#sonju can too

[isjasz]

If y'dont mind me askin, and I don't know if you'd already addressed this, but what are everybody's role in your 'The Promised Hermitopia AU? (Curent character rn)

-🐡

Pulls up the entire list i have on this U know what I might as well dump the whole list. why not HASJDKAHHW i dont think i will get too far into this AU as of now tbh so u guys can have it now!

Emma- Scar 91194 Ray- Grian 09194 Norman- Cub 20194 Don & Gilda- Impulse 93194 & Skizz 76194 Nat- Tango 46194 Anna- Bigb 28194 Connie- Jimmy 81294 Isabella- Xisuma 50184 Mujika- Lizzie Sonju- Joel !!Beyond this point are manga character spoilers!! Yuugo- Etho Lucas- Bdubs Oliver- Sausage Zack- Pix Gillian- Gem Violet- False Basically the whole Goldy pond resistance- EMPIRES PPL💥 Lewis- Doc Ayshe- Pearl Barbara- Cleo Cislo- Ren Vincent- Martyn Zazie- Hypno Jin- Keralis Hayato- Zedaph William Minerva- Mumbo K. Jumbo ‼️‼️‼️

Also reiterate: I probably definitely will not get this far in the AU and have no plans to continue it rn so just take this with a grain of salt LOL

[fullscoreshenanigans]

how do you think Emma (post cannon or otherwise) and ashye would interact? I don’t think Ashye would hate her just because she’s Norman’s friends since she gets along with Ray in the side story decently enough

Ayshe definitely wouldn't hate Emma. While being raised by a demon, she's not misanthropic; she just hates a specific group of people.

I talk about this on my Gildayshe musings post and this recent poll, but the first conversation Ayshe has with Don and Gilda has them reacting like this:

(Chapter 139)

After she just told them Norman was behind her father's murder—someone who was her whole world—they're in tears at the thought of not being in conflict with him. Even when considering the possibility that Norman ultimately plans to kill Sonju and Mujika after they bring them to the paradise hideout, if there's a chance of negotiating with him, they'll take it.

It goes even further when Norman betrays them and uses them as bait just like they suspected in chapter 135.

(Chapter 144)

Gilda still pleads with Mujika, after Norman just tried to have her and Sonju—her companion of 700 years—killed, to help them stop Norman before things become irrevocable for him and everyone around him. She still considers him her older brother after all of that. Don looks empathetic and in agreement with her while Ayshe is left in open-mouthed shock, because she could understand if Gilda didn't want anything to do with him at this point.

But she also understands family, and her new companions have made it clear that her father's murderer is still important to them. She doesn't begrudge them for it.

(Chapter 167)

And she doesn't hesitate to save them when they return to Grace Field.

She has known them for ten days.

(Mystic Code Book Chapter 7)

Within the span of four days, she's willing to have this conversation with Ray:

(Chapter 169)

This is after Emma has made it clear how close she and Ray are with Norman:

(Chapter 161)

She's conciliatory to Don and Gilda when she says "it's true that he ate humans, but to me, he was my father" and here. Despite acknowledging that familial connection she feels toward him, she gives all of them an out. 'You don't have to spare my feelings. I understand why humans hate demons.' Knows most demons wouldn't think twice about eating her if given the opportunity. She's downcast and gives a light sigh of resignation because she's aware of how bizarre this would look to another human. They can conceptually see why she feels the way she does, but not how profound that loss is for her, so she'd rather skip the attempt at sympathy.

It's why she's so shocked at Ray's blunt declaration reaffirming her love for her father as valid and gives her full attention to him in earnest. She follows it up by saying their parents were also good people.

Given their prominence in the story since the start, I'm fairly confident the figures on the left and bottom center are Norman and Don respectively so all five of the oldest Grace Field kids are included here and poignantly attached to her sentiment. It's possible she's lying to Ray to be reciprocally kind or mentally separating the kids into differing levels of good with Norman at the bottom to still technically qualify him, but with less reason to lie to him between the validation of her feelings and the intimacy of the setting I'm disinclined to believe the former, and with the latter he's still included regardless.

(Chapter 181)

With all that in mind in addition to how she's willing to let Norman and Vincent hold her dogs' puppies post-timeskip, it would be very bizarre for Ayshe to hate Emma. If anything she'd think Emma's too good for Norman lol

I also imagine there would be a lot of overlap between how she interacts with Emma and Ray.

(TPN Light Novel 4: Films of Memories - “Don and Gilda”)

She reacts this strongly to Don and Gilda even thinking about being burdens in the post-canon. Despite lacking those memories, there are still convictions she holds that are etched into her very being. If she was given a rundown of Ayshe's history, she'd also conclude that her father's species was irrelevant if he saved her and provided her with unconditional love, possibly more forcefully than Ray. It wouldn't come as a surprise to Ayshe, given her interactions with all the other Grace Field children at this point, but it'd be comforting all the same, that reinforcement of why Emma's friends and family cared so deeply for her and spent years searching for her. There was never really tension between them, but it makes Ayshe feel more at ease around her all the same.

I'm also a very big proponent of wlw Ayshe, so I enjoy @dyslexicsponge's take of her having a crush on Emma (intimidating Norman by going to hang out with him because he's so obvious about his crush on Emma and Ayshe's so smitten she doesn't know who else she could possibly commiserate with optional lol).

[officersnickers]

What do you think of season 2 of TPN? Personally, I think it's not that bad and I read the manga.

