Emma (The Promised Neverland)

Creation

Kaiu Shirai avoided making Emma too plain and chose a female protagonist because the first antagonist, Isabella, is also female, believing the mother-daughter relationship would make the story more interesting. Emma had two options: escape with her siblings or become a mother at Grace Field House. Shirai stated she is not a boy and lacks extraordinary physical abilities or special powers, breaking the Shōnen Jump mold of protagonists. He described her as energetic, like light, motherly, and idealistic, balancing Norman and Ray. Posuka Demizu said the story needed a different kind of protagonist, so Emma came naturally, and she did not need to follow Jump style. Demizu noted Emma is one of the hardest characters to draw, taking the most time per panel. In the anime, Sumire Morohoshi voices her in Japanese, Erica Mendez in English, and Minami Hamabe portrayed her in the live-action film.

Appearances

Emma is one of the smartest children at Grace Field House, considered one of three Premium quality goods along with Norman and Ray at the third plant. She has green eyes and short light orange hair that sticks up in all angles with a long lock curving upward from the right side like an antenna, and a smaller one from the base of her neck. Like Ray and Norman, she consistently gets perfect scores on daily exams. At the story's start on October 12, 2045, she is 11 years old, wearing the Grace Field uniform: a shirt, white skirt, and brown shoes, with authentication number 63194 tattooed on her neck.

During the escape, she cut off her right ear to prevent Isabella from finding them, wearing a bandage over the wound. After her adventure in the demon world, she wears various adventure-appropriate outfits. Emma appears in three of four light novel books, the comedic spin-off Oyakusoku no Neverland, and four drama CDs released with the anime's Blu-ray discs. She is a playable character in the mobile game The Promised Neverland: Escape the Hunting Grounds and in crossover collaborations with Identity V, Jumputi Heroes, Dragon Egg, Vivid Army, and LINE POP 2.

Reception

Emma won Best Female Character at the 41st Anime Grand Prix in 2019. She was nominated for Best Protagonist and Best Girl at the 4th Crunchyroll Anime Awards in 2020, and for Girl of the Year at the 6th Anime Trending Awards in 2020. She placed second behind Norman in the Color Illustration Character Poll in 2018, and first in the Weekly Shōnen Jump popularity poll that year, also taking first in the second popularity poll with 5,581 votes. Critical acclaim came from professionals, writers, and reviewers.

Aya Kikuchi of Real Sound described her positively. Yukari Fujimoto and Morizono Milk highlighted the significance of a female protagonist in Weekly Shōnen Jump, with Morizono noting the manga's achievement. Kei Toda explained Emma is unlike a feminine heroine but not completely boyish, depicted with both masculine and feminine elements, breaking common depictions of gender roles and solving problems flexibly. Kimiyo Ogawa stated Emma lives based on her family and their qualia.

Merchandising

Good Smile Company released a Nendoroid figure in September 2019. Noitamina Shop & Cafe Theater held a cafe event selling merchandise for her birthday in 2019. Emma appeared in a WIXOSS trading card game crossover in April 2019. Other merchandise includes figurines, plush dolls, perfumes, mugs, and T-shirts. A collaboration with Megane Flower glasses in March 2021 offered limited-edition frames designed after Emma, Ray, and Norman. She was featured on a MasterCard credit card in 2022.