The Promised Neverland Vol. 19 Review – Oh God, It’s Almost Over

What a wild ride this has been, and now it’s all coming to an end. The Promised Neverland Vol. 19 would be considered the calm before the storm, but there’s so much packed in here that nothing about it is “calm.” Several plot points come to a head in this volume, and we’re left with only one resolve that puts a lot of weight final volume.

The Promised Neverland Vol. 19, from the very beginning, feels like everything is on a timer. We are asked to wait and hold out for events to strike constantly. Several storylines come to a head and many brutal moments that prove this world is as dangerous as ever.

So let’s just go through them real quick. You have Mujika and Sonju, who are completely out of time, and although their mission is complete, they are caught quicker than they had planned. Peter Ratri is waiting on his plan to be put into place that revolves around the actions of others. However, in the meantime, he does his usual torturing and tormenting of the children.

Emma, Ray, and Norman strike while the iron is hot and unleash their plan to save the kids and win the fight. Sadly, as I said, the timer begins in the first chapter, and time doesn’t seem to be on their side. Now, that doesn’t mean they can’t adjust to the obstacles and forces that come at them, but they aren’t unbeatable, not alone anyway.

So much happens in this volume that the chapters can be tough to follow. I was forced to re-read many panels just to follow along. It’s even tough for me to really talk about anything too revealing because given this is the lead-in to the finale, anything I say could ruin your experience.

I will say that some interesting bonds are rediscovered, and we learn just a little bit more about characters that we’ve held a grudge against since the very beginning. Emma isn’t a pushover, and I’m interested to see what she does in the final volume. She deserves revenge, and I’d like to think she’d be able to act accordingly, but I know she’s not really the killing type.

The illustrations by Kaiu Shirai are important given that they have to show different sides of the entire cast of characters. This volume jumps to the past a few times, so you see the rage of expressions these characters possess through rapid panels. We see a lot of pain here, too, and it’s this pain that I’m scared will show up in the final volume.

The Promised Neverland Vol. 19 was supposed to simply set up the final volume, but it did so much more. We get to witness several plans fail, adjust, and try again from the angle of several characters. However, all the cards seem to be on the table, but there’s one final match-up that’s left for these last few chapters. I glad we didn’t just get a plot set up here because now there’s so much mystery surrounding what comes next.