#TPN S1e10

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TRICK OR TREAT!!!

He doesn't have access to candy so he hopes you'll accept a capri-sun

(S1 Episode 10)

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Mamoru Kanbe blatantly on the NE and no homo agenda lmao

(Minerva Confidential Report from the S1 Blu-ray)

Given Shirai's sentiments, I do think Sugita was purposely coy and obfuscating with the "but not romantically" comment, but still interesting how there was some back and forth on that approval.

And idk if I remember this correctly but I think all three of them were holding hands at some point but in the anime Ray didn't hold hands with them

This scene from chapter 28 that was altered to mimic a similar shot in the opening in episode 9?

Cloverworks pushing away the entire Norray subplot was crazy (well platonic norray but you get me)

Like after Norman found out Ray was the spy (it's really ironic tbh I love it >_<) he started to realize that he loved and appreciated Ray way more than he initially thought like even during that scene he was like "damn he was really risking it all for us..." "All of this for our sake..." He was like really touched (also before the confrontation he asked Ray why he thinks the traitor is betraying them and asked Emma if they should take the traitor with them during the escape all because he was looking for any reason to see the best in Ray) and literally after that he kept defending him with his LIFE every time they told someone Ray was the spy (first Emma then Don and Gilda) like "HE DID IT FOR OUR SAKE" OK DAMN CHILL...

and he was literally so fixated on the "to make sure YOU BOTH don't get killed" slip up he was on a mission to confirm his suspicions for like the rest of his stay in Grace Field and in his letter to Emma he was like "but Ray is amazing..." and "please take care of Ray... and the others I guess" like OK man

Ray was going to die so Emma and Norman could live and Norman literally did that for him instead like you can't make this shit up he literally adores Ray ok? He loves him so much he'd do anything for him HE LITERALLY SWITCHED PLACES WITH HIM BECAUSE HE THOUGHT RAY ALREADY SUFFERED ENOUGH FOR THEM and he kept thinking about him during his stay at Lambda too he didn't say "I miss her" he said "I miss them"

Meanwhile Cloverworks was like removing Ray from everything for Noremma's sake like what... Norman was hugging both of them in his nightmare... And idk if I remember this correctly but I think all three of them were holding hands at some point but in the anime Ray didn't hold hands with them and I know season 2 doesn't exist but they excluded Ray from the full score TRIO hug with Norman when he was breaking down and made him not gaf STOP FORCING NOREMMA!!!!! THERE WAS LITERALLY A SUBPLOT ABOUT NORMAN LOVING RAY!!! FUCK YOU!!!!!!!

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there are sometimes who is strange in all the side-information that we have about TPN.

In a interview, the author told that Grandma was the one to choose the names of the babies.

But in a bonus comic, Isabella tells Ray, Emma and Norman how she choose their name.

So either she lied...

Either that's a incoherence.

Either Grandma didn't name the kids who were going to Isabella to let her "daugther" names them as she want.

....either Grandma had given other names to kids who were going to the Grace Field House 3 an Isabella deliberally changed the names in a way to say "f*** you" to her former guardian (since the demons didn't care about the names) and claim the kids as her own. Carol is the only one to not have had a change of name because of Krone presence.

I don't know why but the last idea is hilarous to me ^^"

I default to the bonus comic being the most accurate to simultaneously keep any sisters in HQ from potentially getting attached to the infants by giving them official names and to make the moms more endeared and caring toward the children they named themselves (for reference for anyone who hasn't seen it; a reward for scoring high on the official site's IQ test:)

(Reprinted in The Promised Neverland Art Book World; one of the few times we get to see them with their short sleeves for warmer weather.)

Unless Shirai meant Sarah named them literally right before handing them off to the moms in the plants, but I don't believe she'd care enough then or at any point after becoming Grandma.

That last one is funny though dlkfjsd

The little petty ways you get back at your mom when you're both victims and perpetrators of a violent system.

But you're right; Shirai's said some conflicting things over the course of the series' run that I think come from being run ragged by a hellish production schedule and a work just naturally evolving as opposed to being antagonistically contrarian to spite fans he views as obnoxious.

