For quite a time i've been looking for a good psychological manga that really focuses on the mind of the characters without some edgy or forced elements, and Shounen no Abyss was able to actually cheer me up, since i'm a fan of the genre.

Its dramas are formidable, the setting has a great weight and it is properly placed in his protagonist who is heading on a foggy path in this manga. The characters are well thought out and all help well in the plot. It is worth mentioning that the cast is filled with characters with serious motivated psychological problems, everyone constantly lives in a melancholy and has ties intertwined in some way. This, together with all the ambience of a depressive city, is like a weight on the protagonist's back that is gradually deteriorating.

The chapters are held by interesting cliffhangers and have several shocking moments of great psychological weight, revealing the greatest traumas and hidden feelings inside. The cast revolves around Reiji, the protagonist who from the beginning has his doubts about the future and what he will do with his life, not to mention his destroyed family. There's Chako, Reiji's best friend who will sink from her passions for a book writer and discover the real personality of her idol. Gen, the childhood friend who constantly imposes weight on the Reiji's back via humiliation and charge. Shiba, the teacher who suffers a spetacular personality plot twist. Nagi, the idol that provides the beginning of this cycle of mental destruction of the protagonist. And last, but definitely not least, Nozoe, the book writer, a very interesting character who has loopholes and secrets to be revealed, but occupies a very interesting role that directly and indirectly influences many of the characters in the plot. The manga progresses well, although slow, it remains interesting constantly.

The art is pretty good, has good character designs and expresses well the emotions it wants to bring. Particularly, the manga makes a sensational use of its quadrinization by placing double frames of mental breakdowns of the characters exploring their psychological well, with lots of outbrusts that are disturbing at best. This is a good point too, the psychological has a great weight in the work, and its raw narrative at all times conveys the work environment well.

For now it's a pretty good manga for a genre that is not quite and properly explored, with a rich and well used cast of characters, good art and quadrinization, and a solid story so far.