Yakusoku no Neverland

This review will contain some spoilers and I'll mark them.

Yakusoku no Neverland takes the classic notion of limited survival space, in which our three protagonists play mind games and tactics with “mom”, and tried to escape after discovering the orphanage they lived is only a farm to raise kids to be sacrificed to demons. Similar to AoT, this “limited survival space” set up let you constantly question: What is outside of the house? Is it a demon society? Why does mom obey demons? Therefore you will never feel bored during the show with this set up that left much to be explored and the ... fast pacing of the story. The story maintained a careful balance between psychological mind game and the nature of kids mainly manifested in three protagonists. Emma is the typical naïve yet brave kid who has a mindset of escaping with everyone no matter the cost. If she were the only protagonist I would be much pissed because irrational character is never compatible with the mystery genre. Luckily we have Ray, a genius who does things realistically and has his “selfish” goals. Lastly we have Norman, someone that has the genius of Ray and the kindness of Emma. The story has one of the better openings that quickly escalate the intensity of the show, followed by many inner thoughts here and there that successfully explained the logic of kids and creates tension.

Okay, enough about the manga. Now let’s talk about the anime.
Let me just clarify one thing before going into the context, if you think this review is from a manga reader that got pissed because of how much they cut the inner monologue, it’s not the case. I didn’t read the mange before finishing the 3rd episode and there is a reason to that. My entire argument in this review is how the Promised Neverland can be a much better show and why this is just not good enough to be considered “great”.

Let’s keep in mind that this show is an anime about mind games and tactics between two parties (Or multiple parties, to be exact). Now what distinguish this show from shows like Death note or code geass? It’s the fact that this time we have three 12-year-old kids as our protagonists. This choice of main cast is smart so as to limit the main focus on mind game instead of fights or violence (as a choice of high schoolers would probably cause.) And that’s exactly the point of psychological genre; the main focus is on mind game and tactics (Code geass’ first season gets much criticism exactly because the mecha element sometimes completely defeats the purpose of tactic in the show). However, having kids as protagonists has its drawbacks. It’s often unrealistic for kids to make bold moves and form rather complex plans. So how do you make up for that then? The answer is by including a lot of inner thoughts to let audience know exactly how these kids move from some premises to their conclusions so as to not feel their logic is bizarre and out of no where, although we still pretty much have to assume Ray and Norman are some superhuman but it’s acceptable. You know what’s not acceptable? It’s how this anime adaptation manages to butcher the most important aspect of this genre, the logic.

Let me quote a conversation from episode 3:
#Spoiler starts now#
Emma: That sister hasn’t done anything since.
Norman: That’s probably mom’s order. Mom used to suspect us, but it doesn’t seem like that anymore.
Emma: I wonder why?
Norman: What do you think, Ray?
Ray: what about you, Norman?
Norman: Mon did something behind the scenes so she won’t have to move herself.
(Followed by several sentences basically sum up to: what do you think, Emma)
Emma: There’s no security camera or recording….
Then jumps to the conclusion that there is a traitor among kids.
#Spoiler ends#

What kind of super human logic is that? This whole deduction is a gigantic plot device that has no coherent logic whatsoever. (In the manga the explanation given makes much more sense but I won’t spoil, check out yourself)
Also keep in mind that this is not the only conversation that’s baffling, their conclusions on “demons want to eat brain” also makes no sense when, what’s more amusing is that the show holds a theory that brain size is the determinant of your intelligence when it’s clearly that molecular activities at synapses matters more (This one is just me nitpicking). I can’t help but to feel this is too contrived. What makes these logics ridiculous is the fact that there could be millions of explanations for the premise three kids had, now it is a universal truth that if you want to jump from a premise A to a conclusion B when there is no obvious relation between the two, you should rule out all other possibilities. That said, allow me propose a few questions: premise: (Mom used to suspect us, but it doesn’t seem like that anymore.) Why couldn’t it be that Mom thinks they are not the kids at the gate? Why couldn’t it be that Mom already confirmed that they are the kids at the gate so no need to suspect anymore? Why is it not potential security camera or recording devices? (Because Emma said there are no? Because Norman said he looked around before? So the search for hidden camera happened off-screen? How convenient. How about it goes like this: Norman: I’ve checked, there is no suspicious kid among us, maybe there are hidden cameras---on to the classic search for camera plot in death note.) Why can’t sister Krone keep on eye on them so mom doesn’t have to be there herself? Why can’t it be other supernatural explanations when there is a freaking inconceivable demon group out there? So many questions can be asked about one single deduction but these kids always reach the correct conclusion (there is traitor among kids), which makes no sense at all. It feels that the show is pushing for this classic “traitor” plot while totally disregarding any logic in between, and that’s the problem with this show in general, the plot progression is forced. The manga gives a way better explanation, which actually answered some of the questions listed above, but I would contend it is still kinda sketchy, what Cloverworks does is to magnify that sketchiness by 1000 times to the point that the conversation between three protagonists no longer seems like kids talking, more like the show trying to dump as much info on you as possible in order to move the plot forward. These conversations are never natural from my perspective. And instead of including a more detailed conversation and/or monologue, the show wasted precious sentences on meaningless "what about you/ what do you think" staff that contribute little to no to the overall story telling. (I personally think meant to test Ray at some point, but it was never revealed.)

Apart from that the anime also left out quite a number of important facts from manga. This is not intended to be a criticism since it’s pretty much a manga reader only problem. But all am I saying is that by including these details the anime can be much better. Just a few examples: 1. In that tag game when Emma was carrying two kids running, she was apparently trying to test if she can outrun sister krone. 2. Norman explicitly states it’s possible to kill Sister krone when Ray appeared behind sister krone in the tag game. 3. Norman apparently showed fear and nervousness in manga the day after they discovered the truth but in anime it is not shown. There are many subtle things I could honestly go on forever but I don’t want to nitpick too much.

