Made in Abyss Info

Рандомные факты
Made in Abyss was originally going to be a flip up storybook(doujin) with ONE protagonist
Riko and Regu are the split personality of the original protag(who is a male)
Although the story started with Riko as protag,Tsukushi later switched it slowly towards Regu because he thinks the reader probably can't insert themselves as Riko very well since no one normal would stick a ruler into a boy's ass casually
The layers of Abyss was designed like a video game levels,
The manga is 100% digitally drawn
Tsukushi have a assistant who was also his highshool friend

Интервью в Тайване

I’m surprised that this is your first commercial published work,feels like you worked on videogames before you become a mangaka?

Tsu:After I finished college,I entered Konami and became a designer,first 3 years I worked on designing and character’s motion tweaking,afterwards it’s interface.
5,6 years ago I first take charge of the illust of Elebits??????),and before that it’s the making of OZ-??- .

In this sense, you’re a professional in video game industries,what was the turning point for you to want to become a mangaka?

Tsu:After 10 years of game-making,I entered my 30s,I had a thought that this is not good if this keep going on.There’s only another half of my life left that I can still jumping around freely doing what I want.Watching time slipping through me ,thinking there’s only another half of my life that I can “wanting to do something more with my life” ,I quitted my job.

After you quitted,you started real manga works right away,you had drawn manga before back when you’re working,right?

Tsu:It was just some doodle at the corner of my note back then.Actually before the year MiA started,the doujin From Starstrings(???????????) is the first manga I completed from start to finish.After my person in charge at the time read it,he thought “it’s time”, and so the series of MiA started on web comic gamma.

“After the cute looking character cheerful-looking adventure,it’s a heavy story of life, death and parting ways”This is the comment it had 2 years ago,the adventure afterwards still show the brutality and cruelty of the nature of this work.

Tsu:I’m happy to hear that.Riko is gaining more and more scars on her body.Once to the point she can’t even move anymore.
Only in darkness can life bloom a bright light.No matter how dim the light is,it must be blinding in vast darkness.Back when she was on the surface,she was just a careless and trouble-making kid, but in the diving process she was able to show her true talents.Should I call her a Abyss-otaku or Abyss-baka,being able to achieve what no one else can before, this is probably her biggest happiness.

When the poison was spreading through Riko,the scene where she told Regu to break her arm,probably showed what determination cave divers have.

Tsu:There’s a film called 127 hours,it’s based on true stories,it talked about a moutainclimber who cut his arm off in order to free himself from a rock,although the work never said explained why he did this,but after the incident,he put on a prosthetic arm and went back on his road of adventure.
“Yeah,those who just can’t give up on the adventure always create a painful memory for themselves”,so all the cave divers would’ve chose the same choice

The deeper you dive,the bigger the consequences,it gave me a feel of no returning.

Tsu:At first,the curse of abyss is just the time maddening part,other curses were added later,but I think having a harder and the more dangerous setting would be more interesting.And it is also because of the “Absolute death” setting of the 7th layer,I can create a world no one else have seen before.

Even so,isn’t the “absolute death” curse of the 7th layer a bit too harsh?

Tsu: If you think about it,people are going to die one day in the middle of doing something eventually,in that sense,what Riko is doing is going on a way to suicide happily.

Sending herself to doom happily……?

Tsu:Those who didn’t go on a adventure lived their normal life on the surface.Thinking about “ahh...I should’ve gone there” before passing away.But not only Riko went,she had gone so far now.
Only things that surpass normal sense can make a story interesting.When it happens,the readers would be like”what the hell just happened?!”.And sometime I’m actually just as confused about the story myself too lol.The story in the future will continuing for the theme of “no-returning”.

>How did the complex world of the Abyss come to be?

Interviewer: Now, I would like to ask questions about "Made in Abyss." Where did you come up with the idea for the story?
Tsukushi: As I wrote at the end of Volume 1, I first considered releasing a pop-up book with certain tricks up its sleeve as a doujinshi.

I: Tricks up its sleeve?
T: If I tell you about it, that's going to change the direction this interview unfolds. Is that all right with you?

