Norman (The Promised Neverland)

Norman (Japanese: ノーマン, Hepburn: Nōrman) is a character in the manga series The Promised Neverland, created by Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu. Norman is an 11-year-old boy living at Grace Field House. Like Ray and Emma, Norman consistently gets perfect scores on his daily exams. He is known for being a genius strategist and planner, as well as unbeatable at the game of tag. He discovers the truth of the orphanage with Emma and teams up with Ray to devise a plan to escape. While he knows leaving with every child in the house is near to impossible, his love for his sister Emma pushes him to continue trying.

Norman
The Promised Neverland character
Norman, as illustrated by Posuka Demizu
First appearance	The Promised Neverland Chapter 1: "Grace Field House" (GFハウス, Gurēsu Fīrudo Hausu)
Last appearance	The Promised Neverland Chapter 181: "Beyond Destiny" (運命の向こう岸, Unmei no Mukōgishi)
Created by	Kaiu Shirai
Designed by	Posuka Demizu
Portrayed by	Rihito Itagaki
Voiced by	Japanese: Maaya Uchida English: Jeannie Tirado
In-universe information
Alias	William Minerva Boss
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Title	22194
Relatives	Emma Ray Isabella
Age	11
Eye color	Blue

In the anime adaptation, he is voiced by Maaya Uchida in Japanese and by Jeannie Tirado in the English version. In the live-action film adaptation, Norman is portrayed by Rihito Itagaki.

Creation

 

Early sketches and design of Norman by Posuka Demizu, in the artbook The Promised Neverland: World.

According to Kaiu Shirai, Norman is the mainstay of the group and had a "lighter" mood compare to Ray and Emma.^[1][2] For his character design, Shirai asked for something like angelic, and a bit ethereal, with a simple design philosophy. Making him look like a moon or a knight of the story.^[3] Posuka Demizu had difficulties creating the character design of Norman, including his body type, face and hair.^[4] According to Demizu, Norman was supposed to be slender in his original design, but it was difficult to show the difference between him and the other children. All of them wear the same clothes, so she decided to maintain the current design.^[3]

Casting

In the anime adaptation, Norman is voiced by Maaya Uchida in Japanese;^[5] and Jeannie Tirado voices the character in English.^[6] In the live-action film adaptation, Norman was portrayed by Rihito Itagaki.^[7]

Appearances

In The Promised Neverland

Norman was born on March 21, 2034. At the beginning of the story on October 12, 2045, Norman is 11-year-old boy living at Grace Field House orphanage. He has blue eyes and short white hair that is parted to his left, with a longer piece curving upwards on the left side of his head. An authentication number, 22194 is tattooed on his neck.^[8] As the most intelligent out of the three, he is the first to find out Ray's true identity as Isabella's spy and prepare various back-up plans and escape routes. After Ray is betrayed by Isabella, Norman is forced to be shipped before his 12th birthday, accepting his fate of inevitable death to deceive her and let the rest of the children escape.^[8]

However, instead of being put down, Norman is sent to a special research facility called Lambda Λ7214, it was created in order to try to create higher quality human livestock in a faster and more efficient way than the Premium Farms for the tifari ceremony. He escapes from Lambda and destroys the place after leading the other children held there in an uprising. Afterwards, he establishes a place called The Paradise Hideout for children they rescued from Lambda to live at and prepares a plan to wipe out all demons.^[9]

Appearances in other media

Norman appears in three of four light novel books of the series written by Nanao, illustrated by Posuka Demizu and supervised by Kaiu Shirai;^[10][11][12] as well as appearing in the comedic spin-off manga, Oyakusoku no Neverland (お約束のネバーランド), written and illustrated by Shuhei Miyazaki.^[13][14] Norman appeared in two drama CDs released along with the anime series' first season Blu-ray disc, titled GF House Ghost Disturbance and Gift from the 39th Girl. The stories were originated from the novel A Letter from Norman.^[15][16] Norman also appeared in two other drama CDs titled The day Emma cried and Voice Time Capsule, released along with the anime series' second season Blu-ray disc.^[17][18]

Norman is a playable character in the mobile game The Promised Neverland: Escape the Hunting Grounds released on iOS and Android.^[19][20] Norman is also a playable character in the crossover collaborations between The Promised Neverland and the smartphone video games Identity V, Jumputi Heroes, Dragon Egg, Vivid Army and LINE POP 2.^{[21][22][23][24][25]}

Reception

Popularity

Norman was nominated for the Best Male Character category at the 41st Anime Grand Prix in 2019.^[26] He was also nominated for the Man of the Year category at the 6th Anime Trending Awards in 2020.^[27] Norman ranked at the 1st place in the Color Illustration Character Poll of the series in 2018.^[28] In the popularity poll of the series in 2018, Norman is in the 2nd place.^[29] He also took the second place in the 2nd popularity poll of the series, with a total of 4763 votes.^[30][31]

