#TPN 173

[fullscoreshenanigans]

#fullscoreshenanigans impossible polls (via @thetinytimeturtle)

I refuse to accept that designation for this one when I gave a multiple choice option. 😤

#okay how to formulate my thoughts on this #bits and pieces maybe but never fully #but there needs to be a price payed #it can even be up to 90% of it and I'd still be satisfied #like she remembers Isabella but not what she looked like or things like that #it would also have to be a process of over time #I'm still not sure which of the options fit this best #but I'm also fine with her never regaining her memories perhaps that's my bittersweet loving heart talking (via @thetinytimeturtle) --- #mmmmmmmnah. #i honestly like that tpn has an imperfect ending #i've talked about this before but the thing is this series is about overcoming the shittiest situations imaginable #while still sticking to what you think is the right thing even if that means taking the difficult and punishing road #we see it in the escape arc when Emma wants to take everyone we see it in the KoP arc when she wants to find a non-genocide solution #and i think Emma giving up her memories in order to save all the humans is a sign of her conviction #that would lose all weight if they came back you know #the decision has to mean something it has to be difficult if it was easy there'd be no point (via @darklight-owl) --- #option two #because that was Shirai’s choice #I don’t love it because I wish it’d had time to settle and really matter #and I wish it had been built up to at ALL #imagine a human world arc where we see the kids struggle and we finally get a Ray + Norman vs Emma (because we already got the other combos) #as they try to find her #if people change the ending I’d prefer they change the outcome altogether and find a way to conclude without the memory loss #that can be fascinating and creative— but Emma regaining her memory always makes the amnesia-period feel pointless— #what did anybody gain or learn if it’s just reversed?? (via @esthelle18)

God actually seeing the Ray + Norman vs Emma conflict play out would be so good…

I went with the "I'm open to it depending on how it's handled" option because I also like having there be some gravity to that narrative choice and conflict to continue pursuing since Shirai opted out of exploring the societal ramifications of having thousands upon thousands of cattle children either build a new coexistence with the demons in the demon world (which symbolically I understand and appreciate, but I'll always gripe about this being a cop-out when demon hierarchy is purposely centered around maintaining human intelligence as the pinnacle of their existence) or the struggles of them integrating into the human world when they specifically go over the potential hurdles they'll face with this in chapter 97:

Peter also taunts them about these struggles again right before his death in chapter 173:

Only for Norman to quickly gloss over how lucky they are none of these things actually come to pass for them in chapter 179:

(not getting into the meta reasons for why this happens because, while the story does suffer for it, I personally find it hard to fully begrudge Shirai for wanting to wrap the series up on his own terms while simultaneously trying to salvage his declining health)

Much like the events of the Return to Grace Field arc, we as the audience aren't being given clues about this and experiencing these new developments alongside the characters deducing them. We're just sort of thrust into it, and I'd argue that Peter monologue makes it even more frustrating for bringing all those concerns to the forefront again right before the ending as a reminder of "hey, we did consider these things!" only to allude to them as more of a sidenote when the cattle children actually make it there. This is on top of them overthrowing the entire world order of the demon world that's been in place for a millennia by Leuvis coming back from wherever he was for two years to conveniently smooth over Mujika becoming queen.

So in light of all this, I definitely understand wanting to keep Emma's memory loss; it's the only major hurdle that's left since the Ayshe-Norman conflict was dropped and Sonju gives up his centuries-long desire to eat wild humans again after spending a total of two weeks hanging out with the cattle children, even if for a series with societal upheaval as the main goal it's a bit disappointing.

However, after reading amazing fics like SuddenWhisper's Tethered where her memory isn't instantly recovered and the Ratri clan is weary/seemingly actively against any action that could trigger her memories to return and undo the promise, or something else equivalent that allows for more philosophical introspection or character exploration, I'd be open to it, provided it's not the end of the story as it currently stands/within the confines of the set number of chapters we've been given.

#sincerely in my mind i pretend has regained her memories #look for me its like this: #they went to the human world. got separated. she lost her memories. they search for her for two years just like in the manga #and when they find her she regains her memories #because I’m sappy and an act of true love can fix anything #and they searching for her for two years is definitely an act of true love #they find her. she regains her memories. and they live happily ever after the end 🙃 (via @bluelric)

As someone who got into the series within a few days of the S2 finale airing in Japan, I personally think it was funny how it seemed like half the fics that came out around 2020-2021 were No Reward AUs due to how rushed the last two arcs were. ("Yeeeah I'mma ignore that." lol)

It's also funny how often I find myself falling into playing around with "she gets her memories back/never loses them," but like I mentioned above, it all hinges on it not being at the same point that canon ends, assuming nothing preceding it has changed. Things like the Lambda sickness being not being completely cured due to unexpected developments occurring as the Lambda kids aged, the children not integrating as seamlessly into the human world (which may entail them unpacking all the trauma from their time in the demon world), they need to go back to the demon world, or some other conflict in that ballpark; if some combination of that is going on, it feels as though there's an equivalent price being paid.

