In the theory that there’s a Seinfeld quote for every occasion, “This is going to be a shame”.
I’ll give credit to this adaptation for one thing. I never thought the Yakusoku no Neverland could make me say “they should have just stuck with what the manga did”, but boy has it proved me wrong. Don’t misunderstand, as far as I’m concerned the second half of the manga is pretty much a dumpster fire plot-wise. And the closer it gets to the end, the bigger the flames. But this? This is… something on another level. I don’t even know where to begin.
I guess as good a place to start is by saying that, even if spoilers weren’t an issue, there’s no point in doing any manga comparisons at this stage. Just know that the anime has completely gone Game of Thrones Season 8. And the fact that the manga is such a clusterfuck after the first couple of arcs should have been the clue that having the writer involved here wasn’t any guarantor of damage control. Maybe original authors are actually the worst ones to rewrite their own material sometimes, because they’re too close to it emotionally.
In Shirai Kaiu’s defense, however, it’s starting to look very much as if the anime is in a no-win situation. This series should never have been on NoitaminA, first of all, even setting aside the fact that it’s totally wrong for the block anyway. I can’t say for sure whether being a NoitaminA show has or hasn’t bolloxed up the production, but for a wildly successful manga to get so totally screwed in the adaptation process certainly implies something unusual has happened here. To think that they were going to try and finish in one 11-episode season, I never would have even considered it. It’s absurd. What the hell happened?
But it gets worse, improbably. Next week is a recap episode, and word from insiders is that it’s because the production is disastrously behind schedule. So does that mean that it’s all going to finish in ten episodes now? Honestly things are so cattywampus at this point that one ep wouldn’t matter much anyway, but it certainly is insult to injury. Even if you agree with me (some do, some don’t) that the manga seriously loses the plot, for goodness sake, this series is a huge hit – just adapt it as is and roll with the punches. But this? What the hell happened?
I almost don’t even feel like talking about what went on in the episode itself. I can’t imagine it carried much weight even for new viewers who don’t know what’s gone – the pacing is laughable, and there’s no gravitas to anything that happens as a result. Nothing is justified by buildup or properly developed – it’s just stuff happening. Norman!? Now? Seriously? I hate to be one of those “read the manga” people but seriously, if the first season bought you into the story (and why wouldn’t it) read the manga. Maybe stop before the ending, but read it…
As you know if you read the season preview and earlier posts on this season, I was oddly hopeful when I heard that the anime would be making changes. The story needed changes, frankly. But not these changes. Goodness me, they’ve taken a hit manga that’s widely regarded as having toyed with jumping the shark, and what do they do? They butcher the stuff that’s actually good – and I can only guess that they’re going to go with the original ending, which will be even goofier without the buildup the manga gave it. Yakusoku no Neverland is no masterpiece but it certainly deserved better than this. You’d think it would be easy to adapt something this successful, but apparently you’d be wrong.
Alonom
February 5, 2021 at 11:50 pmI’m genuinely curious to know what happened behind the scenes. Why rush the adaptation of a successful Jump manga? They would usually try to drag it as much as they can, and squeeze every possible penny out of the franchise. It doesn’t make any sense
Guardian Enzo
February 5, 2021 at 11:59 pmThat’s why I suspect the NoitaminA factor, because that’s the one thing that stands out as noteworthy and odd. But it’s only speculation.
Simone
February 5, 2021 at 11:52 pmSerious question as someone who’s just finished binging the manga – what would you say is the worst aspect of it? I didn’t find it so bad, but I think part of that might be that not having read it weekly I didn’t build much expectations and also didn’t necessarily feel much the sudden speed up of events. The one thing I found most questionable is a certain deus ex machina appearance of a certain former villain (I’m sure you know the one) that suddenly and very conveniently resolves an otherwise hanging plot point by acting very out of character. But even that felt to me like something that could have made sense with a bit more room to breathe – a flaw, sure, but not one so unfixable that it retrospectively ruined the rest of the material for me. Certainly, though, if the problem was that the ending was rushed, this anime seems set on making it 10X worse if anything.
Guardian Enzo
February 5, 2021 at 11:58 pmHonestly don’t feel like I can address that in open forum – not fair to those who haven’t read the manga. All I’ll say is that the last third or so didn’t work for me on any level really. It’s only now, seeing what the anime is doing, that makes me realize that it could have been even worse. Because now, it is.
Collectr
February 6, 2021 at 1:22 amThere is a solution to adapting manga that jump the shark – just stop. A good example is the Usagi Drop anime. It adapts exactly half the manga, stopping at the time skip. That way, the writers didn’t have to deal with the disastrous ending, either by changing it (and offending the original author) or by keeping it (and offending just about everyone else). Sometimes, Just Say No is the right answer.
Simone
February 6, 2021 at 3:34 amWell, but apparently here the author is the one supervising the changes, supposedly, so they don’t even have THAT excuse.
Dauntingoverlord
February 7, 2021 at 3:16 pmI’m interested in how it being in NoitanimA would affect production, could you explain? In any case, it would’ve been better to have stopped with the first season. Promised Neverland is going to be one of those anime where you don’t touch the second season, and that just feels wrong. Can’t wait for The Promised Neverland: Brotherhood Book of Circus.
Guardian Enzo
February 7, 2021 at 4:54 pmYou’ll be waiting a long time…
I don’t know specifically how being NoitaminA would have screwed things up, only that it’s the one factor with the adaptation that obviously stands out as odd. A big WSJ title on NoitaminA is weird. A super-popular WSJ title getting shoehorned into 22 episodes is weird. Could be coincidence, but Occam’s Razor might disagree.
blargnobia
February 8, 2021 at 2:43 pmGood God the anime industry is good at manufacturing its own tragedies, isn’t it? Somehow I’m imaging Lil’ Slugger from Paranoia Agent picking off all of the employees at NoitaminA.
There was plenty of stupid stuff even in the better parts of the manga (Emma tanking fatal wounds, for instance) but cutting those arcs is one of those decisions that feels almost like a personal insult.
It kind of reminds me of what happened with Rage of Bahamut S2. The difference is that RoB S2 didn’t have any source material, so it was a surprise when an otherwise amazing series had a terrible ending. I went into tPN S2 knowing it was going to turn out badly; I just didn’t think they were going to skip straight to the ending. I’m not sure where I was going with this comparison but I’m leaving it.
Snowball
February 8, 2021 at 10:28 pmI haven’t read the manga, so I don’t know how much of it is going off the rails, but the biggest sin for me that this show is committing is being boring.
What was with that whole scene where that old demon was leaving the church and the animators decided to add some artistic direction here, alternating between a black screen and the demon walking out? Well, colour me not impressed.
Guardian Enzo
February 8, 2021 at 10:30 pmLike a said a few weeks back, the anime can be a little too “film school” for my tastes.