Surrounded by a forest and a gated entrance, the Grace Field House is inhabited by orphans happily living together as one big family, looked after by their "Mama," Isabella. Although they are required to take tests daily, the children are free to spend their time as they see fit, usually playing outside, as long as they do not venture too far from the orphanage—a rule they are expected to follow no matter what. However, all good times must come to an end, as every few months, a child is adopted and sent to live with their new family, never to be heard from again.
However, the three oldest siblings have their suspicions about what is actually happening at the orphanage, and they are about to discover the cruel fate that awaits the children living at Grace Field, including the twisted nature of their beloved Mama.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
Zaber_san
(Spoiler warning of episode 1) Thriller, horror, psychological and mystery. These 4 along with some genres I guess makes excellent shows not only in the anime industry but also in other platforms. This is because of there uniqueness. There outtake of the story is unique with uncommon sceneries, settings, characters, plot and conflict. This Winter 2019 anime season, we were introduced into the world of "The Promised Neverland". A world where if you are a healthy young blood, you will never like this world. You will never hope that you will be a main character of some parallel world or something. With kids being the maincharacters of the story, you thought this will be your typical "slice of life" drama or comedy things that you enjoy. But it turns out, not every show that have little children as the main character can always be light hearted. It can also become your worst nightmare.
Story:
The story of "The Promised Neverland" starts off with little kids in the Grace Field House, which is an orphanage. The three eldest of the family of children are Ray, Norman and Emma. The three of them are seen as talented, skillful, agile and intelligent base on what we see on the episode. From Hide and Seek to playing Tag, this two excels on physicality. They are seen as big brothers (Ray and Norman) and big sister (Emma) to other kids. Of course, these three will not take care of the children all by themselves right? The main caretaker is their "Mom" in the orphanage. She is your typical mother-like figure who loves her children so much and admire them. Everyone seems happy. Everyone is having fun. "Mom" loves her job. Children love her back. Ray, Emma and Norman are having a normal life until a departure of a friend came to play. A girl named "Connie" was about to depart or leave the orphanage because so-called "parents" are now going to take care of her. It was a joyous moment. Everyone was happy for her to leave and finally have a family. Then of course she left something behind and Emma and Norman proceeds to give it to her back to the gate. The night was really dark and a tragedy will happen. What Emma and Norman saw was not a family reunion. It was a murder, done by supernatural beings a.k.a "demons" from the "outer" world. Turns out that Emma, Ray, Norman and every single living child in the orphanage are "livestocks", caged in an orphanage surrounded with walls and vegetation. This drastic change of tone and mood of the atmosphere was overwhelmingly good. Plot twist on every episode synchronizing the characters' goals whether to escape or not. The Promised Neverland story is really unique among any other winter 2019 anime this season. It provides us a fresh idea of escaping one's position whether it is physically or mentally. It also delivers well with the plot twist making us audience grasp for more until the next episode and the plot twists are not just there to make us say "Wow okay". It is there because it connects to the story of the anime. It is there to not only surprise us viewers but also provide us the ongoing intake and pattern of the story without affecting the overall goal of it. In the end, The Promised Neverland is a type of anime where you must get involve to with its unique capability of placing plot twists on each scenes and an intensifying story. With each season having different types of genre but less/few mystery and thriller, The Promised Neverland is a great anime to start-off the year and it is a masterpiece.
Characters:
In the first episode of the anime, the joyful atmosphere made the personality of the three characters especially Norman and Emma. Norman is the master strategist and the one who admires Emma. Emma which is the girl who never backs down no matter what and have more physical capabilities than Norman and Ray. Ray, on the other hand have that gloomy tone (edgy one which makes sense because his hair looks like Sasuke) but he is also a master strategist like Norman. All of them looks normally fine and happy tho in the first few minutes of the episodes. As the plot twist came along, character development and their change started to appear. They became more fierce, deceiving and strong. Not to mention, Gilda and (character) as well. These kids were the highlight of the show and it was enjoyable and thrilling to watch them get over with the trials Mama and Sister Conney (who is a vital character that presented the possibility of children coming from the orphanage/House). All of these characters contributed to one of the best anime this season to come out ever.
Art:
After I watched some few episodes of the anime, I can't help not to read the manga as manga readers kept on telling how good the manga is. Comparing the art of the anime and manga, they are the same on my perspective. The anime captured the thrill, chilly atmosphere and the characters expression to every situation that they fall within. The shock factor of the characters, the cries, the demons, everything was intense with the art at played and it synchronizes with the music as well. Overall the art was good for the shock factor. It is not your best art but it fits the theme. Of course I have to mention the backgrounds of the OP and ED as they both define implicitly how dark or thrilling Promised Neverland is and they did it well.
Sound:
Ohhh boyyy the opening is really a hit on my ears. The OP's song and transition with the background art depicting how events can turn unfold without explicitly showing it is just excellent on the sound. The excitement, the rush to the chorus, the saxophone on the starting of the OP, it is all perfect. I have to worth mentioning the ED as well because it is a good one (but the OP is better). Aside from the songs, the background music whenever I chilling moment comes really goes through my spine and felt the chills. It captures well to the scene and makes the scene more thrilling. Overall, sound is perfectly played on this anime.
Overall thoughts and Enjoyment:
The Promised Neverland are one of the anime I am so engaged to watch on. It is mostly because of its engaging story. It captivates you to watch it more with its shock factor and plot twists on every scene. It makes me or you question "What is going to happen next?!" and once you get to know it, disappointment is not really there. Instead you will be fascinated how the author played out the scenes all correlating to the main conflict of the story. Hence, The Promised Neverland is a must-see show for those who wants to watch a thrilling anime that has no cliche or whatsoever. It is a fresh intake from the anime this Winter 2019 season and it is really really really enjoyable to watch.
HaXXspetten
I will admit that I'm generally not a very big fan of shounens, but Yakusoku no Neverland is in my opinion without a doubt the best thing to have ever spawned from Weekly Shounen Jump. Then again it needs to be said that it is not very similar to most other things from the same magazine. It's been literally years since I felt the need to give out any 10s to an anime TV-series, but in the case of Neverland I knew from the start that as long as they don't mess it up, it would be worthy of it for sure. The first arc ofthe manga was simply brilliant after all, and the anime which covers it is not too different.
Horror is a genre which generally does not work very well in anime for the simple reason that it's very difficult to make cartoons straight-up scary. However, they can still be creepy and eerie, and that's one of the areas in which Neverland excels. It has one of those truly great opening episodes that immediately hook you, starting off showcasing the wonderful and cheerful orphanage of Grace Field filled with children who spend their youths in complete happiness... until the rather shocking truth of the whole situation is revealed at the end of the first episode and at that point it's almost impossible to not be immediately captivated by what the story has to offer. I won't reveal anything about what that truth actually is though, and I would highly recommend you try to avoid getting spoiled by it before watching if it is somehow possible.
At its heart, Neverland is mainly a mystery and a thriller though, as our main characters Emma, Norman and Ray try to investigate the secrets of the mansion which they live in and start to plot an elaborate plan to escape it along with the other kids that live there, all without attracting attention from the eyes of the ones opposing them. The direction is quite simply superb, both in terms of making the viewers feel engaged in the main characters' situation and to be wanting to cheer for them, but also in terms of slowly unwrapping the mystery in a way which is not too quick, eventually resulting in an incredibly satisfying finale. The main characters are all quite intelligent but in very different ways, with Emma being the cheerful and strong-willed one whereas Norman and Ray are more scheming and unpredictable, but for totally different motivations.
The production value is also excellent. The art and animation across the board is always on point, the opening theme is pretty kickass and the voice acting does an adequate job of breathing life into the characters. I think in particular Morohoshi Sumire's performance as Emma is quite commendable in that aspect.
Overall I think Neverland is a fantastic anime in terms of story, direction and the ability to immediately get you hooked an invested into the show. As a result it's a show I would highly recommend to anyone that enjoys well thought-out thrillers and mysteries.
To add to that, we've now also gotten confirmation that a second season is in the works for 2020 so the joyride isn't stopping anytime soon. However, I should at least mention as a manga reader that the quality of the story does in fact drop a decent amount after the first arc and it takes a considerable amount of time before it recovers to a similar level as it had in the beginning. Thus I would not expect the second season to be as good as the first one, but still definitely worth watching at least. Or if you've been hooked enough on the story by now to be unwilling to wait that long, well then the manga always lies around the corner if you want to give it a shot.
