reg's genitals being made a conversation topic more than once. Besides, I understand Reg's attachment to Riko, for her being the first human he came in contact with after losing his memory, but Riko's overly fond of him for such short time, while barely gets homesick or mentions her friends back at the orphanage.
Ouzen's tonic eccentricity, although a little too out there, would've made her authentic if it weren't for the cliché backstory aligned to it.
To sum it up, before Nanachi, I don't see much character growth, except for Reg being more attentive into how to protect Riko, but that's a shallow resolution by itself.
Nanachi, on the other hand, has a little more build-up, with internal conflicts and notably human feelings. She may be seen as part of the tsundere troupe and her (again fully-connected to the Abyss) tragic past may turn easier to simulate depth, but I found her character a plus on the story.

Development:
The author inserts immensely adverse situations and makes their progress natural. Thinking back, though, some things may have been solely for shock value.
The pace is slow and a great deal of screen time is wasted on trivial interactions with characters that aren't going to be treated as relevant for long and don't really help with the main characters' personal development (at least noticeably), especially since important raised topics are easily left aside by the last ones.

Sound and animation:
The soundtrack is remarkable and fitting, making fights thrilling and emphasizing the drama, as well as the voice acting, that in several occasions made me shiver as I felt the characters' despair.
Animation made character's movements smooth, I enjoyed it. Also, the color pallete is really nice. The backgrounds were beautiful as well.

Final comments:
I'd give this a 4, but I considered that the sexualization, which I dislike, being a problem is a matter of audience, so I figure it was just not aimed at me.
In spite of everything, I enjoyed the last double episode, that told us a little more about the society and added to the plot that so far could've been summarized in "must go down", "mean Abyss beautiful" and "'what am I?', says Reg". Therefore, it could be that some major issues I had were fault of the anime, for taking too long on meaningless parts and delaying the real story. After all, the ending was satisfying, leaving room for a villain to show up. Therefore, I'm willing to give the second season a shot.

This show had so much potential, such an interesting world to explore, so many aspects to delve into, and mysteries to uncover.

But no, it decided to ignore it. This rich and expansive world serves only as a backdrop to the main focus: the relationship dynamic between the show's two main characters Reg and Riko. Which was so forgettable, that I can't even remember what it developed into. Then a third rabbit character Nanami comes in. Don't know what she was doing really.

The side characters are far, faar more interesting. But nope, they never get explored properly.

The sound design really works sometimes, adding to the ... atmosphere. But some parts feel empty when there should've been a track playing.

Some of the worlds are introduced really nicely, the artwork adding to the feeling of curiosity.

But again, never gets explored. Just gets moved past really quickly, only serving as another backdrop for the characters to navigate.

I also did not like the fact that the abyss is talked up to be this really dangerous and arduous place for even the most experienced divers to go down. But the two main characters, both of whom are children and have little to no experience dealing with it's hardships, breeze through with so little effort that you'd be left wondering what the heck everyone else has been doing for so long. The robot Reg's mechanical arm just skips whole sections, and barely anything comes in their path.

They only get into actual danger once, and even that gets used only for shock factor points. Then a random plot convenient rabbit saves them and everything's back to normal.

Maybe I'm ragging on specifics too much. But I still did not like how nothing that is even remotely interesting gets the fleshing out it needs.

It's still a relatively pleasant show to watch though, owing it mostly to the artwork and the small sense of atmosphere it creates. I am just really disappointed with what it could've turned out to be as opposed to what it actually is.

Made In Abyss: The Longest and Most Annoying Bodyguard Quest in the History of Anime

I'm a bit conflicted after finishing this anime. On the one hand, there are a good many positive things about it, such as the art and the lore behind the world. On the other, there is one huge blemish that greets you in almost every single episode: the main heroine, Riko.

Riko is stupid, stubborn, weak, rash, impatient, almost useless, self-destructive, and utterly dependent on other people for her mere survival. And yet, she is trust up front and center and demands your attention and investment. She is ... a weak, inexperienced, and incapable child, and yet she is dead set on embarking on a dangerous journey considered to be suicidal for even the most hardened of adventurers. Despite every sound and rational character in the show strictly telling her NOT TO DO IT, she perseveres, oblivious to reason, on the promise of finding her mother based on a dubious scrap of paper. She constantly gets herself and her party into danger and contributes fuck all to get them out of it, instead relying on her companions to get her out of the mess. Honestly, I struggle to find any likeable qualities about her aside from the standard "she cares for others," and "she's just a cute kid who needs protection." With such an unbelievable brat for a main heroine, it makes the rest of the show markedly less enjoyable to watch.