The other two that readily come to mind are Shirai saying the series could range anywhere from 10 to 30 volumes long…

(Mystic Code Book Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | October 2018 Franceinfo Interview | October 2020 Series Completion Interview)

…before his health took a nosedive and saying it was always going to be 20 volumes at most, with him wanting to maintain his sense of artistic integrity by completing the series on his own terms (the similarities between this and the way Yoshihiro Togashi ended Yu Yu Hakusho, one of TPN's biggest inspirations, is sadly staggering).

(Mystic Code Book Chapter 5 | October 2020 Series Completion Interview | TPN Wiki's Chapter 134 Page | WSJ Editorial Department 9/5/19 Update)

And him (and Sugita) being purposely mum about how he felt about Noremma when speaking with Cloverworks staff during the production of season 1 in 2018 compared to what he mentioned to Kendo Kobayashi in an earlier January 2018 interview, assuming he ultimately wanted to leave it up to the audience's interpretation rather than imposing his own (Demizu notably interprets all the relationships in the series as platonic).

(Minerva Confidential Report from the S1 Blu-ray | Mystic Code Book Chapter 1)

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*No, I hope he never does. There's too much pain there, and letting it go is part of him moving on and healing. **He does for a few people/his family so they know it existed and each person can decide their own relationship with it, but he never sings it again after that. ***Yes. It's a slow process, but eventually he transforms it into something healing, even with the sadness it carries. He's still fairly private about it, though. ****I have strong leanings toward no but could be swayed toward yes by a capable author/artist. *****I have strong leanings toward yes but could be swayed toward no by a capable author/artist.

(S1 Episode 10 | S1 Episode 12 | Chapter 37 | TPN Light Novel 2: Moms’ Song of Remembrance - “The Starry Sky and Leslie’s List”)

[Related post with thoughts on this] [Related poll about Ray's relationship with reading post-escape]

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knock knock, i want a cursed trick or treat (but im scared af about what you will do

Norman has some goldfish crackers Emma and Ray snuck into the infirmary for him that he'll share with you

(S1 Episode 10)

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Emma is a tie between the "I wonder what Conny is doing right now?" and "You can die anywhere. It doesn't have to be here. I'll show you something cool, so shut up and follow" quotes and these two (if we're allowing anime-original ones):

Ray is a tie between that desperate declaration of his humanity in chapter 32/S1 episode 11 after both he and Isabella refer to him as a dog and this internal monologue in chapter 36 that I personally swap "wish" out for "hope" when quoting because arbitrary preference.

Norman is a tie between his question to Isabella in chapter 30/S1 episode 10 and Ray's hallucination of him in chapter 36/S1 episode 12:

Counting the latter because it shows Ray truly internalizing one of the deepest desires he had locked away in his heart for so long that he only comes to believe through the perseverance and love of Norman and his family, and if given the opportunity Norman would have said it to him directly.

BEST ESCAPE ARC QUOTES! (part 1/3)

I've limited myself to three otherwise I would quote everything they've ever said.

I will be doing the other arcs as well!

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You know, Isabella's life had been so tragic. She had to make a choice of becoming a sister or die. How can you make this kind of choice at 12? She didn't want to die of course. she had to have a kid who would be throw in the system. And who would be eaten at a point.

She became a mother. And..ultimate horror: her child was under her care. She had to raise him to be eaten. And they both know that. Ray KNEW that she was his mother and she knew he knew.

She tried to give as much happiness that she could to the kids. Making her personal toy and stuff like that. She loved them. She kept their toys as memories after have been forced to give them to demons.

She must have felt so awful at first. Knowing that it was heer siblings fate, that it could have been HER fate. That all the kids under her care were going to reach this fate. that her OWN kid was going to be eaten and that she would be the one to give him to the demons.

Isabella could just hope to save few girls, like Emma by sending them to the same fate then her: becoming sisters and maybe mothers.

