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EP. REVIEW: The Promised Neverland Season 2


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Raven.In.Pink





PostPosted: Sat Jan 30, 2021 7:19 pm Reply with quote
Honestly, it the anime is going for an original plot and ending, I’m hoping for the best. I wasn’t a fan of how the manga went and the ending felt hollow to me. There were some amazing parts, but as a whole it didn’t work imo.

A lot of things seemed to have been hand-waved for the sake of just of tying up loose ends like (MAJOR Endgame Manga Spoilers) spoiler[ Norman’s illness, Leuvis being alive, Isabella’s death, Emma’s promise with The One not having lasting consequences, etc. ] If the anime can makes its way into the final act and somehow rectify these plot points or avoid them, I’d be fine with it.

Oh, and spoiler[give Ray more screen time and an actual presence. PLEASE. By the end of the manga, it’s easy to forget he’s even there.]
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 2501
PostPosted: Sat Jan 30, 2021 10:59 pm Reply with quote
grooven wrote:
As an anime-only viewer, I only found the ignoring of the "Help" on the walls and the book they found really odd. Like how do they just skip over that? That made no sense. What also bothered me in the first season and even now was the lack of foreshadowing of the morse code and the story that helps them along the way. The sudden way the morse code was introduced was really abrupt. Then the story I don't think I recall it even mentioned in the first season...
Covnam wrote:
Considering the set up of the episode it was surprsing to see the raid come so quickly...
Glad that I'm not the only one to think I missed something vital in S1 but that things seemed abrupt here I think is more a result of people reading ahead in the manga and having difficulty like James in ignoring that and taking the story for what it is now. As an "anime only" I think unless they are rushing, the story is progressing logically at a good and realistic pace. I already pointed to the unrealism that the shelter could have been built by one man or escaped detection over how many years (?) by the demons and/or their human lackeys. Plus, they had the equivalent of bloodhounds on the trail and a bunch of kids would leave quite a trail in the sand/dirt as long as it didn't rain too much (revealed to be an arid area).Even if Sonju got some of the trackers, it isn't reasonable to think there wouldn't be others soon after. Thus, the quick arrival (month delayed) of the retrieval squad was reasonable and I think enhanced the realism as well as preserving the dramatic tension fueling the show to this point. One could argue the squad was inept (maybe...) but they still got the kids before they got away, which would have been a really dumb plot contrivance. The day gets saved by another possible contrivance but that had at least been introduced earlier so it fit in the narrative.

As for the "Help" room, it wasn't completely ignored as some kids explored it and concluded it was an alternate route to the surface, though one could argue they might have posted a guard there or tried to wall that off to be sure no one could sneak in that way just in case. A little more intriguing was the comment that the lackeys knew shelters with the same construction which may also have figured into how they would know such might be close to the kid's last known location since they "disappeared" so quickly. A little searching would have disclosed the shelter sooner rather than later. What purpose did this episode serve? It provided a "breather" to introduce the hope that the kids could successfully escape but underscore that to survive being discovered they would have to do things very differently than in the recent past.

It seems to me that the story here is following how the kids make good their escape from the demon world, so dwelling very long in the shelter or introducing another large story segment would have been a huge diversion and poor storytelling unless you can foresee having a 50-100 episode run. There is still a lot of work to set up how they can rescue the others at Grace Farm at minimum. Also, Isabella being brought back in isn't totally illogical since she/they still have the "young ones" in custody and she could reasonably expect they won't be abandoned...
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SaneSavantElla



Joined: 25 Jan 2013
Posts: 216
PostPosted: Sun Jan 31, 2021 3:34 am Reply with quote
Hiroki not Takuya wrote:
As for the "Help" room, it wasn't completely ignored as some kids explored it and concluded it was an alternate route to the surface

Well it was the piano room that has a secret escape route that led to the surface, not the "Help" room.

Hiroki not Takuya wrote:
There is still a lot of work to set up how they can rescue the others at Grace Farm at minimum. Also, Isabella being brought back in isn't totally illogical since she/they still have the "young ones" in custody and she could reasonably expect they won't be abandoned...


And this is what some manga readers are worried about. There is indeed a lot of work to do before they can realistically have a fighting chance against the demons. As the manga itself already felt rushed, shortening it even more without resorting to unearned time skips or deus-ex-machina would be nothing short of a miracle. And by god, I really really hope they pull it off. I do agree getting Isabella back now is a good call, I think it's one of the things the episode got right.

As for why the "filler" in this episode has to exist, it seems to me an attempt to bridge their short stint in the shelter and the raid. If they were attacked just when they're trying to get a hang of the secret routes, their escape from the squad would feel even more unbelievable (game over as soon as the hatch was infiltrated, there would be no demons to save them if they have no way out). It does feel repetitive with the montage of the baths and the piano playing, and thus they came up with the fish-tasting segment (which got a chuckle out of me if only for the now running gag that Ray is putting himself in danger for the nth time).
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Brook09



Joined: 10 Jan 2021
Posts: 81
PostPosted: Sun Jan 31, 2021 5:15 am Reply with quote
Welp there goes cloverworks reputation down the drain.

They'll be forvever remembered as the studio which did the anime original route for promised neverland.

And with this I say goodbye to this shitty adaption, and cancelling my pre order for the bd's.

As an extra "fck you" I'll buy the last volumes of this series which I hated but they were nowhere near as bad as this episode.
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NeverConvex
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Joined: 08 Jun 2013
Posts: 2266
PostPosted: Sun Jan 31, 2021 12:15 pm Reply with quote
Everything since the introduction of the underground base has felt rather contrived to me. A shame, since the initial transition to the outside world I thought they actually handled shockingly well.

