This manga is, by far, the best I have ever read out of many. An amazing manga, a great show. The anime, however, is not what I am going to cover in this review. TL;DR at bottom if you wish to skip any possible spoilers.

Based on what I have seen, no reader has ever regretted reading it. It is a story of 2 children descending into the Abyss, more or less for reasons of their own, but share a common goal - to learn as much about this Abyss as they can, learn of how they came to be, and find their origins. For Riko, this is through finding her mother, who is supposedly at the bottom of this hole. For Reg, I am not sure. He hopes to regain some memories, and learn more about himself by descending.

It was the art that first had me hooked. Akihito Tsukushi is an amazing artist, and this manga is probably the best example of it.

Story: 10

Made in Abyss has so much to offer in the story. Throughout the orphanage, down to the Golden City, I have never been bored by this story. The easier times, more stressful times, and emotional times all kept me hooked. I love each and every page, none being wasted for filler. It is not only the descent of Reg, Riko, and Nanachi that is a reason for the story receiving a 10. The amount of lore and small details that can be learned is amazing. Relics, stories of delvers, and the layers add another layer of storytelling that I haven't seen in too many manga. The relics, other delvers, and the characters seen throughout all add depth.

Art: 9

The art. Also one of, if not the best art I have seen. Every single panel is a joy to look at, and some panels I have spent 5 or more minutes looking at. The landscaping is beautiful, and the amount of landscape panels makes reading this even more worth it. The character design is also very good, and I like how it somewhat strays from normal drawing. The art does lose a single mark, though. The reason I took a mark of is because some panels are a bit hard to understand what is really going on, mostly with landscape panels. After looking at the panel for a few extra seconds, I can see the layout, and why it was designed the way that it is, but some are a bit messy. The art alone is enough reason to read this.

Character: 8

Some of the character growth is hard to see, but the characters do improve after descending and meeting new characters. I mostly see this is Reg, how he grows from the Orphanage to Nanachi. During the time he spends with Nanachi, he seems to learn more of the Abyss. I think Reg is growing more than Riko, at least by what I see. The characters are done very well. A good example of this is Ozen. It is hard to describe why. She almost has this aura around her. I am very excited to see how more characters might get introduced, and how current ones will change.

Enjoyment: 10

As I said in the story section, this manga never failed to excite me. Every page wanted me to see, more and more, what happens next. Even during the hardest of times, the stress I felt pulled me in. I feel like in any action/adventure anime or manga, if I don't feel stressed, I'm not getting any enjoyment. This rule doesn't apply to slice of life, of course.

Overall: 9.7

I love this manga. Not much more I can say than that. Something about the feeling of the Abyss makes it all that more amazing. This manga is filled with emotion, expressed very well by the art and characters. It is beautiful, both in story and art. I would recommend this to anyone, whether they have read manga before, or haven't even considered it. It is a great read, great watch, and should be on everybody's list.

TL;DR: 9.7

The story and the art are amazing. It will rarely, if ever, make you bored. It is worth every minute you spend reading, and I would recommend if you haven't read it, to do so. It is the manga that has never left my memory, and I doubt it will. Some scenes do have to do with children suffering and gore, so beware.

Author's note*

This is my first review ever. I think this is a good manga to leave my first review on, and I tried my best. I may not be the best writer, but I tried to get my feelings of this manga across as well as possible!

If I could make any improvements, I will be sure to make them in my next review, whatever manga or anime that may be. I may also edit this review later on, after more chapters get released.