Peter Ratri is the Best Anime Villain

I don’t think anyone really needs me to tell them that this final episode of The Promised Neverland 2nd Season was absolute garbage. If you’ve watched the episode, you could probably tell that much for yourself.

But, I’m a bit surprised by just how much hate this final episode has received. You might be thinking, “Well of course it received that much hate. It’s bad!” And sure, you’re right to think that. But my point is that we all knew it was going to be this bad, didn’t we?

Based on the direction this entire season has gone in, did anyone really think the ending was going to be any better than this? I don’t necessarily think all the blame can be put on this one episode. The whole season was a train wreck.

Now, with that said, there are a lot of things in this episode that make absolutely no sense. The image above is one such example. Peter Ratri slits his throat with a knife, blood sprays everywhere, and the knife falls to the floor completely clean.

The knife aside, everything to do with Peter Ratri was stupid. Before writing this, I looked him up just to make sure I was spelling his name correctly, and this is what the first line of the wiki says: “Peter Ratri is the main antagonist of the The Promised Neverland series.”

He’s the main antagonist? The guy had like 10 minutes of screen time at most throughout the entire anime and didn’t do anything other than kill himself.

Magical Doors to New York are Cool

I wasn’t paying all that much attention, to be honest. But I’m fairly confident that the magical doorway to the human world dumped the children out just outside of New York City. The skyline looked about right in one of the shots, but maybe I’m wrong.

Anyway, I bring this up because it’s just another one of those details that doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. The human world is apparently just our world. It’s our modern-day world, complete with smartphones and everything. And yet, there’s just a magical gate outside of New York that nobody knows is there.

Does that mean it’s a one-way gate? Does nobody realize the gate is there because it’s invisible? What did Sonju mean when he said that the two worlds used to be one? How does that transition into the divide between the two worlds we see now?

I get that we’ve skipped all of the explanations in the anime that the manga may have had. But if the manga had this same ending (I don’t know if it does), I’m confident that there’s no explanation of it that I would accept. There’s no way to reach this conclusion in a good way.

If you’re a manga reader, feel free to tell me how the ending differs from what we got in the anime down in the comments. And for everyone who hasn’t read the manga, be aware that there may be manga spoilers down there.

Oh, and of course, Emma & the gang decided to stay behind in the demon world. This was probably fairly predictable for a lot of people. But I didn’t think it was going to happen because I was originally under the assumption that in this anime version, all of the children had been saved initially.

A Quest to Meet the Dragon Sage

Funnily enough, I thought that the montage of things Emma and those who remained in the demon world did was actually more interesting than the events of this season. We got to see them explore vast areas such as mountain ranges, meet varied peoples, and even talk to a dragon sage (pictured below).

Unfortunately, we have absolutely no context for any of this. We know that their goal is to save the remaining children and change the way the demon world functions. But what does that have to do with meeting a dragon sage on a mirror-like lake in the sky?

I’m way more interested in that dragon than I was in anything else that happened over these 11 episodes. Is the dragon in the manga? I assume the sage-like demon with the dragon isn’t the demon queen. So who is it?

Since the series is finally over, I guess I can also mention the one manga panel I had seen after the first season finished airing. It featured a demon who I’m pretty sure was named Lewis. I think he was wearing a suit and bowler hat and had a Thompson submachine gun.

Why wasn’t he in the anime? I mean, I thought he looked stupid when I saw him so I’m not really complaining. But also I had always assumed that he was the primary antagonist of the series, not Peter Ratri. Was he only featured in one of the skipped arcs and not throughout the series?

Other than that, I don’t really have anything else to say about this episode other than that I’m glad it was the last one. I didn’t have fun watching this series. I watch a lot of anime I don’t particularly like, but writing about this one every week just made it worse.

Conclusion

What do you think of The Promised Neverland 2nd Season Episode 11? Was it the worst episode of the season, or was there another you disliked more? Have you read the manga? If not, are you going to read the manga now? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤️ down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

Assault on the Control Room

I have to start off with this review by saying that this was a great episode, if only because it seemed to confirm that I’ll never have to watch this series again after next week. It looks like the series is going to end next week with no third season.

