The Promised Neverland One-Shot Explores Ray's Most Upsetting Secret

Much like Demon Slayer, The Promised Neverland's manga has come to an end, wrapping up the story [...]

Much like Demon Slayer, The Promised Neverland's manga has come to an end, wrapping up the story of Emma, Ray, and Norman, but a recently released spin-off chapter shows us the early days of Ray and the dark secrets he uncovered long before his friends had come to him for aid. Ray was one of the most interesting characters in this dark fantasy story, originally starting off as a "traitor" who was feeding information to "Mom", he eventually found the strength within himself to rebel and offer his friends the opportunity to escape from the horrifying situation within the orphanage.

Ray, who was actually the biological son of "Momma", has more light shed on his past with this new chapter, as the manga dives into the fact that the one time traitor had discovered the secret behind who was "chosen" to be food for the monsters that were secretly running the world. Every two months, the child who scored the worst on the test that was administered to the occupants of the orphanage was "adopted", aka fed directly to the monsters. Faced with this horrifying revelation, there was little Ray could do as even if his friends studied their hardest, there was always going to be a child that was sacrificed to the ever growing hunger of the monsters.

The Promised Neverland Secret
(Photo: Viz Media)

On top of this horrific discovery, it was clear that Ray knew about the secrets of the orphanage long before Norman and Emma, proving that he had been dealing with the stress of the situation for months, if not years, prior to his friends discovering it. In working with Mom undercover, Ray set a goal for himself that if he could not save everyone, he would work his hardest to save Emma and Norman if nothing else.

The Promised Neverland is one of the most unique anime franchises in the medium today, with a live action feature length film being created for release in the East later this year and Amazon currently working on a live action television series that will adapt the dark anime franchise to Western audiences. Needless to say, even though the story of the manga might have come to a close, it's clear that the franchise still has a lot to look forward to, especially with the anime's second season dropping early next year.

What do you think of this new chapter in the life of Ray? 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 the Promised Neverland!