Made in Abyss: Dawn of the Deep Soul (2020)

Made in Abyss: Dawn of the Deep Soul is special because it pairs storybook wonder with a pit-in-your-stomach sense of danger, creating a fantasy world so vivid you can almost feel its air change as the characters descend. Masayuki Kojima’s film is gorgeously animated and intensely atmospheric, with an eerie, beautiful soundtrack that makes the Abyss feel less like a setting and more like a living force testing everyone’s resolve. The emotional pull comes from Riko, Reg, and Nanachi’s fierce tenderness toward one another, set against Bondrewd, a villain who’s chilling precisely because of how calm, courteous, and “reasonable” he seems. Fair warning: it’s not for everyone—this chapter goes hard into disturbing body horror and cruelty—but if you can handle the darkness, you’ll find a gripping, heartfelt continuation that earns every shiver and every tear.

Dawn of the Deep Soul is clearly trying to be the franchise’s big, operatic descent into the Abyss’s moral rot—gorgeous worldbuilding, high stakes, and a villain designed to make your skin crawl. It succeeds on atmosphere and escalation, but it can feel long-winded and oddly mechanical, with plotting that gets convoluted and a few emotional beats (especially around new characters) that don’t land as deeply as the movie wants. Riko is also more of a passenger than a driver here, which may annoy you if you’re hoping for a proactive lead instead of suffering-and-surviving momentum. If you haven’t seen the series or you’re not up for relentless child-focused body horror and cruelty, this isn’t “dark”—it’s punishing, and it won’t apologize for it.