Am I saying that Made in Abyss is a compelling piece of feminist literature and has a deep allegory for the idea of being pro-choice and pro-female bodily autonomy? Yes and I will defend that statement with my life. Please be respectful to one another and stay on topic in the comments section! I want to discuss Made in Abyss as a story and how it reflects things going on in our lives. Any comments accusing the author or fans of the series of anything negative will be removed and you will be blocked from commenting on my channel. I hope you can understand why I put these measures in place because I really don't want to have to go into that again.
I just want to say that you are so very accurate in your ability to see the points of this show, even if you say its biased, it displays the amount of care and word choice very awesomely which sometimes i have trouble with. TwT I really look up to you for that, so dont listen to those who would denounce you without even knowing you; they only build up a hollow version of yourself that will just make you that, hollow. The best thing you can do for yourself is be yourself in a world that strives to define you. I've learned this doesn't mean being selfish, but doing your best to be the best version of yourself. Thank you so much for making this. Your thoughts matter so much and helped me be a better person and realize what words mean again. Thank you for making this. If I were a parent, I'd be proud of you for having the fortitude to think this out like you have and share your thoughts like this.
Irumyui’s home village is basically Made in Abyss’s version of A Handmaid’s Tale, it’s a civilization that’s been cursed so few female children are born so at first Irumyui’s birth is celebrated as the birth of one of the very rare female children and more resources were invested in raising her compared to her brothers. Then when it’s discovered she can’t bear children her village curses her. If women represent hope for the future because they can give birth to the next generation than girls like Irumyui who are infertile represent false hope.
absolutely beautifully put. Vueko and Irumyui’s relationship is one of the best dynamics in MIA, so heartbreaking to see a woman who just wanted to break the chain of abuse lose her child in such a horrible way
I only ever see people discussing this series to talk about how scary or gross it is, but it seems like the discussion always ends with "that's fucked up." This is the only time I've seen a genuine commentary of it, the only time I have seen it's themes interpreted, and for that, you have my respect. Your reading of the story and its elements is impeccable, and the real-world parallels ground the themes well. A big reason to why Media Analysis is so important is because it can help us better connect to topics that, if approached strictly from reality, would be painful enough to simply Not Bother. You've done a great job with analyzing the story, while also being grounded and recognizing that, though in a much different way, people have their autonomy invaded all the time, and it never fails to be horrific.
This is one of the best analysis videos about MIA on the platform. This essay doesn't just break down sums of the plot. It's attempting to understand human emotion, and it's masterfully done at that.
26:50 I think this is an oversimplification of belaf 's ordeal. He's a man of pride and holds his values more than the others. However, when begging for punishment, he said, "I prolonged my life by taking what's dear to you" which means he knew how important the "children" were to Irumuy and if given the choice would rather die than hurting her feelings. And he would have had he not been forced fed.
The thing that truly "broke" Belaf and all his convictions was the fact he was addicted to the child-soup. He already suspected it was foul before he ate it, but the taste was irresistible. He couldnt stop himself when it touched his lips.
I think one of the most poignant moments in the CotSS arc has to be in the end, when Faputa takes revenge and destroys/puts Irumyuui to rest, one of the details that she mentions is that she was given the memories of what had happened during the ganja squad mission, except for any of the memories of Vueko. Irumyuui wanted Faputa to take revenge, but she didn't want her to be burdened by the thought of having hurt someone that her mother cared about; it wasn't until after she was given Belaf's memories of the journey, that Faputa got to see all the joy that Irumyuui had had in her time travelling with Vueko and Belaf. She had thought that her mother had resented every minute of her journey, only to have it thrown in her face quite cruelly that she was destroying things that her mother had cared about, still cared about, and yet *still* ultimately wanted Faputa to destroy.
On the subject of the wishes and their complexities: Irimyuuis wish was so dangerous for her because of the fact it was simple like a child's at its core yet complex like an adult in its want like you pointed out. Many ancient civilizations of the past are viewed as better times for the value they put on women and these times are sometimes looked back on with a sense of fondness and yearning with the false misconception that these civilizations cared about all women as people. What people often ignore or simply don't even realize is the fact these civilizations didn't necessarily care about women, girls, their personhood; its the mothers and motherhood. Its the `source` and the backbone of the population these civilizations primarily cared about and countries and cultures of the present still unfortunately still do follow in this mindset. Women and AFABs who do not want to have kids face backlash and pressure for the simple decision they don't want to have kids, and folks even have the gall to get angry when this group that will have to suffer and carry the pregnancy with their bodies express their fear of doing so. This was the type of culture Irumyuui was most likely born in and why she internalized this complex to a degree it complicated her wish like an adult's, thus making her wish so dangerous and detrimental to her. Wanting to be able to have a child no matter the cost, even with the cost of her own personhood, something she didn't think of the consequences as a naive child without fully realizing what it would mean. Also a little detail but I'm so glad that you called out the intentions of Belaf being far from selfless and more self serving to his own guilt, he could have apologized but instead became a skeleton snake. People often make the mistake to see him as a very righteous decision when in reality he's a coward who couldn't face the cruelty his survival depended on. ALSO Rainworld OST mentioned LETS GOOO
I'm not gonna lie, this video made me cry. Beautifully written and narrated, this was a great video that explored really interesting and heartbreaking themes often found in the work, autonomy in specific. With every video you release on MiA, I grow a further appreciation and understanding for the work, it's story and narratives, and the themes found within in. I absolutely loved this video and found it so touching. Thank you so much for making it ^^
I find it interesting that Faputa and her Mother were both Burden with the problems of older people around them. Faputa with the villager’s praising her as a God and their Salvation. Same thing with her Mother, Being seen as some kind of Salvation. This could be seen as how in real life younger people especially children are often seen as something to carry on the grievances & Dreams of Older generations
Thank you for re-contextualizing this whole season for me. At first I found it cruel that Reg helped Faputa get inside the village and murder everyone, but with this new perspective it feels... different now. Still not totally justified but not wholly evil either
Some of villagers definitely realized that their time was up. Moogie, Majikaja, and other villagers willingly gave themselves up to Faputa in the end. The ones who resisted seemed to be part of the original Ganja gang, aka the people who aided in the exploitation of Irumyuui. I was conflicted about Faputa's goal at first as well! I kind of hated her until the flashback, and then she grew on me. She's not my favorite character but I think she's a funny lil gal. I'll give her a pass on mass murder.
@darkvioletcloud I connected to faputa as I was in a similar position. My identity and autonomy hinged upon being a weapon manifesting my mother’s grief. I had no idea what I wanted as a person until I was in my 30s… it’s a painful, very contradictory existence.
The way this story speaks about autonomy, exploitation, the lack of humanity in actions. This is not a series I tend to give out as a recommendation, its not for enjoyment, it is meant to think and internalise. Things aren't meant to be taken in face value, there are layers to it just as there are in the abyss, and the deeper they go the more they realise there is not only in said abyss but they discover layers of humanity that may be cruel and brutal, but they are part of what we do as a species. Even the sort of generational trauma in faputa as an envoy for her mother's rage is beautiful in a strsnge way. Its visceral and that kind of what anger sometimes feels like - in very specific contexts-. I have learnt many beautiful and grotesque things with this story, and I do hope it comes onto its proper end.
As a person on the right side of the political spectrum, I completely agree with you on the topic of women' s reproductive rights and how much girls are exploited by politicians.
their story just... broke me. it's so tragic. I cried at the end at season 2 while watching it with my partner. somehow, watching it again hit even harder. hell, I was even choked up while watching this video. you did an incredible job.
I had to like this (and sub) as soon as you described Vueko's relationship with Irumyuui. She was a young mother to her.. and it was the most impactful relationship between characters in season 2.
I love your discussion on Irumyuui’s autonomy. It’s an incredibly nuanced and difficult topic. There’s so many factors at play, her own wishes, or the wishes forced upon her. Her age and innocence, disease and circumstance. It’s not entirely black and white, especially when she is unable to speak for herself. I’m glad you discussed her circumstances the way you did, and how her wishes were twisted to work against her, the question whether she wanted to stay alive and become the village of iruburu or to end her pain and suffering there, I’m sure she was rather conflicted about it too. But there’s absolutely no doubt that no child should be put through such distress, but unfortunately it happens. It would’ve been completely preventable if not for society’s dictatorship, how she was outcasted for her body. The world can be messed up and cruel, stirring clear of it all and being ignorant will only cause more suffering. Ignorance is bliss until it effects you. That said, you can find beauty in pain. Cruelty will always exist, so might as well find peace with it, and continue to move forward. Also fellow autism have eyyyy
Irumyuui broke my heart so much. That poor baby had the worst happen to her and i adore Vueko. Shes so sweet and genuinely loved Irumyuui. I think she would've been a good mom in a normal world
Another reflection I think its valid to point out is how this narrative reflects on our protagonist. The second season is a story about child and mother longing for each other. And the story of Made in Abyss is a story of a little girl longing for her mother.
