Category Archives: Anime and Manga

I liked them better when they were fiction.

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If you hate bugs, get ready to hate them even more.

Pictured above is what’s called an amaranthine deceptor. It’s a fictional insect from Made In Abyss. Its deal is that it inhabits the 6th layer of an environment called The Abyss. They imitate leaves, which makes them difficult to detect without careful attention. They won’t travel too far away from their nest, and spend much of their time just sitting on plants, resembling leaves.

The problem comes in when they receive a signal to attack. When this happens, they immediately swarm the area, attacking any critter that they can, trying to force themselves into any opening, such as their mouths. Once embedded, they live inside their host as parasites, slowly feeding on flesh, and trying to delay the death of the host so they can continue feasting on a living meal. Eventually, the host dies.

Though the bugs live in the 6th layer, they posed a problem when a number of them made a nest in the 4th layer. The party of protagonists had a brief encounter with them at the beginning of the film, Dawn of the Deep Soul, and haven’t been in a hurry to encounter more of them, since. Their danger classification is five stars (absurd).

“Okay,” you might be saying, “but those bugs are made up. If something like that actually existed, wouldn’t more people know about them?” If that’s what you’re wondering, then get ready to have your day ruined.

Pictured here is what’s called a cochliomiya hominivorax, also simply known as a screwworm. What’s its deal? When a pregnant female screwworm sees an open wound on a warm-blooded mammal, it goes for it, laying its eggs in the wound. It can lay hundreds of eggs at a time.

Oh, in case you’re wondering: Yes, humans are warm-blooded mammals.

When the eggs hatch, the larvae begin feasting on the surrounding flesh, burrowing deeper as it does, which is where it gets the name “screwworm”. Currently, the only option for treating a screwworm infection is surgery, which involves removing the little abominations, often one at a time.

At this point, the next question I imagine you have is, “Where do these monstrosities live, so I’ll know to stay away from them?”

At one point, they were common in the American southwest. But then, they migrated to the southeast as infected livestock were shipped. In the 1960s, Americans decided that they were tired of their buggy bullshit, so they released a bunch of lab-raised sterile male screwworms into the wild, causing females to bear unviable eggs. As a result, the screwworms were driven down to Central America, where they were no longer our problem.

Personally, I would have consented to their complete eradication, but it was still a job well done. There was a small outbreak in 2016 among endangered deer in Florida, but the outbreak was eliminated in 2017.

But now we’re talking about them, again. Why is that? Because there is a confirmed human case in the state of Maryland, and the victim is a traveler from El Salvador.

Screwworm populations have been monitored, and have become an increasing concern as they’ve been migrating steadily North, and have migrated as far as Mexico since an outbreak originating in Panama in 2023, which happens to be when unchecked mass migration was in full swing during the Biden administration.

But a human case as far North as the state of Maryland comes as a shock. Sure, we can release more lab-raised sterile male screwworms to fight back. But I don’t want those things coming back here, at all.

Because we’ve established that screwworms can make it to the US via infected travelers, aren’t they another compelling reason why unchecked mass migration is a horrendously bad idea?

Congratulations! It’s a she!

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You see it, right? The image above is promotional material provided by Kadokawa, the publishers of the Made In Abyss manga, for a film concert series to be held at Nakano ZERO in Tokyo on February 8, 2026.

See what’s special about it? If you’ve been following Made In Abyss, particularly the development of the character Nanachi, you probably do. Putting Nanachi in a dress officially reveals Nanachi as female.

Since Nanachi was revealed, the author Akihito Tsukushi deliberately made her gender ambiguous. Even the Japanese pronoun that she used, oira, doesn’t strictly determine the gender of the user. Even foreign language translations went with gender non-specific pronouns when Nanachi was referred to by other characters, which goes to show how far the author, publishers, and localizers went to ensure that Nanachi’s gender remained a secret.

The only exception was the French translation, due to the rules involving gender being strict. For example, when asking for the time in French, one asks “Quelle huerre et il?” Which means, “What time is he?” In the French translation, Nanachi is female, because for her to have been non-gender-specific would have been unacceptable. The French take their language seriously.

Because Nanachi’s gender was unknown, fans have asked Tsukushi about Nanachi’s gender. His answer left it undecided, and invited fans to use their imagination. Meaning, Nanachi’s gender could be whatever the reader decided.

As for me, for a long while, I’ve suspected that Nanachi is male. This seemed evident to me in Nanachi’s psychology, in that he seemed more inclined towards problem solving (which tends to be a masculine psychological trait) and less towards relationship building (which tends to be feminine), and because Nanachi seemed less hesitant to push boundaries, particularly with Reg, whom Nanachi initially regarded as a pushover. There’s also the more boy-like appearance of Nanachi in human form, as compared to the obviously feminine appearance of Mitty as a human.

