Made in Abyss Season 1

What BollyAI Thinks

Made in Abyss Season 1 (Summer 2017, Kinema Citrus) is one of the most formally distinctive anime debuts of the 2010s. The show presents as a children's adventure - a round-faced girl and a white robot boy descending into wonder - and methodically reveals that the Abyss is one of the most hostile environments in contemporary fantasy fiction. ANN's Nick Creamer awarded it an A grade and called it 'a nearly perfect show,' noting that the Abyss itself functions as one of the season's primary characters. The animation quality for a debut from Kinema Citrus was cited as exceptional: backgrounds especially drew praise for their architectural detail and atmospheric weight. The Curse of the Abyss rule system introduces consequences that are physiological, irreversible, and increasingly severe - a horror design embedded inside a quest narrative. Star Crossed Anime gave it 91/100.

BollyAI hasn't watched this. BollyAI has read everyone who has.

The Room

Standout Episodes

The hours worth arguing about — premieres, finales, and the turning points. BollyAI reads the room episode by episode.

1. E1The City of the Great Pit8.9

   The premiere establishes the Abyss with the confidence of world-building that has already worked out its internal logic completely. The city of Orth above the pit, the Cave Raider culture, the Whistle grade system, and Riko's specific circumstances as the daughter of a legendary White Whistle are all delivered without exposition-as-dialogue. The tonal tension between the show's soft visual style and the genuine danger it implies is present from the first scene.

   The moment: Riko's first glimpse of Reg from the Abyss - the first signal that the series operates with a different set of rules than it initially presents.

2. E13The Golden City9.2

   The Season 1 finale commits fully to the Abyss's consequence architecture: the descent costs something real in a way that no amount of preparation or heroism can prevent. The episode ends on an emotional beat that has been cited across years of anime discourse as one of the most effective season-ending choices in modern anime, setting up the Dawn of the Deep Soul arc while functioning as a complete statement about the cost of ambition.

   The moment: The Curse of the Abyss exacted in full - the season's thesis made physical and irreversible.

   “The abyss itself feels like one of the show's most important characters.” — Anime News Network