Made in Abyss Has 14 Manga Volumes — And the Series Is Still Ongoing
Here’s the quick answer: Made in Abyss currently has 14 volumes, all of which are available in English from Seven Seas Entertainment, a publisher that licenses and translates Japanese manga for English-speaking readers. The series is still ongoing with no announced end date.
Created by Akihito Tsukushi (つくしあきひと), Made in Abyss first began appearing in serialized chapters — released one at a time on a Japanese webcomic platform (Web Comic Gamma, run by Takeshobo) before being collected into volumes — starting in 2012, with the first volume collected in 2013. It’s published under the Bamboo Comics label from Takeshobo (竹書房) in Japan. The manga follows Riko, a young explorer who delves into caves searching for ancient artifacts, and Reg, a mysterious robot boy, as they descend into the Abyss — a massive, layered chasm filled with relics, bizarre creatures, and a curse that makes returning to the surface increasingly devastating.
New volumes come out roughly once per year, so the count will grow over time. If you’re planning to collect the series, just know you’re getting on a train that’s still moving. That said, 14 volumes is a very manageable starting point — this isn’t a 40-volume commitment where you need to clear a whole shelf before you can even think about catching up.
Complete Made in Abyss Volume List
Below is the full list of every Made in Abyss volume with Japanese release dates. All 14 volumes are available in English from Seven Seas Entertainment.
| Volume | Japan Release | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Vol. 1 | August 2013 | Introduction to the Abyss, Riko, and Reg. The descent begins. |
| Vol. 2 | July 2014 | The journey into the second layer. The story expands its world and rules. |
| Vol. 3 | July 2015 | Deeper layers introduce new dangers and the Curse of the Abyss. |
| Vol. 4 | May 2016 | Ozen the Immovable appears. The tone starts to shift. |
| Vol. 5 | January 2017 | Nanachi’s introduction. This is where things get painful. |
| Vol. 6 | August 2017 | Continued descent and consequences of the Abyss’s curse. |
| Vol. 7 | August 2018 | The Bondrewd storyline intensifies. The series gets significantly darker. |
| Vol. 8 | June 2019 | The Bondrewd confrontation reaches its peak. |
| Vol. 9 | August 2020 | Arrival at a new layer. A strange village and its inhabitants. |
| Vol. 10 | August 2021 | The village storyline deepens with unsettling revelations. |
| Vol. 11 | August 2022 | Continued exploration of the village and its dark history. |
| Vol. 12 | August 2023 | The story pushes further into uncharted territory. |
| Vol. 13 | September 2024 | New developments in the deeper layers. |
| Vol. 14 | August 2025 | The latest volume — the journey continues. |
A few things to notice about that table. The release pace is remarkably consistent — almost every volume drops in the summer, roughly a year apart. There are a couple of slightly longer gaps (Vol. 1 to Vol. 2 was about 11 months, Vol. 8 to Vol. 9 stretched to over a year), but overall Tsukushi — the creator’s surname — has maintained a steady rhythm since 2013. For a manga with this level of detail in its art, that’s impressive.
The table above shows Japanese dates because English releases from Seven Seas typically follow several months later. If you’re buying the English editions, all 14 volumes are currently available.
If you’re starting from scratch, buying volumes 1 through 14 will get you completely caught up with everything published so far.
How Dark Does Made in Abyss Actually Get?
This is the section that might save you from a very unpleasant surprise — or, depending on your taste, get you even more excited.
Made in Abyss looks cute. The character designs are round and soft, the world is rendered in gorgeous, lush detail, and the early chapters feel like a whimsical adventure story about kids exploring a magical cave. If you flip through the first few pages, you might assume this is an all-ages fantasy series.
It is not.
Made in Abyss is one of the most harrowing dark fantasy manga in print. Dark fantasy, for the uninitiated, is a genre that blends fantastical settings and creatures with horror, dread, and often brutal consequences — and this series delivers all of that. The gap between its visual presentation and its actual content is part of what makes it so effective — and so disturbing. Here’s what to be aware of:
Body Horror and Physical Suffering
The Abyss has a curse: the deeper you go, the worse the physical toll of ascending. What starts as mild nausea in the upper layers escalates into bleeding from every orifice, loss of humanity, and worse. The manga depicts these consequences in graphic detail. Characters — including children — endure extreme physical trauma that is drawn clearly and unflinchingly.
Psychological Trauma
This isn’t just about physical pain. Characters face impossible choices, watch loved ones suffer irreversibly, and confront the reality that the Abyss doesn’t care about innocence or good intentions. The emotional weight of the series builds steadily and can be genuinely distressing.