However, it seems at this point that we could say with certainty that Nanachi is female. If doubt were to be thrown onto this, it would be by saying that the image in question was produced and distributed without consulting Akihito Tsukushi, and may have used Nanachi’s character in a manner that goes against his wishes. But even if this is the case, it’s still likely that Kadokawa, the distributor of the image, has some insight into the character which was provided by the author, but was to be kept confidential. And if that’s how it was, the cat’s out of the bag. Or the bunny, in this case.

However, it seems more likely that Tsukushi did authorize this use of the character Nanachi, especially considering that he didn’t seem to object to it in the days since.

In fact, here he is on X, calling the concert’s content “awesome”:

So, it would seem he doesn’t object at all, though he took note of it. Though, he was the same guy who put another character in a girl’s outfit, and let readers come to their own conclusions. So, maybe this isn’t a strong indication of Nanachi’s gender, after all?

So, short of the author expressly saying it, it would seem like Nanachi is female. Does this change the way you view the character? Or does it confirm what you’ve suspected?

Let’s Categorize the Losers Who Hate Anime

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To the end of arbitrary categorization, let’s look at various types of people who hate anime, with brief descriptions.

The Hanna-Barbara Boomer

This is the guy who remembers back when cartoons didn’t take their viewers seriously, didn’t bother with things like “character development” and “quality”, and still sees them as being for children, as though children don’t deserve a quality product.

The cartoons that he grew up with were boring and insipid, so it’s no surprise that he grew up to become yet another yutz who produces nothing of value, but still somehow has money. You probably somehow payed for the tech that he uses to fire off his mouth.

When he discovers Family Guy, his head will probably explode.

The MSM Karen

She’s one of the few people left who still listens to the mainstream media, so it’s no surprise when, after first hearing about anime from the MSM, she became convinced that it’s the biggest moral problem facing our country. She’s too closed-minded to listen to any facts to the contrary, which her minuscule brain will interpret as an attack against it.

If confronted with her, you can divert her attention if you were to present her with another documentary on another topic, provided the music is sufficiently creepy/mysterious-sounding, then find an opportunity to escape from this perfume-drenched outrage junkie.

The Baseball Cap

Jocko’s main beef with anime is that it’s complicated, therefore, he perceives it as threatening. And his way of dealing with threatening things is with torches and pitchforks.

The Baseball Cap looks forward to being accepted into college through a sports scholarship or, failing that, getting into the Army, unaware that the Army turns away those with an IQ under 82.

The Eagle Eye

This guy goes out of his way to make sure you know that he hates pedophiles. And because his peanut brain conflates anime with child abuse, he also hates anime and vilifies anyone who watches it.

Like anyone with dreams of being e-famous, he has a podcast that’s listened to by maybe one or two people, just in case you’re interested in the next installment of the series of “have I mentioned that I’m not a pedophile, today?” He also picks on furries. Or pretty much anything, as long as the heat’s off him and whatever the hell it is that he’s into.

The Funko Pop Bookshelf

The face of consoom culture, with the bookshelf to match. He unironically believes that buying Marvel crap makes him a better person, by reason of whatever the hell activist causes that multinational media conglomerates are currently bloviating about.

Like the Baseball Cap above, he’s an idiot. So if you were to get into the social commentary of Gundam or the psychological elements of Girls Last Tour, you’d likely be met with the same thousand-yard-stare that you’d see out of his rows and rows of near-identical Funko Pops.

The Espresso Spiritualist

This chick has the entire “You’re About to Hear Bullshit” starter pack. Power stones? Check. Thick-rimmed glasses? Double-check. Black nail polish? Standard issue. Hardcover copies of dubious spiritual tomes? It’s what the knapsack is for.

She basically believes that the Japanese are trying to hypnotize Americans with brainwaves, and that if you watch anime, you’re funding their efforts. You deal with her the same way as anyone else on this list: by not talking to her.

There you go. There’s others, but these are the kinds that are less likely to comprehend how embarrassing their viewpoints really are, increasing the likelihood that these are the ones that you’ll encounter.

Frieren: From Mortality To Morality

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I’ve been seeing Frieren come up from time to time. A friend recently recommended it to me, so I decided to make some time to watch the anime.

Two days and 22 episodes in, I think I can say I get the general premise, and can comment on the controversy surrounding it.

First thing to point out is that Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is a work of fiction. Because I recognize it as such, it doesn’t inform my morality. If a work of fiction were to attempt to teach a moral lesson, it could teach any lesson that the author might want it to, and the scenario could be written to present it in a favorable light, regardless of what the reality of the matter might be if a person were to attempt to put it into practice.

Entertainment is supposed to be entertaining, and that’s all it has to do to justify its existence. The idea that entertainment must have a moral value is generally propagated by busybodies who don’t trust other people to think for themselves. If children are taught that entertainment is merely to entertain and not to inform moral perspectives, they could watch shows like South Park and Family Guy and still become a moral child (though those probably might not be your first entertainment choices for your child). It’s not a bad idea to instill the proper perspective to prepare them for the inevitability that they’ll come across these shows, or shows like them.

