Made in Abyss Review: The Most Beautiful and Brutal Adventure Manga Alive
by Akihito Tsukushi
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Quick Take
- The most beautiful art direction in ongoing manga, depicting the most horrifying things in ongoing manga
- A children's adventure story that is absolutely not for children
- If you can handle the content, one of the most extraordinary creative visions in the medium
Who Is This Manga For?
Made in Abyss is for you if:
- You can handle genuinely disturbing content in service of an extraordinary story
- You love world-building so rich it feels like it was discovered rather than invented
- You want manga that does not soften reality — the Abyss is beautiful and it will kill you
- You're prepared for something that will stay with you, not always comfortably
Content Warnings & Age Rating
Age Rating: M (Mature) Content Warnings: Extreme violence and body horror; children in genuine mortal peril depicted graphically; graphic injury, death, and transformation; psychological horror; deeply disturbing content including torture and body modification
This is one of the most graphic series in mainstream manga. The cute art style is deliberate contrast. Do not be misled by it. If you have sensitivity to child endangerment or body horror, this is not the series for you.
Yu's Rating
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Story Depth | ★★★★★ |
| Art Style | ★★★★★ |
| Character Development | ★★★★★ |
| Accessibility for Non-Japanese Readers | ★★★★☆ |
| Reread Value | ★★★★★ |
Story Overview
The Abyss is a massive chasm of unknown depth discovered in the middle of an island. Its walls are lined with ancient artifacts of extraordinary power and mystery. For centuries, explorers called Delvers have descended into it — drawn by the relics, the history, and the mystery of what's at the bottom.
There is a curse. The deeper you descend, the more terrible the effects of ascending become. Minor nausea at the first layer. Intense suffering at the second. Damage to the body and mind at the third. At the sixth layer — the Sea of Corpses — attempting to ascend means death, or something worse than death.
This is why there are "Made in Abyss" — people who have gone so deep they can never come back.
Riko is twelve years old. She is an orphan raised in an orphanage of Delvers' children. Her mother, Lyza the Annihilator, was a legendary White Whistle Delver — the highest rank, meaning she has descended past the sixth layer and cannot return. A message from the depths suggests her mother is still alive.
Riko descends.
She is accompanied by Reg — a robot boy she found at the bottom of a pit, with no memory of his origin and an arm that fires a beam of immense power. Together they go deeper than any child has gone before, into a place that gets stranger and more beautiful and more deadly with every layer.
Characters
Riko — Recklessly brave, genuinely intelligent, and completely aware of the danger she is in. Her determination is not ignorance — she knows what she's doing and chooses it anyway. This makes her different from naively brave protagonists.
Reg — The robot who doesn't know what he is. His arc — discovering his own nature and purpose — is intertwined with the Abyss's mysteries in ways that become clearer as the story descends.
Nanachi — A Narehate (a human transformed by the Abyss curse into something inhuman) who joins the party. Their backstory is the series' most devastating sequence.
Bondrewd — The most disturbing character in manga currently publishing. He is an explorer of extraordinary genius and absolute amorality. His arc is a genuine examination of what happens when curiosity is completely severed from ethics.
Art Style
Tsukushi's art is extraordinary. The Abyss itself — its layers, its flora, its fauna, its ruins — is drawn with an archaeological love for invented detail that makes it feel like a real place rather than a designed backdrop.
The creature designs are among the most inventive in manga. Each layer has its own ecosystem, its own aesthetic, its own visual logic.
The contrast between this beautiful, detailed world and what happens in it — to bodies, to people, to innocence — is the series' primary artistic statement. The cute, rounded character designs make the violence more affecting, not less.
Cultural Context
The Abyss as Japan's unknown — The concept of an ancient, bottomless pit filled with mysteries draws on Japanese cultural fascination with the deep sea and unexplored geological spaces. The artifacts — relics of a vanished civilization — reflect real Japanese archaeological anxiety about discovering things that shouldn't be disturbed.
The curse and colonialism — The Abyss curse, which makes ascent increasingly impossible, is readable as a metaphor for colonial resource extraction — you can go down and take things out, but the people who live closest to the resource cannot leave. Tsukushi does not foreground this reading, but it is available.
Children and danger — Japanese adventure manga has a long tradition of child protagonists in genuine peril. Made in Abyss takes this further than almost any predecessor, refusing to protect Riko from the consequences the Abyss imposes.
What I Love About It
There is a moment in the Nanachi arc — which I will not describe in detail — where Tsukushi depicts something completely unbearable.
And then he shows us what Nanachi made of it.
What Nanachi built — the specific form of care they constructed in response to the worst thing that could happen — is one of the most quietly heroic things I have read. It doesn't redeem what happened. It doesn't make it okay. It just shows that people make meaning from the unbearable, and that meaning is real, even if the unbearable is also real.
Made in Abyss earns the pain it inflicts. That does not mean the pain is easy. It means it was worth it.
What English-Speaking Fans Say
Made in Abyss has a devoted Western fanbase that universally warns new readers about the content while universally recommending the series. The anime adaptation is considered exceptional and covers the first major story arc.
Common warning: the gap between the art style and the content catches readers off guard. Go in knowing.
Common praise: the world-building, the Nanachi arc, Bondrewd as a villain, the visual design of each layer.
The consensus: one of the most ambitious manga currently publishing, not for everyone, essential for those who can handle it.
Memorable Scene ⚠️ Spoiler Warning
The Nanachi arc.
I will not describe what happens. I will say that it is the most emotionally devastating sequence in the series, that it recontextualizes everything you thought you understood about the Abyss and the people in it, and that it contains both the most horrible thing in the manga and one of the most beautiful.
If you can reach it and read it, you will understand why Made in Abyss is considered one of its generation's greatest works.
Similar Manga
If you liked Made in Abyss, try:
- Dungeon Meshi — Same quality of fantasy world-building, far less dark
- Hunter x Hunter — Similar sense of adventure concealing genuine darkness
- Berserk — Similar willingness to depict extreme content in service of a real story
- Promised Neverland — Children in genuine peril, less extreme
Reading Order / Where to Start
Start from Volume 1. The series is continuous and the world-building builds across every volume.
Official English Translation Status
Status: Ongoing English Volumes: 12+ Translator: Seven Seas Entertainment Translation Quality: Excellent
Pros & Cons
Pros
- The most extraordinary world-building in ongoing fantasy manga
- Every layer of the Abyss is a complete, inventive environment
- Nanachi's arc is one of the greatest sequences in modern manga
- The visual design is genuinely unique
Cons
- The content is genuinely disturbing — not for all readers
- Monthly publication pace makes the story feel slow
- The later arcs have not yet matched the emotional intensity of the early volumes
Format Comparison
| Format | Volumes | Price per vol. (approx.) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paperback (individual) | 12+ vols | ~$13–15 | Collecting |
| Kindle | 12+ vols | ~$8–10 | Ongoing reading |
Where to Buy
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Written by
Yu
Manga Enthusiast from Japan
I grew up in Japan and manga literally saved me during a tough time in elementary school. My English isn't perfect, but my love for manga is real — and I want to share it with you.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.