Made in Abyss Manga Covers — Volume-by-Volume Breakdown
Here’s a walkthrough of every cover in order. For each volume, we’ll look at the characters shown, the layer of the Abyss depicted, and how the color palette and mood shift as the story goes deeper.
Volumes 1–3 — The Descent Begins (Layers 1–4)
These early covers are where Made in Abyss hooks you with pure wonder. The colors are warm and inviting, the environments are lush, and everything feels like the start of a grand adventure — though the series gradually reveals a much darker side as the story continues.
These three volumes correspond to Anime Season 1 (the first animated adaptation of the manga, available on streaming platforms like HIDIVE).
Volume 1 is iconic. Riko — a young orphan girl in a white helmet — and Reg — a robotic boy she discovers in the Abyss — appear together amid the upper layers, surrounded by bright greens and blues. There’s a sense of scale that immediately tells you this world is enormous. The vegetation is thick and alien, but it’s bathed in warm light that makes it look almost welcoming. If you’ve seen any Made in Abyss art at all, you’ve probably seen this cover. It perfectly captures the “beautiful adventure” feeling that draws people into the series.
Volume 2 shifts slightly deeper. Riko is featured prominently, and the setting moves away from the sunlit surface layers. The palette is still colorful, but there’s a subtle darkening — the greens become deeper, the shadows longer. You can feel the descent in the way the light changes, hinting that the deeper you go, the less friendly things get.
Volume 3 takes us into the storyline involving Ozen, a tall and intimidating White Whistle (an elite, high-ranking cave raider) who tests Riko and Reg at the Seeker Camp — the last relatively “safe” outpost before the truly dangerous layers. The cover’s palette cools noticeably. Where Volumes 1 and 2 felt warm and alive, Volume 3 introduces blues and grays that feel more isolated, more menacing.
If you’re coming from the anime, Season 1 ends around the end of Volume 3.
Volumes 4–5 — The Fifth Layer
This is where the covers take a hard turn. The adventure is still there, but it’s wrapped in something oppressive. These two volumes are some of the most emotionally intense in the entire series, and the covers reflect that.
These volumes correspond to Dawn of the Deep Soul, an animated movie that continues the story directly from where Season 1 left off.
Volume 4 centers on the storyline involving Bondrewd, a White Whistle explorer who operates a base called Idofront — a massive structure built into the Fifth Layer. Bondrewd is one of the most disturbing antagonists in manga, and the cover marks a clear visual shift. The palette darkens. The environment feels enclosed and oppressive compared to the open, natural settings of earlier volumes. Where previous covers showed the Abyss as vast wilderness, this one suggests something more claustrophobic and controlled.
Volume 5 continues at Idofront, and the emotional weight of this storyline is reflected in the cover’s composition. There’s an intensity here that the earlier covers didn’t have. Tsukushi uses this cover to convey emotional stakes, not just environmental ones — you can feel the gravity of what happens in these pages just by looking at it. The characters depicted look strained, changed by what they’ve experienced.
Volumes 6–10 — The Sixth Layer
The longest storyline in the series so far, and the covers match its sprawling, alien, deeply unsettling nature. We’re now in the Sixth Layer — called the Capital of the Unreturned because anyone who descends this deep physically cannot survive the return trip. Everything looks and feels different from here on.
These volumes correspond to Anime Season 2 (titled “The Golden City of the Scorching Sun”), the second animated season continuing the story after the Dawn of the Deep Soul movie.
Volume 6 marks entry into the Sixth Layer. The cover introduces a village setting called Ilblu (also romanized as Iruburu) — a bizarre, living settlement made of organic material that looks nothing like any human-built structure. A character named Faputa, a creature native to this layer, begins appearing in the visual storytelling. The visual language shifts dramatically from anything in earlier volumes — the environment looks biological, almost like the inside of a living organism.
Volumes 7 and 8 continue the village storyline. The covers reflect the alien, unsettling environment of Ilblu itself — structures that look grown rather than built, surfaces that appear organic and wet, color palettes that mix warm flesh tones with sickly greens. Tsukushi’s ability to make something simultaneously beautiful and deeply uncomfortable is on full display. Specific inhabitants of the village appear on these covers, figures that look half-human and half-something else entirely.
Volumes 9 and 10 feature darker and more complex compositions as the village storyline intensifies. The color palette has moved far from Volume 1’s bright greens and blues. Muted earth tones, deep reds, and heavy shadows dominate. The covers get denser with environmental detail — background creatures, strange flora, architectural elements that blur the line between structure and organism. The characters shown look smaller against increasingly overwhelming surroundings.
