Yakusoku no Neverland
The Promised Neverland

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I only picked up the manga because I loved the first season of the anime but I was extremely disappointed with the second one, so I had some expectations. That means the first part of the story, the initial escape, I already knew and love. Great story, concept and pacing. The second part was practically all new to me and it was good fun. A lot of new characters that helped make this world feel alive, and a great adventure that never felt too grand for our main cast. I loved how all the characters were important, not necessarily to the plot but to Emma ... (our main POV), with such intensity that you really cared for them all. The worldbuilding was really good too, giving this story very solid surroundings that never felt like they had any conceptual holes.

In the end, it didn't open my third eye but I did tear up a time or two and the work is definitely of quality. Not a favourite, but a very solid recommendation that I'm sure a wide public can enjoy.

*No spoilers*

Summary:
The Promised Neverland is a manga I learned about through its anime adaptation. I bought the entire set and read it all at once. The manga tells the story of orphan children raised on a farm from which they are sold as meat to aliens. Although the first arc is excellent, the quality of writing and story-telling declines over the length of the story. If you are interested in the horror or thriller genre, this may be of interest to you.

Story: 4/10
The Promised Neverland tells the story of orphan children raised on a farm from which they are sold for their brains to aliens. ... The first arc, which focuses on an escape, is well-written and suspenseful because there are mind games between the caretaker and the children. After this arc, however, the story gradually declined in substance. There are some interesting settings, but the plot seems to meander until the end, which is incredibly anticlimactic due to the lack of consequences for the characters. By the end, it's hard to trust the writer due to plot twists and plot armor that impede the characters' stakes. It's one thing to make certain rules in a story and abide by them, but the author seemed to completely disregard them which is particularly troublesome because the first arc was built upon critical thinking. Overall, the first arc was excellent, but then the arcs gradually declined in quality and made the story bothersome to read.

Art: 7/10
The art is simplistic but fitting for the setting. It appears more like a children's book which brings out the child-like nature of the orphans, though it does limit the horror found in stories with a similar thriller and horror feeling.

Characters: 5/10
Characters are essential to the story, as the reader doesn't care about the plot if the characters are unremarkable or unrelatable. In the first quarter of the story, the three main characters are well-written and interesting. But, the story then diverges into a mix of an excessive variety of less interesting characters before focusing on the unnecessarily meandering plot. By the end of the story, the characters felt unbreakable in a bad way, and I didn't care about their success anymore. No matter what, their consequences were going to be minor, but not because they outsmarted the adults.

Enjoyment: 3/10
The first arc was excellent, and the anime adaptation is what drew me in. I was sadly disappointed by the end of the story because of the declining quality of the plot and characters.

Overall: 4.75/10

This manga is unfortunately one of the worst things a manga can be: a total waste of time.

The Promised Neverland generated quite a bit of hype when it was initially released because of its interesting premise. I will be the first to admit I was drawn in by this premise and the first arc was incredibly enjoyable. The characters are likable, the pacing is perfect, and the cat-and-mouse game that the characters have to play is so full of suspense I couldn't stop reading (it reminded me quite a bit of Death Note). "I can't wait to see what kind of trials and tribulations these ... characters have to face next!" said I, after finishing the first arc. Little did I realize that the characters would not have to face any trials and tribulations. In fact pretty much NOTHING happens for the last 15 volumes or so.

This is obviously an exaggeration, but the drop-off in quality after the first arc is significant. The psychological thriller aspect that made the first arc so good is essentially absent from the rest of the story. Characters don't go through any real character development. Sure they are likable at first glance, but as the story goes you eventually realize that it just boils down to Emma being plucky and optimistic, Ray being smart, and Norman being inconsistent. None of the characters actually have to face negative consequences or question their values, which is wild considering they live in such a brutal world.

I strongly believe the author just didn't have any ideas after the first arc. If you are truly curious about The Promised Neverland, give the first arc a read, you will probably like it quite a bit. But if you choose to read beyond that and you find yourself getting bored, just remember that it does not get better and the ending is honestly not that interesting. Just save yourself some time and read something else.