In reality, this was a bad episode, just as you’ve probably come to expect. It was better than some of the other recent episodes, but not by much. I wouldn’t say that it really introduced any more bad concepts into the series. However, it just kind of did what we were all expecting it to.

There were two “twists,” but neither of them was really all that surprising. The first one was the reveal that Vincent wasn’t actually betraying his comrades. It turns out that he was playing the role of a double agent and only pretending to betray them.

In my review of last week’s episode, I even stated that this was a very real possibility. There have already been multiple instances of this occurring throughout this series’ two seasons. So, I don’t feel like it was a big surprise when it happened yet again.

Further, the fact that the previous episode ended on the cliffhanger of whether or not Vincent was a traitor and this episode opened with a scene revealing it to be false was pretty bad. Yes, there was a cliffhanger. But the fact that it was resolved immediately invalidated that.

Oh, and I guess I should also mention that Peter Ratri is a terrible antagonist. He was introduced a few episodes ago and never really played a role until he was “defeated” this week.

Reunited at Last

If I had to pick one part of the episode that I liked, it would be the reunion of the children from Grace Field. Phil’s reaction to seeing Jemi was good, and so was his reaction to finally being reunited with Emma.

I do think that this reunion probably would have been more emotional for the viewer if the series had been longer, though. From our perspective, there were only 9 episodes between when Emma and Phil were split apart and their reunion.

There are also a couple of other questions I have about this whole reunion sequence. When the younger kids who were with Emma infiltrated the groups of children from the farms, were they supposed to know who they were?

I understand Phil recognizing Jemi. But those other children wouldn’t have recognized the one who came to deliver their instructions to them, right? And this also means that those children from the other farms wouldn’t have really understood why they were running away. From their perspective, being shipped off is a good thing.

Additionally, I thought the farms were supposed to be spread throughout the demon world. Wasn’t it stated that they were all over the place? In this episode, we saw that there were 6 farms arranged in a hexagonal pattern around the central hub.

There’s a pretty high chance that I’m just misremembering. But I thought that something was mentioned about having to locate the other farms when Emma and Ray first looked at their map towards the beginning of the season.

They were also making a big deal about specifically having to go back to Grace Field to rescue Phil and the others. But if all the farms are right next to each other, that seems less important to specify.

The Plot Twist Nobody saw Coming

At the end of the episode, we saw that the civilian demons who were given the “evil blood” allied with the children and stormed the farms. Some people might refer to this as a twist, but I wouldn’t call it that. It was more of a natural progression of the story.

The only thing you could call a twist that was associated with that was the fact that Sonju was helping as well. We know that Sonju wanted to take down the farms, but he also wants to be able to hunt and eat “wild” humans — something he won’t get to do if the humans all escape from the demon world.

I guess Sonju had a change of heart at some point. But, I don’t really see him turning around and trying to stop the children from leaving in the end. Or, perhaps he recognizes that the departure of these children and the mothers/sisters doesn’t really affect his end goal.

Something you may have forgotten is that these farms aren’t the only facilities to house humans. We don’t know where Lambda Facility was, so it could have been disconnected from the hexagonal farms we saw in this episode.

Lambda Facility is destroyed now, but it’s an example of there potentially being other places that house humans. Another example is whatever facility breeding takes place at. The children haven’t rescued all the men and women who were being used for breeding purposes. So where are they?

Oh, and the “real” twist at the end of this episode was Isabella siding with the children. However, it’s hard to realistically call that a twist considering how obvious it was. I’ve been saying that would happen for weeks now.

Conclusion

What do you think of The Promised Neverland 2nd Season episode 10? Are you glad that this series only has one episode left? Or do you actually like this season? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤️ down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of The Promised Neverland 2nd Season Episode 11 is available.

Evil Blood for Everyone

The Promised Neverland 2nd Season has been going downhill for a while. And I’m not saying that as a manga reader. I haven’t read the manga at all, so this is the opinion of someone who’s solely an anime watcher. Episode 9 was another low and I actually lowered my rating of the series after watching it.