She could give more time to few kids by sending them to Lambda, as much horrible it was, because it would give them more time to live. Even if it was not so much. She has kinda saved Norman by doing that, even if she didn't knew at this moment. That's horrible because of what the kids live there but they live a little longer.

She never had any choice. She was as much captive of the system than the kids themself. She could just save few girls. Give more time to few boys.

How much she must have hated herself? how much painful it has been?

And about Ray? she knew that she couldn't do anything. He was a boy so he couldn't become a sister, he was not a super genious as Norman so he wouldn't be fit for Lambda.

He was almost 12 at the beginning of the manga. so close to reach the point where he would have to be given to demon. Isabella may have managed to keep him as long she could but the limit was close (lucky her, he was very smart so he succeded in all tests). She knew that he probably hater her. But she just could give him things he wants and buy him as much time she could give him. She loved him but couldn't let herself have too deep affection for a kid who was never going to be 13.

And when the kids escaped. she was certanly proud and relieved that the kids (Ray) were safe (for now) and thought she was going to die. But then she promoted. Then forced to prepare the kids she raised to be eaten, killing them herself. And then she dies, protecting Emma.

And then she dies, holding her own child's hand. Hearing him cry for her.

She deserved better. All the humans, who suffered of the farm system, in the demons word deserved better.

Yeeeeesss I repeatedly come back to how utterly fraught Isabella and Ray's relationship is because it's one of the things that lingered with me the most after binging S1 and still does, even almost two years later. She's one of greyest characters in the series when it comes to the morality behind her actions and motives, and I always think it's interesting how different people interpret them.

The despondency and resignation after years at HQ training to become a Sister and eventually the youngest Mom in the history of Grace Field is so palpable in that shot we see of her caressing her stomach during the flashback where she's pregnant with Ray:

(Minerva Confidential Report from the S1 Blu-ray)

She's not even in control of her own bodily autonomy as she's forced to carry this child she doesn't want so the system can continue to be replenished. It's nothing short of systemic medical rape that's been going on for generations, and part of why I question the harshness of HQ during the glimpses of it we see in the series proper and in the light novels after Ray explicitly points out how important it is for Grace Field children to not grow up in a distressing environment.

(Chapter 27)

If nothing else, you would think the demons would at least attempt to glamorize this aspect of their existence. Even if they didn't want the children, even if they were still cattle and their autonomy was an illusion, they could at least be offered more material comforts and be allowed to relax in relative luxury for the duration of the pregnancy. But Isabella's room looks just as stark as a young Krone's does.

Enduring such torture for years for the slim opportunity of becoming a Sister or a Mom at one of five plants is such an agonizing thought exercise, and one of the most vile things is how it forces them to buy into this vicious, cutthroat cycle in order to barely survive and maintain their sanity.

What becomes a sticking point for me is how Isabella has internalized this mentality to the point where she derives enjoyment from besting her charges or resolutely reinforces the belief that she is more deserving of a long life than them.

Upon seeing a completely distraught Ray alone in the library toward the end of episode 10 after Norman is shipped out, Isabella smiles to herself as she turns and walks away. There's so much that can be pulled out of this minuscule four-second scene, I obsess over it. The child she was forced to deliver has lost one of his most beloved friends after she had acknowledged the happiness the other boy repeatedly brought to Ray and how she appreciated her biological son could have that brief respite under the cruel circumstances they found themselves in.

(TPN Light Novel 2: Moms’ Song of Remembrance - “The Starry Sky and Leslie’s List”)

And yet here she is, silently reveling in thwarting his plan of six years in one fell swoop.

You could argue that she's expressing contentment at how the system can remain intact so the other Grace Field children are still able to live ignorant and blissful lives until their shipment dates, that her five oldest children haven't ruined that for them, but given how it's Ray specifically in this scene she's looking at before turning away, I'm inclined to disagree, or at least that it's solely a selfless (if warped) stance.

Ray is the result of one of the worst acts the farm system forced upon her, and she's found herself more than once being caught off guard by how much he takes after her.

Another thing up for debate is how much of an unreliable narrator Isabella is regarding her own feelings because that's an element that's constantly in play for this series, but taking her at her word here, she states she holds no particular maternal feelings for him.

