Post — Aaron Ngo

Major Spoilers are included in this manga review. Please read with caution.

On January 3, 2021, The Promised Neverland released the “Special Pilot Chapter: We Were Born”. This special chapter didn’t explore a character’s background like the last three chapters did on Ray, Krone, and Isabella, but it did show us the first draft version of what would become The Promised Neverland. There were no demons, Sisters or Mothers, but there were corrupt humans and wicked Fathers that played along the same core themes seen in The Promised Neverland.

Let’s dive into what happened in this “Special Pilot Chapter”.

First, there are two distinct protagonists named Leo and Rita.

Leo is an adult gang member who has seen the darkness of the world, meeting Rita when he is badly hurt. He is a grumpy adult who only sees violence and death in the world because that’s all he’s ever seen. Based on what I learned about his character from this original pilot chapter, Leo was likely the original inspiration for what would lead to Yugo and Lucas later on. It’s interesting as a writer to notice and discuss these things in my manga review.

Rita is a cheerful orphan who was abandoned at a church, and she is about to get adopted by a foster family. She helped Leo recover from his injuries because she is always willing to help others. Rita was likely the original inspiration that would lead to Emma’s existence. The premise had shown that Rita’s would-be foster dad only wants to adopt her in order to harvest organs for his daughter Margo. What’s worse is Father—the pastor of the church—knew along and sold Rita for a bunch of money.

Then, Father gaslit Rita using religious propaganda to convince her that this is her life’s purpose and whatever. It almost worked too until Leo came to rescue her from the evil human beings. The theme of a life’s purpose resonated strongly in the ending, as the characters Leo, Rita, and Margo pondered their purposes and why they were born—the title of the chapter—if it all leads to death in the end.

Rita’s “I want to live” scream gave me strong One Piece vibes though, but that’s only because I recently finished out the manga’s first 1,000 chapters. I enjoyed reading that message so much, as we’re still in the early phase of 2021. Honestly, that’s a strong vibe to go off on regarding anime and manga entertainment. Season two is going to be so good on January 7, 2021.

Overall, I recommend investing some of your free time in The Promised Neverland—either reading the manga or watching the anime—at some point. This series is an amazing one on par with Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba. I will be writing weekly episode reviews for TPN’s second season as well, so do keep a lookout for those in the near future. Thanks so much for reading this manga review, everyone! I truly appreciate it!

Happy 2021! Let’s go claim our happy endings, starting on January 7, 2021!

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