Forum - View topic

REVIEW: Made in Abyss: Wandering Twilight

While this does remove a lengthy sequence where Riko has to fend for herself while Reg is unconscious, that content was easily among the most expendable parts of the last few episodes. The removal is handled seamlessly enough that someone who hasn't seen the TV series would not know that it was missing. The same can be said for the removal of the other most expendable scene, which involved one of the orphans falling ill back up in Orth.

I haven't seen the movie version, but I wouldn't call those parts expendable. The first one is basically the only part of this section of the story where Riko does anything on her own (both to establish that she can do some stuff without Reg, and that having Reg around is still essential), and the second is likely to be important later since it reveals that spoiler[the mysterious "birthday disease" is entirely caused by the Abyss, and can be cured only by stepping off the island].

Hadn't heard that the sequel to the series is going to be a movie, though. Guess they're pulling a "Rebellion" on us. Hopefully it won't end up stalled indefinitely afterward...

When I reviewed the first compilation movie, I extensively praised the film for its editing choices. That praise not only continues into this movie, but the editing may have even improved. To keep the length down to around 100 minutes, the bulk of episode 9 is excised. While this does remove a lengthy sequence where Riko has to fend for herself while Reg is unconscious, that content was easily among the most expendable parts of the last few episodes. The removal is handled seamlessly enough that someone who hasn't seen the TV series would not know that it was missing. The same can be said for the removal of the other most expendable scene, which involved one of the orphans falling ill back up in Orth. A snippet of Riko's fever dream while she is unconscious was also removed, but this was completely replayed in a later scene anyway.

Any comments about the technical merits of the film would be just a repeat of what I said about the first movie, so I will just add that this continuation is vastly more graphic and does not do anything to lessen concerns about the inappropriate framing of young characters. (Again, I did not feel that the relevant scenes were aiming for titillation based on the way director Kojima presented the scenes, but your mileage will vary.)

But weren't both those anime-original and not present in the manga?

Hadn't heard that the sequel to the series is going to be a movie, though.

I stopped reading the manga after about ten pages because of you-probably-know-what, so I'll have to take your word for it on that. But even so, those seem like the wrong things to cut. (Especially given the options mentioned above, which are not only unimportant plot-wise, but also unpleasant.) Without the main part of episode 9, Riko--supposedly the main character--does virtually nothing for this entire movie. Unless they also added some stuff that wasn't mentioned in the review.

Is "A snippet of Riko's fever dream while she is unconscious was also removed" the time when spoiler[Riko get to "talk" with Mitty and she get the story essentially tell you that they're doing the right thing by killing Mitty? ]

Isn't Nanachi's gender supposed to be ambiguous?

kotomikun wrote:

I stopped reading the manga after about ten pages because of you-probably-know-what, so I'll have to take your word for it on that. But even so, those seem like the wrong things to cut. (Especially given the options mentioned above, which are not only unimportant plot-wise, but also unpleasant.) Without the main part of episode 9, Riko--supposedly the main character--does virtually nothing for this entire movie. Unless they also added some stuff that wasn't mentioned in the review.

No, she doesn't wind up doing much in the movie beyond spoiler[vastly improving the quality of Reg and Nanachi's cooking when she wakes up)].

And yes, the pee and penis references were kept. They would have been difficult to snip out without affecting surrounding material, wouldn't have saved much time, and I didn't find them inappropriate anyway. I have never seen the series (at least in anime form, anyway) as crossing from innocent juvenile attitudes about nakedness and bodily functions and into lolicon/shotacon territory. I definitely understand the sensitivity on the matter, as some stuff coming out of Japan genuinely does go there, but it is possible to have purely innocent content of this nature and I feel that Kojima has done well to keep it to that level regardless of what the source manga shows.

meiam wrote:

Is "A snippet of Riko's fever dream while she is unconscious was also removed" the time when spoiler[Riko get to "talk" with Mitty and she get the story essentially tell you that they're doing the right thing by killing Mitty? ]

I think you're remembering more being there than actually was there.

The part I was talking about is a relatively short scene which is repeated fully in episode 13 (albeit with Riko's narration) when Riko is talking about her experience while unconscious.

I haven't seen the movie version, but I wouldn't call those parts expendable. The first one is basically the only part of this section of the story where Riko does anything on her own (both to establish that she can do some stuff without Reg, and that having Reg around is still essential), and the second is likely to be important later since it reveals that spoiler[the mysterious "birthday disease" is entirely caused by the Abyss, and can be cured only by stepping off the island].

First the author has to produce some new material. There still isn't enough even for a second new movie...

Most people who don't know that bit of trivia assume Nanachi is female, for whatever reason.