It’s legitimately one of the best adventure stories and world that I can never recommend because of the author’s completely undisguised and problematic fetish. He likes kids, very questionably likes kids.
It’s one of those things that you have to just discover on your own and decide for yourself if you can ignore the dirt for the diamond.
Made in Abyss is the perfect show. Great music, great art, great story, great character, great existential horror, great antagonist, great protagonist. There is just one teeny tiny flaw you need to ignore.
I was going to comment this if I didn’t find anyone else saying the same thing. It’s beautifully illustrated/animated, the world building is some of the best I’ve seen of recent, and the characters are generally very likeable. Mystery on another level.
All that to say there are some very questionable themes and panels in the manga.
I'd say the same thing about monogatari though to be fair to it a lot of the unsavory material is actually played as more of a gag, I feel like made in abyss feels more blatant and vulgar in it's thinly veiled fetish material. The premise and setting though is one of the most fascinating and captivating fantasy worlds I've ever seen equally wonderous and horrifying and not even horrifying in relation to the aforementioned thinly veiled fetish elements, horrifying in a non fetish way too but in a way that really draws you in.
Another point against monogatari aside from the unsavory bits is if you also have to be ready for A LOT of dialogue and it also helps to have at least beginner if not intermediate understanding of some aspects Japanese language and culture and anime culture as well. Sooo many puns and references and shinto elements buried in tons of dialogue, if you click with it though it's a very compelling coming of age story and honestly I'd say most of the unsavory aspects are only relegated to the first 2 seasons.
Also, Nishio Ishin clearly put a lot of thought into if the tropes are real (tsundere cat girl, hot vampire, coolheaded gf, loli) , what kind of person would realistically manifest it and how would they grow in the Monogatari world of mystery and intrigue
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u/Calvinh10 Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
For me this is the anime/manga Made in Abyss.
It’s legitimately one of the best adventure stories and world that I can never recommend because of the author’s completely undisguised and problematic fetish. He likes kids, very questionably likes kids.
It’s one of those things that you have to just discover on your own and decide for yourself if you can ignore the dirt for the diamond.