This season, Beneath the Tangles will be offering dual posts each week for The Promised Neverland—one for newbies to the series and one for those who have read the manga. This post is for manga readers and may include spoilers up to the current issue of the manga. Spoilers are allowed in the comments, too. If you want to avoid spoilers, we recommend you read the posts by TWWK, which are spoiler-free and aimed at beginners to the series.
Welcome back, everyone! Episode 4 covers Chapters 10 to 12 of the manga, and mainly deals with the Traitor mini-arc. We also get to finally see Don and Gilda enter in on the action as well.
Content-wise, there were some panels that were cut out, but for the most part were either expositionary or were put in to add an extra sense of paranoia to the readers (the ending of the previous episode was excellent enough to set this tone). On the other hand, not only do we get another anime-only moment with Krone and her doll, a scene from Chapter 13 was actually added in, but it will be touched on later here for its context. Additionally, we do get one small moment of Norman setting up the trap for the traitor at the start of the episode, which goes to show how much of a strategist he is.
Krone’s private temper tantrum after her talk with Isabella is another example of the anime adding insight to her character. Sulking quietly into a corner is the last thing someone as loud and driven as her would ever do, especially after Isabella quietly but powerfully asserted her authoritative dominance over her. If anything, this makes her even more determined to do whatever it takes to grab the coveted Mom role she’s been seeking. Her destroying the old doll she brought in is a possible allusion to that, seeing that she was already willing to let children be killed off in the process from the start. It could be said that this interpretation doesn’t just to apply to Krone, but to the girls and women who take part in the Mom/Sister system at Grace Field House, as it’s been stated later on that the system promotes a disregard of goodwill towards each other and other perceived obstacles as they compete for these roles.
The anime left out a longer explanation for why Don and Gilda were given the human trafficking lie. It also explains why Emma would be willing to deceive rather than tell them the truth about the demons. Both her and us readers will come to realize later on that it was a mistake to do so, but this was something that they needed to experience in order to for them to finalize the escape plan later on.
Norman’s talk with Emma before confronting Ray was actually split up in two parts, the latter which was presented as a flashback in Chapter 13. From a directing standpoint, this was the best choice for this moment, as following the manga’s tendency to go for sudden time jumps would make the scene flow more awkwardly in this medium. Personally, I love how this perfectly showcases Emma’s graciousness and compassion: traits which not only showcase the difference between her and cruel reality the adults and demons take part in, but are also essentially vital to her bringing change to both the demon and human sides of the world.
Let’s talk about Ray here, now that he’s been revealed as the traitor. Once again, the anime adds more character through his actions. More specifically, the way he reacts to events and decisions not to his liking is made more clear here than in the manga, as showcased in the screencap above. He becomes increasingly agitated when he tries to get Norman to reconsider his plan on bumping up the escape date, and slips out a “tsk” of frustration when he’s unsuccessful. Also, near the end, while trying to frame Don as the traitor, his eyes momentarily dart away from Norman to the wall on the right side, a body language sign that means he’s actively lying.
Other Notes:
- It would have been nice if we did see the imagine spot that freaked Emma out in the manga, would make for good nightmare fuel.
- We get new info on the kids that were shipped before Conny, as well as the rest of the current grade ranking of the children still at the House.
- Gilda was so cute in this episode, and I loved the extra moments the anime added of her and Emma together!
- I’ve come to realize now that the lack of internal monologue in the anime was most likely a directorial decision to take advantage of the thriller aspect of the story, and keep a sense of paranoia within the viewers. However, I’m hoping that at least the adaptation of one scene with Krone and Norman leaves it as it is.
- As for Krone loudly saying what she says in her room, I figured that since the women in the Mom/Sister system are willing to backstab each other with no hesitation, there’s no reason to think Isabella wasn’t already prepared to do so from the start even if Krone was more obedient to her.
- I’ve talked about how Krone as a person is terrifying, but it doesn’t really compare to the quiet, calm way Isabella presents herself, especially in their talk in this episode.
- Since I’m not sure on the likelihood of this being addressed later on, here’s the explanation for why only Emma and Gilda are allowed to help with the babies:
- The manga had Ray make Emma memorize 10 types of formations for the tag training, while the anime turned him into a madman and increased it to 100.
- Related to the above, the manga screencap above showed a nice example of subtle foreshadowing with Emma’s left ear.
Let us know what you thought of the episode in the comments section. Once again, spoilers are free to be discussed here!
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