Critical response

The scholar of British and American literature Kei Toda described Norman as a perfect example of The Myth of Masculinity, she said that Norman at Grace Field House is depicted as a physically weak boy with a genius mind, she mentioned that Norman's transformation highlights the masculinity that he was trapped in, and the harshness of his fate when he branched off with Emma and the children. She also noted that Norman was written as a boy who is not masculine, contrasting Emma-a girl who is not feminine. Toda concluded with: "From the perspective of narration, Norman hiding his identity creates a mystery-is Minerva alive? What type of person is he? Who is boss? But it can also be said that, Norman sealed off his angelic and feeble past self and turned himself into a manly leader by taking the identity of Minerva. In fact, the appearance of Norman from eyes of members from Λ7214 is "serious", "winter", "emperor"; an image far from the Norman Emma knew: "kind, smart and smiles warmly". Why did Norman grow so manly, it gradually becomes clear that he is not a flatly written character of weak physical constitution and excellent academic records, but a three-dimensional person bearing the shadow of an oppression of unspeakable nature. Norman’s subconscious longing for masculinity gradually emerges when he was surrounded by the cattle children trapped in experimental farm Λ7214. Norman does not use his real name in front of the children rescued. He takes the name of a key contributor in liberating edible children- James Ratri; and his codename William Minerva, while commonly being called the boss".^[32][33]

Brittany Vincent from Syfy praised the character and describes him as "Norman looks fragile but has a calm demeanor and quiet strength about him".^[34] Pauline Croquet from the french newspaper Le Monde said that the design of the three main characters, including Norman, is very original and comes out of the shōnen manga typical character designs; and stated "The children of Grace Field House, the oldest of whom are 11 years old, have lived since birth in an idyllic setting and are treated with love by the director, whom they call "Mom". The intelligent and resourceful Norman will understand that they are all in danger of death. They decide to run away with their siblings, but they are completely unaware of what awaits them outside".^[35]

Merchandising

Good Smile Company launched a Nendoroid figure based on the character from the series in September 2019.^[36] Noitamina Shop & Cafe Theater held a cafe event and sold multiple merchandise of Norman, to commemorate his birthday in 2019.^[37] Other merchandise related to the character such as figurines, plush dolls, perfumes, mugs, and T-shirts have been created.^[38][39][40] A collaboration with Megane Flower glasses was held in March 2021, which included limited edition glasses frames designed after Norman, Ray, and Emma.^[41][42] Norman was also featured on a MasterCard credit card in 2022.^[43]

