I RECOMMEND WATCHING THIS SHOW BEFORE READING PAST THE FIRST PARAGRAPH. THIS SHOW IS BEST EXPERIENCED BLIND. If you're continuing after the first paragraph, then hopefully you find my review competent enough. Thank you for your time.
This show has really gotten me back into the anime scene, almost singlehandedly. Ya see, I had been watching shows for the past year that are like Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni and Boku no Hero Academia, the former being morbidly awful and the latter being a show of a genre that's been beaten to oblivion by how much its been done.
...
Don't get me wrong, either. Boku no Hero is a perfectly splendid show, and is definitely one of the best I've seen this year. However, in Made in Abyss I saw something truly special. Something I had never seen done before, or at least done in such a proficient, effective, and graceful manner. The last time I felt this way about a show was Koe no Katachi, which isn't even a show, as it is a film. Made in Abyss made me feel emotions in ways I never thought an anime could pull off. I felt as if I was in this adventure Riko and Reg were in as well, and I felt like I could feel what they were feeling firsthand... redundant I know, but hear me out. Truly the best thing this anime has is its overwhelming atmosphere, which is masterfully created. This atmosphere is the key to success on every front. The progression of events(story), the character development and emotions, the art, animation, ost, everything in this show that is good has a symbiotic relationship with this atmosphere. And I'll explain why I think this way.
The progression of events of this show follows the two main characters; Riko and Reg. You follow them and hear their story as they climb down this huge chasm, called the Abyss, in the middle of the city of Orth, their starting place. You see these two characters grow and mature from the plenitude of obstacles they come across during the duration of this show. The obstacles themselves are organically woven into the story, and none of them felt superficial at all, at any point. The reason I think this is, is because of the fact that none of the obstacles in this show exemplify one thing. They all represent multiple benefits and tools this show uses quite effectively to progress the plot forward, and build up the show's atmosphere. At first glance the Abyss seems desolate and dark, especially after the characters reach a certain threshold. However, the obstacles Riko and Reg face all make the Abyss a fascinating and lively place, brimming with wonders, dangers, and mysteries. This is part of what I mean when all aspects of this show work in tandem with the atmosphere to be elevated to the next level, above great. The progression of events in this show is smooth, organic, and realistic(at least how realistic a fantasy show can be). But when coupled with the atmosphere, we get tense and thrilling scenes, moments of cathartic joy, and pure horror as we look at our screens, unable to help when one of these precious characters fall ill or get injured. One final thing to note; this anime also uses it's false sense of security, in the form of it's artstyle, to catch viewers off guard and surprise them with surprisingly grim sequences that make your spine tingle with fear or anxiety. This, along with the atmosphere, creates this moment of shock as we viewers see this show for what it actually is; a truly perilous trek down a dangerous hole with no sense of closure in sight anywhere to be found. And I absolutely loved it.
The main characters of this show are Riko and Reg. Seeing these characters grow and mature in the duration of this show was a splendid experience. The way the show handled character development was great. These characters are really well written in general as well. They seemed like they could be real people in this world, at least in my opinion. They both have their character quirks, but they also have this childlike innocence and naivete that makes them seem like real children in this horrifying story of exploration. The feel real, tangible. The side characters are also very complex in a way, and the encounters with allies or obstacles feels organic and smooth. Most of them didn't feel lifeless and uninteresting. Most of them had neat and engaging backstories and motives. I think a big reason for that is the amount of creative room the mangaka and studio has to make these characters seem as interesting as possible. I really liked the variety of motivations seen in this snippet of this world exposed by this show. The atmosphere of this show also helps with character development and making interesting quirks for each of these characters. The oppressing nature of the Abyss has formed some of these character personalities. And the way these characters function in this Abyssal world creates a sort of tension within the show as well, which further adds to the atmosphere. As I have stated before, the main characters feel near and dear to me, and I felt for them whenever they fell under some kind of hardship. I think this cannot be overlooked, at least in my review, as this is a very commendable feat in my eyes. I loved these characters so damn much.
