Volume 8

The Forbidden Game
Volume Information
Japanese Title	禁じられた遊び
Romanized Title	Kinji Rareta Asobi
Pages	192
Japanese Release	April 4, 2018 ISBN 978-4-08-881384-4
English Release	February 5, 2019 ISBN 978-1-9747-0229-9
Volume Guide
Previous	← Volume 7
Next	Volume 9 →

The Forbidden Game (禁じられた遊び, Kinji Rareta Asobi^?) is the eighth volume of The Promised Neverland series.

Synopsis

With their guide working against them, Emma and Ray find themselves surrounded by deadly demons in an unfamiliar forest. They’ll have to learn how to fight quickly to have any hope of surviving and making their way to Goldy Pond. But what awaits them there…?

Plot

The Promised Neverland Vol. 8 sees Emma, Ray, and our nameless guide fending off the demons. The man hides and lets Emma and Ray deal with them on their own. They formulate a great plan and escape but when they let their guard down, Emma is suddenly kidnapped by the Poachers. It appears it was the man’s plan all along to lure them close to Goldy Pond and let the Poachers take one of them. Satisfied that Emma will, most likely, die… the man swears not to harm any others. Ray won’t have any of that and decides that he’s going to Goldy Pond to rescue Emma no matter what the cost. Meanwhile, Emma finds herself at Goldy Pond and the truth about that area is revealed: it is a secret hunting grounds for the demons. Children are not always killed during their shipments, instead, some shipped to Goldy Pond where a group of eccentric demons hunt them for sport, unbeknownst to the rest of the world. If word got out, it would violate the treaty with the human side of the world. There, Emma is thrown into a game of survival where she meets Violet, a girl who finds her optimism rather annoying.

The rules are simple. The music plays… you’re hunted until the music plays again, and then you wait three days for the next hunt. Once the hunt is over, Violet takes Emma to their base of operations and introduces her to a bunch of kids who were shipped there. However, there’s one more person she wants Emma to meet. Here, we are introduced to Lukas, the only adult who has survived the hunts for 13 years. Together with Emma, he wants to abolish the hunting ground but most-importantly, he values Emma because she has the key to William Minerva’s door!

Cover and Volume Illustration

The cover shows Emma and Ray running away from the Demon's plates and set of cutlery in the back, with their weapon at hand.

Chapters

• 062. Indestructible Monsters (不死身の怪物, Fujimi no Kaibutsu^?)
• 063. Help (HELP, Herupu^?)
• 064. Could Have Been Me (もしもの私, Moshimo no Watashi^?)
• 065. The Secret Garden (シークレット・ガーデン, Shīkuretto Gāden^?)
• 066. The Forbidden Game, Part 1 (禁じられた遊び①, Kinji Rareta Asobi ①^?)
• 067. The Forbidden Game, Part 2 (禁じられた遊び②, Kinji Rareta Asobi ②^?)
• 068. This Is How It Is (こんなもんだよ, Kon'namon Dayo^?)
• 069. Introduction (会わせたい人, Awase Taihito^?)
• 070. Hide-and-Seek (かくれんぼ, Kakurenbo^?)

Chapter Covers

Author Notes

When I was a kid, I went finishing in a small pond and I accidentally cut my hand with a lure. I remember thinking how much it must hurt for the fish who are caught.

The children of Goldy Pond know that someone will be sacrified every time. Do they wonder how much it will hurt for the one being sacrificed?

I'm sure they do.

Okay! The arc about the horrible village will continue in the next volume. Until then…try imaging how someone could survive in this village.

— Posuka Demizu

Writer Shirai's interesting tidbits for The Promised Neverland fanatics, part 3!

The maximum age for those who will leave the nest (be shipped out) differs depending on the farm. For Grace Field it's 12 years old. For Glory Bell it's 15 years old.

In this volume, there is a place where you can find out the Geezer's general age. Was it what you thought it was?

Please enjoy this volume! (By the way, did you notice the "umeboshi in the shelter" in volume 7?)

— Kaiu Shirai

Extra Pages

Reception

Critical Response

Volume 8 garnered positive responses from critics. Nick Creamer from Anime News Network gave the volume an A grade for its story, A+ grade for its art and an overall grade of A. Creamer describes the Search For Minerva Arc/Goldy Pond Battle Arc chapters to have embraced both the series' classic conflicts and Shōnen staples to excellent effect and stated that Demizu's art has never looked better.

Eric Cline on the website Adventure in Poor Taste gave the volume an entirely positive review and a total score of 10 out of 10, and went into depth in praising the writers' way of introducing the antagonists in this volume, especially Leuvis. The critic also praised Posuka Demizu's art, saying how it impresses him with countless small details.