Now at this point some of you would say: you have all these concerns only because you’ve read the manga, anime watchers won’t feel how unnatural the conversations are, stop comparing anime to manga, blablabla. That’s perhaps the most retarded argument I’ve ever heard. NO, that is not the case. Please keep in mind that I only watched the manga because the logics in those conversations are so absurd that I had to check out the manga in order to keep up with their “logic”, and then I find out what a huge disappointment the adaptation is.

Not to mention they make sister Krone like a complete psycho who would shout out her nasty plan loud in her room and speak to a doll. The amount of ridiculousness of her character design rivals that of the eyeball ninja and big-head women in Miral Nikki. And that is not good for a story with such intensity and mind game. They could make sister Krone creepy, but not too far as to make her seems stupid and laughable.

There is a reason why I am so pissed about this adaptation. Logic and/or inner monologue to mystery/psychological genre is what fan service to ecchi, think about death note without 80% of L and Light’s inner monologue, do you think it would be as enjoyable as it is now?

At the end of the day, this is not a trash adaptation by any means; it’s just not a good one. I find the art style pretty good, the story is rushed but still maintains a solid storyline, and you won’t find it frustrating if you apply the “turn-off-brain” method. The show itself is still good since it’s based on a good source. The main focus of my criticism is the fact that the show could have been much better. And I am greatly disappointed about all the potential wasted since horror and mystery of one of my favorite genres.

It’s true this review is only for first 4 episodes, and the rest 8 episodes could see some improvements. I am pretty sure some of you would start ranting: Can’t you evaluate the show after it finished airing? Sorry I can’t, because this is not a problem that could be answered “later” and I’ve read the manga so I don’t need any answer; the problem is how Cloverworks approaches this adaption. Now 4 episodes in, I am pretty certain Cloverworks doesn’t even know what makes the manga interesting, it’s not art style, not an awesome op, it’s the freaking logic and inner thoughts that contributes to intensity, and I don’t see the improvements coming, not yet.

You ever feel like you're going insane by reading everyone's reviews of a show when everyone is calling it a masterpiece?

The Promised Neverland is pretty enjoyable Shonen thriller. It is watchable if you think you'd enjoy it based off the concept, will have a hard time convincing anyone else I feel.

As someone who hasn't read the manga I have to assume all the 10s this show is getting are pretty much exclusively from source readers as in the first 8 of a 12 episode run it has done NOTHING to me to deserve more than a 5. It's perfectly average.

The part that perplexes me the ... most about how everyone is saying how much better the manga is, is that this shows biggest issue (for me at least) is really weak writing and dialogue scenes as well as how the show handles information in the most annoying way possible, both of which are issues that I'd imagine plague both as they aren't things that are hard to translate if done well.

The dialogue consists of characters explaining to others their strengths and weaknesses and going on about how we must save everyone but that's just the best thing to do (remember this is a SHONEN).

In regards to the information complaint it is a follows: An important piece of information suddenly appears, they don't show the audience the information they only show the character's reactions. That information then pops up to save characters in a way the audience never could have predicted because the show doesn't tell us what it is. All this results in is frustration as the viewer knows that the random information will save the characters, they just don't know how so ultimately it's unsatisfying.

My final and perhaps biggest issue with this show (and it's much more personal and subjective so I left it until the end) is that the character designs are FUCKING AWFUL and they can completely ruin any tension a scene has built up because of how dumb and goofy they look with their tiny little faces. Also I hate the MC as she is the most stereotypical shonen protagonist possible, as well as having dumb looking hair.

A quick review on why I highly disliked this show, albeit obviously being one of the best/most popular this season.

Building up a mystery/thriller is hard. Establishing a unique utopia, as in one we know nothing about, is even harder. Setting them both up simultaneously is incredibly ambitious. And considering this show is a mere 12 episodes, I reckon near impossible. The Promised Neverland deftly managed to reasonably accomplish both tasks, but by forcing such ambition into so little time, I couldn't help but feel it couldn't possibly fill it's promise, and imo, I was right.

For a show so heavily reliant on its characters (which for ... the record were very well done in the time available), I consistently felt like I didn't know enough about them, I was never invested. You could argue that's just how these type of plots are, but I disagree. Monster, angel beats, eden of the east, and many isekai manage to either suffice or fill that craving with some distraction. Besides Neverland's promising storytelling, nothing else was offered. The story simply felt lackluster due to lack of meaningfulness, liking the characters just isn't enough.

While this show didn't fall terribly into the trap of introducing too many ideas and developments too late, there was too much off the get go to keep up. If there is one thing I truly hate in any media I consume, it is wasted potential. This whole season was equivalent to an arc, and that arc was a rushed introduction. The "mystery" was too involved to allow characters to develop, important moments I'd argue were crucial for the story were often skipped, likable characters without depth are merely cliches. Again, for a show heavily reliant on it's characters, they weren't substantial enough.

The story barely progressed, the characters were barely developed beyond an introduction to their personality, the mystery was showcased just enough to make sense, but not enough to add any sort of 'mysterious feel'. Despite being genuinely a good show, it felt empty. An empty show doesn't deserve a good rating.

If by some magic you haven't watch this show yet, sentimental to my grievances of it, and somewhat align with my way of thinking, here is my advice. Do NOT watch this show. Until either season 2 is midway through and seems promising, or better, until the whole series ends. There is a TON of promise, but it simply didn't occur here; nor enough to guarantee it next season.

I rate this season 4/10, but considering the hype for this show it's safe to assume another season will happen, and the premise can still reach its full potential. The show isn't bad nor ruined, I just wish this season was either 24+ episodes or simplified down to 2-4 to allow some seriously needed investment.

