C&C - The Promised Neverland - "150146" [6/29]

Nobodyman

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Welcome to the outside world, children. And all the wonders and horrors it entails.

So yeah, despite the show's grim premise, we actually got very few deaths of named characters during the first season. Second season though? Well...we'll see.
 

Kitschensyngk

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Oh, doyy. Of course she wasn't. There were other kids.

Exit light
Enter night
Take my hand
Off to Never-Never-Land...
 

Space Cadet

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Wow, that was fun to watch. Hopefully Toonami will air season 2 when it comes in 2020/2021. I know ratings weren't that great, but hope it did well enough to come back.
 

LinusFan303

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This is my first time watching this episode, it was announced to be on Toonami before this episode aired so I waited until today to watch it.

Phil kind of figured out something happened, also no one better harm him!

They made it! Now what?

Ray is Isabella's son, so Mom's a mom for real.

Really enjoyed this series , I hope when season 2 comes out they air on Toonami again.
 

Rhaynebow

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And thus ends the tale of children escaping the slaughterhouse, hoping to return in time before the next harvest....

LITERALLY NEXT WEEK: Food Wars!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Kitschensyngk

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Durarara!!.

Kill la Kill.

And now Promised Neverland.

Congratulations, Aniplex of America. That's THREE first-licensed series you have that didn't make me cringe or groan or want to gouge out my eyes.
 

Yojimbo

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That was an unexpected revelation about Mother and Ray being mother and son.

And they escaped. I guess now's time to find that book guy.

Amazing season finale. Hope Toonami gets the next season.
 

PicardMan

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And so we end the most down to earth Toonami series with a climax involving a zip line. So different from firing magic lasers or the stereotypical shonen climax. This was definitely a different show than what we're used to being a drama/thriller instead of a battle shonen. It was a really well made series and Isabella was one of the most intimidating and compelling villains in shonen. I don't know if enjoyed would be the word I'd use to describe my response to this series, as we get to feel the character's pain. It almost felt like an Evangelion or Madoka in how much helplessness and suffering there was, but the ending was much more triumphant and optimistic than the rest of the "children suffering" genre. Instead of gore, we had more psychological and emotional horror here. I'm definitely curious as to where the show ends up going next in the plot, but, as we all know, it's impossible to tell what Toonami considers good or bad ratings any more.

Some of us here have said that the show somehow becomes more action oriented later on, but I don't see any plausible way that children can psychically best this world and I don't see any logical way of turning this into an action series. Some say the manga is still good and others say it falls off a cliff the parts the first season adapted. I guess maybe there's some way of doing a genre shift that doesn't feel extremely jarring, but it seems extra jarring on paper. We'll have to wait a year to find out.
 

Nobodyman

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Some of us here have said that the show somehow becomes more action oriented later on, but I don't see any plausible way that children can psychically best this world and I don't see any logical way of turning this into an action series. Some say the manga is still good and others say it falls off a cliff the parts the first season adapted. I guess maybe there's some way of doing a genre shift that doesn't feel extremely jarring, but it seems extra jarring on paper. We'll have to wait a year to find out.
I wouldn't say it becomes a straight up action series, but the second arc definitely introduces more physical action elements into the story. And it does happen in a way that, I think, makes sense. You'll just have to see. For my money, I think the manga is still great. It's just evolved a bit since its, shall we say, "confined" beginnings.
 

Lawren22

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Unpopular opinion I guess but I acually think the manga got more or less even better not worst after the first arc and I think the current and final one is the best in the series. I like the adventure and moral debates the series gets into more than the let's escape the farm.The action elements in the second major arc work fine and I'm looking forward to seeing that part animated. As for this episode I really like Isabella's flashbacks( not the rest was at all bad though) finding out that Ray was her son was good twist that made previous plot points make more sense and it really added to her character.
 

Radiant97

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Unpopular opinion I guess but I acually think the manga got more or less even better not worst after the first arc and I think the current and final one is the best in the series. I like the adventure and moral debates the series gets into more than the let's escape the farm.The action elements in the second major arc work fine and I'm looking forward to seeing that part animated. As for this episode I really like Isabella's flashbacks( not the rest was at all bad though) finding out that Ray was her son was good twist that made previous plot points make more sense and it really added to her character.
Is it really an unpopular opinion? I mean, yeah I've seen people complain that it gets "too shonen" later on, especially in the second arc, but I didn't think there were that many. I highly disagree with that argument too, because it's not like the action elements are gratuitous to the point of being mindless, they're genuinely intense and I too am looking forward to seeing it animated. I also agree with you on the current arc. The moral dilemmas raised in it, as well as the mystery of the
Seven Walls
make the series even more intriguing and unpredictable.
 

Lawren22

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Well,I just herd it mentioned enough online that the others arcs especially the next one aren't on to the level of the first one that I assumed it wasn't exactly popular to think otherwise but if that's not acually the case then that's good because I never really understood it.
 

Radiant97

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Yeah, me neither. I haven't seen a legitimate argument from people regarding their dislike towards the later arcs other than "it turns into a generic battle shonen" this, "it's just like every other shonen now" that without elaborating on why it's such a bad thing.
 