Let's make a list for this! 😎

Strong points of The Promised Neverland Season 2:

great opening

the first two and a half episodes were nicely done with cuts in the story I can accept due to the limits of the medium anime

Gilda getting at Emma‘s ass? hilarious

the hunting scene with Emma and Sonju was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life with wonderfully done, fluid animation and genius callbacks to S1

great visuals througout the whole season, ngl (e.g. Norman‘s speech in his coat? chef‘s kiss)

bebe Norman? Sign me the fuck up! also his downfall to madness in Ep.8 was a joy to watch

James animated! and coloured! moving and speaking and... dying?

no words:

ACTUALLY YES WORDS FUCK YEAH THEY LET ISABELLA LIVE THANK YOU THAT‘S ALL I EVER WANTED AND SURELY DIDN‘T SAVED THIS SEASONS ASS BUT MADE US ALL GO BONKERS AND THAT‘S MORE THAN I EXPECTED IT TO HAPPEN AT THIS POINT!!! 😍😍

sorry for the screaming. I will behave now

overall, they had clearly visions and ideas, even original ones I'd love to see Cloverworks develop even further and differ from the manga's original story

That being said, what didn‘t work (for me)?

With all the original ideas they had, they surely did nothing with them, sadly

the anime could have given us more time with the kids adapting to the demon world, Norman‘s time in Lambda, even them travelling with Mujika and Sonju, but noooo…

characters being flatened. Emma turned into a self-loathing mess, Ray‘s now not caring about anyone besides his family, and Norman… was pushed into our faces every few seconds because everyone missed him so much and couldn‘t function without him. Whack

these motherfuckes we spend way too much time with:

I hate them... so much 🤮

they put Emma back in a skirt. do I need to tell you more?

y‘know

why is Cislo white again?

framing the one black guy we got as the traitor (even if was for just one episode) wasn't the best move Cloverworks

HOT AIR BALLOONS?!?

WHAT IS THE NEW PROMISE?! THIS SERIES IS CALLED PROMISED NEVERLAND YOU HAVE TO TELL US ABOUT THE NEW PROMISE!!

A CLIPSHOW?! THAT'S WHAT WE GOT AT THE END?!?!

I will never recover from this:

Overall, that's just how I feel about this "adaptation":

But whoever had their fun and joy with S2 is so much stronger than I am and earns bothing but my respect. Just let me cry in no gay dads we never got to see for a while now, okay?

[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.

[chidoroki]

182 Days of TPN - Day 143

Chapter 143: "Eliminate"

I still hate Him so much for this. I know the reward had to be something important and that Emma couldn't refuse it, but her memories bro? And to be separated from her family? Damn it, like why did it have to be both at once? I always wondered what would've happened had Ray managed to arrive at the day & night alongside Emma though, like would the reward apply to both of them? Or would demon god figure out some other way to make them both suffer? I imagine Ray wouldn't take the memory lose part too hard; he's had quite the traumatizing childhood, I'm sure there's many things he'd be happy to forget, which just makes the whole situation more upsetting.

Hayato mentions that Don, Gilda, Ayshe & the dogs haven't noticed the device and while I can believe that being true for our GF duo, I can't imagine Ayshe or the dogs not hearing Hayato click the button repeatedly with their sensitive ears, especially when the panels indicate the device is making a relatively noticeable sound.

Demons parents! Crazy to think they've been absent longer than Norman, if only by a little bit. (Isabella still has the longest gap between appearances.)

Had a hard time remembering if Don & Gilda even met up with Sonju & Mujika before the GF raid during season two, but they did during ep8 along with Emma & Ray, so of course that means we missed out on this nice reunion with just the four of them since RE takes most of the spotlight.

I appreciate the tiny detail of showing Sonju take off the lower half of his mask. And with how fond of demons Ayshe is, I would've expected her to show a little more enthusiasm that they finally found who they were all looking for but we see her act more friendly next chapter.

Not at all upset at it though because she does finally notice Hayato & Jin make their moves and warn our demon parents about the potential attack. Certainly they're equally surprised to hear the warning as they are to hear a human speak their language.

Can't deny that Jin & the Adam clones moved pretty darn quickly to get here though, even for those large kids to get up high in the trees like that too.

Dude thinks he's slick and really has Ayshe pinned. That's cute. She can (and does) take him down in an instant, not to mention she could probably order the dogs to assist if she really needed them to.

Y'all really thought that a couple large kids and a set of two year olds were enough to take down Sonju? Norman may have smart ideas most of the time but this surely isn't one of them.

Favorite panel/moment:

Pretty girl. And my wish to hear how the demon language would've sounded has been reignited once more.

End of volume 16.

[valenteal]

Okay so I just got into The Promised Neverland, the anime, I adore season 1. It was beautiful and heartbreaking and hopeful and unique. Season 2 isn’t half as enjoyable but I think this for different reasons than most people.

Everyone else is like ‘oh no they skipped over so much of the manga’ and I’m just like????? No??? Because the way I see it the whole Lambda thing is a cop out that makes exactly 0 logical sense. After season one they lost the plot. Simple as that. They did irrational things for the sake of drama.

I mean think about it, they didn’t want to actually kill Norman so they came up with this elaborate experimental plantation but it doesn’t make sense. Norman was the cream of the crop, the one they were looking forward to, they wouldn’t keep him alive and experiment on him and possibly make him inedible. When we farm animals do we do that?! It’s illogical. If they were trying to clone him I might get it but they weren’t. And then when Norman goes crazy from the torture (because drama!) part of his arguments is that the demons in charge want to maintain the status quo. They’re supposedly very happy with the current system. If that were the case they wouldn’t be doing those experiments at the cost of their best product!

