) The Anime Otaku Survey #2: The Seven Deadly Sins · 12:55am Nov 12th, 2018
Hello and welcome back to the Anime Otaku Survey! It’s been a little while since my previous installment. For anyone just tuning in for the first time, this is a blog series dedicated to the study and review of anime that I watch. I highlight everything about the show that stands out to me, the good and the bad. As always, my reviews on here tend to be a bit spoilery, so you have been warned.
Let’s get right into it. I’ve been following along with this anime for a little while on Netflix. This adventure fantasy was written by Nakaba Suzuki and published by Kodansha to the Weekly Shonen Magazine. My impressions with its first season were pretty decent, so I decided to come back to it a couple of weeks ago and give the second and third seasons a try. I will stick with the second and third seasons for the purposes of this review since they are the freshest in my mind.
The second season basically turned out to be a nothing season. It was an interlude between the two arcs of the series. It doesn’t really belong anywhere else, but to call it a season feels a bit misleading as well, and it was somewhat of a letdown for anyone that has been following along with it since the beginning. That extra year wait between arcs was insufferable for me personally. I think I actually became disinterested in the show for a while because of that, which is a real shame since it seemed to be running with an interesting concept.
There are Seven Deadly Sins, who are among the most powerful holy knights of Britannia. They are originally branded as traitors, but they end up saving everyone and proving them wrong at the end of the day.
The whole concept that they represent the seven sins while having a code of chivalry starts off as quite interesting to me. They each have their own quirks that distinctly separates them from the mold of a knight. And, of course, since this is a shonen series, that means they all powerful abilities uniquely their own.
Their values and principals are tested in the third season by a group called The Ten Commandments, whose name sounds like they belong to the Holy Knights instead of the Seven Deadly Sins. In actuality, The Ten Commandments are the elite group of a demonic race that are bent on wiping out the human race. However, with a name like the Seven Deadly Sins, they seem the natural antagonist for the story. As their name implies, each one of them represents one of the commandments, which plays a role into their abilities and strengths. Galand the Truth, for example, automatically turns anyone who lies around him into stone.
What this means to the characters is that they must overcome each of their trials, for a lack of a better word, in order to prove their worth and chivalry. Merlin, one of the sins, fails by lying to Galand in an attempt to delay the Sins’ defeat. Later, when Pride is introduced and fights Galand, he overcomes the trial against Galand, which causes the Commandment to break his own vow out of fear.
From a structural narrative standpoint, I believe the story intends for the protagonists to overcome each of the trials. The act of doing so shows that the Sins are the epitome of the qualities a Holy Knight stands for.
There are a number of things about the story’s execution which negatively impacts my experience with it, however.
The first complaint I have is with Diane, the sin of Envy, who lost her memories once before the beginning of the show. King, the sin of Sloth who has loved her since she was a child, had been devastated by it. At one point in the anime, she regained her memories and realized that she was in love with him, too. They were somehow taken away from her again, seemingly in the fight with Galand.
However, the culprit turned out to be Gowther, the sin of Lust, as he was performing an experiment to understand feelings or something. I understand that his background would drive him to question what made people feel, but the way this plot device was presented felt contrived to me. When King finally came back to confess his feelings for Diane, only for her to inform him she no longer remembers him, it felt like a cheap trick to keep them away from each other. I almost stopped watching the series because there seemed to be no payoff for Gowther, who didn’t come any closer to understanding feelings for it, not so far as I could tell. Maybe that will change later on, but for the time being, this will remain an unclosed distraction that bears little consequence to me amidst all of the action.
Another even larger complaint is the backstory regarding Dreyfus and Hendrickson. In the first season, Hendrickson wanted to revive the Demon Clan to provoke a Holy War in order to give a reason for his order to exist. Dreyfus tries to stop him once he makes a truce with the Sins out a feeling of regret, but he is killed by Hendrickson’s Acid Down skill. Hendrickson injects himself with demon blood (from a Gray demon) when his arm is cut off, which makes him into a full demon. He fights Meliodas, the sin of Wrath and leader of the Seven Deadly Sins, where he is defeated.
