The Promised Neverland started its long journey in 2016 and has become an incredibly popular story for readers of manga. Fans love the psychological thriller vibe this series gives them.
After almost five years, have we witnessed the final chapter of this beloved manga series? In this article, we will discuss The Promised Neverland’s final chapter and how it ends.
For those who aren’t aware, Kaiu Shirai is the author of this manga series, and Posuka Demizu is the illustrator. It was first published in 2016, and it received an anime adaptation in 2020.
The first season of the adaptation met huge success, but the second season wasn’t as loved. However, the anime series helped increase the popularity of this manga series.
The series follows orphans living in Grace Field House. They live a perfect life, except one day Emma, Ray, and Norman discover the truth: They are being raised as meat for demons.
Emma, Norman, and Ray plan to escape, but Norman is sent away to be ‘adapted.’ Emma and Ray decide to escape with some older siblings and leave the younger siblings behind.
Once they escape they discover that life outside Grace Field House is full of danger, but they are determined to return to save all the children from the farms.
Emma and Ray encounter many demons and battle for their freedom against the demon queen Legravalima and Peter Ratri, who manages the farms. In the end, Emma has some huge decisions only she can make.
Emma Makes a New Promise
After escaping Grace Fields House, our escapees find themselves in constant danger. They discover that there are in fact two worlds: a human word and a demon world.
They decide they need to find a way to the human world, where they can be safe. Alongside this, Emma and her friends discover that the children are fed to the demons because of a ‘promise’ that was made years ago.
The ‘promise’ stopped the hunting between humans and demons; however, demons needed to eat humans. Therefore, the farms were created to raise children to feed the demons.
Not all demons are bad in this series, and we do meet some good demons that want to help our characters. Yet the downside is that eating humans is their only way not to die, and they don’t have other options.
Once Emma learns the truth, she tries to find a way so that humans and demons can live in peace. Hence she decides to create a new ‘promise.’
In a flashback scene, we learn that Emma is successful and she has forged a new ‘promise’ between herself and the Demon World God.
In exchange for transporting the humans to the other side, the Demon World God asks for a reward that is most important to Emma: This is Emma’s family (the Grace Field House Orphans, including Ray and Norman).
Emma learns that the demons won’t kill her family; however, they will take away all her memories of them and her future with them.
Once Emma agrees to the new ‘promise,’ the children are sent to the human world. They land on the shores of America in 2047. Everyone is safe and together, except Emma is missing.
Emma wakes up lying in a snowy field with no memories of anything. She has only a necklace but remembers nothing of who she is or how she ended up in the field. Eventually, an old man rescues her from the snow.
Chapter 181: Beyond Destiny
Chapter 181 is the final chapter and picks up exactly where Chapter 180 ends. Two years later, Emma has decided to move on with her life and accepts that she can’t regain the memories of who she is and how she ended up here.
She gives up trying to work out who the people in her dreams are. She embraces her new life and is living with the old man.
However, her family/the Grace Field Orphans, have been searching everywhere for her. Now they try looking in places that don’t really exist anymore but did exist at some point.
They know Emma has to be somewhere in the human world, as they are all in the human world, but they just can’t work out where.
How Does The Promised Neverland End in Chapter 181?
The orphans finally head towards the forbidden zone. They unknowingly walk past Emma who is with an old man walking in the opposite direction.
Feeling quite deflated, the orphans decide to head home. However, Ray feels a young girl holding a stuffed bunny tug on his backpack and turns around and sees Conny.
Ray runs back to tell everyone what he has seen. While Emma is running through the streets looking for her lost necklace, she bumps into Ray and the rest of the Grace Field Orphans.
Everyone is extremely happy they have finally found Emma. This moment is full of emotions and they are all so happy to see each other.
Yet Emma doesn’t remember any of them or know what they are talking about. They are thriving in the human world and doing well in school.
This is all down to Emma. Norman wishes Emma could be part of their happiness too.
Conny
It is quite clever that Conny returns for the finale because the story now comes full circle.
Conny’s death revealed the truth about Grace Field House, which triggered Emma, Ray, and Norman’s desire to escape and stop the farming of children.
They wanted to make their world a better place before they knew that two worlds existed. Thus, it makes sense that Conny returns to bring Emma and her family back together, even though Emma can’t remember them.
Will There Be a Sequel?
There is no hiding that The Promised Neverland is one of shonen’s best performing series. However, it can’t be too surprising that the manga is finally over, as many fans claimed the series had been going downhill for a while.
The plot became complicated, and there were many loopholes. Fans noted that The Severn Wall was overlooked. None of these loopholes are addressed and fans wondered why they were introduced in the first place.
Therefore, the chance of a sequel is quite unlikely, but everyone has a somewhat happy ending.
Even though some fans argue the ending felt rushed, it seems likely the author wasn’t sure how to end this beloved series in a way to make everyone happy.
If there were to be a sequel, expectations would be incredibly high, which would be difficult to match after the success of The Promised Neverland.
So at the moment, there are no reports of a sequel, but in a few years’ time, there could be one. It just depends on what the sequel would be about.
Final Thoughts
After 181 chapters, The Promised Neverland has finally ended. It is a bittersweet ending because even though Emma saved everyone and they reunite, she can’t remember anything.
Emma will never get her memories back. However, she reunites with her family and that is what this manga series has always been about.
The Promised Neverland has always been about family and the power your family has. Emma had to make the ultimate sacrifice for everyone’s happiness.
