The Promised Neverland

From the person who enjoyed the whole When They Cry (Higurashi) series, and Made in Abyss, I thoroughly enjoyed “The Promised Neverland”. I would definitely recommend this to anyone of my kind.

Not to toot my horn, but I have high expectations for each anime I watch; which is why my scores are heavily tilted towards the high 8s to 9s, because I’m so selective about anime. What I’m even more selective about, is psychological anime. Psychological anime is the one genre of anime I cannot forgive studios for messing up; I love the intricate details of the plot, down to the very item characters possess, back references to arcs that occured all the way in the first episode, and mind-boggling situations that characters are put through.

For all the good psychological anime I have watched, studios tend to churn out the following equation:

Children + Terror + Truth of the World = Good Psychological anime

And I’ll admit, I’ll gobble any anime with this equation. After all, using vulnerable children as characters of a psychological anime that may even terrify adults allows us to sympathize with the characters very easily. Moreover, when children are involved, emotions can be expressed freely without holding back; for example, even the typically cool-headed child in this anime can lose to emotions and not break out of character, because after all, they’re children.

“The Promised Neverland” does well in world-building, keeping it mysterious enough for the viewers to guess what may happen in the near future, but still understand the plot perfectly fine. The main characters were also a good mix, and with their logical nature, it was relatively simple to grasp the plot actions, and subsequently, the plot reactions.

The story was very well-structured and time-variant, which enhanced the suspense and thrills that are scattered evenly throughout the anime. Each episode ends in a cliffhangar, to my frustration, even though I was binging the whole 12 episode season. For those of you who are afraid that the season will end in a cliffhangar, don’t worry; you can take my word.

Visuals and Audio made the story more lively and engaging, moreover, excellently conveying the character’s actions and nature to the viewer. Each emotion displayed by a character is strongly felt, and will definitely leave a strong enough impact on the viewer up till the final episode.

Another good thing about this anime is its first episode; in the first five minutes, I was already hooked. If this was a business pitch, I’m sold.

With that, I declare this to be the Gem of the Winter Season anime that I never expected to find; as with all good psychological anime. (Like Made in Abyss, I never thought I would find a gem there)

I’m keeping the review short so that you’ll watch the anime. It’s good. Watch it. It gets a solid 9.5 out of me for this blog, and a (10) Masterpiece for MAL.

Go watch it.

Happy Coding,

CodingIndex