I think the concept of evil blood is pretty bad. It’s not that it doesn’t make sense or that it’s some form of cheap drama. I just don’t really know what it adds to the series. It makes demons keep their form without eating humans and so the nobles want to eradicate it. Okay, but what does that actually mean for the series?

You could say that it gives Emma a way to save everyone. But I don’t really see why evil blood had to be introduced for that to be possible. Just don’t introduce the concept of regression. It really doesn’t add anything to the story. As long as the nobles control the supply of the demon’s preferred meal, there’s not a reason for it.

All I’m seeing is that it’s a way for the series to end with humans and demons living happily ever after. I don’t know how you feel about that. But to me, that’s the most boring ending imaginable.

I do recognize that this is a shounen series, so I shouldn’t really expect a different end. But not every shounen series has to end like that. As far as I’m concerned, the demons were cool for like one episode back in the first season and that’s it. Once it was clear in this season that they were just “people different from us” I lost interest.

Baiting the Trap

Remember how the demons offered Isabella something in return for capturing all of the escaped children a while back? Well, we’re finally getting back to that plotline. I thought that was going to be the main plot of this season, so it was pretty strange when it was just ignored for half of it.

And considering I feel like we’re heading towards an anime-original ending, I’m not convinced that this plotline is actually going to be concluded well. That aside, what do I think is going to happen? Isabella is going to betray the demons in order to help the children escape.

Back when she was offered something, I assumed that they offered to set her free and let her take Ray with her. It would appear that wasn’t the case and that instead, they made her the new “grandmother.”

However, now that Isabella is in this position with even more power, she kind of has the ability to set Ray free on her own. And I think she’s going to do just that, along with all of the other children. Once she captures them, they’ll probably be held within the farm headquarters. And from there, they can take down the farm operation and escape to the human world.

I would be very surprised if Isabella didn’t side with the children in the end. She should know that the odds aren’t really in the demons’ favor anymore. The fact that the children escaped and survived in the outside world for so long proved that. So how does she benefit from staying allied to the demons?

I guess you could say she gets power from them. But she’s not really in a position of power. She’s still a slave of the demon nobles.

There’s a Traitor Among Us

I think the part of this episode that I found the stupidest was Vincent’s betrayal of Norman and the rest of his allies. It would have made sense if it was revealed that Vincent was always a double agent. But that wasn’t the case. As far as we know, Vincent never worked with the farms/demons before.

To understand why this betrayal was so stupid, we need to attempt to understand what led Vincent to make this choice. As far as I can tell, it all started with Norman and the others deciding that they were no longer going to eradicate the demon race. Vincent wasn’t on board with this.

In his mind, there’s no excuse for what the demons have done to humanity, and to him in particular. He wants them all to be killed no matter the cost.

Now, here’s where things stop making sense. If Vincent is so hell-bent on eradicating the demons, why does he contact Grace Field Farm with the intention of selling out his allies? How does that further his goal of demon eradication? It doesn’t. All it does is reduce the number of allies he has.

Further, considering that Norman pointed out that there’s a cure for the illness the survivors of Lambda Facility have, there’s no need for Vincent to throw his life away for his revenge. He could continue to work with Norman and the others to get the cure, dismantle the farm system, and leave the demon world behind.

There’s no logical reason for Vincent to turn traitor. This is just a classic example of someone blindly going down the path of revenge simply because it adds drama to the series. It’s manufactured drama. He can get revenge without being a traitor and making things harder for himself.

Conclusion

What do you think of The Promised Neverland 2nd Season episode 9? Was there any part you liked about the episode? And how would you rate the series at this point? I currently have it at a 5/10, but I’m expecting that raring to go down by the time the season ends.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤️ down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of The Promised Neverland 2nd Season Episode 10 is available.

Lambda Facility Breakout

I was a bit surprised to find that we actually got to see inside Lambda Facility in episode 8 of The Promised Neverland 2nd Season. But, I was far more surprised to learn that the person who recruited Norman into the facility was a human, not a demon. I didn’t see that coming at all.

