Made in Abyss - Vol. 12 Ch. 66 - Bottom Layer

[Tych]

Meme by Tsai_AGw

yeah this seems like everybody that tries to explain the um the weird stuff meanwhile this me:

 

[NazNar]

yeah this seems like everybody that tries to explain the um the weird stuff meanwhile this me:

Meanwhile i'm watching all of this going: I don't care.

 

[sho52]

Can't believe their squad name wasn't literally "Made in Abyss"

I thought I heard Srajo's recommendation of "hello abyss" before, double checked and "hello abyss" is the name of the game mode in the Made in Abyss video game where you play as Riko and Reg whereas "deep in abyss" is the mode for your player character. Makes me wonder what Tsukushi is going for with that.

So apparently the manga was conceived by Tsukushi to be named "Hello Abyss" but the editor convinced him to use "Made in Abyss" instead. Remember reading about that somewhere one year ago. This seems to be a reference to that history.

 

[sho52]

I have two words that have been in anime/manga for ages that have never failed to out the posers/tourists within the community. They rear their heads upon hearing them and proceed to squawk on how "moral they are" for opposing them.

Tourist is the perfect word for these kinds of idiots. They contribute nothing, they detract from the conversation and they also demand that everyone caters to their sensibilities.
Just because Tsukushi draws weird shit doesn't mean that people reading MiA are into those things or even condone the more questionable content. Sometimes a story is a story and the more weird aspects just happen to be part of said story. Would it matter if they weren't included in the first place? Maybe, maybe not. But that is the author's vision and people should respect it or go read something more palatable to their tastes.

Very well said. Like the whole Oshi no Ko incest debacle in the West is just hilarious. In Japanese and Chinese forums, folks were overwhelmingly saying that Aka would be redeemed and GOATed if he pulled that one off, while so many mainstream Western fans said they'd walk away in disgust lmao. Similar to what you said, I have no interest in incest whatsoever and even usually avoid such stuff, but plot-wise it makes perfect sense for OnK as a work of literature depicting complicated characters, it doesn't mean the author or the readers unconditionally encourage such behavior in real life, and those folks just don't seem to get the point at all.

Maybe OnK is something that went too mainstream and is bound to attract such nonsense. In a sense it might be a reflection of the whole 二次元 thing's explosion in popularity into the mainstream in recent years. I guess rather than calling them "tourists", it's almost like two different communities now, one with mainstream, Western sensibilities and all the associated unconditional taboos (unconditional in the sense that they don't even consider whether the thing makes sense plot-wise or has literary virtue, but just get blindly triggered by any seemingly "taboo" stuff, another example of this might be how SubaHibi inexplicably scores lower on VNDB than on EGS), the other community the one with spirits closer to the original Japanese otaku culture. Glad that MiA still draws a huge following in the West. Well, I guess it does have a self-selecting effect on its reader group, which might be exactly what Tsukushi intended, actually. (Another such example of self-selection and filtering is if some folks got the wrong idea about the Dawn of the Deep Soul movie, they might already be scared away at the opening scene without staying to see the more extreme contents later, which I suspect was one of the goals of the opening sequence. The same for the opening sequence of MiA S2.)

 

[sho52]

Can this group be, not hostile? Please? Kinda tired of having just a repeat of just "Oh look, friendly hand is actually enemy in disguise".

To be fair the last time that was genuinely the case was with Bondrewd. The only thing that was similar in the 6th was actually the opposite, in Faputa being an enemy turned friendly. The only one she didn't try to kill at some point was Reg, and even then she still kicked the shit out of him.

Srajo... doesn't seem like she's playing with a full deck, but I don't think she's hostile. So far she's easily the most tame of the White Whistles they've met.

I mean, in a sense Bondrewd wasn't even "hostile". He does mean everything he says, just sometimes in a rather twisted and unexpected way if perceived via the lens of ordinary people. And when you look back at the story, he really did help Prushka fulfill her dream of going on an adventure in the form of a white whistle (which was pretty much also the only way it could have happened for her), and he also prepared Riko's white whistle, without which Riko-tachi couldn't have advanced at all. If you really want to call it that way, the only "hostile" action was pretty much him operating on Reg (and likely the Girl type), which to his logic is like scientific exploration of potentially dangerous relics from an unknown affiliation. What I absolutely love about MiA is how multilayered every character is and there is no "good guy" or "bad guy" in the story at all (e.g. it goes without saying how many people perceive Riko to be the craziest of the bunch).

I do think Srajo is plotting something in her mind and this encounter will end up in a rather twisted way in typical MiA fashion. Also, remember how they were telling Faputa to be vague about her origins in front of Srajo because of "instincts"? But of course she can't be a stereotypical "evil" character either. With the "witch" camp also involved, it will be really intriguing to see how the story pans out.

 

[sho52]

I swear this whole story is just Tsukushi trolling his editors to see how much he can get away with.

Editor:"So you're telling me the nude amputee lolis are necessary to the story?"

Tsukushi:"Yes of course, they represent their innocent and pure state of mind"

Editor:"And the ass licking monster from before was a deep and complex theme too?"

Tsukushi:"Totally necessary, trust me bro "

Such parts of MiA are exactly what pushed it into 10/10 territory for me 😄.

And yeah, as somebody also mentioned, it was rumored that it was actually the editor who pushed him to go more extreme with the content after the earlier slow pace almost led to the cancellation of the manga. But even if that's true, I do believe he already long had these ideas including the ending of the story in his mind. (Apparently MiA was originally conceived to be a rather short story, similar to From Star Strings. It's great that he was encouraged to fully express his ideas and extend the story with indulgence, which fully paid off.) Really glad that this unique masterpiece gets serialized (as much as possible) in its full glory.

 

[exLightning]

Damn a loli with 6 nipples that makes them 3x more erotic

 

[adamb15]

From the interview I saw the editor is the true madman.

Tsukushi: "I had an idea but it is a bit too extreme, better leave that for doujinshis"
Editor: "No, let's put it in and make it part of the plot."

The editor also is the one who came up with some of the more extreme stuff himself. The curse was the editor idea according to Tsukushi. "it came to him in a dream"

What the hell, so Made In Abyss would be a much more tame, family friendly abyss-delving wholesome adventure story without this editor?

 

[ryuumajin]

What the hell, so Made In Abyss would be a much more tame, family friendly abyss-delving wholesome adventure story without this editor?

Sounds like Tsukushi feels something a bit extreme, his editor approved it, and now the editor just can't have enough of it.

 

[radstylix]

Just seeing that page for the 7th Layer. Wow.
I hope I get this feeling again (or better!) when we finally reach Laugh Tale in One Piece.

So all the twins are named that way? Hmm