Second Round Yakusoku no Neverland vs. 20th Century Boys

[Demonspeed]

Yakusoku no Neverland Kaiu Shirai Posuka Demizu​	-	20th Century Boys Naoki Urasawa​

Rules

- You are allowed to vote for one Manga
- After 5 days, the Manga with the most votes will proceed into the next round
- In case of a tie, a staff pick will break it

Special Rules

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[Elusia]

Alright, let's get this started. Good luck to my dear opponent revo

Now last round, I did a small introduction to 20CB. It's probably enough to lure in any fans of psychological medium. So now, I'm going in-depth.

Minor spoilers ahead​

STORY:

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The main plot is not just happening in few years, but extends in many different timelines, from the Childhood Era to the Friend Era. As our heroes go about their childhood days, hiding in a secret base and dreaming of saving the world, little did they know the future ahead of them, and now a full-blown attack on humanity.

One of the overarching mystery this manga is offering is the antagonist Friend, who knows about our heroes' past and uses them for his cause; his cult and later his political party. The most iconic of them all is the symbol, as the reader will see such throughout the manga.

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Creepy, yet effective.

Mass-murder starts happening left and right and conspiracies, prophecies and others pop up as well. Our heroes, one by one, discover another hidden gem in their past, giving them a second look. The reader give their perspective theories too; some may be true, some may not, but sure worth it when the answers are revealed.

 

[Erinyes]

characters : here


- Main topics

- Tolerance
From the very 1st chapter we know that there s no ethnic barrier in the orphanage, children are drom everywhere of the world and form a "family" so they have been raised without any racial prejudice and with acceptance despite differences. Also Demons & humans antagonism reminds a lot Chimera ants vs human in HxH, demons are depicted as evil but meeting Sonju and Musica make us realize that they are basically like humans. Those children met with demons that were kinder and more attentive to them, and who didn't betray them while humans did. I think one of the possible conclusion we can draw is probably similar to Chimera's ants, human can likely in TPN universe be like or even worse than demons.


- Human condition
Human condition is one of the main aspect, one of the 1st disturbing we were introduced to, are the tattooed codes on children neck, which already hinted us there s something wrong, children are labelled as cattle/marchandise, delicacies, its all about subjection/objectified humans/slavery, its even more disturbing when we know about batteries farms, and its even worse than in other mangas like Snk or Tg because it's involving very young children. Eugnics experiments is a topic that has been introduces implicitely all along the story (with Isabella pregnancy) with which reminds a lot the Kinderheim 511 concept fromMonster (Urasawa) and the notion of premium cattle which refers to breeding eugenics.
So again the story is Spartacus-like kind of enslaved children trying to look for freedom to escape their inhuman fate.

Spoiler

4-Misc

- Horror
TPN feat some incredibly mature topics, even if it's not too graphic it's still very disturbing. People tend to think of The Promised Neverland as a fake dark manga, but horror is not necessary visual, it can be suggestive or implied. Horror being evocative more than graphic doesn't mean it doesnt exist, it can sometimes be even more impactful/powerful than pure gorenography. TPN is about human and more precisely children traffic, it shares also many similitudes at least at the start with Bratherley no Basha from Samura except BnB is extremely graphic & disturbing.
In Bnb things are very graphic which increases a lot the shock value, but there are some other works that handle such topics like children abuse, rape, torture and so without showing that much sometimes without showing anything, that's for instance the case of Ima Soko ni iru Boku (anime) we know very well what's happening but we don't get to see the most disturbing things, but it still an anime tagged horror with some creepy scenes.
In Neverland tthings are quite balanced we saw from chapter 1 some visual stuff with Connie's death.

Spoiler

But is the manga lighter or a so called "fake dark manga" because we haven't seen more deaths or more graphic things ? i would say no, we know it's still a manga about children abuse, anthropophagy, and so on with its worst and darker side. We also get some main cast being mutilated. I think Neverland is close to Madoka magica in terms of portraying horror, it does still exist we are hinted or showed some stuff, but its somewhat "candifed" by the tale aspect of storytelling (cute characters, children, idealistic main char., sheer optimism, and art aspect).

- Writing/art
Promised Neverland contrary to Vagabond which is an historical manga, is a more like Fantasy/tale like. The word Neverland ofc reminds Peter pan, its, i would call it a kind of thriller tale, it shares some similitudes with children stories (involving demons, "oni" in Japanese) but still is incredibly mature. Thats why the art can't be compared to Vagabond, as an historical manga, Vagabond has to be very "realistic" art-wise, it s about a martial artist so it has to focus on the character gesture, actions, charism and on the sword art/battle aesthetics, while Tpn as a mind games story with very little actions, has to focus more on emphasized facial expressions to convey emotions.

