'Made in Abyss' Has One of the Greatest Fantasy Settings Ever

I was aware of the existence of Made in Abyss last year, but it was an anime series that I never got around of watching.  But after reading and hearing from a few people that it was the best anime of 2017, I just had to check it out.

The most notable thing about this anime is its titular Abyss.  It is a mysterious, magical, colossal pit that goes deep into the earth, and in it is an amazing, diverse, self-sustaining ecosystem full of strange creatures, vegetation, and phenomena.  People who dare to go into The Abyss are called Delvers or Cave Raiders, and their work includes exploring its different sections, uncovering and documenting its secrets, and recovering artifacts and relics left by an ancient but advanced civilization that apparently lived in it a long, long time ago.  Nobody exactly knows how deep The Abyss is, but the deeper it goes, the weirder and deadlier it gets.

The story centers on Riko, a 12-year-old girl who is training to be a Cave Raider and is living in an orphanage in Orth, the town at the mouth of The Abyss.  One day, while raiding a cave in the upper layers (the safest part, and the only part rookies are allowed to go), she stumbles upon a robot boy that apparently originates from The Abyss. Waking up, he discovers that he has no memories of who he is and where he came from, so Riko gives him the name “Reg”, after a dog she used to own.

Reg proves to be a loyal friend to Riko.  One day, after reckoning that her mother, the legendary Cave Raider Lyza the Annihilator, is calling her to come, Riko decides to travel to the bottom of The Abyss.  Without any second thought, Reg readily volunteers to come with her.  With all the dangers in The Abyss, Reg serves as an invaluable escort for Riko due to his durability as well as the abilities to elongate his mechanical arms and shoot a powerful beam, which Riko named the “Incinerator.”

To be honest, I find neither Riko nor Reg to be great protagonists.  There’s the intrigue surrounding their respective, enigmatic pasts, yes, but their current characterizations don’t really strike me as outstanding.  For me, they’re just focal points that serve the purpose of furthering the plot.  As individual characters, I wasn’t quite made invested on them.  I won’t really have any emotional response if one of them dies (also, partly, because I doubt the story is ballsy enough to let either die).  In addition, the chibi character design also doesn’t work for me.  On the other hand, I find some of the supporting characters – veteran Delvers like Jiruo, Habolg, and Ozen – to be more fascinating than the central duo, and a part of me even wish that the narrative instead involves The Abyss being explored by any of them.

The plot is basically mainly focused about revealing more and more about The Abyss as Riko and Reg goes deeper into it.  And I approve of it.  As suggested earlier, Made in Abyss’s greatest strength is the worldbuilding.  Regardless of the quality of the plot, the inherent grandness of The Abyss unfailingly inspires a feeling of wonder that is more than enough to keep the audience glued to the show no matter what.  I appreciate that the showrunners understand this, so they focus more on exploring the world than exploring the bland main characters.

However, make no mistake.  The narrative – through showcasing its wondrous world – is not only masterful in inciting an emotion of awe.  Using the same elements, it can also be effectively unsettling, tense, shocking, or even heartbreaking.  I admit that the finale of season one made me misty-eyed.

All in all, I enjoyed Made in Abyss.  With the mere might of its unique, gorgeously-realized eponymous fantasy setting, it has made itself utterly enthralling and stirring.  It’s truly a special anime.

That being said, I don’t quite agree with the notion that it was last year’s best anime series.  That would still be My Hero Academia.