I think being stuck in such a routine, mundane domestic cycle with little to no outside contact and knowing deep down one isn't truly living would eat at a person as the years went on, so she took it out on the only other person in the house who had an idea of the true hell they lived in. Never directly in the form of physical abuse or explicit verbal threats, but with all the self-loathing and frustration she held for herself over succumbing to the system, and how she saw herself in Ray both in his plans of escape (because she had no idea he planned on killing himself, otherwise she would have taken some countermeasures to ensure he would still be able to be shipped out successfully) and his physical resemblance, I think there was a silent, petty delight she took in seeing him fail just like she had.

Though at times she probably hated herself for that, too.

Further plagiarizing myself from this post but my thoughts largely remain the same:

I continue to debate how much of her maintaining her deal with Ray was strictly for pragmatic reasons and how much was due to wanting to keep him close out of some painfully complicated mess of emotions that was constantly oscillating between a tainted affection and spiteful hatred. Any time she would find herself falling into the former, forgetting the circumstances of their relationship, him being the living, breathing reminder of one of the worst things HQ forced her to endure would resurface and how they chose to put him in her plant as if to silently mock her and unknowingly rub in how pitiful the life of a Mom would always be under this system. To openly love him would be one step further in giving in than she’d already done by accepting the Mom position and loving all the other cattle children she raised for slaughter, and she hated to give that much more of herself than she already had when she wasn’t aware of his origins. So she would dutifully do what was tasked of her, but on her terms, as petty as they were.

The most important thing in this moment is this smile isn't for anyone else but herself. Ray's not looking at her. There are no other children around she's trying to maintain an iron front for so as to crumble their resolve so they'll give into despair and live the remainder of their time in somber peace. This one is for her being able to maintain her cognitive dissonance regarding the life she lives and coming out on top in this match of wits. She was presented with essentially a non-choice when she arrived at the gate on her twelfth birthday, but she did have a choice in how she chose to express this.

There isn't an equivalent scene of this in the manga, but the last page of chapter 3 gives us a manga-only one.

Again, we have Isabella alone, so she's not putting up a front for Krone, who has yet to arrive, or any of the children. This is her reinforcing that, while she loves the children she's charged with in her own distorted way, she is the one who deserves to survive and live a long life, perfectly preceded by Emma's contrasting declaration that the sacrifice of any more lives for the sake of singular survival is not an acceptable outcome for her. It's something that I can't entirely fault Isabella for, because she didn't deserve this fate for merely being born in the demon world, but it's something that should be acknowledged as selfish, albeit human.

The same can be said regarding her complicity with the continued sacrificing of children during her tenure as Grandma. I doubt that if you presented this scenario to every single one of those children they would be okay with being among the lucky few who were shipped while waiting for the escapees from plant no.3 to come back and finally put an end to the Neverland.

(Chapter 177)

I think there's also a selfish reading one can pull from her final words to Ray, though it's unintentional on her part given where one's mind must be when they're on the precipice of death.

At this point, it's safe to say she's genuinely remorseful when she states she wishes she had time to atone for everything she's done, and asking Ray to take care of everyone in her stead given what we've seen of him truly beginning to thrive in life when he opens himself up to his family's love and has others relying on him does pair well with those maternal well wishes for the children's future. Yet knowing everything he went through and how little regard he held for his own life for so many years because he was also filled with self-loathing over his actions, her last request being to take care of everyone else without also advocating for him to take care of himself feels somewhat off, especially in light of how it was stressed by Emma and the other escapees in chapter 38.

It's a small choice of wording, and again she's not thinking the clearest when she's so close to death and so overwhelmed with wanting to convey her final sentiments toward them, but that's a lot to place on the shoulders of a thirteen-year-old, especially when he's not afforded the chance to truly have an honest conversation with her to express all his feelings over the years to her, and he's left to mourn that lost opportunity and all the "what ifs."

