Yakusoku no Neverland

I will try and avoid spoilers as best I can. So let me start off by saying that this isn't going to be your typical MAL review with a strict list of pros and cons or an out of 10 score, instead, I will try to go more in depth and discuss the best way to read this manga. So with all that being said, what do I actually think of the manga? It's pretty good. Promised Neverland has great characters and altho at first, they may appear one dimensional, recently there has been great character development in the two main leads, one is realizing that thing aren't as simple as they thought and they sometimes have to make hard choices, in other words becoming less naive and the other is becoming less of an edgy teen and more of a guy who will do anything for all his brothers and sisters (not just his three closest friends) in other words he is starting to open up. However, despite the two main characters, there is little to no development (as of chapter 50) in the supporting cast, they are as bland as they were in the beginning, the main reason for that is all the world building and lore that takes up most of the recent chapters, which can be both a curse and a blessing. So given that this is a more dialog heavy manga and there isn't that much action (at least not to the extent of other shounen jump series) I would recommend that you binge read it, wait for a few more chapter to come out or wait till it finishes (altho who knows how long that would be). All in all, I highly recommend it it's a pretty good manga and it's even better if you binge it. Character development is great for the two main heroes but apart from that due to the recent chapters being more "lore heavy" the supporting characters haven't gotten much time in the spot light, however, I am hoping that will change in the next few chapters. The story is pretty good and the mystery keeps you guessing (you know it's a good show when the community goes crazy with fan theories). It's a great manga and it definitely deserves its spot in shounen jumps top ten.

To put it simply - I didn't like the ending, the series went on for too long and there were aspects of the story that made little to no sense and/or served no real purpose.

It has such an interesting premise and I think that world is explored fairly well in the beginning. And then it has its moments where it falls off the deep end and comes back up for air somehow.

Ultimately I found myself finishing it because I simply wanted to know how it ended and even that was disappointing in its "miraculous" convenience. Honestly, though, the story was such a rollercoaster I'm not sure what they could have done to make it better.

The art was beautiful at times and has a pretty unique style for manga. The colored art has wonderful lighting.

If you're already over halfway though you may as well finish it but I wouldn't expect to be blown away.

I started reading this manga at work to pass the time when I have nothing to do, I kept it in my desk and before I knew it I was reading it none-stop at home, it is a very engaging story and fascinating world that is wholly original, up until Chapter 160 the story kept keeping me guessing and wanting to know what will happen next, based on the writer's recent comments and the story's arc it is almost ending and I really look forward to the end.

Emma and Norman and Rey are fantastic characters, the new ones are also fascinating and I love the cute art style in such a dark and bloody story, it is really amazing

I loved this story. This is my first time writing a review of some sort so bear with me. The moment I watched the anime I completely binged it. Then I told myself that I would just wait for episodes to come out. Of course, I gave in within a day and binged the manga as well. It's one of those series you will always look back on. The main characters amazed me all the way through to the end of the story. I was never not satisfied with how things changed or even the deaths. Bravo to the author for coming up with a masterpiece and to the artist who brought this beautiful manga to life.
Pause everything you are reading or watching and get to
Yakusoku no Neverland. Do yourself that favor and come thank me later!

I began this story extremely impressed from the first arc and continued my enjoyment through the intriguing world-building of the story that followed. But what started as a story with the potential on par with shingeki no kyojin, ended up being one of the most mild and forgettable manga I've read.

STORY: 3/10
This was by far the most disappointing part of the manga. The setting for this set the scene of the story so dramatically, with the tense mystery of what was beyond the walls of the orphanage, but that fizzled out so suddenly after about 100 chapters. The arcs may have been long but in reality there were only three arcs in the entire manga, with small stories in between to connect them. The pacing of the first 100 chapters was spectacular and, not to mention, so entertaining! Honestly it's hard to even say what went wrong, but I think it was just the way that the mangaka handled the plot. Instead of revealing the mysteries and plot twists of the story, every chapter is either a predictable 'surprise' or a detailed explanation of any plot-holes that have yet to be filled. It's dull and there's really nothing to it, and moreover, it doesn’t have any of that psychological goodness from the first arc to make it interesting. But what really makes it so boring is the stakes. In the beginning, the tension was so high; these kids were heading towards impending doom and they had a deadline before one of them was out of the game. And I really cared about the main trio, so of course the stakes were high, and that tension came to a shocking and gripping climax! But... after that everything kinda just got predictable. I knew nobody was gonna die so why should I care if they're in danger? I know that they're gonna win, so what do I care that they're currently struggling? There was absolutely no stakes that had me on the edge of my seat, and what's worse is that I could tell that the mangaka was actively trying for that very effect. Also, a real big pet peeve is when there is no more threat and everything is safe and the plot is over, then for no reason whatsoever, something dangerous and completely irrelevant pops up to kill someone just for shock value. No, it didn't make me cry; why would it when it was so tacky and unnecessary? All of these aspects of the story just took away from the experience, and beyond that, by the end, the plot felt a lot more simple than I would've expected from the first arc. Like, there really isn't that much to this world at all, and it was really disappointing, ngl. But the worst part? It's so mediocre that I can't really complain at the same time. It was my expectations that ruined this for me, honestly.

