tourists be gone!
lmao invastigated over manga characters. Try finding real problems to be investigated instead of fictional ones
Made in Abyss
- Thread starter MangaDex
- Start date
lmao invastigated over manga characters. Try finding real problems to be investigated instead of fictional ones
Double-page supporter
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- Oct 5, 2018
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- 424
Man, if this manga didn't have any fetish/fanservice crap it would still thrive and popular because of how great the story and art is. The amount of naked children and obvious fetishization this manga is making me uncomfortable.
At some scene I almost forget im reading a good fantasy manga and not porn
At some scene I almost forget im reading a good fantasy manga and not porn
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2025
- Messages
- 1
I get the objection to the kink content. Lolicon is an extreme kink. It’s not for everybody, even if I believe in my heart of hearts that it could be for anybody. I don’t think the moral panic is helpful (“this guy needs to be investigated!” type comments, for example) and it most certainly isn’t engaging with the material.
(Which is not to say that you can’t set a personal boundary for what you will or will not engage with in the first place. I can’t watch Terrifier because I am a squeamish little piss-baby! But rather than presuming that the filmmakers behind Terrifier want to victimize & murder people, I simply say those movies aren’t for me and watch something else. You, too, have that power of discretion.)
Speaking as a CSA survivor, the depiction of it in Made in Abyss — both in metaphorical and literal forms along so many gradients of severity, as well as its realistic after-effects — is so refreshing.
We live in a culture that only ever wants to abstract our stories away into defanged allegory. To edit out the complex & messy feelings that come with our experience for the sake of sympathy porn, stripping the humanity from our stories so that we may be easier to consume (a sort of perpetual molestation by society itself). To go along with governments censoring away our right to rewrite our internal narratives through erotica/smut, taking away valuable paths out of self-hate and victimization.
Altogether, this culture seeks to silence survivors, condemning us to perpetual victimhood for the comfort of those who have not gone through it.
And cutting through all that, Made in Abyss just gets it.
I feel seen by this story.
It’s not just isolated instances like the bondage punishment, but the way that that sexual abuse is normalized in the setting, the further danger the bondage punishment exposes the children to (Natt’s “… you’ll never be a bride,” line implying the risk of additional sexual assault), and how it’s broken down Riko’s sense of ownership over her body (her line in chapter 11, “And I owe you for saving me,” is startlingly real.)
And how right after confirming it with that line in chapter 11, the narrative immediately flips the script and spends the next two pages affirming Riko’s unique point of view, her imagination, & openness to the possibilities waiting in the abyss. And it does so by showing how Reg, after being so ashamed that he could barely look at her, can now see Riko with total clarity — for her unique human spirit, her optimism, and yes, her sexuality (as much as he can with his even more innocent frame of reference compared to hers.)
So when we see her later, regaining movement in her thumb and wholeheartedly embracing an assistive device, reclaiming mastery of her body after trauma, we know what that connects back to.
That is the definition of rewriting toxic self-narratives. That is life affirming. But it wouldn’t be possible without the kink content. It’s part and parcel with the message. “It is not shameful to have gone through this. It is not shameful to have been changed by this. You are still beautiful, no matter your scars, and no matter how scary, conflicted, & messy your feelings might be. You can always take back control over your life, body, and sexuality.”
Hiding the sexuality would add an element of shame to that message, defeating the entire purpose.
Not to mention the role that erotica can play in bypassing the judgement of the ego by activating more subconscious, intuitive parts of the mind, thereby making repressed emotions easier to access, process, & resolve. That combined with the narrative clearly wanting the reader to project onto these hurt children and not the adults molesting them, the intent of catharsis for feelings of (to further universalize the themes a bit) helplessness, victimization, and violation is very clear.
Any therapist worth the air they breathe will tell you there’s no such thing as a thought crime. That’s something that gets lost when we take an attitude of presumed guilt when a piece of art triggers a discomfort/disgust response. Losing sight of that makes it really easy to arrive at a paranoid, hyper-vigilant reading of the work.
(Which is not to say that you can’t set a personal boundary for what you will or will not engage with in the first place. I can’t watch Terrifier because I am a squeamish little piss-baby! But rather than presuming that the filmmakers behind Terrifier want to victimize & murder people, I simply say those movies aren’t for me and watch something else. You, too, have that power of discretion.)
Speaking as a CSA survivor, the depiction of it in Made in Abyss — both in metaphorical and literal forms along so many gradients of severity, as well as its realistic after-effects — is so refreshing.
We live in a culture that only ever wants to abstract our stories away into defanged allegory. To edit out the complex & messy feelings that come with our experience for the sake of sympathy porn, stripping the humanity from our stories so that we may be easier to consume (a sort of perpetual molestation by society itself). To go along with governments censoring away our right to rewrite our internal narratives through erotica/smut, taking away valuable paths out of self-hate and victimization.
Altogether, this culture seeks to silence survivors, condemning us to perpetual victimhood for the comfort of those who have not gone through it.
And cutting through all that, Made in Abyss just gets it.
I feel seen by this story.
It’s not just isolated instances like the bondage punishment, but the way that that sexual abuse is normalized in the setting, the further danger the bondage punishment exposes the children to (Natt’s “… you’ll never be a bride,” line implying the risk of additional sexual assault), and how it’s broken down Riko’s sense of ownership over her body (her line in chapter 11, “And I owe you for saving me,” is startlingly real.)
And how right after confirming it with that line in chapter 11, the narrative immediately flips the script and spends the next two pages affirming Riko’s unique point of view, her imagination, & openness to the possibilities waiting in the abyss. And it does so by showing how Reg, after being so ashamed that he could barely look at her, can now see Riko with total clarity — for her unique human spirit, her optimism, and yes, her sexuality (as much as he can with his even more innocent frame of reference compared to hers.)
So when we see her later, regaining movement in her thumb and wholeheartedly embracing an assistive device, reclaiming mastery of her body after trauma, we know what that connects back to.
That is the definition of rewriting toxic self-narratives. That is life affirming. But it wouldn’t be possible without the kink content. It’s part and parcel with the message. “It is not shameful to have gone through this. It is not shameful to have been changed by this. You are still beautiful, no matter your scars, and no matter how scary, conflicted, & messy your feelings might be. You can always take back control over your life, body, and sexuality.”
Hiding the sexuality would add an element of shame to that message, defeating the entire purpose.
Not to mention the role that erotica can play in bypassing the judgement of the ego by activating more subconscious, intuitive parts of the mind, thereby making repressed emotions easier to access, process, & resolve. That combined with the narrative clearly wanting the reader to project onto these hurt children and not the adults molesting them, the intent of catharsis for feelings of (to further universalize the themes a bit) helplessness, victimization, and violation is very clear.
Any therapist worth the air they breathe will tell you there’s no such thing as a thought crime. That’s something that gets lost when we take an attitude of presumed guilt when a piece of art triggers a discomfort/disgust response. Losing sight of that makes it really easy to arrive at a paranoid, hyper-vigilant reading of the work.
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