Anime Digest
The older children of Grace Field House have escaped the demons attempting to devour them and their cruel guardian, Isabella. Yet, the outside world is not what they had expected. Every day is a struggle to survive. They are in constant fear of being murdered or caught. The boundaries between friends and enemies get blurry as they discover that there is more than what meets the eye.
Despite the scary situation, the children can stay optimistic because of a couple of books left behind by William Minerva. These books have coded messages inside them like instructions that outline the world beyond Grace Field. The children survive with whatever resources they have using the information from these books.
Emma, Ray, and the rest seek a safe place for their families. They follow the hints left for them by the mysterious William Minerva and set out on this dangerous journey. But the clock is ticking and they only have two years before Phil and their younger brothers back at the farm are to be offered to the demons as food. The second season follows their journey as they come across more obstacles in this journey.
The Feel-Good Part
Sadly there are almost little to no good things to point out in this season of “The Promised Neverland.” Perhaps the only redeeming qualities would be the consistency in the animation and art style.
The Disappointing Factor
This season of the popular series has been heavily criticized by the anime community as “one of the worst sequels in anime history.” We must admit that this claim is not unjustified. The plot this season is all over the place. They have completely butchered the original progression seen in the manga. The writers have omitted key arcs and skipped through various important aspects of the story to fit their timeline. The characters in the anime have no personality and can only be seen as Emma’s lackeys. She may be one of the lead characters, but to completely overlook any other character is simply distasteful. The rest of the older children seem to have no opinion. We understand that at the end of the day, they are simply children but that is the exact reason that they should voice more of their concerns. No matter how ridiculous or dangerous an idea suggested by Emma sounds, everyone just blindly follows her. Emma’s character itself has turned oddly shallow and it’s like she lives entirely on her whims. Considering they escaped from such a hell, it would make more sense if the trauma had caused them to undergo some severe personality changes. Yet, none of this has been portrayed in season 2.
In-Depth Analysis
After the shooting popularity of this anime when it was first released, there were a lot of expectations riding on the sequel. Yet, the creators have completely blown away even a shred of hope left for the second season. The story has strayed so far off the plot that we don’t know how the damage will ever be undone. Sometimes animes tend to completely follow a new storyline and only take the basic plot from the manga. “Yakusoku No Neverland” has not even done that. They have simply skimmed through the manga and picked up events from all over the place to patch together a story.
Star Power
The characters in this season are such a step-down from their previous selves in season 1. None of them reflects even an ounce of their initial personality and somehow have all turned into mindless sheep. The central characters Ray, Norman and Emma have all lost their charm.
Overall Opinion
This anime had a lot of potential but everything went wrong due to this season of “The Promised Neverland.”
