Ranking the layers of the Abyss in ‘Made in Abyss’ by survival

A staple in the horror anime genre, Made in Abyss is a popular series that follows an orphan Riko, who, on the search for her missing mother, befriends a robot called Reg. Together, they must venture into a cave-like void, referred to as the “Abyss”, and encounter a host of horrifying entities as they pass through each layer.

While the series’ cutesy art style may draw viewers in, they’re usually left holding their breaths at the vicious monstrosities present in the various layers of the abyss. With each one offering something unique, here are the different layers ranked, from the most likely to survive to the most difficult, and near impossible. 

7. Layer One: Edge of the Abyss

The first level we’re introduced to is rather harmless. The Delvers regularly use this level to train the Bells for their first dive. There are many beasts from the lower levels that journey up to level one and that can leave a trail of dead bodies with several skeletons, but with the lack of beasts and an easy but stressful journey back up Orth, level one is habitable for many.

6. Layer Three: The Great Fault

Delvers begin to feel the full effects from level two, but the next level, the third, is not as dangerous. Level three is a four-kilometer cliff that houses many beasts, including the Crimson Splitjaw which lurks around looking for any stray human or beast they can find. Fortunately, there are caves one can use to navigate through this level, but even these caves have some special places which require you to move upwards, and that can trigger hallucinations and extreme vertigo due to the curse of the abyss.

5. Layer Two: The Forest of Temptation

This may be only the second layer, but the realities of how dangerous the Abyss is generally sinks in here and it hits hard. We’re greeted with a rainforest that’s filled with an aura of dangerous flora and fauna. Reg also meets a corpse-weeper here, a creature that mimics the voice of its victims, and he and Riko are almost lured in by one and killed by its colony. This level is also home to the legendary Ozen, one of the few white whistlers alive who puts them through a short but brutal training to ready them for the abyss.

4. Layer Five: Sea of Corpses

The fifth level is home to Bondrewd and his daughter Prushka. This is also the level where we meet Nanachi, a human-like Narehate who survived the ascent from the sixth layer and didn’t lose her sanity or turn into a monstrosity. Instead, she retained her cute bunny-human appearance. Bondrewd is the main threat in this layer and conducts very inhumane experiments on children, forcing them to ascend the layers to see if they will survive.

Of all the children he used, only Nanachi is said to have survived, with the rest becoming gushy monsters in heavy pain, and with an extremely little sense of self. The children here see Bondrewd as a savior as he regularly feeds them and houses them before conducting these vile experiments.

3. Layer Four: The Goblets of Giants

This level is considered calm but deadly. Upon entry, an Orb Piercer, an intelligent porcupine-like creature with extremely venomous needles, attacks Riko and Reg. The area is a humid jungle, composed of goblet-like plants called flat-creepers. While the level is very wonderful to look at, other horrific creatures such as the Amaranthine-Deceptors now lurk in the beautiful Garden of Flowers, making it dangerous to move through. Many delvers don’t make it back up as the curse for an ascent of this level causes bleeding from all openings in the body. 

2. Layer Six: The Capital of the Unreturned

Level Six is known as “Delver’s last dive”. The curse for this level is that “any ascent will lead to either death or the loss of one’s humanity.” This level is home to the most dangerous creatures on the list so far and the harshest environment. It is also where the majority of season two takes place. Here, there exists Psuedowater — a creature that can mimic the properties of water but is actually a parasite — and the Turnbinid-Dragon — a towering dinosaur-like horse creature that is very territorial and deadly and regularly spews toxic gas in the air. 

1. Layer Seven: The Final Maelstrom and Beyond.

Although there is said to be a layer below the seventh called the Deepest Point, we don’t even know if it’s real yet. We also can only speculate the level of danger in the seventh level as only Lysa ever reached here. In her notes, she said she was greeted by a creature resembling Reg at the entrance point. The level is home to a mysterious ring that can be seen from the top and Delvers will most likely run into the extremely dangerous creatures of the abyss known as gatekeepers. Here, ascension is death so all that is known is transmitted through white whistlers.