This is mostly thanks to some really detailed and beautifully imaginative monster and environmental design. The Promised Neverland manga is far more terrifying than its anime adaptation. What this ultimately leads to is better horror. Here, it’s a blend of all three and more. Sometimes this outshining can be down to better art, pacing, or writing.
There aren’t that many manga series that so outshine their anime adaptations, but The Promised Neverland is certainly one of them. The world and characters are drawn with a little extra love and attention, whereas the anime comes off feeling blocky by comparison.Īnd while anime being in colour is usually a mark in their favour, here it almost detracts from the gloomy and ominous atmosphere of the series. To go back to the character design, there is a level of detail in the manga not seen in the anime. There are gruesome close-ups, jump scares, reveals, and sudden shifts in perspective that Demizu handles with the deft hand of an experienced horror director in the manga, but all of which fall entirely flat in The Promised Neverland anime. Take the horror element of the series, for example. No panel is ever wasted and the shot composition is always imaginative – often experimental. The manga has a far punchier pace than the anime, with less empty space and moments of nothingness. Given that comics and manga are a visual medium, they have to be “directed” in the same way that animated shows do, and the “direction” of the manga, in this case, is far superior. The Promised Neverlandanime suffers from some awkward character design (especially in their faces) and the animation comes off feeling very flat.
In trying to balance a faithful redesign of the manga’s art with dynamic and engaging animation, something was lost in translation. That’s not to say the anime is bad by any stretch but, as is the case with many manga vs anime debates ( Tokyo Ghoulsprings to mind), there are so many elements done better by The Promised Neverland manga. Many of those fans then lamented their decision and wished they had read the manga first (or even skipped the anime entirely). There are fans of this series who initially passed on the manga, choosing instead to wait for the anime. This series isn’t only a way to continue the story beyond where the anime has reached it’s also a manga that is far better than the anime adaptation in almost every respect.Ģ. This is not the case for The Promised Neverland manga. In that case, waiting for the series can be preferable because you know you’re getting the best version of a story. However, there are some manga whose anime adaptations are far superior. It may take a while but you should be able to buy and read most of the series before the next season drops. Twenty volumes isn’t too painful on your wallet, either. The Promised Neverland morphs and changes as it goes on, shifting playfully between genres in exciting and unexpected ways. With a manga this size, you know that filler or a loss of direction is not going to be an issue. Given how The Promised Neverland is a labyrinthine series that blends so many genres (horror, dystopia, fantasy mystery, suspense, thriller), and given that its twists never let up, how could anyone be satisfied with waiting for the next season when the manga is waiting for them?Īt the time of writing, anyone desperate to see how the story not only continues, but wraps up, can do so by buying and reading the original manga series.Ĭompared to many shounen manga series, twenty volumes is actually quite reasonable and generous. Many anime fans end up turning to the manga source material for this very reason: they can’t handle the wait and they need to know what happens next in their new favourite series. The fact that the manga is now finished is your first reason to dive into the series. Though this trio, alongside their fellow orphans, have managed to escape from Mama's grasp, the same probably can't be said for the countless other orphanages that are currently operating within this world that is ruled by monsters and other things that go bump in the night.Why You Should Read The Promised NeverlandĪs of October 2020, the series is finished, totalling at twenty volumes. Alongside the two earlier mentioned venues, the series created by Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu will also be receiving a live-action version in the West with an Amazon-produced television series that will give us a brand new take on the spine-tingling adventures of Emma, Norman, and Ray. The Promised Neverland's manga might have come to a close earlier this year, but it's clear that there are plenty of avenues for the anime franchise to continue exploring down the road.