The Promised Neverland: Yakusoku no Neverland

[neflight86]

1858

"Emma, Norman and Ray are the brightest kids at the Grace Field House orphanage. And under the care of the woman they refer to as "Mom," all the kids have enjoyed a comfortable life. Good food, clean clothes and the perfect environment to learn - what more could an orphan ask for? One day, though, Emma and Norman uncover the dark truth of the outside world they are forbidden from seeing."

The Promised Neverland

-from anidb

genre(s): suspense, horror, psychological

Yakusoku no Neverland - 01 (https://nyaa.si/view/1108482)
Yakusoku no Neverland - 01 (https://nyaa.si/view/1110677)

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My favorite of the season so far, I would recommend this as, having read the manga, the only other story that has ever done the Death Note 'mind games battle' as intricate as Death Note. That should be a pretty compelling argument to the lurkers of these forums. Let us know what you think.

[MFauli]

Yeah, easily this season's highlight. It has the same problems most anime have (reaction to death is way too subdued. Especially the black haired guy who showed no reaction at all). But aside of that, it's a genuinely scary, exciting concept.

I had wanted a 'humans as cattle' story ever since the last part of the Gantz-manga, so this pleases me greatly (does anyone know more such stories? Good ones, of course).

The monster design is truly creepy, too!

My most curious questions so far:

- what's the world outside like? Pure hell? A wasteland? Are there free humans in that world?

- are the moms real humans and if so, how came they to do their job? Lone survivors of the 'orphanage' themselves with severe Stockholm-syndrome? Or are they monsters in perfect disguise?

- actually, are monsters and humans actually coexisting and this is 'just' some fucked up compromise of the government? "you get to eat specially grown human cattle, in return you leave free humans unharmed"


Oh, and one not-so-far question: girl said they can overcome the wall with a rope no problem ... umm, how? There's nothing to affix the rope on the wall. It's tall and smooth. I wouldn't know how.

[shinta|hikari]

I'm actually surprised they didn't think of building a ladder with the rope, what with all the wood around them.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 03

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I'm so glad Emma got caught. Her naivity is no joke. Somehow she gets "perfect scores", but her athleticism wins her no points against adults here. She's just spiritual support. She fucking gave it all away to Glasses-Girl with her baby examination by speaking out loud.

Ray and Norman are much more evenly matched. Despite how they're introduced, Norman's yet to really show he's smarter than Ray. Those two really just bounce thoughts off each other, with Norman being the more optimistic/idealistic of the two (either inherently, or just because he likes Emma)

[neflight86]

Sister Krone was somehow more creepy than I remember. Her hefty, thumping run sounds certainly help.

[MFauli]

Tbh Krone's frequent creepy smile was too much. She didn't care about her cover.

Btw it's safe to assume the sisters/moms aren't human, despite their appeance. She fucking burst open a tree, wtf.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 04

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Well, I'm hoping it's not Ray, but I can't think of a reason how Norman accusing Ray of this as part of a more elaborate plan would help. He did readily take the role of breaking the tracking device despite knowing close to zero about it.

I can only assume that after speaking with Emma, he's decided to out Ray as the snitch to get him to come over.

I'm trying so hard to not read spoilers right now.

[MFauli]

Not sure how that maked sense. If Ray is the traitor, mama knows EVERYTHING. So what keeps her from acting? Or rather, knowing probably keeps her from it, because she can intervene at any given time.

Weird situation.it feels like Emma and Co. are already outed, yet mama stays passive.

[Buffalobiian]

Depends on how much Ray actually feeds Mom, assuming he's the snitch.

From that scene, he's only feeding her scant words. The whole time we're assuming that there is an established snitch, and that they're also actively informing Mom. In reality, neither of that may be true.

Mother might not know who the snitch is, if at all, and this may be Ray's first contact with her (now that he has an opportunity to frame someone else).

He might be doing it for insurance in case things go down hill, in which case he'd go "Mom, don't sell me off. I was your snitch", but if things do look well planned right before the escape, he could feed her bogus information to make the escape even more successful.