And don’t even get me started on the whole ‘eating humans to be intelligent’ thing. Like… that’s not… where did that even come from!? But oh wait! There’s this super convenient solution! It’s so convoluted but also so forced, like… that isn’t how biology works. I get that this is a fantasy world but that’s too far.

If it were me, I’d have season 1 stay the same and just scrap season 2 for parts. I actually like Sonju, even if his appearance is a bit deus ex machina. His motivation for helping them is interesting and I think he creates a unique situation for the kids. I like the religious fanatic angle, and I like the kids having a mentor. If they’d just let things continue organically instead of forcing it… I mean Ray isn’t stupid, he wouldn’t carve the coordinates where enemies would see. He would have at least used code. They could have stayed at the base thing and built a freaking safe haven and then launched a quiet war against the farms. Guerrilla warfare, slowly rescuing more and more kids, building more bases. Do it realistically, none of this ‘one chemical weapon solves all our problems’ and ‘but wiping them out is wrong!’ quick fixes and simple plans stopped only by moral dilemmas. It too simplified but they try to disguise it with all the drama. It’s okay we took the cowards road and didn’t kill Norman cause he’s so traumatized we can barely recognize him! It’s okay we’re pulling easy solutions out of our asses because they trigger moral strife and end in the main characters struggling to choose the path of light! Drama!

Look, I haven’t read the manga yet but I don’t know how much more I would’ve liked it. It doesn’t matter if we get more context, it’s still just burying the plot holes and cop outs in more drama. We don’t need a simple answer, that’s not how systemic oppression is fixed, that’s not how war and rebellion works. There are plenty of ways they could have gone. Hell there are other, better ways they could save Norman! His shipment was abnormal and unscheduled, Isabella could have saved him or Minerva and his followers, something else, anything else.

I have feelings about this. Season 1 was amazing. Season 2 was just full of familiar cop outs disguised as “plot twists.” It was disappointing. This series had real potential.

[fullscoreshenanigans]

#I find the comparison to the Adam and Eve story quite interesting #I also find it interesting that they evolved into human-like creatures before the food they ate started changing them #I wonder if it has something to do with the demons greed #perhaps they all had blood like Mujika but them eating whatever made them lose it after a few generations?? #maybe that's why they changed their God system it started worshiping him instead of the gods Mujika and Sonju worship bc they felt forsaken #also them murdering those who still had the special blood for vaguely religious reasons kinda like our history ? #idk just some thoughts (via @silentstudiosyt)

Based on the mystic code book Q&A from earlier, it sounds like the push to the new faith was almost entirely manufactured for the convenience of the demon nobility in order to maintain the social stratification of demon society rather than genuine widespread doubt in the original faith.

(Chapter 142)

And the demon god goes along with it because, as Emma notes, he's a whimsical/capricious one due to his longevity.

I frequently forget this due to it not being openly discussed in the text, but compare the village the Seven Walls search party walks through in chapter 103

to what we see the demon nobility use to travel to the imperial capital in chapter 140

The Bayon clan traverses by what looks like a steam locomotive while the Noum clan has…one that hovers or flies? Or it's a demon that looks conveniently shaped like one.

While we don't know if to work at one of the farms the demon staff have to relocate their entire families

(Mystic Code Book Chapter 7 Q&A)

There is some prestige attached to it, even at the mass production farm level. It seems like outside of the farms and nobles' estates, technological advancements have purposely been withheld from the general demon population into the 2040s as another means of controlling them. If you're too busy just trying to survive, there's less chance of a revolt and upending the status quo.

With how Norman explains it in chapter 120, the demons were evolving based on what they ate since early on in their existence as a species

before eventually stumbling across humans.

Prior to the promise being forged, they theoretically had unrestricted access to humans, so to tie into the framing of Mujika as a unique messianic figure and human intelligence as the pinnacle for demons to acquire and maintain, their degeneration/warped appearance is predominantly treated as the fault of the demon nobility's draconian regulation of their world's food supply.

(Chapter 132 | Chapter 164)

I do think you can explore the demons' waning belief in the original faith due to them collectively losing their genetic stability as a species either entirely separate from the manipulations of the upper echelons for their own sociopolitical gain or making them more amenable to it since Shirai does spend some pages acknowledging how they were complicit with the system due to the comforts it afforded them, comparatively scant as they were

(Chapter 175)

However, much more time is spent developing empathy for the plight of the average demon

(Chapter 49 | Chapter 130)

and criticizing those with power at the macrolevel for manufacturing consent and scarcity in the face of new developments that would be objectively good for society

(Chapter 147 - "All they care about is their profits.")

that I'd hesitate to phrase it simply as the collective demons' greed that led to this for falling into the more generic anime racism S2 falls into with Norman attacking a random village instead of pointedly targeting the capital.

#Something more interesting to me is the fact the snake is crossed out while the beetle isn't #Pretty sure you can't perform Gupna on an insect. There's no blood to drain the flower wouldn't bloom #You could argue maybe they don't really see insects as 'meat' #But considering the beetle's lined up with the other animals here I really don't think that's the case #Anyway point is from what Sonju tells us eating insects is probably against the Old Faith #So this whole 'no snakes' thing probably wasn't carried over from it and instead originated after the Promise #(if we assume it's a cultural/religious thing.) #(The existence of snake-like demons doesn't eliminate the possibility of snakes being biologically unviable) #(There's a lot of animals they could eat to end up like that. Lampreys worms caecilians etc.) #But I disgress. I'm not a theologist or anything just pointing out something i found weird. (via @darklight-owl)

With the visual representation for the splitting of the two worlds in chapter 48's cover art being an apple (even if it isn't actually the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden)

on top of the aforementioned framing of Mujika as a messianic figure and Emma falling into this as well, I wouldn't be surprised if Shirai opted for symbolism over biological realities on this particular matter since its not pressing to the narrative.