Made in Ayss is a beautiful story and I resonated so much with this part of it. Life can be cruel and compassionate and meaninful and this is such an accurate portrayal of that.
this is one of the best video essays that recontextualize the whole of S2 for me. the observations and connecting themes... thank you so much. keep up the good work
You truly did a wonderful job in delivering your interpretation of this section of Made in Abyss, even though it is a very difficult topic to contemplate and deliver. I can't wait to see what great ideas you will deliver in the future ❤❤
I've always wanted to see an analysis on this, and I've always wanted to do one myself on this among most other themes of Made in Abyss. This video came into my notifications just after I was thinking about that, so this is pretty awesome. So far, this is a fantastic analysis, not just on a "story" level, but on the emotional level of the characters themselves. Subarashii, truly.
A beautiful and thoughtful video as usual! I dont think you are reading too much into MiA. The mark of good art is that it invites deep thought and interpretation. For myself, who struggles with some of the same feelings that you discussed about yourself, I also found a great deal to reflect on in season 2. I'm looking forward to more of your insights as Riko and Co journey to the seventh layer.
what a beautiful interpretation, the story of irumyuui's tragic life is truly heartbreaking, irumyuui's relationship with vueko is truly beautiful and tragic at the same time.
I actually have a theory about Irumyuui that I don't think I've ever seen articulated anywhere else. It has to do with why everyone already knows she can't have a baby when she hasn't even reached puberty yet. Basically, I don't think Irumyuui is a "traditional," XX-chromosome girl. I think she's actually got a Y-chromosome, but has some kind of disorder of sexual development that caused her reproductive organs to fail to develop normally, so when she was born everyone simply assumed she was a girl. It was only when she got a little older (and maybe was abused?) that people realized that she didn't have the "traditional" female reproductive system and thus, would never be able to bear children. Presumably, had Irumyuui remained with her people and lived long enough to grow up, she would have ended up looking like a fairly typical man in most respects, but without the ability to father children. Irumyuui knows none of this because she is only a child, and is far too young to know how reproduction works. She only knows that she's been raised all her life to believe she is a girl, and that girls are supposed to be mothers. This would also explain a number of interesting details about what happens when she finally does manage to give birth. For instance, her babies seem to be delivered through her chest, where the Cradle of Greed was placed on her--which suggests she doesn't possess a birth canal. The fact that none of her babies survive also speaks to the idea that she doesn't have the traditional anatomy necessary to birth healthy babies, because, again, this is something only people with two X-chromosomes explicitly have. There's also a very interesting remark from Riko about how Faputa (who remember is Irumyuui's "perfect" daughter) doesn't seem to have any reproductive organs. This, too, would make a lot more sense if one assumes that Irumyuui literally does not know what organs her daughter is "supposed" to have, because she's never seen the full range of reproductive anatomy (remember that she has no sisters, only brothers). Yeah.
I think people really underestimate what more primitive cultures could know about the state of people's bodies. There's a North East African method, first recorded in Egypt to find out if a woman's pregnant and the sex of the baby by the effects of her pee on how fast two grains(barley and some other one I forget) grow. There's also physical tests (so looking at the genitals for one example) that can find subtile differences that highly imply infertility like emlarged testicles in the scrotum in men or just prostate exams for modern examples that certainly could also be performed with stone age tech. Alot of these disorders can also be very subtle, like there's a lot of XY women, looking female human in everyway but for a non-existant womb and internal, infertile internal gonads. So you don't need anything SA or anything very visible, necessarily for even a primitive culture to know. And that's without bringing up the possibility of a relic or plain superstition(which doesn't have to be accurate just has to convince the group of its accuracy).
I think something also worth mentioning would be how each of Irumyuui’s children seem bigger and stronger than the last. I think each time she has a new child she is wishing for it to be stronger and survive, it’s very possible that some of the ones before Faputa would’ve survived if they weren’t taken and killed immediately. Eventually we got Faputa who could immediately defend herself after she was born, the strongest child who couldn’t be immediately taken and killed. I think it’s possible she still had some wishing power left. Edit: should add I believe Irumyuui possibly gave up the last of her existence to Faputa, which could explain her half human appearance unlike the other children.
This was my instant thought upon reaching the plot point of Irumyuui being infertile. The idea that she was intersex presented itself as one of the obvious explanations for a) why she would be infertile in the first place and b) how this would be apparent to her people.
I truly resonate with Made in Abyss... I can't pin down why at the moment, but it's my favourite anime and manga, and I've watched and read quite a few. Something you said near the end struck a chord - art is a conversation. I'm autistic, and my thing is game development; I don't think I've ever seen anyone really understand my notion that games are a conversation... thanks.
@@Ratstail91 yes! It's such a great field that's finally being taken seriously. I hope you get a chance to look into it. Art has been a life raft for me since I was small so I am so grateful and honored to share it with others in the capacity of healing and advocacy.
There were some crazy Silent Hill parallels to this show. If Irumyuui were Alessa, then Faputa would be Dark Alessa. A pure manifestation of her unbridled rage. Preach It to the choir. It is nauseating the contempt people who claim to want to protect life, have for the individuals who are already alive. I could care less about what Akihito did to garner such animosity towards him, he made great art, I acknowledge the great art and that's enough for me.
Ah, so thats what empathy is. All ive known is that people lack empathy for me, and that i dont have the ability to extrapolate empathy as well, but just the simple act of hearing, "what she wants" helped me to understand. Its been a source of pain for me to not be able to understand others, and the fact that i bonded so well with what youve said about "people making decisions for me" makes me wonder if maybe i wasnt able to because i was shut off from it from people in my family. I also resonate with being called a creep and worrying about that, since i, being born a man with identifiable man features makes me clearly a man despite me feeling different, makes me feel like a creep when i try to be myself, which is atypical of what being a man is like TwT so i feel you there brother! (Often i get called incel when i want to be actually not interact with men or women and they assume i cant seek that kind of companionship when i just dont want it and want to be seen as a person...) Ultimately, youve implied it in the video, but the best example of empathy is from someone else with autism, which i have! Its just so frustrating to be dehumanized and when people put meanings into your wirds that you dont mean.
It's a very 'Those Who Walk Away From Omelas' sort of situation. I have to admit, it's been so long since I last looked at Made In Abyss, I don't even remember why anyone is going into the hell pit anymore...
I just want to say that you are so very accurate in your ability to see the points of this show, even if you say its biased, it displays the amount of care and word choice very awesomely which sometimes i have trouble with. TwT I really look up to you for that, so dont listen to those who would denounce you without even knowing you; they only build up a hollow version of yourself that will just make you that, hollow. The best thing you can do for yourself is be yourself in a world that strives to define you. I've learned this doesn't mean being selfish, but doing your best to be the best version of yourself. Thank you so much for making this. Your thoughts matter so much and helped me be a better person and realize what words mean again.
Thank you - I dearly love this series for all the same reasons you outlined in your overview of it. The world itself, and the mystery of it all, has me in an absolute stranglehold. I read the manga before seeing the animation, stopping at the end of the arc that season two covers as that's all there was at the time. Now I want to revisit it. Thank you for covering this season. Even after reading it and watching it I came away with some questions unanswered and you helped fix that right up!
There is no word in English for when a parent loses a child. This is not because such a thing is so unthinkable. In fact, throughout almost all of human history it was the norm. The death rate was 50% before the age of 15 until modern times.
shhh I’m being poetic- Yeah it was the norm throughout history, but nowadays, it’s an unthinkable and heartbreaking idea. That’s what I meant by that~ Also, it being common in history doesn’t make it any less painful. c:
28:30 to be fair, I think Vueko was thinking of Irumyui. It's a reason why she didn't kill her it wasn't because Vueko chickened out, but with the small amount of strength Irumyui had, she hugged Vueko. I thought in that moment Vueko realized that it wouldn't be right to rid her of her last amount of humanity. Even if Irumyui is in pain. Yeah, it's a bit selfish too for Vueko to keep Irumyui around, but if Irumyui doesn't want to die... then why take away her last bit of dignity? That's at least what I was thinking during that moment.
Gosh, I really appreciate your perspective, especially about bodily autonomy. Also thank you for providing some more Made In Abyss content while I anxiously await the next manga volume! :)
11:32 as far as im aware, reproductive rights (for cis women and trans men, i dont know anything about trans women or about the hoops to jump through as a same sex couple or single parent, but i would like to believe we have it easier thsn most other places, and we are definately better off than america who has decided to go back to the ape days.) aren’t really in danger in denmark. Abortion is free untill week 12th, potentially even week 18th, of your pregnancy, ultrasounds are covered by our healthcare. You have been able to, as a married samesex couple, adopt your partner’s children, your step children, since 1999. As a single man, it is reportedly hard to adopt. I cant find anything about adoptions of samesex couples or single mothers. But single mothers can get invitrofertilized and i know of several single mothers through this path. As far as im aware, this is the case for most european countries. America is just the whole damn circus in this regard.
This video mad me think about this arc completely different! It made me feel a bit sick and want to cry :( you did a amazing job and I love your analysis/ interpretation!
15:23 Very, very well put. I feel like this can also apply to individuals whom have developmental/mental disabilities. The company where my mother works goal is to aid adults with mental/developmental disabilities have autonomy over their lively hood. Many of them struggle to communicate in ways most others can understand. This talk you give hit me hard, especially due to my personal experiences and the the fact that the people I grew up with lack a lot of personal rights (and, unfortunately, even basic respect.)