Snapshot426
*SPOILER WARNING. I WILL BE SPOILING THE FIRST EPISODE OF THIS SHOW. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU GO IN BLIND TO GET THE FULL EFFECT OF THIS SHOW IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED IT ALREADY* Well this was unexpected. A horror anime getting a lot of attention and praise by viewing public? This is truly a rare sight indeed. But seriously, the hype for this series before airing and its first couple of episodes was reaching really high levels and talked about a lot by the anime community. But the question is, how does this anime hold up with the horror greats of anime, can itstand in the upper echelon of horror anime like Monster, Parasyte and Higurashi? Or is this series a victim of its own hype?
Well I'm about to tell you. Sit back, relax and...hold on. Wait, what's going on outside. Oh god. OH GOD! MRS TWEETY! THE CHILDREN ARE REVOLTING! Quickly, got to finish this sentence up. I present to you the anime review for The Promised Neverland. Lets Begin shall we?
Story: 9/10
Ok. Now that's settled, lets begin with the story.
Welcome to Grace Field House. An orphanage run by the lovely caretaker of the house Isabella, aka "Mama." The children of the house enjoy there time here. They are well fed, educated well and have fun free time playing tag. They can have this luxury by obeying two simple rules. Not to go over the fence and not to go past the gate in front of the house. Of course, the children will get adopted and will have to say goodbye to their friends. Three of the children, Emma, Norman and Ray are the brightest and eldest of the children, and they, along with the others, enjoy their time at the orphanage. However on one day. One of the children, Connie, is adopted but has forgotten her beloved rabbit teddy. So Emma and Norman decide to give it to her before she leaves. They go past the gate to deliver the bunny, only to realise that Connie is dead and in fact the children of the orphanage are livestock to Daemons and Mama is involved with it. Knowing this truth, Emma, Norman and Ray must plan to escape the orphanage with everyone before they are all lambs to the slaughter.
What makes this show scary is the fact that we have an innate motive to make sure children are safe, for they do not know the dangers of the real world. So when the children find out the truth, you fear for them. You fear for their lives for they are innocent and didn't deserve this fate. You want to see them safe and you constantly hold your breath to see if they are okay. You want them to live. By showing us their fate, you know the dangers that they are in. The show however, does leave mysteries for us to think about and find out later on; giving us something to look forward to and something to fear as we uncover the truth as to why these events are happening and why security is almost non-existent. While not every question is answered, some of them are answered and we are left to theorise about the others.
Now this show really does like to build things up, build to this great escape plan to get everyone out of the orphanage and it does build things very well. The suspense in this show is enough to drive anyone mad with the eagerness to find out what happens next. That is mainly because the pacing and knowing what and when to reveal things is very well executed in order to keep you on your toes. Knowing when it is a right time to scare you, make you feel uncomfortable and uneasy and knowing when to give you relief. It toys with your emotions to keep you on edge. But if it keeps building up, then it needs a payoff, otherwise what is the point? While it does cut it a bit close, it does pay off in the final episodes of this season.
Characters: 9.5/10
The trio of Emma, Norman and Ray make up our main characters. They all compliment each other in some way with their personalities being different and flawed. Emma has a lively personality and is very thoughtful of others, but she is also the most naive out of the three and doesn't know when to stop. Norman is the level headed one, as well as being very calm and collective, but has a soft spot for Emma so he normally agrees for what she does. Ray is the rational and critical one of the group, but is not willing to take too many risks that could very well danger his friends. So these three compliment each other well as they cover their flaws and when they put their minds together, they can do great things. Yet while they do have the mindset and intelligence of an adult due to their education, they are still children. While they are smart, they are still naive to the dangers of the outside world and the setbacks that could be in place when their plans don't work they way they intended. Giving us some realisation of the age of our characters and that they still have some things to learn. The rest of the children are just faces with names with the exception of some but they act as a nice reminder of what Emma, Norman and Ray are fighting for. To make sure to change these sweet, innocent children's' fate and give them a better future.
Their main obstacle of course is the deceptive, cunning and well prepared caretaker of the house, Isabella. And MY WORD she is terrifying. More terrifying than the daemons. What makes her terrifying though is her intelligence. She always seems to be prepared as to what the main characters are going to do next. She is able to easily predict their moves and get constant information on their actions, almost as like she has dealt with this sort of thing before. She never really worries and manages to keep a calm demeanour. It is the fact she never worries about the kids escaping leaves the viewer questions and adds to the mystery of where they are. We question why she is calm, why is she not doing anything, why is she not quelling the escape plan immediately. To give them false hope maybe? Or does she already know they have no chance of escaping. She won't simply ship them out to quell the problem, she would rather try to break their spirits to keep them in place. She would even add a wild card into the mix in the form of Sister Krone, a loud, loving, but bats**t crazy assistant to Isabella; yet is she in a alliance with Isabella? Again, she is a wild card into the mix to give the children another ally or another enemy?
Animation: 10/10
Cloverworks takes the reign for the animation in this series. A roughly 1 year old studio that has done the animation for shows like Bunny Girl Senpai and the anime adaptation of Persona 5. So I din't really know what to expect. Well I'm glad to say that the animation for The Promised Neverland is damn good. What makes it good though, are two main things. The first main thing is the character motions are fluid. There is a lack of really noticeable frame by frame motion as they move naturally when they run or when they are in fear. The fluidity is very good.
The other main point are the facial expressions. They are really expressive in this series, especially when the children are scared as their shrunk pupils, their tensed up faces and subtle movements make them generally scared of the situation. But other faces like Isabella's many calm and scheming faces or Krone's many terrifying expressions that would make even the faces in Higurashi wince a little. It adds to the horror because its visually scary. You are getting scared or unnerved by something simple yet unnerving at the same time.
Sound: 9.5/10
The soundtrack is not prominent in this series. Often times, it is just silence as we just hear the characters voices and their footsteps on either grass or wooden floorboards. Often times for the better as we just need to hear these sounds to make us feel tense as we know someone or something is coming. The ost only plays when it needs to be played to amplify a scene and when it does, oh boy does it amplify a scene. The soundtrack can be really menacing at times as it likes to escalate the fear factor of the scene to make you quiver in fear. It is definitely a great addition to a scene and the fact they are used only sparingly makes it much better.
Then there is the opening. Without a doubt the best opening of this season. Don't argue me on this, it is very clear that "Touch Off" by UVERworld is the best opening this season. The lyrics, the animation and the pace of the opening are brilliant. But what seals it is the symbolism in this opening. The use of puzzle pieces to symbolise the pieces of the plan, as well as the red string burning to ash to symbolise that they will not be tied to the strings of fate and will run to break out of their fate. It is used so well and matches the pace of the song. Speaking of the song, it is weird that the simple sounds of "Nanananananananana" would be so catchy. Well when used correctly it can be. So in summary, song great, animation great, pace great, symbolism great. Simply put, it's a fantastic opening.
The ending sequences are pretty standard IMO. It uses symbolism and imagery as well to set a tone. And the songs used in these endings are also great. It helps cap off a great OST that this series provides. I didn't skip them as I enjoyed them, but they didn't wow me.
Conclusion:
So the question I asked earlier was that does the Promised Neverland stand in the upper echelon of other horror anime? Well if it wasn't obvious by now, it does. The Promised Neverland is a fantastic anime with a gripping plot, likeable characters, a terrifying villain, great animation, a cleverly used OST and the best opening this season. I'm glad The Promised Neverland turned out as good as it did. Horror anime is something difficult to get right. Even last year, only one horror anime managed to get horror right IMO and that was Happy Sugar Life. Yet The Promised Neverland gets it right immediately. The horror in this series is unnerving, suspenseful, tense and terrifying while also incorporating Shonun elements to improve the tension of a scene. It knows it can't be scary all of the time, but knows it has to build to it and to not use it frequently so it doesn't lose its impact.
I looked forward to every Thursday night waiting for the next episode to become available, which means its doing something right. It is without a doubt one of the best horror anime I've watched. A defining anime in a very good Winter Season of anime. And just maybe, it will still be considered by the end of the year to be one of the best anime of 2019. So yeah, just go watch it if you haven't. And the fact we still have more to come leaves me really excited to see what happens next.
