Title: The Promised Neverland Vol. 19
Author: Kaiu Shirai (Story), Posuka Demizu (Art)
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Digital
Pages: 216
Genre: Horror, Drama
Publication Date: May 4, 2021
The Story
In volume nineteen of The Promised Neverland, the final battle has come! After the defeat of the queen and the heads of the five regent houses, Sonju and Mujika attempt to revive the high priest who will be crowned the new king; however, Peter Ratri had other things in mind. He sent a proclamation to the capitol and pinned the blame on the Geelan clan as well as Sonju and Mujika. He then rounded up all of those who received the “tainted blood” and had them executed, saving Sonju and Mujika for last. While they were awaiting execution, we shift gears to a familiar piece of scenery…
Grace Field House
Here, Isabella has returned, now a grandmother. Peter Ratri himself has infiltrated the house and brought all of the captured kids back there as bait for Emma, Norman, and Ray. Being the clever one as always, Norman has a plan and executes it. Infiltration wasn’t difficult but that was by Ratri’s design. Feeling that he has them trapped, he became naïve to a few things that he didn’t account for and soon turned the tables.
Back in the capital, right when Sonju and Mujika are about to be executed, an old face shows up and interrupts things. I won’t go any further than that but the volume ends with Ratri’s final stand. He realizes that if he can just accomplish one last thing, he could salvage the proverbial world that had begun to crumble all around him. The final volume awaits us next time.
Characters
There are two huge points of development here… one I cannot talk about due to spoilers so I’ll focus on the other… Peter Ratri.
We’ve known about Ratri’s machinations for a while now; however, this volume truly gives us a glimpse at what lengths he will go to so he could accomplish them. One of the things that led to most of this unraveling is his overconfidence in himself. He felt that he was prepared enough and overlooked small details… something that Norman rarely ever does. Even though there was fighting, gunfire, and bloodshed, this was, in essence, a battle of wits and Ratri just didn’t have enough of them to win.
While the other big point happens in the capital, I will touch a bit on Isabella since she did reappear. We learn that she was promoted to grandmother and approached by Ratri. In exchange for her cooperation with Lambda, she will resume her duties and ship out the remainder of the children at Grace Field House. In exchange, Ratri promises her true freedom by removing the controlling chip implanted in her. This, of course, is way too tempting to pass up for Isabella and the character who we once thought was on a path to redemption suddenly has all of that reversed over simple personal greed. By the end, there is some nice development behind this which explains Isabella’s reasoning, though… but it’s up to you to determine if it’s enough.
Final Thoughts
One more volume to go and while the final battle is mostly over, there is still Peter Ratri to deal with. There is one last shot he can take in order to get the future that he wants. Whether or not he will succeed will be revealed in the final volume of the series.
I liked this battle a lot as it was a big game of human chess. Each side positioning themselves and claiming the upper hand only to have that foiled and then come back out on top. The lead position changed several times as both sides were in control, then had their backs up against the wall. It was almost like a race to see who would have the final laugh in all of this. Right now, we are left with Peter Ratri with his back against the wall. The final “lead change” has to be determined and we are left wondering if he will succeed and fail at his final attempt.
The last volume seems to be the conclusion to the fight and then the aftermath serving as our epilogue. We have ten chapters to get it done… let’s see what Kaiu Shirai can do!
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media.