This is a fine anime but had the potential to be one of the best. The story and the characters are very good but the anime was not able to bring out best of them. The biggest disappointment was that the anime started out strong but became pretty dull in the middle of the show, then it reached its climax in the last few episodes but ended a complete disappointment. The anime overall could have become one of the best anime in the world.
When I watched the first few episodes, I was quite ... excited see what would happen in the end. This anime was truly thrilling in the beginning. I was really looking forward to it but half-way through the anime, the story fell into a rapid downfall. The story materials were getting duller and duller by the minute. When I was at about episode 6, I was utterly disappointed and exhausted by the meaningless drama. The reason for being so disappointed was that this was one of the most anticipated anime of 2019.
In the beginning of the anime, the story was really thrilling. I was surprised by the way they twisted a plot of happy family drama into a horror/thriller based plot. I was like at last have found a good anime in a long time but my hopes were all crushed half-way through the show. I got a vibe feeling that the writer didn't seem to care about the plot anymore.
The characters were really accurate in the beginning, true to their mannerisms, behavior, character, etc...
Ray: The twisted dark smart character of the anime, who acts like he doesn't give a shit, talks less but actually he care about others.
Norman: The typical clean smart good guy of the anime who cleanly expresses his feelings about others.
Emma: The touchy-feely character who disregard logic and try to save everyone.

The 3 main characters were true their acts in the beginning of the anime but was completely destroyed by the writer's poor imagination and directing skills. In the beginning and half-way through Ray was the know it all, the one with the plan, the one who wanted to save his friends. As soon as Ray hits his spotlight in the series, Norman swoops in gives up his life valiantly in an attempt of preserving his friends life. Ray is devastated and throws himself into solitary. By this process Ray's meaning of existence in the show is utterly destroyed and Norman's character is completely transformed. In the last 2 episodes it's revealed that Emma has worked with Norman and has put a plan into motion without Ray's knowledge. Emma then accepts that fact that not everyone can be saved. In the end the touchy-feely character who disregard logic is completely transformed into new character which is absurd. By changing all these character's personalities the writer has been 100% successful in killing the reason for Ray's existence making him puppet of the whole process.
Ray's reason for existence is so he can sacrifice himself for his friends survival. Norman and Emma's was to carry his life's wish. I'm not a sadist for saying the above but merely stating the facts which ruined the plot's flavor.
The writer was aimlessly adding plot twists and character developments which were utterly demeaning for the series. The existence of the "MOTHER" was not clearly narrated. The writer was always taking the easy way out of problems but creating more twists and mysteries. A very good example for aimless plot twists is the fact that the anime revealing that Ray is the son of the MOTHER. This fact had no effect on the story whatsoever. The existence of the "SISTER" is a filler of the show. She was magically brought in and thrown away when the opportunity arose.
Even with all those faults, I kept on watching with hope in my heart but the show never hit the correct standards. This anime was clearly one of those mediocre anime which could have risen to the status of EPIC.

1) JUVENILE RESOLUTION

The Promised Neverland was a complete let down. Although the kids managed to escape, it was done in a very juvenile way that makes you wonder if they needed to be smart in order to do something so simple. Just set something on fire as a distraction and swing across the chasm. That doesn’t sound like it required an IQ of 200 in order to work out, much less 12 episodes of careful planning. In fact most of it happened out of screen in the last 2 episodes.

2) NO ACTUAL PLOT PROGRESSION

There was no actual plot progression 90% of the time. What was ... the point of almost everything that happened in this entire show? What about the secret messages in the books? What about sister Krone’s pen? What about Emma’s leg breaking? None of that mattered. You could literally jump from episode 1 to episode 11 and you would have missed close to nothing. I mean, they might be relevant in a later arc, but they were not presented as if there will be another arc where they are needed. They made it seem like they matter in this arc.

3) FAKE SUSPENSE

In practice from episode 2 all the way to episode 10 you were getting nothing more than fake suspense filler. Because if you can skip it it’s filler, and if there is suspense that doesn’t amount to anything, it’s fake. Ow, what’s gonna happen now that they discovered the Mors codes? What’s Krone going to do? What does this creepy revelation about the pen could mean? Nothing. They are nothing more than cliffhangers for making you anticipate the next episode, even if they don’t amount to something, and for making you waste your time in overthinking theories that ultimately mean nothing. Again, they might matter in a later arc, but a cliffhanger is meant to have a pay off in the immediate next episode and not after 4 arcs.

4) PLOT ARMOR

Everything that seemed to be a threat, ended up being a joke because of the ridiculous amount of plot armor.

-The kids were given unneeded knowledge and training regarding machinery and human civilization. If they were given nothing but Sudoku to solve all those years, it would be enough to be smart, and they wouldn’t have the knowledge to escape. If they were told they were born to become nutrition for the demons, they wouldn’t want to escape since that is what they would think is the meaning of life.

-Norman was send out to be eaten, but he wasn’t eaten because plot.

-Emma breaking her leg made it seem like it would be impossible to escape, but no they just time skip a few months later when she is fine again.

-The demons were never a threat, and there was very little actual danger. I mean how hard was it really to escape if a bunch of 5 year olds managed to elude an army of demons with zero casualties and zero injuries?

-And yes, there were injuries but they were self-inflicted and were part of a juvenile diversion. They weren’t caused by the demons chasing after them and the kids didn’t need an IQ of 200 in order to think of that.

5) FAKE COMPLEXITY

There were spies and traitors who would report to the demons if the kids were planning to escape. It seems to be making things a lot more multilayered at first and how that would require more mind games and backstabbing, until you realize none of that amounts to something.

-Krone told the demons about the escape and not only they did nothing about it, they also killed her for telling the truth.

-Isabella knew about the escape and did not report it.

-Ray was a spy but he ended up working for the kids all along.

-Even freaking Phil was presented as if he was a spy and he ended up not being one.

6) WEAK CHARACTERIZATION

The characterization is easily the weakest part of the whole show.

-Nothing makes the kids stand out from characters of other shows. They don’t have a distinctive look to stand out (unless the retarded faces some of them have somehow counts), their clothes are plain, their backdrop is non-existent, and their character development is also non-existent.

