#but to make sure the escape of Emma and Norman goes as smoothly as it can be

[officersnickers]

Smirk of a boy who thinks he's so smart

(narrator voice: he's not)

[madraleen]

The Promised Neverland - Season 2 The “...Why Though?” commentary of a manga reader (*manga spoilers)

tldr: me, starting s2: this isn't as bad as i've heard! me, finishing s2: *screams in rage* *kicks a wall* *wails in the darkness*

-i know s2 has a really bad rep, so i'm here to be amused, not angry. we'll see how that goes

-mujika <3 sonju <3

-i hope that third empty spot with emma and ray in the op gets filled with norman when we find out he's alive

-i'm on ep two. it feels like we're on a speedrun, but nothing ~bad so far

-why are the cookies moldy...? did they leave out yugo...? i don't like that. i don't like that at all. yugo raised them and they raised him for so long. 

-my god this place feels so empty without yugo. but for an anime-only, i guess it's fine

-excuse me, what about the seven walls? :)

-why did you not let them have the shelter's clothes...? what about their individuality?

-i'm sorry, you had time for an entire new sequence of slimees, but not other important things...?

-excuse me, why are we not going to goldy pond? :)

-wow, the raid holds so little weight, both struggle-wise and emotionally

-THIS RAID DOESN'T MAKE SENSE! they found this place but didn't scout it?! they didn't know about the extra exit?! KIDS BEAT THEM WITH A MUG AND A PUSH?!

-excuse me why is this demon promising isabella freedom, where is peter ratri? :)

-the goldy pond people disrespect

-i'm on ep 5 and so far i don't think the anime is bad anime-wise. rushed yes, not looking at things too closely yes, but bad? no. adaptation-wise it's terrible, but if you haven't read the manga, will you think "wtf?" i don't think so. it's just that anime-onlys are truly, truly missing out

-a demon went near them in the temple and they didn't flee? AND THEY DIDN'T FLEE?! on what, good faith?!

-all of the children being near/in demon town is fundamentally the opposite of the manga logic

-lol the exposition via prayer. okay.

-NORMAN'S PLACE IN THE OP, I CALLED IT!

-the emma-norman-ray reunion doesn't pack the punch that it does in the manga. emma and ray and us haven't gone through all of those things that led them to norman, that made you feel the time passing and the struggle and norman's absence.

-it's an understated reunion isn't it

-i see the lambda group escaped the erasure rampage

-i never thought i'd say this, but damn i miss minerva!norman. the sus. the uncertainty. the coldness. the facade. the "what now." the vibe that made him distinctly separate from ray and emma.

-low-key hate the "now that norman is here, we can move forward again" vibe. norman made the escape plan; then things moved to a standstill; now he's back and things can happen again. as though the others are just going through the motions.

-there's no emotional weight, they just say their lines and we move on, no time to breathe, no nothing

-here's the thing. having placed the kids in this situation, you're truly honestly saying that THE FOUR OLDEST KIDS are gonna just leave their young siblings alone near demon town to look for mujika? seriously? are you sure

-there's no pacing, and because there's no pacing there's no personalities, everyone just says what they have to say, one thing after the other, and there's no time for them to transition smoothly from one emotion to another

-at least they kept the essence of norman's arc...? but the norman-less arcs weren't fillers, they had a point!

-i am so sad, the lambda facility part is so good, why did they mess up so much with the rest

-far be it from me to comment on the VAs, buuut... norman's VA kinda stands out, ngl. she shines, even in this awkwardly paced dialogue

-HOLD YOUR HORSES, NORMAN'S VA IS FISCHL'S VA?!?! HOW?!?! H O W?!?!

-norman's "i'll gladly become a god or a devil" IS SO BRUSHED OFF, oh my god, this should be A Moment!

-the wild demon looks bad, but who cares

-JESUS, THERE'S NO TIME GIVEN TO THE CHARACTERS TO PROCESS INFORMATION AND EMOTIONS! THE SPEED WITH WHICH EMMA GOES FROM NEUTRAL TO WEEPY TO HAPPY WHEN SHE SEES MUJIKA, ARGH!

-emma coming in with the telepathy, immediately knowing that the sound is the bang of norman's lies...

-THESE ARE THE GRACE FIELD KIDS, OF COURSE THE THOUGHT OF NORMAN HAVING LIED WOULD HAVE CROSSED THEIR MINDS! IT’S NORMAN! THERE'S PRECEDENT!

-but norman's plan and character in the manga had SO MUCH MORE DEPTH OH MY GOD! HE HAD HUMAN BLOOD ON HIS HANDS! HIS PLAN WAS MORE REFINED! and yes, i know "farms were attacked" here too, but the fact that norman actually had to make the choice to let humans die is not addressed or even hinted at

-there's really no time to breathe. one minute norman declares annihilation, and the next he's like, "no never mind :'(". the VA is the only anchor keeping him grounded

-these are the enhanced lambda group... which doesn't matter because they don't actually do much...

-the op song is nice tho

-OH SHUT UP NORMAN CAN'T AIM

-no, vincent, the real peter ratri wouldn't have believed you so blindly, but. we make do what we can here in anime land

-it's a shame that peter hasn't really had a Presence as the Enemy

-but why do all the kids who know nothing randomly agree to play tag on shipment day?

-so uh. why is sonju fighting with the kids on the farm in this scenario? bc last time he said he wanted to eat humans... and now he's here...? because we're... friends? that's it?

-lmao the queen and the nobles make an appearance in the last ep. sure okay

-ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME YOU'RE GONNA SUM UP THE EXISTENCE OF *** AND THE PROMISE WITH EMMA WITH A STILL?!?!?! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! WHY DIDN'T YOU LEAVE IT OUT ALTOGETHER?! FFS!!!

-YEAH AND MUJIKA IS CROWNED QUEEN IN A STILL, WHO THE FUCK KNOWS WHY OR HOW!

-lmfao, most underwhelming return ever??? of emma and co in the human world???

-goldy pond and norman’s kids gave up their existence so that emma could keep her memories, isabella could keep her life and cislo could keep his leg. sacrifices were made. i'm not mad, why would you even-

-okay okay okay. as an adaptation, it sucks. had i not read the manga, would i still consider it a bad season 2? well... i would consider it a downgrade. i wouldn't sweat the basic premise, but the execution would probably disappoint me. the dialogue is perfunctory. they say their bit, change emotions and thoughts in an instant, there's no weight, depth or consideration. things get resolved almost as soon as they're touched upon. i would have no idea who most of the new characters were as people, and i would have learned very little about the ones we already knew. everything is incredibly rushed, and whereas s1 was full of tension and obstacles, s2 was handing the kids everything on a platter, including hot air balloons, mujika randomly spotting emma's necklace, the old demon randomly having that one part of the pen etc (i usually don't mind random coincidences for the sake of storytelling, but this a "compilation of too many issues" situation). the powerpoint presentation in the end would have left me confused and underwhelmed, and the emma-tachi return is incredibly lackluster for a closing scene. i don't think i'd consider it a disaster, but definitely disappointing.

but it is an adaptation and i have read the manga and it's all very sadge.