ART: 6/10
Eh. I don't mind it. The character design and angles make it feel awkward at times but overall it's ok, I can't say it's bad but it's not my favourite.

CHARACTER: 4/10
Yeah wow not very strong. The most well done character was Emma. My favourite character was Ray. The worst characters was anyone that wasn't the main, like, 10 people. Now, we can see Emma's character development throughout the story as she encounters people, friends and enemies, that teach her a sort of religious appreciation for nature and life, which I really enjoyed watching grow to fruition. On the other hand, Ray, who felt estranged from Emma and Norman from the beginning before he got significantly more interesting throughout the first arc, had nothing to offer by the second half of the series. I was extremely disappointed. He was just put by Emma's side like a side-kick without any opinions of his own - he just followed her wherever she went. I think what would've been an awesome plot device to fix this was to have made a really big twist centering around Ray in the climax of the story. But... he's still just as irrelevant then too. As the most interesting character with the most development potential from the beginning, on par with Phil (who also should have played a much bigger role for all the emphasis they put on him), Ray was an extreme disappointment that felt simply overlooked. Now my real beef. I did not care about 99% of these characters and the mangaka made it feel like I was supposed to be crying when any of them died. You are supposed to show me why I should care, not just tell me that I should. It's just such a waste because other stories, like hero academia for example, have large casts that the readers genuinely care for. But instead, the only character development we got was in Emma, the protagonist. It was really, really disappointing.

ENJOYMENT: 7/10
Although the entire final arc was dull and disappointing, the first 100 chapters were very thrilling and had so much potential. But all throughout this story, I still felt compelled to read more. It was certainly enjoyable, even if it got unbearable by the end.

OVERALL: 6/10
I just wish it ended with as much excitement and thrill as it started, but it didn't. The ending wasn't even that bad; it just felt undeserved, like we didn't really work to get to this point and it was just handed to us, like a participation award. I'm just so disappointed by the wasted potential for an amazing and profound story, that instead barely managed to string together some coherent themes.

I don't know if I would recommend this. If you read yakusoku no neverland, just don't expect something amazing.

Si que si, hola hablo spanish. Y la verdad como da flojera usar traductor google para que puedan entenderme, usenlo ustedes si quieren leer esta reseña. The Promised Neverland fue algo que disfrutè, los arcos fueron estructurados de forma magistral con sus historias siguiendo las intenciones del autor. Emma de protagonista fue la pizca de humanidad que se necesitaba en un mundo gris y podrido regido por la gula y el egoìsmo. Aunque tambièn discrepo un poco de sus intenciones al querer destruir el plan de Norman, sus deseos fueron egoìstas pensando que eran amables, pero a las finales Emma siempre hace lo que se le da la bendita gana, y Ray siempre siguiendole la cola para protegerla y ser la voz de la razòn. Norman siempre haciendo lo que quiere por su cuenta pero siempre tiene en cuenta la lògica ante que sus emociones, aunque eso signifique cargar con todo solo. Con respecto al dibujo, he visto un desarrollo muy prometedor de las ilustraciones del mangaka desde el cap 1 al final, en serio antes los niños me parecìan ser viscos y ahora los veo normal. Fue una gran obra para leer, una historia nueva, el arco de Yuugo fue el mejor de todo el manga, los plot twist espectaculares. Pero aùn asì tuve mi final amargo con Isabella y que Emma perdiera la memoria. Por el final no le pongo un 10, fue un forzado rencuentro en mi opinion para dejarnos con el final feliz de que siempre nos encontraremos con nuestra familia.

For those of you who are going into this series after watching the anime (which is not actually finished yet fyi) you'll most definitely enjoy it. And if you haven't... well... you'll enjoy it anyway!

I really like this manga for a number of reasons. I feel like the first 36 chapters (the first season of the anime which I gave a 10) are incredibly entertaining, enthralling, creative, and even heartwarming (when they're trying to be of course). Everything after this is epic too. It's a very unique take on the post-apocalyptic stereotype and is very interesting overall. The characters are great and I never feel like there's a bunch of plot convenience. I can never resist the urge to face-palm when one of an anime/manga's cruelest characters or a genuine antagonist just kind of flips personalities and becomes a good guy, but that never happens in this manga. Well... at least up until the manga's main emotional moment in chapter 118 (I think you know what I'm talking about if you're up-to-date with the manga like I am). Everything from that moment on kind of just goes downhill...

