If you want to make a great fantasy story, be it novel, films, or anime, there are several things that you have to get right. The first one is obviously an interesting story, the second one is believable characters, and the third one is world building. Yes, the world in which you set your story is incredibly important. After all, every great fantasy story has an equally iconic world, such as the wizarding world of Harry Potter, or the bleak world of The Lord of The Ring.

When it comes to anime, however, Made in Abyss has one of the most fascinating and yet terrifying worlds out of the majority of fantasy anime in recent years. And the one thing that makes this anime so great, and also the main talking point for this series as a whole is none other than The Abyss and its mysterious curse.

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What is The Abyss?

Made in Abyss The Abyss

Before we go any further, let's start with The Abyss itself. The Abyss is a massive pit with around 1000 meters in diameter with a depth of at least 20,000 meters. There are six known layers within The Abyss and each one has its own distinct ecosystem with unique flora and fauna, all of which are both fascinating and dangerous at the same time.

The Abyss is the home of a fallen ancient civilization that has bizarre and magical artifacts scattered around every level of the Abyss. The deeper the level is, the more valuable the artifacts will be. That is why more and more people decided to delve deeper into the Abyss.

As a matter of fact, one of the main driving economic forces of Orth, the town sitting at the edges of the abyss, is trading valuable artifacts to the outside world. The people who risk their lives to descend into the abyss are called Delvers, and the level of the Abyss that they are allowed to dive into is decided based on the color of the whistle around their neck.

What Is The Curse of The Abyss?

Made in Abyss Riko Curse of the Abyss

As mentioned above, the main reason why most delvers dive into deeper layers of the abyss is to find valuable artifacts. And as long as they follow the proper guideline, descending is not really a hard thing to do. It is the ascend that will kill you.

The Abyss is surrounded by an invisible force field that can bring sunlight and essential nutrients even to the deepest part of the abyss. However, this force field is also the one that is responsible for the curse of the abyss. Because whenever people try to ascend the abyss, this force field will inevitably envelop their body like a thin sheet of fabric and cause the curse of the abyss to manifest on the body. These are the kinds of curse that a delver can expect from every layer of the abyss:

  • The 1st Layer: The Edge of the Abyss. This layer extended to around 1350 meters below ground, and the curse for this layer is a simple light dizziness and nausea.
  • The 2nd Layer: The Forest of Temptation. This layer goes all the way to around 2600 meters deep, and the curses here are headache, heavy nausea, and also numbness of limbs.
  • The 3rd Layer: The Great Fault. This massive rocky fault continues all the way down to the depth of 7000 meters, and the curses are vertigo and visual & auditory hallucination.
  • The 4th Layer: Goblets of Giants. This is one of the biggest layers in the Abyss with the depth that goes all the way down to 12,000 meters from the surface. The curses are intense full-body pain, intense nausea, and external and internal bleeding.
  • The 5th Layer: The Sea of Corpses. Despite only going down to around 13,000 meters, this layer is still perfectly capable of killing any delvers with curses such as complete sensory deprivation, total confusion, and heightened self-harm tendency.
  • The 6th Layer: The Capital of the Unreturned. This layer goes to around 15,500 meters from the surface with the devastating curse of a total loss of humanity or certain death.

Is It Possible To Safely Ascend The Abyss?

Made in Abyss Riko Rex

The short answer is yes, it is possible to do. The long answer is it depends on which levels you start with. If all a delver wants is to ascend from the second layer and onto the surface of the abyss, then they will simply feel the curse of the first and second layers, which is basically just headache and nausea. Even ascending from the third layer should not pose that big of a problem to their body.

However, if the delver wishes to ascend from the depth of the fifth layer, then "safety" is not really the right word for it. Sure, they won't likely die by ascending from this level, but as mentioned above, they will experience the full brunt of the deadly curses of these deeper levels. They will likely still be alive when they arrive at the top, but they will need an extensive medical treatment immediately.

As for the sixth layer, well, there's no going back up after you entered the sixth layer. As a matter of fact, the place where you transition between the fifth and the sixth layer is known as "the point of no return", and every delver who decided to enter the sixth layer is said to be having their last "dive".

There is no "absolutely safe" way to ascend The Abyss, especially for level four and beyond. That is why every delver who dares to enter The Abyss and collect the valuable artifacts knows and accept the fact that the deeper they go, the more unlikely it is for them to go back to the surface.

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