The Promised Neverland Chapter 138 Review by Elusia
Overview:The chapter starts with Vincent conducting an experiment. Cicero asks if it is ready and Vincent nods. He continues on how Norman is a genius and nothing and nobody is above him, though Cicero hesitantly wants to ask something, drops it mid-sentence though. He then wonders if the demon girl with cursed blood will be found and Vincent is confident about the search party finding her, even complimenting Norman's achievement of locating the former demon royalty clan. Cicero asks then if they can kill her and Vincent nods and asks him to just trust his boss regarding the plan while conducting another successful experiment. He states that the plan is proceeding and everything is already taken care of.
Meanwhile, Don, Gilda and the rest of their group are still searching for Sonju and Musica with the help of their friend’s map, Aishe and her dogs. They have been able to find signs of demons in the secret route, but their first findings aren’t from them. Hayato is amazed by their deduction skills, but both of them dismiss it as Aishe and her dogs are doing the main work. They note that they didn’t miss a single clue or even took a long while to find them because of the dogs. They also talk about Aishe being an expert markswoman, which Hayato confirms to be true. Since having been saved by Norman she was able to learn and improve fast and became very skillful, similar to Yuugo. He adds that her five senses are sharp and immediately, she demonstrates by killing an insect behind Don. After saying thanks, he and Gilda acknowledge her as an ideal travel escort, perfect for everything, especially for keeping watch on the two of them. She wonders if they can even help Sonju and Musica, but Don reassures her saying that Sonju is always close to Musica, so they can’t be killed that easily. He expresses that they also need to talk to Aishe, though the plan hysterically failed.
The next day, they come across more demon tracks, but all from wild Demons. Gilda states that the area is dangerous since there might be a nest somewhere and according to Don, continuing in the same direction, might lead them to a demon town. Suddenly, Aishe’s dogs bark loudly and while Hayato was talking, a demon was hiding right behind him. With Gilda screaming at him to run away, Aishe readies her gun but before she can shoot, Don creates a distraction and successfully manages to lure the demon away. After the chase, Hayato wholeheartedly says thanks to them, but also expresses that it should have been simpler and faster to just kill it. Don disagrees with him, saying that it’s easy to escape on the terrain, that guns are too loud and their ammo is limited. Their mission also depends on them not leaving any human tracks, so it’s best for them to avoid killing the demons whenever possible. At night, while Hayato gathers firewood, Gilda whispers to Don about the tracks from earlier. Don agrees that it was likely Sonju and Musica’s riding animal. Gilda is less certain, but Don asks her about what to do if it’s actually theirs. Before they can say another word, Aishe talks to them for the first time, noting that she now knows about them planning to let Musica escape.
Thoughts:Moving a little further away from the Seven Walls plotline, the chapter was good both in progressing the story and establishing Ayshe as a character. She is written as a stoic yet cool character. The twist about her knowing the human language the whole time was rather predictable, but she is still already a better character than most of Norman’s crew that we saw so far.
For now, I see her as being pro-demon, being a wildcard of Norman’s plan as a result, and her supporting letting go of Musica and Sonju, but this might backfire because of Hayato. I’m not buying him acting all aloof because he is with them and he has shown his skills as a fighter in previous chapters, so I expect him to be more than he is letting on so far. I do hope though that Don and Gilda will find a way in the end.
Overall, I give this chapter a solid 7/10.
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