Otherwise, if your child comes across a cartoon that extols the virtues of pushing old people into mud instead of helping them across the street, there’s no telling how they’ll take it. There’s no substitute for proper parenting.

As obvious as this is, lazy parenting that failed to instill a proper perspective on entertainment has resulted in a new generation of busybodies that have become everyone else’s problem.

Based on this framing, you might guess that Frieren is Ren and Stimpy on PEDs. Nope. Frieren is about life, mortality, and friendship from the perspective of a person who, being an elf, would be likely to outlive the humans around her by many centuries. While the story takes place after another story has already concluded, it still succeeds in conveying a compelling and beautiful narrative, which is at times exciting.

So, what’s the problem?

The problem is, some people are taking issue with the portrayal of a fantastic race, called “demons”, as being evil.

For clarity, the demons in Frieren are not the mind manipulating spiritual beings that are often featured in religions, they’re more like the tieflings in Dungeons and Dragons in that they are humanoids with horns. But while the tieflings might be capable of morality on an individual by individual basis, the demons in Frieren are irredeemable psychopaths with no understanding of human desire for friendship or family, and have learned human language to the end of using it to manipulate. Which, concerning the abuse of language, makes them sound like the propagandists in the corporate mainstream information media.

I was aware of the controversy before watching Frieren. But what surprised me was just how little screen time was given to the topic of the morality of demons. The impression that I got was that demon morality was a contrivance designed to convey that Frieren’s original journey was strongly justified.

This is in addition to the antagonists being called demons, and the point was labored that they were incorrigibly wicked and that tragedy was the long-term consequence of any attempt to co-exist with them. Could the point have been more strongly conveyed?

However, for the busybodies, this is just the problem. Because as they see it, fantastic racism is still racism, and they can’t bring themselves to trust the rest of us to think for ourselves. But in coming to the defense of these fantastic psychopaths, these same busybodies are showing that they’re just the kind of people who, if they were to live in Frieren’s fantastic setting, would fall for the demon’s honeyed words.

At this point, you might have guessed that it’s primarily leftists who are raising an issue with Frieren. Yep. It’s leftists again.

And, right on brand, they want everything, including every form of entertainment, to bend the knee to their worldview, even anime and manga. Because when it comes to cultists, the usefulness of anything is measured by its utility for propagating the cult’s ideology.

But the problem isn’t just that the left seeks to subvert entertainment and transform it into a vehicle for their worldview. The left is also waging a long war against the traditional morality that derives its principles from natural law. To this end, they seek to undermine basic ethics in favor of a new set of values that is disconnected from reality and ignores the second order consequences of their own unwise behaviors.

It’s part of the reason why the left can’t meme. Memes are shortform communication delivered with an understanding of what’s considered normal, so that humor can be found in a variation from expectations, much like a punchline in a joke. Take the old cat meme, “I can has cheezburger?” For most viewers, the expectation is that a cat can’t employ language, but if it could, its syntax and spelling would likely be poor, as it is in the meme. However, if the meme were to have been presented by a vegan, and thus someone with a left-wing fringe ideology, they might include a disclaimer that they don’t condone the cat’s request, or they might object to even sharing the meme on principle.

Leftist memes tend to be wordy, and there’s a reason for that: the leftist meme is part of a deliberate attempt to redefine normalcy, and to this end, they don’t want there to be any possibility that the meme could be misinterpreted, especially in a way that may defeat their ideology.

The verbosity it would take to redefine expectations does not lend itself to shortform content. But it also reveals something about leftists: that their ideology is more important to them than whether you’re amused or entertained.

When you know this, it’s easy to see why leftists have a problem with Frieren. The rest of us have basic understandings about morality which don’t need continual reiterating. Among the points we consider axiomatic: Immorality is corrosive to families, communities, societies, and nations. Some cultures are incompatible with other cultures. There are people who make it difficult to live peacefully.

If you understand these things, then the way that Frieren handles the demons in its world shouldn’t challenge you. However, leftists feel threatened by Frieren, because the narrative of Frieren supposes a morality that hasn’t imbibed on a toxic dose of outgroup empathy.

Frieren has frequently been accused of saying that coexistence with certain people is impossible. The following panel is often pointed to, which is probably the most controversial in the manga:

It has often been said that Frieren said that you can’t live with certain people. The words she used are different in the panel above, but they carry the same implication.

For clarity, here’s the surrounding context (being manga, panels and word bubbles are ordered from right to left):

While Frieren might not have used the phrase “coexistence with certain people is impossible”, it’s plain to see that this is a sentiment that she would hold, and she illustrated this while addressing a demon who was okay with sacrificing lives in an attempt at coexistence, showing that those lives were less meaningful to him than his endeavor.

However noble the demon’s stated endeavor may have sounded, it’s undermined by his inability to comprehend the value of life. It’s the old “making an omelet by breaking a few eggs” line of reasoning.

But however one might interpret Frieren’s words, it remains that the Frieren manga and anime are works of fiction. Any lesson, moral, or social statement that they make, whether expedient or not, should be viewed in that light.

