Made in Abyss

Made in Abyss

Another title that shouldn't be judged by its looks. Although it has a fairly gentle appearance and a more childlike drawing style, this anime develops much darker and more brutal than most others, and this is without exaggeration.

This series has a special atmosphere, thanks to the eerie and mysterious "Abyss" concept. And this is also what I liked about the anime. The Abyss has so many aspects that could be used for interesting world-building, as it has been done here. Of course, combine this with perfect music and beautiful visual effects and it becomes an art form.

Unfortunately, this is almost all the anime ... could offer you. The last 3 episodes have built up the tension again and offered a sad final arc that positively surprised me.

The problem with this series is that the plot in the first season is practically sub-par. 90% of the time is wasted with explorations that aren't even interesting, with incidental events, and especially with shock moments. This is also something that the author used too much of. The first season is still the more harmless, later the gore and shock completely dominate. Thus, you watch the series almost only with the knowledge "What kind of cruelty comes next?

I don't know how far the manga develops in the area of storytelling, but the result of the first season was ultimately average. The mysterious atmosphere was quickly abandoned and the tension was barely there, especially in the middle section. At the beginning of the Ozen arc, I already felt the tension completely collapse, but I hoped in vain that it would improve again.


[Story 4]

The concept and basic idea are fascinating. What has been done with it so far in the anime is more or less disappointing. Most of it was carried by the visuals anyway. I like the world-building from Abyss, but that's practically all you get here. A couple of average backgrounds for characters. Introduced a new interesting character at the end with the only 3 good episodes in the whole anime.


[Characters 5]

Interesting but not one bit likable. The protagonist was surrounded by some mystery as to what he was and where he came from. The protagonist has ambitions, but only the typical standards. Reach the highest title, explore secrets and meet her mother again.
Ozen has been relatively boring, apart from the design of her armor she had nothing to offer.
There is nothing to add about the side characters, nothing interesting about them. The antagonist has only been known for his cruelty and his desire for knowledge and progress. Even though I like his design.

And the character introduced at the end has by far the only personality worth mentioning. Even if we don't know much about her, apart from her background.

The fact that most of the characters have been children who were either tortured or occasionally Reg's penis became a topic of conversation is "weird" but no reason to calculate it negatively. Although I would like to know the author's motivations for this, why we need to talk about Reg's genitals of all things.


[Animations 8]

A beautiful representation of the world, the Abyss, and its inhabitants. Also, very detailed environment, which could be seen especially in the "Dawn scene", where the world is shown from an elevated perspective.

Honestly, I admire this beautiful way of rendering. The fights have been staggering and less remarkable. What will be remembered, on the other hand, is the attention to detail.



[Music 8]

I find it somewhat impressive how out of place the outro is. But this makes it all the more interesting to see the fluctuation between somber and cheerful.

Musically, the intro is not catchy and is mostly average. Visually, however, quite respectable.

But what is particularly positive are the Osts here. These and the animation, have given the anime a massive boost, supporting or saving many of the scenes.



Conclusion

Made in Abyss is an interesting title. However, it can hardly convince with this single season. I finished watching the anime in just 2 days, as it has been quite interesting. In terms of content, however, there is little there and creativity came up quite short.

Enjoyment 6/10

Fell in love with the world building and darker elements of the show. Then the show got weird and left a bad taste. Originally I'd easily give the show a rating of 8 or higher because it's so different. Really captivating world and interesting concept of an all kids cast, but I wasn't able to appreciate the second season anymore because it got weird to a point of being disgusting.
If you can see past the weird fetish-y scenes, go give it a watch. The music and world are really beautiful. Season one has a few suspicious scenes and sadly they get more recent and obvious ... in the second season which makes the anime difficult to enjoy.

This is sooooo boring. The plot is simple but the narration is really hard to understand: it just constantly fills you with events without explanations. You just have to accept what happens in every single episode without really asking "why" because the brief answer the show would give you just leave you with more doubts.
So you just have to passively see things happen. And guess what? Most of these things are disturbing! I mean I am a grown adult and my stomach does not shake for something like this but I simply would have enjoyed more seeing videos of bees collecting their honey or birds ... feeding their babies since the most of those disturbing scenes the show provides you comes to you even without a purpose. And also, in every single episode someone cries the hell out of his eyes in some constant dramatic climax which never really made me feeling anything since you won't have the possibility to empathize with anyone in this show since anything that happen is relatable to your life and things/people you know. Unless you had some really bad experience I guess.. which I think is not the case of the tons of enthusiastic fans of this absurdly nonsense show. And I am speaking to you, the one who write "amazing world building". It s just an amazing world for its view, where is the building? Two shows and a movie and there is still no explanation on this world building at all. You just are told about this abyss which they actually go aaaaal the way through in a bunch of episodes. And also the music are nice. But what do I do with these exceptional landscapes and this nice music without a strong narrative? The interactions between the characters are poor guys you have to admit, man I know is an "old" shonen but how catchy is Hunter x hunter? How well it keep you engaged between nice and unique characters, a beautiful and dangerous world, good music and a catchy narrative? You know that the plot is the same? A male kid go into dangerous adventures to look for his dad? There is no abyss, of course, that is the only unique thing about this anime!
So guys, in my opinion, this was really boring to watch. Because:
A) nothing new
B) poor narrative and dialogues
C) don't have time to empathize with anyone
D) unnecessary gore and sexual praising scenes between kids