-The evil women were far more fleshed out for having a backdrop and a crazy backstabbing personality, but even there it’s pretty weaksause. Krone hardly lasted enough episodes to leave an impact, and Isabella was literally given a backdrop 10 minutes before the finale that somehow caused her to change personality.

-In general, whatever change seems to be made in terms of characterization is instant and has no follow-up, just like the cliffhangers. The moment you are given a flashback that fleshes out a character, said character is removed from the show. That is not development, it’s last moment twists for knee-jerk reactions.

7) WEAK CINEMATICS

Lots of cinematics are working against the integrity of the atmosphere, as well as the (already weak) characterization.

-The kids are talking out-loud when they constantly say they might be overheard by a spy. They should have been whispering. That clashes with their otherwise high intelligence.

-There is very little internal monologue and narration, thus you end up listening to characters say things they shouldn’t because they already know about them.

-The music often spoils a twist for letting you know there is something going to happen in the next 30 seconds.

-Characters are often doing an action that takes a lot of time, with nothing of interest going on to excuse it. Isabella walking (slowly) to Krone, and Ray shaking (slowly) Isabella are two easy to spot examples. It’s obvious padding because the writer didn’t have enough material for a properly paced 12 episode series.

-At the same time most knee-jerk actions happen way too fast. There is no way for the kids to have run away from under the car in a few seconds after the demon looked under it. He would have seen them as there was nowhere else to hide in such a short notice. There is also no way for Norman to have run up the wall that easily, or to have scanned the whole perimeter in a couple of minutes. Lots of scenes defy logic, just to make the situation thrilling through super fast and improbable physiscs.

I mean, you can still like the show for the thrills, but feels aside there are way too many technical problems both in writing and directing, that prevent the anime from being considered the best anime of all times (much less a classic or a masterpiece).

I wanted to say off the bat I liked this anime, but there's a few reasons why I gave it only a fair value.

I'm going to be blunt, this really should have been two cours. For a shounen anime to end right after the buildup to a main part with no real sense of what's coming next, it doesn't really help to build the world or future for the series. So as for now, it seems to just simply be a manga advertisement.

The characters and pacing was absolutely phenomenal for the single arc, but the problem lies that the story isn't really fleshed out. We're ... given stark details about the world that are never really seen or put into practice. The moral dilemmas inside of the compound seem like a taster of what they would need to prepare for outside the walls, yet we never get to that point. Since I've been watching simultaneously, I'd compare it to S1 of Boku no Hero Academia. Both are 12 episodes and Shounen, but BNHA focuses first on the admission of the main hero, which sets the tone and then followed it up for a presentation of the villains. Villains were hinted at in the first arc, but never the focus. It seems The Promised Neverland would have been better served focusing on the plans of escape at the first part, then flesh out the demons world in a second similar to BNHA. The second section is important for investment, because while the first tone setting arc sets up the spike, the focus on the threat of the second arc would be the point to drive home "why I should keep watching/reading".

This is the sad part: I enjoyed what I watch but I felt no investment to continue with. I mean I can wonder what happens, however, I already know how they operate and ending it there just leaves it open ended enough to where if this had been just a bit more horror based I could have been completely satisfied with it. The knowledge that they live again to fight another day? The escape isn't so much of a spoiler, since there's plenty of twists and turns along the way, however the success of it makes much of them moot without a follow up.

If this show gets a Season 2, for all I know it could recover astoundingly and be a best loved series. However, with the lackluster end and no carrot to string anyone along, I really feel this season falls flat without supplemental materials that we honestly shouldn't need.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Emma is effectively a Mary Sue that is used as the vehicle to drive the plot forward, and while there are some relatively intelligent things that are done that surprised me (using the rope on a tree to effectively run horizontally up a parallel wall), everything else I could've guessed, personally. I've seen Sherlock (BBC) and Lie to Me, it's pretty bog standard "what do you know and what do I know that I can use against you without showing you" dialogue 101.

As for the "outwitting the mother" trope, there is so much left unsaid in an otherwise incredibly talkative show. The script for ... this show must've been over 50,000 words, because holy shit does EVERYTHING get explained with talking.

And whenever there's a thing where they COULD show and not tell, nope, cut to black, don't show us what the characters are looking at, or end the episode. This happens at least four times that I can remember while writing this off the cuff.

Y'all can call it "suspenseful", or "creates anticipation", or "atmospheric", I don't care and I find it terrible. People are allowed to have different opinions, or so I have been told.

Action? You want action? Nope. Not that kinda show.

Cute girls? Not that kinda show.

Humor? Not that kinda show.

Predictable violence where the bad guys actually kill the good guys? Not that kinda show.

Love watching kids deal with trauma? This IS that kinda show.

Someone actually kills themselves? Nope, not that kinda show.

People are actually clinically insane but don't engage in self harm or violent outbursts that hurt others? This IS that kinda show. Yes it's not realistic, but not much of this show is.

You want essentially an anime version of The Great Escape crossed with the politics of The Matrix with MORE constant over the top dialogue of Robert Downey Jr's Sherlock Holmes movies? This is EXACTLY what you want.

Story: 6/10. My problem with TPN is that every potential issue is resolved just as quickly as it comes up. It would be great, fantastic even, if these issues prompted the protagonists to find a work-around or try to analyze their way out of a sticky situation. Instead, an issue is just superficially raised up to present a cliffhanger to an episode, and in the next episode the issue is resolved almost entirely. Eventually it starts to seem like the protagonists aren't earning anything, they just get lucky or the plot is too convenient for them.

In short, a good premise with a decent handle on ... presentation, but the execution and progression of the 'cat-and-mouse' chase is lazily done, rather one-sided and has room for improvement. But since we're already halfway in I don't see any positive changes coming soon.