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AMAZING news i managed to get Three of my irl friends into tpn this weekend. we binged the first ten episodes bc one of them didnt even know the premise of it and now that one and another are both reading the manga AKSJGHSHJ

you really stopped on S1e10?? actually evil

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#yes! YES! #this scene among so many others from season 1 was just so... 💔 #I bet this was no act at all x #maybe he knew Isabella was standing behind him #but that's also how he must have felt #like the fire inside him was still burning yet so small so gentle #for who it was burning up until now was gone and lost #suffocating from within (via @officersnickers​)

I also agree that while this panel might present a confusing mixed message about everything being fake:

(Chapter 32)

That the devastation displayed by Emma and Ray during this time period was genuine, albeit they each individually held on to their shared goal of executing the escape plan to keep going and Ray was definitely doing worse than Emma. Emma at least had other people she could talk to and take comfort in every bit of progress they made with the plan. Even though she knew Ray was planning to sacrifice himself after reading Norman’s letter, I don’t believe she knew how deeply into self-loathing he had fallen, otherwise I feel she would have insisted someone check in with him. Yes, he had multiple reasons to keep going (to ensure Emma could escape, to spite Isabella and the demons, to [misguidedly] prove he was better than Isabella by having the conviction to die as a human instead of an animal that bowed and accepted whatever meager life the demons offered her, to force his mother to look at him one last time and attempt to save him), but god, the two-and-a-half months of waiting was agony with all the countless hours it left him to ruminate on how he failed

(Chapter 30)

because he knew his best friend was so scared of dying (in addition to all the children he experimented on or ratted out as a means of securing Norman’s escape).

And the way the anime enhanced it in this particular scene by adding this scene in the library and having him look at the only photograph he took of Norman is utterly heart-wrenching.

The final gut punch they throw at you is Isabella’s reaction to it:

This is what always gets me about Isabella. I’m not faulting her for being scared of death and choosing to live when being confronted with the nightmare of a reality she truly lived in at the whole age of twelve, but the reveling, the silent reveling and petty delight she takes in thwarting the schemes of children she’s taken care of for years for even daring to think they could upset the status quo. She doesn’t have to do that, but she does (it’s to avoid the cognitive dissonance but holy fuck is this one of the things that lingers with me and has me so interested in her character.)

And that Ray is both so focused on his endgame and so distraught that he’s willing to appear so utterly wretched before her when under normal circumstances it kills his pride to give her any hint she’s getting to him. It’s the worst period of his life.

ray as a character truly fucks me up in so many ways but this scene is honestly the most devastating for me. i know in the grand scheme of things it really isn't even a huge one but just. fuck man. at this moment in the storyline he's just essentially lost both of his best friends. Norman is dead. the escape has fallen through. he can't talk to Emma until the night he (intends to) kill himself months from this moment. it just fucks me up. this is definitely one of the ones that make me tear up every time i reread/watch it😭

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Including some manga panels and anime screencaps for ease of reference convenience:

(Chapter 11 | Chapter 16)

(S1 Episode 3 | Episode 9 | Episode 10)

Largely the same between mediums other than the addition of a gap in the railing of the upper area.

TPN Fandom! Do we know how big Grace Field’s Library is?

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So happy to see how well Don & Emma and Gilda & Ray are doing. ;w; Both feel the most criminal to me give how big of a role Don and Gilda play in the series, but ultimately I went with Gilda & Ray because I couldn't think of any moment for them that was equivalent to Don being the first of the larger group of kids to voice his support for Emma's plan:

(Chapter 130)

Except for maybe this brief exchange they added to the anime:

(S1 Episode 12)

Episode 10 also nixes the scene of Don and Gilda privately conversing in the woods in chapter 31 and instead has Ray apologizing to Don and Gilda directly rather than just Emma, which is made even more poignant when you consider how strongly he reacted to Emma and Norman giving them false hope about still being able to save Conny in chapter 11/episode 4.

He's not even trying to feign the distance he self-imposed between them in his mind at this point. He's genuinely sorry for failing them for their own sakes, not as extra able bodies who could assist Emma and Norman outside the wall. And it's a genuinely distressing sight for the two of them, seeing him at his lowest point after everything he sacrificed for this plan.

