I was going to do a retrospective on the 3rd Splatfest in Splatoon 2, but I was feeling really down. So I decided to skip out on SplatFest, instead played Mother 3 since my brother told me it was sad (which the first chapter was) and then I was going to do a retrospective on that, but I'm just gonna wait until I beat the game. Today, one of the youtubers I follow made a video about a manga called The Promised Neverland, he said it was really sad and dark which made me want to check it out.  I read the first chapter and I decided to blog my thoughts about it....

So, When I first saw Promised Neverland it kind of looked like a fantasy magical girl anime, which  I assume because there was a young female main character. When I was younger I used to love that genre, but it started to get old and some of the magical girl animes I was watching just started to get weird (not in a good way), Anyways I found out that this manga was actually featured in Shonen Jump, which in Japan isn't that rare to have a female main character in something an adventure action genre. So it seemed like there's something more to this..

    The few first pages showcased an idealistic scene of children playing in a large field outside of mansion, the main character Emma, 11 years old, reveals that this mansion is an orphan and she's one of the oldest children there out of all 32 children. Emma and the other kids loved there seemly prefect life of days fulled with playing outside, eating delicious food, and oh...taking a high tech standardize test daily. The caretaker of orphan know as  Mama tell the children the test acts as substitute for traditional school. Emma, and her best friends Ray and Norman score the highest in their class.(?) All the other kids idolize Emma and her friend because their the smartest, most nimble, and most strategic of them all.  

At this point of the story, it was really giving me Maximum Ride vibes, I was really excepting the orphanage to be like some like way to scout out young kids with superpowers. The story was also following the typical beats of a False Utopia poltline, and that's not anything bad in my opinion a trope can be used, it's how that trope is used that matters. Anyways, the story really starts when one of the orphans named Conny is finally taken in by foster parents. She tells everyone that even though she not smart like Emma and her friends, she wants to be just like Mama when she grows up, to be a good mother and not let any of her kids go.  After, Conny leaves Emma notices that she had forgotten the plush bunny Mama had given Conny when she first got here, it seemed strange to just leave it behind after such a heartfelt speech. Emma and Norman make it their mission to give it back to her.

The orphans aren't suppose to adventure outside because it's dangerous, so they'er protect by a gate. The only way they know about the outside world is through books and novels found in the library.When they get near the gate, Emma and Norman see a car for what looks like the first time in their  lives. They check the car for Conney, and they find her but she's not live anymore, they soon  discover that what they thought was an orphanage was actually a human farm and when a child gets send off to live with  their foster parents, they'er actually being killed and sold for meat by demons. I personally wasn't surprised by this fact, I saw it coming as so as Conney talked about how not smart she is, and how she dreamed of being  mother when she grew up.   

 What I really liked about this story is what happened next, after discovering that this whole time all her friends were being sold off and eaten and that even Mama was in on it ,  Emma starts to have a mental break down as her and Norman make their way back. Norman comforts Emma by telling her and they'll just run away, but Emma reminds him that if they do that the others will meet the same faith as Conney, and Emma states that she doesn't want anymore of her  siblings to die.  Norman reassures her  that  with their skills along with Ray's they'll be able to  escape with everyone. Chapter one ends with Emma gathering her thoughts and being determined to fight against the adults.

What I like about The Promised Neverland is despite the story so far isn't anything new, I really like the characters in it, they'er all really likable. Emma is the right amount quirkiness to where she know how to act during a serious situation and when it's time to get down to business. She also acts a pretty good big sister to younger kids being helpful, fun-loving, and cheerful, she also really smart which is a trait I really didn't expect her to have. (but I read/watch magical girl stuff and in those stories the main characters are usually lazy, and hate school) So, it was a breath of fresh air to me. Norman seems to have the chill guy archetype, where he cool and collected for the most part, but he cares about Emma and the others alot.  Ray, there no much yet I can say about him, but his character does have potential to be a great character.

 What I think may happen next is that they find out the people who are sold away are the less capable ones , and The mother's trying to keep Ray, Emma, Norman (maybe?) or they'er prime meat because one of the demons did mention of getting higher quality meat in the near future and Emma, Ray, and Norman are reaching the age of 12, where they can no longer live  on the farm. Also have the feeling that the books in the library don't hold the whole truth about the outside world, like how it is now at the point of the story. The library is probably fulled with old books.... 

Overall, I think this manga has a pretty good start, it tells you enough to get invested, but not too much to keep it a mystery. I also like how the cutesy art design of the children is side by side with the more detailed kind of hyper realistic demon character designs.   I may talk about the series more on this blog, but I still want to blog about other thinks like why some MMORPGS die off (at least the ones I play), I'll probably dedicated another spot an the blog for Promised Neverland, I've already join the Reddit and I'm getting the English version of manga in December. I'm still going to read the translation done by the fans on Reddit tho'

I give it a 

  4.5/5 stars