I’ll be releasing an article detailing some short reviews for every anime I watched this season soon, but I thought it appropriate to dedicate some extra time to The Promised Neverland. After its last episode aired a few days ago, the anime trended on Twitter for being an absolute shit adaptation. Now this was another baseless Twitter “rage over nothing” trend correct? Well, unfortunately not really. I’ve been watching this series myself since episode one and I can confirm that most of the points being made were true. This season was truly a horrible adaptation that disappointed fans in a variety of ways. 

I won’t go into many specifics considering that would render this article boring as hell to anyone who doesn’t follow the show. Simply understand that just about every sin that could be made while adapting some source material was committed. Characters were underdeveloped, the pacing was rushed, the story became disorienting and was altered in major ways, important moments didn’t feel earned, and some arcs were skipped entirely or reduced to “don’t worry about it bud, we fixed it off screen but here’s a two sentence summary of how epic it was”. We’re talking a true combination of fuckery on our hands, and since the anime gave a conclusive ending, it’s not like fans can expect a season 3 that tries to fix the mistakes. WIth this in mind, it’s obvious that the answer to this article title question is yes, right?

Real image of Emma reading the script for season 2.

Not so fast. It depends on how you look at it. Through an objective lens, this is obviously not the worst adaptation in years. Sure the faults are damning and numerous, but uh have you guys seen Crunchyroll’s EX-Arm adaptation? That shit is a new level of shit. The existence of that series alone saves The Promised Neverland from taking the “worst adaptation” spot. Or does it? There are bad adaptations all the time yet The Promised Neverland managed to trend due to how garbage the ending was. Several YouTubers have taken to attacking the series for its faults as well. Why? Because season 1 was a damn near masterpiece. The writing, OST, and directing quickly boosted this anime into the spotlight and earned a positive review from many people across the Internet (including myself). Everyone was expecting season 2 to carry on this trend and be as good, or perhaps even better. Instead the fandom received a slap to the dick and not the good kind. This difference caused the outrage to be so large and vocal, whereas many bad adaptations don’t get as much bad press because nobody cares. After the first 10 seconds of EX-Arm, there was no expectation left that could be let down. In order to have disappointment, you first need hope. Therefore, if you gauge “the worst adaptation” by how disappointed the fans are with the adaptation and how much people hate it rather than how that adaptation compares to others in the industry on a raw technical basis, then it’s quite possible that yes this is the worst adaptation in a hot minute.

Ironic. EX-Arm could save others from being "The Wost Adapation" but not itself.

Thankfully we had some banging anime this season to pick up the pieces. And on the other bright side at least this all fell apart on season 2. Imagine watching season after season of a series you love only for the ending to be a masterclass in disappointment *cough, Game of Thrones Season 8, subtle cough*. Did you watch The Promised Neverland? What adaptations let you down in the past? Escape the farm and leave a comment below!