I: Hmmm...!! It really piques my interest, but I'll save the fun for later!
T: So, in the process of making this pop-up book, I told my assistant, who's my friend since high school, "It would be interesting if the story took place around exploring a giant hole," and he agreed, and so I decided to do it.

I: I feel like there's an incredible amount of detail involved in the atmospheres, habitats of creatures, and relics of each layer of the Abyss - which consists of more than seven layers - as well as the mysterious netherglyphs.
T: The entire story's set in the Abyss, you see. So, rather than expanding the world, there is a need to think meticulously about each detail, smaller and smaller, into tighter and tighter spaces, to each single leaf of a tree, lest the story thins out because there's no solid ground for it to stand on.
The Map of the Abyss near the beginning of Volume 1 is an example of that. At first, as I drew, I laughed and thought "there's no way this kind of topography's possible. But ah, well, it's fantasy after all." And then I wondered "But if this really existed, then wouldn't it be like this?" and "How did this come to be, and from how long ago?" and I answered those questsions through my illustrations.
It's fun to see the whole concept grow rapidly before my eyes. I used to love imagining how the characters looked in "Wizardry" on my Game Boy, watching the wire-frame images and reading the descriptions on-screen.
There's a reason the Abyss has multiple layers, too. Like in Makaimura ("Ghosts 'n Goblins"), OZ ("The Sword of Etheria"), and Mashin Eiy?den Wataru ("Mashin Hero Wataru"), it's fun to know the entire setting and have an understanding of where you are in the middle of that. It's easy to see what's next by looking at a map that way and I like that. Seeing the protagonist at the point where they're thinking about what's next in their adventure - just like wondering what kind of station's next on Galaxy Express 999 - gets me excited too when I draw it.

I: But, judging from how detailed the map is, it must've taken an enormous amount of time...
T: It was really fun because the ideas kept bubbling up.

>Riko as Doraemon, Reg as Nobita, and the "Maneki-Nanachi"

I: Reg's the protagonist, isn't he. I thought that Riko was, for some reason...
T: When it [Made in Abyss] was still a pop-up picture book, it was supposed to be just one person delving into the Abyss. The two - Reg and Riko - we have right now is that single protagonist's personality split into two. The main character in the picture book was a boy and that's why Riko is a bit tomboyish, and also more extraverted than other young boys.
In terms of Doraemon, Riko would be Doraemon and Reg would be Nobita. It would be the opposite according to their abilities, though. Yet, no matter what the situation, it's Riko who expresses her opinion about where they should go. Reg would be in a quandary without Riko.
At first, I considered starting the story from what is now Chapter 3, in which Reg woke up. So, I tried drawing the story from Reg's point of view. Therefore, Reg is supposed to be the protagonist emotional insert for the audience.
I don't think an emotional insert protagonist would probe a boy's butt with a stick. I draw the story mostly from Reg's point of view.

>I: You definitely can't talk about the characters of this work without mentioning Nanachi. I feel like interest in "Made in Abyss" grew at once, even on the Internet, after Nanachi was introduced.

T: I felt something from the sort of storymaking I did in the battle with Ozen in Volume 2. I really wanted people to think "I read something good" for each volume of the series. I already had decided to introduce Bondrewd, a villain through-and-through, in Volume 3 and so Nanachi was born, to set his character up.
Actually, Volume 2 wasn't selling so well, so while I was in the middle of what was to be Volume 3, I was having talks about how to wrap up this story. But then Nanachi came along and so I thought to make their character as compelling as possible.
I got an unbelievable amount of feedback from Volume 3, so it was absolutely a Maneki-Nanachi ("beckoning Nanachi").

>I: Nanachi's appeal doesn't stop at just their individual attributes such as their manner of talk - like "Nnaa~" - and their appearance, isn't it so? For instance, Nanachi's background increases their allure...

T: At first I told my editor that "Nanachi might die," that she and Bondrewd may die on each other's swords, figuratively speaking. But as I kept drawing, I felt like she could live. And, from my time working on OZ, two persons is better than one, and three would support each other and be stronger as a unit than two. It even asks "Why are there three people?" on the packaging for that game. OZ is deeply rooted into me.

