Made In Abyss is known as a show that portrays horrors in a visceral, awfully disturbing way. And the story is interesting and engaging, the premise seems promising and thought-through, but some of the events are bringing the readers and viewers so much discomfort that maybe there should be a censored, slightly toned-down version of that — akin to One Pace that skips the fillers in One Piece and focuses only on the plot-driven chapters. That's exactly what a popular voice actor, ProZD, suggested on his Twitter — and he was met with a lot of various opinions.
On the one hand, it's understandable: the themes and the situations that characters — literal kids, mind you — find themselves in are not just mildly uncomfortable but sometimes even creepy to the point that people just drop the manga, incapable of witnessing it further. At first, it seems that the author, Akihito Tsukushi, tries to be purposefully depraved and deranged to create a shocking effect and leave a lasting impression, but as the story unfolds and the weird but still somehow normal moments for these types of shows morph into something extremely questionable and off-putting, it starts to get exhausting.
On the other hand, a lot of these horrifyingly disturbing moments happen when the plot is moving forward — and sometimes they are the things that move the plot forward. So cutting them out would leave the whole story with a skeleton that misses some integral parts. Which, surprisingly, fits the mood of the series that doesn't shy away from gore and body horror, but will undoubtedly destroy the cohesiveness of the journey that the characters are going through. The pain that they experience on their adventure shapes them, changes them, and not just physically, and drives them forward.
That doesn't make the questionable moments less questionable. That doesn't make some of the depictions of the horror and nudity unnecessarily graphic. Sure, the story deals with dark themes in a unique way, and in the lore created by Tsukushi, it feels borderline normal, but as we approach it with our sets of morals, we cannot escape the feeling of wrongness. But it is designed to make us feel like that. It is designed for us to question the necessity of some of the events. It is designed to be disturbing.
Those who love being disturbed enjoy it, and those who don't... Well, this story is not for them. We should choose our own peace of mind first and foremost instead of interacting with content that we don't find entertaining. And hope that maybe when the story is finished, some enthusiasts will make a toned down and less freaky version of Made In Abyss. But that's not gonna happen anytime soon.
It's designed to be uncomfortable.
Made In Abyss is known as a show that portrays horrors in a visceral, awfully disturbing way. And the story is interesting and engaging, the premise seems promising and thought-through, but some of the events are bringing the readers and viewers so much discomfort that maybe there should be a censored, slightly toned-down version of that — akin to One Pace that skips the fillers in One Piece and focuses only on the plot-driven chapters. That's exactly what a popular voice actor, ProZD, suggested on his Twitter — and he was met with a lot of various opinions.
On the one hand, it's understandable: the themes and the situations that characters — literal kids, mind you — find themselves in are not just mildly uncomfortable but sometimes even creepy to the point that people just drop the manga, incapable of witnessing it further. At first, it seems that the author, Akihito Tsukushi, tries to be purposefully depraved and deranged to create a shocking effect and leave a lasting impression, but as the story unfolds and the weird but still somehow normal moments for these types of shows morph into something extremely questionable and off-putting, it starts to get exhausting.
On the other hand, a lot of these horrifyingly disturbing moments happen when the plot is moving forward — and sometimes they are the things that move the plot forward. So cutting them out would leave the whole story with a skeleton that misses some integral parts. Which, surprisingly, fits the mood of the series that doesn't shy away from gore and body horror, but will undoubtedly destroy the cohesiveness of the journey that the characters are going through. The pain that they experience on their adventure shapes them, changes them, and not just physically, and drives them forward.
That doesn't make the questionable moments less questionable. That doesn't make some of the depictions of the horror and nudity unnecessarily graphic. Sure, the story deals with dark themes in a unique way, and in the lore created by Tsukushi, it feels borderline normal, but as we approach it with our sets of morals, we cannot escape the feeling of wrongness. But it is designed to make us feel like that. It is designed for us to question the necessity of some of the events. It is designed to be disturbing.
Those who love being disturbed enjoy it, and those who don't... Well, this story is not for them. We should choose our own peace of mind first and foremost instead of interacting with content that we don't find entertaining. And hope that maybe when the story is finished, some enthusiasts will make a toned down and less freaky version of Made In Abyss. But that's not gonna happen anytime soon.
