Reports from the Abyss: Chapter 64 Analysis
Reports from the Abyss is an irregular section where I analyze and theorize about new Made in Abyss manga chapters. Please support the official release.
Hear me out. Now that the dust has settled and Made in Abyss: The Golden City of the Scorching Sun wrapped almost eight months ago, this is the perfect moment to ask an important question.
What is the point of the Hollow Village story arc?
I want to be completely honest here. As a reader of the manga since before the anime started airing, the three-year period that the Hollow Village arc took to be completed was a relentless journey. I loved every page of it and there were a lot of tears involved, but I can understand why so many fans stopped reading or were exhausted by the end of it. At face value, it felt as if the story went into an outrageous plot detour that had little to do with the motivations and questions Akihito Tsukushi planted on the earlier volumes/arcs. Watching the anime adaptation highlighted the deep complexity of the story and the thoughtful unraveling of Faputa’s story, but reading this arc as it was being published, sometimes with a six or seven month wait between chapters, became an endurance test that asked a lot from its audience. And yet, despite all of its frustrating twists and turns, I have to admit the end result is a maddeningly beautiful and rewarding existential tragedy.
While I’ll always maintain my undying love for this arc (my favorite one no less), I do have to concede that a lot of readers had a point. After three grueling years of misery and brutality, with an ending that’s both bittersweet and spiritually profound, the question still stands. What is the point of the Hollow Village arc?
If you reduce it to its more basic plot mechanics, the Hollow Village arc is, without a doubt, an detour. It’s an epic detour for sure, a chronicle of the death, rebirth and fall of the Ganja fleet and its Three Sages encompassing about 1000 years of hidden Abyss history. It’s also a baffling detour where the inciting incident happened to be a random and arbitrary encounter between a princess and a robot boy. In fact, had Reg never met Faputa on his way to the surface, nothing in this arc would have amounted to anything. It introduced interesting new lore and intriguing new questions, but you could argue it’s superfluous in the context of Riko’s larger story. That said, and aside from the fact that our team of trash children gained a new valuable member (which, for sure, makes the whole series of events not superfluous), I do think there’s a point to the Hollow Village arc.
I believe the story of Faputa functions in a wonderful way as a thematic detour. It introduces a spiritual and emotional core to Made in Abyss, which it lacked in the earlier arcs. The story began as a journey of discovery, of conquering the Abyss, but the story of the Ganja fleet recontextualizes that drive into an exploration of why humans risk everything (their bodies, their souls, their desires, and their being) to try and understand that nightmarish black hole. That said, understanding the incredible significance of The Golden City of the Scorching Sun would require a whole separate essay. Instead, I want to be more straightforward and highlight two key points introduced in this arc that are extremely relevant to things we learned in volume 11 and chapter 64.
First, the creation of the Narehate Village revealed how truly terrifying the power of relics can be. Earlier volumes alluded to the formidable nature of special grade relics, such as the Unheard Bell’s ability to stop time or the Curse-Warding Box that was able to baby Riko. But the discovery of the Cradle of Desire and the horrifying transformation of Irumyuui prove that relics are capable of altering reality and even the shape of human “souls.” By feeding from the wishes and feelings of Irumyuui, the wish-granting egg was able to create a “pocket dimension” (the village or nest) that could function outside the rules of the Abyss.
The second point that the arc introduces goes back to the “curses and blessings” that Bondrewd mentioned during his sociopathic monologue to Nanachi.
The earlier taxonomy of Abyss curses introduced in the first three volumes is turned-upside down with the unusual origin story of Faputa. Before we had a very simple categorization of things: you have cave riders, relics of varying levels of power and rarity, and the existence of narehate/hollows (people that lost their humanity as a result of the curse). Up to that point, Nanachi seemed to be a unique exception, since they were the result of human experimentation. But Faputa’s existence complicates things. Faputa is the child and transmuted soul/value/desires of Irumyuui. She is neither a blessing or a relic, but perhaps something in-between. This indicates that these so-called “curses and blessings” are maybe a sort of poetic or metaphorical way of describing how souls and haku/value interact with the relics and the curse of the Abyss. This means human interactions with the Abyss can result in different outcomes beyond simply “losing your humanity,” which was the accepted rule for surviving the curse of the Abyss. In reality, it seems there are many unknown creatures with human-like consciousness, beyond Reg, that can be immune to the influence of the Abyss.
In typical Tsukushi-sensei fashion, Volume 11 and chapter 64 answer very little of the main questions at the center of the story (what is Reg? Who wrote the letter in Lyza’s grave? What happened to Lyza? What is the 2000-year cycle?), but introduced a plethora of new ones that are mainly concerned with the two key ideas I mentioned above. There’s also a bunch of new characters and parties introduced that underscore how the adults of Orth (specially the White Whistles, those irredeemable abstards) seemed to have withheld a lot of information from our main protagonists.
