Is Heavenly Delusion the next Promised Neverland?

Is Heavenly Delusion the next Promised Neverland?

The ongoing anime Heavenly Delusion puts into question a post-apocalyptic world, a striking similarity drawn along the lines of the once-popular anime The Promised Neverland. While the anime adaptation of Heavenly Delusion has been crafted along the route which explores an underlying class-based society, The Promised Neverland is a narration of horrors faced by children in a very grueling environment. The question however is, ‘Is Heavenly Delusion the next Promised Neverland?’

Throughout this article, we will explore the nuances of the two storylines, how they converge at certain points, and how these crossroads are often used to create a dissonance between narratives amidst their similar imagination.

Heavenly Delusion and The Promised Neverland: the imagination of a ‘Children’s’ World

Heavenly Delusion explores the idea of a world in ruins. This world is set in a futuristic timezone, keeping in mind the importance of an imagination that is not only distant but conclusive. The idea of this world is based on a survival narrative where there is also a societal division in action.

  • Moreover, the story follows two distinct worlds in one. The first one creates an image of a facility where children are nurtured away from the society outside.
  • On the other hand, the alternative reality is that of a society that survives in a world inhabited by supernatural creatures.
Is Heavenly Delusion the next Promised Neverland?
Maru’s broken tooth in Heavenly Delusion. (Image courtesy Production I.G. Studios)

The Promised Neverland on the other hand is an imaginative world where three children are trapped in an orphanage and it follows their plan to escape an evil and sinister environment. We can therefore see how the stories converge from the very beginning through their narration of a children’s apocalypse.

While I say ‘a children’s apocalypse‘, I mean to refer to an apocalyptic scenario that navigates and interrogates the psychology of the children. Now, let’s move on to the more important question, ‘Is Heavenly Delusion the next Promised Neverland?’

Is Heavenly Delusion the next Promised Neverland? Are the explorations similar or is similarity only a silver lining?

As we interrogate the similar plot lines of Heavenly Delusion and The Promised Neverland, we cannot help but undermine subtle changes between the two narratives. While the familiarity with the two plots lies within the confinements of the children within, we have to see how the imagination of these two worlds is different.

Is Heavenly Delusion the next Promised Neverland?
The Promised Neverland. (Image courtesy CloverWorks Studio)
  • Heavenly Delusion addresses an entirely different world as compared to The Promises Neverland. The exploration of similarity often blurs the existence of differences.
  • We can relate two different plots by any manner of imagined and crafted sets of arrangements, but the idea of critical thinking would ask us to look closely at the two plots as two distinct explorations of children’s psychology.

We can see how these differences are often overshadowed by the audience’s search for familiarity and how genre plays an important role in defining these popular approaches.

Heavenly Delusion is different, The Promised Neverland offers a genre

Is Heavenly Delusion the next Promised Neverland
Kiruko from Heavenly Delusion. (Image courtesy Production I.G. Studios)

The Promises Neverland defined a specific genre of its own. This experimental anime is undoubtedly different when it comes to exploring dark drama. But more than creating a special place for itself, the anime also set a course for future shows to follow. Heavenly Delusion has craftily walked this road, although the adventure anime is slightly deviating in nature from the larger generic technicalities.

Conclusion

Heavenly Delusion is different yet The Promised Neverland has created a genre that defines the narrative. The interrogation of the emotional and psychological aspects of children becomes a new-age definition of understanding the human psyche.

While the protagonists are mostly children and the larger chunk of their lives are dictated by an authority, it becomes crucial for the audience to understand that Heavenly Delusion not only explores the apocalypse of the natural world but also an apocalypse of the younger generations’ dreams, aspirations and life.

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