It’s hard to believe it’s been almost two years since the first season of Yakusoku no Neverland ended.  And somewhat awe-inspiring to think of all that’s changed in the world (and is still changing) since then.  Among the least important but most relevant changes, of course, is that the Neverland manga ended.  I always try to avoid talking about the manga too much when writing about the anime with this series – not least because of the huge spoiler minefield it represents, not to mention conflicted feelings I have about it – but I find it impossible to totally divorce myself from the manga experience.

Interestingly enough Cloverworks announced recently that this season (once again on NoitaminA, once again oddly) would contain an “original scenario” – whatever that means – supervised by mangaka Shirai Kaiu.  Original material in an adaptation of a finished work is unusual, and normally one might be inclined to see it as ominous.  But given how cattywampus the plotting in the manga gets (in my opinion) change might not be a bad thing, especially given that the nominal series composition lead is the very capable Ono Toshiya.

The staff with Yakusoku is rather strong, and Kanbe Mamoru has generally been a good director.  There’s plenty of budget too, all of this unsurprising for a franchise this popular.  Kanbe’s work in the first season was quite stylish, though at times it had a bit of an “I’m the best student at film school!” quality to it that I could live without.  I can’t quite elucidate what I mean but this series does have something to it that invites arty pretentiousness, so I don’t wholly blame Kanbe for being swept along in it.  Still, it’s rather pretty to look at and this first episode – set in the primeval forest outside Grace Field House – is quite a visual spectacle.

It strikes me in watching this premiere – just as it did when reading this part of the manga – just how radically different The Promised Neverland is before it leaves Grace Field and after.  Above and beyond the obvious plotquake that closes the first season, everything changes including the narrative structure.  I suppose one might say that Grace Field is the prequel and now we’re in the main story, though I always felt that Grace Field was the best and most coherent part of the series.  Now we’re in the wild and we’re in the midst of a survival series with chases and Made in Abyss-like creatures and perpetual movement (which contrasts with the sedentary nature of the narrative before).

Armed with William Minerva’s magic pen Emma, Ray, and the others’ first priority is to escape immediate recapture.  There are monsters in the forest to be sure – oni who don’t speak and seduce but nevertheless seem to share the same appetites as the ones we’ve met before, not to mention weird oddly marine bugs and plants.  Don and Gilda must step up now that Norman is gone and the responsibility for the younger kids weighs heavy (though the youngest stayed behind under true protagonist Phil’s watchful eye).  And if all that weren’t bad enough, Emma collapses from fever as Ray tries to deal with the demon harrying our little Van Goghs.

Ray gets a little help from an unwanted source, as the search posse catches up with him and dispatches the oni from the forest.  Ray seems on his last legs but now we come to another new phase of the story, as both he and Emma are nick-of-time saved by mysterious figures.  He by Sonju (Kamio Shin’ichirou), swooping in on horseback, and she by hooded girl (Tanezaki Atsumi) creeping in on little cats’ feet.  Both wind up inside a cave system, unaware that the other is nearby until Ray searches out Emma and wakes her from her slumber.  And he immediately notices something about their saviors that I prefer to believe Emma wouldn’t have missed were she not delirious with fever.

There’s a nick-of-time element to a lot of what happens in Yakusoku no Neverland which annoys me in a background hum sort of way (like the characters smiling too much does).  But there’s also a quality to this series that shines through despite the sometimes-clumsy storytelling, a sense of wonder and profound danger that always feels genuine even if the plot gets a little forced.  We’re only at the tip of the iceberg here for better or worse, not even factoring in whatever original twists Shirai and Ono have planned, so strap in for what’s going to be a roller-coaster ride of a season.