Anime Review: “Made in Abyss: Journey’s Dawn”

Anime Review: “Made in Abyss: Journey’s Dawn”

March 24th, 2019

W.R. Miller

What’s inside the Abyss? It’s a giant hole in the middle of an island, thousands of feet deep. It beckons explorers and fortune-seekers to build a city around it, for within its depths are valuable relics—and monsters. Those who dare to retrieve the relics are known as “cave raiders.” Some are orphaned children, exploited by the adults. In this story, two 12-year-olds, a girl named Riko and a boy named Reg, have additional incentives to descend into the Abyss. Riko’s mom Lyza is believed to be at the bottom level, where few have ever survived. And Reg has mechanical arms with palm blasters. He has no idea why he’s robotic, and apparently, the answers lie in the Netherworld. So down they go, braving the dangers of the indigenous monsters, curses that debilitate the body, and a mysterious woman named Ozen who knows about Riko’s past.

Though Made in Abyss: Journey’s Dawn stars children, this is not a “little kids” film. There is child endangerment. The characters do suffer from injuries and bloody wounds, and monsters are shown to be eating flesh, and a child’s private parts are examined. This is far from being a Disney Princess story. But for all the danger, there is friendship involved, and loyalty, and lessons in teamwork are learned.

Made in Abyss, based on the manga series by Akihito Tsukushi, has several echoes to Hayao Miyazaki’s Laputa: Castle in the Sky. Both involve two orphan children on a quest to learn their heritage, and a stylized introduction. The art direction, in fact, comes from Osamu Masayama, who provided backgrounds for Studio Ghibli in such works as The Cat Returns, Howl’s Moving Castle and Ponyo. Here, Masayama’s world is truly imaginative, with upside-down forests, exotic plants and an industrial-era city on the edge of a vast, forbidding hole.

The director is Masayuki Kojima, whose work has primarily been in television, both in directing and storyboarding. Made in Abyss: Journey’s Dawn is a compilation of the first eight episodes of the 13-episode TV series—which means the film ends about halfway into the story. One will have to find out what happens next in the sequel, Made in Abyss: Wandering Twilight. Or you can now watch the entire series on Blu-ray or stream it on Amazon Prime.

But there’s an opportunity to see the first film on the big screen. Fathom Events has scheduled an English-language version to show on March 25th. Earlier screenings included the Los Angeles premiere at the Regal Cinemas on March 15th, and Fathom Events showed a subtitled version on March 20th.

A Fathom Events advisory says the film should be considered PG-13. Rightfully so.

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W.R. Miller

W.R. Miller - known informally as “Bob” – has written for Starlog, Comics Scene, Animation Magazine and Animation World Magazine. Bob has been involved in animation for two decades, as a writer, character animator, special effects animator, and storyboard artist - For more information about Bob, check his website: http://wrmilleronline.com/.

He has just completed Batman: The Animated Interviews, a five-volume work featuring the executives, producers, directors, writers, actors, designers, storyboard artists and composers involved with the making of Batman: The Animated Series and its spinoffs. BearManor Media is the publisher.