Meeting Date: 3/2/2019
Disclaimer: The Herald Anime Club discusses shows as they’re airing. Naturally, there will be spoilers for a given episode. You have been warned!
Samantha Ferreira: AAAAAAAAAAAAH! :O
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! :O
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! :O
OK I’m good
Matt Brown: Are you? ARE YOU?
You should start the transcript with that :3
Samantha Ferreira: Haha.
I might
We all ready to go?
Anthony Simpson: I’m ready
Matt Brown: It’s after 5, so yes :P
Samantha Ferreira: Awesome :p
Happy Saturday, everyone, and welcome to the Herald Anime Club! I’m Samantha, and I”m here with Matt Brown and Anthony Simpson
Anthony Simpson: Evening
Matt Brown: Howdy. Florida Man represent! Oh wait…
Samantha Ferreira: Tonight, we’re here to talk up The Promised Neverland, episode 8: “Farm Fresh Living With Isabella”
Anthony Simpson: Or as I like to call it Isabella’s proficiency with Jujitsu first hand
Matt Brown: I think that’s covered with “fresh.”
Samantha Ferreira: Definitely
Anthony Simpson: So Sister Krone got killed. As crazy as she was I felt bad she got killed.
Samantha Ferreira: She wasn’t just killed – she was straight-up destroyed in a death battle
Anthony Simpson: True. All while we got a montage of how the girls who become “mothers” are shown the truth then the training they must go through.
Samantha Ferreira: Indeed.
Matt Brown: I’ll miss her because she’s a complicated character. She had knowledge of what it’s like to survive the farms without being delivered to slaughter, but she got all corporatized and couldn’t distinguish the real threats from her ambition.
Anthony Simpson: One thing I did enjoy with that montage is there was no dialog at all.
Matt Brown: It’s like this whole show is a message to NEETs that you’re just not gonna be free no matter what you do, so you might as well toe the line.
Samantha Ferreira: I can see that
Matt Brown: That’s a good point Anthony. I wouldn’t equate the two necessarily, but it’s from the Kurosawa playbook. In Ran, people die while inspiring music is played, and in that case there’s no words at all.
Anthony Simpson: I meant words would have think been okay but just the fact that it was music and the scene being played out told the story especially how we see Sister Krone change through her training.
Samantha Ferreira: Honestly? I think it was the right move to have no dialogue, here
Matt Brown: I feel like I need to call attention to one thing. We see a scene of a character scaling the wall and another waving her off…are we supposed to think that’s Grandma? (Also, there’s a Grandma, that we meet this episode :3)
Samantha Ferreira: It would’ve removed a layer of subtlety as it broke the old “show, don’t tell” rule, and and really kind of dampened the overall impact
…I’m thinking that was Isabella on the wall and Grandma watching.
Note the ponytail and black hair on the girl
And that same malicious smile on Grandma when she was beckoning back
Matt Brown: I mean…grandma probably had black hair when she was younger :3
I may rewatch just that segment because I think it’s important
Samantha Ferreira: It really is
Anthony Simpson: The one part that surprised me though it made sense later on the was the grappling/jujitsu training the potential mom/sister’s got. I though it was for dealing with outsiders/rebels didn’t think it would used on the children but I guess if its needed.
Samantha Ferreira: I think it played right into things, though – like… how did Isabella know exactly what the kids were doing?
Anthony Simpson: One thing I was wondering what happens those who don’t meet muster at the sister/mother training.
Samantha Ferreira: Demon food, I’d wager
Like we saw with Krone.
Matt Brown: Samu, that’s a bit of Deus Ex Machina TBH, because we never got to see the relationship between Krone and Isabella until this moment
Samantha Ferreira: True enough
Anthony Simpson: I’m thinking either Demon food or for producing children.
Samantha Ferreira: I’m thinking as much as well, though
They’re definitely top-tier specimens, even if they don’t pass muster as caretakers, so there has to be a use for them
Matt Brown: Now that you two mention it, this world is conspicuously absent of adult males. That is, except for our mystery book donor with the coded messages, if he exists and is actually a he.
Samantha Ferreira: It’s odd, isn’t it?
Matt Brown: It’s easy to see Grandma as someone who made a deal with the devil, as it were. And Krone hints that things are more complicated — i.e. there are free people. But where are the men? :3
I might be giving Grandma too much credit. She could also be a gangster kingpin of some illicit black market offering.