Art: 8/10. It's consistent and pretty good. Nothing incredibly amazing but nothing incredibly bad either. Although it's funny how the opening song sequence looks so cinematic and beautiful and the actual animation, although pretty clean, is relatively straight-forward and not as thrilling. Would've been absolutely gorgeous if this anime could've pulled off that level of animation as seen in the opening sequence, which reminded me of Made in Abyss and its god-tier artwork.

Sound: Honestly can't make a judgement here. I'll have to rewatch, the soundtrack hasn't stood out to me but I also haven't hated anything in particular in regards to sound. I'll have to pay more attention to the soundtrack to flesh out my feelings in this regard. At the very least the opening is really good, and the show does well with its 'silent' spooky sequences.

Characters: Another area I'll have to reserve judgement for. The characters are more than one-dimensional set pieces to get a plan into action. Their relationships feel genuine and they're all different from one another. There is great potential for conflict and development so I'll have to see where this goes.

Enjoyment: 7/10. Amidst the problems of TPN, I can't lie and say it isn't entertaining or even downright scary at times. It's unfortunate that a lot of the issues are resolved rather quickly; it would be great to let these issues breathe and derail the plans of the protagonists. As I mentioned prior, the 'cat-and-mouse' chase feels rather one-sided, which makes the anticipation factor dwindle since you can already predict how things will end and can only sigh in discontent when an obvious oversight causes the protagonists to mess up. But even when they mess up, it becomes a non-issue relatively quickly.

Overall: 6/10. TPN has much room for improvement but is somewhat entertaining and has decent characters. The second half of the show will either elevate or drop the score. As for now, I think TPN suffers from it's inability to present tangible obstacles that present real, constant threats to the protagonists. The process of developing a plan and strategy seems to rely more on random spurts of good luck mixed with the occasional clever planning; less of the former and more of the latter would make this show way more interesting and real.

The issue with Yakusoku no Neverland is that it tries to be too clever, and fails spectacularly. Having genius protagonists isn't a problem. What is a problem is when the protagonists are so intelligent that it ruins the plot entirely because after the first few episodes, you are left with little doubt that they will be able to overcome anything that is ever thrown at them. The question isn't whether the protagonist will be able to overcome the problem or not, the only question is whether an antagonist will come up with a deus-ex-machina of their own to delay the plot slightly. The viewer is ... kept guessing as to whether a number of characters are good or evil, except you're not, because you know that the protagonists have worked it out already.

What makes this worse is that overcoming the mysteries the plot throws at the main characters doesn't even involve any inspiring solutions that the viewer could have worked out themselves, it just involves an endless number of backstabbers, backstabber-backstabbers, backstabber-backstabber-backstabbers, and so on.

This to-and-froing between a group of ridiculously intelligent people at times reminded me a bit of Death Note, except at least in Death Note (1) the plot was generally interesting and (2) the main characters were somewhat believable. The latter point is absolutely not the case in Yakusoku no Neverland because everybody involved is under the age of 11. This is taken to the extreme by one of the characters who [SPOILERS], at the tender age of 4, has no problems comprehending that his entire life is a lie, that he has been betrayed by his mother, and without a second thought agrees to commit himself and the other young children to extreme danger to give the older children a chance at survival. And even that is topped when it is revealed that one of the protagonists has such an extraordinary memory that he even remembers being in his mother's womb. The biggest joke is that this doesn't even serve any particularly important role in the plot, it's just a lazy, deus-ex-machina explanation for this character knowing more than he should do.

Yakusoku no Neverland isn't a bad anime, but it isn't good either. There are some nice characters, some good cinematography, and good audiovisuals. It's just a shame that it's let down by lazy, unbelievable story-writing.

Have you ever fantasized about a very dark and thrilling, intelligent yet entertaining show that would make you see your world and everyday life differently ?
That is exactly what Yakusoku no Neverland tries to be. That is also what it fails to be.

The beginning of the show is indeed thrilling, the first twist brings this somehow Slice of Life looking series into a Horror one, with all the might of the "paradigm shift"... In terms of scriptwriting It's very well mimicking series the likes of "Shingeki no Kyojin" or "WestWorld", slowly establishing/revealing the rules of the game to the spectator, keeping a lot of things ... uncertain so that the audience keeps watching to know the whole truth behind this, but also because it's such a useful tool as a scriptwriter: you can make your rules as the game is playing.

But as a spectator some people tend to find this annoying, and I'm part of these people who would like to feel that they have the same card in hands that the creators, instead of being carried from a twist to another like a hand ball. This is the main irritating aspect of this show, the pattern is always the same: nothing goes as expected, and again, and again, as a kind of spiral stairway of twists upon twists, but by the tenth episode the surprise is long gone and you find yourself yawning at how "mommy" had expected that the children had expected that she had expected that they'd expect she'd know that... (no spoilers ;) )

Except for this overuse of backwards-logic writing, The show is very well delivered, the animation is pretty smooth, with a strong but interesting style, and some really impressive image quality for a weekly-based show. The film-making is globally common, with intense dramatic scenes and strong use of background music, but sometimes tries to go further and actually finds some original and strong ideas with the use of silence or camera movements.

This show was watchable for me, just that. Unremarkable. Forgettable.

Now first lets discuss one thing that it's been bothering me, this show is a shounen and it's easy to tell, don't get why some people are trying to call it seinen. Now the details.

CHARACTERS: not that much development, kids are orphans and they still are the same as the beginning. Not much there. Their personalities are pretty standard for a shounen, I wouldn't call it generic but they aren't deep, realistic nor unique enough to feel some special attachement. At least for me.

STORY: kids discover the truth and now they have to do what they ... can to survive, simple.

VILLAINS: again, simple. Monster want food, they raise kids. The supervisors are pretty basic too and they don't have that much going for them.

WORLD: we only know that some monsters control the orphanage, we don't know anything else. This is one of the points that may save the next season (at least to me), if they do the world building right. Not that I'm expecting that much after how the story progressed.

