The Promised Neverland is a popular anime and manga series that was made by Posuka Demizu and Kaiu Shirai. In this anime, we saw Emma, Norman, and Ray go on a quest to save not only themselves but all of humanity from demons.
They decide that they must leave Grace Field House after one night when they go to say goodbye to Connie who was adopted and find her dead.
They discover the truth behind their perfect orphan lives and begin their plans to escape, so they don’t face the same fate as Connie.
Ray is one of the main characters in The Promised Neverland series. He is seen as a walking encyclopedia, due to his vast amount of knowledge.
Alongside this, he is a top student but is known for his cunning nature and very blunt skepticism. He is loyal to his friends and the best at anything he tries to do.
Thus, Ray is an interesting character, and in this article, we have put together 10 facts that you may not know about Ray. This is also your final warning, that the following facts would contain spoilers!
There is no denying that Ray and Emma were close friends, thus Ray did love Emma. However, he didn’t love her the same way that Norman loved Emma.
Yet, there is no denying that Ray loves both Emma and Norman the same, as friends. Ray enjoys and holds onto the time that he gets to spend with his friends.
Once Norman leaves the orphanage, it is Ray who is the one that supports Emma. Both Ray and Emma led the revolution and helped the Grace Field orphans to escape.
Alongside the help from Gilda and Don. It was Ray’s top priority, if nothing else, to see Emma and Norman successfully escape from Grace Field House.
Originally, Ray was a spy for his mother Isabella. He thought that it would be impossible to escape from Grace Field House. As a result, this explains why he was very defensive and uncooperative when the idea of escape was first mentioned.
Yet once Norman left Grace Field, Ray was certain that he had lost one of his closest friends. Therefore, Ray then becomes determined to make sure that Emma escapes and will go to any lengths to make sure that happens.
This includes being willing to set himself on fire.
Ray loved Emma and wanted her to stay safe and protected. Emma’s safety was always more important than Ray’s own. After Emma and Leuvis fight, Emma walks away quite injured. Thus, Ray had to take Emma to Mister to help heal her.
Even though Ray doesn’t like or even trust Mister, he was putting Emma before himself and his own feelings.
After Norman tries to kill both Emma and Ray, Emma is confused about what to do next. Yet it is Ray that tells her he will support her whatever she decides to do.
Ray fully supports Emma in her plan to save the human children without trying to kill all the demons. He loved her as a friend and would support her no matter what.
Ray Knows How To Kill Demons
Ray is the kind of character that is able to remain calm, even when he is under a lot of pressure. Yet, you will notice that when Ray is in life-threatening situations, he is able to remain calm and use his logic to find a way to escape. All of this helps Ray to survive.
During chapter 62 of the manga, Emma and Ray are trapped by a demon. In this chapter, Ray discovers that demons will wear masks. This is so that they can protect their eyes, which is their weak spot.
This discovery is huge, as Ray is the first human in the series, as far as we are aware, to discover this. Thus, this is valuable information that then proves to be critical during the rest of the quest.
Also, Ray may be a quick thinker, but he is able to read situations just as fast. This can be seen when Ray instantly understood what Norman’s plan was. The plan was to kill all demons.
Whilst also, Ray was the first person to realize what the orphanage was. It took Emma and Norman, seeing Connie, to realize that the orphanage was a farm.
Ray Should Have Died
This may be a surprise, but Ray was originally meant to die in The Promised Neverland. Ray had just as difficult a life as everyone else, and over the course of the series, he faced death multiple times.
The first time that Ray faced the idea of death is when he tried to burn himself and Grace Field House. This was to let Emma and all the other orphans escape. However, Emma managed to talk him out of that idea.
Also, when Emma and Ray were following Mister to Goldy Pond, Mister leaves them to a bunch of demons.
This is where Ray discovers how to kill demons, as one jumps on top of him. Luckily, Emma once again saves his life.
Yet, we aren’t joking, Ray was meant to die. During an interview that can be found in Volume 13 Special Edition, creator Kaiu Shirai explains in the original story that Ray was meant to die. Yet, as the story continued, this idea was dropped, so the trio got to stay together and alive.
Ray Is The Advisor
Ray is a very intelligent character, and his name literally means advisor or counsel. Thus, this is the role that ends up playing with Emma throughout the series.
