"The Promised Neverland" Review

Welcome, once again, my readers, to another anime/manga series review.

For those of you who stay on top of the recent anime schedule, you would know that a little series called "The Promised Neverland" has recently gotten a TV anime.

(And, yes, I know how redundant that whole sentence was, so just bear with me.)

(Oh, and SPOILERS AHEAD!)

Now, I don't know if I ever noticed this series when it first hit the American shelves, but learning its secret in a Youtube video got me intrigued.  I knew from the blurb advertisements at the back of Jump's other manga that these kids were being raised in an orphanage with a terrible secret, but it wasn't until I watched this video that I learned they were being raised as livestock to be eaten.

(I will link to the video down below once my review is done, don't worry.)

Our story begins in the idyllic Grace Field House, where protagonist Emma lives with her other 27 adopted siblings, under the care of a woman simply known as "Mom".  Every day they take tests, and there is only one rule: stay within the set boundaries.

There is a reason for this.

One day, when little girl Conny gets "adopted" but forgets to bring her favorite toy rabbit, Emma and her friend Norman follow after her to deliver it.  They follow a truck into a dark place, only to find Conny dead with a plant growing out of her torso.  And then they meet the demons.  Emma and Norman escape, but some fragments of overheard conversation reveal the horrible truth: their life at Grace Field House is all a lie, and "adoption" means their purchase for slaughter and devouring.

The series from then on leads into a Death Note-esque game of strategy, cat-and-mouse, and surprise twists as the children plot their escape.

I love how we're just dropped into this world, with no real explanations for anything, so we, the readers, really feel like we're learning about this world and the truth of it right along with Emma and Norman.  Each protagonist character feels different and unique from the others, as well.

And, personally, I thought it was creepy enough when I first heard about it, because I thought the kids were just being fed to other humans.  And I don't know if it's better or worse that they're being fed to these demons, these alien, decidedly-INhuman things that look like they'd be more at home as Hollows in Bleach or Taboo in Psyren.

(Pick up those two series, too, if you get the chance.  Or at least Bleach.)

The intellectual battle side of things feels like a breath of fresh air in today's manga climate of hack-and-slash, punch-punch-punch adventure fantasy manga.  Now, all that stuff is well and good, but I haven't seen something like this come out of Jump since Death Note itself (and maybe possibly Bakuman).

(Though, that being said, maybe there are also hints of this kind of story present in Platinum End, Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Ohba's latest work.  But I'm rambling.)

All things considered, I would suggest giving The Promised Neverland a look-through the next time you visit your local bookstore/library.

Try before you buy and all that.

And here's the link: (seems I can't, look up "horror anime" on Youtube and watch the one by "Mother's Basement")