After all, the main point of entertainment is to be entertaining. If leftists had their way with it, entertainment would be turned into propaganda.

And that’s one of many reasons why they must be resisted.

This Is the Most Legendary Pokémon Leak of All Time

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Sometimes, something happens that’s so huge, so massive, and so legendary that it will be talked about for years to come. Last Friday, the data from an immense GameFreak leak went live, giving fans the world over insights as to the internal creative decisions of GameFreak, the makers of Pokémon, the highest-grossing intellectual property in human history.

This post won’t go over each of the details of the leak, which is a developing story, with fans still combing over the gigabytes of information. This post is more about the implications of the leak.

For one thing, the leak is acknowledged by GameFreak as containing personally-identifiable information on a number of their thousands of employees. In saying so, GameFreak has indicated that the leak is authentic.

But it also adds to the potential legal consequences that could be faced by the hacker(s), which Nintendo is likely to hunt down like a shiny Pokémon.

To briefly touch on what the leaks contain, included are, among other things, documents involving the creative direction of the gens 3, 4, and 5 games, many images of Pokémon that were redesigned before release, many Pokémon that were never released, possibly-scrapped plans for a sequel to the Detective Pikachu movie, and some amount of data for upcoming Pokémon games, including Pokémon Legends Z-A and the 10th generation of Pokémon.

And there’s more, such as the internal name for the Nintendo Switch successor, which was referred to as “Ounce”.

Without question, as far as hacks go, this is comparable to the “gigaleak” of Nintendo data a few years ago. But this one is different, as it specifically concerns Pokémon. Again, Pokémon is the highest grossing intellectual property in human history, and it has a fan base in the tens of millions, possibly many more. In the gaming world, the impact of this leak is seismic.

Also among the documents are those concerning the creative direction of the anime, such as concept drawings for the characters, and the reasoning behind the choice to conclude the story of Satoshi/Ash, and take the anime in a new direction.

Personally, I would’ve liked to see Gorochu. But maybe that’s in there, somewhere. Still, having seen the creative decisions being considered for it, I kinda wanna play the Sapphire version, again.

But as for the content concerning future Pokémon games, it’s not a bad idea to consider that things are subject to change. And perhaps GameFreak will gain a desire to change them, now that certain elements that they intended to be a surprise have gotten out there. But considering that the leak has shown us elements of past games that did change, it’s reasonable to expect that unreleased games will be subject to change prior to release.

Also, this leak is massive for the modding community, as it contains full beta versions of games from the DS era, and it sounds like it contains editors for at least one of the GBA games. Beta versions and developer tools are kinda a big deal.

There are also some creative elements that were probably better to leave out of the final products, such as a story about a woman with an injured foot who was attacked by a Vigoroth. That goes to show that the creators of Pokémon considered a lot, including stuff that wouldn’t have fit the tone of the games well.

Out of the unreleased designs, my favorite would be the unreleased Hoenn starter, Warabito (apparently Warabbit, a portmanteau of “water” and “rabbit”). While Mudkip may have fit in more with the other two, I’d have probably picked Warabbit, if that was an option.

There’s likely to be more to the leak to be discovered, as fans are still picking through them. It’ll be interesting to see what they find.

Let’s Talk About That Monstrosity In The 7th Layer (Made In Abyss)

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Disclaimer: This post contains spoilers for the Made In Abyss manga, up to chapters 68 and 69.

What is up with Akihito Tsukushi’s ability to dream up horrifying fantasy creatures? I’d be talking about the one that snatched Nanachi away after it’s failed attempt to abscond with the twins. Now that we got a better look at it, it turns out that it’s no ordinary case of horrifying megafauna.

The official materials don’t give a name for it just yet, so I’m just going to give it a temporary name. For now, I’ll refer to it as “Phantasmaplasm”. I think it’s fitting for such a nightmarish creature.

If the Phantasmaplasm is not the 7th layer’s apex predator, then you might want to avoid whatever that might be. I remember thinking that the Sakawatari looked badass, and that if that’s the worst thing that can come out of the 7th layer, then the place is probably not that bad. But as it turns out, the Sakawatari probably came to the surface for a very compelling reason: to escape the Phantasmaplasm.

If it’s a picture you want: here’s one:

Except that picture might not be much help, for a couple truly terrifying reasons.

  1. It doesn’t convey the sheer enormity of the thing. It might actually be comparable to a skyscraper. And,
  2. It’s usually invisible.

Yep, the thing is usually invisible. Unless you have some form of enhanced perception, its body doesn’t become visible until you make direct contact with it. But at that point, it probably already has you.

Yeah, something that huge being invisible.

But the nightmares are just getting started. In addition to its conditional invisibility, the Phantasmaplasm can also cancel a person’s senses if it’s in their proximity. Riko and Srajo’s group was put on alert when Reg’s sense of smell suddenly vanished. But even that wasn’t much warning.