My Personal Enjoyment: 10/10
Overall score: 9.6/10 Recommendation: Go f***ing watch it
Karhu
Yakusoku no Neverland is the biggest disappointment of the year so far. Not so much because it was so exceptionally bad, but because it had potential to be outstandingly great. What looked like a prime example of well-build thriller and highly atmospheric mystery end up being just a bunch of empty promises. Perhaps the English title, 'Promised Neverland' is actually a self-parody since following the series was an experience far from magical. At least one thing the series foreshows, I guess. The first 4 episodes are all passable, of highly respectable quality to be exact. I was impressed by how it managed to gasp myattention with audiovisual story-telling and directing that was nothing less than immersive. Originally, I wrote a preliminary review with an 8/10 rating just to show how much I liked the series at that point. Then the actual story started rolling onward and the downhill was quite radical. Essentially, everything in the series exists just to delay anything from happening since apparently, there is no substance to offer here outside the superficial plot points, false-tension, beyond obvious cliffhangers, and mind-numbing twists which look like the outcome of plot bingo.
Double agents, triple agents and mind games so psychologically inaccurate they aren't even laughable but facepalm-worthy. By episode 6, I was left stunned by how practically every bit of potential that there was had been destroyed by giving priority to some sort of pseudo-complex tactics instead of relying on the simple settings that already had enough room to work as a linear story. Don't get me wrong tho. I love depth and complexity, but I also strongly dislike them when done lousily/half-assedly. These need several different things from build up and planning to slow pace and development for them to work. There is nothing that even remotely is making the "depth" seen in Yakusoku no Neverland seem probable or believable, often being the opposite of awe. There simply isn't much work put behind it. To put it simply: "Show don't tell" is one of the best philosophies to live by, but Yakuskoku no Neverland is all tell and very little show. Details are not valued but instead the entire thing is just rushed thru in a manner so lame that the reveals don't even look like proper twits but empty, content-lacking ideas.
Good example of how terrible the story events become is a scene that starts at the end of episode 5 and continues all the way thru the first half of 6th. **The next paragraph describes and spoils these events**
SPOILERS:
Secret door exists behind a bookshelf. Getting into that room where the shelf is is dangerous because the kids are not supposed to be there. Two characters go there anyway and one of them starts raging at shit (loudly, duh) for not knowing how to open the bookshelf door, followed by another character quite literally saying "use your eyes" and discovering how to solve this 'puzzle' mere 3 seconds later, followed by the door to the room-where-no-one-should-be starting to open slowly. >>cliffhanger, and wait 1 week to see what happens. *me yawwning for one week* Oh, look, it is false alarm, just another kid playing hide'n seek opening the door. Literally who could have guessed. Well, too bad there is actually a locked door behind the bookshelf puzzle, but this gets also solved in 3 seconds when black kid becomes a masterthief, bumps into mother and now we have the key and can open the door.... I was struggling here not to drown in my own drool. The events -- not just this single example -- are braindamagingly horribly written and executed and I have no idea how people manage to tolerate such levels of bullshit without getting annoyed by them.
[/Spoilers End.]
The writer practically never challenges himself. Whenever our characters and story are cornered, he seeks the easiest way out.
After the promising start, even the character behavior starts to more like resemble 'actions and dialogue that are masked as devices' in the narrative. Emma taking Ray's hand for a split second just to create yandere-like psychological outburst that feels completely random and out of place, giving me Mirai Nikki vibes rather than even mildly resembling her genuine behavior. Ray "The Fetus Memory Man's" character seemed more and more like a puppet the further the series advanced, him practically becoming a walking keikaku doori. Sister's existence is filler at best. I would call Emma's zero fucks given attitude there "character development" since she was such a naive moral soldier in the beginning, but I am sure she was just getting as tired of watching these "twists" as I was. Originally, I compared Yakosoku no Neverland's atmosphere to something which is commonly only achievable in video games, but at the end, if this was a game, the only thing there is left are the immersion-ruining, heavily scripted events that are the epitome of disbelief, and casting that behaves like npc's.
Perhaps I am being too kind praising the beginning. Even episode 1 already had a lousy cop-out in it when our main characters literally teleported from under a car to the middle of a field. And btw, this isn't even the only time when the question "How on earth did you manage to get from point a to point b?" Could be answered with "Oh, that. Yeah, I teleported." Given, I should have lowered my expectations already then, but I completely forgave it since it seemed like a mild flaw when the series otherwise was doing such convincing job, but as it is, I am very much non-happy now. It's likely that I wouldn't have become so disappointed with the series if I had been able to change my mindset for ironic -- or even more casual -- viewing after the beginning, but it was hard for I genuinely thought this was going to be a serious and intelligently constructed anime which I could like for serious reasons, but instead, the strongest sides there were, were pushed in the backgrounds, overtaken by the overwhelming amount of lame that the series' writing had to offer. I will be still waiting for that one "cute but edgy" show which doesn't make me feel like I am 20 years too old to watch.
Gamer651
Yakusoku no Neverland is a great anime. Despite of it's short comings and endless possibilities of being better it's still a great piece of work I say is better than most of its counterparts. Story: 10/10 From start to finish the story has been continuous and straightforward. The story was slightly complex and simplistic at the same time. I found it to be fine, as the story blends well with the characters and the setting. I found the focus of the plot to be quite interesting, unique, and well built. I found it as well hard to predict as it is surrounded with alot of questions and mystery. The individual elements of the story is done very well , I found it to be better watched in one sitting as it is an anime that connects continuously episode by episode. The ending of the anime I argue is really well done and the best of it's kind. Dramatic , tense and thrilling. Really kept me at the edge of my seat. If I was alone I probably would have shed a few tears. I felt a lot of emotions when I was watching the last episode. And that means a lot when I watch an anime that makes me feel something.
Art: 8/10
The art fits well with the narrative , atmosphere and setting of the show. The art is well defined and animation wise it's smooth and consistent. The character designs I found to be well done and I liked it very much with it's cutesy mature type of art style I found very similar to a show like Made in Abyss which I very much like as well. The character designs fit's perfectly with their personalities.
Sound: 8/10
The voice actors played their role really well and fits the characters. The background fits with the tone and atmosphere of the anime. I especially liked the opening song of the anime during the start of the song where it's shown in a first perspective view of venturing into darkness which really sets out the mood. The ending song is equally good as well. Both opening and ending songs were well done and quite notable.
Characters: 9/10
The characters in this anime are a strong part of how much I enjoyed this show. Most of them are really smart and smarter for their own age but it doesn't really bother me, more so I think it's a really good choice, it makes me root for them even more. The characters are versed from rational to emotional and they play it out really well. The background of the caretaker's is well done and it made me understand where they are coming from.
Enjoyment: 10/10
Some critics seemed to have not much enjoyed this show because of it's lack of depth and characterization , forced pacing , an okay art and etc. of all reasons the anime is not brought to it's full potential. And I understand that. But despite of all that, I enjoyed it very much. I was gripped , surprised, excited , thrilled and hopeful. This anime is perfect for non-manga readers. Though I probably won't be re-watching this any time soon. I'd say it only works once when you don't know what's happening. But that doesn't mean you won't enjoy it when you re-watch it. As much as I have said is contradictory and bias it is true. Most manga readers are probably disappointed since they expected something much more than this. But for normal anime fans and non-anime fans would probably be fine with it. It's fine to expect something great but it's also fine to appreciate it for what it is.
With it's endless possibilities to become better, even if it doesn't, I anticipate for the sequel.
HellLyter
Horror is a genre that I rarely see effectively executed in anime. In fact, the genre itself seems to be pretty scarce in the anime medium. The first episode of The Promised Neverland perfectly encapsulates how to properly utilize horror. The atmosphere is great. We’re presented with a seemingly happy orphanage life being lived out by the characters, all children, and their “mama.” Yet as the viewer, it becomes apparent that everything's not quite what it seems, and there’s just this sort of unnerving tension in the air. The presentation is also top notch. Visuals and music are handled expertly and are very complementary tothe buildup and eventual revelation of the truth behind the Grace Field House, the farm that the characters live on. Yet despite the technical brilliance of the first episode, it concludes with the secrets of the children's home and their mama, named Isabella, being completely revealed. So where does the anime go from here?