Then, in the third season, it is revealed that Dreyfus had actually been controlled by Demon Fraudrin the entire time, and used Dreyfus and Hendrickson both to try to revive the Demon Clan. I have so many questions about this plot device. First, Dreyfus was entirely obliterated by Hendrickson’s attack. How did he survive the attack? We could surmise that it was all an act and he pretended to kill Dreyfus, but I don’t think anyone was there to watch the act in the first place. Why did Dreyfus need to be the one to be possessed by Fraudrin, and not the other way around? Additionally, when this tidbit is revealed, Hendrickson is freed from the demon blood he consumed as well as whatever control Fraudrin had on him. I have a tough time explaining this plot point because of how convoluted it came across to me. I truly don’t understand what is going on here.
There are a few other things. Zhivago, Ban’s (Sin of Pride) father, was strong enough to avoid all the punches and kicks from townsfolk and make it appear as though he was getting hurt, but he was also too weak from old age that he died soon after he and Ban reunited. He seriously died in his arms despite looking fine and healthy in the previous episode.
Moving on from the storytelling, which I could probably nitpick to death over, the anime’s visuals and soundtrack are pretty good. It has fairly decent action sequences that I actually don’t mind watching.
And despite my earlier complaint on a defining character moment, the characterization of most of the characters are charming. Meliodas, for example, is laid back and happy most of the time. Rarely does get serious in the situations he’s in. He certainly doesn’t feel like the person who’d represent the Sin of Wrath despite having ample motivation for that type of behavior. He actually does hold that wrath inside. He eventually confronts it as part of a trial to get his full powers back. It was recommended to him that he lets go of all emotion so that he doesn’t lose control of his power again, but he instead finds a way to redirect his anger and keep his emotions. Then there’s Gowther, who tends to be clueless when it comes to social interactions, and he has a wild imagination that comes along with his overly-analytical stoicism.
I have some complaints with some of the plot threads and the way others were presented to me, but so far I remain at least somewhat entertained by this series. I believe that I will also be mostly pleased with the way the Ten Commandments arc is handled, and I’ll continue watching through to its completion. Given the issues that are prevalent since the beginning of the series, This anime wouldn’t be my first recommendation. However, I still think it’s worth the watch if you’re into Shonen anime. At its core elements, it has strong fighting sequences, and interesting characters to keep you engaged most of the time.
Score:
Concept: 6/10
Storytelling: 4/10
Visuals/Soundtrack: 8/10
Characterization: 7/10
Subjective: 4/10
Final Score: 6/10
If you’ve watched this anime, what were your thoughts on it? Also, if you have any animes you would like me to review, feel free to let me know in the comments below. Stay tuned next month’s review on Hellsing Ultimate.
I'd welcome any review on the following:
-Neon Genesis Evangelion (plus movies)
-Corpse Princess (Shikabane Hime)
-Trinity Blood
Oh yeah, and Death Note.
7 Deadly Sins sounds intriguing.
4966685
Nice choices!
I have watched Death Note and Neon Genesis Evangelion, but in the case of the latter, I'd have to rewatch in order to formulate opinions on it. I remember liking it though. Death Note has always been one of my favorite anime, so you can expect me to score that one fairly high. I've been recommended Trinity Blood a lot, so I have to watch that someday. I'll go ahead and add all of those to my list.
I've watched through. I've enjoyed it, but I would like to add one other criticism of Diane. They really don't do enough to highlight why she's the sin of envy. There was a little of this in the first season, but if you ask anyone about what sin she is supposed to represent based on anything after you could say anything and it would make as much sense as envy.
Also, it is really inbalanced how much time certain group members get for development. Growther and Merlin being the biggest offenders of not much screentime to develop them. They just introduced the sin of pride this season and he feels like more of a complete character already than those two.
And can we please get an explanation about where the pig and the giant pig momma come from?
4966770
All valid criticisms. I did not even think of the thing about Diane. and Yes, Gowther not getting enough development is precisely why that whole concept of him wiping Diane's memories again felt like a slap in the face. Just like "Oh, I did it." ahhh!