Remember how I mentioned that the story was creative? Yeah well not for long. You can tell a little bit after the big emotional moment that the writers are running out of ideas. They kind of just make things up that don't really make a lot of plot sense and it gets boring and tired. There ends up being a lot of plot convenience and a ton of concepts that don't really line up with the main storyline. Also, remember what I said about character personality shifts? Yeah throw that out the window two. Not only do they desperately try to redeem some of the most heartless villains in any anime (which, by the way, fails miserably), but they also go so far as to ruin one of the best characters who I sympathized with and was rooting for (I'm not talking about the main protagonist btw). There was a lot of let down and at this point I'm only reading this manga out of a sense of obligation (the standard "I can't just drop it when I've come this far" feeling).

Now normally I wouldn't give a manga like this a 9 BUT MUSIKA/MUJIKA (my translation sources aren't very accurate) IS BY FAR THE BEST WAIFU AND I CANNOT WAIT UNTIL SHE APPEARS IN THE ANIME. Everything about this character is amazing. She's the perfect mix of innocence and maturity and she's not naïve like most animes/mangas make this sort of character. She is also by far the most important character in the entire manga (those who have read it know what I mean) and she has an incredible personality.

So if you want my advice just read up to 118 or 119. Assume everyone ends up happy, they all live great lives and nobody dies. Otherwise, you'll have to trudge through over 50 chapters of what feels like filler honestly. The only good thing about everything afterwards is that Mujika (if I'm writing her name wrong tell me please) gets a lot more time on paper. Aside from that it's just meh. Giving it a 9 is a bit too generous, it definitely deserves more of an 8 but I had a lot of fun reading it so if you don't have any plans by all means read this one.

However if you want to read an even BETTER manga I recommend Boku dake ga inai machi (Erased) or Koe no Katachi (a silent voice). I should have my reviews on those soon so if you guys want to read them feel free to check out my reviews page!

-Your friendly neighborhood YouTuber/Man-of-culture Kallocarina

I'm well into the story as to where it stands right now I'm currently on chapter 43.

The story is really unique despite "I know what mangas ya'll are about to relate this to". It's really nothing like that at its core it just has the similarity of...walls and survival. There are lots of really unique twists and turns in the story that had me making ugly noises when I read them.

The art I find unique in the sense that it seems to draw some inspiration from western art. It's a good representation of how style mash-ups should look.

The writing and pacing is beautiful. I never feel dragged along with the story and I really like the character development. Death and loss is handled very well in this and you end up liking characters that are supposed to be hated, this is a good sign they're written well.

I also really enjoy that the mangaka does little side comic strips at then ends of chapters sometimes.



Relating it to other Manga:

This gives me vibes of Claymore, Berserk, and SNK but it has deeper values on friendship and human life per-say (as is more similar to Claymore than any of the others)

The unity of the group reminds me a lot of claymore and how you don't have to be the "strongest" or "best" in the group to make a big impacted difference. And how "together we are stronger" which is a big theme in both stories. It also has a lot of similar story elements that are spoilers so I'll ignore them.

The Berserk one I think is self-explanatory...

Honestly I think comparing it to SNK is insulting to this manga because it's what SNK should have been in terms of pacing, development, arcs etc. They just both happen to have walls.

When I saw this manga, I was worried it was going to be a childish story about kids in an orphanage and it being a slice of life type manga. But I don't think you can finish the first chapter without having an "Okay, let's see where this goes" moment (I came into the story completely oblivious). Anyways, 150 chapters later and I didn't look back. Hell, I didn't even know there was an anime adaptation until chapter 110, a couple of weeks into reading it. The pacing is great, the characters are good too, nothing horrible to really say. Great plot twists, it keeps you wanting more. I'm not sure how you can not like this work. I can't wait to watch the anime.

**SPOIELR ALERT**

This was going so well until..i don't know maybe chapter 40 and up? It was just getting good but then became a mess and sort of confusing. Don't get me wrong. The plot was interesting, the characters are great and I enjoyed the art but the story was very disappointing and that ending! Was the worst. Of course the anime is horror and psychological but it isn't a tragedy one. They could of done better. Mangakas jobs are not easy. It's really difficult, especially if you are one person but this manga was turning out great and getting a lot of good ratings. Why ruin it. Some of the characters were even reverting back.

None of my favorite pieces of media are perfect. Some of them get close, but this manga series is not one of them.

