Yeah, I have absolutely no idea what’s happening now. It now appears likely that a very important arc and very important character are gone for good. And increasingly likely that the plan is to finish the Yakusoku no Neverland anime in this season’s 12 episodes, which is going to require even more massive cuts. When I initially heard the news that the anime was going off the grid, I was weirdly hopeful – the last third of the manga is a mixed bag, charitably. But if they cut out the good parts and leave in the bad stuff, well – woof.
Even with the manga finished, if indeed the anime only gets this one cour that strikes me as a very odd decision for a franchise this massively popular. We won’t know for sure for a while, but what apparently got axed was IMO the best part of the series after the Grace Field arc. There are elements of the broad storyline being followed – Sonju and Mujika, the kids finding the shelter, the general mythology. But the specific events playing out have been robbed of a lot of their impact by the rushed pacing and lack of context.
One of the surviving elements is William Miranda, real name James Ratri (Kase Yasuyuki, one of the best seiyuu most anime fans have never heard of). By recorded message (damn robocalls, they follow us even to dystopia) he tells Emma of his betrayal of The Promise, and how he set up the shelter and gave clues to help the best and brightest of the children find it. When he says “You can stay in the shelter forever, or you can seek the human world”, there’s never a moment of doubt which path these kids will choose.
The slice of life scenes of the kids adjusting to life in the shelter – hunting, Don and Rossi hanging out in the surveillance room, trying to figure out what’s safe to eat – are effective. You can see the tug of war between the appeal of staying safe and the dream of finding Neverland – not to mention the ever-present memory of the ones left behind at Grace Field. It’s just that it all happens so much faster than it’s supposed to. Maybe for a new viewer this will play perfectly well, but I couldn’t get past the whiplash effect from the warp-speed pacing.
Then there’s the matter of 73584, AKA Isabella, AKA Mama. I won’t dig into this too much because it’s an area where the differences between existing canon and new material are a gaping chasm, but suffice it to say I haven’t got a clue where this is going. The raid on the shelter should have come much later, should have been much more epic and emotional, and should generally have been a much bigger moment. But as it was it was perfectly fine. Yes, perfectly fine.
So far at least, the saving grace of this season has been that the execution of what’s actually on-screen has been quite good, and the bones of the original story are still discernible beneath this new body. But I’m wary, because in fiction the butterfly effect is a very real thing. We all know what happened with Game of Thrones, where the TV series still looked pretty good when it was in this initial splintering off from the source phase, but grew more and more unrecognizable the farther it ventured from that junction. The Promised Neverland is no A Song of Ice and Fire, but it does deserve to have its tale told on-screen in a way that does it justice (if you’re going to do anything, fix the ending). Right now it’s anyone’s guess whether that’s going to happen.
Simone
January 30, 2021 at 5:34 pmThere are two pictures at the end there that I don’t know what they are from, but it doesn’t seem to be The Promised Neverland, Enzo.
I am reading the manga right now, I just arrived at the raid in manga form, and while I still haven’t seen what many seem to agree is the worst, yes, I’m confused. To me this episode felt like cracks were showing already – for example the whole raid situation was solved with incredible ease, considering these are children facing trained soldiers, and the pacing was so breakneck it felt confusing at times. I’m not really hopeful. I DO wonder why is it that anime original plots seem to so thoroughly never GET the spirit of the source material, even when they change the content, as one would expect some of these writers to be quite competent. Maybe they dump this stuff on the newbies, or maybe they just rush it. But yeah, we’ll see I guess, though I’m not very confident. An anime-original ending to a completed manga in the year of our Lord 2021, what an odd choice. I thought we were done with this stuff for good.
Guardian Enzo
January 30, 2021 at 6:06 pm1. On Golden Pond
2. Yugo
Readers will know…
The weird thing is, the mangaka is working with Ono on the scripts. You’d think if anyone got it…
blargnobia
January 31, 2021 at 3:16 pmI feel oddly ashamed that I didn’t immediately get those jokes XD
And shout-out to the anime team, I guess, for cutting the most compelling character in the entire show. I was already apathetic going into this season, and this is just the icing on the cake.
Guardian Enzo
January 31, 2021 at 3:47 pmI’m mystified, frankly.
Red
January 30, 2021 at 5:48 pmMaybe I just missed it or it is just a result of rushing the story, did they gave some explanation on the secret room with all the ‘help’ graffiti or did emma and the children just ignored it? anime only btw
Guardian Enzo
January 30, 2021 at 6:07 pmIt’s strongly implied (I would say equally so in both versions) that it was written by a former escapee who lived at the shelter and finally grew stir crazy and fled, looking for Neverland. We got glimpses of their diary this week.
Red
January 30, 2021 at 9:33 pmBased on the diary, I was under the impression that multiple of them went crazy because of something sinister in that shelter, then the raid just happened, guess it’s just cabin fever. Does the ‘axed’ part you mentioned include a backstory to the writings on the wall?
Guardian Enzo
January 30, 2021 at 9:49 pmNot that I remember, but it’s been a while.
Krize
January 31, 2021 at 1:55 amThe technology on display in this show is really throwing me for a loop. You have quasi old-fashioned stuff seen in the farms (the phones, radios, and such), the somewhat tribal/naturalistic technology used by the demons, weirdly futuristic items with the pen, now these very modern-looking soldiers full tactical gear show up.
Also yes, the two children emerged from two direct confrontations with one of the soldiers (first in the monitoring room, then in the caves) way too easily. Even as an anime-watcher, that stood out to me.
Rasu
January 31, 2021 at 2:43 pmWell if Yugo isn’t there, then why they did include that room along its messages of despair?
It doesn’t makes sense. Grace Field arc was the best of all, but I don’t think it’s a good idea using the same plot twice just after the other one finished
TorahSylphwind
February 2, 2021 at 2:42 amWow. Everything I was looking forward to. Gone. Okay then.