Made in Abyss, one of the handful of anime of the season talked about by nearly everywhere has finally finished it’s amazing first season run, and it thankfully ends with an idea of where the likely second season will lead. Reg & Riko have embarked onto the dangers of the Abyss meeting monsters, near deaths, and trouble of all kind at every corner, but thanks to the introduction of hollow Nanachi they now have a better source of knowledge about the Abyss and it’s many mysteries awaiting them.

Made in Abyss is a 2017 seinen anime series, it is produced by Kinema Citrus and licensed by Sentai Filmworks. It is currently available for streaming with a DVD and Blu-Ray release to follow in the US.

The story of a young girl who met a robot boy in a dark, twisted world.

Spring 2017 has brought about a slew of quality anime including the returning My Hero Academia, Boruto, Re: Creators, and many more, but none outside of maybe Academia & Boruto may have made the mass appeal such as Made in Abyss. Based on the rather surprisingly obscure 2012 manga of the same name, Made in Abyss focuses on Riko a cave digger who digs up treasure in the cursed Abyss, in order to rise up in the ranks eventually reaching White Whistle status in hopes of finding clues about her mother’s disappearance, she meets robot Reg along the way and the two decided to enter the Abyss of their own accord, despite the dangers to Riko’s life and humanity.

Monsters of all shapes and sizes inhabit the Abyss.

Editor’s Note: This review contains near complete to complete spoilers for Made in Abyss.

THE GOOD: Upon gazing on the very first episode of Made in Abyss, it makes itself very precise and clear with it’s world building and inside hints presented throughout, for example the series makes itself known to viewers that things will get pretty damn dark…eventually. One such hint includes the fact that Riko sleeps in a room which was formerly a torture chamber. The realization of Made in Abyss’ insanely dark tone really reaches home when you remember that these are very young children doing these treasure hunts within the Abyss, which is full of dangerous monsters and death is almost literally waiting at every corner.

Yes, Riko is completely nude.

The world and character building for Made in Abyss is some of the most beautiful you’ll ever see in anime. From the music, dialogue, and scenery everything comes together in an extremely snug and tight fit & nothing feels too out of place or rushed. Characters such as Nanachi and Ozen further expand the world of the Abyss due to their own personal presences within it and their own experiences with it. Continuing on with the world building in some cases it feels like the anime does a better job than the manga which is a welcomed rarity, for example one of the layers of the Abyss was only explained for a page or two in the manga, but mangaka Akihito Tsukushi wrote an entire episode’s worth of anime only content completely dedicated to further fleshing it out, it’s rather awe-inspiring for a creator to go to such lengths to expand the world of their story through another form of media.

Ozen (right) and her assistant Marulk (left).

THE BAD: There is a moment of a slow down period in quality for the second half of Made in Abyss, in the first half everything is moving and fast paced, but the second half suffers from a bit of a stand still before the introduction of Nanachi. Apparently the manga suffered from this same issue and was the reason cited for Tsukushi’s creation of the character who was planned to be a one off.

Be warned, this Studio Ghibli like art style is complete misdirect.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Made in Abyss is a strange one, it’s a seinen series with art looking like it was aimed at children, but as the story continues, it becoming abundantly clear that adults are the target age group. From wild characters, fantastic world building of the Abyss, an amazing score, among others, it’s no wonder why many have cited the series as the anime of the season.  Otaku Dome gives Made in Abyss season 1 a 90 out of 100.

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