>Drawing the edges by hand, and tearing them apart: "Manga is more of a free artform"

>I: It's impressive that the edges of the panels [in "Made in Abyss"] are hand-drawn, that it looks like it's being illustrated on drawing paper, and that the pages give off this sense of warmth. Is this all being done in analog [as opposed to digital]?

T: No, it's all digital from start to finish. After I complete my clean copy, I layer shades upon shades just like how watercolors are done, then I finish by adding in highlights. For the backgrounds, I use a pattern scanned from drawing paper.

>I: Are there times when the work became interesting as a manga because of these expressions?

T: There's a scene where Ozen stomps on Reg in their fight in Volume 2, but you can see how the panel gets breaks [from Ozen's sheer force alone].
I started experimentally drawing the cells by hand from the Chapter 2, and I'm thankful that I started doing so from that point. I found that manga is more of a free artform than I thought after reading different works. As a result, I'm doing unusual things like adding speed lines to speech bubbles.


Серия вопросов-ответов после премьеры фильмов в Японии

Shimoyama-san, the guy who played the Indian black whistle (the guy about to get killed by Tama-chan?) also played the Orb Piercer
The Indian black whistle guy was a Praying Hand returning to the surface from the Idofront. Therefore, he was Bondrewd but offline (?)
The helmet that Lyza was holding in the new scenes in the first film was formerly owned by a Praying Hand
"The First Layer" originally was supposed to be Mitty's theme
The guy who admonished Bondrewd ("Sovereign, what do you think you are doing?!") was not a Praying Hand, but a pretty high-ranking Black Whistle
Bondrewd's voice was carefully processed so that it sounds like it's coming from behind a mask, but not too mechanical
That bird doll Nanachi made ("Look, Mitty, it's a bird") - there's no such bird like that [in the MiA universe]
Deep inside, Nanachi wanted to smell good. Mitty's blessing granted that to them
Riko's soul is in a weird state because she came back to life in the Abyss
The reason Marulk helped fix the parcel with Ozen's friends (in the anime ending) is because he can't go to Orth for certain reasons (?)
Orth, in the end [the end of the anime or the end of the story? likely the former], is evacuated. The general public is no longer there, and only delvers remain
"reBirth", the ED song for the first film, is "his" theme
The storyboard for the Idofront movie is already done and the staff have already congregated

Q. Does fog weave fix itself if you rip it?
A. No.

Q. How do the squids in the Goblets of Giants lay their eggs on the Great Fault?
A. Many people tried to observe them laying their eggs, but nobody has ever seen it happen so nobody knows (Lord Tsukushi)

Q. Will the Neritantan make another appearance? (10-year old kid) [yikes]
A. There are many species of Neritantan. The small, weak ones are really adaptable creatures so they just might appear [later]. (Lord Tsukushi)

Q. How's "A Day in the Life of Marulk" going? [Seems to be an OVA about Marulk, first teased at a talk show in 2017] (Mr. Runny Nose)
A. I haven't given up my hopes. If Tsukushi-sensei would write it, then it just might be made (Producer Yamashita)

Q. If you were to do a spinoff, what would it be about? (Mr. Takuya)
A. Marulk-chan! Such a solid character background, shame it's not put to use! (Lord Tsukushi)

Q. I also want something about the pasts of the White Whistles (Mr. Takuya)
A. I do too. The new scene in the first film was part of that. (Lord Tsukushi)

Q. Did you change the crying voices for the Mitty farewell scene? (Mr. nijita)
A. I didn't change them. Maybe you're hearing things that you weren't able to before because of the theater acoustics? (Audio Director Yamada)

Q. Does Ozen make Marulk's clothes?
A. Ozen doesn't make them, but they're order-made. He stores telescopic lenses and other equipment in those pockets around his head.

Q. Tell me more about Bondrewd's transport route [to the Idofront]
A. That's a route he made and only he and no other delver can use. The Praying Hands are responsible for moving the train. They don't have to worry about the weight and cargo on the return journey (because it's a one-way trip for orphans anyway)