Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Despite what a majority of you may think I in no way shape or form hate A-1 Pictures or CloverWorks. Being in the anime industry is no easy task and I respect everyone in it. But, come on? When you’re making an anime and you know you’re doing a crappy job, I’m not gonna hold anything back. That’s my main problem with A-1 Pictures and CloverWorks. I know they can do great anime they’ve proven it a number of times in the past, but I feel like they show favoritism to certain animes over others that deserve the same amount of treatment. That being said, whenever you do something right and great, I’ll praise the hell out of you and that’s what I intend to do today by looking at The Promised Neverland. As I’ve mentioned in the past, 2019 was the year of Shonen Jump. The publisher home to some of the greatest mangas out there today went on an anime making spree by taking their most popular mangas and turning them into anime. CloverWorks (Persona 5 the Animation) was blessed with the production of The Promised Neverland. Written by Kaiu Shirai in 2016 and ending a few months ago, The Promised Neverland quickly rose up the ranks of Shonen Jump and quickly became one of their best mangas. With its dark atmosphere and story, the series was a good callback to Death Note but still different enough to distinguish itself from Death Note’s shadow that a lot of people were missing after Death Note’s ending. The anime was of course a big hit being one of the best animes of 2019, one of the top 100 animes in the last decade, and even I put it on my top 11 animes list. I’ll admit I haven’t read the manga, but everyone I’ve talked to who’s read it says it’s great. Although, the ending could have been better according to them. With the second season set to start next year, I figured it’d be fun to get people excited and ready for what’s to come. Get ready to be disturbed and interested. This is The Promised Neverland.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening is “Touch off” by UVERworld. Hands down one of my favorite openings from 2019. It has been a long time since I’ve heard in UVERworld song that I can truly get behind and praise. They really did deliver with this song and brought the fire (pun intended). This song gets you hyped, it gets you excited, and the flow of the song is just great. The saxophone at the beginning gets me hooked every time I listen to the song.
The ending is Zettai Zetsumei” by Cö shu Nie. I have to admit I wasn’t really a big fan of this song, but after going back and listening to it for the review this song was a hidden gem. The way the song switches from upbeat and fast to slow and soft is amazing and keeps you within the flow of the song as you take everything in.
Episodes 1-4
So the first episode is pretty uneventful (until the final moments). We start off on an orphanage where our 3 main characters live. We have Norman voiced by Maaya Uchida (Irina from Highschool DxD), a smart boy who’s considered the smartest one there, Ray voiced by Mariya Ise (Reg from Made in Abyss) the second smartest one there, and Emma an athletic girl (who I thought was a boy when I first saw her) who’s the big sister of the bunch and is smart enough to keep up with Norman and Ray voiced by Sumire Morohoshi. These 3 are the oldest ones there (11 years old) so everyone looks to them for guidance and leadership. The orphanage is run by their caretaker Isabella who they call Mom (https://youtu.be/JSHusKDYgP0) who is a very caring, kind, and a lovely person. The only weird thing about the orphanage is that no one is allowed outside the fence area and going near the tunnel which leads to the outside world is prohibited (suspicious levels rising). Like I said before this episode is uneventful. The kids play tag and talk about what they want to do when they make it to the outside world. It’s only until the final moments where things really get crazy. One of the orphans named Conny gets adopted and is being walked out by Isabella. However, she leaves her bunny doll behind so Emma and Norman break the rules and run to the tunnel to give it to her. When they reach the tunnel, they see an automobile for the first time and look in the back where they see Conny’s dead lifeless body (https://youtu.be/OwDPMTfrGPo?t=15). Not only that, but they find out their orphanage is actually a farm used for selling children to monsters (it’s like a cattle farm only without the cattle) who eat and sell them (scene here: https://youtu.be/CSNqHYtl1VI). Emma and Norman manage to escape back to the orphanage without getting caught and make plans to escape with everyone alive.
