Hi again! Today, I'll be talking about another anime I recently watched, Made in Abyss. It's a fantasy anime set in a small town that surrounds the Abyss - a colossal hole in the ground that is so deep that no one has made it to the bottom and returned alive. There's a pretty good reason for this: every time you ascend from the Abyss, even by a few meters, you get sick, and the effects worsen significantly the further down you go before ascending, eventually leading to hallucinations, severe internal bleeding, loss of humanity, and finally, death. To top it all off, the Abyss is crowded with extremely dangerous, primeval creatures to whom a human is a small, midafternoon snack.
You're probably wondering why anyone in their right mind would want to go down there, right? Well, the Abyss is filled with powerful relics from an ancient, techologically advanced civilization, and the collection of these artifacts makes the town surrounding the Abyss thrive. It's a major tourist attraction, and the cave divers that find the relics and bring them back provide the town with a thriving economy.
The main character of the show is Riko, a 12-year-old orphan girl and budding cave diver who one day, while searching the relatively safe upper layer of the Abyss for relics, runs into what appears to be a robot with the appearance of a boy about her age. Without going into too much detail, the two befriend each other, and soon thereafter go on a quest to reach to bottom of the Abyss, knowing that they will never bet able to return (There's a pretty good reason to do this for both of them, but I'm not going to spoil it).
If the words 'never be able to return' sound ominous, it's because the show is far darker than it appears. Mixed in with the whimisical exploration and childlike, Studio Ghibli-eque wonder of the Abyss are harrowing, deeply moving scenes that betray the fact that the Abyss will have mercy on no one, not even a couple of kids.
I personally loved the show, which won Crunchyroll's Anime of the Year award for 2017, in part because Riko is a believable character. She acts pretty much exactly how an overly intelligent 12-year-old would, which makes the show all the more potent when misfortune befalls her. The show also has wonderful music and beautiful animation, and I'd recommend it to anyone. The next season of the show has been confirmed, and I can't wait for it to come out!
That's all for today! See you next time!
-- Bradley