Quick Summary of Made in Abyss Episode 10
In Made in Abyss episode 10, “Poison and the Curse,” Riko’s enthusiasm to explore the fourth level makes Regu apprehensive; that feeling proves prophetic. After reaching the fourth layer, called the Goblet of Giants and part of “the depths,” an encounter leaves Regu with a heart-wrenching choice. Is he up to it? And the rabbit-earned Nanachi — is she there to help or complete the grim job that the orbed-piercer started?
Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.
What’s In This Post
Quick Episode Summary
3 Favorite Moments
Thoughts
Related Posts
3 Favorite Moments in Made in Abyss Episode 10
Moment 1: Riko Encounters the Orbed-Piercer
Riko’s encounter with the orbed-piercer is likely to be life altering — assuming she survives the poison. Capture from the Amazon Prime stream.
Seeing Riko’s hand impaled with one of the orbed-piercer’s spines was one of those terrifying moments when time seems to slow down (8:23). Obviously terrified, she still maintained enough poise to begin explaining what to expect so Regu would know what to do. At the same time, the orbed-piercer was still on the move, so they couldn’t just begin treatment. In this scene, the foreshadowing at the beginning of this episode (where Regu was reminding himself of the Curse’s effects if someone tries to ascend from the fourth layer) paid off: we experienced the horror along with Regu as he realized the only way to save Riko was to ascend — and trigger the Curse.
Moment 2: Regu Faces a Horrible Decision
Regu’s faced with a terrible, terrible decision. How will he resolve it? Capture from the Amazon Prime stream.
“First… you need to break the bone,” (14:00) Riko tells Regu, trying to convince him that he needs to cut off her left hand. Regu’s already drawn his knife, but he’s not ready at all. The necessity of breaking the bone first just makes it worse. To save Riko, he had to inflict terrible pain on her. And he’s not certain that she’ll survive! I’ve only rarely seen moments in fiction where I was so drawn into the character’s moment: I felt Regu’s panic and indecision. I felt his mounting panic. He saw no clear path forward. His world was imploding. The point of good fiction is to drive its characters into that moment, and then to share that moment with the audience. Talk about effective!
Moment 3: Regu’s Blind Panic
Regu despairs when he finds that Riko is no longer breathing. The camera’s intimacy makes the moment all the more powerful. Capture from the Amazon Prime stream.
The scene before has us all in an emotionally vulnerable state. Then Regu discovers that Riko’s not breathing (16:56). His blind panic and emotional collapse as he cried, “Don’t leave me behind, Riko!” reminded me strongly of another powerful scene in one of my favorite works of literature. In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers, Samwise Gamgee finds an apparently dead Frodo Baggins, and Regu’s plea echo’s Samwise’s: “Don’t go where I can’t follow!” I first read that over 35 years ago, and I still tear up remembering it, if I’m not careful. Does that give you an idea of how I felt about this scene?
Thoughts about Made in Abyss Episode 10
Riko and Regu’s Splendid Voice Actors
I hope the voice actors got paid well for this episode, because they certainly earned it! Miyu Tomita, Riko’s voice actor, conveyed such pain and terror that I couldn’t help but wince in sympathy. Regu’s voice actor Mariya Ise did such an amazing job that I channeled Tolkien, as I discussed above. That’s rare and delightful, if I can use that adjective in the context of this episode.
The contrast between Riko’s joy of exploration to her terror of dying later in the episode was heart-breaking. Capture from the Amazon Prime stream.
This week, the awe of exploration, with an occasional hint of danger, gave way to the brutally dangerous reality of the Abyss. The contrast between Riko in the beginning, where’s she practically dancing in delight at seeing the fourth level, and Riko at the end of the episode, where she’s reduced to being Regu’s bloody and broken cargo, is shattering. Only a few works of fiction have left me feeling this emotionally exhausted. It’s a testament to the creative team’s skill that I reacted this way.
Was Riko Prepared?
The second half of this episode almost makes me sympathize with the post on Anime Amino that said Riko has no business going into the Abyss. Even though I don’t agree with that sentiment, this episode hammered home just how unprepared Riko was. She had decent theoretical knowledge, but her tiny frame just wasn’t up to it. Though to be fair, a lot of very experienced adult cave raiders perished even more quickly in the Abyss. Regu’s generally resourceful and not given to panic, but he, too was pushed past his limits this week. If Nanachi hasn’t showed up, their journey would have ended then and there — and Riko would have ended up a tiny seedbed, as Ouzen feared in a previous episode.
What did you think of the episode? Were you pulled into the narrative as much as I was? Let me know in the comments!
Other Posts about Made in Abyss Episode 10
Other Anime Sites
- Reddit: [Spoilers] Made in Abyss – Episode 10 discussion
- bonutzuu: Made in Abyss Ep. 10-12 Review: Now this is how you handle gore
- Lost in Anime: Made in Abyss – 10
This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)
- Made in Abyss Episode 1: The City of the Great Pit
- Made in Abyss Episode 2: Resurrection Festival
- Made in Abyss Episode 3: Departure
- Made in Abyss Episode 4: The Edge of the Abyss
- Made in Abyss Episode 5: Incinerator
- Made in Abyss Episode 6: Seeker Camp
- Made in Abyss Episode 7: The Unmovable Sovereign
- Made in Abyss Episode 8: Survival Training
- Made in Abyss Episode 9: The Great Fault
- Made in Abyss Episode 10: Poison and the Curse
- Made in Abyss Episode 11: Nanachi
- Made in Abyss Episode 12: The True Nature of the Curse
- Made in Abyss Episode 13: The Challengers
This episode broke me. I identified a lot with Riko, her curiosity reminded me of when I was a kid. To see her suffer in such a visceral way was incredibly painful to watch. Made in abyss is a coming of age tale like many anime, but I don’t think many of them depict how cruel, yet beautiful the world can be quite like this one does.
