Volume 20

Beyond Destiny (運命の向こう岸) is the twentieth and last volume of The Promised Neverland manga series.

Synopsis
Back at Grace Field House, Emma faces Peter with the future of the demon world hanging in the balance. Meanwhile, something unexpected is happening in the demon capital. Can the children finally escape to the human world? And what fate awaits Emma at the end of her long journey?

Plot
Being the final installment, we learned about everything. We did see the fate of demons under their new royal regime that was set up in the last volume. In turn, we saw the fate of the farms as well as the conclusion to Grace Field standing up to Peter Ratri. We learned what kind of promise Emma made, and we saw the end of their journey.

Cover and Volume Illustration
This cover shows all of the current children in a group, smiling together.

Chapters

 * 172. Free (自由)
 * 173. Prisoners
 * 174. A New World, Part 1 (新しい世界①)
 * 175. A New World, Part 2 (新しい世界②)
 * 176. We're Home! (ただいま！)
 * 177. Mother (母親)
 * 178. To the Human World (人間の世界へ)
 * 179. Compensation (代償)
 * 180. Your Everything (きみのすべて)
 * 181. Beyond Destiny (運命の向こう岸)

Author Notes
I hope you enjoy volume 20.

Thank you for staying with us through the four years of serialization.

The anime, movie and some short stories are still coming, so please continue to look forward to the never-ending Neverland!

Lastly, to Shirai sensei! I'm very grateful that I was able to accomplish this huge project with you!

If I were alone, I don't think I would be here. It's been a miraculous four yeard.

I will keep working hard for just a bit longer to create more content.

Well then, everyone, let's meet again somewhere! Writer Shirai's personal highlights for The Promised Neverland fanatics, part 13!

1) It's not just the special omurice, there is also the secret salted konbu!

2) The name of the girl on page 170, in panels 5 and 6, is Lucy. (Demizu Sensei named her in chapter 105.)

3) It turns out that Gillian has been cutting everyone's hair since they've been in the shelter (and Nat too!).

The Promised Neverland and I are both here thanks to the miracle of meeting Demizu Sensei.

This is the final volume for the main story.

Please enjoy!

Around now, seven years ago... I was drawing the prototype storyboards of The Promised Neverland that I would later submit to the Shonen Jump editorial department. I was confident about my idea. But there were many elements of the story that didn't have the standard Jump traits. It had a female protagonist, and was plot driven instead of character driven. Even as I look back on it now, I strongly believe that depending on the editor, my submission could have been rejected on the spot. But editor Sugita-san read these unconventional storyboards and said, "This is intresting!" Without hesitation, he gave me the chance. And then it helped me turn these poorly drawn storyboards into a series by brainstorming with me and guiding me. Even during the serialzation, every single week, he never compromised in the search for a fun, concise and high-quality story. And even though he didn't have much time, he stuck with me until I was satisfied. I cannot put into words how much he's helped me from the day we met until now.

And Demizu sensei. She jumped into this project with everything, willingly and fearlessly, even though I was a nobody who had never even won an award. We had difficulty finding the artist, and at one point I had thought this project was done. But then Demizu sensei appeared before me like a god. She overcame every difficult challenge with her amazing drawing skills.

I don't know how many timesshe saved me, helped me and gave me exciting moments.

What if I had called a minute later to bring in the storyboards? What if I hadn't waited for the day to submit them and had given up instead? And what if I han't met Sugita-san or Demizu sensei? I and The Promised Neverland might not be here in front of you today.

To Sugita-san and Demizu sensei, who fought alongside me...

To my dear friend who first who first read the prototype storyboards and encouraged me with the words, "It's good, so why don't you just submit the storyboards?"

To the readers who supported me through the serialization and graphic novels...

To Demizu sensei'sstaff, everyone in the Jump editorial department...

To designer Ishino-san, volume editor Takeuchi-san...

I was able to runthis marathon because of you and everyone else who was involved with The Promised Neverland. Thank you so much!! I appreciate everything you did from the bottom of my heart!!

By the way, those bottles in the final chapter were the credits. (Laughs)

I will see you again, somewhere!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!! Shirai sensei, thank you much for guiding me this far. You are the best writer in the world. And to our editor, Sugita-san from the Jump editorial department, we were able to achive so much with The Promised Neverland because of you. I cannout express my apperciation to you enough. Thank you, and I hope we can keep working together.

Art Production Team:

Z, Tsubokawa, Tetsusaburo Takano, Taichi Mugino, Hiroshi Sendoda, Kotaro Nakagawa, Tatsuya Tanimoto, Misuzu Konuma, Nemi

I was able to complete the manga due to the cooperation of many people. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Trivia

 * From chapter 178 onwards, Shirai felt that the number of pages was too few to include everything he wanted. Chapter 179 was particularly affected by it. He once considered redrawing the chapter for the volume version. Originally, it was supposed to have a slightly eerie atmosphere where Chris would wake up and others would proceed to talk without worrying about Emma, then Chris would suddenly ask "Huh, where is Emma?". The pages weren't sufficient either, Shirai developed five different patterns for chapter 179's storyboard but he was still running out of pages. Eventually, he prioritized Norman and Ray's despair over Chris waking up.