So this series ends, or to put it more appropriately is put on temporary hold. A second season has been announced to follow much to the surprise of no one. But this episode acts as a good climax to the first arc of the story along with the thematic end of Isabella’s character arc. Of course this also marks the end of Promised Neverlands best arc which makes the announcement of a second season to be met by myself with rather lukewarm yays. What is to come after this arc isn’t what i would call bad but it is a downgrade when the story loses an antagonist like Isabella and the tension that the farm brought. The kids are still in danger but that danger seems much further away when their circumstances have switched from certain death to potential death. It’s up for debate whether an anime adaption could improve these chapters but I think I will sign off here as I just have other things to get though.
Yes yes, I lied about Phil. It’s sort have been a meme that the manga community suspected him so much due to him constantly appearing in the background which lead to him being regarded as some secret mastermind. In reality he really was just another kid, a fairly clever kid but no more a mastermind but rather just situationally aware. I do at least like how things have resolved with Isabella with her final confrontation with the children not turning into a battle of brawn but her appealing one last time to their emotions. Isabella has always been a psychological opponent so it makes sense that her last moments were like a metaphor for children leaving the coup. With her last action to hide evidence of the kids escape and to go back to the children with her most certain death awaiting her. In her final moments with her hair down almost feels like the first time she was ever able to truly be herself around them. Couple this with the flashback and reveal that she was Ray’s biological mother as thanks to fetus memories Ray learned a song from Isabella while he was in the womb.
Okay, I still think the whole fetus memory plot point is remarkably dumb and it does seem like the main reason it went with that instead of a more logical reason is for this twist and this twist alone. I think something like a birthmark would have been better to showcase this twist however. Isabella is the character I cared most about during this whole show so it’s nice to see her get some development when she about to say farewell forever. It leads her to becoming someone whose more understandable in her actions even if it doesn’t negate her wrongdoings in her job. You can make arguments that she didn’t have a choice and that she did the best she could within the limits of what the world would allow. I would argue that she traded her humanity for survival and when you look at things in perspective was never truly happy with her circumstances. She was so preoccupied with staying alive that she forget the reason why she did so. Tragic but evil deeds done remain evil, she still threw children to the guillotine to ensure her own survival.
I am having a debate with myself over reviewing this series as it is by general policy that I forgo a review if a second season is announced. As I feel that a series should be judged by everything that it puts on the table rather than a teaser. Still if I was to give my thoughts on how I felt about this series it would be that it is well directed, animated and features a great soundtrack but the story is a bit of a one trick pony. I stated before that when it came to the manga I began to lose interest once I completed the first arc but here I began to lose interest much faster which my response to each new episode turned to indifference. Again I reiterate that the series itself isn’t bad but it is a story that depends heavily on not knowing what comes next. If you do know what comes next then you know all the misdirection and suddenly the show becomes a showcase of fakeouts. Take note that despite the bleak setting that only two people actually died during this series. Connie in episode one and Krone in episode eight.(And I suppose Norman if you consider that “death” to be legitimate) Not saying we needed to see a massacre here but I feel it betrays the intent of the majority of the tone when you show that the only ones in danger are those whom are disposable plotwise.
Of course as the writer of Higurashi and Umineko put it, stories can be enjoyed twice but the fault with Neverland is that it depends so heavily on that first time experience that upon rewatch there really isn’t much to see. The characters are fine but the story almost is a waiting game to the eventual escape and in watching this anime I came to see how one note that approach is. I honestly can say the only character I truly cared about was Isabella and would you look at that, she’s gone from the story forever. An argument can be made that a story doesn’t require rewatchability in order to be considered great and indeed there are plenty of mystery stories that make for fantastic first time reads but diminish upon rereads. But I think that for something to be regarded as a classic is a quality that make you want to see it again and again, even when you know how it ends. A quality which for all the advantages it has, Neverland lacks.
