”I am happy… because I was able to meet you”
Creative Staff
Story: Kaiu Shirai
Art: Posuka Demizu
Translation/Adaptation: Satsuki Yamashita
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…
Just as the plan to escape the orphanage is coming together, Mom viciously breaks Emma’s leg and reveals that Norman’s days are numbered. Emma and Ray will do anything to save their friend from being eaten by the demons, but can they outsmart their devious foe?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I gotta be honest with you guys on a major spoiler this volume, so here’s your last chance to avoid that before I delve into things.
I’m glad they killed off Norman. Of the core trio, he was the most level-headed yet because of this the gang ended up spinning their wheels more often than not. The characters second and third-guessing their decisions definitely makes sense within the story, but to have them constantly freeze in place while considering possibilities that they need to prepare for made for some of the more boring chunks to read through. Not only does killing off (well, “supposedly” since that last panel with him gives some wiggle room for debate) Norman kick the other kids into action, but it serves as a solid emotional turning point for the real story to begin. It’s this manga’s equivalent of Coulson dying before the Avengers quit their in-fighting so they could punch aliens.
And what makes Norman’s death work so well is that it’s given the proper amount of time to breathe. After it was given as a cliffhanger note to finish off the last volume, the kids immediately shift gears from trying to escape, to ensuring that their friend remains safe. You see the number of ways they wrack their brain around the situation, and you see them get so close to carrying out a plan to its successful end only for true despair to kick in at the very last minute. See, as Emma and Ray develop plans to keep Norman safe, Norman himself slowly comes to terms with his eventual death. And it’s in these two conflicting mentalities that we’re eventually met with their first major loss. The despair cuts deep and for once the characters freezing upon a hitch in their plans is really felt.
So when you realize that part of that despair ends up being a ruse, you honestly feel a bit cheated. While Norman’s death is something that’s committed to, the remaining kids’ reactions to it are not. To have seen Emma and Ray so utterly defeated upon Norman’s departure only to have them back in business and ready to escape just pages later (even with a little “two months later” caption) is something I’m very mixed on. Norman’s death serves as that final push that makes the remaining kids escape, and it has been a long time coming. But to have the remaining kids continue talking about “escaping tonight” undercuts so much of what made the first half of this volume work.
It’s akin to shojo manga resetting the progress they’ve made with their characters for the sake of maintaining that “will they/won’t they” dynamic. Hearing the kids go off about how they’re escaping that very night has almost reached broken record levels of redundancy without payoff at this point. And yet to have that final Ocean’s 11 moment where we backtrack to see all the behind-the-scenes moments we missed out on is just so satisfying that I don’t care. It’s the kind of backtracking that feels very shortsighted and selective as to what bits from earlier chapters they can make work in the current narrative’s favor, but again, it’s able to work up so much momentum especially in comparison to what’s been done in past volumes that it’s nothing to gripe about.
The kids are well on their way, with Mom finally on the defense, and I can’t be happier for the progress that’s been made.
In Summary:
The Promised Neverland volume 4 is a long time coming. We finally see the kids commence their escape from the orphanage at the expense of one of their own. And while the plot ends up stepping on its own toes at some points, it’s more than worth it to see those final pages of Mom’s look of utter surprise knowing that the kids she’s had under her thumb for so long have finally put one over on her.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: B
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: Teen
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: June 5, 2018
MSRP: $9.99