Fence sitter Ray.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 07

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I'm going to guess that "That's how it is, unfortunately. Good bye." refers to Isabella having her term end or something. They specifically mentioned ages. Girls 12+ get in on Mom jobs if they're recommended. Moms ?32+ would become Grandmothers if they too are recommended (or else, die)?

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 09


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I'm so happy they mentioned the cliff at the end. It would have been so easy for the writer to leave that bit off as a "cliffhanger", but that would have been pretty shitty.

By knowing about the cliff, we get a sense of closure about why Norman came back, but we're just as eager to see the next episode anyway since we don't know how they're going to escape (or more immediately, save Norman).

And so,


.. this Phil. 5000 bucks says he too has infantile memories.

[MFauli]

So ... someone explain to me how Norman climbed the wall using a rope from that angle 🐧🐧🐧

[Buffalobiian]

Using angular momentum he converted his horizontal kinetic energy to an upward ki-...

... I don't know.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 10

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... !!

... A wild chibi Emma has appeared!!












That ahego is amongst the cutest things ever.

You can really tell that Isabelle doesn't want to do this, if she had a choice. But she's accepted her reality and chooses this as her way of life. And apparently you have to have to give birth to become a mum. Whether that's to maximise their yield, or to produce a hostage for their future roles, who knows.

[MFauli]

Emma's grin at the end was super dumb. That's the kind of grin you can afford when you're in an absolute superior position -not when you merely have a chance at success AND failure will result in certain death.

Yes, I seriously hated that unfitting expression. But this anime generally has severe difficulties with properly presenting its characters' emotions.

[Buffalobiian]

"Determination" and "That's right, it was all a farce" is what they were going for. I saw a shot of the manga version I it probably did it better.

I wouldn't know how to draw it to be honest.

https://i.imgur.com/QrZ0Su5.png

[MFauli]

Lol, manga version is even worse. Maked her look like a mastermimd who's in total control - which she's NOT.

How to draw it better? An unsure smile with a good amount of sweat.

[neflight86]

I generally have a few problems with this adaptation... but the art is an unquestionable upgrade, in my opinion. Her evil smile is just as out of character as her moping around for two months, so I'll chalk it up to a conscious effort.

[Buffalobiian]

Having your best friend get murdered kind of breaks your character, so it's not like she has no reason for changes in expression or mentality.

[shinta|hikari]

I wish she goes full Light Yagami on us. This was technically her fault for trying to bring all those baggage children in their escape.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 12

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Isabella was basically Emma back in the day but under different circumstances and more self focus.

Her being Ray's actual mother makes this so sad. :'(


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SygiHKuW0w&feature=youtu.be

[shinta|hikari]

Season 2 announced.

https://www.facebook.com/1423488371222012/posts/2395179937386179/ (https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/1423488371222012/posts/2395179937386179/&sa=D&source=hangouts&ust=1553920598323000&usg=AFQjCNEuq2-DCsOlqpwSueMfNImWZyaYrA)

[Sapphire]

This show is *amazing*, can't wait for season 2.

[shinta|hikari]

Didn't think you were still around. Nice seeing you again!

[Sapphire]

This show is amazing enough that I had to come around and comment on it. Glad there is a thread!

I binge read all the manga right after though, so can't talk about it more here though.

[Munsu]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VjkBd2XXRs

Episode 1 of season 2 is out now.

[MFauli]

First episode of S2 was alright. Some things I found dumb (there's no way they would be fast enough to run from that giant monster. And Ray also shouldn't have been able to run away for as long considering the dog monsters ran circles around him at the end). Also: Stop trying to make us think that those 2 monsters that saved everyone are evil WHEN THEYRE IN THE ENDING! lol

Anyway, it's good to finally have some good anime to watch. I've been waiting a long time for this season.

[MFauli]

Episode 4:

Well, that was stupid. Like, they already were fucked anyway. But even disregarding the human soldiers: So Emma and Ray and everyone actually planned to GO BACK to the farm and all the other farms BEFORE they at least once reached the human side? Um, where exactly did they get that level of confidence from?!

Even this episode, they only survived the soldiers by sheer luck, when a random giant monster appeared.

Do they not understand how strong the demons are?! How valuable they themselves are for the demons?