Hail Hex, the Curse Fleet, and Srajo, “The Sovereign of Mistery”
Chapter 64 begins with a lengthy flashback showing Srajo and her group arriving at the Idofront. As expected, the inevitable meeting with Bondrewd goes awry after a tense conversation. The dialogue here is quite good, a lot of interesting details and character motivations are laid out without it feeling overly expository. We also get some key insights about Srajo and her motivation behind her decision of beginning her Last Dive:
- Bondrewd describes Srajo as a “coward,” which contrasts with her earlier self-descriptor as “timid.”
- Srajo collects “juuso” or “invisible people,” an action that Bondrewd points out is taboo in cave raiding.
- Srajo is actively hunting the “Shrine Maiden,” a mysterious figure that is connected to Cravali and Tespasté, the two characters introduced in volume 11 who know about the 2,000-year cycle.
- Srajo dived into the 6th layer to find Nishagora who, in turn, was pursuing Cravali and Tespasté.
These little tidbits contextualize some open questions and hints introduced in the earlier chapters. Most of these go back to the most striking character we’ve seen so far in this arc: Nishagora. There is a ton to discuss and dissect about this character, but I want to focus mainly on her unusual nature. As shown in her brutal “trial” fight with Reg, and in a very similar way to our robot boy, Nishagora is unaffected by the curse and able to increase her power abilities by reacting to white whistles (she called this ability “the release”). This means she’s neither a hollow, despite her beastly appearance, nor an aubade or a special grade relic.
In his back and forth with Srajo, Bondrewd points out the entirety of Srajo’s party is composed of “invisible people,” beings that were “tossed” aside after birth. The most obvious guess is that Nishagora might be something closer to Faputa, the child of a human that experienced some kind of Abyss-related phenomena after (or during?) birth. But what about the rest of the Hail Hex? Their physical appearances are so varied that it is hard to say what being a juusou really means. The two unnamed members of the group (the tall man with the head scars and the human wearing a strange mask) are more human-like than Nishagora, but the two children with face coverings seemed to be something else altogether. Named Menae and Sherumi, these last two mysterious members (I refer to them as “The twins” since they look identical) are by far the most intriguing, since both Srajo and Nishagora mentioned they are somewhat similar to Reg. It’s hard to say where all of this is heading, but I do wonder if, perhaps, they are regular humans that were augmented with relics. This theory could explain why the twins shouted to Srajo that Reg is “different” than them during his fight with Nishagora. It implies that there might be some “mechanical” elements in their bodies.
As usual with Made in Abyss, this is a lot of information, but very few answers. In order to try and piece together some of these ideas, let’s go back to Srajo’s moniker of “The Sovereign of Mistery.” Turns out the label is quite literal and Srajo describing herself as “timid” is a cheeky way of stating that she and her team live outside the “grid.” Although Srajo is a registered Whistle Whistle, it’s obvious that the Hail Hex exist outside the limits of Orth’s guilds and cave raiding community. Thus, they are more akin to a rogue squad of cave raiders, which means they are keeping secrets, relics, and abilities that are too dangerous or taboo for the rigid exploration rules of Orth. This revelation is intriguing because it complicates the structure of cave raiding we have seen thus far, instead exhibiting that there are many clashing parties and interests within Orth’s economic and political exploitation of relics. Most of what we knew about cave raiding culture in the earlier parts of the story was notably filtered through Riko’s idealized understanding of Orth and its institutions. Now that the truth is starting to take shape, it’s clear Riko’s journey (in particular, the mysterious letter that kickstarted their journey) is just one tiny piece of a larger conflict around the 2000-year cycle. One conflict where a wide variety of players are withholding information and serving their own hidden motivations.
The “Time Limit” and the Four Key Parties
In the moment right before the battle between Srajo and Bondrewd begins, the latter mentions something quite interesting:
Considering the time limit, a chance like this is once in a lifetime. Everyone. Secure the subjects.
A countdown usually means something will happen once the time runs out. A time limit means something will happen and there’s only a limited amount of time before said event can be stopped or averted. One is inevitable, the other is a warning and a point of no return depending on a specific set of circumstances. Thus, the central mystery of the entire story of Made in Abyss is, shockingly, not Riko’s journey or Lyza’s fate, but what will happen to the Abyss once the 2000-year cycle begins. As if we’re dealing with breadcrumbs, Tsukushi left many hints about this cataclysmic throughout the story: the birthday curse, the praying skeletons, the reason behind Bondrewd’s horrifying experiments, and the timing of Reg reaching Orth to retrieve “haku.” The main questions then are what will happen to the Abyss once the cycle begins? Is it a natural and inevitable phenomena or an event caused by something or someone?