The review below this line has manga spoilers, so if you haven't finished, let me just say: enjoy it!

I rated it 10 stars, not because it was technically great, but because of how I just thoroughly enjoyed it. Here, I'm giving it a 9/10. If I were to break this down technically, I'd call this story an average plot that was elevated by the art to an 8/10 experience. It's nothing special, hindered a lot by the main character being a brick and not really changing in the slightest.
For a quick run-down: (keep in mind that at the time I'm finishing this review, the only manga I've read is Demon Slayer/Kimetsu no Yaiba and Haikyuu! before reading this)

Story: 7/10
A very interesting world that didn't quite live up to the hype of the first arc. The premise was very interesting and the story fell within a lot of regular storytelling bounds that we could have probably all seen coming (apart from maybe two sections: Peter Ratri's death and the finale).
Though you would probably label the message of looking past our differences as cheesy, I really liked how this story turned something purely fantasy into something that is very prevalent. I'm not going to give it social justice brownie points or anything, but as something that is so mainstream the page about wondering how we would treat each other differently under different circumstances really recontextualized this series' themes in a way that completely swept me off my feet.

Art: 10/10
This manga would not have been nearly as breathtaking, convincing, or terrifying if Posuka Demizu had not just absolutely blown us away with their art. Every scene of this story sells what it needs to: suspense, terror, loss, fear, everything. This world is one that I can imagine quite clearly all thanks to the beautiful artwork.

Character: 8/10
Norman and Ray are tied for best character in the entire manga. Isabella is a close second, followed by Yugo.
I absolutely adore Ray as a character. I found him interesting from the very beginning of the anime all the way to the end. Actually, especially at the end. On one hand, it would have been nice plotwise to have him and possibly Norman die and see Emma take on the character development of having her two closest friends die. And for a while after he was planned to die, Ray really didn't serve a good purpose. It was not necessary, but I'm very glad that he was alive to solidify the end of Isabella's arc. Seeing how they were somewhat the same in their silence and how guilty they both were was awesome and very enjoyable.
I was genuinely not expecting most of what happened with Norman in this series, except for the fact that he wasn't going to die. The fact that he became an antagonist and then was on their side somewhat seemed to follow Isabella, which I thought was pretty cool, whether intentional or not. Norman is my least favorite character personally, but he continually surprised me thematically.
The only thing that really weighs on this whole series is the character of Emma. She is not interesting and never becomes interesting. I understand that main protagonists are usually not as diverse in their character arcs because they are the face of the story as well as needing to carry the plot, but every time she does something, she forgets it immediately. She goes through no change after the first episode. She's perfect from the beginning. It would have been nice to see permanent change in her, even as small as being more cautious after the first deaths in the series, or maybe having Yugo be a bigger part in her decisionmaking. However, the thriller-type storytelling does hinder this, and this story is not trying to be something new and interesting. It would have been nice, though.

Enjoyment: 10/10
I adore Ray and Norman. I loved Yugo's character. The slow reveal of everything, the tension, the friendship between Mujika and Emma, Peter Ratri's end, Emma's sacrifice, and all the way back to the beginning, with the tiny kids wondering what was beyond the gates outside of Grace Field. Since you're with all these characters for so long, you don't realize how much they've grown.
No matter my technical complaints, all the things that could have been changed, all the ways I would have liked the story to be more impactful, this story still managed to keep me on my toes the entire time. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about this world and its characters. As a I writer, I relished in the ending being bittersweet (but as a reader, I was completely destroyed). This series is very strong, and will leave a mark on how I write and how I think about the world.

Overall, I don't really care what people think about this. It's mainstream, it's cheesy, it has problems, and it has a pretty uninteresting main character. None of those things are going to take away from how much I adored this manga. The bests of this series are my favorite things in all of the media I've ever consumed, and if people say that there are things that are much better than this, it only makes me excited to dive into more worlds that will hopefully have as much of an impact as this series did on me.

First manga review time, yay! Like a lot of people I jumped straight into this after watching the first season of the anime. Naturally I enjoyed the first arc, otherwise I probably wouldn't have gone out of my way to read nearly 200 chapters of this in a few weeks. With that said, did the story live up to the hype after the escape from Grace Field? No, not really, and I'll go in detail further on in this review.



You probably know the gist of the story by now if you're coming into the manga at this point. Group of orphans discover they are being cultivated for consumption by "demons" yada yada. The problem we run into as the story progresses however, is that the main characters, Emma especially, are far too idealistic in a setting that would require way more drastic action to be taken in order for the group of children to escape this hellish land. The childrens whole plans hinge on the idea of more than a handful of demons to be accepting of the thought of no longer feeding on them since they have a substitute for them to maintain their forms. The latter arcs are absolute by the numbers shonen tropes and bring nothing ambitious to the table along with being clearly rushed with the conclusion. Lastly to mention, none of the villains other than Isabelle were fully realized, they were bad just for plot convenience. The only real good addition characters wise since the first arc if you ask me was Yugo.