And you're right that it would something that came about after the promise

(Chapter 46 | Chapter 157)

Sonju says he and Mujika will eat anything else besides cattle children, though it seems like he has a preference for creatures he can hunt due to the spiritual aspect of it for him.

i want to see people to be talking about this panel in the promised neverland

tpn theory type stuff below cut

google search and stuff has gotten pretty bad so that might be why i'm struggling so much to find theories on this but omg it's a little frustrating because this is the coolest panel.

for anyone that doesn't remember, this was at the demon temple that showed them how to reach the seven walls.

there's one specific thing here that interests me the most, and it's the main reason i think this panel is so interesting, but there's so many other significant things to discuss here so i'll just get through some quickly.

at the top we see what i think is almost definitely the night and day, and the demon god. there're then lines pointing to the beginning of the evolution tree with the small bacteria-like first demons. i think this is telling us that the demon god is the originator of all of the demons. that's pretty huge?? i haven't heard anyone ever talk about that. i don't think this is far-fetched at all too. i strongly believe in this theory.

under the bacteria-like demons are these bipedal, horned, almost human-like demons. i'm less sure about what these are and i think this is more up for debate but i'm guessing these are a slightly evolved form of the first demons from eating lots of small things and slowly working their way a little up the food chain. with slight variations probably from slightly different diets.

under that, we see the demon evolution that we are familiar with.

they eat a fish, they become a fish-like demon. they eat a human, they become the familiar human-like demon. they eat bugs or other small wild creatures, they become the also familiar wild demon. (side note: we know humanoid demons also eat bugs alongside humans which is interesting. what unique affect to bugs have on them?)

it's showing us what the demons will evolve into after eating certain organisms. it all seems to align with what we know from normans research so far.

except for one thing. this is the thing that interests me more than anything else.

UNDER THE SNAKE CREATURE THERE'S JUST AN X.

WHY TF CANT THEY EAT SNAKES.

i don't think we ever get even a hint towards what this could mean in the manga.

gonna be real, i think even if i tried to look for patterns myself, i wouldn't know enough about biology to find much. i don't know much of anything about biology. i think the only thing i take away from this is that for some reason they can't eat snakes.

this stuff intrigues me so much and i just wish i could find more theories out there on this. rahhhh it's so cool. i just want an answer.

oh wait also what is this thing i dunno

honestly i can't make it out

anyway thanks for reading, i don't post about TPN but i just finished rereading all 20 volumes. i probably won't post about it again i just want to get this out

[friedgoats]

(Do not repost)

@the-silliest-idiot Enjoy some Sonju breaking his legs to terrorize Hayato for you.

[the-silliest-idiot]

How can so much yelling fit in such a small creature?

[minish-mae]

Disclaimer: I’ve only seen the anime, BUT I have the books on the way and I’m so HYPE to read them 

The Promised Neverland has been consuming me-- I love these kiddos so much ,,, and Mujika and Sonju, and Isabella, AND EVERYONE-- I don’t think there was a single character I didn’t like! 

Also a “what if” situation in the top left. What if Norman succumbed to his side effects from Lambda;; 

[cospinol]

oh promised neverland 2 already made it to the bunker arc.........? it’s been a while since I read this area of the manga but that seems Fast

[your-girl-mj]

So it's not a dream? [Ray x f!reader] [contains spoilers] part 2

Summary: ray and reader swapped bodies (soulmate au) ray's timeline is that they're still with mujika and sonju, while reader is with norman at the time he escape

Warning: mentions of dying, trauma, curse words, death, please tell me if i miss anything ;-;

Part 1 part 2 part 3

Her back ached, has she been stirring during her slumber? Before she could answer her own question, she was tackled by two boys, both had weird hair and wearing a white long jacket, making her think that they're scientists. The [hair.color] flinch at the impact of the hug, they being so cloose to her which was making her very uncomfortable.

[Name] woke up at the sound of running, according to the footsteps it sound like there are two of them. she went back to sleep, not wanting to be interrupted.

"Ray! Can we go hunting with you, right?!" The onion hair-shaped boy exclaimed, followed by a "yeah!" On the other.

Emma instructed everyone that she and Ray are going on hunting for food with sonju and mujika, the two wanted to join too. A little adventure won’t hurt.

the [eye.color] eyed had a different perspective between the three on them.

Hunting. That word send shivers down her spine, flashbacks running through her head. When she was running, running for her life. Those beast chasing her like a Rabbit getting hunt by wolves. Pouncing at her trying to take a bite.

"Hunting? Again? why am I not suprised, of course you're gonna throw me in again." Her masculine voice caught her by surprise but her angered sarcastic tone is still there, she didn't even notice that her left eye was covered with her...hair?

Thoma and Lani shared a confused look. Did he woke up in the wrong side of bed err-- floor? Ray's glaring eyes pierced through them, making them shiver a little.

"Throw you where Ray? You're the strong on here!" The dark-haired boy tried to shake off the tension that was building up, lighting up the mood can help right?

Strong? Is the drug already acting up?

