Glyphs

"Nanachi"

- to Mitty

About
Runes are the informal name given to the collective glyphs encountered in the world of Made in Abyss. Throughout the series, various glyphs have been referred to as Nether Glyphs, Pictographs, Beyond Glyphs, or Distant Characters.

Nether Glyphs
Nether Glyphs used by the people from the city of Orth occasionally appear in the series and directly match the Japanese syllabic kana alphabets.

The easiest way to decode them is reading the anime opening and end credits, where the names of the staff are laid over the corresponding Orth runes. Since each symbol is a match for a kana sign, they can be decoded with a moderate knowledge of Japanese. As a result, people decoded them independently; the result could be found on the Internet. Manga readers faced the problem earlier and thus found the solution first. There are some differences in style but overall it is possible to read both manga and anime texts. Written text is mostly used for illustrative purposes to create a mysterious look, but does not bring any significant new information. In the table above, the translation from Orth runes to katakana is presented, and below there are some examples of translated text.

All runes are strictly linked to the Japanese language.

Examples from the Anime
The first appearance of runes in the anime: Episode 1 (9m 44s); book cover



Letter of Lyza to Riko. It translates to "Waiting at the bottom"

One of the largest texts are Riko's notes on Reg:

1. Kaminoke: Hair 2. Moemasen: doesn't burn Katai hada: hard skin 3. Kohi chotto gakai: Like coffee (skin) 4. Teheso: belly button Chinchin: childish term for penis 5. Chotto kawatta beruto: Strange belt 6. Herumetto: Helmet kawaii: cute or tiny (in relation to chinchin in 4.) 7. Saiten: Markings 8. Nande chinchin ga tsuiterun tarou: Why is there a penis attached? (why does he have a penis?) 9. Teshi tsuna suru: End of notes

Signature of Nanachi (ep.11 12m 07s) :

In the anime series, titles of books are copied and there are only few original titles. One text is copied from a poster in episode 1 and used later in episodes 7 and 13. Ibetsukaishi: Another beginning



Page of the book ep.13 9m 05s. ka e ra zu no mi ya ko na so "Capital of the Unreturned"



Cover of the same book (ep.13 5m 04s). Larger letters: "Exploration notes of the Abyss" An example of handwriting from the third movie (5m 35s)

Mitty's passing is confirmed by the indicating lamp which turns off. The lamps indicating life signals appear in the manga, anime, and in the second movie when Bondrewd notices Mitty's lamp has gone out. When transcript with English equivalent letters most of these names are: Isuke, Iroso, Pueru, Temuu, Hinika, Sumiko, Toran, Jitowa, Temu, Petora, Maruka, Kinshii, Kebihi, Shiyaroko, Susumu, Toimu, Shipube, Emupo, Iroso, Iitan. Some of these names are repeated multiple times.

A papier-mâché red whistle gifted to one of the Failed Umbra Hands. Inscription translates to "Thanks for everything you do – From Prushka"

Examples from the Manga
Nanachi 's drawing for the letter to the surface. Labelling the characters; Reg, Riko & Meinya , Nanachi and Prushka (pointing to the whistle).



One of the notes given to Riko by Moogie and Majikaja that was bought from Gaume describing a creature named 'Uranaguapu' by Lyza. 



Beyond Glyphs
Pictographs are glyphs in drawing form with more than one meaning. Glyphs are based on them and according to the interaction between Menae and Sherumi, the characters are seemingly unlimited in number and new kinds are still being found. They are considered separated from the Nether Glyphs used in Orth and are called Beyond Glyphs. Pictographs in Distant Characters 1. <p style="text-align: center;">Beyond Glyphs in Distant Characters 2. <p style="text-align: center;">Beyond Glyphs on Irumyuui's back. <p style="text-align: center;">Beyond Glyphs taught to Faputa by Gaburoon. <p style="text-align: center;">Beyond Glyphs shown by Elder Tribesman in the anime.