Made in Abyss: Journey's Dawn condenses the first half of the Made in Abyss anime series that follows Riko, a 12-year-old girl, as she searches for her mother in a cursed abyss. It’s basically Journey to the Center of the Earth meets Dinotopia meets anime’s ongoing problem with sexualizing children. Made in Abyss is one of those anime that gives the whole genre a bad name, and it infuriates me that anyone thinks some world-building and a few cool monsters justify all the lewd shit in this story about child genitalia. Come at me with an argument about the worst of it being in Akihito Tsukushi’s ongoing and unfinished web manga that Made in Abyss is based on. Why is any of it in any of these adaptations? This story made the journey from manga to TV series to film, and there are still characters talking about hanging nude children from the ceiling to punish them for being disobedient. It isn’t cute, and defending it isn’t cute either. by Suzette Smith