And, from what we saw, it would appear that my theory about Norman working for the demon nobles now is completely shut down. Everything about this episode seemed to disprove that theory. Rather than being a traitor, Norman views himself as a martyr for humanity.

That’s all fine. I don’t mind my theories being wrong. In fact, when my theories are wrong I think that’s more exciting because it means I wasn’t able to predict every aspect of the series.

However, (because of course there had to be a “however”) there were some things I didn’t quite understand in relation to Lambda Facility. First, was there really a point in introducing Peter Ratri and his goal of taking over the farms? Everything he was working for was destroyed five minutes later, so he seemed pretty pointless.

Next, Norman was able to plant bombs around the facility and detonate them how exactly? He mentioned always being under surveillance, exchanged “secret” notes in plain sight, and had access to no bomb-making materials. How did that plan work?

I guess Norman’s plan worked thanks to Miranda’s people who had already infiltrated the facility. But even that doesn’t really make sense. Norman slaughtered everyone there and yet they helped him? I don’t really get it, but whatever. I don’t think this season is good anyway, so it’s not worth me putting more thought into.

Tracking Mujika

Speaking of things I don’t really get, what did Norman expect would happen when he attacked the demon town while Emma & the gang were out searching for Mujika and Sonju? Last week, he mentioned that he would simply kill Mujika and Sonju if Emma brought them to him. But how was that going to happen?

Does Norman really believe he and his three followers could defeat Mujika, Sonju, and the children without taking them by surprise? It would be one thing if Norman was pretending to go along with their agreement and then had the demons killed. But by attacking the town, he threw away that element of surprise.

Maybe his allies have superhuman abilities thanks to the experiments performed on them at Lambda Facility. And they clearly have experience with fighting against demons. But I still don’t see how they would take down Sonju with the children helping him. Norman wouldn’t let the other children be killed.

Since we saw another one of the giant, CGI demons again in this episode, it made me think about the quality of this season compared to the first. Obviously, the first season didn’t include bad CGI demons because there weren’t any demons. But based on the art in general, I don’t think the first season would have used CGI.

Everything about the first season looked a lot cleaner. And on top of that, we have the writing of this season compared to that of the first. I know the manga fans hate this season because it’s different from the source material, but I don’t care about that.

I just think that the writing of this season is inferior anyway. Everything that made the first season good in terms of its writing is now gone. There’s not really any suspense, hardly anything is explained in satisfying ways, and I’m not sure where it’s trying to go. I don’t see it wrapping up in an anime original ending this season. So where is it going next?

The Evil Blood

From what we saw in this episode, it doesn’t seem like Norman learned the phrase “evil blood” from demons. It’s possible, but for the most part, we didn’t see him interacting with demons at Lambda Facility. There were demons working there, but he was mostly around other humans.

With that said, I did remember that we actually learned of the term evil blooded earlier in this season. Remember how the old demon visited the temple in which the children were living on the outskirts of town? That was referred to as the evil-blooded temple, wasn’t it?

And at the end of this episode, we learned that the old demon himself has evil blood. So if we consider that and the fact that he would go to the evil-blooded temple to pray, we can probably assume that he was one of the original followers of the Mujika of legend.

I would have said that the old demon is a noble of some sort since he has evil blood, but we already know that’s not the case. He was at the temple to pray that his family would be able to have enough to eat. If he was one of the nobles manipulating the flow of human meat, that wouldn’t have been the case.

Of course, that then brings up the question of why his family doesn’t also have evil blood. It’s blood, so you would think that his descendants would inherit it. I don’t know why this wouldn’t be the case, but apparently, it’s not. Probably for some plot progression reason, if I had to guess.

You might also wonder why he didn’t give his family his blood to stop them from needing to eat humans to keep their form. I think that’s much easier to explain. If he really is a follower of the original Mujika, he knows that non-nobles with evil blood are hunted down and killed. So, by not giving his blood to his relatives, he was actually protecting them.

Conclusion

What do you think of The Promised Neverland 2nd Season episode 8? Do you feel the whole Lambda Facility thing was rushed? What are your thoughts on this season compared to the first? And who is the old demon with evil blood? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤️ down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of the next episode is available here.