I suppose I'll withhold final judgment until the finale -- the TPM anime's earned that from me -- but the whole underground base nonsense has me pretty concerned.
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Doodleboy



Joined: 23 Dec 2013
Posts: 296
PostPosted: Sun Jan 31, 2021 9:06 pm Reply with quote
One of the questions I had for this season was how they're going to handle the later material. Mostly because the thriller pacing where the kids were vulnerable and had only their wits as their resource spoiler[went against the the later chapters where they're firing machine-guns at bullet catching monsters]. It turns out they're just going to take major liberties with the story spoiler[Even the machine guns in the bunker were taken away and our kids have to get away from a SWAT team with arrows ].

And while honestly the Goldy Pond arc was a strong arc in Promised Neverland, it was also the last arc I wholeheartedly like. I wouldn't mind a whole new ending, something like the FMA 2003 adaptation which takes the parts and general theme and weaves something new. spoiler[The fact that they took away Musia mentioning the Seven Walls as a path makes that possible].

I was kind of annoyed the Help room got ignored, not as worried about their new destination mainly because I doubt it'll be so easy. Hoping the adaptation team has some idea of what they want to do or say.
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7777ale7777



Joined: 13 Nov 2017
Posts: 105
PostPosted: Thu Feb 04, 2021 4:24 pm Reply with quote
Manga spoilers for this week's episode:
spoiler[Well, uh... someone's shorter...]
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 2501
PostPosted: Sat Feb 06, 2021 12:11 am Reply with quote
Well, for those who were wondering with trepidation how they were going to spoiler[reintroduce Norman], well now you know. Wasn't so hard now was it? However, a bugaboo I have with killing off main characters is that spoiler[some stories won't just let them stay dead], which cheapens the drama. I guess TPN is no different...
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Florete



Joined: 21 Jan 2018
Posts: 363
PostPosted: Sat Feb 06, 2021 9:27 pm Reply with quote
As an anime-only viewer, while I thought the HELP thing being ignored was awkward, I thought the transition from episode 4 to episode 5 was perfectly fine. We've already seen enough of them running around in forests and there's not a whole lot of plot you can do with that.

I did realize that Isabella doesn't seem to have done in anything in a year, but at the same time I found that whole part with her in the previous episode dumb anyway, because what is she even supposed to do? How is she supposed to be any better at catching them than the demons, especially in the middle of demon lands where she sticks out like a sore thumb? She felt like a total non-threat to me even before this episode.
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ab2143



Joined: 09 Jan 2021
Posts: 701
PostPosted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 6:11 am Reply with quote
Quote:
I just don't feel like spoiler[Norman's] arrival landed with the big oomph it was obviously aiming for, and this is supposed to be a huge moment, for both the characters and the audience.


Yeah, his return felt really anticlimactic.

Manga spoiler:
spoiler[I’m glad Norman looks his younger, normal self in the anime. It kinda threw me off when I first saw his older self in the manga. Still hoping to see Mister in the group of people that were with Norman in the latest episode. I know it’s very unlikely that will be the case though. ]
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Sekaro



Joined: 12 Nov 2018
Posts: 345
PostPosted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 6:26 am Reply with quote
And Norman's alive....woohoo. Who didn't see that coming? Laughing

But in all seriousness, this is exactly why I feel that a faithful adaptation would've been better here. This series definitely needed 3 seasons not 2. If it were up to me, I'd adapt the entire spoiler[Goldy Pond arc]in season 2 and end it with a cliffhanger showing a snippet of spoiler[Norman disguised as William Minerva but with his facial features hidden to leave viewers guessing]. In season 3, they could then wrap everything up in neat little bow without jumping all over the place in the manga. That said, with the manga long over alrdy, I guess they didn't feel justified to go for a Season 3 & just wanted to end it this season.
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Helix91
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Joined: 30 Apr 2017
Posts: 62
PostPosted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 1:42 pm Reply with quote
I haven't read the manga, but I'm still disappointed with the turn this series has taken. The first season was a great combination of shocking moments and the slow burn of suspense that is needed to properly set up those moments. It took time for planning, detail, and atmosphere. This season feels like it's just flying through plot points, especially in episodes 3-5. It's not awful, but it's so rushed. How long would the events of all of season 1 take if they were paced like season 2? Like three episodes maybe? It's just a different kind of story at this point.
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Covnam



Joined: 31 May 2005
Posts: 3627
PostPosted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 3:50 pm Reply with quote
I haven't read the manga, but didn't have any issues with the time skip. Maybe I'm kind of used to them at this point? lol

The reveal at the end was surprising, but didn't really hit hard like I presume it is supposed to. It was more of an, "Huh, ok", rather than a "What?! No way!". Now WandaVision, that got that reaction out of me this week Laughing
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Yuvelir



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
Posts: 1529
PostPosted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 4:33 pm Reply with quote
The only part that surprised me was the convenient circumstances and the implication that he might have broken free. But I think it was never in dispute that Norman actually survived? Or at least that's the impression I left S1 with.
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grooven



Joined: 16 Aug 2006
Posts: 1424
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Thu Feb 11, 2021 11:18 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, the whole "reveal" with spoiler[Norman was underwhelming, but I never thought he was actually gone anyways.] And with the S2 OP I feel there is a spoiler[spot left for him where they show Emma and Ray near the end lol].

The time skip felt a bit sudden. I wouldn't have minded a few flashbacks or whatever so show them coming to this point.

Still, that glaring HELP message on the wall being ignored bothers me so much.
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