The Promised Neverland 2nd Season Episode 5

The Promised Neverland 2nd Season Episode 5

The Evil-Blooded Temple

The first thing I want to say about The Promised Neverland 2nd Season episode 5 is that it was better than episode 4 because only half of the episode was unwatchable due to being too dark. I get it, there are scenes happening at night and in dark places. But you can still show that it’s dark without making everything blend into the abyss.

Anyway, in this episode, we got to see what demon society is like. And one of the most interesting things about it to me is that every demon wears a mask. It’s a bit unclear whether these masks are part of their biology or simply masks that they’re wearing, but it’s been implied they’re masks.

After all, the lower portion of Sonju’s mask was able to slide up so that he can eat and drink. And in the OP of the season, we even see a demon’s mask shatter and break off from its face when it opens its mouth.

The shrine to the "Gracious One" from the anime series The Promised Neverland 2nd Season
The shrine to the “Gracious One”

There is evidence to the contrary, though. The biggest piece of evidence is simply that we haven’t seen a maskless demon yet. Even the children demons we saw in this episode had masks on while dying in bed. You’d think that they would take their masks off in that situation if they really were masks.

Also, this episode introduced a god known as the “Gracious One.” The shrine to this god resides within the “Evil-Blooded Temple,” and an old demon goes there to pray for human meat from the farms for his family. So it seems safe to assume that this is a different god from the one Sonju and Mujika follow.

But, considering the temple is abandoned, it also appears that most demons no longer pray to this god.

Demon Degeneration

One of the more perplexing ideas brought up within this episode is that if demons — or at least demon children — don’t eat human meat, they’ll degenerate. I’m guessing that they degenerate until they die, but that wasn’t exactly explained. It’s possible they degenerate into something else.

A human, perhaps?

No. I think they just die. But the idea that demons need to eat human meat in order to survive is a troubling one. Why? Because Mujika has allegedly never eaten humans and she’s doing just fine. Also, why would it only affect children? Is it because they’re still growing that they need to eat humans?

There may be some logical explanation for this. But at this point, I’m going to guess that eating humans wouldn’t cure the children of their illness. It seems more like an “old demon-wives’ tale.”

Degenerating demons from the anime series The Promised Neverland 2nd Season
Degenerating demons

Oh, and I should point out that the adult demons who were taking care of those children were able to purchase human meat. So if human meat is all the children needed, they would be fine. The adult humans specifically mention the high-quality humans from the Grace Fields farm as potentially being able to cure the children.

This is what leads me to believe that it’s just a rumor among demons. They thought eating humans would help, so they ate humans. When that didn’t work, they figured that they must need higher quality humans. When does it end? If eating high-quality humans doesn’t work, will they inject them next?

I wonder if the series will ever actually answer these questions, though. Considering I’m pretty sure this is an anime-original arc we’re in, why those children were sick may never definitively be answered. Poor nutrition? Disease? Who knows?

A Familiar Face

So, the reintroduction of Norman’s character was probably pretty surprising for some anime-only fans. I actually knew that Norman would show up again at some point because spoilers are inevitable when you write about anime. But, as I mentioned, this arc is anime-original. So he wasn’t supposed to show up right now.

It’ll be interesting to see how Norman’s reintroduction changes the anime compared to the manga. If you’re familiar with the source material, don’t tell us what happens with Norman in the manga just yet. Some of those same scenes may still eventually come to pass in a slightly altered state.

Also, I do want to address a lot of the complaints I’ve seen from manga readers online regarding the current arc. Mostly, I’ve seen people saying that the anime is ruining the series and that the best arc was skipped.

Norman disguised as a demon from the anime series The Promised Neverland 2nd Season
Norman disguised as a demon

First of all, just because something is the source material doesn’t automatically make it perfect. You may like the source material. But it being the source material does not automatically make it better. At the end of the anime, it may turn out to be better, or it may not. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Also, just because the best arc was kipped over, for now, doesn’t mean it’s skipped over entirely. We don’t know what this anime-original arc is going to do. So it’s possible that the arc you like could still happen later on in a slightly altered way.

And lastly, why do you think this anime-original arc was included? The manga has been done. So it’s not like it’s a filler arc to wait for the manga to get ahead. The reason for it is probably because the author wanted to make improvements to the original story.

Why don’t we wait and see how it turns out before saying it ruined the series? So far, I’d say this was the best episode of the 2nd Season.

Conclusion

What do you think of The Promised Neverland 2nd Season episode 5? Is the “Gracious One” the same god Sonju and Mujika follow? Do demons really need to eat humans to survive? And, what are your opinions on the anime going in a different direction from the manga? I get that people want to see the manga they like receive a proper adaptation. But I also think we should give the anime a chance.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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