#voted Combination of two or more listed options… #because No. I have no qualms about how it affects the story; I just don't like… #because she forgets about Isabella and Yuugo and Lucas and of course her dead siblings and friends #because she can't redo them. she can learn about her living family with no problems and start anew #but them? they are gone #and she even misses them! her dreams were very clear about it... #and this hurts #plus #I like playing around with it in fanfics/AUs #like in my Mama!Emma-AU the memories are gone and stay gone #with me making a point of Emma NOT wanting them back #instead she feels like she's a new person and can't replace the old Emma anyway #breaking Ray and Norman's heart #but they realize they like *the new* Emma just as much! and they want her in their life #Emma isn't the same anymore and that's okay #on the other hand in my Foreverland-AU I just couldn't bring myself to let Emma forget everyone... #it's important she still knows and misses her dead friends as well as her parents (via @officersnickers)

God yeah, the heartbreak of her being told stories about all her family members, people who inspired her to strive for her ideals, and forever having that divide of separation from them and learning about them as a stranger in the very memories she was a part of, of being given an entire family she wants to be a part of more than anything while going through the five stages of grief because she knows she'll never be that person they all have such fondness for again.

Foreverland has the tradeoff of the demon god coming up with a different deal, along with smatterings of other aforementioned conflicts/throughlines and character exploration, so it feels like an equivalent exchange has been made. To me anyway lol

#I have many thoughts on this but they’re both disorganized and too big for the tags XD (via @esthelle18)

That's what adding onto the main post is for. 😎👍

*No. I have no qualms about how it affects the story; I just don't like deviating from canon in works in general. **I like playing around with it in fanfics/AUs, but I don't think it should actually happen in canon. ***Yes, a thousand years of cattle children and the general demon population suffering should have been compensation enough. ****Combination of two or more listed options since tumblr won't let us have multiple choice voting.

Sort of a continuation of this poll from last year.

(Mystic Code Book Chapter 6)

[chidoroki]

182 Days of TPN - Day 173

Chapter 173: "Prisoners"

My immense dislike towards Peter often leads me to making fun of him, but he ain't a cute kid. I dunno any child his age (however old he is here) to look that happy with wearing a full suit. Normal children would complain.

I know Norman isn't related to the James at all, but I still enjoy how so many people joke or theorize about it solely based on how he took on the WM persona and how similar they look at a first glance. Not just by the hair and outfit either, but even their actions, like you can't look at this panel and not be reminded of that one panel of Norman from ch126. It's so memorable that I don't even have to place it here to compare the two because of how identical it is to James here.

Imagine if James never found that old document. The world would continue on suffering under the farm system rules forever and we wouldn't even have our story. Maybe. Ray would probably still question his existence and the world whether or not James hides clues in the books in the GF library. It would certainly be more difficult for the kids to survive outside the farm though without using the pen for guidance, if they could manage the escape in the first place.

Peter, for once in your life, can you please just act like a normal child? Who hears of someone sacrificing others for their own gain and thinks, "oh, they're brilliant! I wanna be just like them!" I really hate how Julius pushing aside his personal feelings in order to change the world and stop the fighting sounds so similar to what Emma did with making the new promise, but our girl would certainly never betray her family and friends to achieve that better world!

This poor man. It's as if his entire purpose in life is crashing down around him.

As heartbreaking as this scene of James' death is, I can't feel sorry for Peter in this moment. The dude labeled James as a traitor and gave the order to the other Ratri men to go kill him, so I can't imagine why the boy is wailing so hard for something he caused to happen. He could've at least tried to talk to James about the situation, maybe find some common ground that the two of them could agree upon that would apply to both their ideals on how to run the clan and farm systems, but nope. Death be upon ye. The fact that Peter gets up and walks away shortly after rubs me the wrong way too. If he was truly upset about his brother's death, surely he would've taken his body somewhere else to do a proper burial instead of just leave him there. Peter mentions at the start of this chapter that he respected James more than anyone, but this sure as hell ain't the proper way to show it.