She looked down at her arms, muscles are formed, she can saw her(ray's) biceps are big and quite muscular.

Drug is now showing effect, am I dying? What about the others? Where am i? Did the bomb work? -

"What are you saying Ray? We escaped right? You're not gonna die, no one is.." Thoma nudges Lani, signaling him to go get emma and the otehrs, and of course Lani obeyed. Slowly backing up and before going on the run when he reaches the entrance of the tunnel. "...and what do you mean by bomb?" [Name] realized she said her thoughts out loud, making her panic when the boy signaled his friend.

He's getting the others to..

"You're trying to get the others... you're gonna put things in me again, aren't you?!"

The boy flinched the tone of Ray's voice, he never raised his voice like that, not to them anyways.

"What do you mean?... we're never hurt you, we're famil-"

"Family...?" [Name] scoffed, turning her head away, shaking it in disbelief.

Family? That word exists?

"FAMILY DON'T PUT EXPERIMENTS ON YOU!" She felt furious, seriously? After all of they did her? She will call them family?

Bad memories are comming back to her, those things that are injected to her, causing her body to tremble, and making it hard for her to breathe, which cause her not to talk and just focus on breathing.

She turned her head back at the small boy, her eyes widden when she saw him holding back a sob, tears running down his cheeks, while his fist clenched into a ball. At this moment, she realizes that he's still a child...

"H-hey, I'm sorry I yelled.."

"No no no no, Ray! It's okay! You had a nightmare, I know you didn't mean it!" He smiled at the teenager before quickly wipped his tears in his sleeves, sobbing quietly. He doesn't like being yelled at, especially by Ray.

[Name] debate in her head wither she take this opportunity to run, or comfort the kid. She shakingly reach out to Thoma and awkwardly hug him. "Um... sorry, I just got overwhelmed.." she whispered, still uncomfortable with the sound of her voice and the stranger.

The raven-haired boy snuggled up to Ray, liking the warmness that was given to him. He doesn't know what's going through his brother's head, or why is he acting like that, but due to the comfort, he doesn't want this moment to end.

Just like they say, good things must come to an end. The moment was broke when they heard many footsteps running towards them, the [hair.color] was quick to put the boy behind her, glaring at the entrance of the cave, her heart (Ray's (1)) hammering at her (ray's (2)) chest. A bunch of people went running in, all of them have worried faces.

The first one to approach them was a teenage girl with a bright orange hair, "Ray! Are you alright-"

"Stay back! Don't touch me! Go away!" She was panicking, there are so many people stepping close to her. She can see that they're all just kids, but with the jacket, she assumed that they're trainees. Training to be a scientist, to make people like her, suffer.

Her(ray's (3)) body and froze as well as her thoughts, a huge beast stepped into the room, it's a lot taller than the ones she have met, the spear in its hands made her blood run cold.

"Ray, calm down." Sonju calmly stepped forward.

"[Name] calm down, you can trust us, we don't eat humans. All you have to do is sit here, it will hurt a bit, but we will make you feel better. No more suffering..."

"Ray-"

"NO, NO, NO STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM US. DON'T YOU DARE LAY A FINGER ON ME NOR THIS BOY, OR I WILL TEAR YOU APART-"

She felt a bang on her head, knocking her unconscious.

~~

Ray can't believe want happend, that was even worse than he imagined. He cringe at the thought of him being at that state,

It's clear that she's bluffing, she doesn't have any weapons on her, and according to her body she's not that strong either.

"Sorry, I have to knocked you out, Ray" Don started, "I figured that it will be the only way to calm you down, since we're all in the room, i know it can be overwhelming at times".

The green-haired turnes to Ray and asked "you really don't remember?" Mostly everyone turned to the Raven-head.

With an arch brow, he replyed "Not really, sorry"

This just confirms it. We really switched bodies... Does that mean, norman really is alive...? According to the people around us, we acted out of character.

"What date was yesterday?"

"Um... friday, [day n month] ?" The tall boy hesitantly answered, "right?"

"Yeah, thanks don." Ray paused, "I need sometime to think, I'll wash the dishes."

With that he got up, but before he completely got out of the room he turned. "Thoma, Lani, can I speak with you guys?"

~~

"[-me]... [name]..."

Did they killed me...?

"[NAME]! Are you alright?" Cislo shaked her awake, a worry writed all over his face. Barbara and zazie not far behind, with the same expression.

"You suddenly screamed, are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

Heavy breathing, she sat up holding her aching head. " 'm fine, don't worry," she paused, noticing that she felt different, she felt like her body is heavier than before.

looking down, her once skeleton like body turn into [body.type] muscle are now visible here and there. "It's just the drugs."

She took a deep breath trying to calm her racing heart from a nightmare.

Wait...? She can breathe normally now, so this is the effect of the drugs.

The [eye.color] eyed took in her surroundings, making confused on how she got here. Turning to her friend, "where are we?"

"We're in a forest [name]" cislo gently smiled at her.

Wait- what? How did she...?

"Was i asleep when we escape? Sorry if you have to carry me" she pat the older boy on the back, thinking that he carried her since he's the strong one on the group.

"What do you mean? We ran all the way here, did you forget again? Just like how you forgot my name last night?" He chuckled at her. He thinks it's the drugs that made her forget things, and that's okay to him. It's normal.

[Name] is now confused, she can't remember the events that had happen last night. The only thing she remembers was her dream.

Now that she mentioned it, the dream was odd. They keep called her "Ray"...

"Who?" The white haired teen, turned and face her. His expression was unreadable.

