Narehate and the Spectrum of Humanity (Made in Abyss SPOILER)

"Made in Abyss" as a show overall was a gold-mine of inspiration for me. The world building, the creature designs, the mystery of the Abyss and the characters' journeys are all topics that I want to analyze and learn from the show. But what struck me as the most clever solution for one of my current mission --- to blur the virtual barrier between human and the rest of the animal kingdom --- was the Narehate and the spectrum of humanity left in them. The village of Iruburu, specifically, presented the audience with a wide range of Narehate condition.

Villagers of Iruburu

Narehate (成なれ果はて) or Hollow are generally known as beings who have survived the 6th Layer's Curse and whose bodies have become deformed as a result, although there are other means of becoming one. They can take many different forms depending on the circumstances of their transformation. Their exact properties as a species are unknown. The word "narehate" comes from the term "narenohate" (成なれの果はて) which means "the shadow of one's former self". (Made in Abyss Wiki)

By being known as formerly humans, these creatures (and even their offsprings in the case of Irumyuui) were automatically regarded with more sympathy compared to the rest of the creatures in the Abyss. Without going into whether each of the species deserve that compassion, I think how we feel towards Narehate versus other creatures are very reflective of the species barrier between humans and animals. How Narehate were depicted with various levels of human-likeness/humanity creates a unique lens that invited us to identify the threshold of human and non-human.

My simple board tracking human characteristics presented by familiar Narehate in the show. The characters are placed roughly from most human (left) to least human (right).

My thoughts on each of the points on the spectrum are below:

Nanachi

The most humanlike of all the Narehate, most likely due to that fact that she was a successful Brondewd's experiment where her Curse was put into Mitty instead. In turn, the effects of the Curse on her were nullified and even turned into Blessing. Her human mind was completely intact. Her body remains humanlike with the addition of fur, claws and rabbit ears (which you can even argue are quite favorable features, practically and aesthetically). A furries' dream with enhance strength and durability.

Moogie and Wazukyan

Along with Majikaja, these two are the few villagers that speak human language. Their human minds remained intact, though numbed due to their long existence. They looked relatively human with their facial features, upright position and overall silhouette. Their actions and behaviors were nothing off the grid for being humans, though their living circumstances and old age certainly made them a little odd compared to the average human. Wazukyan displayed some lack of empathy, but that's just how he was even before becoming a Narehate. Overall, they struck me as simply weird looking humanoid, the like of dwarfts and elves in other fictional works.

Faputa (not included)

I didn't include Faputa because even though she is classified as Narehate, she was born that way and was never a human (contradictory to the definition of Narehate). Consequently, her appearance might be almost as humanlike as Nanachi, her way of thinking and behaviors are far from humanistic. She also possesses god-like strength and speed, so let's give her her own category --- a force of nature. However, she embodies a unique case of animalistic mind, yet with speech to advocate for herself. What if animals could speak, is how I see her.

Belaf

Other than his face, Belaf looks far from human. Yet his human mind somewhat remained. I say 'somewhat' because when it comes to speech or intelligence, he had not lost any. However, his conscience/ morally was where I see signs of decay. Still haunted by his guilt and shame towards Irumyuui, yet he had no issues with consuming the clone of Mitty. His cold demeanor and lack of empathy were as much the indications of a deteriorating humanity, as they were results of living a long and traumatic life.

Maaa

Maaa is similar to a lot of background characters from Iruburu: blob-shaped (plushy looking), comical features but overall a capable and somewhat smart creatures. His speech consisted of "maaa" with different intonations, vaguely indicating different meanings. Like most other villagers, he understood the concept of Value and feared the Balancing. Upon hurting Meinya and was punished for it, he seemed to feel remorse for his action. But I would argue that his remorse came from the fear of punishment and from knowing that Meinya was valuable, rather than actual empathy. However, he did choose to stand by and protect Riko. I would conclude that his humanity remains, though primitive and inconsistent.

Mitty

Mitty and the other anamorphic Narehate of Bondrewd's experiments were creatures of misery. It's really hard to gauge their humanity because they were unable to articulate themselves in any clear way. The real Mitty (not her clone) only ever cried sounds of pain. At times, it seemed that Nanachi and Riko could understand her, though, in rather abstract or spiritual ways. In other words, what we know of Mitty's mind came from the interpretation and projection of other characters. There's no concrete way to conclude if the human Mitty was still in there, or if this blob was just her scrambled flesh and nothing more.

Iruburu

A character that became a location. That's a character development that I have yet to see anywhere (in my limited experience). The transformation from Irumyuui, the child, to Iruburu, the place, took the audience across this spectrum of humanity. We saw her slowing losing her human body, her ability to speech, even her free will faded along with her capabilities. At which point did she stop being Irumyuui? One thing that remained of her human-self, was her wishes, which were continued to be realized with the Cradles. But we can also ask if having wishes is exclusive to humanity. At the end of her transformation, she became a place, albeit organic with life-signals, but we continued to regard her as a character, we were disgusted with how her children were taken, and we empathized with Faputa's mission of revenge. At this point, is her humanity the only reason why we care? Or does she deserve better simply because it's justice?

Our compassion towards each of these characters is proof that we can be just to those that share this planet with us. Can we extend the same compassion to animals, whom we know, as the matter of fact, experience pains as well as happiness (and arguably more complex emotions than Iruburu could), have memories and bonds (just like all of our characters), have free wills and does communicate (with more vocabulary than Maaa)? Like the Abyss, the inner lives of these fellow Earth-dwellers might forever be a mystery to us. But now that we see how humanity is a loose concept that contains many qualities also displayed in animals. Now that we can see how humanity is not the only reason why anything matters. Should we be so indifferent (if not complacent) of animal exploitation? Allow me to send you off to your own meditation with this quote:

“We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate for having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein do we err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.” - Henry Beston, The Outermost House: A Year of Life On The Great Beach of Cape Cod

(sheesh, go off 🔥)