In this sense, the Phantasmplasm has an ability that is somewhat similar to the Kudara from the Binary Star game. A Kudara is able to create hallucinations by reading the minds and memories of cave raiders in its proximity. Because of this, there’s a precedent for a primeval creature capable of using psychic attacks against a person’s senses. Up until now, the most dangerous creatures that Riko’s team has encountered, such as the Crimson Splitjaw, the Orb Piercer, and the Turbinid Dragons, used things like poison and martial ability to attack. The Phantasmaplasm is unlike anything Riko’s group has encountered so far.

While all this is disturbing already, it gets worse. The Phantasmaplasm can hyper-regenerate. As evidenced by Yataramar’s attempt to burn off one of its enormous tentacles, as long as the tentacle is still attached, it can completely regenerate in a matter of seconds, even if burned.

Oh yeah, it’s also unaffected by the strains of ascension. Which is a pretty big deal in the 7th layer, where the strains are presumably “certain death”. So yeah, we can assume that a person would be killed if it were to pull them upwards by just a few meters.

All things that we currently know about it considered, if you were to see this thing coming as you walk down the street, you’d probably cross to the other side. Or turn and run like you’ve never run before. Except, you wouldn’t be able to see it coming at all, and the only warning you’d have of it’s presence is if one of your senses, such as smell or hearing, were to suddenly go.

Whatever’s at the bottom had better be worth the trip.

They’re late to the party.

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It’s becoming increasingly evident that DEI is coming for anime, and it’s coming at a time when voice actors in anime-style games like Genshin Impact are threatening boycotts and meaningless online petitions (but I repeat myself), and manga localizers are crying foul because they could be replaced with AI.

Okay then, I’ll throw my opinion out there. DEI is really late to the party. I mean, really, really late. The party’s already over, everyone has already thrown up, and no one would have been interested in the Bud Light that DEI brought with them, anyway.

The anime boom is over. It has been, for a long time. Prior to it, it was the nineties, anime was really hard to get ahold of for cheap, because it had to cross an ocean to get to us, and translating it to your native language was not easy. Then the internet happened, and at that point, decades of anime started flooding over, and a person could easily go to Suncoast (remember Suncoast?) and pick up volumes of Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, Bleach, and lots of less mainstream stuff that’s been in Japan for decades.

That was the west’s anime boom. But then, releases of new anime slowed to the point of what was new to Japan. And, as it so happens, anime is something of a fringe hobby in Japan. So, in the west, anime is starting to settle down as a niche entertainment option, though not as niche as it was in the eighties.

I get that DEI might be going for anime to spite people like me who has long considered it an alternative to the polluted bullshit that western entertainment like Disney has become. I understand just how fun it can be to put a disproportionate amount of resources into what is basically just spite. It can be a fun sport. But oftentimes, it’s just a cynic’s quest. And in this case, the party is pretty much already over.

And what’s more, alternatives will pretty much always exist, and people will always tend more towards entertainment options that will take them away from the world’s problems, rather than remind them of those who are only making things worse.

At this point, there’s pretty much just one manga and one anime that I have much interest in. And if a bunch of astroturfed localizers set out to ruin it, then I’ll just seek out fan translations and perhaps even the Japanese versions, as they’ll be much closer to what the author originally intended when they wrote their story.

Even though I’m not Japanese, I understand that it’s the tendency of Japanese audiences to care more about the author’s original intent, than the agenda of a committee with creative control over the IP. And when you understand that, it will make intuitive sense to you why DEI is going to fail miserably to gain a foothold in Japan. When it comes down to it, while an American audience might not give much thought to the person or people who wrote The Powerpuff Girls, those who read Naruto are likely to care whether it’s the Naruto that Masashi Kishimoto wrote. Just the same, if creative control of Made In Abyss were taken away from Akihito Tsukushi, it’s easy to imagine that most of its fans would be done with it.

If the DEI investors were aware of this, and they’re probably not, then it’s hard to imagine that there’s anything behind their willingness to go after anime and manga than an attempt to destroy it.

But at this point, it’s too late for that. The best manga that has been made over the course of decades has already been localized, most of it about two decades ago. The boom is pretty much over, and the main stuff to go after would be new stuff that trickles out of what was a fringe industry in its home country.

Alternatives will always exist, and they will always be simple for people to find. And it will be because of the connected nature of today’s world, which was what caused the anime boom, to begin with.

When it comes down to it, the general population has a trait that the ideological dead-enders of DEI lack, and that’s the adaptability of mind that enables us to thrive in changing circumstances. The world is changing, fads come and go, and that’s exactly why DEI will eventually be a byword of times gone by.

Made In Abyss Theory: Srajo’s Germ Party

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Teamwork makes a dream work.

As a bit of a warning, this article contains spoilers for Made In Abyss, up to chapter 67. This would be especially true if this theory gets it right.

And, to be clear, I really hope it doesn’t. Because if it does, then Srajo is a despicable character, about as much so as Bondrewd the Novel.