"Huh...?" She asked, looking up to their savior.

"The name. The one you just muttered."

"You mean, 'Ray' ?"

"Where have you heared that" Norman kneeled down, meeting her level.

"In my dream." The boy infront of her looked at her with amusement, but you can tell he's deep in thought. "Why do you asked...?"

He must have snapped into reality since he lightly shook his head, he looked at her and said. "I would like to have a conversation with you privately, if that's alright with you?"

~~

"Do you remember, any events yesterday night?" The albino paced infornt of her, trying to think of the possible things that may have caused this.

She called me norman yesterday, now she mumbled ray's name. There must be a reason, correct?

"Um, i think its when i planted the bombs near the control room when they left me infront of the... hunting area."

Norman shook his head and finally turn to face her, "I meant, the events when we escaped, do you remember our conversation? By the fire?" He look intensely into her eyes, full of curiosity.

"I'm afraid not, I'm sorry."

Norman hesitated if he should ask her about the "Ray" thing earlier. "How do you... know Ray?"

"I don't exactly know him, but everyone in my dream keeps calling me that."

"Is there a girl with bright orange hair and green eyes?"

Wow, that's too much detail to be a guess.

"Yes actually, how do you know?" Her brows knit together, staring at her boss suspiciously.

How many rays did i said? Ksksksksksks, Have a great day/night everyone, i hope you enjoy. And before you asked, yes I'm planning to make a part 3, but I've been busy so, I'll try my best, stay safe, and drink a lot of water <3

Norman seemed unbothered by her stare and just stood up, "I'll explain later, for now we need to keep moving, demons learking around might find us."

[fullscoreshenanigans]

have a emma ratri au in the brain rn so how do you think the escape would go without emma in it? im guessing norman would cut a lot more losses without emma there to encourage him (maybe even escape with only the older kids that can make it) and I really liked your post on how norman was originally planning to leave ray behind!

im thinking norman feels guilty and goes back at the last second to see ray with the lighter fluid but ray sets the fire anyway to make norman go without him. But norman isn't as physically able as emma so he doesn't catch the match and Isabella pulls them both out

then as norman and ray are healing from their injuries in lamba they meet emma ratri (who would do anything for her clan/family in this version) who tries to encourage them to coperate/make them test better for the tifari by making them happy?

don and gilda would meet up with sonju and muijika and be a lot more friendly to demons/knowledgeable about their society (maybe even meet up with ashye!)

thoughts?

[Mentioned post]

Without Emma there as a moral compass, Norman and Ray might convince Don and Gilda that only the four of them should escape and come back for the rest of the kids after they better assess the outside world, with Ray banking on Norman discreetly seething the whole time so he'll ditch him at the last minute, but it's also possible Don and Gilda might rub off on Norman in Emma's place that contribute to him going back to bring Ray along.

Both of the boys ending up at Lambda is very interesting because while there is the poignancy for Isabella in Ray being the only one of the trio supposedly destined to be shipped and gupna'd as normal, I think there's enough breadth to argue that if Legravalima ate her father to become queen and hid Norman away in Lambda from the demon god, she might have tried to push her luck with the promise and steal Emma and Ray away too with how prestigious the trio's reputations were among demon society.

It's also interesting to see an Emma who might feign a similar demeanor to her canon one but drops it when things aren't going her way, either impetuously out of petty anger or as part of a longer con after she discovers someone's tried to cross her, in a similar tone to this exchange:

(Chapter 87)

She likes to think she's benevolent and reasonable, but being raised as a future head of the clan, she's cunning and ruthless, and she doesn't make idle threats.

There's also the dynamics to consider of how the boys would play off her together versus how they'd do apart if they were kept isolated from each other, if they even know the other one is alive, if Emma holds that knowledge as leverage, etc.

(Chapter 172, tweaked)

And then her conflicting loyalties if she starts to grow attached to them.

don and gilda would meet up with sonju and muijika and be a lot more friendly to demons/knowledgeable about their society (maybe even meet up with ashye!)

Assuming it's just Don and Gilda that escaped and not the rest of the canon escapees, there's a variety of potential there too. Like you said, them having more time with their nomadic demon parents, maybe opting to stay with them rather than going to the bunker due to safety in numbers, making them the biggest advocates for demons to humans that puts them into conflict with the older brothers they looked up to when they eventually cross paths again.

There's also meeting an Ayshe who hasn't been dealt the tragic blow of losing her father, and while I still imagine her to be reserved, there is a bit of a lighter air about her now that her first meeting with other humans is much kinder. Her dad could also provide insight into the demon world that Mujika and Sonju couldn't, like the inner workings of farms as a substitute for the bunker's knowledge.

[officersnickers]

I love this demon dude and only this demon dude for having the same crappy fantastic mullet as Sonju:

A long lost brother we never heard of? Or maybe another banned guy from the royal family?

[madraleen]

The Promised Neverland - Kaiu Shirai/Posuka Demizu Vol. 16-20: A “YOU STUCK THE LANDING!” Commentary + Overall Thoughts

-the seven walls are time and space? very interesting.

-smol emma jumping out of the cupboard and screaming RAAAYYY is the epitome of emma.

-jeez, hayato is adorable

-wth, ayshe's and demon's story is heartbreaking

-one thing i have to commend the manga for is structure. it stops the action and moves away to keep the tension- but just so. just for long enough. not too long so that it becomes frustrating or that you've forgotten what's happening.

-julius' comrades as first food offers?! JEEZ!

-hayato is a snitch.