The origins of Ray’s name were revealed in a mini-game on The Promised Neverland website. We discover that Ray was named after the African-American music legend Ray Charles, by his mother, Isabella.
It is said that Isabella was listing to Ray Charles’s music, and she liked that Ray was a unisex name, which wasn’t exclusive to any one nationality.
Ray Can Cook
Food is quite a dark subject in The Promised Neverland, considering the children are the food themselves. A demon actually taught Ray how to cook, and Ray turns out to be a great cook. Thus, he is great at cooking children? Quite a twisted bit of dark humor that you will find in this series.
Demon known as Mujika taught Ray how to cook. During Chapter 97 of the manga, we see Ray, Pepe, and Mister making Yakisoba. We see that Ray is excellent, he is quick and has all the essential skills needed.
Ray could have been a real outsider, yet his cooking skills are what help the Grace Field orphans survive. The children really enjoy his food, and this is what connects Ray to all the orphans.
They praise the food that he makes for them. None of the other children have this skill, so his cooking skill is quite unique and what helps keep them together.
Ray Has A Superior Memory
Ray is known to have hyperthymesia, also known as a superior memory. He is able to recall memories perfectly and doesn’t forget anything. Ray explained to Emma and Norman that he never experienced infantile amnesia.
This is where the majority of babies and young children forget most of their memories growing up.
As a result, Ray knew the truth of Grace Field House orphanage all along. He can remember every book he has ever read and exactly where he found the book.
His superior memory skills allow him to have a head start against everyone, as he knew the truth all along.
Ra can remember what it was like being in his mother’s womb and has the farm’s tracker stapled into his ear. However, as Ray began to grow up, he realized that there were inconsistencies between his own memories and reality.
This is when he discovered the truth. However, once he discovered the truth of the orphanage there was a sense of guilt that filled him up, and he began to feel incredibly lonely.
As a result, he is aware of all the lies that all the other children have been told. Yet it also means that as he has known the truth for longer, he has been planning his own escape for much longer than anyone else.
Yet it was only after Ray believed Norman to be adapted, that he decided that it was time to give up and give up on his plans of escape. That is, until Emma, Gilda and Don persuade Ray to continue without Norman.
Ray Is Extremely Intelligent
Thanks to his superior memory, Ray is very intelligent due to all the books he has read and the information he has retained. He has a lot of knowledge that covers a fast range of subjects, thus he could be considered a walking encyclopedia.
Ray has read every book that there was in Grace Field House and knows the precise location of each and every book. He had a goal to read every book from Grace Field House before he was 12 years old.
This is because once he turned 12 years old, he would be shipped away. As children weren’t allowed to stay any longer unless they were chosen to become a mother.
What might be surprising is that Ray doesn’t like studying or reading, even though that’s all he has ever done. Ray explains that while he is smart, it isn’t easy to remain at the level he is at.
In Chapter 32, while discussing their escape plan, Ray confides in Emma that he discovered that if he scored the highest marks in all of his tests, then that was his best way of surviving for longer.
While also, the extra knowledge that Ray has makes him valuable to the demons, to keep him alive. He even pretended to fake interests in hobbies so that he could use his knowledge to help the other orphans.
Ray didn’t just sit on his vast wealth of knowledge, he also put it to good use. He used what he knew to create the transmitter crippling device, after faking an interest in photography, so he could get his hands on a camera.
This device disabled the transmitter that was installed in all the orphans’ ears. Also, when he wanted to burn himself, Ray collected lighting fuel. This way he could burn himself and that meant no demons could eat him.
Throughout, the series books that Ray is talking about or uses are referenced. In Chapter 40, Ray remembers how to deal with the dangerous forest they now face, after escaping the orphanage.
He remembers Emma explaining The Adventure Log of Ugo to him, which is what he references and helps them all deal with the forest.
Ray Balances Emma and Norman Out
When there is a trio, there is always one character that is in the middle of the other two. Ray helps to balance Emma and Norman out, who have very different personalities at times. For example, Normal will always fully support Emma without thinking.
Yet, Ray is a little more cautious and will question Emma about her plans more. This is why Emma and Ray have more arguments.
Ray understands the world that they are in, while Emma is only beginning to understand and is quite naive. As a result, Ray can see the consequences of Emma’s plans before they have even happened.