To frame this theory, I’d first like to speculate as to the allusions made with the major characters in Made In Abyss. I’ll admit that these allusions may be an assumption on my part, but when held up against what we’ve been seeing out of the major characters, the White Whistles in particular, I think that this assumption holds up.

Personally, I think the major adversarial characters, particularly the White Whistles, are allusions to various types of bad parents. Here’s a few comparisons with adversarial characters that we’ve already seen:

  • Ozen the Immovable is an alcoholic mother who takes things too far. And, worse yet, she makes the boy in her care dress as a girl for her own amusement.
  • Bondrewd the Novel is the father who prioritizes his own career pursuits over his children, and treats them to insincere smiles. While this may sound mundane considering what he’s done, those who have been through it know why that could inspire a villain.
  • Lyza the Annihilator left home and never came back, leaving her own child behind. Nuff said.
  • Wazukyan may not have been a White Whistle, but he easily could have been. His actions may have been an allusion to the cultural practice of “mabiki” in feudal Japan. Consider yourself warned if you look it up, as it might ruin your day.

Okay then, where does Srajo the Obscure fit in all this? To explain that, I’ll first lay out what a “germ party” is. A germ party is the act of deliberately exposing one’s own children to another child who has a highly infectious pathogen, with the plan being that the parents time a vacation for the end of the incubation period, so their children become more manageable as the parents enjoy their vacation.

Having learned of that, you’re probably entertaining the thought of gathering every parent who has ever done this into a huge biomass, to be thrown into an enormous fire. But before you get carried away, you might remember the time that you and your siblings got chicken pox while on vacation. The parents that you may have condemned might have included your own.

As a possible hint, consider the fact that each member of Srajo’s faction, Hail Hex, is kitted with a respirator, except for Frapam, whose physiology is vastly different from the rest of the team.

Neyozel of Hail Hex, wearing his respirator

There’s also Srajo’s signature outfit, which is styled after the traditional European plague doctor outfit, with the conical nose.

Srajo the Obscure

Now, consider what happened when Srajo met Riko’s group: she had Riko’s friends play-fight with Nishagora. She had Riko’s friends bathe together with members of Hail Hex. They then enjoyed a meal together. Afterwards, the groups joined together for a joint expedition, with Srajo stating her intention of having her own group split up at some point.

Ample opportunity to spread a pathogen that Hail Hex had already developed an immunity to.

But with what motive? Quite simply, Srajo doesn’t want Hail Hex to share the glory that would come with a historic expedition into the seventh layer. Whatever prize awaits the cave raiders who make it to the bottom would split better among fewer cave raiders.

And for Riko’s party, it might already be too late.

If you’re wondering what this hypothetical pathogen might do, we may have gotten a glance with the twins, Menae and Sherumi. While Reg was bathing them, they warned him that he and his friends could end up like them! And that’s deeply unsettling, considering that the twins are quadruple amputees, using prosthetics for basic mobility. It might be that an attempt to induce immunity in the twins went wrong, and the result was so traumatic that they don’t even want to recall the experience. Being children, they’re bad at keeping secrets, and could’ve easily blown the lid on Srajo’s plan!

To make matters worse, chapter 67 ends on a cliffhanger, suggesting the possible loss of the physician of Riko’s group, Nanachi. If Nanachi is out of the picture, Nanachi might have been spared the horror of what the rest of the group might endure. But it would also mean that there’d be less potential to treat whatever illness might come upon Riko.

And, without Nanachi, Riko would be the main concern. Faputa is immortal, which might make her immune to any pathogen. And Reg is a living collection of relics, with no biological component that we know of for certain.

Ozen warned Riko to avoid any White Whistle she might come across, and if this theory turns out to be true, then Srajo would definitely have been a White Whistle to avoid!

While most people have a certain attachment to their fan theories, I’d prefer that this one not be true. But even so, I recognize that it does fit in with some of the other themes that author Akihito Tsukushi has already touched upon, and I’d still be excited to see what he does with it in the narrative.

To end this on a bit of a lighter note, let’s consider the fact that Riko is also a White Whistle, which carries the implication that she might not turn out to be a great person, either. Let’s look at some of her less heroic behaviors. She swiped relics that the orphanage sells to pay its bills. Because Reg is a collection of relics, she treated him like property, and ruthlessly violated him while he was unconscious. She filled a notebook up with observations that she made during said violations. She ran away at night, leaving her orphanage to assume that she went on a suicidal journey. She procured amaranthine deceptor larvae in the fourth layer, which she then deployed in a dart against Bondrewd, risking an environmental calamity in the fifth layer, and deploying a bioweapon at the tender age of 12.

I think it’s obvious that we should not be fooled by Riko’s cute appearance, as she could end up becoming a horrible person, a problem that wouldn’t be helped by the influences that she’s been surrounded with.

Hold on, that wasn’t much of a lighter note, at all.