The art maintains quality throughout, while being nothing amazing, it still serves its purpose.

There was a modicum of enjoyment to be had after the first arc of this series, but there was a definite drop in quality and it's a shame since there was promise (heh) in it.


I'd only recommend completing this if you're a hardcore Weekly Shonen Jump or horror manga fan,

was good,
then bad.

not worth reading.

id prefer if naruto came to save the day using his ochiha clan shit with his homie sasuke and sakura cause shes really useful. (her daughter is blind and uses glasses).

Norman more like MOrgan freeman. ray was like a ray of hope, but he died (spoiler) and emma also died (bigger spoiler) but its a happy ending since the mamas finally meet up with the papas. was glad that william minerva was a betraying bastard but hey man, i like me some anime

this is kooplicat signing out.was good,
then bad.

not worth reading.

id prefer if naruto came to save the day using his ochiha clan shit with his homie sasuke and sakura cause shes really useful. (her daughter is blind and uses glasses).

Norman more like MOrgan freeman. ray was like a ray of hope, but he died (spoiler) and emma also died (bigger spoiler) but its a happy ending since the mamas finally meet up with the papas. was glad that william minerva was a betraying bastard but hey man, i like me some anime

this is kooplicat signing out.was good,
then bad.

not worth reading.

id prefer if naruto came to save the day using his ochiha clan shit with his homie sasuke and sakura cause shes really useful. (her daughter is blind and uses glasses).

Norman more like MOrgan freeman. ray was like a ray of hope, but he died (spoiler) and emma also died (bigger spoiler) but its a happy ending since the mamas finally meet up with the papas. was glad that william minerva was a betraying bastard but hey man, i like me some anime

this is kooplicat signing out.was good,
then bad.

not worth reading.

id prefer if naruto came to save the day using his ochiha clan shit with his homie sasuke and sakura cause shes really useful. (her daughter is blind and uses glasses).

Norman more like MOrgan freeman. ray was like a ray of hope, but he died (spoiler) and emma also died (bigger spoiler) but its a happy ending since the mamas finally meet up with the papas. was glad that william minerva was a betraying bastard but hey man, i like me some anime

this is kooplicat signing out.was good,
then bad.

not worth reading.

id prefer if naruto came to save the day using his ochiha clan shit with his homie sasuke and sakura cause shes really useful. (her daughter is blind and uses glasses).

Norman more like MOrgan freeman. ray was like a ray of hope, but he died (spoiler) and emma also died (bigger spoiler) but its a happy ending since the mamas finally meet up with the papas. was glad that william minerva was a betraying bastard but hey man, i like me some anime

this is kooplicat signing out.was good,
then bad.

not worth reading.

id prefer if naruto came to save the day using his ochiha clan shit with his homie sasuke and sakura cause shes really useful. (her daughter is blind and uses glasses).

Norman more like MOrgan freeman. ray was like a ray of hope, but he died (spoiler) and emma also died (bigger spoiler) but its a happy ending since the mamas finally meet up with the papas. was glad that william minerva was a betraying bastard but hey man, i like me some anime

this is kooplicat signing out.

*Minor Spoilers*

Yakusoku no Neverland is one of the first Manga I'd ever read and after the first arc I was very vocal to my friends in recommending that they check it out. The story starts out with an incredibly 'promising' premise: A world in which demons farm humans to devour their brains. First I'd like to commend the series on setting up this world in an engaging and compelling way featuring the main cast learning about the truth of the world they live in with a harrowing encounter. The story's first arc glued me to my seat with suspense as it was akin to a prison escape but with demons. Later on the story goes into detail about how demon society functions and how the world came to be how it is. Which is all very compelling and well done, however I felt like the story's overall structure really goes down hill after the 'Goldy Pond' arc. Everything feels somewhat rushed after , the buildup was nonexistent, the dramatic tension present early on is replaced with disagreement between humans as to the best way forward which felt somewhat contrived like they were looking for ways to create conflict. From that point on the threat which the demons presented seemed minimal. I felt like the story attempted to recreate some of the political intrigue that was suggested earlier between the various demon factions and the Ratri clan but it never put in the work to develop that appropriately like they did for the demon farm system during the escape arc. Yakusoku no Neverland. had a lot of great things going for it but it neglected the real work that goes into building up a good climax with tension and stakes stuck to internal drama among the human children to the point where the real fight with the demon royalty almost felt anti-climactic. There were also some twists at the end that had almost no buildup at all and everything was just explained in flashback. Overall a rushed conclusion to what could have very well been a truly great manga. I am giving it a 7 overall because I still remember how incredible this series was when it started, maybe this is generous due to the rushed conclusion and unfulfilling climax that did not make best use of Ray or Norman as character and refused to take any risks.

this series is not completed yet and i write this review as i have finished reading chapter 127.