However, to sort of redeem the stain that is Riko, Reg, the main hero (and effective protagonist of the show) is much, much more bearable, to the point of being likeable. He too is a little kid, but is actually a nigh indestructable robot/android with amnesia. He embarks on the stupidly dangerous journey with Riko in hopes of recovering his lost memory. The thing that sets Reg apart from Riko, however, is that he actually can get shit done. He can defend himself, can travel great distances, and can be quite intuitive. He has an interesting personality, and the mystery of his origins is more than enough to get you invested in him (though there are a lot of questionable aspects about his design, such as the need for a dick). Truly, if Reg were to ditch Riko and continue on his own, he would almost assuredly reach the end of the Abyss in no time, while Riko would hardly last a week on her own.

And herein lies the conflict: I do not give a single flying fuck about Riko or her involvement in the story. In fact, it would move the story along much more smoothly if she were to die and free Reg of the burden of caring for her. However, I am quite invested in everything other than Riko. Every other character is worlds more interesting and compelling than Riko, and the lore behind this fantastical world is quite intriguing. One of the more interesting arks in the story for me was actually the last few episodes where Riko is bedridden due to illness, and the story focuses more on Reg and how he grows as a character.

Watching this anime is like playing Skyrim and embarking on an indefinitely long bodyguard quest with an NPC that has the AI of a goldfish. Nobody likes bodyguard quests, especially ones with stupid NPCs. You would much rather explore the world around you and progress your own character, but instead, you are stuck babysitting a useless lump of meat who constantly draws the aggro of enemies around you while refusing to die due to plot armor.

I am told that Riko grows slightly less useless in future arcs. However, seeing as season 2 is in a sort of limbo, I simply cannot fathom how.

I don't really know how to describe this other than "just fine" to "moderately good".

This might just be my personal opinion but this series has a lot of difficulty in executing its themes and as a result, a good majority of the characters lack depth.

The two main characters are two children and they often behave like ones which is to be expected of them although it's usually to the hindrance of the quality to their characters and frequently reminds you of their lack of personality or even depth.

On the other hand, at almost every opportunity there is for one of the adult characters to have ... depth (which this Anime surely tries to give them) they almost immediately try to spell it out to the viewer which turns this show into such a passive experience that I had to go back and rewatch episodes due to the shiny lights on my PC being a far more interesting viewing experience.

Besides that, I feel as if the things that most of the viewers of this show would likely be captivated by are a few handful of things, all of which are 1) simple and straight forward characters 2) an interesting world that ties into its story concept and finally 3) the fact that its dark which it almost always seems to turn to the viewer in a subtle way and say "you do realise how fucked up this is?" which I'm pretty sure that if I said no the Anime would try to turn itself into Tokyo Ghoul and come off as a bit try-hard.

I'll give it a 7/10 though although I personally feel it more like a 6 just because I might not be the target audience for a work like this.

Now, do I think this Anime is terrible?

No

I do think that there's a great story here that you could possibly enjoy but for the more avid viewer, you might not find this Anime up your alley.

Though there's some enjoyment to be had with more casual Anime fans.

Do you enjoy seeing kids cry and suffer? Me too!
Made in Abyss is an anime you definitely should watch right now. It's good. Go watch it now, you don't need to read the full review, it's so much better than 99% of anime. The staff that worked of it did a masterful job, everything is treated with such care that it's almost impossible to not be charmed by it.

This is my score
Story: 9
Art: 10
Sound: 10
Character: 9
Enjoyment: 10
Overall: 6
...
You may notice something weird. Why the hell is the overall only 6 when the mean of the other scores is 9.5? The answer is simple, it's because I am a piece of shit, I like to point out everything that doesn't sit well with me about this anime, and I'm gonna do that now.
The negative sides of Made in Abyss are pretty obvious as soon as you start watching it, the kids are written in an inappropriate way, with sexual innuendos surrounding them that reflects japan's inappropriate interest in pedophilic themes. I found myself being disgusted by that so I can't ignore it. The second reason why my score is only 6 is because this anime is about a journey into the abyss, which only just started, so basically we end the season at its start point. I have to rate the season as a whole, i think they should've done 24 episodes at least to go a bit forward into the story.

Now onto the positive sides. The story was crafted with care, love and passion. The world of Made in Abyss is complex, fascinating and beautiful. The characters feel genuine, they have natural bonds and act in a coherent way with their characterization. This anime is without a doubt a superior product compared to other anime, if I had to rate it without taking in consideration the negatives it'd be a 8, and I tend to keep my scores low, so trust me when I say you will enjoy this without a doubt.