Samantha Ferreira: Grandma is straight-up corrupt – that, we can see
She knew exactly what was going to happen, and she even played along with Isabella’s elimination plan
Anthony Simpson: Grandma knows what she is doing. She wouldn’t be in her position otherwise.
Samantha Ferreira: Bingo
Matt Brown: Of course. I was just speculating as to what her actual position is.
If only Isabella knew she could just yell “No collusion!” a thousand times and she could do whatever she wants…
Samantha Ferreira: Punctuated with “Believe me”
Matt Brown: So, what we’re left with is murky. What should the kids do? Are they screwed? (Probably.) Is Norman a pawn? (Maybe.) Can they actually escape? (Seems less likely.)
At this point I can’t completely stop suspecting Emma, but she’s putting on quite a show if she’s a culprit. :3
Samantha Ferreira: Well, Norman’s good as dead.
We saw that at the end of the episode
Matt Brown: And he seemed awfully surprised, which is suspicious.
Anthony Simpson: Escape is still an option at this point but being that Isabella is making moves I’m think things are going to be…messy to say the least.
Samantha Ferreira: Indeed
Emma’s not going anywhere
And Ray… well, she caught on to Ray
Anthony Simpson: Emma isn’t going anywhere with a broken leg.
Matt Brown: What if she can’t be tracked? I’m curious what’s in that pen that Krone had.
Samantha Ferreira: That’s a good question
The pen is a huge mystery right now
Anthony Simpson: I’m guessing that person who left the pen that Krone took is some kind of resistance member who got in the system.
That is my guess based on how Krone reacted when she was overhearing that conversation.
Samantha Ferreira: That’s a good thought, too
Anthony Simpson: Why otherwise would she keep that specific pen.
I could be wrong but that is my guess.
Matt Brown: There’s an overwhelming sense in this show that every action taken by a character is by necessity, with no alternative. It’s the framework they want us to see it by. So I think going forward, the interesting stuff is going to be about the characters who have choices, and can choose what’s right. The kids are no longer interesting to me. :3
Samantha Ferreira: I’m guessing that the pen is a Macguffin, but I don’t know what yet
Matt Brown: Ok that’s not fair…but the kids have no good choice. They can stick with each other and die, or try to work within the system…and die.
Samantha Ferreira: Indeed.
Now… I wonder what’ll happen next :0
Anthony Simpson: My guess is that Norman, Ray, or someone is going to have kill Isabella. Before it seems liked the kids could get out without having to murder but given what played out at the end. I don’t see any other option. Its kill or be killed now.
Samantha Ferreira: I don’t see murder yet
Matt Brown: Even if they did, Grandma could swoop in and install someone worse, or simply eliminate every kid on the farm. So far as we know.
Samantha Ferreira: Exactly
More plausibly: I can see the next shipment “going missing” under Isabella’s watch, leading to a crushing defeat
Matt Brown: I’m not ruling out the possibility that Isabella saves them, but it would take an extraordinary event that we’re not privy too, such as a revelation about Isabella’s relationship with Grandma.
Anthony Simpson: Its possible that could happen.
Samantha Ferreira: I’m not saying she’ll save them
I’m saying Norman will run off somewhere
Anthony Simpson: Possible.
Matt Brown: Sure. At this point they have no choice but to try the counter to the tracking device and hide Norman
Samantha Ferreira: Exactly
Matt Brown: Hrm, so this is significant. At this point in the plot, there’s a good case for believing that all the kids are on each others’ side. I don’t see much potential for intrigue on that end going forward.
I think the large question now is what Isabella will do when her perfect system starts showing cracks.
Anthony Simpson: Who knows.
Matt Brown: And that’s a wrap!
lol
Samantha Ferreira: lol
Anyway… any final thoughts this week?
Anthony Simpson: Can’t wait until next week to see what happens.
Matt Brown: I think I love this show. It’s fun to speculate about what everyone is feeling and what they’ll do next.
Samantha Ferreira: I adore this show, as well – it’s just so beautifully written and shot – it’s a joy to watch
And I’m curious to see if it can keep that up in the episodes to come
But we’ll find that out when the time times. ‘Til next time, remember: “if your main adversary is like a terminator, don’t go charging at them headfirst”
Have a great night!
Anthony Simpson: Good night
Matt Brown: Ciao!