-Iss should ask for emma's family, right? the most important thing to her? i call the being "Iss," yes. i don't know what to do with the lettering

-okay, clearly the reward is an emma sacrifice, but i don't believe for a second that emma will get an unhappy ending so how are we solving this

-oi! OI! NORMAN IS COUGHING UP BLOOD, OI, STOP THAT! i figured he might have been experimented on too, but oi~

-omg ray's so happy to see sonju and mujika

-low-key cathartic that emma calls norman a liar that she can't trust. yes, girl, say it. it's the same thing, always the same story, it goes beyond this manga. the positive traits when someone is your ally become negative traits when they become the opposition, even though the person themselves hasn't changed at all.

-norman's "i'm scared" inner thoughts are heartbreaking

-the part where norman asks ray and emma to help him, heartbreaking

-norman: gives the most honest and vulnerable "i want" speech of his life. ray: got it. the brevity, the simplicity, i love it.

-with all those lil lines on his face, i'm just imagining norman permanently beet red at this point. and i love the idea that extreme determination and single-mindedness can actually be a cry for help. i haven't seen it put so bluntly before, and it's very true.

-now that norman's opened up, he looks like emma and ray's age. it's cool

-OI BITCH LEAVE ZAZIE ALONE!

-SONJU IS THE QUEEN'S BROTHER?!?! PRINCE SONJU?!

-why did they give norman a bow, that boy can't shoot to save his life

-REDEEM YOURSELF, ISABELLA! NOW IS YOUR TIME TO SHINE

-yes, oliver, slay! we love to see it

-damn there's such good moments in these final volumes, i'm starting to worry about s2 of the anime. is any of that there?

-YES ISABELLA YES! YES! she looks so chipper when she explains she'll betray the farm, lol.

-i know i'm obsessed with aot, but at times i legit think the promised neverland is the deliberate antithesis of aot. and i have no problem with that.

-leuvis is also a sibling? did we know that? if so, i forgot.

-ray's scarf is blue?! i imagined it maroon

-ugh, they shot minerva in the back. somehow that feels worse

-SMEE?! SMEE?! SMEE KILLED MINERVA?! NORMAN'S SMEE?! (*in retrospect, norman’s smee is never explored, oof. an oversight)

-ray and norman are having a sweet moment in the panel where everyone's celebrating the end of the farms, it's adorable

-aah okay, not gonna lie, i teared up at emma and phil's reunion

-ray's expression when he says sorry and thanks to phil, they nail it.

-oooh you're killing off isabella? i didn't expect it, but it makes sense.

-yeah, of course they love isabella and isabella loves them. it's not as black and white as ally and enemy.

-don be like, "RAY GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE, MOM IS CALLING"

-ray continues to be my favorite and most nuanced character, followed by norman. but ray is number one by far. by far far far

-I CALLED IT, THE REWARD MUST BE EMMA'S FAMILY! i don't know what that means yet, BUT I CALLED IT because the story abides by its logic, love that for it

-lmao imagine how terrified all these children/adults who knew nothing must be, just whooshing out of existence into another world

-AHAHA EMMA'S NOT HERE! NICE! what did she do and how do we save her

-yes, that's a good reward. true to the story. i mean, bad for everyone, but narratively good. amnesiac emma

-emma feeling the void in the space inside of her where her family was, very well-expressed

-ah. final chapter. please stick the landing.

-TWO YEARS! IT'S BEEN TWO YEARS!

-GHOSTIES SAVING THE DAY AAAHHHH

-ASDJHKSFJK THEY FOUND HER, WHAT A GREAT PANEL, RAY AND NORMAN AND EVERYONE. she must be terrified. they're all strangers.

-my boy ray shines, i love it

-aww norman "thank goodness," what a soft boy. also he's crying, have we ever seen him cry before? he didn't cry for isabella

-the lambda group thriving :'))) they have effective medicine for their side effects :')))

-dang it, norman's speech is giving me the feels

-"why does it feel warm but also painful in my heart?" is literally a summary of the final chapter.

-ah, bb ray is crying now too

-THEY'RE GONNA LIVE TOGETHERRRR, SCREW DESTINY

-mujika looks happy, and sonju looks sonjuish :)

-not sure if the old man knows it, but he's just been adopted by fifty thousand children

-okay, i am so happy. this is a perfect ending. this is just. it's so good. it tooketh and it gaveth and now the mini torettos can all live together. i'm so happy with the ending.

~ ~~ ~~~

-i'm so happy in general that i read the manga. we started off neutrally, then things got rough and i genuinely thought if it might be better to quit, but from around the midpoint and onward it just got better and better. the story is exactly what it promises to be, very true to itself, and it pays off in every aspect.

-ray is my GOAT in this manga. norman is as nuanced as ray, i just vibe with ray the most. but i consider them both good characters. emma, on the other hand, is a very straightforward character, very static, but she works. she is the pillar of the story and she's exactly what she's meant to be. i like that she pushes everyone towards kindness, and when *they* can't be kind, she takes care of the issue herself from a place of kindness so that they won't have to fight from a place of unkindness. it's an interesting approach. and then, i have a soft spot for oliver and hayato for some reason.

-one thing that made me roll my eyes was that in such a huge cast, everything is so unanimous. the norman and vincent incident aside, there's no fights, no real resistance, no dissent. but it's not the kind of story where there would be, where there would be a point to be, so i don't feel like holding that against it. and it tried to give it that aspect too, with emma going against her fam to find Iss and all that.