That’s where the genius of the writing kicks in. The anime seamlessly transitions into more of a psychological battle of wits between Isabella and Norman, Emma, and Ray, the three primary protagonists. For after discovering the truth behind their lives, these three make a pact to escape from their home and cruel fate. The anime proceeds to focus on the brilliance of these three prodigies and how they attempt to outwit Isabella and escape with not just their lives, but the lives of their younger siblings, all under ten, as well. But Isabella isn’t just your run of the mill caretaker, and she actively attempts to foil the children’s plans and make them fall into despair. The escape plan itself is expertly crafted, and just seeing all of hard work the characters put into freeing themselves without getting caught is just a joy to watch. Deception and mind games are a commonality in each episode. And despite this transition in genres, the horror aspects of this show aren’t just completely discarded, because there’s always a sort of looming dread in the air, especially when the heroes are faced with the fear of being discovered by their mama. Oh, and Sister Krone’s entire character is simply horror inducing, so there’s that too. While Neverland isn’t pure horror, it’s just executed in such a way that makes it so convincing. The blend of genres works great, and they intertwine in such a way that allows for the narrative to be quite compelling.
And I really dig that.
I’ve always had a thing for intelligent characters, so I ended up liking all three of the child prodigy protagonists. I found it pretty interesting that the main characters were children, and the anime did a great job of incorporating behaviors and actions typically found in children to make them more believable instead of just having kids doing what adults would and could easily do in their place just for the sake of having a unique cast. They run around playing games like hide and go seek tag with the other children, ask for gifts from Mama as rewards for being good, and more. What makes these actions special is the fact that the anime actually incorporates them into the kids’ escape plan, which is the primary plot point, thus giving them value beyond simply bringing the characters to life.
On to the characters themselves. Norman is probably the most intelligent person in the show. He’s the sort of mastermind character who everyone else thinks they’ve outsmarted at some point only for him to be like “all according to keikaku” and explain how he outsmarted their outsmarting. He also has a crush on Emma and will do anything to save his family, even sacrifice himself if he has to. Let me remind you that this dude is 11 years old. What a badass. My only problem with Norman aside from his bizarrely animated profile is that he is pretty plain in the personality department. He’s still a chill dude nonetheless.
Emma is the lone girl in the triad of protagonists, and she’s a seemingly typical energetic/sporty girl. However, unlike most anime characters who fall under this archetype, Emma is no baka. She’s quite observant and intelligent, not to mention a great actor, and is a vital part of the plot. That’s right, this girl doesn’t just stand around and cheer on her friends. She’s heavily involved in planning and executing the escape, which increases the value and likability of her character. Her absolute moral righteousness could, however, potentially be a turn off for some people. While I appreciate her desire to save all of her beloved siblings, she can come off as quite stubborn with her complete denial at even the mention of anything morally ambiguous like leaving behind the younger kids to increase the survival odds of the rest. While this is by no means an inherently bad trait, it does take away from any potential layers that her character could of had.
Ray is voiced by Ise Mariya and has a super edgy character design, so you just know that he’s going to be a badass. This fiery boy will do anything for his two friends Emma and Norman, and would even sacrifice the other children and himself if it meant that those two could live. He’s generally level headed, but push him too far and his crazy side emerges. He even gets some distorted facial expressions during certain instances to further emphasize just how insane he can be. Though honestly, they’re sometimes a bit overstated. He’s an all around courageous character, though his courage sometimes causes him to enter the realm of recklessness.
The other children are primarily there to look cute and innocent and make viewers feel bad for them. I will say however that there seems to be more to Phil then meets the eye. I could totally see this kid being the true hero of the series…
The opening theme song, Touch Off by Uverworld, is, to put it bluntly, simply on fire! The first time I heard it in the anime, I just had to rewind and listen to it again because of how catchy it is. Maybe it’s just advanced recording and editing techniques, but the vocalist of Uverworld seems to have improved his vocal quality and control significantly from some of his earlier songs, which is also a plus. I’ve already briefly discussed how the animation and soundtrack positively contribute to the show’s atmosphere, and I’d just like to reiterate how effective they were most of the time. Unfortunately, there were a few awkward instances, such as music being played at times where it should most definitely have not been used. Also, there were some weird occurrences where the camera would just slowly pan through parts of the orphanage for long periods, and I’m not really sure what the purpose was. Maybe to show off the eerie place? Ultimately though, the production values for this anime are simply great.
This is a pretty awesome anime to be honest. Even if it sometimes gets a little ridiculous by over exaggerating the capabilities and personalities of the characters from time to time, it was still one enjoyable ride. I was captivated by each episode, even some of the duller ones, due to the anime’s excellent presentation. The Promised Neverland was definitely a success in my eyes, and I look forward to seeing where the series goes in the future!
Stark700
Let’s think for a minute on how fragile human lives is. We can die by so many different ways that it’s frightening to think about. Immortality is a far cry from a reality. In a desolate world where kids realize that their entire lives has been prepared for death, it feels like a living in a nightmare. To live in fear is also frightening to think about. Don’t believe me? Just ask Emma, Ray, and Norman. Welcome to The Promised Neverland (Yakusoku no Neverland), a series that managed to make a new breed of itself among the popular Jump manga family. Consisting of 12 episodes, it’sa show that blends elements of survival, science fiction, mystery, horror, and suspense. It’s a thriller that manages to capture the essence of life at its innocence while masking the façade of horror. The first episode spells out a deceptive first half opening when we meet a group of kids at an orphanage. Among the children, Emma, Ray, and Norman stands out the most as a trio of friends. They come from the Grace Field House, an orphanage managed by caretaker Izabella, also known by the children known as “Mom”. The innocence and lighthearted story is broken when we discover why these kids are sent away when they reach a certain age. From the first episode, the truth becomes a living nightmare when we discover that there are more than just humans living in their world. And they got an insatiable appetite for human meat.
Like most survivor thrillers, the producers aimed to make the series deceptive as possible at first. Newcomers may be surprised especially for those who has never heard of the show or seen the promotional material. Coming in as a manga reader, I knew what was to be expected and the first few episodes achieved nothing short of excellence. The ability to create an atmosphere in a world of uncertainty is accomplished through the openness and freedom of the children. Although they are monitored for tests, the children are treated with love and care. It isn’t really until the revelation hits that we realize something much more sinister going on from behind the scenes. Izabella is a symbol of a manipulator as she is the one who is pulling the strings. We realize this early on but to decipher her true agenda remains a bigger mystery. On the other hand, we have Emma, Ray, and Norman who lives a carefree life as normal children would do. Before any casualties appear on screen, everything seemed normal.
The word “promise” is a significant word and part of the series’ title. After discovering that their lives are in danger, our trio of friends make a promise to escape together and control their own destiny. Don’t be fooled because these kids are far more intelligent than you may think. Norman is a prime example with his planning and strategic thinking. Taking life with an optimistic direction, he is no doubt the most intelligent child at Grace Field House. With his deductive and analytical mind, the show makes him an invaluable friend and ally of the children. Similarly, Ray is also cunning with a clever mind for his logical thinking. His only flaw may be his outspoken personality and temper on occasions. Finally, Emma is symbolic for being a bright hope in the show. Always playful and energetic, she provides a positive attitude with fierce valor and determination. To her, promise is more a word but a commitment to succeed. She also knew exactly what they signed up for. And to escape, she is willing to put her own life on the line. While not as intelligent as her two friends, she is a quick learner and shows great potential as a survivor.
You may be asking yourself if these three main characters can carry this show. Being a 1 cour (12 episodes) adaptation, we see what they’re capable of as they play intelligent games against Isabella. Indeed, expect a lot of psychology in the show with plot development with each episode. Unlike battle shounen with power ups and fighting, The Promised Neverland takes on a more psychological approach at its execution. The story contains a great deal of mystery with its plot elements ranging from the objects our characters discover to who can or can’t be trusted. It formulates a success for a thriller as viewers will have to anticipate each episode to see what may or may not happen next. What is Izabella’s true goal? What exactly are those monsters in the show and where did they come from? Can these kids fulfill their promise and make their ultimate escape? These are just a few questions I’m sure most people have in their mind as each episode progresses. In the meantime, the anime adapts the first arc and structures it in a way to make the show flow together. Don’t expect this to be a 1:1 adaptation as characters such as Krone is introduced early on. In fact, I think what the producers were aiming for is making this into a psychological thriller. And to be honest, it’s very polished made.
A thriller like this needs a great character cast and although I mentioned some already, there are other names to remember. One of the more prominent cast member is a woman named Krone who decides to form an alliance with the children. Whether she can be trusted or not is a big question mark. This is because she knows what Emma, Ray, and Norman are planning. Now as I watched more and more of this show, it made me realize that Krone is rather similar to our trio. Her motivation is to survive although unlike them, she trusts only in herself. Indeed, this brings back the question of who or who can’t be trusted. As a psychological thriller, the anime creates a sensation as to who may be the real master at pulling the strings. The mid-season episodes reveals a “traitor” that brings in more tension to the storytelling.
