Made in Abyss S2 – 08 – Random Curiosity

FJ Freeman

How much pain can you bear before finally giving up? This episode contains a cautionary tale. Curiosity killed the cat, and all that. Another horrible episode for S2 MiAClosing the arc first explorers and finally revealing everything in grand detail, from the small foreshadowing of Reg’s story, as he once saw Faputa in the distant past, and they both made a promise to each other, what exactly did it entail, is not entirely clear, but in the process, it made Faputa rip off one of her limbs and hand it down to Reg, they need it for what’s to come. Let’s get to the point. We will be rushing to the end of this nightmare-filled arc.

To me the most interesting key element of this story is two-fold, first is Vueko’s psyche, there really was nothing she could do about Faputa birthing tiny creatures and having them die a day later, except nurture that love, call them her children and teach her how to care for them as she once cared for ​​Irumyuui, she has little choice but to tend to her as a grandmother. She was the one who wanted Irumyuui’s health to improve and she gave me the Cradle of Desire. avarice for desire, greed for indulgence.

Second is Wazukyan and how seemingly he is working on autopilot, detached from his own reality so that he can actually process what he’s doing the horrendous acts and atrocities of sins he needs to commit in order to continue living during this nightmare, how he seemingly brushes aside death and primordial conversion like it’s nothing. He’s not all there so to speak.

Faputa and Irumyuui, in my opinion, are two distinct entities. Faputa was born from the suffering Irumyuui went through to fulfill her wish. There’s a certain prime-evil feeling to MiA.The curse and loss of humanity make those who seek it into primal creatures. These primordial creatures might once have existed in the distant past or future. They become alien to us as they are no more part of our humanity. Their minds have been lost and they are now animals that follow their instincts. Some hollows are subject to this fate, particularly those who reach the top in a hurry. Others are luckier. Nanachi and the villagers are, however, conscious. However someone like Maa, for example, isn’t so lucky.

I had a conversation with some friends recently, they told me a story about a family dog they had, the sweetest dog you’ve ever met, and they also had a female kitty, who got pregnant and had her kindle of kittens. They found one of the kittens on the ground with its stomach and bones splayed out, totally lifeless. The dog had taken one of the kittens from the kindle, and was playing with it as if it were a plush toy. My friend quickly moved the mother and the kindle to a safer place where the dog couldn’t reach them. However doesn’t that remind you of anything from the show?

The first seeps of darkness S2 had to offer, why did Maa treat Meinya in such a harsh manner, well the answer to that question is probably that, in Maa’s brain he thought it was some type of toy, not a living creature. It was so innocently played with. Neherete’s run on instinct. Their way of seeing the world is likely more like that of an animal. They do have some.

Another example of this would be Belaf, his transformation came because he couldn’t deal anymore with the way he was viewing the world, his lack of empathy for Irumyuui got to him, and he was unable to deal with it, and in the process, madness swept at him. He couldn’t take it anymore and asked for forgiveness in death. He was the first to transform into the hollow-like serpent. His true form, which was the way he saw him all along, was to be a mediator between good or evil. However, his self-promotion (back in EP 01), follows his own morality. Duality has been a symbol of duality, that is, the middle ground between darkness and light. Strangely enough, snakes are also used to represent fertility in certain cultures (of nature, but nevertheless).

Vueko asks forgiveness, literally jumping off a cliff. Was Wazukyan there really? He was just trying to save people? And seeing Vueko act ‘out of character’ snaps him back to reality. This is his way to ask for forgiveness. Wazukyan’s eyes are covered up, which really got me thinking. Here’s the thing – usually ours are covered by our upper eyelids or a combination of the two, however, Wazukyan has none of those, his eyes are there but standing in between the two. They draw Wazukyan in very limited instances as if he were a normal character. There’s a Japanese/Chinese myth that says, if the sclera shows underneath (Vueko) it means you are a good person and the world is out to get you, but if the sclera is visible above then it means you are out to get the world. That myth is familiar to many.

