The most anticipated Winter 2019 horror, fantasy, psychological, shounen series The Promised Neverland was a massive head turner. Starting from the first episode, the seemingly normal orphanage has been revealed to be nothing but a cattle farm for man-eating Demons.

Betrayed, after discovering the truth, they focus on coming up with a plan to escape while playing the masterful game of Tag with their keeper, Mama. Thus, we follow Emma, Ray and Norman and their family in their journey to escape, before the children get sent out.

The approach of the series is horror and psychology on a gross level where Demons raise Humans as cattle. However, the idea of cattle farming is not gross if you think about the survival of the human race. Why so? Because the Human race is supposed to be the most superior race.

Although, if that’s not the case then what? By revolting against the demons, is Emma breaking the cycle of the food chain?

The Promise

Until Season 2 of Yakusoku no Neverland, we had a very vague knowledge of the outside world beyond the farm walls. So, when Emma and Ray along with the other kids set out on their way to find a trace of the human community, they get fed with new information. The information is now their only hope for a better future. Such facts were impossible for them to know only by reading enough books.

The guiding light William Minerva also didn’t mention this information in his books, not even in a brief hint.

In Season 2 Episode 2, we are revealed to the idea that there are two worlds divided by a promise; a promise that humans will not hunt demons and vice versa. And for thousands of years, that promise has seemingly been kept. There’s no walking over to each others’ worlds. And as a will of good peace, the humans left behind some of their own people as a gift for the greater good. These people were bred to be food for the cattle farm for all eternity. 

It is both the most depressing but optimistic piece of information for the Gracefield House children. But the fact that they have escaped and now moving on to break the promise might not be a clever thing to do. The presence of a Human world is a fantasy theory that is still a question not fully answered with evidence. 

Also, if it were only these few Gracefield Field children wanting to get over the barrier, I think they might be successful. But, what Emma wants is all the children from all the farms to be free. I highly doubt that this act of terrorism is going to end positively.

What if The Promise is false?

We have established that the world has become like this only because of The Promise. But what if it is not real?

The Demons need Human flesh to survive and for that, they can go to any lengths. Just as we can see, Sonju and Mujika, two intelligent demons who believe in a faith that restricts them to eat cattle meat. However, Sonju is up for the long game to make these kids survive in the wild; later hunt their children and feast on them, which is not against their religion.

Similarly, The Promise might be a facade to begin with, proposed by another intelligent Demon. A bluff created by the Demon ancestors to keep the race from dying out of their greed. When the whole of mankind perished they created a facility to keep growing their food when they were on the verge of exhausting their resources.

If that becomes the case, Emma and her family could easily become the hero saving humanity.

Except, if the promise is true and functioning, it is not going to end well. The children might end up surviving, however, there is no way the demons would not retaliate. By disrupting the peace, they are only going to endanger the safety of the Human world. So the question arises, is Emma going to become the antagonist of The Promised Neverland?

Is Emma the Antagonist of The Promised Neverland?

The whole story of Yakusoku no Neverland revolves around a basic food production strategy- Cattle farms. And to support the existence of these cattle farms we have established The Promise delivered by Sonju. Moreover, The Promise is important as the justification of this bizarre situation.

From the emotional side, I want Emma to be able to save everyone and cross over to the Human world safely. Yet, the logical part of me says Emma and her family are going to commit terrorism because she is breaking the norms of the Promise. In the end, it all depends on whether the Promise is actually real.

As humans of course we want to root for the human side but if we shed light on the Demons’ side, we come up with some fascinating ideas. Initially, watching Sonju and Mujika makes us think that the demons raising these kids may not be just simply demonic evil things that they have to kill. They might have just as good and bad intentions as any normal human and that concept is mind-boggling.

Even though we look at these Demons as they are feeding on humans, if we look at them with an open mind, we will see a likeness. What they are doing is technically no different from what humans do to animals. We raise cattle-cow, sheep, chickens, etc and slaughter them for food. Yeah, they can’t talk back or don’t have the same level of intelligence. Nevertheless, it is our necessity to treat them like that. So, it is only fair logically that humans get the same treatment from the demons as food.

Conclusion

The Second Season of The Promised Neverland might not have the same cat and mouse chase or the game of tag, but the theme of survival is also giving off the same horror aspect of the series. Not only there are good demons but also we have bad humans who want the kids dead. As a matter of fact, the show is taking up more of a morally grey colour which only selected shows like Attack on Titan has been successful to pull off.

I may be digging too much into the details and showing my sadist nature by siding with the demons but these are some interesting takes on the current scenario of The Promised Neverland Season 2. Let us know in the comment section what you think about it and stay tuned for more such articles!