The Promised Neverland

The Promised Neverland (Japanese: 約束のネバーランド, Hepburn: Yakusoku no Nebārando) is a Japanese manga series written by Kaiu Shirai and illustrated by Posuka Demizu. It was serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from August 2016 to June 2020, with its chapters collected in 20 tankōbon volumes. In North America, Viz Media licensed the manga for English release and serialized it on their digital Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. The series follows a group of orphaned children in their plan to escape from their orphanage, after learning the dark truth behind their existence and the purpose of the orphanage. The Promised Neverland was adapted into an anime television series produced by CloverWorks and broadcast on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block. The series' first season ran for 12 episodes from January to March 2019. A second season ran for 11 episodes from January to March 2021. A live-action film adaptation was released in December 2020. Amazon Studios is also developing an American live-action series. In 2018, the manga won the 63rd Shogakukan Manga Award in the shōnen category. By August 2023, The Promised Neverland had over 42 million copies in circulation, including digital versions, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. The manga has been overall well received by critics, particularly for its storytelling, characters and world-building. The anime series' first season was well received, being considered one of the best anime series of the 2010s. Reception for the second season however was overwhelmingly negative, mainly due to its rushed pacing and simplification of the original manga's plot.