The Promised Neverland Creators Reveal the Manga's Ties to Peter Pan
The Promised Neverland was recently in the news for unfortunate reasons, as the second season of [...]
The Promised Neverland was recently in the news for unfortunate reasons, as the second season of the anime was criticized by a number of fans for not only bringing the anime franchise to a close but also making some big changes from the manga to the anime. In a recent interview, the creators behind the beloved franchise broke down how the story of Emma, Norman, and Ray was influenced by Peter Pan, especially when it comes to its title that elicits the name of the fictional location of Neverland, wherein children never got older and pirates sailed the seas.
Peter Pan has had a very long history in the world of pop culture, first appearing in a story in 1902, and garnering countless movies that explored different takes on the eternally young sprite and several children that made up the populace of Neverland. Usually crossing swords with Captain Hook, a mad pirate that lost his hand t a hungry crocodile. While Peter Pan is perhaps most well known for the Disney movie of the same name, the flying imp has appeared in countless other movies as he is currently a part of the public domain.
Chatting with Viz Media, creator Kaui Shirai was asked how The Promised Neverland's title was created in relation to Peter Pan's home, and what the creators of the franchise were looking to accomplish by naming it as such:
"We wanted a create a big difference between the "gentleness" that the title may imply and the actual hell that happens in the story. The word "promise" is from Sir James Matthew Barrie's Peter Pan, who makes a "promise" with Wendy, and I already knew that our story would eventually involve a "promise" between humans and demons. This resulted in the English title having a connection to the phrase "promised land," so it was good to have "promise" in the title."
While the second season of The Promised Neverland ended with a whimper, that isn't stopping the franchise from staying in the public eye, as a live-action series by Netflix is currently in development and the creators of the manga are apparently working on new short stories to pad out the universe that rose to popularity.
What do you think of this excerpt from the creator of The Promised Neverland? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of Emman, Norman, and Ray.