When Nishagora encounters the gang, she mistakenly assumes Riko’s team are underlings of the Shrine Maiden. Here, Riko explains to the others that there are fairy tales in Orth that mention “People who talk to incarnations of the Abyss… They link with the Abyss and warn people of harbinger’s of danger…” Hail Hex’s haste and their impulsive decision to go into their Last Dive hints at the fact that the Shrine Maiden is connected to what’s about to happen to the Abyss. That explains the urgency of riders passing the point of no return. So who is the Shrine Maiden and is she the one to kickstart the cycle or is she a figure that wants to stop it? At this stage, it is hard to say what are the real intentions of Srajo and the fleet, but what we do know is that they decided to withhold the knowledge they have from the rest of Orth’s cave riders. Habo only finds out about the existence of the Maiden after eavesdropping on Cravali’s and Tepasté’s conversation at the cave rider’s tavern. This is highly suspicious, and it makes me wonder if Srajo has dubious motivations for finding the Maiden. What we do know at this moment is that the Shrine Maiden will be the key player of this arc. Is it too early to start calling this section of the story “The Shrine Maiden Arc”?
One last thought I want to discuss is an intriguing hint that may be related to Riko, Lyza, and Reg. Back in the exposition heavy sequence of Side Story 4 at the cave rider’s tavern, Cravali asks Tepasté if she’s aware of the Shrine Maiden’s safety after their “illegal” raid to the second layer. Tepasté responds by saying there was no further information in the “letter.” There’s very little context to this dialogue, and I’m probably overthinking this, but I’m wondering if the letter found on Lyza’s grave happened to also come from the Shrine Maiden or someone connected to her. As explained by several other characters, it’s unlikely Lyza wrote the letter, which could mean that Lyza, just like Srajo, was aware of the Maiden’s existence. This theory could go one of two ways: either Lyza is a supporter of the Maiden or she’s against her. Was Reg’s original goal to find and bring the maiden to the bottom of the Abyss? Is the Maiden the real “haku” that Lyza ordered Reg to find? This crazy possibility makes Riko’s silly theory back in volume 1 about Reg being a knight in shiny armor coming to rescue his “maiden” feel kinda ironic now. As usual with this manga, there are too many possible answers for too many open questions.
Scattered notes, thoughts and predictions:
- Normal and well-adjusted manga readers probably felt that the last panel of Nisharoga asking Reg if he wants to hop in the bath “together” was more of a threat from the author than a silly joke. Prepare your asses because chapter 64 will begin with the horniest scene in the history of “mainstream” manga. May God have mercy on our wicked souls.
- Bondrewd wasting Srajo’s time by suddenly pretending to be a prick pencil pusher concerned with the intricacies of Orth’s bureaucracy (“I estimate about a week’s wait seeing as you can only be granted permission after the application has been processed on the surface, and as such has to be sent there”) is comedy gold. I hate him so much.
- Made in Abyss is my favorite piece of fiction. It’s the thing that haunts my days and my nightmares. It’s my everything. But I’m not one of those that thinks there’s such a thing as a “perfect” story. One of its flaws is that the manga can be middling sometimes when staging action. Although Tsukushi has done some incredible setpieces in the past (the destruction of the Idofront or Faputa’s battle with the Ilblu villagers), the action during single combat battles tends to be either poorly staged (Reg vs Ozen) or lacking visual clarity (Reg vs Bondrewd). I’m happy to say I was proved wrong with the Nishagora and Reg duel, a masterful 40-page sequence where the sense of space and scale is clear and impactful in every panel. An interesting piece of trivia that explains the stark improvement in Tsukushi’s skills is that he began a wholesome bromance last year with none other than George Morikawa (self-proclaimed Nanachi fan), best known for his evergreen classic, Hajime no Ippo. My knowledge of Japanese is almost zero, but based on the conversations they had in the last ten or so months, it seems Tsukushi has spent some time researching battle manga. This fight in particular does feel inspired by boxing manga, as there is a weight and strategy to every blow (see below Morikawa’s tweet about how chapter 64 reminded him of Reiji Yamada’s work).
- One charming moment of character writing was Reg’s visible anger and frustration at not being able to take a bath and get the Ibhejo smell stench out of him. Is this the first time he’s ever been so childishly demanding about anything? The best part is he still kept his usual meek politeness when talking to Srajo. Poor little guy.
- There’s a mountain of information I would love to discuss from previous chapters, but this text is almost 3,000 words and we’re missing a lot of contextual details to make sense about the current timeline of events (considering the time dilation, how long has Srajo’s fleet been at the 6th layer anyways?), so I’ll end things here before I start going insane.