Cloverworks helms this project along with its talented crew and it’s definitely a visual performance to feast eyes on. The ominousness of the first episode demonstrates that there’s a lot more than meets the eye. The visual production enhances the experience with the quiet world setting. Meanwhile, character expressions communicate their feelings such as fear or happiness. Character designs for the children displays a variety of characteristics with the most common ones being innocence and youth. Outside of the main protagonist group, the younger kids are portrayed with playful energy and charm such as Connie. However, the most notorious impression this show made is the monsters’ appearances. With their grotesque and repulsive look, there’s no doubt the monsters are the ultimate obstacle the children must deal with. It is their very existence that threatens the fragile lives of the characters.
For an anime with just 12 episodes, The Promised Neverland lives up to its promise of bringing in a unique manga translated into animated form. Accompanied by its unique storytelling, meaningful character cast, and colorfully decorated themes songs, it’s a show that will get viewers’ attention from the very first episode. While this season is no doubt more of a thriller for teasing more content to come, it’s a start of a survival journey. With everything said and done, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that The Promised Neverland is in good hands.
SingleH
The answer to this question is totally in the eye of the beholder, but in your eyes, what would you say makes a good concept? While some prefer thematic depth, others emotional poignancy, and others sheer creativity, I am of the belief a concept can only be proportionally valuable to its execution. An ingenious conceit can bog itself down an infinite number of ways in scripting, just as a stock setup can write its way to a masterpiece. The Promised Neverland is a show which constantly toes the line between squandering and strengthening its unique and exciting concept which, in the right hands, could’ve easilybeen one of the strongest, smartest, and most thrilling anime narratives of all time. So, naturally, in order to properly review this show, I will have to spoil the ending to episode one which fully reveals said concept in the following sentence. I recommend this show, so go watch at least episode one before reading: the orphanage where this show takes place is actually a human farm wherein the children are cattle, mere protein for monstrous demons who’ve taken over the world.
It’s a truly exhilarating and consistently intense setup which, when the creators properly capitalized on it, made for a phenomenal mix of mystery suspense and full-on horror thriller. While it’s a Cloverworks production, the studio which A-1 Pictures graduated literally seven months after establishing them, and the animation looks just about as inconsistent and barely average as I expected, the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree because they know exactly how to put their money precisely where it matters just like their conniving corporate parents over at A-1. When the tension ramps up, they deliver some of the most phenomenal facial animation I’ve ever seen which conveys the characters’ visceral emotions in a keen and piercing fashion, and I often got goosebumps from some of the more chilling elements of psychological horror. Even during the rest of the show, outside those standout scenes, the visuals still (mostly) hold up thanks to the show’s great direction. The inventive angles, the tonal framing, and the unique visual queues all work together to make the show as visually stimulating as it can possibly be on a budget. Even the sound design was a surprising treat, and that’s really saying something for a show as relatively juvenile as this. The unique creaking of the floorboards depending on which part of the orphanage they were in, the unique sound of every individual character’s footsteps both indoors and out, the unique ambiance like the ticking of the clock in the bedroom, the echoing voices in the hallways, and the twigs crackling underfoot in the forest all serve to make the show fairly audibly stimulating as well, and that’s before I even get to the soundtrack.
If I’m taking an average here, then the soundtrack as a whole is pretty good, nothing to write home about, but if I’m going to cherry pick then I must say there are a small handful of tracks in the OST which absolutely blew me away! There’s a track at the end of episode two which sounds like a Hiroyuki Sawano track taken straight out of Kill la Kill making an otherwise milquetoast dialogue scene into a blood pumping epic declaration of war I won’t forget for years. I’m not exaggerating. There were two tracks at the beginning of episode five which sounded like Yuki Kajiura tracks out of Fate/Zero which turned a dialogue based info dump into a gritty, intense, and nearly scary confrontation which served as probably the best, most defining character moment in the entire show. There was a totally nonchalant BGM track in episode seven which took the operatic chanting of Kenji Kawai’s music and beautifully combined it with the soft piano and sharp violin of Yoko Kanno’s music. There was even a track at the end of a certain episode I won’t number to avoid spoilers which was, and I’m being serious, purposefully bland to catch you off guard only to cut to silence in such a shocking manner as to have me flip out of my chair, “Wait, WHAT?!”, ending with a cliffhanger which raked through by brain for the whole week over. Again, as a whole the OST was a solid seven out of ten, but being selective has me giving the best of tracks an easy ten. And all this is on top of the fact the composer, Takahiro Obata, made his DEBUT with this! This man is some kind of Kevin Penkin or Evan Call level prodigy crawling out of the woodwork, and I couldn’t possibly be more excited to see where his career goes from here.
Where the show starts to lose me is in its characters. To oversimplify it, they’re not very believable in the context of the narrative and world. To start, in episode one the main characters are introduced via respective monologuing wherein they literally do expository narration for each other’s respective character stats and skills as if they’re living in a video game’s player selection screen and deciding who’s going to play which class, and my immersion was broken immediately. The two adult women secretly working for the demons are no better, since one is a generic hardened killer and the other a generic psychotic maniac, neither of whom develop any further than said tropes. When the director plays to the strengths of these cliches he can get some serious gold out of them, but it’s not often he does so. The interactions between the kids and the matrons are even worse, because they both know each other’s hand at all times. The idea is the two matrons know a few of the kids have figured out the truth behind the orphanage, and they can’t do anything about it even if they know exactly who is aware because the demons owning the farm would punish them for letting the kids in on the secret. Therefore, it is in their best interest to feign ignorance and not tell the owners anything, simply maintaining their current facade with the children until it comes time to ship them out. This makes sense temporarily, but once it’s clear to you the farm is NEVER audited by the demons and they’d have no way of ever finding out the matrons messed up as long as they deliver the product, you start asking yourself why the matrons don’t just lock the knowing kids away in the myriad hidden rooms and passageways the house is equipped with and tell the other children they got adopted, since that’s literally what they’ve done for every other child who’d previously been shipped, a lie which even fooled one of our alleged genius main characters until they happened upon the truth by pure freak coincidence.
And those meekly criticisms are me holding way, way, way back. Frankly, I could just slap you in the face, tell you to grow up, and ask the real questions. Why not raise them like animals? Why even raise them as humans, for doing so would pose this very risk of having them become situationally aware and attempting to use their intellect to escape. They speculate this is due to the demand for “big brains”, as there is no other logical reason the matrons would school them otherwise, but that makes absolutely no biological sense, even in context. Why raise them in an environment lacking common security measures like thermal motion detection or surveillance cameras when you have the wherewithal to implant military grade tracking devices in them from birth? Why raise them in groups with whom they can retaliate as a force? Why not mutilate their bodies to relieve them of the physical agency to flee? Why even teach them language with which they can communicate and plan an escape? There’s such a long list of very basic questions, any one of which could completely shatter the show’s internal logic instantaneously, thus it was and remains impossible for me to take seriously as a mature person thinking at all critically. While I’ve devolved into negative criticism, I do want to assure you I wasn’t lying about recommending this show. Sure, the plot holes grow exponentially the further you dissect it, but if you know how to indulge, then I’d say The Promised Neverland is some of the best superficial entertainment I’ve seen in quite a while which capitalized on the seasonal airing format with some truly intoxicating cliffhangers, a mystery box style narrative this medium seriously lacks in numbers, and brilliantly timed plot twists with which some episodes had me absolutely on my face throughout the entire rollicking ride. While it’s obviously made for teenagers and college kids younger than myself, and I’ll only ever view such a series as nothing more than popcorn entertainment, when the popcorn I’m stuffing down tastes this good, I can’t help but recommend it to everyone I know.
Thank you for reading.
brookeatbroken
God why did I watch all of this shit Story - 3 Vaguely interesting goes nowhere. Even as it's progressing it's either predictable or just stupid. Falls flat because it's no more complex then kids keep secrets from their guardian and then run away from home. There is no Mystery either, everything that's going on is abundantly clear from episode 2 onward. Animation - 3 Really bad, looks atrocious with the shape of faces and proportions. Also kind of racist depiction of black people (big red lips is a feature of blackface). World/Tone - 0 Whoever decided to make the anime opening synth and feature actual children underthe age of twelve doing parkour, frontflips and looking "badass", is an idiot who can't understand what this show is supposed to be. Utterly fails at being horror or scary, and doesn't even attempt at being psychological.