Volume 11 covers the resolution of the village storyline. There’s an emotional climax reflected in the cover art — Faputa features prominently, and there’s a sense of both culmination and cost. By this point, the covers have traveled an enormous visual distance from where they started. Placing Volume 1 and Volume 11 side by side, they look like they belong to two different series.
Volume 11 — The Latest Volume
Volume 11 is the most recent volume (released in Japan in July 2023). This takes the story past the village and into genuinely new territory — the Seventh Layer of the Abyss, deeper than any previous storyline has gone.
The cover reflects this push into the unknown. The visual language continues to evolve, and there’s a sense of the series entering its most uncharted phase yet. The environment depicted is unlike any previous layer — darker, stranger, with less recognizable reference points.
A note for English readers: Seven Seas continues releasing new volumes to the Japanese release, so there’s no gap between editions right now. The flip side is that Tsukushi’s release schedule is irregular, so there may be a long wait for Volume 13.
How Akihito Tsukushi’s Art Style Shapes the Covers
Tsukushi’s illustration style is one of the most distinctive in manga, and it defines what makes these covers so effective.
The core tension is this: the characters look rounded, soft, and almost child-like, while the environments are intricately detailed, massive, and increasingly hostile. That contrast is the visual foundation of everything Made in Abyss does. Cute, vulnerable characters in a world that doesn’t care about their vulnerability.
The covers use a soft, almost watercolor-like color palette that gives them a storybook quality. Early covers lean into this with warm, inviting colors. Later covers use the same technique but with darker, cooler palettes — so you get the strange effect of something that looks painterly and gentle while depicting increasingly harrowing environments.
Each cover functions as a standalone illustration. You could frame any of them. They’re dense with environmental detail and atmospheric storytelling — Tsukushi packs in background creatures, plant life, architectural details, and environmental cues that reward close looking. Some covers contain subtle visual hints at events inside the volume that only make sense after you’ve read it.
This approach to cover design sets Made in Abyss apart from most manga, where covers tend to be character portraits against simple backgrounds. Tsukushi treats each cover as a window into the world itself, not just a character showcase.
Japanese vs. English Editions — Are the Covers Different?
Short answer: no. The cover illustrations are identical.
Seven Seas Entertainment’s English editions use the exact same cover art as Takeshobo’s Japanese editions. Here’s what’s different:
| Feature | Japanese Edition (Takeshobo) | English Edition (Seven Seas) |
|---|---|---|
| Cover illustration | Original Tsukushi art | Same art |
| Logo/title | Japanese title text | English title text |
| Publisher label | Bamboo Comics | Seven Seas |
| Rating labels | Japanese rating system | English age advisory |
| Spine design | Slightly different layout | Slightly different layout |
That’s it. No alternate covers, no variant editions, no exclusive English cover art. What you see on the Japanese edition is what you get on the English one — just with different text and branding elements.
For collectors, this means there’s no reason to buy both editions for cover art purposes (unless you want the Japanese text aesthetic on your shelf, which is totally valid).
Which Volume to Start With
Always start with Volume 1. Made in Abyss is a completely sequential story — each volume continues directly from where the previous one ended, so jumping in mid-series would be like starting a movie at the halfway point.
If you’ve already watched the anime adaptations and want to know where new manga content begins:
| Adaptation | Manga Volumes Covered |
|---|---|
| Anime Season 1 | Volumes 1–3 (roughly) |
| Dawn of the Deep Soul (movie) | Volumes 4–5 (roughly) |
| Anime Season 2 | Volumes 6–10 (roughly) |
So if you’ve watched everything — both seasons and the movie — new manga content starts at Volume 11.
That said, even if you’ve seen the anime, reading from Volume 1 is worth it. Tsukushi’s art contains details and world-building that the anime couldn’t fully capture, and the covers alone are worth experiencing in physical form.
For collectors and new readers: All 14 volumes are currently in print from Seven Seas, so availability isn’t an issue. You can find them at most bookstores that carry manga, as well as online retailers. Physical volumes typically run in the standard manga price range. Digital editions are also available if you prefer reading on a tablet or phone. The series is ongoing, but be aware of the irregular release schedule — gaps between volumes can be long.
The cover of Volume 1 will give you a good idea of whether this series is for you. If that combination of gorgeous, inviting art and a sense of something vast and unknown underneath appeals to you, you’re in for something special.
Made in Abyss Vol.1
Made in Abyss Season 1 Box Set
Made in Abyss Vol. 14