Local fool having an existential crisis. Sure the Ratri clan was bound to play the part as the mediators between both worlds, but one couldn't honestly believe that was the correct way to do things. It's surprising the promise lasted a thousand years before someone had the nerve to stand up and say, ya know, living this way just ain't right.

Peter isn't wrong, unfortunately. Humans can really be so terrible. The world we're personally living in is far from perfect.

One of the rare deaths when the corners of my mouth are tugged upwards. It's fine. No one really wanted Peter to join the kids in the human world anyway.

Favorite panel/moment:

James' smile. That's all.

[deep-tpn-hell]

TPN 173 Review

So I know I wrote that I’ll be going to take a more in-depth look at the chapter cover last week, but I’m a bit lazy so sorry about that. Anyways, this week’s chapter was pretty great:

We look at things from Peter’s perspective and get a bit of his childhood, including his role model, James Ratri. We finally get to see James’ eyes! And despite my dislike for Peter, he was still pretty cute as a kid. My only question is why did James take over as the leader and not their father? Hmm…

Things quickly take a dark turn as James discovers the fault of his ancestor Julius that started the existence of cattle children, and we can see the stark contrast between James’ and Peter’s ideologies. I think Peter couldn’t see the flaw in Julius’ plan since he was too young or he looked up to Julius as well. James then put all his efforts in giving the children clues and bases for them to safely survive as a way to fix what Julius did wrong. When the two of them clash, Peter orders that James be captured and killed.

It was quite unsettling to see Peter being so ruthless already at such a young age, and I couldn’t help wonder how he became that way. However, he breaks down in tears when he heard his brother’s last words, “I’m sorry.” I thought it was a bit unclear as to what James was sorry for, but it sounded like “I’m sorry I pushed the burden onto you” or “I’m sorry I was selfish.” There’s another sorry a few pages later as well.

And quick little thing that the creators added in was pictures of young Lucas and Yuugo! Along with other deceased escapees of Glory Bell.

Another sorry I mentioned was here when Peter reflects on his whole life and destiny and thinks of James. Maybe his ‘sorry’ was also him apologizing for not being able to free Peter in the end. It was really heartbreaking to read for me. And when he came to his own conclusion, he gives a sad smile, which is completely opposite to the horrifying face last week. I like this Peter much better.

Then he tells Emma about the reality of humanity on the other side and calls it a mirror of the demon world. This is quite philosophical and if I was good at analyzing, I would write something about it. But for now, I’ll just point out that his line “you kids win” was very similar to Krone. And also “code solid”? What does that mean?

Just when I thought that Emma had changed him with her talk-no-jitsu, he pulls this. I did not see that one coming and was very surprised. Peter, realizing that his whole life was basically a curse and that he had been trapped into this destiny, saw this as the only option and slit his throat to end his life. Farewell Peter, you’ve served your role for this arc.

I have no idea where the story will go now that another villain is gone, but I was quite satisfied with how he went. Peter didn’t feel completely redeemed as a character as Krone did, but I was still able to sympathize with him so I’d say that was pretty good.

rachel

[notelectrictigerart]

Chapter 173: Prisoners

“The human world isn’t any different. Because they are a mirror of humanity.”

[youuuimeanmee]

Y'know what? At this rate Emma might become a prophet.

She's brave, she has tenacity like no others, she can be a bit naive but she's optimistic, she'll stick with her dream until the end. No matter what others say about her, she will prove them otherwise. She's extremely forgiving, she melts anybody's heart, including her enemies. Her optimistic behavior infects others, the children love her dearly. Even when she feel down, she has friends and families who got her back.

But Peter Ratri is right. Humans are nasty. No matter how good she is, she has absolutely NO idea what awaits her on the human side. Depending on the promise with Asdfghjkl, humans over there might not welcome them at all. Especially if they come in horde, with thousands of people suddenly emerging out of nowhere. Except if they get a completely deserted place, all for themselves, as a part of the promise. Which I think... 50/50 chance, who knows what the author is thinking.

If they ended up in a place where they need to fight other humans, without a real place to belong, well...

Emma might ended up becoming a prophet for her people. The first human who was able to forge a promise with God after 1,000 years. The person who would continue to fight to find a new homeland, until she meets her end.

It would be a tragedy I guess.

All for The Promised Neverland.