Character - 1 (FOR ONE DIMENSIONAL)
I can't remember more then a single personality trait of any character, let's try and go through them.
emma - Cares
White hair boy - Altruism
Ray - Logical
Glasses girl - Shy?
Tan boy - Rash?
To close, I don't know why the hell this is being compared to death note when it utterly fails at everything it set out to do. Not Horror just generic shounen BS. Not psychological we barely hear anything about the inner thoughts or feelings of the characters. All of this is entirely the fault of the director btw, someone made a generic shounen out of something that had potential to be so much more. I remember hearing about this when it was announced and being really excited because I love psychological anime, and horror, I was obviously let down. I hope the people who enjoyed this did so out of ignorance / inexperience with these genres, but this was only enjoyable in the way watching the world burn is.
literaturenerd
Overview: "Don't get on that ship! To Serve Man...IT'S A COOKBOOK!!!" Promised Neverland is basically this season's Made in Abyss and it is HYPED. Do I think it's currently a tad overrated? Absolutely. However, I stopped giving knee-jerk bad scores to decent series just because they're currently rated too high. The rating will naturally balance out and if not, I kind of stopped taking MAL's ratings seriously a while ago. Promised Neverland is a mixed bag, but I honestly had a lot of fun with this one. Background: (Spoilers) 1,000 years ago, demons and humans fought for control of an alternate Earth. The 2 sides came to a standstill and the humans sued for peace. The humans got half the planet, but the demons got to keep all the humans living in demon territory and raise them as food. The top quality human meat is raised on orphanages that are basically free range farms, while the low quality meat is mass produced in clone factories. The orphans are forced to constantly take difficult tests in order for their brains to grow bigger and juicier. The demons want the smartest chidren with the biggest brains. Side note: gaining knowledge doesn't actually cause your brain to keep increasing in size. The mangaka learned his neurology from Looney Toons. Oh and for the record, brain size is only modestly correlated with intelligence. Development and number of neural connections in the pre-frontal cortex is far more important than raw size. Otherwise, Homo sapiens neanderthalensis would have landed on the moon and split the atom WAY before their smaller brained African cousins. Anyways, this story takes place on one of these orphanages run by sociopath adults who willingly raise the children as demon food.
Plot and characters:
The children from one these dystopian orphanages have to figure out the awful truth about the world and engineer a great escape. The main 3 kids are Emma, Ray, and Norman. Emma is a cheerful girl who maintains an optimistic attitude and like Captain Kirk doesn't believe in no-win scenarios. Ray is Emma's exact foil. He's the cold, calculating pragmatist of the group. Norman is by far the most interesting. He's the most intelligent of all, but he's never arrogant and doesn't act better than anyone else. Norman has feelings for Emma and is persuaded by her emotional and morality based arguments, even when he finds them irrational. Norman is naturally more like Ray, but chooses to go against his own nature. This internal conflict makes him by far the most compelling of the trio in my eyes. While I didn't care for Sister Krone, I did think Mother Isabella was an interesting villain. Isabella believes that any resistance against the demons and any hope is futile and can only cause pain. She believes that raising the children in a kind environment and giving them a quick and relatively painless death is the best possible outcome. She suffers no guilt because she truly believes she's being a humanitarian and not a traitor.
Art:
The character art is fine, but this is no Made in Abyss. While that work had truly gorgeous visuals, Neverland never hits the same highs. Neverland also has some unfortunate instances of jarring CGI that I hate. While this isn't the best looking series of all time, I'm not going to just crucify it for bad art. The first 3 seasons of MAL's most beloved OVA, LotGH, was made by the god awful Magic Bus and doesn't look all that amazing.
Overall:
I actually think the premise is kind of stupid. It had moments that made me bang my head against a wall, like Ray revealing his memory is so amazing that he remembers being an embryo in a test tube. Yet this series got its hooks in me. At the end of every episode, I was desperate to see what happens next. I didn't go into this with super high expectations. I wanted to believe because I LOVE Neverland's director Mamoru Kanbe. However, I wasn't sure if he could make this work. It's basically a shonen horror for ages 12-15 that mixes the Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man" with the 1963 film "The Great Escape". I'm a 31 year old boomer and it consistently kept me smiling and engaged. Hats off to Kanbe! He made this series pretty decent overall!
Chocobabe
/spoilers/ I'll start with the art, which was absolutely dreadful. A complete mess with cheap looking backgrounds and characters, weird designs and overall being generic as fuck when it's not being outright terrible. The colour pallette is horrendous, the characters look weird with their long chins, and the background is bland at best. The expressions the characters make tend to be awful and distracting during the horror scenes and the reveals, with me just outright bursting into laughter at Isabella's face when she hears Ray hum a song back in episode 12. The demons or monsters thingies are nothing new in terms of character designs andcome off quite cringe to look at. It's horrific.
The premise? Nothing unique. A bunch of kids attempting to escape a farm lest they be consumed, way far into the future, a cheap dystopian drama garbage I'm sure I'll find countless of examples from by merely scrolling through Goodreads. It's survival and dystopia mashed up together with elements remniscient to Animal Farm and Shinseki no Yori, something I'm sure we've all have heard before. The premise is generic and bland, filled with cliche elements which could have been saved with a graceful execution. The premise of a mind-game, a cat and mouse hunt between the characters and the mother, is something I admittedly do find unique, and I'm sure others do as well, so I'll give them that.
Regarding the mind-game themselves, the plots and the plans, the pseudo intellectucal garbage spewed out in an attempt to make the characters seem smart? Maybe I'm being pretentious, maybe others are stupider, maybe they really aren't the focus of the story, but all in all it's pretentious writing with no substance pretending to be smart, creating contrived mediocrity that canonically drives on for MONTHS only to end with the house being set on fire (typical distraction) and the characters using ziplines to escape a cliff. This is the climax, folks. This is what it all boiled down to. So many plot-twists and executions that make you cringe at the obvious prospect of the author utilizing anything in his power to add a little substance to his story. The eleventh episode for instance, starts with the plotwist "Oh god they haven't given up!", jumps to plot-twist "We've established they'll try to escape and Ray has been creating stuff to help him escape, but here Ray is going to kill himself!", jumps to "We've established that they've given up but actually they were creating a plan" jumps too "Oh they'll start the house on fire" and then jumps to "And by the way, we've established that they'll use the bridge but meh they'll use a ziplines instead" which all in all is cheap and utter filler to create tension. The story is filled with more filler and less cat-and-mouse games because it lacks substance. The double, triple, quadratriple Agents spiel they tried to go for was filler that dragged for one or two episodes, and it fell flat because Ray's plan was to kill himself despite him claiming he used his mother's gifts to create means to escape in exchange of spying. The Sister Krone filler was blatantly offensive because the woman did nothing and contributed nothing to the story beyond joining up with the team, figuring some of their plans out and immediately dying afterwards, and she took much screen time with her inane, irrelevant ramblings and her cringe "creepy" expressions. There was some other garbage regarding secret doors with Don and Gilda, but I won't cover that because I kinda forgot it. Emma breaking her leg did nothing but drag their plan for an additional two months, where they supposedly did training, and I admit that part confused me because Emma and Ray would be pretending to give up to throw off Isabella yet these fuckers would be training right in front of her.
And skipping all that, I have one line to show you all. "I have memories since when I was a fetus." I'm done.
Even excluding that, the experience was dreadfully stale and boring due to continuous expositions and the camera zoom ups to their faces and expressions. The laughter and the smirks and the smiles when someone did something threw me off. Krone wanted to make me kill myself, and Ray and Norman's interactions with each other came to a close second. I remember wanting to ditch the anime around episode 4. Completely say fuck it. Because I didn't want to continue.
Speaking of the expositions, the characters were all too pretentious trying to be smart and all. The anime completely broke the "Show don't tell" rule by sticking to "telling" everything. It was extremely pretentious. The gestures of the characters, their smirks and their smiles, did nothing but contribute to my boredom and made me hate them even more. There's literally nothing of substance to the characters besides Norman playing 2000D chess, Emma being happy and wanting to save everyone, and Ray being edgy, so I can't comment on any of that besides pointing out to the complete blandness of it all. There was some interesting backstory to Ray, but his development at the end essentially entailed him wanting to kill himself and escaping completely shocked that they were planning something behind his back and Emma was not actually retarded. Emma is your typical happy-go-lucky lucky girl. Norman is just... There. He loves Emma, he made some plans, showed he had an IQ of 500 and then he fucking dies. What can I say? Isabella's and Krone's flashbacks were cliche but interesting though, I'll give them that.