PSYCOLOGYCAL ASPECT: this is one of the things that I've heard people praising, I really don't get why. We don't have almost any introspection, nor moral problems. Besides the kids trying to lie to survive I haven't noticed that much in this department and I would call that common sense instead of "psycological battle".

MYSTERY: too much foreshadowing and dragged moments made all the revelations have less impact than they should have. That is one of the biggest issues of this show imo. Being teased for 10 minutes takes out the fun of it. The characters seems to have a pretty thick plot armor so far and it makes it boring. The only mystery so far is the world, and we almost got nothing except a couple of clues in the second half.

HORROR: I never felt scared or uneasy by the development of the story so far.

SOUND: cool music and VAs, nothing much to say.

ART: I personally don't like the art and it looks stupid, but this is totally subjective so it's pretty pointless to talk about it.

ANIMATION: great, all the movements are fluid and I never noticed anything weird (I think). One of the strongest points of the show.

-------------------------------------------

OVERALL: the show have a bit potential, but so far fails to deliver something special or impactful. This looks like a bit darker than usual shounen focused on mystery, I'm disappointed with the development so far. It follows the general formula of shounen with a couple of small twist, that imo doesn't accomplish that much. So far the only things that can lift this show are some serious character progression and an interesting world building. The first season felt really stale, it lacked development and events. It had a really predictable end with almost no tension, this season was really tamed and safe.

Despite all this the show is not bad and I think it can be enjoyable and it have some potential if the rise the stakes a bit. Too safe, too simple and lacked tension. Choosing the shounen's troupes and traits for a horror and mystery show doesn't work for me.

I never felt like the characters were in a real danger, the characters were just barely OK and the lack of interesting events didn't helped either. Plus the lack of world building (thing that isn't that bad by itself, but it is in this context).

Had I seen The Promised Neverland’s anime adaptation before writing my post about my disdain for anime adaptations, it would have been a key example of everything that I hate about anime adaptations. Flat visual presentation, a lack of creativity, and a tone that poorly reflects that of the manga. These are my three key issues with TPN’s anime adaptation, I’ll unpack these three issues over the course of the next two post, let’s begin.
First of all, TPN’s manga counterpart has a relatively unique art style for a Shonen Jump manga. It would be assumed that an adaptation would capture this style, but unfortunately ... this is not the case. The art and animation in the anime are mediocre at their best, and abysmal at their worst. Not to mention the lack of any strong visual direction whatsoever. When I think of the type of story that TPN is, I would think that someone like Tetsuo Araki (Death Note, AOT) would be the perfect director. The level of intensity that is felt in Death Note and AOT is purely down to Araki’s brilliant directing style. I’m not saying that Araki needed to be brought on to direct TPN, but at the very least, someone who knows how to work tension and intensity into a scene. There is a distinct lack of any tension in the anime, how is it possible to feel any kind of dramatic stakes when as an audience we are subjected to a panning shot of a still image accompanied by a needless exposition dump? The anime doesn’t treat its viewers with any respect, the staff working on TPN clearly don’t understand the concept of showing and not telling.
As for the lack of creativity, TPN’s anime adaptation is more or less a one for one adaptation, and that’s at its best. There is nothing worse than an adaptation that brings nothing new to the table and merely sets out to deliver the exact same experience as its source material. What is the value of an adaptation when all it does is deliver the same story but in an inferior way? I should clarify that there is a difference between an adaptation that intentionally changes aspects of the source material and an adaptation that is so incompetent that is is unable to replicate it’s source material.

Flat visual presentation, a lack of creativity, and a tone that poorly reflects that of the manga. In my last post I was able to cover the first two of these issues. As instagram’s word limit is unreasonably low, I had to split the two posts up. Expect this one to be shorter, let’s begin.

TPN’s anime adaptation seems to lose track of the tone that it is going for over and over again. The manga has a sort of eerie tone throughout the majority of the first chapter before the plot twist is revealed. Everything that is happening feels very distant, even though everything that is being shown feels very wholesome, it is clear that something much darker is happening behind the scenes. All of this information is communicated to the audience through the tone. However, when put to animation, the tone that is present in the manga is completely lost. The first episode of the anime almost feels like a parody of a psychological thriller. Even before the plot twist has been revealed, we are shown close ups of the numbers that have been tattooed onto the characters’ necks, this also happens in the manga but it is the addition of the unsettling soundtrack that instantly clues the audience into the fact that something truly awful is happening to these children. The manga goes about presenting this information much more subtlety and expects its readers to be using their brains to figure out what is happening. As I said in the previous post, the staff working on the anime adaptation clearly don’t understand the concept of showing and not telling.
That is all, you’re free to like whatever you want and I don’t even blame anyone for liking the anime adaptation. However, be aware that just because you loved it, that doesn’t mean that it is exempt from criticism.

A show that could have been a 7/10 if it wasn't trying so hard to be a 10.
It's got a good concept, with lots of potential for elaboration and exploration.
It starts out well, and makes you want to know how it ends. However i have to end my praise here. After the initial hook, there is a long, tedious, progression towards the payoff you're badly waiting for. There's a lot of reasons that cause the bulk of the story to not be enjoyable.

Our first hurdle is credibility. Off the bat, our characters are far too smart ... for their age. But even more importantly, they are far too mature. We're talking about kids that live the most sheltered life imaginable, that have never encountered hardship or seen the world. Despite that, it's evident that they're on equal grounds (or better) than the adults in the show. Another crucial mistake is the existence of the monsters. The kids themselves live in a world otherwise void of any magic or fantasy elements. The problem is that because the monsters exist, we are now in a fantasy setting, which means that real world rules can be broken at the whim of the author. And in this kind of story, you just know it will happen sooner or later. Imagine if instead, this was a story of evil cannibalism by powerful but regular humans? It would have been far more interesting, far more dystopian and unsettling, and required more care from the writer.

