Does Abyss Mean The Same Across Manga And Anime?

Abyss imagery in anime hits me like a secret doorway — sometimes terrifying, sometimes oddly comforting. I’ve seen creators use the abyss to mark a turning point where a character can’t go back to who they once were. In 'Neon Genesis Evangelion' it’s less a physical chasm and more a psychic one: the abyss represents the unbearable confrontation with the self, and when characters cross it they don’t come out neat and fixed, they come out altered, often painfully aware. That kind of change isn’t a tidy arc; it’s messy, like waking up after a dream that rewrites your memory. Then there are shows that treat the abyss literally and socially, like 'Made in Abyss'. The deeper layers are full of ecological weirdness, moral fog, and loss — and the further you descend, the more the world forces you to adapt or perish. For me, that literal descent becomes a metaphor for learning terrible truths and growing despite them. It’s a recurring symbolic pattern: the abyss tests, purges, reveals hidden strengths or traumas. When a protagonist survives, the change often looks like a new set of priorities or a scarred wisdom. I also love how the abyss can flip into a corrupting pull. In 'Berserk' moments, darker forces seduce characters toward a ruinous transformation that’s almost irreversible. So whether it’s a path to insight, a rite of passage, or a slow moral decay, the abyss in anime is a tool to dramatize change — the part of the plot that forces identity into a new shape. When I rewatch scenes that hinge on that imagery, I catch more subtle cues about what kind of change the director wants us to feel, and it keeps the stories haunting in a good way.