About the story: The setup is fairly sweet but things start to rapidly develop and i promise its thrilling! I have until now rarely seen this level of analyzing, strategies, deducting, attention to details and psychology. There are also later on survival elements, the setting will shift to a dystopian world and society and its structures i assume at this point will come more into focus. It is gripping, thrilling and challenging. This story so far has all the things i appreciate in a well written manga.

About the artstyle. it is always about personal preference, but it is fairly deecent and even though it seems a bit childish its accurate as the main heroes are also more children than teenagers at this point of the story. I could understand tough if the style is not to everyones liking.

The characters are well thought out and you will meet a variety of them over the course of the story. there are some im sure everyone will find something to relate to. As the main heroes are also still very young, things still have room to develop and grow and im excited to see where things will go as the story progresses.

Enjoyment : it really is an amazing story! as i mentioned before all the components i enjoy are present (maybe some romance could be added for my tastes, but its still ongoing and they are kids so my hopes in the future ;)

Overall this story does everything right: good characters, thriller/horror/survival elements, lots of strategy/analyzing/psychology some fights and gore, society and philosophical problems. I can recommend reading this if you liked Golden Kamuy (even though Promised neverland is not humorous/funny ) or one of my alltime favourites 7 Seeds -here are many elements shared and im so glad i found this!
I wouldnt ever compare it to Bleach though, as Bleach is just a "next-stronger-opponent" kinda shonen and promised neverland is not at all like this. sure the challenges get harder but on a entirely different plane/scale and there are so many more elements in the story even though its not complete yet.

TL;DR : read it if you like: psychology , analyzing, strategies, thrillers, survival, horror, dystopian worlds, mystery, philosophy, jailbreak, plot twists,
7 seeds, Golden Kamuy, Eden no Ori, ES (eternal Sabbath), Death Note and the likes.

[EDITED]

If you want to read my opinion until ch.50 go on. If you want to read m opinion having finished it then go to the end of this review.


(Review up to ch.50)
To tell the truth I was captivated from the title of the manga. So we have three friends looking for a promised Neverland and a first chapter that blowed my mind so much and after a year the surprises don't stop.


Spoilers ahead!!!!! Unless you read the first chapter ;)


Story: When I saw the numbers on their necks I wondered if they were some sort of prisonners. But prisoners at an orphanage? No, that's because they are food and the people want to keep track of them. Yes, they are quality food for a demon clan and that's how this really good survival manga begins. It's full of horror, gore and despair in reasonable amounts to digest. In the start you just try to come to terms with the truth that Emma - one of the main cast - encounters, but YnN puts you immediately in the kids' shoes and makes you think and concider everything. "Who's a friend? Who's the enemy? What is our purpose of living?" Those questions drive the children to form a plan in order to escape that hellish excuse of an "orphanage". In the process they also learn that the outside world is not what is seemed. The plot is paced just right for everyone to catch up with the smallest detail, but in the same time its' unpredictability doesn't betray the mystery easy.

Art: I'm not an expert at all, but for me YnN has an incredible amount of detail in it's art. Every panel is designed in a way that gives only the mimimum amount of information to try and solve the mystery. I also love the bloody scenes, which are not too extravagant and convey the feeling of horror nicely.

Characters: The main trio is my favorite as of now. Emma, Norman and Ray have a good going dynamic and along with their suberb intelligence are the right MC's for the escape job. They also are a model as to what true friendship is. Everyone is nicely developed and that goes for Mama Minerva, our first villain. The other characters are getting their shine later on and if YnN continues like it does we'll have even more intesting things to see.

Enjoyment: I don't enjoy it. I love it. Yakusoku no Neverland is a real gem. It's twists never bore you. It's also a manga that makes you frightened of what's to come. If you give it a try you'll catch yourself hoping for the children to find hope above all.

I'll definitely edit the review and this is not a complete opinion on the manga (thus I'm putting a 9) but I'll be reading it till the end and trust me, it won't be a loss of your time if you decide to read it.


(Review after its' end)
It's a 7/10. The start was so damn good and up until the Goldy Pond arc, which is ch.95, things were happening. But after that the story lost some of its' shine. I don't feel it was rushed. I felt that the duo had no exact purpose of what to do about reaching the ending they envisioned and the ending was dissapointing.

