I can’t help but feel this is one of those manga worth reading and will no doubt have several twist and turns along the way. For its first introductory volume, I’m absolutely enjoying this manga series! “The Promised Neverland” is recommended!
Image courtesy of © Yakusoku Neverland. Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu. All Rights Reserved.
MANGA TITLE: The Promised Neverland vol. 1
Story by Kaiu Shirai
Art by Posuka Demizu
FIRST PUBLISHED IN JAPAN: SHUEISHA, Inc.
PUBLISHED IN USA BY: VIZ Media, LLC
RATED: T for Teen
RELEASE DATE: December 5, 2017
The children of the Grace Field House orphanage have their happy lives upended when they find out they’re being raised to be fed to demons. Can they escape their fate before it’s too late?
Life at Grace Field House has been good for Emma and her fellow orphans. While the daily studying and exams they have to take are tough, their loving caretaker provides them with delicious foods and plenty of playtime. But perhaps not everything is as it seems…
Emma, Norman and Ray are the brightest kids at the Grace Field House orphanage. And under the care of the woman they refer to as “Mom,†all the kids have enjoyed a comfortable life. One day, though, Emma and Norman uncover the dark truth of the outside world they are forbidden from seeing. The children of the orphanage are being raised as food for monsters, and their loving caretaker is behind it all! Emma and the others plan their escape, but can they make it out before it’s too late…?
From writer Kaiu Shirai and illustrator Posuka Demizu comes the Shonen manga, “The Promised Neverland” (known in Japan as “Yakusoku Neverland”).
The manga revolves around an orphanage at Grace Field House and this is where Emma, an 11-year-old lives with her friend Norman and Ray along with three dozen orphans.
Life was delightful for these children as they have fun, grow up with each other, eat and play and also study but many love their mama, their caretaker Isabella.
The only strict rules that the children must abide by is to never leave the orphan grounds and not enter a building, because of the dangers of the outside.
Meanwhile, Emma, Norman and Ray are the top students with the highest scores at the orphanage and they also excel in other skills. Emma is more athletic, Norman is more of a strategist and Ray is a skeptic but is very intelligent.
And their curiosity has led them outside of the orphanage and into the building they were never to go to, when they were younger.
But typically when a child turns 12, they leave the orphanage and are never heard back. Possibly they are starting their new lives or having too much fun.
So, they thought.
One day, their friend Conny is told she would be leaving the orphanage. At age six, she was always holding her stuffed rabbit, Little Bernie and while not great in her grades, she was your average normal girl. And one day, she and mama leave the orphanage.
But Emma notices that Conny has left her favorite rabbit and she and Norman decide to go to the prohibited building to give Conny back her rabbit.
But when they sneak into the car to give Conny her stuffed bunny rabbit, instead they find a bludgeoned Conny with a rose on top of her body sticking out.
Emma and Norman are caught off guard and they see their mama, Isabella talking to demons and learn that the children are kept in the orphanage to be harvested as the demons eat the children.
Shocked and disgusted, the two run back to the orphanage and it was discovered by the demons that two children were there and they left the rabbit.
For Conny and Norman, their whole lives are turned around, now knowing the orphanage is just a harvest farm for children who will be fed to demons and their beloved mama, is actually a demon or working with the demons.
Bringing in their friend Ray, the three now must plan out a strategy to rescue the children and leave the orphanage.
Meanwhile, Isabella (Mama) must find which two saw the truth of what happened to Conny and take care of them immediately.
Reading “The Promised Neverland”, it’s one of those stories that you never expected to become so dark.
The manga starts out with happiness and young children having fun and are having the time of their lives and happy with their treatment and living with their caretaker, who they call “mama”.
But for the main protagonists, their lives are turned around when they leave the grounds to return a stuffed animal to their friend Conny, who is leaving the orphanage. To find her dead and seeing demons discussing with their mama about the true nature of the orphanage, that it’s being used as a harvesting farm for humans to be fed to demons.
Needless to say, this changes the whole direction as we see Emma, Norman and Ray plan their escape. Emma wants to rescue everyone, but Ray is more logical and knowing younger children wouldn’t survive and are best to stay in the orphanage, while Norman has come to accept that death may be inevitable and all he wants to do is protect Emma.
But wanting to develop a strategy to have them escape with the other children, while these three are the smartest and brightest, so is their mama, Isabella. Who is trying to find which two were there and found out about the truth about Conny and the orphanage is a front used to harvest orphans as food for demons.
So, it’s a battle of wits, strategy and Isabella is one step ahead with technology implanted. But can these three bright children find a way to beat mama and escape from the orphanage?
What a surprising but also refreshing manga series from writer Kaiu Shirai and artist Posuka Demizu.   The artwork is fantastic but also the writing, as characters are well-developed, while the dark storyline that captivates your attention with each chapter.
Overall, I can’t help but feel this is one of those manga worth reading and will no doubt have several twist and turns along the way. For its first introductory volume, I’m absolutely enjoying this manga series! “The Promised Neverland” is recommended!