That felt really dumb. Get your own ass in safety, ffs, and then either campaign on the human side to quit peace with the demons and rescue all humans OR plan a proper rescue mission with all the help and tools you can get.

Ofc, at this point I expect the human side to not help them at all, rather they're just another enemy, because helping the children would probably violate the treaty between mankind and demonkind and cause global war to erupt.

Phew. Not sure what to make of this. I'd like to say that maybe they can create their own kingdom that is an alliance of surviving humans and friendly demons, but as we found out when the two friendly demons saw the children off, they want to eat them, too.

They need powerful allies SOON.

[Buffalobiian]

Then the last season ended, I went ahead and read some of the manga. The art was quite good from memory, as was the pacing.

It feels bad here, and I don't know whether it's the animation, pacing or both.

I won't comment any further from here, but now that the manga's finished I think I'll go read that.

[MFauli]

episode 5:

nobody else watching this other than buff and me? weird.

anyway, I like most of the episode, but REALLY HATED Emma's and Ray's superhuman parcour abilities. WTF. I know you'll explain it away with "6 months have passed and they trained a lot so yadayada", but no. No amount of training should give them that speed, stamina and jumping prowess. It felt like a total copout that they'd even dare trying to outrun the demons. I would have prefered that they shoot them with their bows and then run uff.

Also, their old friend making a sudden return in exactly the perfect moment ... let's just say it felt very constructed.

[MFauli]

Episode 10:

I must say this anime kinda lost me. I'll still watch it, but it just ruined any real tension at this point. Sure, there will be more dangers, and maybe someone will day at some point, but ... there's too much rushed stuff going on that you're expected to accept just so.

- New children with superhuman powers
- Norman being literal Mr Fantastic and knowing about drugs, medication and shit
- Entering the demon village just so. Even with the drug taking effect, it should have been super dangerous
- Emma's delusions. Seriously, she's annoying. This is a cruel, gruesome world, but she risks both her and everyone else's lives to save poor, poor demons. Fuck them, the risk is way too high. It's okay to have such an idealistic character in a story. It's not okay that everyone agrees with her and that she gets her way. An example of how to handle such a character well is "Now and Then, Here and There".
- traversing the forest when there's huge deadly monsters around. It just is presented as way too careless.
- the sheer fact THAT both the lab with a drug that unhinges demons exists AND Mujika who can use her blood to peace up demons. That's just SO convenient. What would the even do without these two plot devices? Their plan was to flee the farm and reach a safe haven. That should have been enough of a difficult goal to achieve.

I don't know. It's always said when an initially promising, good anime turns out to be ... just average. Not bad, but average.

[Buffalobiian]

I stopped at episode 04 or somethere, where they met up with Norman. I read some of the manga after Season 1 when it first aired, and it just felt better. I haven't watched an episode since 04 or something so I don't know what's happened till now.

[MFauli]

episode 11:

wtf
How rushed is this?!
Feels like the studio just wanted to get it over with :/
Way too fast pacing, nothing makes sense anymore, way to many lucky coincidences. This might be one of the worst second (and final, I guess) seasons of an anime I've ever seen. Huge bummer, because season 1 was great for the most part.

[MFauli]

Final episode:

I havent read the manga, so I must ask: The freeing of the other children in the demon world, was that done in such a collage-esque way in the manga, too, or did the story continue for many more volumes and show all those adventures in full detail like the former part of the story?

Either way, I'm missing a feeling of satisfaction if I'm honest. Everything went down too smoothly at the end, despite the situation being sooo grueling in the beginning. It's like when youre playing a difficult jrpg like Shin Megami Tensei 4; the beginning is super hard. But then you reach a certain point and the game gets a lot easier. That's how this anime went.

Still, overall enjoyable.

[seanos]

Whole second season really disappointed me, it started out ...ok, but went downhill pretty fast.
It seemed to skip whole sections from the manga as it went on, they rushed through it all.
I really can’t understand why though. The manga was incredibly popular I believe and I thought the anime was so too; I’m surprised they didn’t try and milk it for 1-2 more seasons, they could have with ease.

I read the manga after S1 finished, was enjoyable + pacing was far better.
Last episode or two really threw me - what the hell was with wrapping it up so fast? I had flash backs to last season or two of GoT.