The Promised Neverland Anime: what happened??

So, if you’ve been keeping up with the anime airing this season, you might be aware of the controversy surrounding The Promised Neverland season 2 and how it’s started to diverge from the manga. As a manga reader, I wanted to add my two cents, and keep you caught up on the situation if you’re unaware.

In this post I’m going to be discussing the first 5 episodes of The Promised Neverland season 2, but there won’t be manga spoilers, don’t worry. (I will mention arcs and characters by name though, but that’s it)

So, I finished the manga back in June, (you can read my spoilery review of it here) and while I enjoyed it I do remember others being disappointed in the ending. There were rumors that the publishing schedule changed and the author and artist had to put out chapters at a quicker rate than they were ready for. As a result, the end seemed fairly rushed.

When manga readers found out that the author (Kaiu Shirai) was going to help work on Season 2 and make some changes, originally, most of us were excited. Having the original creator involved in the anime is always a good sign, and it seemed like they were aware of some of the displeasure manga fans had with the ending.

However... I can speak for all of us when I say we were not expecting changes this early on. You may have heard talk of the ‘Goldy Pond’ arc, which is the next big arc after Grace Field house in the manga. None of us expected it to be involved in the cuts and changes made by the author. However, from the way the second season is going, it seems like Goldy Pond is going to be completely axed from the show. A beloved character who was meant to be introduced at the start of this season, Yuugo, might not appear at all either.

Despite all this, I trust that Shirai knows what they’re doing. I’m really hoping that even if the story ends up being different, it’ll still be enjoyable and interesting to watch. Everyone has their theories as to what the plot changes are leading to or how Goldy Pond might still happen, but honestly, literally no one can know for sure until we watch the upcoming episodes.

However, I also want to mention my personal criticisms with the show even disregarding the plot changes. My biggest issue (besides being sad about Yuugo) is the pacing. Episodes 4 and 5 had way too much going on. The audience barely had time to absorb the bunker before the raid happened, and then all of a sudden there was a huge timeskip. Yes those things happen way later on in the manga, but even if they wanted to make those drastic changes they definitely could have made them more cohesive or flow better. I’m hoping this aspect improves as they continue on with the season.

Generally though, if you’re an anime-only fan curious about Goldy Pond or Yuugo or just want to know what all the fuss is about, definitely read the manga, it’s totally worth it! Also, if you’re anime-only or a manga reader and want more info/theories about the fate of Season 2, I’d highly recommend this video by Best Girl’s Basement. Thanks for reading!

-threecheersforinking