In episode 2 the thrills keep coming as Norman and Emma do their best not to arouse suspicion from Isabella who found Conny’s bunny at the gate and knows that one of them was at the gate in episode 1 but she continues to put on that fake smile until she can find who it is. She does send the message out to her perpetrator that she can track them (if it’s any consolation, they’re located in the spot you least expect). I have to admit, despite the somewhat rushed pace throughout the episode, it doesn’t take away from the danger or sense of urgency that Norman and Emma have found themselves in. They now know that they are living with someone who can kill them without flinching. Throw in the fact that she can track them and is just as smart if not smarter than them, escape seems next to impossible (scene here: https://youtu.be/bSt2cRnTUro. Oh my God that was intense and scary as Hell). Norman theorizes that they have about 2 months before the next shipment, so he and Emma try to work out a plan to escape. They decide their best plan for now is to escape over the wall near the gates. However, the wall is quite tall (not Attack on Titan tall), smooth, and the only way to get over it is to jump from a tree. Emma and Norman decide to use sheets as rope to pull the others up and Ray eventually finds out what they’re planning, and his reaction is normal (he knew). He agrees to join them but says that saving everyone will be impossible as they’ll be escaping into demon territory and have no idea what they’ll encounter (demons who want to eat you). Emma refuses to give up on saving everyone and Norman sides with her (because he likes her) despite knowing how difficult this task will be. Ray, gives up and agrees to help them come up with a plan to save everyone. When they return from free time, they get introduced to a new child and new caretaker named Krone a muscular black woman who’s been called in to help watch over them (escape just got more difficult).
In episode 3 Krone gets settled in (and gives us some of the creepiest faces ever). Isabella tells her that she already suspects Emma, Norman, and Ray as the ones who were at the gate (obviously, they’re the smartest and oldest. They would be the first ones I suspect too) but won’t let central know about the current situation. Krone decides to use this opportunity to find who knows the truth, expose them, and show Isabella’s shortcomings to become the new caretaker. While this is going on Ray and Norman come to the conclusion that in order to escape they might have to kill Isabella and Krone (wow, came to that decision rather quickly boys. I should probably be worried about this but given their situation I probably do the same thing). Emma figures out that the tracking devices are implanted on the backside of their ears (ow) and the trio begin training everyone to increase their stamina so that they’ll be ready when it’s time escape. They train them under the disguise of tag which catches the attention of Krone who decides to play against them with the time limit being 20 minutes. We see that she has good athletic ability (she moves well for a big lady) and is actually quite smart. She easily captures the younger kids, catches Emma and even hints that she might be on their side. The only ones she isn’t able to catch are Norman and Ray who outlast the 20 minutes (barely. Scene here: https://youtu.be/ggU1oAQ-Bkw). A few days go by and the caretakers have made no moves whatsoever. Emma believes they threw off the caretakers, but Ray believes there’s a mole in their midst watching them.
In episode 4 Emma, Norman, and Ray continue to use tag as a way to train the others (having fun while learning. If only more schools could do this). They also decide to bring Gilda and Don into their inner circle and tell them the truth even though it’s possible that one of them is the mole (rest assured when I find this mole, I will cut them). Norman decides to lay a trap for the mole by telling Gilda and Don where he hid the rope in separate locations. At first it seems like it’s Gilda who’s the traitor as she goes to talk to Krone (*prepares knife* don’t let me cut a bitch) but she instead shows her loyalty to Emma and the others. Don on the other hand might be a traitor as the rope under Norman’s bed is missing which is what he told Don where it was but Norman pulls a twist on us by accusing Ray as the mole (I believe it. Kid was way too calm when he heard the truth. I don’t care how smart he is. When you hear something that shocking, you’re scared).
Episodes 5-8
The intensity continues to rise in episode 5. Ray comes clean and admits that he’s the spy but at the same time not a traitor. He’s known for a while about their situation and agreed to be Isabella’s mole for the sake of getting things from the outside. He’s also the one who set it up for Emma and Norman to find out the truth because in the end he only wants one thing, he wants them to escape alive (fuck everyone else. Save my best friends first). Ray agrees to be Norman’s spy and feed Isabella lies to throw her off but he has one condition and that’s that when they escape, he, Norman, and Emma will abandon the others (they’ll just slow us down). Norman reluctantly agrees to Ray’s condition (scene here: https://youtu.be/TPjhbSFKy7U) and the next day they tell Emma everything where she’s shocked but glad that Ray no longer has to hold this burden by himself anymore (although I’m sure that deep down she’s pissed that he kept this secret for so long and possibly sacrificed others just to keep her and Norman alive. We all gotta make sacrifices). Later that night, Emma and Gilda tell the others that they believe Isabella has a secret phone that she uses to communicate with headquarters. Don thinks they should sneak in and use it in the hopes of finding Conny (he still believes she’s still alive) but the others say no as it’s too risky and too many unknown unknowns (the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence). Don of course can’t sit still knowing Conny is in danger so he and Gilda sneak into Isabella’s room and try to find the secret room where they succeed but Isabella is just about to come in (oh hell).