See also

•  Anime and manga portal

• List of The Promised Neverland characters

References

1. ""The Making of a Jump Manga!" — The Promised Neverland". Project : Interviewing editors at MangaPlus (vol.2). Manga Plus. Shueisha. from the original on November 7, 2020. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
2. Chéry, Lloyd (April 26, 2018). "Les origines de The promised Neverland, le manga événement de 2018". Le Point (in French). from the original on April 6, 2021. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
3. Shirai, Kaiu (March 4, 2019). The Promised Neverland: The King of Paradise. Vol. 13. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-881787-3.
4. Shirai, Kaiu (December 4, 2020). The Promised Neverland 0: Mystic Code (in Japanese). Shueisha. ISBN 9784088824628.
5. Ressler, Karen (August 2, 2018). "The Promised Neverland Anime Reveals Cast, Staff, Character Visuals". Anime News Network. from the original on August 3, 2018. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
6. Loo, Egan (April 5, 2019). "Promised Neverland Anime's English Dub Cast Revealed in Trailer". Anime News Network. from the original on April 6, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
7. Loo, Egan (September 26, 2019). "The Promised Neverland Manga Gets Live-Action Film in Winter 2020". Anime News Network. from the original on February 22, 2021. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
8. Shirai, Kaiu (December 2, 2016). The Promised Neverland: Grace Field House. Vol. 1. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-880872-7.
9. Shirai, Kaiu (June 4, 2019). The Promised Neverland: Encounter. Vol. 14. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-881861-0.
10. Pineda, Rafael Antonio (April 25, 2018). "The Promised Neverland Manga Gets Novel About Norman in June". Anime News Network. from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
11. Hodgkins, Crystalyn (December 21, 2019). "The Promised Neverland Franchise Gets 3rd Novel". Anime News Network. from the original on January 29, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
12. Hodgkins, Crystalyn (October 23, 2020). "The Promised Neverland Franchise Gets 4th Novel". Anime News Network. from the original on January 13, 2021. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
13. Pineda, Rafael Antonio (December 18, 2018). "The Promised Neverland Gets Comedy Spinoff Manga in January". Anime News Network. from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
14. Sherman, Jennifer (March 28, 2019). "The Promised Neverland's Comedy Spinoff Manga Ends". Anime News Network. from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
15. TVアニメ「約束のネバーランド」Season 1. neverland-anime.com (in Japanese). from the original on February 4, 2023. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
16. TVアニメ「約束のネバーランド」Season 1. neverland-anime.com (in Japanese). from the original on February 4, 2023. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
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18. TVアニメ「約束のネバーランド」公式サイト. neverland-anime.com (in Japanese). from the original on February 4, 2023. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
19. Mateo, Alex (January 7, 2021). "The Promised Neverland Series Gets Game App". Anime News Network. from the original on November 24, 2022. Retrieved January 26, 2023.
20. Mateo, Alex (February 22, 2021). "The Promised Neverland Game App Launches in Spring". Anime News Network. from the original on November 30, 2021. Retrieved January 26, 2023.
21. Dennison, Kara (February 22, 2021). "Artist Mizutamari Pens Creepy-Cute Tribute to PROMISED NEVERLAND x IDENTITY V Collab". Crunchyroll. from the original on May 8, 2021. Retrieved January 26, 2023.
22. 「ジャンプチ ヒーローズ」、大型イベント「ジャンプチ大特集祭」を開催！『約束のネバーランド 編』をスタート！. PR Times (in Japanese). March 15, 2021. from the original on March 18, 2021. Retrieved January 26, 2023.
23. @dragonegg_rudel (May 22, 2020). 🔔『ドラゴンエッグ』×『約束のネバーランド』コラボイベント開始🔔 本日5/22(金)18時よりイベント開催‼️ 開始記念キャンペーンも実施中📢 コラボキャラクターのエマ、ノーマン、レイ、イザベラたちが仲間として登場！今すぐゲームにログイン📱#ドラエグ #約束のネバーランド #約ネバ (Tweet) (in Japanese). from the original on February 27, 2022. Retrieved January 26, 2023 – via Twitter.
24. 『約束のネバーランド』と『ビビッドアーミー』のコラボが開催決定. Aniplex (in Japanese). November 4, 2020. from the original on February 2, 2022. Retrieved January 26, 2023.
25. @yakuneba_staff (May 27, 2021). コラボ情報「LINE POP2」とTVアニメ『#約束のネバーランド』がコラボレーション✨ 条件を達成すると、コラボ限定LINEスタンプをゲッ その他、多数のコラボイベントを開催します🎶 ▼ダウンロード・ログインはこちらから！lin.ee/d6LjpSI/wots/d…OP2 #約ネバ (Tweet) (in Japanese). from the original on February 27, 2022. Retrieved January 26, 2023 – via Twitter.
26. 第41回アニメＧＰ. www.chikimato.net (in Japanese). from the original on May 13, 2022. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
27. "Results of the 6th Anime Trending Awards". Anime Trending. from the original on January 23, 2021. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
28. Shirai, Kaiu (June 4, 2018). The Promised Neverland: The Battle Begins. Vol. 9. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-881495-7.
29. Shirai, Kaiu (August 3, 2018). The Promised Neverland: Rematch. Vol. 10. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-881534-3.
30. Loveridge, Lynzee (September 10, 2018). "The Promised Neverland Readers Put Faith in Emma in Popularity Poll". Anime News Network. from the original on October 23, 2022. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
31. Shirai, Kaiu (January 4, 2019). The Promised Neverland: Starting Sound. Vol. 12. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-881692-0.
32. Toda, Kei (August 17, 2020). 英米文学者と読む『約束のネバーランド』 (in Japanese). Shueisha. p. chapter 3 - page 1. ISBN 978-4-08-721131-3.
33. Morrissy, Kim (August 20, 2020). "Shueisha's New Book Explores The Promised Neverland From Perspective of British/American Literature". Anime News Network. from the original on October 2, 2022. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
34. Vincent, Brittany (May 13, 2019). "The Promised Neverland is your next anime action fix". Syfy. from the original on May 13, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
35. Croquet, Pauline (April 25, 2018). "" The Promised Neverland " : deux inconnus à l'origine du manga le plus attendu de l'année". Le Monde (in French). from the original on May 31, 2022. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
36. "Nendoroid Emma". Good Smile Company. from the original on December 1, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
37. "TVアニメ『約束のネバーランド Season 2』ノーマン バースデーキャンペーン". Noitamina Shop (in Japanese). from the original on March 30, 2022. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
38. "Norman - The Promised Neverland". m.aliexpress.us. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
39. "Aniplex of America - The Promised Neverland". store.aniplexusa.com. from the original on June 5, 2023. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
40. "Norman - The Promised Neverland". www.bigbadtoystore.com. from the original on July 10, 2021. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
41. 約束のネバーランド×メガネフラワ. Neverland Anime (in Japanese). March 8, 2021. from the original on February 2, 2022. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
42. "約束のネバーランド×メガネフラワーコラボメガネ". meganeflower (in Japanese). from the original on February 27, 2022. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
43. 「約束のネバーランド MastercardUPty」メインキャラクター3名がクレジットカードになって新登場！. PR Times (in Japanese). July 28, 2022. from the original on August 2, 2022. Retrieved June 7, 2023.

External links

• Norman at The Promised Neverland manga official website (in Japanese)
• Norman at The Promised Neverland anime official website (in Japanese)