The Promised Neverland: Bioethics in Pop Media




Despite the versatility and limitless potential that animation gives to filmmakers and creatives, it is too often viewed as children’s media and devalued. However, it does not stop people from tuning in over and over. Media such as Arcane, Klaus, Spider-verse, and Puss in Boots force people to recognize the worlds that only animation could create effectively (Haerman, 2023; Motamayor, 2021; Ryan, 2021). Another win for animation has been the expansion of Anime in North America, with its global market projected to reach 48.3 billion by 2030 (Blancaflor, 2022). Animation is a medium that cannot be ignored. It deserves to be analyzed just like any other film or TV show. So, once again, we return to my bioethics in popular media series. This time, I am analyzing a show that took everyone by storm with its excellent storytelling, fantastic worldbuilding & characters, music, and cinematography: The Promised Neverland.

This manga (and consequently its anime) has been praised for addressing animal ethics by placing the human characters where the animals would be. Not only that, the story’s mystery and mind games kept millions coming back. But one of its most underrated qualities is the villain that it gave us: Isabella. Mama Isabella works as a villain for multiple reasons. She is intelligent, cunning, caring and yet extremely self-serving. She is also a mother. This makes the matter extremely complex given the fact that she gave birth in this horrible world knowing what would happen to her offspring. It is in that context that I will discuss the bioethics in The Promised Neverland. Not animal ethics as most would assume but the philosophy of anti-natalism and how, by this view, Isabella becomes one of the greatest villains ever. And so do we.