The music was good. I mean I actually don't really remember it but I recall getting emotional at some points. I don't really know.
That's just it folks.
DarthInvader
*No Spoiler Concise Review* TL;DR: If Chicken Run the movie ever became animated and instead of chickens you have humans and instead of farmers you have demons then this would be the ultimate anime adaptation your sadist soul had been looking for all this time. [Story: 8/10 , Characters: 7/10, Art: 8/10, Sound: 8/10, Enjoyment: 9/10] What is Yakusoku no Neverland you may ask? Why it's merely a slice of life about cutesy looking orphan kids... but it's actually a literal slice of life anime. Confused? Shook? Mate, you ain't even feeling woke yet. Going into this anime completely blind of the plot really sets you upfor a fun series filled with endless cliff-hangers & heart attacks. If you look at the cover art, it's literally kids being served on a fine dining plate with posh cutleries. If that doesn't give you any hint on what kind of show this could be, then sit down, time to educate you on this phenomenal show of Winter 2019 brought to us by Studio Cloverworks.
Normally it takes about three episodes to get someone hooked on a show. The way this anime ends the first episode immediately has you hooked; similar to how SnK had you hooked. You are initially introduced to these Einstein level kids with super brain power, nursed and brought up by Mama (Loving Motherly Caretaker), innocently playing tag in this orphan house. Whenever the kids become of age, they are sent off to "Neverland" because they are old enough to be adopted. Doesn't that sound sweet to you? Wrong. Turns out this orphan house is a Brain Farm, where they are harvesting kids till their brain becomes prime meal for anteater looking demons living in the outside world. Ready to turn vegan yet? Fortunately for our genius kids, they discover this truth and now the game of tag begins between them and their conniving evil Mama. Will the kids be able to escape this ranch or will they become fodder for the demons? Are you hooked yet? If not, read on.
"You always feel lonely every time you get sick. I didn’t want you to feel sad. " ~ Emma
The major characters of this show really stands out from one another. They are all geniuses but differ in their respective personality. The major characters are Norman, the mastermind that knows how to coexist, Emma, the happy go lucky girl that just wants everyone to be happy and lastly Ray, the edgiest selfish boy you will ever meet. Juxtaposing all three of their personality you have Mama on the opposite spectrum, who just smirks at the kids trying to be all sneaky while foiling each of their plots. It's very reminiscent of when we were kids and trying to pull a fast one over our parents but it always failed because they were always ten steps ahead of us. However, unlike us, these kids seemingly possess 200 level IQ. It's exhilarating to watch them play 5D chess with each other. Besides them, you have side characters like Don and Gilda who are your token overtly emotional whipping boys who abides by the plan till they screw up. It's interesting to note, design wise, the kids and the toddlers seems to have similar looks phenotype wise. It could be that they are probably from a similar gene pool; after all it is a farm. Lastly, the stand out character of this show, is this little boy named, Phil. Keep your eyes on Phil because I don't trust that kid one bit. He always pops up in the most strangest scenarios. There is another Mama but that's a surprise for only show watchers to experience.
"The person you see before you is the strongest card you have" ~ Ray
Aside from the exhilarating plot and dynamic characters, the art and animation of this show did justice to the Manga. Studio Cloverworks maybe a small studio but seeing what an awesome job they have done animating and giving life to this show is truly breathtaking. The panels are vibrant, the animation is smooth and the director really knows how to play around with lighting to evoke dread and despair in every scene in the show. Not too much to complain. There are some CG moments but mostly blended CG not too noticeable to the viewers. Moreover, the OST is just amazing. Both the OP and ED songs are just outright bangers. Definitely worth a listen as a standalone. Lastly, special shoutout to the amazing seiyuus working on this show, particularly, Maaya Uchida (Norman), Sumire Morohoshi (Emma) and Mariya Ise (Ray). They just heightened the personality of these kids to the next level and fans of HxH 2011 and FMAB would recognize the familiar voice.
"I want to do the things that'll make Emma happy...because I love her. I won't let her die." ~ Norman
Overall, I am so glad this was a sleeper OP hit to start of 2019. After shows like Made in Abyss and SnK leaving the empty feeling of seeing cutesy looking characters in grievous danger, the inner sadism in most of us will feel satisfied watching this awesome show. The plot is unpredictable, the characters are multi-dimensional and both the animation & OST do justice to accentuate this show to a greater level. I would definitely recommend watching this anime and I'm happy to hear this anime is getting a second season. Good luck not reading the manga and waiting for the sequel. Anyways, give it a watch and tell me later how you found this anime!
P.S. Thank you for reading. I hope you found this short and supaishi review helpful!
P.P.S. In Japan, Tag is known as "onigokko," and the person we refer to as "it" is called the "oni" in Japanese which of course, is a demon.
-vanja-
First, of all, I'm not a guy who dislikes something, just bcs it is popular. I watched this Anime to the end, I think if you want to hate something, you should watch it fully, and then tell your opinion. I love horror, but TPN was kinda, stupid and boring. And this is my taste, I don't judge you if TPN is your favorite, so don't judge me, bcs I found this boring. I love mind games, battles of mindes, but, this is unrealistic. You telling me, that these children have this much IQ? They are all genius, more than genius, and I found that, stupid. Characterslook strange, they have big foreheads, their faces look strange. I don't like this style.
But the biggest problem is the main character Emma. I love characters who have bad sides of them, who are sometimes morally questionable. Bcs those characters feel more like real humans, people with sins, people who do mistakes. But Emma, she is like a saint, and I hated her.
Ray and Norman were alright. I think the best part of TPN was, should I name it, Norman Arc? I think that was the best part, it was a good watch, for sure.
As I was saying, the story felt unrealistic, sometimes they force some unique facts about characters into the plot, to make more sense. The main villain was alright, she was genuinely scary. The atmosphere was ok, it had a feeling of horror.
Overall I gave it 5/10 It is not terrible, but it is not a masterpiece. I don't get how this has better scoring than Made in Abyss? Why? But, that is your taste and opinion, if you like it, good for you.
I dropped this three times, but every time I return, thinking I'm missing something, where is that masterpiece part? TPN was OK, it had some alright parts which I enjoy a little bit.
5/10
Tripl3R
[Spoilers : Minimum] This story is about some kids living in an orphanage and their caretaker "Mama aka Isabella" looks after them. Nothing too GREAT about this story right? .The first 15 minutes of the first episodes are what you would expect from this kind of synopsis but what comes after that is the TWIST and this anime loves giving its viewers TWISTS!. After the first episodes the show might go downhill , the eps are not BAD but the BAR that the first episode set was HIGH , the kids solve their problems quickly and they get their fair share of character development. The animestarts gaining momentum at the latter episodes and keeps getting better , some might hesitate completing the anime coz some episodes get a little bit boring ,but The Promised Neverland Will not disappoint(if you've not read the manga) .
It is a horror anime but it fails to a be great HORROR anime , it has its fare share of moments but nothing that will haunt you at night or whatever...
So we have 3 protagonist , female Naruto , Norman , Sauske in emo phase ... all are great and have their own personality and "MOTIVES" which they don't forget.
Art: Not the highlight of the anime , but it does look what the manga's art looks like . It looks good with the overall setting of the anime , Clover Works have put some passion into this..."some"...
Sound: The Op is great , the ED's are really good but i cant say the same for the Ost's .. they still manage to do what they are supposed to do.
The anime adaptation is good but the manga is "better" , coz of "ITS THE GODDAMN MANGA" rule .
When you'll start the anime you will fell like "WHAT IS THIS SHIT ! , WHAT IS HAPPENING OUTSIDE? , WILL THEY SUCCEED IN COMPLETING THEIR MISSION? "
and when you complete the anime your probably gonna kill yo-- i mean read the manga ...
Well the anime's main objective was to sell the source material .. AND I GOT SOLDD!!
war0blade
So what's it about? What you always want to know when watching a show. To make a long story short: it's about a prison break. Ok, that was a boring answer. Well, obviously there's more to it or it wouldn't be rated this high, would it? You could say it's about family... well they're orphans, but we all know that doesn't really matter in the real world. If you live together with someone for the most of your life, it doesn't matter whether you hate them or love them. Everyone has those people who you've been with for so long, that they're more than just friends toyou, they're a piece of you, and you know that if they were in trouble, you'd do anything to help them. That sounded wholehearted didn't it? Well this ain't that kind of show sorry to disappoint, so what kind of show is it?