Gosh, this was a beautiful video essay! The way you weaved your own experiences and the experiences of people assigned female at birth with the experiences of the characters is just- so perfect. It’s exactly as you said, a tapestry of ideas! Genuinely, your discussion was SO good and I thoroughly enjoyed this video. While I’ve never watched MIA (I feel like my own triggers would make it too difficult to actually watch) I feel like your videos have given me such a deep understanding of the story. You’ve managed to make me feel so connected with these characters despite never having watched the show or read the manga. Thank you for that, genuinely
I think the lack of a word for a parent that lost a child is an expression of its historic commonality rather than a statement of it being beyond words.
Thank you for making this video! made in abyss S2/the iruburu arc is one of my favourite works of art of all time, i enjoyed hearing your perspective on it a lot. I feel like most people just talk about it's shock value when discussing Made in Abyss instead of analysing its themes and story like this
no one talks about how she was tossed away because she couldn't have kids then her first wish with the egg was to give birth 2nd was to keep the people safe protect them im sure
hey! i was super excited seeing ur notification that a new vid came out and i must say, you’ve blown this analysis out of the water once again! your videos have always covered topics with such respect, and its very entertaining watching your videos.
@@orcaonastroll7268 Hehehe I’m glad you liked it! One of my younger cousins convinced me to play it and it’s possibly the hardest and most punishing game I’ve played, and I’ve been playing Elden Ring’s DLC lately! Rain World is a gorgeous game with such beautiful music! It is also a torture simulator. I also drew Faputa interacting with a slugcat a few weeks ago. It’s up on my Twitter and Tumblr if you’re curious. :>
my interpretation of this season was fairly different from yours because my viewing was shaped by 1. being a trans women who cant have a child and 2. my own personal trauma and how i see those reflected in vueko, faputa, nanachi and irumyuui and how they respond and deal with them. and this video gave me an entirely different perspective on one of my favorite season of any show that i could of never been able to come too with out
I love what you had to say. I agree with all of it, but I do have my own analysis to add. I'll give some backround for myself before proceeding. I shouldn't have to do this just to explain myself, but I will so that people can't claim I'm just spouting stuff about subjects I have know experience with. I am totally blind. I have a condition called Septo-optic dysplasia. This syndrome causes underdevelopment of certain areas in the midline of the brain, and in the optic nerves. It also causes problems with the pituitary gland and hypothalamus. The symptoms this can cause range in severity from person to person. I'm also not able to have kids right now due to health and hormonal issues. So here's what I think. Irumyuui was a bit older than she looked by the time she was able to make her wish. She either had issues with her endocrine system, or a chromosomal defect. Both of these can cause issues with growth hormone production, or just small stature and lack of growth. They can also cause issues with reproduction in both sexes. I think the first clue that something was wrong showed up either very soon after birth, or during childhood. Sometimes these conditions can cause health issues that can threaten a baby's life right after birth. She could have had a defect that could have been bad enough to appear on examination after she was born. No abuse needed. Her family had high status, and since she was the only girl, I feel like they would have tried anything they could to improve her condition, even cure it. The relics don't seem very good at dealing with human anatomy when the people they're working on aren't dead, so I don't think anything worked. They may have given her more over all health though. The relics they used on her could have caused internal changes that made her unacceptable for marriage and children by her tribe's standards. Some tribes used to encourage purity of bloodline, and I don't see why it would be different in MIA. When nothing they did helped, they cast her out. I think a small part of why her wishes messed her up so much is because she was just a bit older than people had estimated, and she spent a long time on the struggle bus. She did have a disability. What many people aren't aware of is that disability is determined by the society you live in. So, I wouldn't be disabled if everyone on this planet was born blind. That would just be the norm. Another thing, I think she had a lot of internalized hatred for her own, and other people's human bodies. This was a big part in how things went wrong. I think by the time she was at her worst, but before she became the village, she had realized just how badly she'd been treated by almost everyone she'd ever known by that point. People not only ignored her wishes due to her age, but also due to her appearance, and her family probably was ashamed of her because of her condition. Now her new people also were ignoring her due to how small and innocent they assumed she was. So her wanting vengence feels oddly justified due to how her wishes were twisted, and due to her understanding that some of the people she knew were garbage, who would just continue abusing their power over others whenever they got a chance to, which is exactly what happened. Yeah, Irumyuui was young, but I feel like she was smart enough to pick up on what was going on, especially after her treatment got worse, and after how everyone treated her adoptive mother She became the village because she wanted a place where outcasts could come when they had know other options, and have shelter that was relatively safe. Something she really never got to have herself. So in that sense she at least wanted to be useful, and thus did a nice thing in the eyes of the group, but I think she had the biggest impact on those who got their after she became the village. She gave them a place to stay, and time to come to terms with their fates before it would all end. However, a lot of the people she guided down there weren't really deserving of that. I think at first she hoped they'd change, but in my opinion, they did not. I feel like the way the abyss works, and the way the societies above work means that exploitation is ensentivized. So I don't blame anyone but her garbage guardians for how this went down. I do find it interesting how she carried out her plans though. She could have done other things, but she chose to give true life to her last child. Also interesting. That child wasn't human at all either. I think the reason that core group treated her like god was more selfish. They wanted to feal better about taking what wasn't really theirs. They knew she was a nice person, and used that against her, like almost everyone else does to each other constantly in this series. Yes I watched MIA. It was an experience. I spent a long time doing research online just so I could do this justice, but I didn't have anywhere to put this. Know I am not faking my disabilities. This show made me realize how much internalized hatred, and anger I was holding onto. I remember getting to the parts where the balancing took place and feeling so much righteous anger, and wishing whoever it was got everything they ever cared about in any way ripped away so they could feel what it was like to be stomped on and driven into the ground. That's when I realized I needed to work on myself. Lol! I remember getting to the end and somehow feeling like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, and wondering if I was the problem. I don't think that was the author's intention with any of this, but there you go.
Some things I think are interesting but can’t really verbalize why: The babies being rabbit-like and irumyuui kind of looking rabbit-like herself and rabbits being a symbol of fertility at least in western culture Belay being the first to step through the membrane and give up his humanity while also having been one of the most outright against the eating of irumyuui’s children
@@Nevrits Oh I have a recommendation! There’s this fan manga called Made From Fortunes that’s as good as MiA! Beautiful artwork and intriguing story. It’s on MangaDex if you wanna check it out!
Thanks for that whole part about SA not being likely. I think the theory is popular cuz people really underestimate what primitive cultures knew about the body just cuz they expressed it in non-scientific terms. For example, Ancient Egypt could find out if a woman's pregnant and the sex of the baby by the effects of her pee on how fast two grains(barley and some other one I forget) grow. People also forget how many physical tests we do today like prostate and breast cancer tests that can be done with stone age tech. And that's all ignoring the possibility of a relic or plain superstition(which doesn't have to be accurate just has to convince the group of its accuracy).
It's a rather evocative interpretation. Though I will say that human bodies in general rather than just women's bodies are treated as comodeties. Just in different ways that might not realise.
@@suomynona7681 Oh definitely, though I wanted to highlight how female bodies are treated as baby-making machines, especially with current laws being passed and whatnot. I have a personal connection to that, whereas I wouldn’t be able to speak on male bodies without being an outsider to the situation.
@@darkvioletcloud Good point. It makes for a more easily digestable argument to not abstract it and keep it closer to what's in the manga. Personally, I'm a little tired of real life politics being dragged into media commentary, but I think that you pulled it off pretty well here.
16:20 this argument works for drugs too. For percieved good laws are passed to regulate or ban them. Including painkillers that some people require to not be in agony every waking moment. Sometimes turning a person who was working and contributing to community into someone bedridden by forbidding the patient from using the medicine.
"I don't know what other countries are getting up to, because I'm an American." ...To none of our surprise. (Just a joke) In all seriousness though, I appreciate your time & thoughts expressed towards Made in Abyss, particularly this season. These are all issues, of family and of childhood, & of societal impositions that I feel quite strongly about, but don't trust myself to speak effectively on without, relaying it back to reality & getting very enraged over it. Such a happening would undermine the genuine compassion I'd want to communicate to others, despite such grief.
I think irumiui is more practically an invoulentary god, not so much just the tool for a greater good. Thus i think, however disturbing Wazukian idea was, curing the disease, was in the right to use whatever means necessary, to keep the crew alive. Obviously its REALLY messed up and i think Waz' knew that too, but had to adjust and adapt, dehumanizing himself in the process, sadly. He had to become the Lucifer to Irumiuis godhood, bringing the light to provide futher advancement and comfort to future passerbys.