We see that Ray and Emma have very conflicting personalities, but at the heart of everything, they both really care for one another. They work things out and can work really easily together.
Early on in the story, it is discovered that Ray and Norman are equal in terms of intelligence. Yet they both acknowledge each other’s abilities, and Ray has a bit more trust in Norman as Ray sees Norman as more logical. Whilst Emma is seen as a bit more reckless than logical.
While Emma may be seen as physically the weakest, Ray is much stronger than Norman. Even though Ray does not demonstrate his physical abilities often, Krone claims that Ray is in better condition than Norman.
Alongside that, we do see Ray knockdown Krone’s bedroom door with one kick.
Emma and Norman are the two of the most important people in the world to him. They are the two people that he cares about, and he puts them before everyone else. He is the go-between of them both when it comes to plans.
Especially the plan where Emma doesn’t want to kill all the demons and Norman thinks it’s the only way. While Rye is in the middle and believes there is a way to find common ground between both of the plans, to make everyone happy.
Ray balances the other two characters out, his skill lies between Emma and Norman. He is the most knowledgeable, yet some would say that Norman is smarter. However, he is the most realistic out of the trio, as he has known the truth from the beginning.
Strength-wise, Emma is the strongest, then Ray and then Norman. They all balance each other out with the skills that they possess.
Ray Is Voiced By Well Known Actresses
During the first season of The Promised Neverland was directed by Mamoru Kanbe and animated by CloverWorks.
Ray is voiced by well-known voice actress and narrator, Mariya Ise. She has voiced the following other popular anime characters:
Dorothy Unsworth in Black Clover,
Erika in Kiachou wa maid-sama,
Romeo Conbolt and Levy McGarden in Fairy Tail,
Kiku in One Piece,
Killua Zoldyck in Hunter x Hunter,
Princess Lenessia in Log Horizon,
Yuuko Nishigori in Yuri On Ice.
In the English dubbed version of The Promised Neverland, Ray is voiced by Laura Megan Stahl. She too has been in the anime world for a long time. Other memorable anime characters that she dubbed over the years are as follows:
Iruma Suzuki in Welcome to Demon School,
Hayato Kawajiri in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable,
Gerheade in Seven Deadly Sins,
Kite in Hunter x Hunter,
Mami Nanami in Rent-A-Girlfriend,
Young Serpico in Berserk.
The Life Action Adaptation OF Ray Is The Most Accurate To The Manga
For die-hard fans of The Promised Neverland, you will be aware that a live-action film will be released soon. Fans of this series are eager to gather any and all information about that adaptation as they can. In the live-action adaptation, the character Ray will be played by Jyo Kairi.
If you want to know more about Jyo Kairi’s previous work, you can see him in the Japanese TV series Erased, The Good Doctor, Shoplifters, and Prescription Police.
It’s interesting how the character Ray is the oldest out of the trio, and yet Jyo Kairi will be the youngest out of the trio in the live-action adaptation.
Alongside this, in the live-action adaptation, the characters will be 14 years old, instead of starting off at 11 years old like in the manga. Yet, the casting department has done a superb job at casting Ray, as Jyo Kairi looks very similar to the manga animation.
Final Thoughts
Ray is a very fascinating character to watch. He has a far superior memory compared to anyone else in the anime. Especially as he is the first character to realize what the orphanage is doing.
Once he had learned the truth about Grace Field House, he believed that it was all the children’s fate to go through and that there was nothing he could do about it. He had ideas and plans of escape, all of which took time.
In that time, he aimed to read every book at Grace Field House to keep him important and less likely to be adopted.
When the idea that there was a chance that they could leave the orphanage, Ray didn’t believe it.
Yet he is a loyal and honest friend who would do anything to protect Emma or Norman. Out of the trio, Ray may be the one who is more in the background, and yet his abilities make him stand out.
Not only has he got superb memory, but he is logical and a great cook. He has all the survival skills that they need to survive from the demons searching for them. Alongside that, Ray was the first person to discover how to defeat the demons.
Overall, Ray is a mixture of intelligence and a hero, as he has the brains and the thinking abilities to be able to save his friends. He is a fun character to watch and in this article, we have given you 10 facts that you may not have known about Ray.
