Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Last week, we took a look at Made in Abyss, one of the best animes to come out from the past decade. After the first season ended fans were waiting in anticipating for the second season that was rumored to be in the making. 2018 came and went with no news until 2019 when talks started up again about a second season only for us to get tricked and instead get two movies that were recaps of the anime. In 2020, another movie would pop up only this time instead of being a recap it was a continuation of the anime. The official title of the movie was Dawn of the Deep Soul and would adapt one if not the darkest story from the manga so far. While fans were bummed it wasn’t a second season, they were still excited to see a continuation of the anime as it was a sign of hope that the series was still alive and there was hope for it. Let’s return to this dark place and take a look at Dawn of the Deep Soul.
The movie starts with the group descending down into the Abyss where they come across a field of white flowers (you know, for all the dangers this place has, there’s beauty to be found here). Reg spots some cave raiders off in the distance and goes to check on them where he comes across an agent of Bondrewd the man who experimented on Nanachi and Mitty (so he’s the person we must kill). The agent tells Reg that the flower field has been infected with dangerous insects who enter the bodies of people to plants eggs. The offspring then eat the person from the inside out to grow stronger (that is some scary shit right there). The agent is here to destroy the field and their nest. He hands Reg a weapon and tells him to return to his friends as Bondrewd is waiting for them. After a bit more traveling, the group finally reaches the fifth layer, The Sea of Corpses (what a lovely name). Just like the name suggest, the upper area of the fifth layer is a sea and crystalized bridges that spring up randomly that the group use to traverse the floor. After stopping to eat some of the local delicacy (I’m surprise the fish down here aren’t poisonous) they finally reach the Ido Front, the final stopping point before descending to the sixth layer (the point of no return). The place is operated by Bondrewd and they require his permission to go deeper which is going to be impossible as only white whistles can go from here. They enter the base of Ido Front where they get questioned by Bondrewd’s supposed daughter, Prushka. She tries to get them to talk, but they give her the silent treatment until Bondrewd arrives (and the face Nanachi makes perfectly captures the fear and trauma this guy put her through). Fighting through their anger (and desire to wrap their hands around his neck and choke the life out of him) they ask him to let them pass through and he says yes. However, they’ll need a white whistle and Riko can’t use her mother’s whistle to activate the elevator as the whistle can only be used by the original owner (you mean to tell me we came all this way for nothing!?).
Bondrewd gives them a room for the night where they all wake up and do their own thing. Riko wakes up to see everyone is gone and goes to look for them where she stupidly tries to ascend some stairs (big mistake) and gets hit with the curse where she almost dies. Luckily, Prushka was there to save her. For Nanachi, she goes to talk to Bondrewd who reveals that his project is entering the final stages and he wants Nanachi to be his assistant. She accepts, on the condition that Bondrewd allows Riko and Reg to continue down to the sixth layer, but it looks like that won’t be happening as he wants to study Reg (whether he consents to it or not). While Riko and Nanachi were doing their own thing, Reg was kidnapped by Bondrewd’s men, strapped to a chair and experimented on where they take off one of his arms (holy shit, this is fucked up. It’s a downright dark and disturbing scene). Nanachi, Riko, and Prushka come in to save Reg and get the hell out of there with Prushka staying behind in the hopes of talking to Bondrewd and getting Reg’s arm back. Riko and Nanachi get to safety where Riko cries over Reg’s state. They work out a plan to beat Bondrewd and his men by tricking him into a monster’s nest where he survives. This leads to a short fight between him and the group where I did like the coordination of their attacks and strategy to bring him down. They use a few diversion tactics which allows Reg to grab him and they both fall into the water only for Reg to use his remain arm to ascend back up thus inflicting the curse on Bondrewd. Reg finishes Bondrewd off with a boulder and Prushka comes in to cry over the dead body of her dad (trust me, he deserved it). But, in a rather shocking turn of events, the last member of Bondrewd’s men takes his helmet and puts it on to become Bondrewd (https://youtu.be/sGtY1aPrOMQ). Bondrewd goes on to explain that all of his men are copies of him and he can transfer his consciousness into them whenever he wants (Mira: That is bullshit). He knocks out Nanachi, Reg, and Riko before taking his leave with Prushka inviting them back to Ido Front whenever they’re ready.
After Riko regains consciousness, she theorizes that Bondrewd is using a relic known as Zoaholic to transfer his conscious into his men. She believes the Zoaholic is in the base, so they come up with a plan to destroy it. Riko and Nanachi return to Ido Front while Reg sneaks into the base to absorb its reserved electricity. Riko and Nanachi soon find the processing room (okay, you guys better get ready for this. Cause it gets really messed up from here) which is the room where Bondrewd creates cartridges to counter the effects of the curse. These cartridges are made from living humans, removing anything but the organs needed to sustain life (meaning they’re still technically alive in the cartridge). Bondrewd soon enters the room and gets attacked by a rampaging Reg. Reg seems to be more then a match for Bondrewd but at the cost of losing his sanity and about to destroy the base. Nanachi hugs him to bring him back to his senses (which perverted fact, Reg gets a boner from Nanachi’s soft body) and the fight resumes in another location (Reg fights well for a guy with one arm) where Bondrewd reveals that he turned Prushka into a cartridge (you sick bastard). We get to see her flashback where we find out that she became subjected to the curse of the fifth layer due to a transporting accident. This resulted in her having severe mental and physical trauma. A black whistle wanted to put her out of her misery, but Bondrewd said no and adopted her where through love and luck she managed to recover. Returning to the fight, Reg continues to fight Bondrewd drawing him in and allowing Riko to hit him with the Incinerator using Reg’s severed arm. Bondrewd gets cut in half and his remaining men don’t have the power necessary to beat the group even if they wanted to. In the aftermath of the fight, Riko heard what happened to Prushka and holds her cartridge all while crying when a white whistle comes out of it (yeah, in order to create a white whistle you need to sacrifice a person who has a strong connection to you). Nanachi tells Riko that this way Prushka can travel with them on their adventure and this cheers her up. With a white whistle in hand, Riko and the others get ready to go to the sixth layer where Bondrewd comes to see them off with his men.
Final Thoughts
Good God. I thought the anime was dark and messed up, but this movie is even more messed up and dark. The stuff with Bondrewd is just crazy and the stuff of a psychopath. He shows no remorse for his actions whatsoever and stays focus on only completing his project no matter who or what it causes him. Yet, at the same time there’s a small spark of humanity to him. He could have easily let Prushka die but choose to keep her alive believing that she could be saved. This makes it all the more heartbreaking when we find out what happened to her. I did like the team dynamic shown between Riko, Reg, and Nanachi. Even though they haven’t been traveling together for that long they all work really well together and know their roles. Riko is the leader, Reg is the muscle, and Nanachi is the brains. Whatever one lacks the other makes up for it. Neither character is truly ahead of the other and without each other they would die.
The animation is good. It was especially impressive with the action scenes which were also good as well. The anime didn’t really have that much action in it, so it was cool to see the series flex and show that it can deliver some awesome fight sequences. The music was beautiful and I like how the movie didn’t shy away from the dark moments in the manga. That scene with Reg was downright messed up and I don’t think they ever reattach his arm meaning he’s only got one arm. Although, I think he’ll be alright.
Final Score
The final score for Dawn of the Deep Soul is an 8.5/10. If you liked the anime you’ll like the movie as well as it is a great adaption of the chapters in the manga. I’m still waiting for season 2 to be announced and I hope we hear about it soon. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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