Then when Wazukyan finally regains his you could say ‘normal’ expression, when he reaches out to Vueko, when she’s finally falling and he catches her, he finally smiles. This is when he finally snaps and returns to reality – so to speak. Has he been so out of it that he doesn’t register reality anymore? After all, he did eat some mantise on the boat. He eats cockroaches in the mangaew!))

In a sense, everyone got their wish fulfilled because after all, it was Irumyuui’s children who saved them. They got out of the horrible condition they were in. However, even though Vueko also entered the village and was imprisoned inside of Irumyuui, she didn’t transform and kept her original form, I still wonder why that is.

The good news is that things are about calm down as they get more action-oriented for the final of S2 MiA It’s getting closer! We appreciate your reading and wish you a pleasant day.

Guardian Enzo

It was a show that I have been watching lately, so I took some time to think about it before I started writing.  There are certain anime where the experience is so singular, one can’t in good faith measure it against any other series.  The things  that bother me about Made in AbyssThese are not trivial. However, if one takes a step back and thinks about it only MiA could evoke that in me, it’s more a token of respect than criticism.  It could not be more profound than it is.

Despite this, I have no less valid reservations.  To be truthful, I have some reservations about this entire arc (and therefore the season).  I don’t know where Tsukushi is going with this, and if pushed I might say the whole thing feels rather misguided.  Fairness dictates, however, that I reserve judgement on this until it is resolved.  How can I decide whether it’s misguided until I see what the point of it all was?  The Bondrewd arc was as brutal and horrible as it is, but it felt natural and essential to the overall story. Retsujutsu no Ougankyou doesn’t – yet.  But the “yet” part is the key to that sentence.

According to my view, there are two minefields. Made in AbyssNavigating is a constant task.  First, fetishism. This is an issue that becomes more problematic as the plot intensifies.  That hasn’t been much of a factor for a few episodes, not surprisingly as the plot has been in high gear.  The second is torture porn – which is a type of fetishism I suppose, but where this series is concerned rather in its own category.  Prushka’s story flirted with descending into it constantly, but for me managed to avoid it because of how interwoven with the larger plot it was.  The balance is yet to be achieved in this season.

It seems as if Wazukyan – and where Tsukushi is going with the character – is the key to everything.  What is he?  Bondrewd could have provided some nuance to support his evilness, but Wazukyan was much more straightforward.  What Wazukyan is doing here – effectively cooking and eating Irumyuui’s children alive – is horrific.  Not only that, he’s used the Cradles of Desire to manipulate her into the position of being a factory for sustaining his flock.  But whereas Bondrewd did what he did effectively out of greed – intellectual greed if nothing else – Wazukyan can be argued to have done it to save his party from certain death.

Wazukyan, I believe, is the true prophet.  Unlike most prophets he actually is what he claims to be – he sees things others cannot, and is guided by what he sees.  He clearly believes that any action can be justified if it allows his visions to become reality.  So for him to force feed two Cradles to Irumyuui knowing (or at least suspecting) what they would do to her was fine – his flock would die in this place otherwise.  While Vueko and Belaf checked out and preferred to die – or lose themselves – rather than pursue this course, Wazukyan was unwavering.  And it’s clear from his interactions with Vueko that he had no reservations about anything he’d done.

The upshot of all this, then, is that  Irumyuui herself is the village.  She acts out her perverse and twisted desire to be mother by becoming a literal sanctuary for the entire village (and probably others, as more delvers enter the area).  The cost for the other members is that they must give up their bodies and become hollows.  Vueko is unable or unwilling to follow her path and becomes a part in another way of her, linking with her now-inhuman mind and offering solace for her lost children.  Only one.

This is where Faputa enters the picture – the last and most perfect of Irumyuui’s offspring.  Faputa takes the Cradles with she when she leaves. But Irumyuui remains strong because of the hollows in her.  You can only imagine the hatred Faputa felt for Wazukyan.  She speaks to Reg about the promise he made, which he can’t remember.  You can guess it involves him doing whatever she cannot to demolish the village. Reg as we know would be horrified by being asked to do this.  Reg is now an expert at being asked to do the most horrifying things, which seems like it was history again after what happened with Nanachi & Mitty.