I love MIA and the story behind how the village was created in the first place is absolute sadness..and yet i absolutely love wazukyan eventho he seems sinister and evil…materialising the child…but as u put….for greater good..fine they couldnt find what they came for so make the best out of such a shitty situation…lost so many…they were a family after all….and survival instincts (especially in such a horrible threatening enviroment) will drive u to ur absolute limits he did what he thought suited best for the situation giving to prevent the death of all…if others cant think of a solution someone always will step forward to present one and as cruel as it seemed due to her wish..she saved them all and he just put the pieces together to make the best out of the situation they only had 2 options after all…death or survival…and if not suicidal..ull always chose survival even if it means to consume each other
I hate to say it but I definitely think that Irumyui's family figured out she was sterile the "unsavoury" way. Even disregarding the idea of abuse, if it was some congenital issue then they must have looked at her and inspected her down below to figure it out which is still messed up given her age. And as her society glorifies having kids and spent years looking after her and cherishing her, you'd think they would have figured it out earlier or when she was born so they made sure they weren't wasting their time on her. And the reason why she doesn't show signs of SA is because it's probably normal for her culture to "reproduce" at young ages, it makes sense that a society that glorifies having kids would start producing them as soon as they could. And as she wanted kids so badly, she was probably happy to try make kids and it might not have been traumatic for her like it would be you or me. I just want to clarify and say I'm not saying this is okay, I'm just saying that their society is different than ours and I wouldn't be surprised if this was normal to them.
i got a question though, imruyuii was underaged (still so young there’s no way she mate with someone to have baby) so how does her tribes including her family assumed she cannot give birth?
@@darkvioletcloud vueko and irumyuui. the whole backstory arc seemed like the author were trying to repeat nanachi and mitty. not to mention vueko simply looked significantly younger during the flashbacks compared to the present, and not far off from being just a teenager herself
I hate to say, viewers came to that conclusion (reproductive) because within 20 minutes of ep 1, we see the treatment of Vueko as a child, presumably the same age as Iruu, maybe younger. Buuut your conclusion is preferably better and informative. -
You don’t come to Made in Abyss to have a happy time. You come here to cry and suffer. I feel like I want to curl up and bawl every time I watch the show. I love it. It’s such a fantastic story that hits me right in the feels. I recommend you watch it. It’s worth it.
I think Irumyuui might be the safest to say that she has guevedoces. She's actually biologically male and hasn't gotten into puberty yet. I hope that is the case since her tribe hasn't like 'done anything' to try that she can bear children because she doesn't look any older to 9 or 10 years old. I'm guessing the is prehistoric and walking around naked is the norm and saw her private parts looked a bit off and saw her unworthy and impure and the tribe being patriarchal they excluded her because she cannot carry children. Maybe if she lived up to adulthood she could've sire instead and probably doesn't have a uterus and can still have children. She is intersex and given the chance when she reached puberty and adulthood, she could've acclimated to be a "tribesman" and found a wife and had a family she always wanted.
5:27 I won't say rather than a person, neither would I say in this context a person doesn't have to be useful cuz everyone in the Ganja is valued as a person but also has to be useful, that's why they all had to do all that training to get there in the first place, so that all of them will be useful. 12:43 Or, they think the Fetus is a person as well?.
if this anime has you down try one named berserk, it is about a guy named griffith who is trying to make his dreams come true and people keep getting in his way.
@@Monster_RancherYeah I figured. It got a laugh out of me. :> Griffith is a fascinating character. He’s a complex antagonist who’s both easy to love and hate. It’d be interesting to read Berserk from his point of view and see how his internal monologue would frame things.
It's weird that you open up the essay the way you did. Considering infant mortality rates prior to 1900s were pretty high do people not care to give parents who lose their children a name?
@@ayuvir I opened it up that way because even though infant mortality is high, it’s still painful to lose a child. For any species to continue, the parents must raise at least one child to adulthood, y’know. If you have a dozen kids and six of them die in their youth, well, the other six still made it to adulthood. If all twelve of those kids died, though? There legitimately is no commonly used English term for a parent who’s lost a child, despite how common it is. I’ve only found bereaved parent and vilomah as proposed terms. (I actually tried looking up the term because I was writing a thing for my Fear & Hunger OC, because she’s a mother whose only son died.) I thought that was interesting, that orphan and widow/widower are common terms and losing parents/a spouse are equally common, yet a parent who has lost their child has no regularly used name. I was trying to be poetic and emphasize how hard to articulate it is to lose your child. I’ve never had kids, but I know of people who have lost their children, and it’s so traumatic that it’s beyond words. I wanted to emphasize Vueko and Irumyuui’s pain.
Our bodies are dictated by things beyond our controll. By genetics, by random events, by illnesses we went though, by habits we gained in childhood. By stocastic unpredictable random events. It's really hard to see even a glimpse of free will even with the puny knowledge of science I had aquired. Weirdly enough it's more inward focused. I want to be fooled again. I want to believe in free will, in some semblence of controll. That I am not just an observer seeing the train move as it has to. That "what shall be will" is not exactly true.
@@darkvioletcloud I know, but this means, a female can technically get pregnant. Probably would cause issues during pregnancy if you get pregnant just after getting fertile nowadays (not sure about that, maybe the bodies also grow faster?)
@@porky1118 Nah it’s still incredibly dangerous to get pregnant as a teenager. It’s not healthy at such a young age, even if puberty is starting sooner than it has in the past.
@@porky1118teen pregnancy is very dangerous as the body is not fully developed yet. They *can* get pregnant but they really shouldn't be. It's high risk with high probability of something going wrong
Your mom sounds like she can be a narcissist. Just..writing this in case you want to work this through later with a psychotherapist. This is a fantastic analysis, thank you.
I don't think you can judge something like this just because of one statement made. I don't think disliking the way someone else's looking is really 'narcissistic', however
Yeah.... People are selfish. I'd love to have the role reversed. If those humans were valued based on what they could do for the group and kicked out if they were useless.
I will point out one thing. You acknowledged that reason Irumyuui started birthing children was because of the innate desire that stuck with her ever since her exile from her tribe. Aaaand then added a whole section about politics of exploiting women as incubators, like reading a palmphlet without peocessing words, not realizing that whole section doesnt stick to previous conclusion. It's disgusting what Wazukyaan was doing, deaf to her cries and dehumanizing her, more her shape strayed from human. However, he could not predict this turn of events to plan to exploit it. It's likely that the healing properties of meat were discovered accidentally and chosen as a priority to keep the whole population NOT DEAD. He was not forcing her to birth meat abusing her "reproductive system". She physically could not stop doing it, and he just saw those critters as resource. So while i think that what you added in there was important, it doesnt stick to this situation and takes more space in video than it has relevance in series.
@@JannetFenix My point was that she wasn’t being cared for. Wazukyan ceased to see her as a person with feelings. Even though Irumyuui had no choice, Wazukyan DID have a choice, and that was to extend care and compassion to her, and to try to alleviate her pain and anguish. He ended up seeing her as an object and an incubator. My point was the lack of compassion or care is the same in both instances.
@darkvioletcloud it is true and valuable point. I just dont think it ties so much to her case to take a third part of video repeating about those "evil judges and politicians" over and over, rather than state such similarities once. Makes the eyes roll involuntary and prompts a question whether point of video was about a beautiful complex relationship in the series story, or pandering to tasteless political hyperbole.
A woman's right to choose a session with Bondrewd and his crew. Ripping away everything that is important long term but not vital in the absolute now. Chemical agony and ecstasy. Who benefits from this deal with the Devil?
Am I saying that Made in Abyss is a compelling piece of feminist literature and has a deep allegory for the idea of being pro-choice and pro-female bodily autonomy? Yes and I will defend that statement with my life.
Please be respectful to one another and stay on topic in the comments section! I want to discuss Made in Abyss as a story and how it reflects things going on in our lives.
Any comments accusing the author or fans of the series of anything negative will be removed and you will be blocked from commenting on my channel. I hope you can understand why I put these measures in place because I really don't want to have to go into that again.
I just want to say that you are so very accurate in your ability to see the points of this show, even if you say its biased, it displays the amount of care and word choice very awesomely which sometimes i have trouble with. TwT
I really look up to you for that, so dont listen to those who would denounce you without even knowing you; they only build up a hollow version of yourself that will just make you that, hollow.
The best thing you can do for yourself is be yourself in a world that strives to define you.
I've learned this doesn't mean being selfish, but doing your best to be the best version of yourself.
Thank you so much for making this. Your thoughts matter so much and helped me be a better person and realize what words mean again.
Thank you for making this. If I were a parent, I'd be proud of you for having the fortitude to think this out like you have and share your thoughts like this.
Irumyui’s home village is basically Made in Abyss’s version of A Handmaid’s Tale, it’s a civilization that’s been cursed so few female children are born so at first Irumyui’s birth is celebrated as the birth of one of the very rare female children and more resources were invested in raising her compared to her brothers. Then when it’s discovered she can’t bear children her village curses her. If women represent hope for the future because they can give birth to the next generation than girls like Irumyui who are infertile represent false hope.
absolutely beautifully put. Vueko and Irumyui’s relationship is one of the best dynamics in MIA, so heartbreaking to see a woman who just wanted to break the chain of abuse lose her child in such a horrible way
I only ever see people discussing this series to talk about how scary or gross it is, but it seems like the discussion always ends with "that's fucked up."
This is the only time I've seen a genuine commentary of it, the only time I have seen it's themes interpreted, and for that, you have my respect. Your reading of the story and its elements is impeccable, and the real-world parallels ground the themes well.
