The Promised Neverland, Season 1 Review (No Spoilers)

This anime caught me so completely off guard, and I mean that in the best way possible. You know how sometimes you go into a story blindly and it’s all the better for it? The Promised Neverland is absolutely one of these tales. That’s why this review will be fairly vague. Just to give you a taste of what this surprising anime is about, while leaving you to find your own way in the dark without any true warning of what’s to come. So, grab your lantern, tread carefully, and let’s begin…

Our story unfolds in the isolated but happy and loving orphanage known as Grace Field House. There, 38 children all live joyful lives together, forming a tight family bond with one another, as well as with their caretaker Isabella who they affectionately call Mom. Though none of them are related by blood, they view each other as siblings and care deeply for one another, which makes it all the more puzzling why none of the children who are adopted ever bother to write letters to them or come back to visit once they’ve been placed with their new families. This is but one of the mysteries lurking just below the surface of the children’s idyllic lives.

The three oldest and brightest of the children are Emma, Norman, and Ray. Having been best friends all their lives, they share delicious meals together, they get to play outside as much and as far as they want so long as they don’t venture beyond the wall or gate that surrounds the property, and they receive a good education to sharpen their minds.

All seems too good to be true at Grace Field House, until the night Emma and Norman break one of Mom’s cardinal rules and pass the forbidden gate and witness something they shouldn’t have. Once they do, they know their is no turning back. I won’t get too into the details since it’s best to discover them on your own, but the twists and turns, battle of wits executed by the children as they struggle to unravel the truth about what’s really going on, along with their decision to take action, make this show very binge-worthy.

Funnily enough, as much as I adore this first season for The Promised Neverland and highly recommend it, my initial snap judgement during the first 15 minutes or so was that this series was going to be too innocent and wholesome for my taste.
Boy, was I ever wrong.
I happened to walk out of the room for a quick moment to get something to drink and when I came back in it was like a record skipped, and I found myself saying, “Whaaaat?! What the hell did I just miss?”

From that moment on, I was hooked. I eventually even came to love the wholesome aspects that initially put me off and nearly caused me to miss out on what quickly became one of my favorite anime. I’ve since watched all of season 2 and I’ll save my comments on that for another post, but I do plan to eventually read all of the manga too.

If I haven’t sold you on this series already, here’s the trailer below, but again, I emphasize that the less you know going into it, the better.

What are you currently watching? What are some of your own binge-worthy shows? 🙂