One thing doesn't change though. It's a decent read and it has a small volume size. If you get into it you'll start with an amazing mystery, survival and psychological story, but you'll end up a bit dissapointed, cause some story parts could have been handled more skillfully.

This is my first review on MAL, and I had to do this for a manga I been following since the start of the serialization. I'll keep things really short by only touching the main points of the plot and characters.

Story: 8/10 Characters: 7/10

Yakusoku no Neverland has one of best beginnings I've seen on any manga. The introduction to Grace Field and their inhabitants was handled amazingly setting fast enough the tone of this manga. The mind games with Mom, the wish for searching for the truth and survive this world against all odds made the manga stand out for many readers and leave us with the feeling that this was just the start of an amazing story yet to fully begin.

At end of the first arc, we have a good grasp of how our main characters interact with each other.

Emma the positive girl, who will put all the odds against her if the posibility to save everyone exists. And Ray the realist boy who will keep Emma on the ground, and see the situations as it is, he is the type of character that would never leave anything to chance.

Norman on the other hand, while being very similiar to Ray. He always tried to understand Emma's stand on the situation.

Goldy Pond time!
Our cast finally discover the world outside. We get introduced to the "wild" demons, "intelligent demons" and our demons allies Sonja and Musica WHO don't eat humans, Sonja and Musica will help the children to ensure their escape in the forest and soon they will find their way to Minverva's base. BOOM, new character introduced, they weren't the first children to ever escape, the next location prepared by Minerva is where many children have lost their lives.

This arc amazingly give us a lot of new information to the plot, we get new allies, and how the children learn how to interact with this new world in order to survive. We learn how they can fight back and that demons are not invinsible. And after the amazing hunt that took place at Goldy Pond, they get their next location and new information to work. This is were the Ratri clan gets introduced and we get a Time Skip!

This is were everything goes downhill, after the time skip, Emma and friends have collected most of the information necesary to re-forge the promise. After all this time being searched by the demons, the Ratri clan finds the children base and starts and extermination operation, this forces the plot to enter a soft point of no return. After being so close to re-forge the promise, they lost their home, some allies and Emma becames depressed.

This is it, all of this losses will help develop all of our main cast, they have to face reality. They are against a whole nation of demons, this is not like Goldy Pond.

NOPE, Norman group saves them, we learn how he survived so far, how he has changed and his new goals, we meet his allies and the masteplan to exterminate all the demons.

Emma the only development she has gotten is how she learns that not all demons are bad and wants to save them once she hears there is a possibility.

Ray from being the realist boy, he follows every single Emma stand and ideas. (SIMP).

This is were I knew this manga was going full GOOD ENDING.

Fast Forward, Emma and Ray manage to reforge the promise in the most boring and shenanigans way possible.

HECK, even Don, Gilda and Girl that spoke demon show more development and growth in a few chapters than Emma and Ray.

The capital war was absolutely AMAZING, Norman was a complete CHAD and actually achieves his plan.

This is were the ITS NOT OVER SHENANIGANS START, the manga revives dead characters (that's a no no in my book), the ratri clan who's motivation to keep fighting is questionable but was fine, and of course we had to see Mama Isabelle again.

So where should the unnecesary last battle be? GRACE FIELD!

And you might think, this was actually a cool move since the children know that land extremely well and everyone in the crew will play a good role on the fight (even Phil could have joined the fight).

NOPE, they fight in the most boring location posible at grace field.

Power of love and friendship and the fight is over.

We are ready to go to the human world.

The price to reforge the promise was okay. (Since killing Emma would be stupid at this point).

Also Isabelle death was totally unnecesary at the end.

Enjoyment: 10/10

Overall this manga is really good, I think the good things overlaps the bad things. I will give it a 10/10 just for the first arc.

I respect that the mangaka ended his work when he wanted and didn't unnecesary extended the plot. BUT, it leaves the reader with the feeling of what it could have been.

My favorite panel in this manga is were Mom is looking Emma so close. That is my highlight in the whole series. I expect great things if Kaiu Shirai gets another work serialized.

First of all, I will focus on all the good things The Promised Neverland has going for it, before focusing on the negative, and why it's impossible for me to lower the score under a 7/10 despite it probably being undeserved.

First of all, the themes touched in The Promised Neverland throughout the whole series are incredibly deep and interesting. We get subtly introduced to the eternal moral dilemma of whether humans are truly more deserving of life than the animals we eat through a gruesome psychological thriller that presents us a world in which humans are no longer the dominant species but instead part of the cattle. That main central theme is never abandoned in the development of the story, and sometimes even discussed among the characters themselves, with things like Emma questioning if it's truly fair to hate the demons when they only need to eat humans to survive. There's also the theme of what happiness is and how we can achieve it among pressuring circumstances which is extensively explored in TPN. I could talk for hours about the opposing philosophies of certain characters regarding this topic, but let's just keep it simple.