At the start of episode 6, Don and Gilda get lucky and see that it’s just one of the younger kids playing hide and seek (dodged a bullet). They do however sneak back into Isabella’s room and enter the secret room where they discover all the belongings of everyone else. While that’s going on, Emma introduces Norman and Ray to William Minerva, a writer who used Morse code in his books which tells them about the dangers of the orphanage (and you couldn’t include an escape route why?). They decide to take this as a sign that there’s possibly a resistance group on the outside that can help them. Don and Gilda manage to escape the secret room unnoticed and they confront the others knowing that they’re hiding something from them. Having no other choice in the matter, Emma, Norman, and Ray tell them the whole truth (and nothing but the truth) and Don is pissed. Not only because they didn’t rely on him but because he forced them to lie to him because he’s so weak and thus couldn’t be trusted with the truth. They all apologize for the lies and promise not to hide anything from each other anymore (scene here: https://youtu.be/uV6G024CAWU). The next day, Ray feeds Isabella the lie that Don is going to try and kill her while Krone reveals that she’s been watching them this whole time (oh hell).
At the start of episode 7 instead of Krone ratting them out, she instead says she wants to team up with them. Krone’s main objective is to become a Mom on one of the farms as she can’t really escape (she’s a prisoner just like them). She has a device in her chest that will stop her heart should she leave the farms. So rather than try and escape she instead wants to make the best of her situation and in order to do that she must become a Mom. In return with teaming up with her, she’ll help with their escape and even provide them information that they may not know (scene here: https://youtu.be/haRA4DWhEDo). That night, Norman and Emma go to Krone’s room to get some answers (and I got to say, this was a well-done scene. This scene captures the amount of fear, uneasiness, and silent intensity between both parties. There’s no music and each sound and step they make only enhances this confrontation even further). In the conversation we discover that killing Isabella is out of the question as it’ll alert HQ of what has happened. Emma and Norman pretend not to know where the tracking devices are but Krone sees through their lie and exposes it (she’d be a good poker player). As far as the big questions such as what the outside world is like or how long have the monsters been around, Krone says she doesn’t know (questions for later then). While this is all going on, we see Ray get his final gift, a camera, which is secretly the last item he needs to disable the tracking devices in their ears. Norman says he wants to move up their plans to investigate the outside world so that’s exactly what they do while Krone sneaks into Ray’s room and tries to figure how they plan on disabling the tracking devices. She finds what she’s looking for and returns to her room in a gleeful state only to have it come crashing down by Isabella who brings her a letter from HQ to end the episode.
Oh my God this was an incredible episode. It starts off with Krone reading her letter where she finds out she’s been named a Mom for another farm. While she’s happy about this she has no intention of letting Isabella have her way so when she heads out to be picked up by Grandma, she tells her everything only to find out that Isabella and Grandma are working together (you fucked up Krone). Krone then gets killed by the monsters (scene here: https://youtu.be/HMzGblt8OfE, I’m gonna miss her crazy faces. Actually, this was a good flashback for her character. Up until this point it was easy to hate her. However, this scene really does make you feel sympathy for her. In the end, she was just like them. A weakling who worked hard to get strong and just wanted to survive. Just like anybody in her situation. Do I agree with her decision, no, but at the same time I can’t fault her for making that decision). Oh, and things only get worse from there. Isabella knows that Emma, Norman, Ray, Don and Gilda are trying to escape and she decides to confront them. She locks Ray in a room and goes to face Norman and Emma where she pleads with them to stop what they’re doing and just accept this fake happiness but they refuse (damn straight, I would refuse too). Emma tries to hold back Isabella, but Isabella finally has enough and snaps Emma’s knee (holy shit) all while putting on a fake smile and loving mother act (damn, we underestimated her). She takes Emma back to the house and it gets revealed that Norman’s shipping date has been scheduled and he’ll be gone tomorrow (scene here: https://youtu.be/udbZKDWmdSA).
Episodes 9-12
With Norman’s shipping date set, everyone decides that Norman has to escape by himself in episode 9. It takes a little convincing, but Emma and Ray manage to convince Norman to escape on his own. Don and Gilda make new rope and Norman uses it to climb up the wall where on the other side is a cliff (oh fuck me). Norman returns to the others to tell them what he saw and you can tell just by looking in his eyes how defeated he feels (scene here: https://youtu.be/RB3fO-5zAgU. Giant wall, demons, crazy sister who won’t hesitate to break knees, and now a cliff. They’re fucked).
Episode 10 is a pretty downright sad episode. Norman returns but says that there might be a possible way to escape at the edge of the wall. After that, he prepares himself to get shipped out as everyone is sad especially Emma and Ray because they know what’s going to happen to him and Ray blames himself for not being able to save his best friend. Norman gets shipped out and is “supposedly” dead (scene here: https://youtu.be/whPpEx-vbP4, unless I see a body he’s still alive in my book). The months go by as Ray has given up and it seems like Emma has given up as well (Norman was the glue that held everything together) with Isabella offering her the position to become a mom herself. On the day before Ray’s shipping, Emma approaches him with a look in her eyes that says she hasn’t given up yet.