It's a psychological thriller, so I guess you could say it's close to Death Note if you've seen that anime. I love psychological thrillers. If you've never seen one then I guess it's like solving a rubik's cube. That feeling you get when you solve the first layer and feel a sense of accomplishment, only to discover that you've merely scratched the surface of the puzzle. It's gratifying to solve, layer by layer, each episode adding more depth to the series.
And did I mention this show has monsters? Not figuritavely like monsters within ourselves which we fight everyday but real supernatural monsters. Monsters with sharp claws and talons, measuring up to several times your size with crazy strength, super speed, and a taste for human flesh. Somehow I think this review is becoming confusing to follow.
Well, let's stop for a moment and check what we have: a prison break, an orphanage, pyschological thriller and supernatural monsters. Somehow I've managed to talk about the show up to this point and explain absolutely nothing of what it's about. But that's also the beauty of this show, because life's too boring if we had all the answers. And if there's one thing this show does well, it's immersing the viewer in the story. That's the fun of watching this show, not knowing everything going on behind the scenes, and the more you watch the more they lift the curtain and the more curious you become to know what lies behind the veil.
That was a short review, but I hope you got an image of what the show is about. I don't really like spoiling too much and neither does this show. If a snapshot, a glimpse of what's to come is enough to peak your interest, then definitely give it a try because this show LOVES teasing its viewers. It loves making you guess while keeping you at the edge of your seat, and that's what I love about it.
Uber_Bacon
Would I recommend this show? YES! I have and I’ll do it again, this show is amazing from both a technical standpoint and because of its story. Tl;dr Promised Neverland (Yakusoku no Neverland) is a fantastic show with more twists than the Gordian knot and is all presented in an easy to understand way. I’d recommend it to literally anyone (even though anime isn’t for everyone), in my opinion, this is easily the best show this season. Story: 10 - There’s really not much to say about it, I loved it and I think it’s fantastic for anyone who likes thriller. Despite the tags in MyAnimeList,I don’t think this show really fits in the “horror” genre. It fits more into the thriller with more suspense than fear, really putting you on the edge of your seat and making you really fear for the children’s lives (Well… as much as a shonen anime could). Another great aspect of this show is the phycological side of it, Mama is an unrelenting genius who foils almost every plan the main characters can come up with, seemingly knowing what they’re thinking before they know it themselves. Going back to the story itself, it’s an outstanding tale of deception, escape, and drama that never shows its true cards and only tells you the important details (which is personally my favorite type of writing)
Art 9 - I want to give this a 10 for its superb animation but unfortunately shows like Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara exist and I guess “The game was rigged from the start”
It’s become an ever-present trend in anime nowadays to actually LOWER the quality of individual frames in order to make the overall animation look better, which is the equivalent of turning down your in-game setting to get a higher frame rate. It’s been done several times in the past most prominently with fight scenes but more recently we’ve seen the emergence of shows where a majority of scenes are taken down from “Ultra” to “High”, not to say this is a bad thing, it’s just an inevitable trend that I personally think is a good thing. Promised Neverland is no different, making use of both bright colors to contrast or dark colors to complement the story going on. Usually, being in the dark signifies danger and the light to signify safety but in Promised Neverland both sides are both equally as dangerous to show the viewer that no one character is ever “safe” they never have been and never will be. I could go in even more detail but I don’t want to make this section any longer.
Sound 9.9 (basically a 10) - I love the soundtrack a lot, I only found fault in one section of the opening.
Let me just address the elephant in the room, a 9.9? How df does a soundtrack get a 9.9? I love the opening but in the beginning, there’s a section where a saxophone is being played and I just absolutely HATE it. I don’t know exactly why it bothers me so much but it was enough for me to knock it down .1 points. Other than that I think this show is spot on, pairing nicely with the art to give a dark and foreboding environment that really adds to the “Thriller” experience. Sometimes you’ll hear the danger coming and sometimes it’ll pop up on you not making a single sound. During the “Let's escape” scene in the first episode the soundtrack really sold me on the entire show, it was truly horrifying and downright creepy. Finally, the show also uses silence effectively, turning off the background music so you can really focus on the craziness that’s going on in front of you.
Character 10 - These characters are great not because they’re all amazing by themselves but because of how the impact the story.
It really takes a special kind of writer to make characters important just by standing there being completely useless and Kaiu Shirai did just that. Not only are the main three (Emma, Ray, and Norman) important but even the toddlers that really don’t do much can be central figures in certain scenes tipping the battles that they themselves aren’t even aware of. Mama and HQ are both mysterious individuals manipulating everyone around them to the dismay of the deceived around them. Without spoiling too much, this show is both story and character-driven making an amazing pair that (in my opinion) makes it one of the best this season.
Enjoyment & Overall 10
Let’s get serious here, you know this was going to be a 10… because you probably read the “10” next to the review. Most of what I wanted to say was already said and I’d recommend you making Promised Neverland the next show you binge watch today!
Jajoe
This will probably be my first and only review, but after watching Episode 12 of "Yakusoku no Neverland" and finishing the series, i just needed to write it down. This review won't have any spoilers in it and will entirely be subjective (which any review in actuality is). As a manga reader of the same series, i had unhealthy expectations to the anime, i feared they will cut to much, will struggle to get the emotions through or fail at the art style; in short: a cheap knockoff just for the name, which happens unfortunately to many animes. I couldn't be more wrong and so happyabout it.
First of all: If you know anything about the plot, besides maybe the first Episode, it will diminish the enjoyment, the reveal, the twist and the mindgames by a lot. So, go in blind, don't read any summary, don't look up pictures, just watch.
Did they cut things? Yes. Did they use Cgi? Yes. Did they change some scenes? Yes. And here i have to already cut and say, the director, sound designer and the animation just works and they did a tremendous job. Despite the cuts, everything gets through, the music is not just there, it complements the story and the animation is effortlessly able to create suspense, fear, sadness, happiness and everything else. The CGI is used beautiully in the background modestly and looks actually good (i say that as someone who actually hates CGI in Anime because it is mostly used in a cheap way). It's like the whole team actually worked as a team and sat down and discussed things.
This is a character based and dialogue heavy Anime, the focus undoubtetly lies there, which means if you can't connect to any of the protagonists and even antagonists you will probably not enjoy this as much. But i would say, give it a shot.
In conclusion this Anime is an easy 10/10 for me and not only that, i think it is at least in my top 3. Someone really cared about this and i can feel that. Thank you for that.
poemofdevil
What an incredible show. The final 3-4 episodes are just brilliant. It's a prison break story with kids. And to my surprise it worked freaking great. Maybe it's because all the prisoners in the story are likeable? Usually in stories like this there's an unlikable character or two that I hope dies, but I was rooting for everyone here to survive! Anyway, don't expect much in terms of action for most of the season. It's really slow going as they spend the entire season planning and preparing for their escape. Despite that, it worked because of the suspense of their plan being foiled every episode andbecause they're not really prisoners but livestock, so there's urgency for them to escape.
Visuals are pretty great. Initially I hated their faces. They're too cutesy or derpy, but the art eventually won over. The voice acting was fantastic. The music was great as well. The opening and two ending themes are great too. Hope both artists return to produce themes for season 2.
I highly recommend the show. It lives up to the hype it was getting before its premiere.
map3X
As a fan of anime, I have to say that "Yakusoku no Neverland" has quickly become one of my all-time favorites. From the very first episode, I was hooked. The story is gripping, with twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat. The characters are well-developed, each with their own unique personalities and motivations that are explored throughout the series. The art and animation are simply stunning, with detailed backgrounds and fluid character movements that bring the world of "Yakusoku no Neverland" to life. The soundtrack is equally impressive, adding to the tension and suspense of the series. One of the things Ilove most about this anime is the concept. It's a fresh and unique idea that sets it apart from other anime in its genre. The way the story is told is masterful, with just the right balance of action, suspense, and emotion.
Overall, I would highly recommend "Yakusoku no Neverland" to anyone who is a fan of anime. Just be prepared to be on the edge of your seat as the story unfolds. Unfortunately, there is no season 2, which is a shame, but I would suggest reading the manga after finishing the first season. It continues the story in a way that will have you just as captivated as you were during the first season.