-everything abides by the logic and tone of the story. and the ending just elevates the whole thing even higher, because it stuck the landing so well imo.

-now on to the anime, to finally hear their voices. i fear for the dreaded s2, and dare i say, i am also a little intrigued.

[chidoroki]

182 Days of TPN - Day 178

Chapter 178: "To the Human World"

As sweet as it is to have Mujika & Sonju rush all the way from the capital to the GF plantation to wish the children one last goodbye, I can't help but think of the surprised Pikachu meme whenever I see this panel of Ray. He matches it perfectly.

Kinda glad we don't linger on the tragic events of the previous chapter long, like yeah, I don't need to shed any more tears about it, but also having Mujika completely switch topics as if the loss wasn't highly depressing is lowkey hilarious. Also, that one shot of the plantation shows the outer bridge again somehow even though it was clearly destroyed back in ch167.

I'm assuming Oliver, Violet & all the other GP kids already know about the golden water because Lucas might have told them about it when he ventured underground with Emma? It's not like any of them saw the literal Goldy Pond themselves since it was locked behind the door that required the WM pen to open and none of the residents had one until Emma showed up, but whatever. The only one of them I could imagine getting a peak of the golden water themselves is Nigel since he went below the windmill to set off the self destruct button in the control room that was right next to said pond. Anyways, if this is the place the Ratri clan used to transport stuff between worlds, can't y'all just use the stairs too? I dunno why but I can't imagine them using the Seven Wall method every time, or that they would even know how to complete the ritual in the first place. Emma only activated that to advise the demon god they're all ready to implement the promise and cross over.

Phil asking the very important questions that we're all dreading the answers to! Though I'm wondering again how he knew of the deal in the first place. I figure he and all the other children at GF were told about the promise off panel by the escapees sometime after they were all reunited or perhaps that little tidbit of information was something Phil heard about from Andrew. Who knows. I certainly don't. I can love this series with all my heart but by no means do I have an abundance of knowledge of every tiny detail.

I can't and won't say Emma's lying here because she isn't. She answers Phil's questions with full confidence and very truthfully, it's just.. not the full truth, which is clever on her part to just give the answers they're wondering about instead of all the extra fine details because her family definitely wouldn't allow her to carry such a burden, as they outwardly express to her a bit later.

I can imagine Emma revealing the price of the reward so casually, like "oh, the demon god actually wants you guys," or something similar which makes everyone's freak out even funnier in my head.

Thankfully, her family is off limits due to how Emma phrased the new promise to include all the cattle children to cross over to the human world, so the reward is.. "nothing." It's so anti-climatic that no one believes it. I praise Emma's master actor skills very highly and will probably do so again in a couple pages, but this undoubtedly one of her weaker performances. C'mon honey, I know the past couple days have been real hectic but surely you had some downtime between all the traveling to and from the capital to think up a better story. (and Violet totally swears there. don't even question it. perfectly in character.)

I love how everyone continues to be skeptical as the lie continues to grow. If the reward was really that simple, then Emma wouldn't have had a reason to hide the reward from Ray when he first asked about it during ch144. If it was all good news and truly free from any sort of sacrifices, then I'm sure she would've been delighted to tell him everything she and the demon god discussed.

She's certainly not wrong. Just because the cursed blood will be shared amongst all the demons so they won't degenerate, doesn't mean that'll cure their cravings for human meat. Sonju is a perfect example of that. I also love how enthusiastically everyone is nodding their heads to Norman's words. The fact everyone would give up their freedom in the human world just to stay behind in the demon world with Emma is so precious. It would've been interesting to see all the humans live normal lives (as "normal" as they could possibly get anyway) in the demon world and whether or not they could actually coexist with the demons. I guess the second season sorta did that during that final episode slideshow where it had the fullscore trio and Lambda crew stay behind for a couple years before crossing over, but that was poorly done and covered the later story arcs instead of everyone living freely so that attempt doesn't count.

It's so wholesome to see everyone celebrate like this because Emma is still telling the truth here. They really really deserve to be excited and hopeful for their new lives in the human world.

It's so reassuring to know that the boys are still feeling just as suspicious about this reward as the entire fandom did.

The doubts don't last for much longer though since Emma starts speaking from her heart and we all know how motivating and optimistic she is when that happens. Emma has lied and put on great performances in the past in order to hide her real intentions, so the fact she's being completely true to herself and her feelings here is impressive since no one, not even Norman or Ray, could detect any other uncertainties about the reward with how efficiently she puts their wondering minds at ease.

Well I'm sure as hell not. (I do love this panel of her though.)

Relativity by M. C. Escher, but make it pretty and magical.

Sorry to say but she's definitely gonna forget you, Mujika. Not by choice of course, but consequently. I'll never get over that bittersweet smile of Emma's either.

Totally gonna be bias but I'm absolutely thrilled everyone ended up in what is essentially this world's version of New York. Aside from that, I was beyond worried about Emma obviously missing as she was previously holding onto Phil's hand for several pages before everyone crossed over, but I tried hard to push away all the anxious feelings by thinking of how exciting it would be to see the kids explore one of the world's largest cities. You know, after they find our very special sunshine child first of course. That's top priority.

Favorite panel/moment:

I love how these two panels blend into one another. Makes me wanna believe that Emma was in two places at once, as silly as that idea is, but she either used the ritual to just signal the demon god that everyone's ready or took a quick trip there and back to tell Him personally. It's probably the former (since I doubt there's still an active full moon), but the latter would've been a bit funny to see her disappear for an instant then have her return just as quickly.