The question the final four episodes of the season will hopefully answer is what Tsukushi’s point for all this has been.  What message is he trying to send through this scenario, through Wazukyan – and how will what happens in Iruburu connect to the story as it moves forward?  Season 2 of Made in AbyssAlthough it’s no less impressive than the first film (or the film), my evaluation of the second season is more dependent upon its ending than that of the first.  I expected a journey with these characters would be full of wonder as well as pain. But at the end, I have to be able understand why all that pain happened.

Princess Usagi

I find it disturbing that Irumyuui’s desire to be punished is treated as if it were a terrible thing. It would be one thing for Irumyuui to become so obsessed with her desire that she started taking advantage of others. Irumyuui’s desire to be a parent is not a bad thing. So why should she be punished?

I think it relates to longing for something you can’t have, symbolizing how you can want something so badly, it rips apart your very being, destroying all logic. But again, this doesn’t fit Irumyuui- she wasn’t a warped person, she was a kid who wanted to have children-a desire that a lot of kids have. Unfortunately, this wasn’t possible for her- but it’s not as if she acted out on it, prior to getting the egg. The egg is probably the corruption, turning innocent desires into nightmares.

It was painful to see Wazukyan cut the babies apart from an Irumyuui crying, and then continue to chop them up-alive. Vueko, Belaf, and Vueko feel horrified that Wazukyan did what he did. Both feel guilty for not being able resist temptation. Belaf’s role was to make the stew and keep the village (and prophecy!) alive. For Vueko it was not taking a side- unable to stand up to the villagers nor able to end Irumyuui’s suffering. Both desire to end the rest of their lives as they are unable to confront their sins. Vueko is honest with herself that it’s for selfish reasons, whereas Belaf tries to assuage his guilt by convincing himself that it’s for Irumyuui.

Vueko was contemplating killing Irumyuui. It was a thought-provoking argument about whether helping someone get out of their misery is selfishness. Another person may not comprehend another’s hell, especially if it is a hell of that person’s own choosing. It would be an imposing act to remove them from their hell. However, I’d have to disagree- in the case of abuse, the person should be removed to safety. In the world of MiA, of course, there is no safe option out-any way you look at it, you’d end up dead-killed by angry villagers, crazy beasts, or your own desires.

Wazukyan is as cool as a cucumber. Is it because he doesn’t have a conscience? Or is he trying to make others feel brave? But he’s just as desperate for the rest as everyone else, even if he eats an egg. Though he never says what his wish was, I’m assuming it had something to do with survival.

Apparently, Vueko’s cave was Irumyuui’s head. It now makes sense why the villagers feel ill in the “cave”- no doubt it is Irumyuui’s intense rage. Irumyuui always longed to be a mom. By feeding the villagers and cradling them in her protective barrier, she becomes everyone’s mother. Of course, that’s not something she’ll ever know-it’s not like you could tell her they are eating her children. I guess this would make Vueko the village’s grandmother due to how she nurtured Irumyuui and the souls of her dead children. I expect things to get worse in the village now Vueko has been taken from Irumyuui.

Things are coming full circle. If Faputa, having inherited her mother’s grudges, desires to destroy the village, then it’s obvious what her promise with Reg was. Faputa is ready to make it a point to sacrifice her own ears in order to fulfill Reg’s wish.

I am disgusted at the way Irumyuui has been taken advantage of. Wazukyan discovered they could survive on her young and began to farm her offspring. He also implanted a second egg so she can keep going. The villagers become part of Wazukyan and transform into creatures. This effectively ties her to them and makes her a villager (not that she needed a place else). They relied on her, but she must continue to sustain them. They gave up all humanity when they took advantage Irumyuui’s young and lived off her wealth. They had no other option. They have two options: they either drown or they live off Irumyuui – a horrifying option in MiA, where there is no happy ending.

Full-length images: 39.

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