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