- credibility
Despite being an imaginary fiction with fantastic aspects, authors try to be as much credible as possible, for instance calandar is true to real time calendar see pic above ( https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/monthly.html?year=2045&month=10&country=1 ) regarding human capacities there's no superhuman powers, everything which is introduced is plausible. For instance, there's non instant recovery afer bones breaking, Emma coudn't walk for 2 months after Isabella broke her lag, no limbs regrowing either like in many manga.

Anime trailer :

[/spoiler]

 

[Arjuna]

Going with 20th CB for these reasons


1)It is one of my favorites and listed so in MAL.

2)It maintained a constant interest.Sadly TPN failed to maintain that quality at least to me unlike the Gracefield arc(which was masterpiece) and the current arc.So yeah 20th CB.

Sorry Erin and Revo.

 

[revo]

Great start Elusia and Erinyes, it actually hurts me having to be against a Urasawa's work

The Promised Neverland:

The story follows the discovery and journey of a group orphans who believe to live a comfortable and happy life on an orphanage, isolated from an unknown and distant world, until they discover what waits for them outside.

It's about the kids discovering the truth behind their lifes, alongisde the readers who also don't know how the real world outside the orphanage is either. The reading follows the tension on the kids's discovery and survival.

Protagonists:
In this shonen main characters are children as well, specifically the three brightest kids in the orphanage.

Emma

Spoiler

Norman

Spoiler

Ray

Spoiler

Antagonists:

The kids have more enemies than allies, they can be the liars, manipulative and disturbing ones that can themselvs "Mamas"

Spoiler

Or the terryifing monsters

Spoiler

Vote for Neverland!!

​

 

[Organizized]

As much as I continuously enjoy The Promised Neverland, and the fact that it had one of the best starting arcs I've ever read in a shonen manga, 20th Century Boys blew me away. It's a full-on masterpiece all the way through. TPN deserves a lot of credit for its distinct, beautiful artwork and thrilling mystery, but it can't hold up against a classic masterpiece like 20CB.

(The fact that he wrote it simultaneously with another absolute masterpiece - Monster - and then another - Pluto - is just too insane. Those three are all top 10 manga material.)

 

[revo]

Some Neverland readers are thinking from the latest arc uh, same as the Nanatsu round, last arcs always ruin everything
But at least you guys better consider these kids

Or I'm going on a Johan mode

Spoiler

 

[Arjuna]

Some Neverland readers are thinking from the latest arc uh, same as the Nanatsu round, last arcs always ruin everything
But at least you guys better consider these kids

Or I'm going on a Johan mode

Spoiler

The latest arc is awesome though like Andew doing something.

 

[Gut's is the man]

Neverland is overrated. Century boys is a masterpiece.

 

[Elusia]

CHARACTERS:

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With the utmost success of connecting different timelines to create a complex narrative on a simple and common story, the characters in the manga became geniune, interesting and filled with personalities. While there are a lot of them, each serves a purpose in driving the central plot of the tale. The most noteworthy characters are:

Kenji Endo

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The protagonist who is laid-back, caring and sometimes a bubbling idiot. He works at a convenience store which was formerly a liquor store. When he discovers that a disappearance of a family, and suicide of his friend was connected to a weird cult and ultimately, something in his past, he goes and finds the truth, starting to remember bit by bit of his childhood and saves the world, along with his other childhood friends.

Kanna Endo

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The other protagonist who is Kenji's niece. A baby that was taken care of by Kenji when her mother disappeared at the beginning of the series and later grown up as a reckless and hot-headed girl. She admires her uncle, listening to his music a lot, and like him, she opposes Friend.

Friend

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The antagonist (and probably the best villain I've seen XP) who is charismatic, smart, cunning and manipulative, and always in the shadows or wearing a mask. A leader of his cult, and later his Friendship Political Party, he plans to take over the world using the knowledge of Kenji and others' childhood and their imagination of good vs evil.

 

[Nii]

I actually feel like Naoki Urasawa is overrated, though I haven't read 20th Century Boys. I've read Monster though, and while it was good, it wasn't exactly the amazing masterpiece many people make it out to be, in my eyes. Maybe 20CB would engross me more, but I'm giving the benefit of the doubt to Neverland. These children need to be protected.

 

[Brandish μ]

I'm sorry Neverland, but everything that makes you good is better in 20CB. I'm really trying to give TPN a win in some category. Even in art, it's probably a draw. It's just a bad match up for TPN. Good luck rev-o, but I gotta support Elu's choice : )

 

[benelori]

20th Century Boys introduced me properly to a wider range of manga back in the day. So I will be biased in my vote here, but I can't really forget the tension and the amazing cast. Tension isn't conveyed just by storytelling, but also art, paneling and the way scenes are built up and composed.

It's the obvious choice

 

[Faust]

20thCB ftw!

 

[Farfalla]

Voted 20th CB as well \o/ I haven't read it yet, but I trust people when they say it's a masterpiece, since I did love Monster and consider it to be amazing.