This show has great art. Correction; this show has absolutely amazing, stunning art that left me speechless on every turn as I watched this show. It's absolutely breathtaking setpieces made me want to come back to this anime most of all. They elevated the atmosphere even more, as these stunning locales also marked all the places the main characters can visit, really improving the expansiveness of this Abyss they're in. The character designs as well look really unique and one of a kind, not afraid to ditch a previous artstyle to make a new, entirely different looking character design. This also makes the uniqueness of this world more apparent as well. The animation really isn't something to truly write home about however. It's above average, and is very smooth in many places. The animation also has very cool and dynamic movement from time to time. But even if the animation had personality and a few moments of proficiency, it still didn't manage to pull off this dynamic animation all too well in many cases, and the general animation also had many missteps and choppy moments all throughout. I still found the animation as good however, and It's not a fault of the show, only a minor misstep in this show that had many other great aspects.
The sound design was also a factor that made this show one I always wanted to come back to. Specifically the ost. This ost is one of the best I have ever heard, and when one of these ost songs ever came up, I always felt something, whether that be joy, tension, or horror as I saw the events unfold with the music over the scene, like a soft blanket that made the scene much more effective at what it was trying to achieve. The OP was decent, but nothing spectacular, and the ED sounded pretty nice. The animation and visual for the OP was stunning, and encapsulated how an OP should operate as- a one off short giving a visual intro to the characters this show will focus on. The ED is a cute little animatic of Riko and Reg, and soon after a furry creature, on a cute, simplified version of their dangerous trek down. The voice acting in this anime is spectacular from what I felt. Riko especially, her voice actor was great at conveying Riko's emotions at the current moment. Reg's voice actor was also proficient at making the robot seem truly alive. The other side characters also had good, cool voices that fit them well in my opinion. Both of these factors fit in with making the atmosphere more rich, as the ost makes the world around Riko and Reg seem wondrous and dangerous, and the voice acting makes the viewer feel unsettled and anxious, or filled to the brim with a feeling of joy.
Those are the bulk of my thoughts for this masterpiece. I do have some nitpicks, like how this anime has several minor timeskips that really don't alter the flow of the show much, which I find is a good thing. Another is the fact that Reg, even though he has a ~40m range on his robot extendable arm, seems to be able to hang down much more than 40m with them. Again, these are really small nitpicks, but I felt like they were worth mentioning, as the former lowered my singular rating for story by one point. But truly, I enjoyed my time with this anime a hell of a lot. I got, felt, and experienced more unique things this anime threw at me than any other anime i have seen in the past year. I truly, truly love this anime to bits, and it blew my every expectation coming into this show out of the goddamn water. It genuinely surprised me, but I love the show all the more for it.
Edit: About the blatant child nudity that has been infamous among this community... I find it to be okay. While I think the idea that Riko is completely fine with nudity could've been conveyed orally instead of visually, I have a small sense of understanding on why the half nudity is present in such a blatant way. However, I do wish it was really toned down a little, and sometimes I didn't welcome the scenes that child nudity were portrayed in.
(Out of 9 points)
Story: 8
Character: 9
Art: 9
Animation: 7
OST: 9
Voice Acting: 9
Enjoyment: 10
Final Verdict: 10. A great experience I recommend to everyone.
P.S. Sorry for the lack of structure in this review. I was very redundant in getting my point across. I'll try to do better next time... ^-^'
Jan 27, 2018
Made in Abyss
(Anime)
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I RECOMMEND WATCHING THIS SHOW BEFORE READING PAST THE FIRST PARAGRAPH. THIS SHOW IS BEST EXPERIENCED BLIND. If you're continuing after the first paragraph, then hopefully you find my review competent enough. Thank you for your time.
This show has really gotten me back into the anime scene, almost singlehandedly. Ya see, I had been watching shows for the past year that are like Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni and Boku no Hero Academia, the former being morbidly awful and the latter being a show of a genre that's been beaten to oblivion by how much its been done. ... Jun 10, 2017
Renai Anagram
(Manga)
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This manga... I honestly don't get it. I feel like it tries to be a story about an adult growing and adapting to the world around her, but it just comes out as a gigantic mess that really has no rhyme or reason to exist.