A big reason to why Media Analysis is so important is because it can help us better connect to topics that, if approached strictly from reality, would be painful enough to simply Not Bother.
You've done a great job with analyzing the story, while also being grounded and recognizing that, though in a much different way, people have their autonomy invaded all the time, and it never fails to be horrific.
This is one of the best analysis videos about MIA on the platform.
This essay doesn't just break down sums of the plot. It's attempting to understand human emotion, and it's masterfully done at that.
26:50 I think this is an oversimplification of belaf 's ordeal. He's a man of pride and holds his values more than the others. However, when begging for punishment, he said, "I prolonged my life by taking what's dear to you" which means he knew how important the "children" were to Irumuy and if given the choice would rather die than hurting her feelings. And he would have had he not been forced fed.
The thing that truly "broke" Belaf and all his convictions was the fact he was addicted to the child-soup. He already suspected it was foul before he ate it, but the taste was irresistible. He couldnt stop himself when it touched his lips.
Yea and it seemed like he was bedridden/incapacitated through most of the ordeal.
Totally agreed
I think one of the most poignant moments in the CotSS arc has to be in the end, when Faputa takes revenge and destroys/puts Irumyuui to rest, one of the details that she mentions is that she was given the memories of what had happened during the ganja squad mission, except for any of the memories of Vueko. Irumyuui wanted Faputa to take revenge, but she didn't want her to be burdened by the thought of having hurt someone that her mother cared about; it wasn't until after she was given Belaf's memories of the journey, that Faputa got to see all the joy that Irumyuui had had in her time travelling with Vueko and Belaf. She had thought that her mother had resented every minute of her journey, only to have it thrown in her face quite cruelly that she was destroying things that her mother had cared about, still cared about, and yet *still* ultimately wanted Faputa to destroy.
On the subject of the wishes and their complexities: Irimyuuis wish was so dangerous for her because of the fact it was simple like a child's at its core yet complex like an adult in its want like you pointed out. Many ancient civilizations of the past are viewed as better times for the value they put on women and these times are sometimes looked back on with a sense of fondness and yearning with the false misconception that these civilizations cared about all women as people. What people often ignore or simply don't even realize is the fact these civilizations didn't necessarily care about women, girls, their personhood; its the mothers and motherhood. Its the `source` and the backbone of the population these civilizations primarily cared about and countries and cultures of the present still unfortunately still do follow in this mindset. Women and AFABs who do not want to have kids face backlash and pressure for the simple decision they don't want to have kids, and folks even have the gall to get angry when this group that will have to suffer and carry the pregnancy with their bodies express their fear of doing so. This was the type of culture Irumyuui was most likely born in and why she internalized this complex to a degree it complicated her wish like an adult's, thus making her wish so dangerous and detrimental to her. Wanting to be able to have a child no matter the cost, even with the cost of her own personhood, something she didn't think of the consequences as a naive child without fully realizing what it would mean.
Also a little detail but I'm so glad that you called out the intentions of Belaf being far from selfless and more self serving to his own guilt, he could have apologized but instead became a skeleton snake. People often make the mistake to see him as a very righteous decision when in reality he's a coward who couldn't face the cruelty his survival depended on.
ALSO Rainworld OST mentioned LETS GOOO
You helped me verbalize why I found Myth & Roid's Endless Embrace so captivating, alongside this season of Made In Abyss. Thank you
I'm not gonna lie, this video made me cry. Beautifully written and narrated, this was a great video that explored really interesting and heartbreaking themes often found in the work, autonomy in specific.
With every video you release on MiA, I grow a further appreciation and understanding for the work, it's story and narratives, and the themes found within in. I absolutely loved this video and found it so touching.
Thank you so much for making it ^^
I find it interesting that Faputa and her Mother were both Burden with the problems of older people around them. Faputa with the villager’s praising her as a God and their Salvation. Same thing with her Mother, Being seen as some kind of Salvation. This could be seen as how in real life younger people especially children are often seen as something to carry on the grievances & Dreams of Older generations
Thank you for re-contextualizing this whole season for me. At first I found it cruel that Reg helped Faputa get inside the village and murder everyone, but with this new perspective it feels... different now. Still not totally justified but not wholly evil either
Some of villagers definitely realized that their time was up. Moogie, Majikaja, and other villagers willingly gave themselves up to Faputa in the end. The ones who resisted seemed to be part of the original Ganja gang, aka the people who aided in the exploitation of Irumyuui.
I was conflicted about Faputa's goal at first as well! I kind of hated her until the flashback, and then she grew on me. She's not my favorite character but I think she's a funny lil gal. I'll give her a pass on mass murder.
@darkvioletcloud I connected to faputa as I was in a similar position. My identity and autonomy hinged upon being a weapon manifesting my mother’s grief. I had no idea what I wanted as a person until I was in my 30s… it’s a painful, very contradictory existence.
The way this story speaks about autonomy, exploitation, the lack of humanity in actions. This is not a series I tend to give out as a recommendation, its not for enjoyment, it is meant to think and internalise. Things aren't meant to be taken in face value, there are layers to it just as there are in the abyss, and the deeper they go the more they realise there is not only in said abyss but they discover layers of humanity that may be cruel and brutal, but they are part of what we do as a species. Even the sort of generational trauma in faputa as an envoy for her mother's rage is beautiful in a strsnge way. Its visceral and that kind of what anger sometimes feels like - in very specific contexts-. I have learnt many beautiful and grotesque things with this story, and I do hope it comes onto its proper end.
As a person on the right side of the political spectrum, I completely agree with you on the topic of women' s reproductive rights and how much girls are exploited by politicians.
their story just... broke me. it's so tragic. I cried at the end at season 2 while watching it with my partner. somehow, watching it again hit even harder. hell, I was even choked up while watching this video. you did an incredible job.
I had to like this (and sub) as soon as you described Vueko's relationship with Irumyuui. She was a young mother to her.. and it was the most impactful relationship between characters in season 2.
I love your discussion on Irumyuui’s autonomy. It’s an incredibly nuanced and difficult topic. There’s so many factors at play, her own wishes, or the wishes forced upon her. Her age and innocence, disease and circumstance. It’s not entirely black and white, especially when she is unable to speak for herself.
I’m glad you discussed her circumstances the way you did, and how her wishes were twisted to work against her, the question whether she wanted to stay alive and become the village of iruburu or to end her pain and suffering there, I’m sure she was rather conflicted about it too.
But there’s absolutely no doubt that no child should be put through such distress, but unfortunately it happens. It would’ve been completely preventable if not for society’s dictatorship, how she was outcasted for her body. The world can be messed up and cruel, stirring clear of it all and being ignorant will only cause more suffering. Ignorance is bliss until it effects you. That said, you can find beauty in pain. Cruelty will always exist, so might as well find peace with it, and continue to move forward.
Also fellow autism have eyyyy
Irumyuui broke my heart so much. That poor baby had the worst happen to her and i adore Vueko. Shes so sweet and genuinely loved Irumyuui. I think she would've been a good mom in a normal world
Another reflection I think its valid to point out is how this narrative reflects on our protagonist.
The second season is a story about child and mother longing for each other.
And the story of Made in Abyss is a story of a little girl longing for her mother.
No show has ripped my heart out quite like Made in Abyss, and you explained why perfectly
Thank you for this. It's nice to see someone taking the incredibly serious and relevant topics MIA brings up and thoughtfully considering them.
Made in Ayss is a beautiful story and I resonated so much with this part of it. Life can be cruel and compassionate and meaninful and this is such an accurate portrayal of that.
this is one of the best video essays that recontextualize the whole of S2 for me. the observations and connecting themes... thank you so much. keep up the good work
You truly did a wonderful job in delivering your interpretation of this section of Made in Abyss, even though it is a very difficult topic to contemplate and deliver. I can't wait to see what great ideas you will deliver in the future ❤❤
I've always wanted to see an analysis on this, and I've always wanted to do one myself on this among most other themes of Made in Abyss. This video came into my notifications just after I was thinking about that, so this is pretty awesome.
So far, this is a fantastic analysis, not just on a "story" level, but on the emotional level of the characters themselves. Subarashii, truly.
A beautiful and thoughtful video as usual!
I dont think you are reading too much into MiA. The mark of good art is that it invites deep thought and interpretation. For myself, who struggles with some of the same feelings that you discussed about yourself, I also found a great deal to reflect on in season 2.
I'm looking forward to more of your insights as Riko and Co journey to the seventh layer.
I love the analysis you do of MiA, it's so refreshing and deepens my appreciation of the series a lot, glad you're making more of these!
what a beautiful interpretation, the story of irumyuui's tragic life is truly heartbreaking, irumyuui's relationship with vueko is truly beautiful and tragic at the same time.