Oh man, shit goes down in episode 11. So it turns out that Emma all this time has been having Don and Gilda train the kids while keeping Isabella’s attention. Not only that, but her leg has fully healed up as well. Emma says they’re going to execute the escape tonight and in order to keep Isabella occupied, they’re going to set the house on fire (the opening song has predicted the future). Ray also takes it up a notch by dosing himself in gasoline and setting himself on fire with house (scene here: https://youtu.be/i83IAtIrzJ8. You’re crazy Ray. You’re crazy and I love it). Emma’s screams alert Isabella who sees the fire and orders all the children out of the house while she tries to stop the fire and save Ray (well his brain at least. Apparently, that’s where all the nutrients go). As Isabella tries to put out the fire, Emma runs away and even cuts her ear off to get rid of her tracking device (oh God, where’s Mike Tyson when you need him?). Emma meets back up with everyone who all know the truth (I’ll see you guys in therapy) and Ray is there as well still alive. We find out that before Ray did his rendition of Burning Man, Emma stopped him and instead created a fake body as well as cut out his tracking device (love it! Just, love it). With the house burning down, Isabella tries to call HQ but the kids blocked her entrance to her secret room thanks to Krone who left them a present (that crazy bitch found a way to help them from the grave). As the kids make it to the wall, Isabella managed to get inside her secret room and get her radio. Despite being fooled she still refuses to give up on finding the kids and one of the kids stayed behind (scene here: https://youtu.be/XZ10J7bQUoc).
In the final episode we find out that Emma has decided to leave the kids ages 4 and under at the plantation (smart. There’s just too many unknown factors) but she vows to return for them when the time is right. She theorizes that the kids won’t be shipped out for another 2 years, so she has 2 years to return and save them (or they’ll be killed and their brains harvested. No pressure). After that, we see Emma and others reach the wall where we see their plan for escaping to the other side is to jump it (they didn’t skip leg day and they mastered the jump good). Nah, just kidding, they’re gonna zipline over (still a good plan). Everyone makes it over safely with Isabella catching up to them only for Emma to say goodbye to her and make it to the other side safely with the others. As Isabella watches them run away she has a look of satisfaction (I really do believe Isabella wanted them to escape. That deep down she really does love each and every one of them and wanted them all to live. She just wasn’t sure how to save them all and came to the conclusion that the best she could do was give them a life full of love and care). We get to see Isabella’s flashback where we find out she got pregnant and that her son is actually Ray (scene here: https://youtu.be/x8UGw1g04CQ, and you were gonna feed him to those monsters? I really don’t know if she’s soulless or just bipolar). So, we end the anime with the kids escaping and them overlooking the world as they prepare for their next move (to be continued).
Final Thoughts
Oh my God this was great! Seriously, I was on the edge of my couch every time I watched this anime. The story is great, it has the right amount of intensity, mystery, and strategy to it. While the anime doesn’t give us all the answers we seek they make it clear that they will be answered down the line and keep the mystery of these demons and the world interesting. The characters are very good as well. Emma is an idealist who wants to save everyone. Ray is a realist who realizes that he can’t save everyone even though he wants to, so he goes for the next best thing and that’s saving the people he cares the most about. Norman is somewhere down the middle. He tries to compromise Emma and Ray’s two extremes to come to a satisfying resolve that makes them both happy. His moral compass will of course steer him to side with Emma most of the time but at the same time he won’t overlook the worries and concerns that Ray has bought up. Speaking of Norman, he can’t be dead. Again, I haven’t read the manga, but my gut is telling me he’s not dead. Isabella is a well-written villain. The reveal that she is Ray’s mom is shocking and like I said before despite her evil acts I really do believe she cares for the children and wanted them to escape. The same can be said for Krone’s crazy ass. She realized it was too late for her to escape so all she can do is make the most of her situation and try to help others from meeting the same fate as her.
While the animation is nothing special the camerawork and the way it was shot was amazing. You feel like you’ve entered their world and feel what they’re feeling. Fear, hopelessness, sadness, and determination all get conveyed through the animation. The soundtrack was good as well and matched up with the scenes. I did like Isabella’s lullaby and the story behind it. Ironically, the scenes where there’s no music and it’s just the characters talking with one another are my favorite moments throughout the anime as you feel the tension in the air between the characters.
Final Score
The Promised Neverland earns an impressive 8/10 with a must watch stamp of approval. If you’re a fan of shows like Death Note and looking for a good non-battle battle series check this anime out you’ll definitely enjoy it. I’m very excited to see what comes next in this series. Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got a manga to read. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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