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Light Lucario

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I thought that this episode was pretty good. It wasn't too surprising that Phil already could tell that something was off. He's been one of the few little kids of the group who has stood out, so I figured that he was going to have some key role down the road. Emma actually choosing to have Phil take care of the rest of the little kids while everyone five and older leave was a smart plan. She isn't able to take everyone with them now, but she is still determined to save everyone. This helps their group so that they aren't slowed down or have to worry about taking care of babies while they're out in the world. It also helps to give Emma a more personal goal after escaping than just surviving. She has to find a place that is safe for all of her siblings so that she can come back within two years for the rest of her family. It was a pretty smart way for both Emma and Ray to get what they want.

It was also a pretty smart plan to actually use the cliff to escape. It was dangerous and reckless, but there was more security around the gate and no one thought that they would go to the cliff. I'm still almost positive that Norman is alive somehow, but this was still a nice way to have him involved in the escape plan even after he left. Ray talking to Norman was also nice, even if it did make me think he magically appeared out of nowhere again.

I was expecting a bit more of a tense confrontation when Isabelle saw Emma. She was still in shock over what happened and didn't want the children to go, but I thought that there would be a bit more tension after Emma made her escape. Isabella accepted her defeat and learning more about her from that flashback was interesting. Younger Isabelle looked a lot like Emma, but that might have been because she was happier at one point. That lullaby coming from one of her siblings was really telling. Losing him hit Isabella pretty hard and she tried to escape too, but she couldn't. She only had that song to remember him and that might have been her only trace of genuine positive emotion left.

The twist that Ray is Isabella's son was a surprise, but it made sense. It would explain even more as to why Ray had known about the secret his whole life and why he was willing to help Isabella before. Isabella's reaction upon finding out that Ray is her son was also pretty telling. She looked genuinely horrified at the thought of having to send off her own child to be eaten, but she quickly recomposed herself and said that she did it all to just survive. Ever since she trained to become a Mom, Isabella was focused on just looking out for herself, buried all of her emotions and convinced herself that this life was still full of happiness even if it wasn't real for these children. It seemed like she genuinely hoped for the escaping children to find their own happiness despite becoming such a monster herself. I suspect that she'll be killed by the demons much like what happened to Krone. It was nice to see the kids see their first sunrise together and it ended the season one a pretty hopeful note.

Overall, it was a pretty good episode and season finale. There was some good tension with the kids struggling to escape in the mist of the chaos and the twist with Phil gives Emma a more personal goal to achieve within just a couple of years. As for the season as a whole, it was pretty solid. Only a few kids really stood out, but that was clearly the point since so many of the kids were still going to stay behind and there wasn't a lot for the kids outside of the main three to do anyway. There was a good sense of tension with the kids trying to figure out how to escape, what they could do and how to do it. It looked like things were going pretty smoothly for them until Isabella took action. There was a sense of hopelessness throughout most of the series, especially with what happened to Krone and possibly Norman, but it never got too overwhelming or upsetting. Emma's upbeat and optimistic nature was a good balance to the more negative/pessimistic Ray, while Norman felt like he was right between both of their attitudes. The main three kids do come off as good friends, so their determination to protect each other, even if it meant their own lives, was pretty genuine and believable. Don and Gilda took awhile to grow on me, especially Don, but they turned out to be pretty helpful.

The mystery behind the house, the demons and this world was pretty engaging too. We don't learn a lot about why demons are eating children in this season, but that was understandable considering that the main focus was just to escape and even the adults like Krone long accepted that this is just how the way the world works. It is definitely a different and refreshing kind of series where the characters have to focus on strategy instead of battling to solve their problems. It probably contributes to the sense of hopelessness when these three regular kids are up against monsters and cold hearted adults like Isabelle and Krone, especially when they have such little time to escape.

I don't know if it was fitting choice for Toonami, even with their experiments into non-action series in mind, but at least this was a good series to experiment with and the horror/suspense elements help to not make it stick out like a sore thumb. That's way more than I can say about Pop Team Epic, another series that I think that they chose primarily because it was a popular recent seasonal anime. I imagine that was a reason why they chose The Promised Neverland as well, but at least this series has substance and is overall pretty solid. The season finale does end on a good hopeful point to take a break on, but I do kind of wish that season two started sooner than next year. I don't know if they'll be able to cover the rest of the manga within one season or if it will be two. I have heard some more negative reception to the manga past its first arc, but I'll have to see if I agree with those complaints when the anime gets there. I don't know if Toonami will air season two. I hope that they do, but with how they're treating My Hero Academia, I'm starting to question if I should just wait for the dub to possibly get on a streaming site instead of waiting for Toonami to air the next season. I'm glad that Toonami picked it up and that I gave the series a chance. I enjoyed it more than I expected, but I shouldn't rely on Toonami to check out new titles as much as I do. Part of that is also because I take forever to watch or rewatch most series, even the ones I like or I'm pretty confident that I'll like, but I also don't want to risk seeing another show that I really like being treated like dirt for seemingly no good reason. I'm sure that I'll check out season two at some point though.

I can definitely see why both the anime and manga have become pretty popular. It's a solid series with likable characters, a pretty interesting premise and a lot of tension to keep the audience engaged throughout its run.
 

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