I actually have a theory about Irumyuui that I don't think I've ever seen articulated anywhere else. It has to do with why everyone already knows she can't have a baby when she hasn't even reached puberty yet. Basically, I don't think Irumyuui is a "traditional," XX-chromosome girl. I think she's actually got a Y-chromosome, but has some kind of disorder of sexual development that caused her reproductive organs to fail to develop normally, so when she was born everyone simply assumed she was a girl. It was only when she got a little older (and maybe was abused?) that people realized that she didn't have the "traditional" female reproductive system and thus, would never be able to bear children. Presumably, had Irumyuui remained with her people and lived long enough to grow up, she would have ended up looking like a fairly typical man in most respects, but without the ability to father children. Irumyuui knows none of this because she is only a child, and is far too young to know how reproduction works. She only knows that she's been raised all her life to believe she is a girl, and that girls are supposed to be mothers.
This would also explain a number of interesting details about what happens when she finally does manage to give birth. For instance, her babies seem to be delivered through her chest, where the Cradle of Greed was placed on her--which suggests she doesn't possess a birth canal. The fact that none of her babies survive also speaks to the idea that she doesn't have the traditional anatomy necessary to birth healthy babies, because, again, this is something only people with two X-chromosomes explicitly have. There's also a very interesting remark from Riko about how Faputa (who remember is Irumyuui's "perfect" daughter) doesn't seem to have any reproductive organs. This, too, would make a lot more sense if one assumes that Irumyuui literally does not know what organs her daughter is "supposed" to have, because she's never seen the full range of reproductive anatomy (remember that she has no sisters, only brothers).
Yeah.
I think people really underestimate what more primitive cultures could know about the state of people's bodies.
There's a North East African method, first recorded in Egypt to find out if a woman's pregnant and the sex of the baby by the effects of her pee on how fast two grains(barley and some other one I forget) grow. There's also physical tests (so looking at the genitals for one example) that can find subtile differences that highly imply infertility like emlarged testicles in the scrotum in men or just prostate exams for modern examples that certainly could also be performed with stone age tech.
Alot of these disorders can also be very subtle, like there's a lot of XY women, looking female human in everyway but for a non-existant womb and internal, infertile internal gonads.
So you don't need anything SA or anything very visible, necessarily for even a primitive culture to know.
And that's without bringing up the possibility of a relic or plain superstition(which doesn't have to be accurate just has to convince the group of its accuracy).
Also, she didn't say she has no sisters, she just only mentions her brothers.
I think something also worth mentioning would be how each of Irumyuui’s children seem bigger and stronger than the last. I think each time she has a new child she is wishing for it to be stronger and survive, it’s very possible that some of the ones before Faputa would’ve survived if they weren’t taken and killed immediately. Eventually we got Faputa who could immediately defend herself after she was born, the strongest child who couldn’t be immediately taken and killed. I think it’s possible she still had some wishing power left.
Edit: should add I believe Irumyuui possibly gave up the last of her existence to Faputa, which could explain her half human appearance unlike the other children.
This was my instant thought upon reaching the plot point of Irumyuui being infertile. The idea that she was intersex presented itself as one of the obvious explanations for a) why she would be infertile in the first place and b) how this would be apparent to her people.
This video hits like a whole ass train to the heart
I truly resonate with Made in Abyss... I can't pin down why at the moment, but it's my favourite anime and manga, and I've watched and read quite a few.
Something you said near the end struck a chord - art is a conversation. I'm autistic, and my thing is game development; I don't think I've ever seen anyone really understand my notion that games are a conversation... thanks.
As an art therapist I find MIA fascinating.(I'm also autistic)
We utilize art as our nonverbal bridge in therapy for clients and sessions
@@burnteffigy87 art therapist? That is cool! I didn't know that was a thing.
@@Ratstail91 yes! It's such a great field that's finally being taken seriously. I hope you get a chance to look into it. Art has been a life raft for me since I was small so I am so grateful and honored to share it with others in the capacity of healing and advocacy.
I love Vueko so much, this character makes me so happy and so sad T-T
There were some crazy Silent Hill parallels to this show. If Irumyuui were Alessa, then Faputa would be Dark Alessa. A pure manifestation of her unbridled rage.
Preach It to the choir. It is nauseating the contempt people who claim to want to protect life, have for the individuals who are already alive.
I could care less about what Akihito did to garner such animosity towards him, he made great art, I acknowledge the great art and that's enough for me.
Ah, so thats what empathy is.
All ive known is that people lack empathy for me, and that i dont have the ability to extrapolate empathy as well, but just the simple act of hearing, "what she wants" helped me to understand.
Its been a source of pain for me to not be able to understand others, and the fact that i bonded so well with what youve said about "people making decisions for me" makes me wonder if maybe i wasnt able to because i was shut off from it from people in my family.
I also resonate with being called a creep and worrying about that, since i, being born a man with identifiable man features makes me clearly a man despite me feeling different, makes me feel like a creep when i try to be myself, which is atypical of what being a man is like TwT so i feel you there brother!
(Often i get called incel when i want to be actually not interact with men or women and they assume i cant seek that kind of companionship when i just dont want it and want to be seen as a person...)
Ultimately, youve implied it in the video, but the best example of empathy is from someone else with autism, which i have!
Its just so frustrating to be dehumanized and when people put meanings into your wirds that you dont mean.
It's a very 'Those Who Walk Away From Omelas' sort of situation.
I have to admit, it's been so long since I last looked at Made In Abyss, I don't even remember why anyone is going into the hell pit anymore...
I just want to say that you are so very accurate in your ability to see the points of this show, even if you say its biased, it displays the amount of care and word choice very awesomely which sometimes i have trouble with. TwT
I really look up to you for that, so dont listen to those who would denounce you without even knowing you; they only build up a hollow version of yourself that will just make you that, hollow.
The best thing you can do for yourself is be yourself in a world that strives to define you.
I've learned this doesn't mean being selfish, but doing your best to be the best version of yourself.
Thank you so much for making this. Your thoughts matter so much and helped me be a better person and realize what words mean again.
Thank you - I dearly love this series for all the same reasons you outlined in your overview of it. The world itself, and the mystery of it all, has me in an absolute stranglehold. I read the manga before seeing the animation, stopping at the end of the arc that season two covers as that's all there was at the time. Now I want to revisit it.
Thank you for covering this season. Even after reading it and watching it I came away with some questions unanswered and you helped fix that right up!
There is no word in English for when a parent loses a child.
This is not because such a thing is so unthinkable. In fact, throughout almost all of human history it was the norm. The death rate was 50% before the age of 15 until modern times.
shhh I’m being poetic-
Yeah it was the norm throughout history, but nowadays, it’s an unthinkable and heartbreaking idea. That’s what I meant by that~
Also, it being common in history doesn’t make it any less painful. c:
@@darkvioletcloud while it was common it was also kind of "unthinkable" as the Sanskrit term you referenced says, against the natural order.
What are you favourite characters from made in abyss
@@user-oz2mk2sb5e Marulk
28:30 to be fair, I think Vueko was thinking of Irumyui. It's a reason why she didn't kill her it wasn't because Vueko chickened out, but with the small amount of strength Irumyui had, she hugged Vueko. I thought in that moment Vueko realized that it wouldn't be right to rid her of her last amount of humanity. Even if Irumyui is in pain. Yeah, it's a bit selfish too for Vueko to keep Irumyui around, but if Irumyui doesn't want to die... then why take away her last bit of dignity?
That's at least what I was thinking during that moment.
Gosh, I really appreciate your perspective, especially about bodily autonomy. Also thank you for providing some more Made In Abyss content while I anxiously await the next manga volume! :)
11:32 as far as im aware, reproductive rights (for cis women and trans men, i dont know anything about trans women or about the hoops to jump through as a same sex couple or single parent, but i would like to believe we have it easier thsn most other places, and we are definately better off than america who has decided to go back to the ape days.) aren’t really in danger in denmark. Abortion is free untill week 12th, potentially even week 18th, of your pregnancy, ultrasounds are covered by our healthcare. You have been able to, as a married samesex couple, adopt your partner’s children, your step children, since 1999. As a single man, it is reportedly hard to adopt. I cant find anything about adoptions of samesex couples or single mothers. But single mothers can get invitrofertilized and i know of several single mothers through this path.
As far as im aware, this is the case for most european countries.
America is just the whole damn circus in this regard.
This video mad me think about this arc completely different! It made me feel a bit sick and want to cry :( you did a amazing job and I love your analysis/ interpretation!
15:23 Very, very well put.
I feel like this can also apply to individuals whom have developmental/mental disabilities. The company where my mother works goal is to aid adults with mental/developmental disabilities have autonomy over their lively hood. Many of them struggle to communicate in ways most others can understand. This talk you give hit me hard, especially due to my personal experiences and the the fact that the people I grew up with lack a lot of personal rights (and, unfortunately, even basic respect.)
Gosh, this was a beautiful video essay! The way you weaved your own experiences and the experiences of people assigned female at birth with the experiences of the characters is just- so perfect. It’s exactly as you said, a tapestry of ideas! Genuinely, your discussion was SO good and I thoroughly enjoyed this video. While I’ve never watched MIA (I feel like my own triggers would make it too difficult to actually watch) I feel like your videos have given me such a deep understanding of the story. You’ve managed to make me feel so connected with these characters despite never having watched the show or read the manga. Thank you for that, genuinely
I think the lack of a word for a parent that lost a child is an expression of its historic commonality rather than a statement of it being beyond words.