To have her then knowingly hum and hold that look of fondness for him when she sees how shocked is, after years of believing a better outcome was impossible, and how worried he is, because try as he might to keep the other children at arm's length mentally there's a way Ray frets over and looks after them that is reminiscent of Gilda's own (they are united in being the Mom Friends™ of the escapees 🤝), is such a sweet, gentle kindness that they didn't have to include but I'm very glad they did.

Purposely didn't put Ray & Jemima up there because while yes I would never turn down more content focusing on them, I was more curious about Anna & Jemima and Ray & Chris.

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#did they swear that much? wow (via @officersnickers)

It's not egregious (hence why it's not in the sip category), but it's still quite a bit more than S1 (this is obviously because they learned more swears in the bunker library /j)

(S1 Episode 6 | S1 Episode 10)

My personal favorite is having Norman and Ray call each other dumbasses upon their reunion

(S2 Episode 6; This season can have a few crumbs of rights post-episode 2. little bby whipping out the latest biggest swear word he learned to impress and show how serious he is because how dare Norman (unwittingly) trick them into thinking he was dead for almost two years and absolutely failing at keeping it together as Laura Stahl gives it the most elated and tearful spin it's so endearing, and then Jeannie Tirado's reciprocal one is so sweet with its light feigned indignation laced with gratefulness as Norman picks up that cheeky side of their relationship where they left off. goodest boys 🤍🖤)

But taking a quick peek back, there are a few more than I remember

(S2 Episode 5 | S2 Episode 6)

What it feels like watching the season past episode 2

(S2 Episode 10)

TPN S2 Drinking Game WIP (English Dub)

Sip:

The kids mention missing Norman

Someone says "shipment/shipped"

They reuse bgm unaltered from S1

Chug:

There's awkward 3D

There's a timeskip montage

Finish:

Someone swears

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#FJSJSND THIS KILLED ME #can’t forget the great tracks “No We Can’t Build a Fucking Boat out of Mud” #“Burning from Spite” #and “Where the Fuck did this Wall come from” #this is such a good screenshot too; each of their body language is creating such a sense of chaos lmao (via @swarm-of-rabid-bees)

starting to form a good tracklist for S1

“Bone Apple Teeth (RIP Conny) feat. Grace Field Boss Demon”

“Oh God Oh Fuck We Have To Get Out Of Here”

“Where the Fuck did this Wall come from”

“No We Can’t Build a Fucking Boat Out of Mud”

Ep3?

Ep4?

Ep5?

Ep6?

Ep7?

“Break a Leg”

Ep9?

Ep10? (“Sbeve” ?)

“Burning from Spite (Happy Bday Remix)”

“DIY Zipline”

love how this shot looks like an album cover

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#I won’t even hate watch this #all hope i had died with Yuugo’s screentime #but this would be so fun to try when i am psychologically prepared (via @graphx)

If you're doing it all in one sitting I highly recommend switching everything to sips and nixing the OST rule.

TPN S2 Drinking Game WIP (English Dub)

Sip:

The kids mention missing Norman

Someone says "shipment/shipped"

They reuse bgm unaltered from S1

Chug:

There's awkward 3D

There's a timeskip montage

Finish:

Someone swears

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Moment of silence for Gilda & Nat's potential 😔🙏

Love their level of familiarity and rapport in scenes like this.

All that said, I'm glad Nat's relationship with Don received some love ;w;

Also obligatory mention that the poll is evil because all of these are underexplored there are so many good duos here </3

#NAT AND ANNA?? NAT AND ANNA x #my favourite little guys #ig they're not thaaaat underexplored #but i love </3 (via @tutubola)

No they definitely are; this is mostly because I was going to put them on the rare pair poll but ending swapping them out for another pair, and then forgot to put them on this one after already having eleven other options lined up. >>;

So many good Nors & Sherrys 🥺🤧

Purposely didn't put Ray & Jemima up there because while yes I would never turn down more content focusing on them, I was more curious about Anna & Jemima and Ray & Chris.