Let's talk Yakusoku no Neverland/The promised Neverland

 

Yakusoku no Neverland is a very interesting anime, to say the least, also Season 2 of this anime is around the corner and is set to air in the first week of January 2021 so that's pretty good. It is a mix of horror, mystery, a psychological thriller which is pretty rare to come across and good ones even rarer. I think everyone should try this show because it's not every day we see such promising anime. Also, I have seen many people comparing it to the manga and saying how the manga is better but personally, I have not read the manga and I liked the anime so make of that what you will. Now, let's start with the review.

(Spoiler warning of Episode 1)

The STORY

 The story of "The Promised Neverland" starts off with little kids in the Grace Field House, which is an orphanage. The three eldest of the family of children are Ray, Norman, and Emma. The three of them are seen as talented, skillful, agile, and intelligent base on what we see in the episode. From Hide and Seek to play Tag, these two excels on physicality. They are seen as big brothers (Ray and Norman) and big sister (Emma) to other kids. Of course, these three will not take care of the children all by themselves, right? The main caretaker is their "Mom" in the orphanage. She is your typical mother-like figure who loves her children so much and admire them. Everyone seems happy. Everyone is having fun. "Mom" loves her job. Children love her back. Ray, Emma, and Norman are having a normal life until the departure of a friend came to play. A girl named "Connie" was about to depart or leave the orphanage because so-called "parents" are now going to take care of her. It was a joyous moment. Everyone was happy for her to leave and finally have a family. 

Then of course she left something behind and Emma and Norman proceed to give it back to the gate. The night was really dark and a tragedy will happen. What Emma and Norman saw was not a family reunion. It was a murder, done by supernatural beings a.k.a "demons" from the "outer" world. Turns out that Emma, Ray, Norman, and every single living child in the orphanage are "livestock", caged in an orphanage surrounded by walls and vegetation. This drastic change of tone and mood of the atmosphere was overwhelmingly good. Plot twist on every episode synchronizing the characters' goals whether to escape or not. It provides us a fresh idea of escaping one's position whether it is physically or mentally. It also delivers well with the plot twist making us audience grasp for more until the next episode and the plot twists are not just there to make us say "Wow okay". It is there because it connects to the story of the anime. It is there to not only surprise us viewers but also provide us the ongoing intake and pattern of the story without affecting the overall goal of it. In the end, The Promised Neverland is a type of anime where you must get involved with its unique capability of placing plot twists on each scene and an intensifying story. With each season having different types of genres but fewer mystery and thriller.

At its heart, Neverland is mainly a mystery and a thriller though, as our main characters Emma, Norman, and Ray try to investigate the secrets of the mansion which they live in and start to plot an elaborate plan to escape it along with the other kids that live there, all without attracting attention from the eyes of the ones opposing them. The direction is quite simply superb, both in terms of making the viewers feel engaged in the main characters' situation and to be wanting to cheer for them, but also in terms of slowly unwrapping the mystery in a way which is not too quick, eventually resulting in an incredibly satisfying finale. The main characters are all quite intelligent but in very different ways, with Emma being the cheerful and strong-willed one whereas Norman and Ray are more scheming and unpredictable, but for totally different motivations.

Now, this show really does like to build things up, build to this great escape plan to get everyone out of the orphanage and it does build things very well. The suspense in this show is enough to drive anyone mad with the eagerness to find out what happens next. That is mainly because of the pacing and knowing what and when to reveal things is very well executed in order to keep you on your toes. Knowing when it is the right time to scare you, make you feel uncomfortable and uneasy, and knowing when to give you relief. It toys with your emotions to keep you on edge. But if it keeps building up, then it needs a payoff, otherwise what is the point? While it does cut it a bit close, it does pay off in the final episodes of this season.

THE CHARACTERS

I will only introduce the 3 characters that you can see above (The Main Characters) and Isabella because if I did all of them, I'll have to make whole another blog separately :)

EMMA

Emma acts as an older sister to the other children and loves her family very much. Emma is sweet, heroic, caring, has a big heart, and is a little naive, causing her to readily put herself at risk to ensure the safety of the whole group before anything else. She has very good physical abilities and is our classic shonen main protagonist except she is a girl. That's the only difference, yes. I don't think I need to say anything more about her character.