Yay! I've been looking forward to this for so long! Welcome back!!
Your analysis was great!
I loved your interpretation on iruumyuui and Vueko's relationship a lot
Looking forward to what you'll post next
Thank you for making this video! made in abyss S2/the iruburu arc is one of my favourite works of art of all time, i enjoyed hearing your perspective on it a lot. I feel like most people just talk about it's shock value when discussing Made in Abyss instead of analysing its themes and story like this
no one talks about how she was tossed away because she couldn't have kids then her first wish with the egg was to give birth 2nd was to keep the people safe protect them im sure
hey! i was super excited seeing ur notification that a new vid came out and i must say, you’ve blown this analysis out of the water once again! your videos have always covered topics with such respect, and its very entertaining watching your videos.
Wow that was a great video i really cant wait for another chapter of made in abyss its making me go crazy waiting for it
I love your video, really excited to see a notifications of an upload
Beautiful essay. I was always curious about what the OP and ED had to offer in terms of the story, I’m glad you did an analysis of it!
@@AbysmalRae Thanks! I realize I could’ve gone a bit deeper into Katachi tbh but I had more thoughts on Endless Embrace.
Incredible analysis, thank you so much. I also really appreciate Rain World music in the background it does so much for the atmosphere
@@orcaonastroll7268 Hehehe I’m glad you liked it! One of my younger cousins convinced me to play it and it’s possibly the hardest and most punishing game I’ve played, and I’ve been playing Elden Ring’s DLC lately! Rain World is a gorgeous game with such beautiful music! It is also a torture simulator.
I also drew Faputa interacting with a slugcat a few weeks ago. It’s up on my Twitter and Tumblr if you’re curious. :>
@darkvioletcloud Omg i think i saw it on my twitter before, your art is so cute!! Earned a follow
@@darkvioletcloudWell now I gotta see it
What are you favourite character from made in abyss and least
@@user-oz2mk2sb5e fav is faputa and least are sherumi and menae
my interpretation of this season was fairly different from yours because my viewing was shaped by 1. being a trans women who cant have a child and 2. my own personal trauma and how i see those reflected in vueko, faputa, nanachi and irumyuui and how they respond and deal with them.
and this video gave me an entirely different perspective on one of my favorite season of any show that i could of never been able to come too with out
I’ve never thought about it like that, but I think you explained it greatly
First 25 seconds of the video literally made me tear up. Holy shit.
light can also represent illusions, misdirection, a false sense of hope
I love what you had to say. I agree with all of it, but I do have my own analysis to add. I'll give some backround for myself before proceeding. I shouldn't have to do this just to explain myself, but I will so that people can't claim I'm just spouting stuff about subjects I have know experience with.
I am totally blind. I have a condition called Septo-optic dysplasia. This syndrome causes underdevelopment of certain areas in the midline of the brain, and in the optic nerves. It also causes problems with the pituitary gland and hypothalamus. The symptoms this can cause range in severity from person to person. I'm also not able to have kids right now due to health and hormonal issues.
So here's what I think. Irumyuui was a bit older than she looked by the time she was able to make her wish. She either had issues with her endocrine system, or a chromosomal defect. Both of these can cause issues with growth hormone production, or just small stature and lack of growth. They can also cause issues with reproduction in both sexes. I think the first clue that something was wrong showed up either very soon after birth, or during childhood. Sometimes these conditions can cause health issues that can threaten a baby's life right after birth. She could have had a defect that could have been bad enough to appear on examination after she was born. No abuse needed. Her family had high status, and since she was the only girl, I feel like they would have tried anything they could to improve her condition, even cure it. The relics don't seem very good at dealing with human anatomy when the people they're working on aren't dead, so I don't think anything worked. They may have given her more over all health though. The relics they used on her could have caused internal changes that made her unacceptable for marriage and children by her tribe's standards. Some tribes used to encourage purity of bloodline, and I don't see why it would be different in MIA. When nothing they did helped, they cast her out. I think a small part of why her wishes messed her up so much is because she was just a bit older than people had estimated, and she spent a long time on the struggle bus. She did have a disability. What many people aren't aware of is that disability is determined by the society you live in. So, I wouldn't be disabled if everyone on this planet was born blind. That would just be the norm.
Another thing, I think she had a lot of internalized hatred for her own, and other people's human bodies.
This was a big part in how things went wrong. I think by the time she was at her worst, but before she became the village, she had realized just how badly she'd been treated by almost everyone she'd ever known by that point. People not only ignored her wishes due to her age, but also due to her appearance, and her family probably was ashamed of her because of her condition. Now her new people also were ignoring her due to how small and innocent they assumed she was. So her wanting vengence feels oddly justified due to how her wishes were twisted, and due to her understanding that some of the people she knew were garbage, who would just continue abusing their power over others whenever they got a chance to, which is exactly what happened. Yeah, Irumyuui was young, but I feel like she was smart enough to pick up on what was going on, especially after her treatment got worse, and after how everyone treated her adoptive mother
She became the village because she wanted a place where outcasts could come when they had know other options, and have shelter that was relatively safe. Something she really never got to have herself. So in that sense she at least wanted to be useful, and thus did a nice thing in the eyes of the group, but I think she had the biggest impact on those who got their after she became the village. She gave them a place to stay, and time to come to terms with their fates before it would all end. However, a lot of the people she guided down there weren't really deserving of that. I think at first she hoped they'd change, but in my opinion, they did not.
I feel like the way the abyss works, and the way the societies above work means that exploitation is ensentivized. So I don't blame anyone but her garbage guardians for how this went down. I do find it interesting how she carried out her plans though. She could have done other things, but she chose to give true life to her last child. Also interesting. That child wasn't human at all either. I think the reason that core group treated her like god was more selfish. They wanted to feal better about taking what wasn't really theirs.
They knew she was a nice person, and used that against her, like almost everyone else does to each other constantly in this series. Yes I watched MIA. It was an experience. I spent a long time doing research online just so I could do this justice, but I didn't have anywhere to put this. Know I am not faking my disabilities. This show made me realize how much internalized hatred, and anger I was holding onto. I remember getting to the parts where the balancing took place and feeling so much righteous anger, and wishing whoever it was got everything they ever cared about in any way ripped away so they could feel what it was like to be stomped on and driven into the ground. That's when I realized I needed to work on myself. Lol! I remember getting to the end and somehow feeling like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, and wondering if I was the problem. I don't think that was the author's intention with any of this, but there you go.
such a beautiful analysis, great work !
Some things I think are interesting but can’t really verbalize why:
The babies being rabbit-like and irumyuui kind of looking rabbit-like herself and rabbits being a symbol of fertility at least in western culture
Belay being the first to step through the membrane and give up his humanity while also having been one of the most outright against the eating of irumyuui’s children
I'm suddenly extremely hungry for Made in Abyss content.
TSUKUSHIIIIIIIII
Welp. Time to spend 5 hrs watching long ass videos abt this weird manga.
@@Nevrits Oh I have a recommendation! There’s this fan manga called Made From Fortunes that’s as good as MiA! Beautiful artwork and intriguing story. It’s on MangaDex if you wanna check it out!
@darkvioletcloud Welp. Time to read it.
Crazy how I was just thinking how beautiful those chapters and their relationship is
This is a really good video essay! I uhhh don’t have much to say but it really touched my heart- and I hope you have a good day :]
Thanks for that whole part about SA not being likely. I think the theory is popular cuz people really underestimate what primitive cultures knew about the body just cuz they expressed it in non-scientific terms. For example, Ancient Egypt could find out if a woman's pregnant and the sex of the baby by the effects of her pee on how fast two grains(barley and some other one I forget) grow.
People also forget how many physical tests we do today like prostate and breast cancer tests that can be done with stone age tech.
And that's all ignoring the possibility of a relic or plain superstition(which doesn't have to be accurate just has to convince the group of its accuracy).
peak video once more
It's a rather evocative interpretation. Though I will say that human bodies in general rather than just women's bodies are treated as comodeties. Just in different ways that might not realise.
@@suomynona7681 Oh definitely, though I wanted to highlight how female bodies are treated as baby-making machines, especially with current laws being passed and whatnot. I have a personal connection to that, whereas I wouldn’t be able to speak on male bodies without being an outsider to the situation.
@@darkvioletcloud Good point. It makes for a more easily digestable argument to not abstract it and keep it closer to what's in the manga.
Personally, I'm a little tired of real life politics being dragged into media commentary, but I think that you pulled it off pretty well here.
Fantastic anaylisis! Truly truly!!
Yo, this rocks. Glad I found this channel
29:09 too many trans people can relate to this, preach. Preach...
16:20 this argument works for drugs too. For percieved good laws are passed to regulate or ban them. Including painkillers that some people require to not be in agony every waking moment. Sometimes turning a person who was working and contributing to community into someone bedridden by forbidding the patient from using the medicine.
"I don't know what other countries are getting up to, because I'm an American."