Are you going to watch the sequel movie after this?
“This episode broke me.”
You and me both. I tried to describe it in the review, but the moment was so visceral and real that I felt I was right there with Regu.
“I identified a lot with Riko, her curiosity reminded me of when I was a kid. ”
That had to make this episode even more painful. Like that screen shot under my first favorite moment: Riko knew exactly what it meant. As the terror threatened to overwhelm her, she stayed calm and prepare Regu for what was to come. My god, what strength!
“Made in abyss is a coming of age tale like many anime, but I don’t think many of them depict how cruel, yet beautiful the world can be quite like this one does.”
The closest I can think of would the Ancient Magus’ Bride or xxxHolic. But they’re very different in their presentation. More cerebral and abstract. Made in Abyss is right in your face about it.
“Are you going to watch the sequel movie after this?”
That would be Wandering Twilight, right? I _think_ Journey’s Dawn is a retelling of the series, isn’t it?
Yes, I want to watch it. I should probably try a review, too.
Which reminds me I want to review No Game No Life Zero. Except I found it more heart-breaking than even this series!
Wandering Twilight is the second half of the series. You’ll want Dawn of the Deep Soul, the movie that’ll show you what a fascinating villain Bondrewd really is.
****
I very nearly passed out at the end of episode 10. I watched the show, stupidly, when I was sleep deprived. When I’m sleep deprived, none of my usual emotional defenses (and I have many) are in place. I was sitting there, unable to get up, unable to switch my computer off, very dizzy and hoping not to puke… Yeah, that is a very intense moment.
One of the things I really liked about that moment is that the show didn’t forget the setting. There’s this moment, where Reg is trying to come to terms with what he’ll have to do, but meanwhile Riko is bleeding, and the blood attracts giant mosquitos. They’re pretty easy to swat away and don’t turn out to be a threat, but they enhance Reg’s nerves… That’s the sort of place it is; you can’t panic, none of the critters care.
One of the most intense scenes I’ve seen in anime. Also, the scene really drove home how prepared Riko really was. She knows what to do, and is coherent enough to communicate it, even though she’s as scared and in pain as she’s ever been. I suppose you grow up tough next to abyss, or you don’t grow up.
“I was sitting there, unable to get up, unable to switch my computer off, very dizzy and hoping not to puke… Yeah, that is a very intense moment.”
Man — I had my defenses completely in place, but that scene punched right through them. I suspect they blunted the impact, though.
That scene redefined for me the upper limits of what fiction could do.
“That’s the sort of place it is; you can’t panic, none of the critters care.
The ever-present realism of that environment is just fantastic. From a world-building perspective alone, this series amazed me.
“She knows what to do, and is coherent enough to communicate it, even though she’s as scared and in pain as she’s ever been.”
She impressed the hell out of me in this episode. I mean, ordinarily, she’s amazingly prepared and present. But in this episode, knowing what she knew, she somehow still held herself together to bring Regu up to speed.
Most telling of all? I completely forgot she was a fictional character and responded to her as if she were a real person.
Overall a very insightful review, and those three moments are things that definitely will haunt may who have already invested themselves into this tale. It certainly haunted people while they were trying to eat while watching this for some reason!
Regarding Riko’s journey, I feel that a quote from this:
http://lostinanime.com/2017/09/made-abyss-10/?utm_content=bufferf5d70&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#utm_source=rss
is appropriate:
“Reg and Riko do not belong in this place. No one does, really – though mankind’s compulsion to understand the unknown (and to chase riches) will always win the day in cases like this.”
Child or adult, death is waiting in every corner. Everything that failed to eat these children is something that could and has killed someone with the “appropriate” whistle rank. And we know about that 3rd-layer-qualified moon whistle who died to something in the 2nd layer. The one he was supposed to be good at!
It’s honestly just a little bit of that impulsive parental hypocrisy that they say:
“Don’t do something this dangerous, we’re the only ones who should do that!”
“But you and I both know that you would die from this, just as I will die from this. And I am already on the path to do so. You let me be set on this path!”
And certainly, nearly everything set her on this path. Anyone this far in the story should recognize the circumstances given: Riko is very curious and driven, so that would drive her to take the dive. And if not that, then it would be her rearing in Orth, a culture as obsessed with this hellhole. And if not that, then the very circumstance of her current life. All of these separately could drive one to dive. All together would create an existential need to do so. All of that together and I can say with almost no irony, “Maybe she, more than anyone else, has a right to be there.”
In narrative terms, this episode specifically and the events in it were foreshadowed for quite some time: This is the layer where Lyza’s team died. This is the layer where Torka died. This is the layer where Riko was born. And then died. And became alive again. She is from this layer, and thus from the Abyss. And what the Abyss gives, it will take back, be it a thing of a life.
And from now on, we will see whether or not she will push farther into the hell from which she originates.
Thanks for such a thoughtful post!
“All together would create an existential need to do so…” Beautifully said. I’m reminded, too, that the first thing Riko did when she resuscitated (resurrected?) was to crawl toward the center of the Abyss. So as you said, “nearly everything set her on this path.”
Glad you stopped by!