NORMAN

He is the big brain of the group and is highly intellectual. He manages to keep pace with the other two purely due to his intelligence. I can't say anymore without spoiling.

RAY

He is my favorite character of the bunch, and I really like how his character plays out during the series and how he responds to different situations. He the middle ground between Emma and Norman, he is neither as smart as norman and as athletic as Emma but on the flip side he is smarter than Emma and more athletic than Norman. His character and what he does everything has a deep meaning attached to them which is revealed in the series as it progresses.

ISABELLA

She is probably my favorite character of the whole first season. I can't do her justice without any MAJOR spoilers so hear me out, okay. She is the "mama" in charged to take of these children as they grow up to the age of 12 to become food for the demons outside.

Animation: 

Clover works take the reign for the animation in this series. A roughly 1-year-old studio that has done the animation for shows like Bunny Girl Senpai and the anime adaptation of Persona 5. Well, I'm glad to say that the animation for The Promised Neverland is damn good. What makes it good though, are two main things. The first main thing is the character motions are fluid. There is a lack of really noticeable frame by frame motion as they move naturally when they run or when they are in fear. The fluidity is very good.

The other main point is the facial expressions. They are really expressive in this series, especially when the children are scared as their shrunk pupils, their tensed-up faces and subtle movements make them generally scared of the situation. But other faces like Isabella's many calm and scheming faces or Krone's many terrifying expressions would make even the faces in Higurashi wince a little. It adds to the horror because it's visually scary. You are getting scared or unnerved by something simple yet unnerving at the same time.

MUSIC

The soundtrack is not prominent in this series. My favorite one was Isabella's lullaby which we listen to towards the end of the series. Oftentimes, it is just silence as we just hear the character's voices and their footsteps on either grass or wooden floorboards. Often times for the better as we just need to hear these sounds to make us feel tense as we know someone or something is coming. The ost only plays when it needs to be played to amplify a scene and when it does, oh boy does it amplify a scene. The soundtrack can be really menacing at times as it likes to escalate the fear factor of the scene to make you quiver in fear. It is definitely a great addition to a scene and the fact they are used only sparingly makes it much better.

Then there is the opening. The lyrics, the animation, and the pace of the opening are brilliant. But what seals it is the symbolism in this opening. The use of puzzle pieces to symbolize the pieces of the plan, as well as the red string burning to ash to symbolize that they will not be tied to the strings of fate and will run to break out of their fate. It is used so well and matches the pace of the song. Speaking of the song, it is weird that the simple sounds of "Nanananananananana" would be so catchy. Well, when used correctly it can be. So in summary, the song great, the animation great, the pace great, symbolism great. Simply put, it's a fantastic opening.

The ending sequences are pretty standard IMO*. It uses symbolism and imagery as well to set a tone. And the songs used in these endings are also great. It helps cap off a great OST that this series provides. I didn't skip them as I enjoyed them, but they didn't wow me.

CONCLUSION

Overall I think Neverland is a fantastic anime in terms of story, direction, and the ability to immediately get you hooked and invested in the show. As a result, it's a show I would highly recommend to anyone that enjoys well-thought-out thrillers and mysteries.

Some critics seemed to have not much enjoyed this show because of its lack of depth and characterization, forced pacing, very nice art and etc. for all reasons the anime is not brought to its full potential. And I understand that. But despite all that, I enjoyed it very much. I was gripped, surprised, excited, thrilled, and hopeful. This anime is perfect for non-manga readers. Though I probably won't be re-watching this any time soon. I'd say it only works once when you don't know what's happening. But that doesn't mean you won't enjoy it when you re-watch it. As much as I have said is contradictory and bias it is true. Most manga readers are probably disappointed since they expected something much more than this. But normal anime fans and non-anime fans would probably be fine with it. It's fine to expect something great but it's also fine to appreciate it for what it is.

With its endless possibilities to become better, even if it doesn't, I anticipate the sequel.

SCORES

ANIMATION: 8/10

MUSIC: 9.5/10

PLOT: 8.5/10

OVERALL SCORE: 8/10

ENJOYMENT Factor: 9/10

RECOMMENDATION: Do yourself a favor and watch this show