The second hurdle is simply poor writing. Characters are continuously withholding information for each other just for the sake of withholding them from you, the viewer, so that they can reveal everything in an """"epic twist"""" later on. It's hamfisted and grating. The author's trying to be death note but he does not have the aptitude for it. The show is also littered with melodrama that drags on for far too long. 10 year old children do not act like soap opera characters. The situation is dark and dire, so one could argue the drama is warranted, but i just couldn't "feel it". Because the characters are so unbelievable, i cannot feel any empathy for them. What's clear to me is that most of it is there to fill out time. Simply delaying the ending, for greater payoff? I presume? Not worth it.

The final hurdle lies in the presentation. Firstly, the faces of these children are so grotesque that it defies all reason. Once again i get the feeling that the creators tried to be so much better than everybody else. "All these shows have sameface characters, those plebs, we can do better!". The result is that some of the faces are so deformed that they look like aliens. One kid in particular looks like those photoshopped pictures where the face is shrunk but the head size is the same. Every time he came on screen, i was wondering if the creators were making fun of me. Next is the over-the-top Higurashi facial expressions and gesturing. It worked for higurashi because the characters were literally insane. Here they aren't, they have no business making those kind of faces. Sister Krone's antics are so goofy and ridiculous that i wonder what the fuck they were thinking. I think it's trying to be like those spooky clowns that do "funny things" but it's just creepy? Anyway, it was ridiculous. This is a show that's trying to be dark, serious, hopeless. All of these little things will prevent you from getting into that kind of mood, and it ruins everything.

The only good thing in this show is Isabella the Mama of the house. The only character with a bit of mystery and depth. The only character with uncertain motivations, or a past that you can care about. Luckily this is explored in a fairly artistic and well-executed manner near the ending of the show. Again though, it could have been more. I'm not sure if there will be more of her in future seasons; i won't be trying to find out.

Bottom line is a very mediocre show that thought it was a masterpiece. With a bit less pompousness from the authors, it could have been at least "good". The ending is solid, but in hindsight, it is not worth the time you spend rolling your eyes and being frustrated. Would not recommend.

Spoilers ahead, duh.

To the point,
The first 2 or 3 episodes weren't as bad, not the greatest but still good enough. They did a decent job of setting up the world and creating a semi-tense atmosphere. BUT, as soon as they try to add this half baked "Mind games" element to the show, it fell apart instantly. Their lazy jab at Psychological horror is so horrendously bad that it was actually hilarious. You could tell that the show had absolutely no substance whatsoever to begin with, they'd just keep going on with this "Complex twists" sham to try and extend the same plot arc further. ... Every episode was just an awful attempt at one-upping the previous episode, ending with a beyond cheesy plot twist. The tension in the show was non-existent, it was just a bunch of Panning shots like anything was ever going to happend, surprise surprise, nothing ever happens.

Coming to characters, they were awful too. Norman, Ray, Isabell were too busy one-upping each other, Emma might as well have not existed and Don, Gildua were just there to mess things up for the main crew. The only real interesting Character with any personality whatsoever was Sister Krone, she was done pretty well in my opinion, but that doesn't matter since everyone else might as well have been bricks

In the end, the show reaches absolutely nowhere. All that really happend in the 12 episodes was them getting out of the orphanage. You still know nothing about the world, the 'Demons' or any of the major plot points. Sister Krone's arc kind of expanded on them a little bit but that's about all you get. The whole of the show could've been summed up in 3 or 4 episodes. The show was hardly worth the watch, wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Unless you're bored out of your mind.

P.S. Formatting was done on phone, so might have alot of mistakes.

Story

I thought the children were being sold as food for other humans at first, but I was suprised with the reveal of demons in the first episode. I did not expect a supernatural element in this series. The story is about a basic prison escape, but there are some small details and flair that are added to make it so that it stands out even just a little bit. Character motivations are not always clear and that brings some minimal entertainment value. However after a great first few episodes, the story begins to drag before finishing up in a somewhat dramatic manner. It did not ... stand out too much, but overall I say it is above average.

Art

Pretty decent, but nothing to write home about.

Sound

The opening theme is pretty catchy, but nothing else memorable

Character

I found the characters to be rather one dimensional. They are children after all, but the most intelligent children so you have to suspend your disbelief a little bit. i wished I learned more about the backstory of Isabella because I think she was the most intriguing character in this series.

Enjoyment

I liked the twist in the first episode, but afterwards the future plot twists were not as impactful and the story drags a little bit in the middle. The characters are not overly interesting or memorable and the prison break plan is not overly original either. A lot of stuff happens off screen as well. I found this series to be better than average but nothing good. The thing that bothered me the most was the kids talking too loudly about their escape plans. I expected them to be more discreet.

Overall

I had high hopes for this series, but I was left mildly dissapointed. It is not an bad series just an underwhelming one. It is not super original either. Not easy to recommend

I had great expectations starting this show because it is a genre that I hold dear to my heart: a mind game/ mystery show where the genius protagonist uses his/her wits to unveil the mystery surrounding his/her environment and overcome the challenges he/her faces. Hence it is disappointing to see this show fail to reach the potential that it could have.

The first few episodes were great. It captures the horror and the suspense of the kids discovering the horrible truths of their existence and trying to escape from the enemies pursuing them. However as I carry on watching, the tension and suspense disappeared as I ... realized that the enemies are not going to do anything other than "keeping watch" on the kids even though they are aware that the kids are escaping and they are probably going to die if the kids escaped. It is like watching a game of chess, where the enemy chose to do absolutely nothing even though they have all the chess pieces on the board, they simply watch as the protagonists take out their pieces one by one blatantly without thinking of retaliating. It is frustrating. This killed off my enjoyment in watching the show. They built up the enemies to be these formidable foes with intelligence that rivals our protagonist to only set them aside as mere props of this show.

