^{I put this in the hands of our Lady so she may offer it to her Son.}

Matthew 16:25 “For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it.”

FIRST:

            This may sound weird, but I don’t really recommend Made in Abyss to people anymore. If you’ve already seen it, you and I can’t change the past. If you haven’t seen it, I don’t really think it’s worth watching. My main reasons are because the artist places his character – who are children – in violent scenarios. This would be reason enough for most people. But more maliciously, he sometimes puts these characters in sexually provocative scenarios. I cannot endorse this, nor do I think people should support such an author. Pray for his conversion and for the flourishing of good Christian art.

Background (For those who haven’t seen it):

            The city of Orth is situated around a giant chasm in the ground called “The Abyss.” We don’t know how it got there, how deep it goes, or what lies at the bottom. Exploring the Abyss is difficult due to the “Curse.” Going down into the various levels is fine. However, when you begin your climb back to the surface, everyone experiences various ailments. If you’ve only gone down a little, you might get dizzy. If you’ve gone down further, you may vomit or bleed from your eyes or ears. Finally – you if go down far enough – you’ll simply die from the strain of the curse. In rare cases, people don’t die from ascending but instead “lose their humanity” and become some other type of creature.

What we’re focusing on:

            There’s various ways we could interpret this plot device. First, I’d like to remind readers that affirming one interpretation doesn’t rule out others; nor does affirming two interpretations make everything relative/subjective (cf. our previous article). Our “Catholic viewing lens” this time might seem like a pair of bifocals as we have two seemingly opposed interpretations, but I think you can manage it.

Dying to Self

            Anyone who goes far enough into the Abyss, isn’t going to come back. They have left their life behind. The premise of Made in Abyss is that they’ve left everything behind to find out what’s at the bottom – if there is one. Christians might easily think of Jesus’ parable of a man selling all he has to buy a pearl of great price (Mt 13:45-46). What came to my mind was our opening verse “For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it.”

            Following Jesus requires a total commitment. We cannot hold onto anything of this world while trying to follow Him or else we will not enter through the narrow gate (cf. Mt 7:13-14). For the main characters Reg and Riko, leaving behind the surface village and diving into the Abyss cuts off any hope of assistance from the surface. Much like in the Christian life, this radical jump of leaving everything behind for Christ is not automatically easy! Reg and Riko almost die many times, and it’s only through the assistance of people they meet along the way – people who have also given up life on the surface – that they are able to continue. We must leave the world behind, but we mustn’t scorn help from those who are also on the Christian path. To do so would be foolish and perhaps deadly for us.

Now for our second view: deadly sin

            We’ve talked about confession before, but this time we’ll focus on mortal, sometimes called “deadly” or “grave” sin. The Catechism says “Mortal sin destroy charity in the heart of man.” The gift of grace we receive at baptism is complete killed by mortal sin. We might say the restless and curious people of Orth forsake the life they have only to find themselves buried alive in the Abyss with no hope of return. Sin not only separates us from God but it also separates us from one another. E.g. in Made in Abyss those who dive deep into the Abyss almost always do so by themselves.

Likewise, a return to a life of grace, a leaving behind of sinful behavior, ascending from the Abyss, will feel like complete death to us. And yet, what does one regain be resurfacing? An environment not hostile to human living, and the presence of a human community. In short, life as it was meant to be lived.

Anything else?

            Hopefully this helps you see that whatever you watch next – even if you have to stop watching it for some reason – it can still show us some grain of truth about the Christian life. God bless you all 🙂

_{St. Justin Martyr, pray for us!}