Review: Made In Abyss, volume 12

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I’m going to say, first of all, that if you went to the store to buy a physical copy with that cover, you’re one brave dude.

That said, this report contains my impressions of Made In Abyss manga volume 12, and it does contain spoilers, so be aware of that in case you’re yet to read it.

Previously, in volume 11, Riko’s crew happened upon a trap, which they investigated. One thing led to another, and they ended up meeting Nishagora of Hail Hex and her prisoner, Tepaste. Following Nishagora back to her base, Riko’s party met up with another White Whistle, Srajo the Obscure!

The author, Akihito Tsukushi, can be commended for introducing a handful of characters, while avoiding having them give off the impression of being a bunch of NPCs, and characterized each of them, putting them in scenarios that draw upon each of their personalities.

First, with a combat trial, next, by giving the characters an opportunity to wash, and then, with a meal. From a narrative viewpoint, this is shown as Srajo’s hospitality, which serves her as an opportunity to gather intel about her guests, whom she’s still cautious of. Riko’s party is similarly cautious, which Srajo notes and appreciates as a virtue, and goes to show that Riko’s party has learned a few things from their encounters with Ozen, Bondrewd, and Wazukyan.

And, speaking of, I can appreciate how Ozen and Bondrewd were written into the narrative, and Hail Hex has alluded to the possibility that Riko and friends may not have seen those two White Whistles at their full potential. It’s possible that we haven’t seen the extent of their involvement in the narrative, which is exciting, because these characters were already quite impactful.

So, you could probably guess that volume 12 dumps some lore on us, which is always fuel for discussion. What’s especially exciting is that this volume introduces us to the “beast guises”, a new category of character that seems related to the previously established character concept of hollows. Personally, I prefer the Japanese moniker for these characters, juusou, which rolls off the tongue easier than beast guise. Tsukushi introduced this new category of character by having them show up in force, with each member of Srajo’s faction, Hail Hex, being a juusou, except Srajo herself. Interestingly, it seems juusou respond to the sounding of white whistles, similar to relics.

Now that we’ve met them all, here’s my impression of each member of Hail Hex:

  • Nishagora: Very expressive. She’s simultaneously terrifying and endearing. It’s obvious that she’s going to be a fan favorite.
  • Yataramar: Though he’s called a combatant, he seems rather tactful, and takes opportunities to deescalate situations. I think we’re yet to see the extent of what he can do.
  • Frapam: Seems Srajo has her own Meinya. As for what it’s about, we still don’t know. Because it’s been given a title as a member of Hail Hex, there may be more to it than appears.
  • Menae and Sherumi: The twins. It seems like there is still much mystery surrounding them, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they ended up joining Riko’s team, as they do fit their aesthetic.
  • Srajo: It’s been noted that she acts very middle-school, even though she’s plainly an adult. It seems she shouts most of the time, which may indicate that she’s hard of hearing. People with difficulty hearing tend to shout so they can hear themselves, though it seems she can hear the more soft-spoken characters just fine.

From here, let’s go over some observations in a “here and there” kinda fashion.

For one thing, Riko’s party finally makes it to the seventh, and possibly final, layer! How close this means that we are to the conclusion is yet to be seen. But if there is a civilization at the bottom, as all hints indicate, then there will probably be a lot more potential for stories to tell.

The Hariyomari Collection seems to be transforming from background lore to possibly an integral part of the story. It’s gone from a nameless nursery rhyme that Nanachi told Mitty to possessing a secret that a number of adults have taken interest in, which is somewhat disturbing for a horror manga. Whether my theory that Riko is the miko, and thus the author of the Hariyomari Collection, holds up remains to be seen.

Sherumi and Menae have some mystery about them. How they turned out the way they did is a mystery that they don’t seem to want to pass on. It would seem that the event was so traumatizing that they don’t want to remember, or for that matter talk about it. But considering their warning that Reg and his friends could turn out the same way, they could probably use more information. Or, maybe it’s some secret that they’re better off not knowing about.

Back in my review of volumes 1-9, I pointed out that, though this series does have nudity, I didn’t spy any tube steaks or roast beef sandwiches. As of volume 12, this changes, as the series shows its first tube steak. It actually slipped by my attention the first time I read the Japanese version. Perhaps Tsukushi wanted to make the point that, even though the twins were quadruple amputees, they weren’t missing all their features. In any case, the manga showed peepee. Thus, this manga with the great characters, worldbuilding, storytelling, and art has just become a little more difficult to introduce people to.

Srajo’s stew sounds awesome. Yet another recipe from this manga that I’d like to try. But remember the salt. And it comes back that Riko is good with languages, and it turns out that she understands sign language. Considering this with the fact that she can devise complex strategies on the fly, and it’s easy to see that she’s a smart one.

Volume 12 was a bit short. There was only three chapters. The economy is a bit tough, and people are stretching their entertainment dollars, so it would be appreciated if there was more content for our money. I know that Tsukushi only writes so much at a time (and I don’t want him to push himself too hard). But I’m okay with waiting a little longer if it means a more robust volume.

