Warning: This review may contain some spoilers
In This Episode
Continuing from the last episode, Reg took Riko to the Nanachi’s hideout where they began to patch up Riko. Reg was then introduced to Mitty, a creature living with Nanachi, who soon revealed that both of them were Hollows: cave raiders who ascended from the Sixth Layer and lost their humanity as a result of the Curse. She sent Reg off to fetch ingredients to heal Riko and, as he was out, Nanachi seemed to recognize Lyza’s white whistle. After fetching the ingredients, Reg was sent to clean Riko’s blood-stained clothes at a riverbank behind her hideout. There, a memory resurfaced of him standing by a gravestone with Lyza’s Blaze Reap on the ground. While Riko was left alone, Mitty began to eye her and mysteriously mutter something.
Not Much Going On
Which is a good thing. How this episode is constructed reminds me of episode six. The pace is slowed with nothing ever resolved by the end of this episode. New mysteries coming up and we are introduced some new characters. The difference being: episode eleven is so cozy to watch. The pacing is slowed down to the point where the conflict isn’t escalated further. It is taking its sweet time as Reg traverse the dangers in search for medicines. Unrushed, but delightfully refined. The well-fit pacing owes little to its fewer mysteries and payoffs. It owes itself to Nanachi.
Simply put, rather abruptly perhaps, Nanachi fills what is left empty by the lack of conflict. They sweeten the series after last week’s bleak and rather gory episode just by being there.
Nanachi might be mysterious; after all, we still do not know how they are able to maintain consciousness after falling victim to the curse of the Sixth Layer, while Mitty is reduced to such state. But we soon learn who they are, and, most importantly, what they are like. Nanachi is cautious, observing Reg and Riko from a distance before deciding to help both of them. They have a strong sense of friendship, perhaps, seeing how Nanachi tends to Mitty. There’s also a slyness in the way they send Reg to fetch some ingredients. They are bursting with characterizatios that makes it feel like they are really there. It doesn’t feel like they are there just to increase the tension. When Made in Abyss comes to feel rather static with just Reg and Riko to watch for a while, Nanchi gives this series the color that has been due.
With two more episodes left in this season, episode eleven gives the audience a brief pause. Not just to watch Nanachi and their colorful expressions, but also to watch the Abyss and its vibrant spectacles. As we follow Reg fetching the ingredients that Nanachi had asked, we get to feast once again in the tale’s vivid and imaginative world. With Riko’s survival assured, the audience can leisurely breath in its Ghibli-esque breeze.
The Indonesian Anime Times | by Paksi Pradipta
