Yesterday, a tweet from Hajime no Ippo author Jyoji Morikawa made fans rush to comfort him when he revealed his first impression of the anime Made in Abyss based on Akihito Tsukushi‘s popular manga of the same name.

とてもかわいらしい絵と色使いが目にとまって、あるアニメを見始めた。
女の子とロボット少年の楽しい冒険の旅が始まるのだろうな、とほのぼのとした気持ちだったのだが…きついよお。

— 森川ジョージ (@WANPOWANWAN) September 13, 2021

Morikawa tweeted that he was drawn to some cute pictures and pretty colors which made him start watching the Made in Abyss anime. But what he didn’t expect was the severely troubled feeling that came from the cute characters at the end of the session.

映画版まで見終わった。
で、これ何かいいことあった？
きついんだが。
ジブリっぽいのかと思って見始めたんだが。
なんならメイドが出てくると思っていたんだが。
ぴえんだけど逆にハマってしまった。

— 森川ジョージ (@WANPOWANWAN) September 13, 2021

After watching up to the movie, he expressed that he almost lost his words after watching the series and felt traumatized to the core.

Morikawa went into the Made in Abyss series thinking it was “Ghibli-ish”, and expected a “maid” to come out soon as he misread “made” as “maid”. However, they never did.

Not to his disappointment, he expressed in the tweet that Morikawa thoroughly enjoyed the anime and thanked Tsukushi sensei and the anime staff for he is now addicted to the series, even though it was too dark and eerie for him.

バトルは絶対はじめの一歩のファイトシーン参考に描くんだ！って思ってたのに、その参考資料があまりに高度なコマ割り、書き文字配置、迫力の筆致を持っていたことに気付いて「なんも参考にできんじゃん…」ってなったメイドインアビス原作ですが、アニメが森川先生にダメージを入れてくれました☺️

— つくしあきひと (@tukushiA) September 13, 2021

As expected, Akihito Tsukushi took notice of this achievement and humbly reacted to the review from the popular manga artist.

Tsukushi revealed that he was initially planning to take reference from Jyoji Morikawa’s Hajime no Ippo manga for the battle scene panels, however, the advanced frame division, character arrangement, and the powerful brush strokes totally overwhelmed him.

In the end, he gave up the idea and came up with an original style for Made in Abyss. Same as the audience, the visuals completely took over Morikawa.

僕がはじめの一歩めちゃくちゃ参考にしようとしてる1分間です。https://t.co/p0e4t2yPV2

— つくしあきひと (@tukushiA) September 13, 2021

Even though it was already visible from the previous tweet how much the popular mangaka respects Morikawa, he adds in some more fanboy moments in his new tweet.

Tsukushi referred him to an “Office tour video interview” he made on Youtube last year to show just how much he looks up to the beauty called “Hajime no Ippo”.

Akihito Tsukushi’s Made in Abyss serializes online in Takeshobo’s digital publication Web Comic Gamma since 2012. It is collected into nine tankōbon volumes.

An anime adaptation aired from July 7 to September 29, 2017. A sequel film premiered in Japan on January 17, 2020. A second anime season will premiere in 2022.

Source: Hachimakiko