...To none of our surprise. (Just a joke)
In all seriousness though, I appreciate your time & thoughts expressed towards Made in Abyss, particularly this season. These are all issues, of family and of childhood, & of societal impositions that I feel quite strongly about, but don't trust myself to speak effectively on without, relaying it back to reality & getting very enraged over it. Such a happening would undermine the genuine compassion I'd want to communicate to others, despite such grief.
this seems very interesting, i will watch through soon.. ♡
What a great video! Instant sub !
i love vueko so much its so sad how she ended up
She's been reunited with her baby again. Hopefully Vueko and Irumyuui have found peace at the bottom of the Abyss. ;w;
I think irumiui is more practically an invoulentary god, not so much just the tool for a greater good. Thus i think, however disturbing Wazukian idea was, curing the disease, was in the right to use whatever means necessary, to keep the crew alive. Obviously its REALLY messed up and i think Waz' knew that too, but had to adjust and adapt, dehumanizing himself in the process, sadly. He had to become the Lucifer to Irumiuis godhood, bringing the light to provide futher advancement and comfort to future passerbys.
I LOVE THIS ❣️❣️❣️ PERIOD‼️‼️‼️
Another sick DarkVioletCloud Video! Keep it up
Hope season 3 come around
amazing video
incredible video
I love MIA and the story behind how the village was created in the first place is absolute sadness..and yet i absolutely love wazukyan eventho he seems sinister and evil…materialising the child…but as u put….for greater good..fine they couldnt find what they came for so make the best out of such a shitty situation…lost so many…they were a family after all….and survival instincts (especially in such a horrible threatening enviroment) will drive u to ur absolute limits he did what he thought suited best for the situation giving to prevent the death of all…if others cant think of a solution someone always will step forward to present one and as cruel as it seemed due to her wish..she saved them all and he just put the pieces together to make the best out of the situation they only had 2 options after all…death or survival…and if not suicidal..ull always chose survival even if it means to consume each other
I hate to say it but I definitely think that Irumyui's family figured out she was sterile the "unsavoury" way. Even disregarding the idea of abuse, if it was some congenital issue then they must have looked at her and inspected her down below to figure it out which is still messed up given her age. And as her society glorifies having kids and spent years looking after her and cherishing her, you'd think they would have figured it out earlier or when she was born so they made sure they weren't wasting their time on her. And the reason why she doesn't show signs of SA is because it's probably normal for her culture to "reproduce" at young ages, it makes sense that a society that glorifies having kids would start producing them as soon as they could. And as she wanted kids so badly, she was probably happy to try make kids and it might not have been traumatic for her like it would be you or me. I just want to clarify and say I'm not saying this is okay, I'm just saying that their society is different than ours and I wouldn't be surprised if this was normal to them.
i got a question though, imruyuii was underaged (still so young there’s no way she mate with someone to have baby) so how does her tribes including her family assumed she cannot give birth?
Dope reading.
last time i read the manga, i coulda sworn the two girls were close to the same ages
@@gusty7153 Which two girls?
@@darkvioletcloud
vueko and irumyuui. the whole backstory arc seemed like the author were trying to repeat nanachi and mitty. not to mention vueko simply looked significantly younger during the flashbacks compared to the present, and not far off from being just a teenager herself
I hate to say, viewers came to that conclusion (reproductive) because within 20 minutes of ep 1, we see the treatment of Vueko as a child, presumably the same age as Iruu, maybe younger. Buuut your conclusion is preferably better and informative. -
Every time I watch a video about Made in Abyss, I becone happier that I have never watched this show.
You don’t come to Made in Abyss to have a happy time. You come here to cry and suffer. I feel like I want to curl up and bawl every time I watch the show.
I love it. It’s such a fantastic story that hits me right in the feels.
I recommend you watch it. It’s worth it.
I think Irumyuui might be the safest to say that she has guevedoces. She's actually biologically male and hasn't gotten into puberty yet. I hope that is the case since her tribe hasn't like 'done anything' to try that she can bear children because she doesn't look any older to 9 or 10 years old. I'm guessing the is prehistoric and walking around naked is the norm and saw her private parts looked a bit off and saw her unworthy and impure and the tribe being patriarchal they excluded her because she cannot carry children. Maybe if she lived up to adulthood she could've sire instead and probably doesn't have a uterus and can still have children. She is intersex and given the chance when she reached puberty and adulthood, she could've acclimated to be a "tribesman" and found a wife and had a family she always wanted.
5:27 I won't say rather than a person, neither would I say in this context a person doesn't have to be useful cuz everyone in the Ganja is valued as a person but also has to be useful, that's why they all had to do all that training to get there in the first place, so that all of them will be useful.
12:43 Or, they think the Fetus is a person as well?.
if this anime has you down try one named berserk, it is about a guy named griffith who is trying to make his dreams come true and people keep getting in his way.
Oh I am a big fan of Berserk already! Interesting that you'd center Griffith as the protagonist in your recommendation lol
@@darkvioletcloud i was trying to be cool and edgy.
@@Monster_RancherYeah I figured. It got a laugh out of me. :>
Griffith is a fascinating character. He’s a complex antagonist who’s both easy to love and hate. It’d be interesting to read Berserk from his point of view and see how his internal monologue would frame things.
It's weird that you open up the essay the way you did. Considering infant mortality rates prior to 1900s were pretty high do people not care to give parents who lose their children a name?
@@ayuvir I opened it up that way because even though infant mortality is high, it’s still painful to lose a child. For any species to continue, the parents must raise at least one child to adulthood, y’know. If you have a dozen kids and six of them die in their youth, well, the other six still made it to adulthood. If all twelve of those kids died, though?
There legitimately is no commonly used English term for a parent who’s lost a child, despite how common it is. I’ve only found bereaved parent and vilomah as proposed terms. (I actually tried looking up the term because I was writing a thing for my Fear & Hunger OC, because she’s a mother whose only son died.)
I thought that was interesting, that orphan and widow/widower are common terms and losing parents/a spouse are equally common, yet a parent who has lost their child has no regularly used name.
I was trying to be poetic and emphasize how hard to articulate it is to lose your child. I’ve never had kids, but I know of people who have lost their children, and it’s so traumatic that it’s beyond words. I wanted to emphasize Vueko and Irumyuui’s pain.
Our bodies are dictated by things beyond our controll. By genetics, by random events, by illnesses we went though, by habits we gained in childhood. By stocastic unpredictable random events. It's really hard to see even a glimpse of free will even with the puny knowledge of science I had aquired. Weirdly enough it's more inward focused. I want to be fooled again. I want to believe in free will, in some semblence of controll. That I am not just an observer seeing the train move as it has to. That "what shall be will" is not exactly true.
you cooked
9:15 Pretty funny how the age where people can give birth to children goes down while the age where people actually give birth to children goes up.
@@porky1118 That chart is about when first periods start, not the average age of having a child.
@@darkvioletcloud I know, but this means, a female can technically get pregnant. Probably would cause issues during pregnancy if you get pregnant just after getting fertile nowadays (not sure about that, maybe the bodies also grow faster?)
@@porky1118 Nah it’s still incredibly dangerous to get pregnant as a teenager. It’s not healthy at such a young age, even if puberty is starting sooner than it has in the past.
@@porky1118teen pregnancy is very dangerous as the body is not fully developed yet. They *can* get pregnant but they really shouldn't be. It's high risk with high probability of something going wrong
Your mom sounds like she can be a narcissist. Just..writing this in case you want to work this through later with a psychotherapist.
This is a fantastic analysis, thank you.
I don't think you can judge something like this just because of one statement made. I don't think disliking the way someone else's looking is really 'narcissistic', however
The m9uth sounds are too loud
Yeah.... People are selfish. I'd love to have the role reversed. If those humans were valued based on what they could do for the group and kicked out if they were useless.
I will point out one thing. You acknowledged that reason Irumyuui started birthing children was because of the innate desire that stuck with her ever since her exile from her tribe.
Aaaand then added a whole section about politics of exploiting women as incubators, like reading a palmphlet without peocessing words, not realizing that whole section doesnt stick to previous conclusion.
It's disgusting what Wazukyaan was doing, deaf to her cries and dehumanizing her, more her shape strayed from human.
However, he could not predict this turn of events to plan to exploit it. It's likely that the healing properties of meat were discovered accidentally and chosen as a priority to keep the whole population NOT DEAD. He was not forcing her to birth meat abusing her "reproductive system". She physically could not stop doing it, and he just saw those critters as resource.
So while i think that what you added in there was important, it doesnt stick to this situation and takes more space in video than it has relevance in series.
@@JannetFenix My point was that she wasn’t being cared for. Wazukyan ceased to see her as a person with feelings. Even though Irumyuui had no choice, Wazukyan DID have a choice, and that was to extend care and compassion to her, and to try to alleviate her pain and anguish. He ended up seeing her as an object and an incubator.
My point was the lack of compassion or care is the same in both instances.
@darkvioletcloud it is true and valuable point. I just dont think it ties so much to her case to take a third part of video repeating about those "evil judges and politicians" over and over, rather than state such similarities once. Makes the eyes roll involuntary and prompts a question whether point of video was about a beautiful complex relationship in the series story, or pandering to tasteless political hyperbole.
A woman's right to choose a session with Bondrewd and his crew. Ripping away everything that is important long term but not vital in the absolute now. Chemical agony and ecstasy.
Who benefits from this deal with the Devil?