”Now’s not the time to tell them the truth”
Creative Staff:
Story: Kaiu Shirai
Art: Posuka Demizu
Translation: Satsuki Yamashita
Touch-up Art & Lettering: Mark McMurray
Design: Julian [JR] Robinson
Editor: Alexis Kirsch
What They Say:
Life at Grace Field House is 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 food and plenty of playtime. But perhaps not everything is as it seems…
Behind the façade of a happy orphanage, the children of Grace Field House are secretly being raised as food for demons! Determined to save themselves and the other kids, Emma, Norman and Ray begin planning an escape. But their caretaker, “Mom,” has brought in extra help to keep the orphans in line…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Whereas the first volume of The Promised Neverland came charging in with a solid premise, and an immediate reaction to every new plot point brought up, volume 2 begins to show some wear… at least in its first chapter.
We begin the volume with the older orphans training the rest of the orphans for their inevitable escape from Grace Field House through a friendly game of tag. Knowing that the majority of the orphans are too young to even wrap their head around the fact that they’re being raised to be demon-food, disguising evacuation training as a daily game of tag is an interesting spin to get the orphans ready for the unexpected. Furthermore, it builds off Mom’s mentioning to Sister Krone that her children are all special—each child being able to keep up with the insane levels of training rather well. And yet for some reason, this opening chapter felt like the outlier chapter from the rest of the volume.
Similar to how the orphans’ morning exams slowly fell into the background with no further focus outside its initial shock value, Sister Krone’s place in the series feels like it equally lost its luster past her introduction. During the training, she willingly presents herself to be “it” while the rest of the kids try to keep away from her, but it results in this odd, very self-contained chapter that’s far more humorous in tone than anything else we’ve seen from the series so far. Even outside that opening chapter, Sister Krone is already dismissed by Mom as someone to throw the kids off-balance, but to serve as nothing more outside of that. Yes, her not necessarily working in Mom’s favor adds some depth since she’s not necessarily a good or bad person, but her ultimate role in the series doesn’t feel fully realized.
This alongside the main three orphans’ discussions on what else to prepare for give off the impression that author Shirai is trying to gather their bearings and figure out exactly what direction to take the series. While early chapters discussing escape plans felt like there was an immediate objective (ie: get rope, convince Ray to join them), discussions this time around felt like the kids (and in turn the author) were really spinning their wheels figuring out not just what to do next, but how many unknowns they should prepare for. Luckily, things pick back up once the volume begins focusing on recruiting the second-oldest orphans Don and Gilda.
Unlike Sister Krone, Don and Gilda feel like more natural additions to the main cast. With so many toddlers to keep track of for the escape, you want Don and Gilda to be useful and believe they deserve to know about the demons. But we’re also led to believe that there’s a possible orphan serving as a double-agent for Mom, so there’s a certain level of paranoia to deal with. Shirai even backtracks on why Ray was never under any suspicion by ultimately making him the double agent all along. It feels like such a retcon, but it’s a nice twist that benefits the story for the better.
Instead of believing the story began with Emma and Norman finding out about the demons, we realize Ray found out six whole years earlier and has been thinking up his own plan to get his friends out all while making backhanded deals with Mom. Add Don and Gilda’s own willingness to investigate what the others claimed to be an extraneous detail in Mom’s hidden room, and we have enough individual parties each working for their own desires. From the main trio, to the new duo, to Krone, and Mom, you’re not just split up between good guys and bad guys. Rather, you have these spread-out individuals that want what’s best for themselves and are willing to do whatever it takes to reach that goal—something much more substantial to offer depth to the story’s drama outside of simply escaping.
In Summary:
Even with some initial hiccups, The Promised Neverland volume 2 continues to deliver its unique blend of starry-eyed optimism in the face of absolute despair. Characters begin to show their true allegiances, and lines are beginning to form between who to trust and who to defy in a narrative that is slowly learning what works and what doesn’t within the confines of its world.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: T+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: February 6, 2018
MSRP: $9.99