This manga has few redeeming qualities. First, the artstyle is really well done. The backgrounds look nice and all, but its the character designs that really shine. Something I want to note as well is how the first chapter is actually pretty good. But from there, it becomes a mangle of obscure themes and morals that ultimately led to its downfall. ... May 18, 2017
Koe no Katachi
(Anime)
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This movie completely and utterly blew me away. The animation, the sounds and OST, the characters, the carefully constructed string of events. I found nearly everything perfect in this movie. This series suffers from weird coincidences at times, and I've heard that the movie leaves out some scenes from the Manga, but that's okay! I usually cannot overlook blatant plot conveniences, but somehow, some way, this movie made me ignore everything bad. In fact, I can barely think of anything that could count as a flaw. Maybe it was because I was enjoying the movie so much. Point is, I found this movie absolutely stunning,
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Aug 14, 2016
Juuou Mujin no Fafnir
(Anime)
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Huh... do I really need to go into detail for this?
Quick review, here we go. Story: 2 Nothing going for it. Stupidly unoriginal and needlessly slow at times. Art: 4 Nothing special here. It's decent, but nothing is beyond the realm of mediocre. Animation was... not too smooth. It wasn't smooth thorought the whole series even. Sound: 3 ... Jul 24, 2016
Usagi Drop
(Anime)
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It's been a bit since my last review. It's been a while since I've watched this anime too. But as I was just casually going through my Completed list of animes, I finally felt like writing a review. And I thought this anime was the right choice. Usagi Drop, one of my all-time favorite animes, which was left out of my favorites list because I was indecisive on what anime I should remove. Long intro aside, lets get into this.
Usagi Drop is a cute little story about a man in his thirties, named Daikichi, and his adopted daughter, Rin. I say story, but its really ... Apr 12, 2016
Clannad: After Story
(Anime)
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This is my favorite anime ever. My #1, favorite. Seriously. And yet... I can't bring myself to give it a perfect 10, even though it's really good. The main problem? The story.
Story 8/10 The first part of Clannad AS's story made little sense to me, because it felt like filler. There was no consistent plotline till several episodes in.The first few episodes were bad because they did nothing for the plot. They were literally just pointless short stories that were written with average quality. Don''t get me wrong. After these awful episodes, the story becomes more consistent and everything improves. Art 8/10 This artstyle is all moe. ... Apr 11, 2016
So, this anime. I liked it alot. I won't say this anime doesn't have problems. But it was still very VERY enjoyable for me. I loved Clannad, and still do. I like Kanon, and Angel Beats!. So I was excited for it. Alot of people were disappointed, though. I, on the other hand, loved it. Not my top 10, but still enjoyed it alot. I think it's a tad underrated, but still has a good(-ish) score.
Story 9/10 The story of this anime was fine. It still had some hiccups here and there, like the ending, but still was very appealing to me. The most clichè ... Mar 22, 2016
Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry
(Anime)
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Let me get this clear: My rating of 6 does not mean that this anime is bad, only that it could've been much more than it is. To me, 5-6 is mediocre. It could have been better, but it doesn't do horribly bad either. 5-6 is my example of an average anime. In a lot of anime reviews of MyAnimeList, I seem to think that a lot of reviewers regard a 5 as a bad score. My point with this lengthy introduction is that my mindset is different from most reviewers who think like the above, so when you read this, keep this in mind.
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Mar 18, 2016
Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei
(Anime)
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Now, this anime does have flaws. But why is this ranked THIS LOW? It has flaws, but not enough to put this anime this low. I thoroughly enjoyed this anime. There is a good story, good characters, good visuals and mediocre to good sound. Yet for some reason it is said to be a bad anime by a lot of people. Obviously this isn't the majority, as this anime would have an even worse score that it already does. But it truly baffles me that an anime, by MadHouse, that has a good plot as this, and great assets like good art and sound, could
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Mar 9, 2016
Shokugeki no Souma
(Anime)
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This anime was really cool. One of my first anime I've watched, I thought this anime was one of the best ever. Now... not so much. Although I still stand by my opinion of this anime, good, I think this anime gave up a piece of itself for fanservice. It was a cool idea at first, but it quickly got old for me. As I rewatched it, it wasn't as interesting.
Story 7/10 Very simple story. Very simple concept. I like it. I'm not worried about the paramount ending, as the series WILL have a second season sometime this or next year. There were few flaws ... |