[minatsusart]

The Promised Neverland Chapter 173

I CANT I CANNOT TSGXFHV I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR JAMES AND PETER’S STORY FOR ALMOST A YEAR NOW!!! I love them so much! Look at how adorable their relationship was. It makes me so sad 😭.. Peter really loved and looked up to his brother. How can you hate him after this chapter?

[notelectrictiger12]

CHAPTER 173 RAMBLES BECAUSE OH RATRI BOY

FIRST OF ALL THE RATRI BROTHERS!

I love how Peter decided to add “handsome” in the qualities that his older brother had. Kinda sweet and funny lol. It’s crazy that even within the Ratri family, there was secrets documents and brainwashing of morals around. Incredible but not suprised lol. Also was that a younger Andrew in the BG of page 3?

Shout out to my boy James. He was able to help so much within the little time he had in his life. A real one.

DANG SHIRAI (and english translator as well!)

TPN out here giving these 10/10 quotes!!

An amazing line from Peter. Very him but! also! Very important!

It really shows us that, yeah being in the human world to avoid being eaten is end goal, but... it really isn’t that different there?! There are evil humans in real life. No doubt.

The kids are trying to reach for freedom in human world, but when they get there, all of the problems are not gone!

I just love this acknowledgement because it clearly shows us, the reader, and the kids, that the human world isn’t really entirely a utopia and an automatic Happy Ending™️

All because “They are a mirror of humanity.”

There was some A+ Emma Art and I’m Living. Also can’t help that the parallels are stronger.

If this is how Peter goes out, dang man. That was raw, man. In front of kids too...

That’s really gonna upset Emma, yikes....

ALSO WHO IN THE NAME OF MR.SCRIBBLES, IS ‘UNCLE’???! CODE SOLID???

[just-like-playing-tag]

Kaiu Shirai: We're not gonna confirm Norman is a Ratri

Posuka Demizu:

[brave-symphonia]

I really wish I could argue against this.

[dojoliveblogs]

Of course, there’s multiple ways to look at his decision, especially for a kid who was told and believed wholeheartedly their whole life their clan was just and noble.

Oof, different beliefs divided them apart, as they grew up, they both believed even more in their differing ideals.

Peter thought of Julius as a role model and the person you should aspire to be, so of course he commited the same action when push came to shove.

[edwardcaprifolium]

TPN, chap 173, incorrect quote

The Promised Neverland, Kaiu Shirai & Demizu Posuka, source: mangakakalot

Peter: Vous pouvez partir. Emma: Vraiment?! Oh, Mer... Peter: ... de. Emma: Hein? Peter: Je disais “Merde”. Ne me remerciez pas. Le monde des humains est pas mieux, faites-moi confiance. Ray mode émo activé Emma: Nous sauverons le monde des humains aussi, alors! Vivons tous ensemble en paix, Peter! Tend sa main Norman, sort sa cape bohème: Go, Emma! Go! Peter: Les hippies sont de retour. S’ouvre la jugulaire. Ray: C’est mauvais signe tout ça...

[fullscoreshenanigans]

James is a funny guy and the cattle children are so incredibly lucky no one in the Ratri clan decided to burn that document.

[vidaflxwer]

i knew little peter ratri was cute but... 

did shirai really need to make him this precious?

[deep-tpn-hell]

TPN 173 quick thoughts

That was a chapter that I had more than 10 screenshots which was rare, so I’d say that it was a great chapter even though I don’t think it redeemed Peter.

Also that ending got me quietly yelling, that was totally uncalled for bro

[airspeedprime]

The Promised Neverland Manga Review - Chapter 173

[youuuimeanmee]

Emma gonna become like Moses, trying to take the cattle children to the promised land. And much like Moses, she'll be the only one who won't make it to the promised land-- but she'll be granted a glimpse of it.

Aaahhhhh why must you torment me like thisss

I know I just post a related topic about it but wait how did you read it so quick

Just- Uugghhh

I tried not to mention Moses since I'm not familiar with Bible, but looks like I can't avoid it huh.

Yeah, that seems to be the case. I mean what other prize would be satiafactory for Asdfghjkl aside from watching people's misery? He even thanking Peter for his clan's 1000 years worth of suffering because now he has a new entertainment to watch. Like, what the hell.

Imagine Emma can't make it to the human world, she can only take a glimpse of it. Other cattle children are fighting in her stead, remembering her as a hero/prophet. But no matter how much they struggle, they can't find a place to belong, even after decades. And Emma is watching all of it from afar.... But hey, at least they're on the human world now right?

Maybe the one who will triumph in the end are the cattle children's great great great grandchildren.

Fuck it all, if it ended up that way.