If you think about it, the whole show is basically about bunch of kids escaping the orphanage by setting a fire to the house and climbing over the wall and cliff using a rope where the enemies do nothing but watch. Its plot twists are obvious and predictable and fail to subvert our expectations. It was pretty obvious from the start that either Ray and Norman would sacrifice himself for all the other kids to escape. Norman is this know-it-all, wise, nice guy who is very protective of all his friend especially his crush, Emma. He had this wise protective father figure aura, so you know that it is very likely that at one point of the story that he is going to sacrifice himself with a warm smile on his face with a foolproof and detailed plan for his companions to use in the future. Ray is no better. He is basically this emo pragmatic kid with an edgy haircut and a soft spots for his close friends. So you know his character development would most likely lead him to try to sacrifice himself for his friends in a kind of semi-redemption style for all the edgy shit he did in the past. Of course the MC is not gonna die, Emma is this idealistic and naive main character whose main function is to carry the hopes and dreams of this show and provide us with nice heart warming moments at critical moments of the stories. You know that Ray and Norman would protect her no matter what, so she essentially have 0 chance of dying in season 1.

So with a failure to capture a tense and exciting plot progression, predictable character synergy and awful enemies AI, Promised Neverland season 1 is unfortunately a disappointment. As I am not a manga reader I do not know how the story in the later parts will hold up but hopefully it will get better in the upcoming seasons.

PS: The music is good tho

The hype for this is quite reasonable, but the show itself is rather questionable.

This whole series is characterized by the word "TENSION", and by how it gets to you with all the moments that have suspense in it. With a show THIS slow I have no idea what's up to come. Particularly, this is supposed to be a horror based shounen anime, but the horror in it is rather wonky, leaving us only with the shounen part which is in no case different from other generic shounen series.

I do understand that tagging something as horror doesn't define anything, but in this case, it was ... so hyped up for that certain reason, that i was expecting something else in return.

The story has an extremely slow pace, but i'm guessing the poor development of characters makes up for that?. The premise keeps a good point but fails everytime they want to introduce something different from what was already shown. Like i mentioned, everything from this is what you would expect from a generic shounen anime with the huge premise of MONSTERS (wow what a suprise)

The art is amazing and so is the animation, i can't compare it to anything to be honest, but it is as good as a "movie" type of animation and motion. The characters are drawn way better than in the manga, but it feels like in the manga the "messier" it is, the scarier it is (?).

Don't get me wrong, i do like the show and i do like they way they are doing most things. But it is progressing so slow that it makes it boring to even watch. I'm really having a hard time paying to attention to this, when it isn't something that needs it that much.

6.

The concept was great. Maybe some part of it was a bit over the top (I personally thought could've done better without the supernatural element -- but maybe it would gain importance in coming seasons), but I think the concept of the show was great. And like many other shows with a good concept, Promised Neverland ruins it all with awful execution.

There are things that Promise Neverland executes quite well -- the premise, concept, environment, characters are all laid down in the first two episodes, and this is what it builds on throughout the series. And all the aforementioned elements are quite interesting; no new ... elements are ever introduced in the show.

And that is where the praise ends, unfortunately, because the execution that the show does with those elements is just awful. Until the tenth episode, we never really get to the meat of the plot, "the plan" except for a few minutes in a couple of episodes. For all these episodes the series meanders around the main plot, with sub-plot, in-group drama and other such trivialities.

The show pulls off many parlour tricks that really cheapen its quality. The tricks sometime get so awful -- characters are put into dangerous places, and the next scene shows them running away. How did they escape? That's a question you're not supposed to ask. The door is opening...who could it be? Oh, never mind, just a little guy playing hide-n-seek. She's standing outside the door with a knife...is she going to kill someone? Never mind, the knife is just to open a letter. Such cheap tricks are littered throughout the show that made me go "Gee, stop it, I'm not impressed, and get to the effin' point!"

The last two episodes are the ones that are utterly abysmal. Deus Ex Machina galore, character inconsistencies to propel the plot, and awful plot "twists". What infuriated me the most about the plot was the story managed to make the situation of the characters worse and worse, more difficult to overcome as it progressed. While usually I admire this, when in the end you use Deus Ex Machina to make them overcome the impossibly difficult situation you've put them in, the viewers feel betrayed. Throughout, the show meanders around the main crux of the story, and at the end it's revealed all of them had an elaborate plan that they were hiding from the viewer just for fun! And at the end when they succeed with this plan, just when you think it can't get any worse...it does. We are now blessed with a backstory of the Mom. This might surprise you, but not all characters need to have a backstory -- this was a case where she clearly did not. Not only that, we also get a twist that just doesn't match with any of previous character interactions.

Foreshadowing is something that this show apparently isn't aware exists. I wouldn't really mind so much if they had at least dropped some hints about this huge elaborate plan before -- if they wanted to keep it from the viewers for the "big reveal". But none of the "twists" in the series were ever foreshadowed by anything. That is precisely the mark of bad plot twists.

A fantastic premise that stretched out to boredom. Episode one was the perfect build-up to a dark and dreadful world, and then...it wasn't explored. The way the stakes are raised just didn't resonate with me, and the episodes-long stretch between the horror reveal and the fresh hurdles to beat were just dull.

The art is fine, and the premise alone was enough for me to finish the show, but I feel like this could have been taken a lot further and a lot more dramatically. I'm aware there's a season two that may change this, but the argument that you should "keep watching, it gets ... better" has never been a good one to me. Based on what I saw, I wouldn't choose to watch season 2.

pros
- likable characters
- very solid first 5 episodes
- great at building tension
- good but not great art

cons
- minimal character development
- non-existent plot progression
- none of the plot twists are foreshadowed or are foreshadowed very poorly in such a way said foreshadowing can be interpreted in practically any way. screams of lazy writing
... - no world building
- characters sometimes act in unrealistic ways when contrasted with flashbacks. this is especially bad in the later episodes and can really throw off your immersion

5/10
clearly has potential to be really good, but failure to progress the plot forward and generally poor writing makes anything past the first 5 episodes get stale fast