Shounen no Abyss

Reiji Kurose was born in the countryside, and has spent his life believing he can never leave his town. He cannot leave his mother alone with his shut-in brother and demented grandmother, nor can he escape the clutches of Gen Minegishi, who keeps Reiji at his beck and call. In contrast, his childhood friend Sakuko Akiyama sees past the nothingness of their gloomy town and dreams of the chaotic glamor of Tokyo.

As a way to withdraw from his monotonous life, Reiji finds comfort in watching the performances of "Acrylic," an idol group, and its most beautiful member, Nagi Aoe. But when he encounters the famous idol behind a convenience store in his grim town, he does not anticipate that he will soon be involved in a series of scandalous events that seem to be a repercussion of times long past. Robbed of his innocence, Reiji struggles to wade through the abyss of sin he has been pulled into, all while an intricate web of lies, obsession, and betrayal threatens to tear him apart.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Edit
Background

Shounen no Abyss has been published in English as Boy's Abyss by VIZ Media under the VIZ Signature imprint since April 25, 2023.

More characters
Characters

Aoe, Nagi

Main

Kurose, Reiji

Main

Akiyama, Sakuko

Main

Shibasawa, Yuri

Supporting

Kurose, Yuuko

Supporting

Nozoe, Akira

Supporting

Minegishi, Gen

Supporting

Fukami, Kazumasa

Supporting

Uryuu, Kouji

Supporting

Shinooka, Saki

Supporting

Reviews

Mar 18, 2025

OhMinty

Recommended

Boy’s Abyss – A Beautifully Crafted Descent Into Darkness, Undone by a Rushed End

At its core, Boy’s Abyss is a suffocating yet mesmerizing journey through small-town despair, exploring themes of loneliness, trauma, and the inescapable weight of one’s circumstances. The world-building is exceptional—not in the fantasy sense, but in how it constructs an oppressive, almost claustrophobic atmosphere. The town itself feels like a living entity, a prison with no walls, where every street, every home, and every familiar face contributes to the protagonist’s growing sense of entrapment. The manga masterfully captures that feeling of being stuck in a place where time moves forward, but nothing ... truly changes. It’s a world where dreams die quietly, where hope is a dangerous thing, and where escape feels like an illusion. This bleak yet incredibly realistic setting serves as the perfect backdrop for the story’s psychological unraveling.

The characters are where Boy’s Abyss truly shines, though not without some personal reservations. Every character is deeply flawed, carrying their own burdens, and they all feel unsettlingly real. Reiji, the protagonist, is neither a hero nor a victim in the traditional sense—he’s just someone trying to navigate the suffocating weight of expectations, abuse, and emotional manipulation. But beyond their personalities and depth, I have to admit something that might sound crazy: I didn’t like some characters purely because of their design. Yes, I know that’s a shallow take, but when you pair an unappealing design with an unpleasant personality, it makes certain characters even harder to tolerate. If you’ve read the first 20 chapters, you probably know exactly who I’m talking about. On the flip side, there’s Nagi—one of my absolute favorite characters. She has the personality, the backstory, and yes, the looks to make it all work. There’s something about her presence that elevates every scene she’s in, making her one of the most compelling figures in the entire story. I guess she gives of an aura similiar to Ai Hoshino? In despair, but, she shines whenever they are in the same panels as the other characters.

Beneath its psychological drama, Boy’s Abyss carries a deeper message about cycles of pain and how people either succumb to them or fight to break free. It examines the idea of fate—not in the grand, supernatural sense, but in the way environments, trauma, and personal choices can make escape feel impossible. The abyss in the title isn’t just metaphorical; it’s the abyss of self-destruction, of resignation, of choosing to fall because climbing out seems too difficult. The story doesn’t offer easy answers

But then, just when the story has you fully immersed, when you expect a careful unraveling of all the threads it has so masterfully woven—it rushes to a conclusion that feels unworthy of everything that came before. It’s a problem that plagues many great manga: breathtaking storytelling, layered character work, a deeply compelling narrative, and then an ending that seems crammed into a single chapter when it deserved ten. Boy’s Abyss follows this unfortunate pattern, leaving too much unsaid, too much unresolved. It’s frustrating, not just because of the abruptness, but because it reduces the emotional weight of everything leading up to it. The slow, methodical buildup that defined the series suddenly gives way to a conclusion that feels more like an obligation than a natural ending.

This recurring issue in manga—where endings feel like an afterthought rather than the culmination of everything the story set up—makes it difficult to call Boy’s Abyss a true masterpiece. In literature, timeless works like Shakespeare’s tragedies or other classic novels are often remembered for their satisfying, well-crafted conclusions. In contrast, many great manga seem to fall at the final hurdle, as if the mangaka ran out of time, interest, or space to give their story the ending it deserved. This doesn’t make Boy’s Abyss any less brilliant, but it does leave a lingering sense of what could have been.

And yet, despite all this, I still consider it a 10/10. Because if I were to judge every manga by the standard of perfect storytelling from start to finish, I have yet to find one that truly achieves it. Perhaps this flaw is simply part of the medium, an unfortunate reality of serialized storytelling. But even with its shortcomings, Boy’s Abyss remains an unforgettable experience—one that deserves to be read, even if its ending leaves you wanting more.

Open

Gift

Aug 7, 2024

Folenda

Mixed Feelings

Funny

Informative

i will put a 7 only because of the entirety of the story, if I had to be completely honest the ending was shit, the last half a chapter was worst than bleach in my eyes . (score 3 or 2 )
The story was quite simular to Pun Pun but if a teenager wrote it.
The last arc was scattered and incomplete leaving me with a lot of question marks.
It started really good problems arised at around chapter 160 in my honest opinion.
If only it lasted another 4 chapters to to define and outline like 2 things it would had been a solid 8 .
I could ...