Escalating Intensity
The first couple of volumes ease you in with wonder and discovery. By volumes 5 through 8, the series has shifted dramatically. Later volumes continue to push boundaries in ways that catch many readers off guard. If Volume 1 felt safe and charming, that feeling is by design — and it doesn’t last.
Content Rating and a Clear Warning
Made in Abyss is rated Older Teen by Seven Seas Entertainment, and that rating is doing some heavy lifting. Many readers and reviewers feel the content skews closer to mature. Regardless of the printed rating, Made in Abyss is not appropriate for young readers despite its art style and child protagonists.
If you’re buying this for someone or recommending it, make sure they know what they’re getting into. The contrast between the cute visuals and the brutal content is intentional — Tsukushi uses it to lull you into a false sense of safety before pulling the ground out from under you. It’s effective storytelling, but it’s not for everyone.
If you love dark fantasy that genuinely unsettles you, this series delivers. If that sounds like too much, there’s no shame in sitting this one out.
Is Made in Abyss Finished or Still Running?
Made in Abyss is ongoing. There has been no announcement about an ending, and the story is still progressing through the deeper layers of the Abyss. Given the roughly annual release schedule, you can reasonably expect a new volume each year, though gaps have occasionally stretched longer.
This means two things for potential readers:
- You will catch up to the story. With 14 volumes, you’ll reach the current endpoint fairly quickly if you read at a steady pace. Then you wait like the rest of us.
- The story is incomplete. If you prefer to read finished series, Made in Abyss isn’t there yet. But 14 volumes give you a substantial amount of story, and each volume is dense enough that you won’t feel shortchanged.
What About the Anime?
If you want to sample the tone and atmosphere before buying the manga, anime adaptations exist and can help you decide whether the series is for you. The first anime season covers roughly the material in the early volumes, and a sequel season and films continue the story further. Without spoiling specifics, the anime adapts a significant portion of the manga but does not cover everything — manga readers get more of the story, and the manga is currently ahead of what has been animated.
That said, the manga’s artwork is a huge part of the experience. Tsukushi’s illustrations of the Abyss are extraordinarily detailed — the environments, the creatures, the unsettling imagery — all of it comes through with a level of craft that’s worth experiencing on the page.
Where to Buy Made in Abyss Manga Volumes in English
All 14 volumes are published by Seven Seas Entertainment in standard single-volume paperback format. This is the primary English edition — as of now, there are no single-volume omnibus, deluxe, or hardcover editions for Made in Abyss — however, a Season 1 Box Set collecting volumes 1–5 is available from Seven Seas Entertainment (released November 2023).
Physical Copies
The paperback volumes are widely available through major online and physical retailers. Each volume is a compact paperback roughly 5 by 7 inches — the standard size for translated manga in English. Retail prices for individual volumes typically fall in the range you’d expect for a standard manga paperback. If you’re building a physical collection, these look great on a shelf — the artwork printed on the book spines is consistent and the cover illustrations showcase Tsukushi’s gorgeous artwork.
Volume 14, the most recent release, is available now in English.
Made in Abyss Vol. 14
Digital Editions
Digital versions are available through various manga storefronts and e-book platforms for readers who prefer reading on a screen or just don’t have shelf space. The detailed artwork translates well to tablet screens in particular — the larger the screen, the better, given how much visual information Tsukushi packs into each page. Most major e-book apps and stores carry the Seven Seas editions.
Buying Strategy
If you’re starting fresh, here’s a straightforward approach: grab Volume 1, read it, and see how you feel. The first volume establishes the world beautifully and gives you a taste of the adventure ahead. One important caveat though — Volume 1 is intentionally gentle compared to what comes later. If the cute art and lighthearted exploration appeal to you, that’s great, but check the content warning section above before committing to the full series, because the tone shifts dramatically by the mid-volumes.
If you’re hooked (and most people are), you can pick up the rest at whatever pace works for your budget. Since volumes release roughly once a year, there’s no rush. You have plenty of time to collect at your own speed without falling hopelessly behind. The series isn’t going anywhere fast, and that’s actually a nice thing when you’re trying to keep your spending reasonable.
For readers who prefer to calculate the full commitment upfront, 14 volumes at standard manga retail prices is a meaningful but not outrageous investment — comparable to many other collected manga series of similar length.
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Made in Abyss is one of those manga that sticks with people. The world Tsukushi has built is unlike anything else in the medium — beautiful and terrifying in equal measure. Fourteen volumes in, the descent is far from over, and there’s never been a better time to start the climb down.