The Abyss – the final frontier.
That must be the feeling of all the people living in the town around the big hole they name the Abyss. For the right reasons, since many who venture down there never come back, and those who do are often changed in bones and mind, caused by the curse of the Abyss.
If you climb deep enough into the Abyss, the Abyss climbs into you.
Which of course does not stop stupid humans from still doing it, and so many children are left without parents, living in the climber’s orphanage.
As work is in short supply in the town living from what gets taken from the Abyss, the children have to work down there, too.
One of them is Riko, a blonde 12 year old girl who is fascinated by everything from the Abyss. One day she finds a robot boy and brings him back into her room. To the surprise of everyone Riko manages to wake up the boy, who turns out to have lost his memory.
Please be aware that this is meant in a human way. Losing your memory in a human way is bad enough, but for an AI like Maid-chan it would be way more horrible!
Anyway, the robot boy is named Reg and Riko claims him to be her friend and, as most people would put it, toy.
And as stories go, just a little bit later a balloon makes it way up from the deeps of the Abyss with a letter claiming to be from Lyza, Riko’s mother, who was thought to be dead. The letter has information about the adventures in the deep – and a message that Lyza is waiting for Riko to come down.
There is a lot to question about this letter, but now there is no stopping for the little girl. Against the will of her foster parents in the orphanage, she climbs down with only Reg as her body guard.
Admittedly Reg is a robot with arms that he can shoot for dozens of meters, which is handy when climbing or falling. He also has a super gun in his arm. But still a young girl and a clueless robot go down to the deep levels that only a few survive in? Foolish humans!
And while the landscape in the Abyss is gorgeous, you should be careful when watching it, because the curse is not the only thing dangerous down there. Many wild and strong animals wait for the unsuspecting Cave Raider to be eaten as a snack. There are even some that try to eat Reg the robot boy!
And even if you survive the fauna and flora of the Abyss, it is always a possibility that another Cave Raider will try to kill you. There are always nice and not so nice people, and down there nobody knows the difference.
That is also true for Ozen, who at first seems to be quite the evil character, but turns out to be a friend to Riko’s mother Lyza.
Why do people have to hide their intentions so often? Maid-chan thinks it just makes it harder for everyone involved!
After Reg and Riko survive Ozen’s Training, they venture deeper, to the fourth level of the Abyss.
There Riko is nearly killed but gets saved by a mysterious figure named Nanachi.
Nanachi helps Reg to save Riko and also explains some unknown details of the curse of the Abyss to him. While prone to mischief, Nanachi is a caring character who’s shyness (and appearance) is based on past bad experiences.
Maid-chan is sure you will have tears in your eyes!
After Nanachi’s burden is lifted, she accepts the invitation to follow Riko and Reg, likely fully aware that her way will lead them to the source of Nanachi’s pain, an infamous Cave Raider.
And here the anime ends.
Maid-chan is sorry for the sudden cliff hanger, but that is how it is. There is a film announced that seems to be the next part of the journey, but it will air in 2020.
Stunning!
While the anime starts like a filmed version of a dungeon crawler, it differs rapidly from the “gathering items” motif. Instead it is full of mysteries, about Riko and her mother, Reg, the Abyss itself and the people the duo meets down there.
The anime is heavy on emotions, in the positive sense. It also is fantastically gorgeous, the pictures shown often look like oil paintings.
The character design needs a bit getting used to though, but Maid-chan is sure you will succeed.
Conclusion
Made in Abyss is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and at the same time mysterious animes ever. Even though you see the many dangers of the Abyss, even Maid-chan feels the tug to explore it. A dangerous magic…
There are a few tiny bumps in the story, but if you don’t look too carefully you may not even notice them.
But even with the story bumps Made in Abyss manages to climb up (or down in this case?) to level 10/10 on the totally objective Maid-chan scale, thanks to a bonus point for the magnificent art.
Consider yourself grabbed and chained to an elevator basket downwards by Maid-chan with the order to go down exploring the Abyss for yourself!
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