The Promised Neverland 2nd Season Episode 2

The Promised Neverland 2nd Season Episode 2

A Tale of Two Worlds

The Promised Neverland 2nd Season episode 2 was a surprisingly good episode. There wasn’t action or thrills of any other variety. But it had a lot of great world-building. And, as it turns out, that world-building began with a literal explanation of the current state of the world.

According to Sonju, the world as the children know it has been this way for 1,000 years. Previously, they thought that the appearance of the demons and the eradication of humanity was a relatively recent event. That’s not the case. He also explains that the only place you’d find humans nowadays is on the farms, of which there are many.

However, the really big reveal comes when Sonju mentions that the world is actually split into two sides. On one, where they’re currently located, you have the demon’s domain. And on the other, you have the human’s domain. Also according to Sonju, when this split happened 1,000 years ago, some humans were offered to the demons to be bred as a source of food — which lead to the farms.

Sonju from the anime series The Promised Neverland 2nd Season
Sonju

This explanation of the world actually sounds fairly familiar. In Somali and the Forest Spirit, the world is set up in a similar way. Somali, a human child, is abandoned on a continent run by monsters who eat humans. A forest guardian finds her and travels with her to reach the human continent.

That’s basically the same plot that we’re seeing here in The Promised Neverland.

It’s also important to note a few things about Sonju’s story. First, he’s only heard of this human side of the planet — he hasn’t seen it. Second, he’s never heard of anyone getting there. And third, it doesn’t really make sense for the humans to offer some of their own up to the demons to be bred for food. What do they get out of it? Peace? Both sides got peace, so why did the humans pay this added tax?

Surviving the Great Outdoors

In this episode, we also learned a bit more about Sonju and Mujika specifically. They’re not necessarily “good” demons. But they don’t eat humans, so in that regard, they are “good” in the eyes of the children. I’ll get into why they don’t eat humans later on, but they also don’t support the idea of human farms or many of the other norms of demon society.

And since they’re friendly to humans, Sonju and Mujika have decided to escort the children to the coordinates where they believe they’ll find a hidden human settlement on the demon side of the planet. But, if there’s a human side of the planet, why aren’t they headed there?

That will no doubt be their ultimate goal (if the human side really does exist at all), but they have some other goals to accomplish along the way. Not every child was rescued from the farm they fled. We know that Phil was left behind, and I believe they left behind every child under two years old as well. So, they want to rescue them.

Mujika teaching the children to cook from the anime series The Promised Neverland 2nd Season
Mujika teaching the children to cook

There’s also the fact that other farms exist around the world. With this knowledge, Emma and Ray decide that they need to free the children of all those farms too. Basically, they plan to completely eliminate the practice of eating humans on the demon side of the planet.

Anyway, during their travels, Sonju and Mujika plan to teach the children everything they’ll need to know in order to survive in the wild. This includes what plants are edible, how to cook, how to hunt, and more. But, it’s unlikely that they’ll teach them how to fight demons considering they seem to largely be pacifists.

Rather than actual combat training, my guess is that Sonju might teach them how to make the smoke bombs he used when he rescued Ray. He might have some other non-combat tactics to teach them as well in case they’re cornered.

Religion of the Demons

One of the most interesting aspects of this episode was how it touched on religion in demon society. We don’t know exactly what their religion is, but the Sonju claims that he and Mujika abstain from eating humans for religious reasons. Many religions have bans on certain food items, so that’s not all too surprising.

But the fact that the only creatures Sonju claims they won’t eat are humans might give us a hint about their religion. On one hand, it could simply have to do with their religion not believing in the domestication of animals for food — which is what the humans are to demons.

On the other hand, their religion may have originated with the deal that the humans and demons made 1,000 years ago. This makes much more sense to me. The founders of their religion were probably the demons who wanted peace with the humans. And there was probably an anti-peace faction that demanded the farms be created.

This would also explain Sonju’s limited knowledge about the human side of the planet. Perhaps he knows it exists solely due to the teachings of his religion. It’s possible that it’s not even true, and that it’s just a story meant to illustrate some values held by the religion’s followers.

Emma praying over a vida plant from the anime series The Promised Neverland 2nd Season
Emma praying over a vida plant

One more thing I want to mention regarding demon religion as a whole is that there does seem to be some truth to it. By this, I mean that it doesn’t appear to be blind faith. There is a single, observable proof that some aspect of demon religion — not necessarily the one Sonju and Mujika follow — is real.

Of course, I’m talking about the vida (life) plant. This is the plant that the demons pierce through the hearts of the children when they’re harvested from the farms. As Sonju explains, these plants are actually used to pierce the hearts of all creatures the demons consume.

The first reason the demons do this is to make some kind of offering to the gods. The second reason is so the blood from the creature is drained, thus preserving the meat for longer. But interestingly, the plant only drains the blood when a prayer is offered — that’s observable proof that there’s something to this religion of theirs.

Conclusion

What do you think about The Promised Neverland 2nd Season episode 2? Do you think Sonju’s story about there being two halves of the world is true? What do you think the other human farms will be like? And what do you think the origin of Sonju’s and Mujika’s religion is? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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