Having said that, volume 12 succeeds at what it does, introducing great characters, building up the story arc, expanding the lore, and having amusing moments (and at times being quite awkward).

To turn my subjective feelings about it into a number, I give Made In Abyss volume 12 a score of 8 out of 10. Having said that, if you’ve been following along, you’re probably springing for this one, anyway. And we know that once you’re in this deep, there’s no going back.

About the ending to Made In Abyss chapter 67

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As a brief disclaimer: This post contains spoilers for Made In Abyss chapter 67, which as of this posting has just released in Japan.

Made In Abyss chapter 67 has just released, and as is often the case for this series, the chapter ends with a cliffhanger.

But this time, the cliffhanger has caused quite a stir, as it contains a heavy implication that the party of protagonists has just lost a major character.

While the manga has been released in Japanese, the language barrier is not an issue in understanding the last scene, which conveyed much of the drama visually. Thus, one doesn’t need to understand Japanese to know what happened in that scene.

In the chapter, Riko’s squad, along with Hail Hex, continue their journey into the Seventh (and possibly final) Layer. As they do so, they converse.

In the last scene, the party comes to a halt, as they sense that something doesn’t seem right. Just then, Nanachi senses something (possibly a piece of organic debris) hurtling towards the twins, Menae and Sherumi. Acting quickly, Nanachi pushed the twins out of harm’s way. But in doing so, Nanachi put herself in danger.

While it remains unclear what became of Nanachi, we see that the helmet she was wearing was removed from her head, and the helmet was crushed. Not only that, we see Reg reaching with his extendible arm in a possibly vain effort to rescue his friend.

While it may be too soon to write a eulogy for Nanachi, at this point, the outlook doesn’t seem good for her. Nonetheless, fans of Made In Abyss are concerned that they may have to say goodbye to this beloved character.

As has been pointed out before (possibly here), the character Nanachi has been on borrowed time. Nanachi was originally intended by author Akihito Tsukushi to meet her end in the Ido Front arc, where her character arc would have been complete, and she and Bondrewd the Novel would have both perished while fighting each other. Interestingly, this averted outcome was referenced by Nanachi herself at the conclusion of the Ido Front arc.

Interestingly, while writing the manga, Tsukushi hurried through the Third Layer part of the story, leaving out much of what was originally intended, because he was afraid that his manga would be cancelled. He was in a hurry to introduce the character Nanachi, reasoning that she would be popular enough to save the series. The portion that was left out of the manga made it into the anime.

However, Tsukushi underestimated how popular Nanachi would be, so he made the choice for Nanachi to continue on with Riko’s party.

When the story advanced to the Sixth Layer and the Village of the Hollows, it seemed as though Nanachi would be written out, as Nanachi found a copy of her friend Mitty, so she sold herself to Belaf so that Belaf would stop continually eating the regenerating immortal, and therefore Nanachi could live peacefully with Mitty.

However, there was an apparent change of plans, considering that Faputa was destroying the village. So Belaf placed his memories in Nanachi, and set her free with a new outfit.

Nanachi has picked up a sort of plot armor, by virtue of the fact that she’s so popular. But with the series nearing its conclusion, there’s no guarantee that much of the cast will live to see the end. What’s more, Made In Abyss was written to be emotionally impactful, and events in the series so far have proven that there’s little that’s off the table.

When it comes down to it, in spite of her appearance, Nanachi has been a sad character. She was taken in by a mad scientist who experimented on her and a few dozen other children, and she saw her best friend get mutated in front of her eyes. She didn’t value her own life much, as evidenced by the fact that she sold herself to Belaf to save Mitty, and she was suicidal when Reg first met her, though she didn’t want to act on that while Mitty was alive, and she remained alive after the first Mitty was slain to honor her promise to Reg. Then, she had to say goodbye to Mitty again, after she found a copy of her in the Sixth Layer. What’s more, other characters conducted themselves with Nanachi in a way that didn’t consider her wishes. For example, even though she’s fluffy and other characters liked to pet her, she didn’t want it, and she preferred for the other characters to respect her personal space.

Considering this, for Nanachi to sacrifice herself to save a couple other people, even though they just met, is well within her character.

It’s a type of virtue that doesn’t tend to last long in a world like this.

Whether it’s truly over for Nanachi is still up in the air, and we may find out in the next chapter, which we’re likely to see in a few months. But one Redditor has expressed skepticism that things have ended for Nanachi:

Tsukushi has already warned that, by the time the story concluded, the members of Riko’s party would be unrecognizable. He has also pointed out that people on adventures do die. That being the case, it’s no surprise that a story he has written would come with the occasional figurative gut punch. And a person who has read Made In Abyss up to this point would reasonably expect it.

But at the moment, for those who keep up with it and have a particular attachment to the character of Nanachi, it might not be a bad idea to find someone to talk to. And maybe come to the understanding that a parasocial relationship that involves overly strong emotions might not be healthy.