#but how do you do it when two main chars are so tonally different

[thermie]

*Yzma voice* Well, it ain’t getting any done-er!

I present an Ef from Falling Falling Stars playlist! Efnisien would hate this, it’s all indie shit! *grins* Falling Falling Stars is a fic by the lovely @not-poignant, and if you want some amazing hurt/comfort with an ace pov-char, you should give it a whirl. It’s my latest fave.

[saturdayxiii]

The cute characters, shiny art, and exploration premise drew me into watching Made in Abyss season one; I have no other experience with this title.

I understand that it’s a pretty well loved show.  I can see why, but after having watched it I don’t understand why.  If I wasn’t aware of its popularity I’d tell the uninitiated that it’s a pretty show, but definitely not a “must see”.  However, knowing that it’s considered the “best anime of 2017″ makes me want to recommend… that people pay attention to how bad it is.  The fact that shows like this are considered the “best” is why I rarely watch anime anymore.  Made in Abyss definitely contributes to my list of reasons to not like anime.

I will grant that the artwork, music, and premise are fantastic, but these three things do not a complete anime make.  It’s possible that the manga could be phenomenal, and the premise is strong enough that I’d be interested in reading it, but I’m talking about the anime here because that’s what my media circles share with me.  I’ve repeatedly heard the show described as “fantastic”, but the one word review I’d give it is “gross”.

I’m aware that “gross” is a very subjective term and maybe doesn't reflect quality, but I really think that should be the first thing that people notice when watching this show.  Watch for how gross it is.  Specifically?  I’m going to make my number one issue to do with child sexuality.  It’s honestly not something that’s at the forefront of the show, and I think many people over look it because, hey, it’s Japan; we've seen worse.  But it’s actually sprinkled pretty heavily throughout the show.  It also has next to nothing to do with our story, except maybe our budding protagonists are developing romantic feelings for each other, but it seems pretty obvious that this stuff isn’t in the show for development sake.

Our main characters are 12 years old (though I thought there were 8 by their designs) and at the first minute mark of the first episode we get a mention of the main character being “strung up naked” as a punishment for something. Okay… That’s odd, and very tonally out of place in our fun childrens adventure.  Even odder is that they frame it as some kind of a gag that our hero is over reacting to as her company looks disinterested.  Then it becomes straight up creepy when this gag reoccurs throughout the series even with different characters.  Like this wondrous fantastical world is meant to draw you in and entice you, and hey also child abuse is a staple here, neat huh?  It’s one thing if this kind of situation is used as a plot point or even some kind of commentary, then there’s a possibility that its use could be redeemed with context, but no.  It doesn’t even drive any of our characters actions.  It’s paced and stylized to get a rise out of the audience, nothing more.  

Combine that with the times that our otherwise attentive main character forgets to put on clothes, and repeated references to the deuteragonist‘s penis, and characters pleas of feeling violated being regularly ignored, and the main char having her legs pulled apart to administer medicine that “can’t be take orally”, and yah, uh, the show is gross.  And that’s not even the physically gross stuff.  I mean like animals being sliced open, guts being pulled out, unsuccessful limb amputation, vomit, urine, human silly puddy??  And they tell you that once you go so far into the Abyss, you’re going to bleed out of all your orifices.  They tell you this, and by golly they are going to show it.  Here it is!  Up close and everywhere, again and again.  I get that this stuff exists in real life, and life is gross, but none of it serves the story or makes any kind of point. It’s there because they think you enjoy it.  Do you enjoy it? I don’t sympathize with these characters and the less I can relate to them the better.

Speaking of the story, even if you fixed all the unnecessary gross stuff, the story just doesn’t exist.  The show doesn’t end.  I guess they’re holding out for another season?  But if they had more space for story, then why did they fly through the Abyss so fast?  Isn’t that place rather important? The main character regularly talked about all the cool things she wanted to see as she went deeper and deeper into the abyss, but none of it was actually explored.  Just “There’s that thing I mentioned, okay either fight it quickly,  or lets move on to the next area”.  This is not the plot you are looking for.

I still do see how the story has potential, but they glaze over all the things that made me want to watch the show.  Mystery world, cool monsters, lost technology, fun characters.  They are there, minus the characters being fun, but the presented show wouldn’t really change if you completely took out those things.  Nothing that I felt was advertised to me got developed.  Instead our main character disregards her interest in exploration and treasure hunting, and sets off with the sole goal of finding her mother at the bottom of the Abyss. Leaving behind all the characters that I thought were going to be important.  Were you preparing to get invested here?  Woops.

That’s honestly fine, new directions are welcome, but even the mother plot point doesn’t deliver.  It’s just a Shanks and Luffy dynamic, and the writers know that because they don’t bother having a back story like how Shanks made sacrifice to inspire Luffy.  You’ve seen that before, so we just skip to the conclusion trope of “The fact that I’m not here for you is proof that I’m so awesome. Chase me.”  Also, even Luffy had well developed settings ajg characters to support his story.  Yes, I know One Piece is currently infinity longer than Made in Abyss, but 13 episodes is still plenty of time to develop something.

This season is squarely centered around our two main characters, but we learn as much about them as we do other characters that are only in the show for 2 or 3 episodes.  The only consistent way we know that our characters are developing and progressing is by how far they get in the abyss, and they fly through it without expanding on anything that was previously hyped.  Brand new dramatics happen, then the season ends with no hint of a conclusion.  So you get no story.  

The only real story is in the last episode, the “one hour special”, and it has nothing to do with our main characters.  Maybe you could just watch that, but you probably won’t feel good about it.

So why is show with no story, being praised as the best anime of 2017?  Was it (another) bad year for anime?  Why are people whole heartedly recommending a show without mentioning that it goes no where, and children are regularly brutalized and assaulted?  Recommending this show without context is the same as recommending Ebichu the hamster without mentioning that it’s nothing like Hamtaro.  Not that I’d recommend either of those, but I think you know what I’m saying.