When you see little children on the key visual, you often wonder if the show will be just that… childish. Made in Abyss is anything but that despite its younger characters. I have to say that this show surprised me in a couple of ways.
First Episode Impressions
The first thing that jumped out about this show was the artwork. Kinema Citrus has brought near movie-level artwork to a television anime series. Everything is absolutely gorgeous to look at and the animation is a step above what you would normally see in a tv anime series.
As for the story itself; the show takes place in a city built around the ridge of a giant chasm known as the Abyss. The children of this city, who live in an orphanage, are tasked with descending down into the Abyss to retried powerful and mysterious relics. These relics are worth a lot of money which bolsters the city’s economy. This equates to the relics being their only means of survival as a functioning city. It’s kind of a heavy responsibility to put on children, but they are not the only ones going down into the Abyss on digs.
Children are; however, the lowest rank among the diggers, known as red whistles. Our main charater, Riko, aspires to be like her mother and achieve the highest rank possible of white whistle… an honor only bestowed to the elite of the elite. Word of her mother going missing in action reached Riko, but it hasn’t stopped her determination. One day on a dig, she and her partner Nat end up getting attacked by a beast. Right when Riko was cornered, a mysterious laser beam destroys petrified trees and injures the beast, scaring it away. The laser came from a nameless boy who appears to be a mysterious android. Riko take the android back to the orphanage and name him Reg.
That’s pretty much all there is to the show after the first episode. It did a great job showing us how the world works, the perils of digging, and gave us a bit of mystery to chew on. Made in Abyss brings forth an interesting concept that you don’t really see in most anime these days. It’s pretty refreshing and while I have watched episode two (which was pretty good in and of itself), I was hooked from episode one. I think this is going to be a sleeper hit of the season.
OP & ED Impressions
I had to wait until Episode two for the opening song, which is “Deep in Abyss” by Riko and Reg. So the character voice actors lent their voices to the song which I have mixed feelings on. The opening notes immediately captivates you and builds up this sensation that the opening is going to be epic. Then the vocals come in and all of that comes to a grinding halt. I found the vocals to be a bit on the annoying side and the music, which started off in epic fashion, dwindled to nothing more than a standard song. This is one I’ll have to hear a few times in order to say if I like it or not, but until then, I’ll remain on the fence.
The ending is “Tabi no Hidarite, Saihate no Migite” by Riko and Nanachi. The song sounds like it belongs at a carnival or some children’s stage play. Once again, Riko’s vocalist Miyu Tomita, just sounds too high pitched to be a singer. I can’t stand the voice and while the ending song is rather cute, it’s something I won’t be listening to over and over again. Once is quite enough.
Worth Watching?
YES – As I’ve said above, I think that Made in Abyss is going to be a sleeper hit of the summer anime season. The children in this show have an amazing balance to their characters. On one hand, they are put into adult situations and have to act like adults, but in the end, they’re still children. I think the show does a great job in showing that. Plus, all of the situations they experience are rather serious, but at the same time, they maintain the innocence of their childhood. I want to know more about Riko and what happened with her mother. The show is just starting to get into Riko’s backstory and it’s really good. I think people should give this show a chance.
