Most of you have probably already heard, but – in one of the least surprising announcements ever – Yakusoku no Neverland was confirmed to be back for a second season next year.  It was always a given, but they didn’t even wait to announce it at the close of the season finale – the news was dropped a couple of days ago.  To be honest I was probably going to use the same post title anyway, just because this was such a foregone conclusion, but it’s nice to have it all official I suppose.

You know, the thing about Yakusoku no Neverland (and I keep getting back to this because it’s something I profoundly believe) is that it’s a series that works on the strength of its premise.  There’s not a thing in the world wrong with that, since Goc knows a great premise is a rare thing in manga or anime.  But what it means is that  – for me at least – there’s a sizeable quality gap between the episodes (and indeed arcs) that are premise-driven, and those that are execution-driven.  It’s not like the execution of the manga is bad by any means (and the anime is nothing if not resolutely slick and professional), but that is where the cracks start to show.

In addition to that – while we’re moving ever-deeper into the realms of subjective opinion here – the further “Yakusoku” gets away from the original premise the more it tends to stray off course.  Even though the first season has ended I still can’t really get into why I feel that way for spoiler reasons, but I do think it’s obvious from the material events of this episode that the series is moving into a new phase.  A season-ender yes, but this was also a game-changer in every sense.  A new arc, a new season, and in truth a new series altogether.

Everyone who watches will come to their own conclusions about how the rest of Neverland compares to the first season, but for me the Grace Field arc was the money pitch.  When I was reading this part of the manga I kept thinking “Damn, this is such a great fucking idea – how did no one else write this before now?”  This is what shounen manga is really all about – dangerous, edgy, thrilling and suspenseful.  And the anime brought all that to the screen very faithfully, with only a couple of significant changes (and only one I strongly disliked).

One of the things that comes out of this episode is that the real hero of this show isn’t Emma or Norman or Ray – it’s goddam Phil.  Not only was he the one who spotted the hidden messages from William Minerva, he figured out on his own what was happening with Mama.  And he’s four years old – four!  Imagine what he’ll be like when he’s the main trio’s age, if he survives that long.  Sure, it’s not especially realistic but it does make him a pretty compelling character.

The really important thing Phil’s presence does is allow Emma to sidestep what would have been a fatal mistake – just as Ray kept telling her all along.  Because Phil is who he is, Emma is able to swallow her bile and leave the youngest children behind under his watch – because there’s absolutely no way they’d have been able to survive on the outside, or the older kids while looking after them (they never even would have gotten across the gorge).  Yeah, I get why this was so hard for Emma – she’s playing her role all the way to its logical extreme.  But it simply wouldn’t have worked, period.

The other bombshell this week, of course, was that Ray is Isabella’s son.  We don’t know for sure if she always knew – though I strongly suspect she did, because I think her behavior makes more sense in that context.  Ray has always had to carry the heaviest burden of any of the kids – he knew long before even Norman and Emma, and whatever emotional conflict they felt where Mama was concerned he surely felt it ten or a hundredfold.  Bearing that in mind, it’s not really surprising that he’s a bit of a head case about a lot of things.

There was one fairly significant change from the way these events played out in the manga, and that was having Isabella arrive at the wall before Emma crosses to safety.  It fits in with a larger choice Kanbe-sensei made in making Isabella a generally more sympathetic character.  That’s fine I suppose, but there’s a limit to how many times I want to be shown how conflicted she is when she’s done the things she’s done in order to prolong her own existence.  Cry me a river.  The backstory with Leslie was nicely done though, and it is a potent reminder of the difference in quality between she and Emma, based on how they responded to the same offer.

So there you have it – the cats are are out of the bag, and nothing in Yakusoku no Neverland can ever be the same again.  Despite my reservations about how the manga has progressed I’m quite looking forward to Season 2 (which I expect, like Boku no Hero Academia’s, will be two cours) – there’s some very good stuff still to come.  If I hadn’t already read all the material that will make up that season I think I’d be inclined to wait, as this series is probably more effective with the element of surprise. But that choice will be entirely up to you – nine months (at the very least) is a long time to wait…