Made in Abyss: Why Now Is the Time to Catch Up with This Unique Anime Adventure
“Longing seizes people more powerfully than poison, and more deeply than illness. Once it grips you, there is absolutely no escape… For adventurers, a life without longing is more terrifying than death itself.”
These words, laying bare the true heart of the adventurer, come from Episode 12 of the anime Made in Abyss. An unquenchable thirst drives those who seek to explore the unknown, to experience the unfelt, to reveal the unseen. It is true of heroic epics dating back to Homer’s Odyssey, and is equally true in Akihito Tsukushi’s Made in Abyss.
The series is entering its second season this summer, which is why now is the best time to catch up on one of the best anime in recent years.
In it we follow Riko, who is a young “cave raider”—essentially, a treasure hunter searching for lost relics of past civilizations. Riko lives in the peaceful town of Orth, which looks like the Spanish city of Cuenca by way of a Studio Ghibli film (and it should, given that the chief art director for the series is Ghibli veteran Osamu Masayama). She is tasked with searching for relics with her classmates in the Abyss, a giant hole in the ground that many think could be bottomless. Riko’s teachers warn about going too deep in the Abyss, as anyone who ventures into its far reaches fails to return, falling victim to its “curse.”
But Riko’s adventurous spirit cannot be denied, and she grows restless with the simple treasure hunts she takes on at the edge of the Abyss. With her companion Reg, a partially mechanical boy, they head further into the Abyss after Riko receives a message from her mother, a famous cave raider who is presumed to be down in the deepest depths of this endless crater.
Riko is headstrong, as any good adventuring protagonist should be. She is determined to find her mother and earn the title of White Whistle, given to only the most accomplished of cave raiders. Reg’s mechanical gadgetry makes him the muscle, but he is often weighed down metaphorically by anxiety and the questioning of his own humanity, which he fears he is losing as they dive deeper into the Abyss.
Any exploration yarn worth its salt will succeed in establishing a mysterious world that the viewer, like the hero, can’t help but be drawn into. Made in Abyss constructs a world that immediately leaves an impression. The establishing shots of Orth, where houses cling to the cliffs around the great pit, show how precariously close to the edge humanity lives. It looks as though the town might one day be swallowed by the Abyss itself.
The Abyss is broken up into layers, each with its own unique biome. Viewer anticipation builds as Riko and Reg descend to a new layer, because the staff at animation studio Kinema Citrus go all out to provide a sumptuous visual feast. The immense scale of each of these layers, making our protagonists feel insignificant and leaving them in awe, has shades of the cosmic horror of H.P. Lovecraft and the overwhelming feeling of the sublime.