Speaking of characters, I think every single main character in TPN is extremely well done. None of them fall flat and they're very interesting to follow as you see how their view on the world evolves, and how much they change along the story. The one exception I can think of is the Goldy Pond crew (minus Yuugo), which, despite being enjoyable characters that you can very much grow to care for, none of them get truly fleshed out, which is indeed a bit disappointing.

Now, regarding the biggest point of controversy when it comes to TPN: its story. I absolutely loved the Escape Arc, and on itself it could be a solid 9/10. However, sadly the manga does nothing but slowly fall apart from that point onwards. A lot of people call the Goldy Pond Arc the best arc in the series, but I honestly could already see a few pacing issues starting. Nevertheless, despite these pacing issues weren't bad enough to heavily impact the story... until the final arc. Not only is the pacing in this arc unbelievably fast, but also there's a lot of suspiciously convenient moments that make the plot lose impact. The resolution of the entire series (spoiler: Lewis abolishing the farms) came out of nowhere and went against his previously established character in a way so sudden and brutal that it was nothing but disappointing. However, I will say the ending of the series (spoiler: the whole thing with the cattle children travelling to the human world) was very sweet and managed to make the mess of the final arc feel less bitter to me.

All in all, I am unable to punish TPN with a low score because I have a lot of appreciation for the earlier arcs of this manga, as I believe they present interesting ideas and do a proper level of analysis on heavy topics, as much as they can manage as a fictional story. It is true, however, that the ending of the series feels like a low blow and although it wasn't enough to hinder the love I had for everything already seen in the story, I can perfectly understand how it can heavily affect the enjoyment of others.

There will be spoilers so don't read if you don't want to get spoiled...



Personally, I love the art style. But, with everything in the story, it feels rushed after around volume 14 in the amount of small panels (still great art tho). I have a love hate relationship with Yakusoku no Neverland, I hoped the anime would solve the pacing problems that were in the manga, but once season 2 was revealed to be original and started showing more pacing problems I felt terrible. The manga was so close to being amazing overall, but the pacing a large component they messed up on. I always ask myself how the story would be if they were given more time, would it be perfect? Nonetheless, we can't go back in time, and with what we have, including the ending that I wish was more significant, the story is still close to my heart. At the same time though, I wish the problems never existed. One of my issues, besides pacing, is Ray's character after halfway through the story. He became less significant once Norman was introduced back again. Although, I do enjoy Norman's character, it was satisfying to see how complex he was. I also, and it may seem dark, wish there were more deaths. I believe a better ending would have been Emma telling them at the end that she can't come with them, and to have them live for her, being the last meal for the whatever tf his name is (and this would play into the neverland, no true promised land without sacrifice). I also believe more character background for the kids at Goldypond, whether in an OVA or not, existed. It pains me more for how I wished that the anime would fill the holes that were in the manga, only to feel worse once the second season was released.

And yet I still love the story with the problems, I think somehow it's still such a complex story that everyone should read. Although, if the creators could go back I would have waited for a story without pacing problems. That is what I dream of at night. It's ironic, because the perfect Promised Neverland is what we will probably will never have.

The Promised Neverland ambitiously indulges in a multitude of genres: mystery, sci-fi, horror, thriller, action, fantasy. The arcs vary so much you wonder if it's the same manga.

One of the highlights of the introduction arc is the main trio. Emma, Norman, and Ray are interesting separately, but even more so when they are plotting together. They balance each other well: Emma who is kind-hearted and athletic, Norman who is intelligent and weak physically, and Ray who is cunning. In my opinion, the story suffers a little when Norman is shipped off and we don't see him on-screen for many chapters. Same thing happens later on when Ray becomes side-lined and more of a secondary character than primary. Anyway, I think Ray and Yugo had the best character developments (from isolated and thinking about one's self to sociable and concerned for others). To me, Emma is very much a Shonen MC, for better or worse. Meanwhile, most other characters remain static; they are easily influenced by Emma, Norman, or whoever is in charge, and their ambitions tend to remain as "let's protect our family" or "I hate demons" without self-evaluation.

Story: 6/10. While the initial arcs were 10/10, I found the final arc to be lacking. The bittersweet ending couldn't make up for the 'convenient' occurrences. Things just went too smoothly and there weren't high stakes like the Jailbreak arc.

Character: 7/10. Some interesting characters. Emma's courageous yet naive personality is pretty much what moves the plot along.

Art: 9/10.

Overall: 7/10.