Open

Gift

Jan 13, 2025

kk_oniichan

Not Recommended

As someone who is a fan of "Hatsukoi Zombie" and is quite fond of "Himegoto: Juukyuusai no Seifuku", I was going into "Boy's Abyss" with a positive attitude and hoping for an interesting read as the author had already displayed with their previous work. But, something felt off as soon as Nagi and Esemori's beginning character personality and development was introduced.

Despite being a major part of the manga, the dark themes such as self harm, rape, and adultery serves very little purpose in character development or plot progression. They were usually there for a sort of deep emotional emphasis, which was not successful at all. ... The only effect it had on readers, in my opinion, with such a large amount of atrocities happening one after another is that it numbs the readers and makes decencitize to these horrible, borderline criminal (well some are criminal), actions, which just dilites the dark themes and turns the manga into a torture chamber for the readers.

The premise of story was actually quite interesting. The mystery of an idol and her obession with double suicide with the main character was a good hook, and a strong theme around "people borning into a town never leaves the town", and the mental anguish of the main character's struggle between prioritizing his future by going to uni in Tokyo or taking care of his struggling family at a young age was very interesting. However, the paths and methods that the author took to tackle this premise and these themes was unbearable. The way that the characters' motives and reasoning behind their actions were presented was convoluted and always ill intented. This ill intent could be conveying the evil nature of people or just people from this cursed town, but this barrage of evil, atrosicities, and other distusting shit are really not enjoyable to read. To add on to these weird and uncomfortable character traits followed by convoluted plot points, the characters are just unlikable.

The characters are irredeemible. All of them just slowly decend into despair. At the beginning at least the author gave us a little hope for some of the main characters to turn around and change things. But by the end, they all keeps getting weirder and hopeless, which honestly feels like their in despair for the sake of the mood of the story because these characters just make no sense. The solutions of each character arcs were very dependent how likable and much we cared about these characters, which was nonexistent for me, so the conclusion was extremely unsatifying and empty.

Personal opinions. I mostly either hated or just did not care about the manga, so I really did not enjoy reading this. Buy by chapter 100 I was locked in to finish it because I know I will definitly drop this if I stopped at any point, and some moment were like watching riduculous car crash, so it's not completely unreadable. I also liked the character of chako and sensei at the beginning because of the struggle of helping themselves or important ones around them while juggling around family problems and potential societal backlash (well the sensei is breaking the law, but as a fictional plot device...). But then they just went crazy... thanks.

To conclude

While having an interesting premise and theming around the human relationships of a certain countryside town with decent art and well designed characters that started at a 7/10 (good) for me, the story and characters really dragged down the score to around a 4/10 (bad), but since this manga was a little infuriating to read (hate reading),which avoided complete boredom soit got boosted to a 5/10 (still bad tho).

Open

Gift

More stacks

Interest Stacks

Mangas that should be adapted

by Alpich

31 Entries · 32 Restacks

Cohesive cover design (2)

by soparamen

50 Entries · 26 Restacks

"Guilty Pleasure" Starter Pack

by kizumi91

50 Entries · 446 Restacks

More recommendations
Recommendations

View All

More news
Recent News

North American Anime & Manga Releases for January

Here are the North American anime, manga, and light novel releases for January. Week 1: January 7 - 13 Anime Releases Dead Mount Death Play Part 2 Blu-ray Naruto Com...read more

Jan 3, 8:45 AM by Aiimee | Discuss (0 comments)

North American Anime & Manga Releases for October

Here are the North American anime, manga, and light novel releases for October. Week 1: October 1 - 7 Anime Releases Outbreak Company Complete Collection Blu-ray Man...read more

Sep 29, 2024 12:06 PM by Aiimee | Discuss (1 comment)

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

Poll: Shounen no Abyss Chapter 183 Discussion ( 1 2 ) javereee - Jul 24, 2024	69 replies	by BipulGamer07 »» Mar 8, 4:38 AM
Poll: Shounen no Abyss Chapter 179 Discussion MegamiRem - Jun 19, 2024	14 replies	by BipulGamer07 »» Mar 8, 4:08 AM
Poll: Shounen no Abyss Chapter 171 Discussion MegamiRem - Apr 3, 2024	14 replies	by MeVike »» Jan 16, 9:43 AM
Poll: Shounen no Abyss Chapter 14 Discussion Jinx_Araragi - Sep 20, 2022	3 replies	by rodmanii »» Jan 2, 6:45 PM
Poll: Shounen no Abyss Chapter 12 Discussion AnonymousGuy9 - Jun 18, 2020	10 replies	by rodmanii »» Jan 2, 6:32 PM

Shounen no Abyss
Boy's Abyss
Edit

What would you like to edit?

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Edit
Synopsis

Edit
Background

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

More characters
Characters

Reviews

Interest Stacks

More recommendations
Recommendations

More news
Recent News

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Shounen no AbyssBoy's Abyss Edit What would you like to edit? SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

EditSynopsis

EditBackground

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

More charactersCharacters

Reviews

Interest Stacks

More recommendations Recommendations

More newsRecent News

More discussionsRecent Forum Discussion

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Shounen no Abyss
Boy's Abyss
Edit

What would you like to edit?

Edit
Synopsis

Edit
Background

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

More characters
Characters

More recommendations
Recommendations

More news
Recent News

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion