Review of the anime Nanatsu no Taizai: The Seven Deadly Sins (“Seven Deadly Sins”, “7 Deadly Sins”)

What are your associations with the word shonen ? I associate it with something viscous, slow and pathetic. And with a huge number of episodes. But it’s true that once upon a time the anime of the shonen genre was exactly like this: with long and tedious battles in which enemies exchange pretentious phrases, and a very slow development of the storyline. But time passes, viewer demands grow, and the shonen genre evolves. I decided to dedicate the current review to one of the representatives of the new generation of shounens: this will be a story about the anime Nanatsu no Taizai : The Seven Deadly Sins (“Seven Deadly Sins”, “7 Deadly Sins”).

Brief information

“The Seven Deadly Sins” is a twenty-four-episode anime released by A -1 Pictures in late 2014 - early 2015. The original was a manga published from 2012 to the present day. The manga has sold more than ten million copies so far, so it can easily be called popular. Many motifs in the anime are taken from English culture and mythology: the tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, the names of the characters. And the action takes place in an alternative medieval Britain.

The anime tells the story of a world in which knightly orders still exist, and magic is not just fiction. And there are seven strongest knights in this world, who were nicknamed the Seven Deadly Sins for their character traits and unprecedented power. Once, during a coup, many famous knights were massacred by unknown people, and all the blame was placed on the Seven Deadly Sins, which is why they had to hide from retribution.

Ten years have passed, but rumors about the all-powerful warriors from the Seven Deadly Sins do not subside. And the kingdom is still uneasy - the knights staged a coup and seized power, taking the entire royal family captive. Only Elizabeth , the king's youngest daughter, managed to escape. She decided to go in search of the Seven Deadly Sins, since only they can restore justice and restore order in the kingdom. Luckily for her, very soon she meets the head of the Seven Deadly Sins - a young guy Meliodas , the strongest among them. True, his appearance is not the most appropriate, but who would dare to condemn him? As a result, Meliodas decides to help the fragile girl, and together they go in search of the remaining sins.

List of characters

Meliodas (Japanese: メリオダスMariodasu
) Voiced by: Yuki Kaji The main character of the story and the leader of the Seven Deadly Sins.
He embodies the sin of wrath, its symbol is the dragon. Although he looks like a child, Meliodas is actually much older. He owns a beer shop where he travels. She's a terrible cook. He loves to constantly paw Elizabeth, which angers the others. Despite this, Meliodas is very kind and friendly to everyone and always tries to fight not at full strength, so as not to seriously injure his opponent. This is due to the fact that in a fit of anger the guy becomes deadly, and even in the past he completely destroyed the kingdom of Danafor along with people close to him. As a result, Meliodas has been carrying a heavy burden for many years and does not want to harm anyone. He reverently protects Elizabeth, who strongly resembles his late beloved. In battle, he is incredibly fast and strong, his special ability is that he can reflect (completely or even exaggerate) an enemy's magical attack, turning it against him. In a fit of anger, Meliodas' eyes turn black and his body becomes covered with black patterns, and his abilities increase many times over. Meliodas belongs to the demon clan and has a middle brother, Estarossa, and a younger brother, Zeldris, who was sealed with the other demons. Meliodas is the former commander of the elite demon squad "10 Commandments", as well as the son of the Demon King, and it is his sin that he tries to atone for by protecting the seal (all the higher demons, Estarossa and Zeldris were sealed by an alliance of humans, fairies, giants, goddesses and Meliodas) . His sacred weapon is Lostvain, a short sword that allows him to create clones of himself at the cost of diminishing his own power. As it turns out at the beginning of the story, he sold it to buy himself a beer shop. The weapon was subsequently returned to him by Merlin. Despite the fact that Meliodas runs a tavern, his cooking is simply disgusting. After the main battle of the first season, the talking pig Hawk notes that Meliodas could defeat Hendrickson with his cooking. Elizabeth Lyonesse (Japanese: エリザベス・リオネスErizabesu Rionesu
) Voiced by: Sora Amamiya (TV-1), the Third Princess of Lyonesse and the main character, escaped from the castle during a palace coup and went in search of the Seven Deadly Sins to stop the holy knights.
As a result, she meets Meliodas, who agrees to help her. She is very kind and naive, and does not react badly when Meliodas starts groping her. Later it turns out that she is not a real princess by blood and was accepted into the royal family, since the blood of the Druid tribe flows in her veins, and although this manifested itself before, when people dear to her received wounds because of her, she herself knew this when she healed all the knights within a half-kilometer radius during the battle with Hendriksen. Elizabeth is similar to Meliodas' late lover Liz (because Elizabeth is essentially the "reincarnation" of Liz). In both the manga and anime series (at the beginning of the second season), when talking with Diana, she admits that she is in love with Meliodas. Hawk (Japanese: ホークHo:ku
) Voiced by: Misaki Kuno A talking pig who loves to eat leftovers.
He loves to chat and, despite his weakness in front of others, is always very brave and encourages the main characters. Flies into a rage when Meliodas pesters Elizabeth and sometimes ties him up. Unlike the others, he is very attached to Elizabeth. Despite his harmlessness and weakness compared to the Deadly Sins or holy knights, Hawk is not as powerless as he seems. For example, he can easily cope with ordinary soldiers or break down an iron door. Crew members sometimes make hints that they want to eat him. He dies protecting Meliodas and Elizabeth, but is then revived in miniature form, and after a few chapters he becomes normal size again. In additional episodes after the first season, which also describe Hawke's acquaintance with Meliodas, hints are given that the pig is the reincarnation of a talking parrot, who was once Meliodas' partner. It was also later revealed that Hawk was the eyes of the Demon King, who were watching over his eldest son Meliodos, showing him his plans. Diana (Japanese: ディアンヌDianna
) Voiced by: Aoi Yuki Sin of envy, bears the mark of a snake.
A girl from a tribe of giants, she is 30 feet tall, although she says she is 29. A cheerful and hot-tempered person, she often rushes into battle before thinking about the situation. She is in love with Meliodas, but her feelings are not mutual. At first she did not favor Elizabeth, being jealous of her for Meliodas, but after Elizabeth shows her courage, she changes her opinion about her and becomes friends with her. She stubbornly does not notice that King is in love with her, but she values ​​him very much as a comrade and friend. As a child, she lived alone in a cave, met King and communicated with him for many decades (time flows much more slowly for giants and fairies). Later, King erased Diana's memory and she forgot about meeting him. In the manga, he remembers his childhood and admits that he loves King during a conversation with Elizabeth. After the Sins were declared criminals, she hid in the forest and forced small demons to scare people away. Possesses colossal physical strength, as well as the magic of giants. Can control the earth and create stone pillars from it, as well as create golems from the earth. Her sacred weapon is Gideon, a giant two-handed hammer the size of a small mountain. With him, her ability to command the earth reaches a power capable of lifting entire mountains into the air. Shrunk to human size several times. One day, Diana, along with the leader of the giants Matrona, was hired by the knights of Lyonesse to help them fight the barbarians. However, this was a trap to increase the glory of the knights. As a result of the battle, Matrona died trying to protect Diana, and in order to avoid punishment, the surviving knights blamed the giantess for everything, saying that she killed Matrona out of envy of her strength, which is why she was called the sin of envy (Diana is the only character which his sin does not correspond to, more precisely, it was simply invented or was meant by her envy of people, because she believes that her loneliness is the result of her growth). Ban (Japanese: バン) Voiced by: Tatsuhisa Suzuki Sin of greed, bears the mark of a fox. The most controversial character, as he has qualities typical of a villain, which makes him an anti-hero. He is cruel and merciless to his enemies, has a tense relationship with the main characters and is prone to sadism. Acts only for his own benefit. Just his glance causes a feeling of horror in others. He is immortal and no matter how much he is cut or wounded, he is still instantly restored. A long time ago, when he did not have immortality, he was a thief. One day he climbed into a magical forest to drink from the source of immortality, but the guardian of the forest, Elaine, who turned out to be Harlequin’s sister, did not allow him there, claiming that without the source the forest would dry up. Ban realizes this and no longer tries to steal it. Finding out that Elaine is very lonely in the forest without her brother, he stays with her and falls in love with her. Promised Elaine to return her brother, Harlequin, so that she could be free and travel with Ban. However, seven days later, a demon attacks the forest and mortally wounds them both. Before her death, Elaine gives Ban the source and he destroys the demon. No one except Ban himself and, possibly, Gowther, knows what really happened in the forest. When the disheartened Ban was caught by the knights of Lyonesse, he was sentenced to death for burning the forest and killing the guardian, but thirty-two executions did not produce any result. For a long time, King thought that it was Ban who killed his sister and destroyed the magical forest, and tried to take revenge. Ban himself dreams of bringing Elaine back to life and is ready to do anything for this. Although he does not own magic, he has the ability to absorb the enemy's forces, which, together with immortality, gives him the ability to fight for a long time, exhausting the enemy. His clothes are constantly spoiled and he periodically steals them from others. At the end of the first season, Ban fulfills Elaine's last request and plants the last seed of the fairy forest, thereby reviving it, regularly returning and donating his blood to a new source of eternal life. For this reason, the surviving fairies consider him their king. His sacred weapon, ironically, was stolen by someone. Unlike his commander, Ban is an excellent cook. King (Japanese: キングKing
) Real Name |Ilyar|
Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama Sin of Laziness, bears the mark of a bear. Real name - Fairy King Harlequin, despite his childish appearance, has lived for more than 1000 years. At the beginning of his life he did not like people and tried to avoid them. He also has a second form of a fat man, in which he was all the time ten years before the main events. Can fly, but unlike most fairies, does not have wings. Once upon a time, he left the magical forest, which he and his sister were supposed to protect in order to save his best friend, but he was suddenly wounded and lost his memory and met little Diana. Later he was accused of criminal inaction, since his friend, whom he could not save, had been traveling around Lyonesse for a long time killing people. After 700 years, remembering everything and returning to the Forest, he saw that it was completely burned out. King began to blame Ban for everything and tried to kill him. He owns a sacred weapon called Chestifol - a spear that he can masterfully control from a distance and which has several modes, for example, small spears, a giant deadly sunflower or a green pillow (this is the form it appears in most often). He is in love with Diana, but she always pays attention only to Meliodas, which greatly hurts King. Gowther (Japanese: ゴウセルGōseru
) Voiced by: Yuhei Takagi The Sin of Lust, formerly included in the "10 Commandments" as "Selflessness Gowther", bears the mark of a goat.
The calmest and most rational of the Sins. Since he used to wear huge armor, everyone was sure that Gowther must have been almost a giant, like Diana. In fact, he is a short young man with a thin build. His main trump card lies precisely in a psychic attack, he is able to read the thoughts of others, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of a person, he can manipulate and instill desires in people. But its main weapon is to penetrate the enemy’s memory, forcing him to remember or empathize with his greatest fears and mistakes. Thus, Gowther can render any opponent, regardless of his strength, incapacitated, forcing him to fall into deep stress. Wields a sacred weapon called Kheritt, which is a double one-handed bow made of light. In fact, Gowther is a doll animated by magic, trying to understand people and their feelings. Merlin created a magical bracelet for him that replicates the functions of the armor. Merlin (Japanese: マーリンMa:rin
) Voiced by: Maaya Sakamoto Sin of gluttony, wears the mark of a boar.
A powerful magician, she was a mentor to the young King Arthur for a long time. Able to create illusions, teleport and heal wounds. According to Gowther, she is a potential traitor, since after the Sins discovered the dead supreme commander of the Holy Knights, she put everyone to sleep and fled. However, after reuniting with the rest of the Sins, it turns out that perhaps this was all part of some kind of plan. Her sacred weapon is a crystal ball called Aldan, which she can use for reconnaissance. She is also able to transfer her soul into it. Escanor (Japanese: エスカノールEsukano:ru
) Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita Sin of pride, bears the mark of a lion.
Human. Has an innate ability called Sunlight: weak at night, but becomes incredibly strong in the morning, reaching its peak strength at noon (at its peak, it becomes the strongest of the deadly sins). At the same time, his personality also undergoes changes: from modest and timid, he turns into narcissistic and arrogant. After noon, his strength begins to gradually decrease, and his temperament begins to return to its former self. In love with Merlin. On the posters he is depicted as already elderly, but in reality he turned out to be a middle-aged man with a bushy mustache. His sacred weapon is a one-handed ax called Ritta, which he can only use when strong, that is, during the day. Zaratras (Japanese: ザラトラスDzaratorasu
) Great Holy Knight, father of Gilthunder and brother of Dreyfus.
His death was blamed on the Seven Deadly Sins. In fact, it turns out that he was killed by Dreyfus, who asked Hendriksen for help because he was jealous of his strength. Gilthunder (Japanese: ギルサンダーGirusanda:
) Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano "Diamond" Holy Knight, wields lightning magic.
He fought with Meliodas several times and even won. As a child, he trained with Meliodas and suffered because, in his opinion, he was too weak. Which is why I trained hard. Being a holy knight is shown to be a cruel and cold man, looking down on common people and not hesitating to kill Elizabeth, despite being friends with her as a child. Subsequently, it turns out that Gilthunder and his beloved Margaret were watched for ten years by chimeras, ready to kill one of them if the other did something wrong. When Meliodas frees him from the curse by killing the chimera that was watching Margaret, Gilthunder begins to fight alongside the Sins. Gila (Japanese: ギーラGi:ra
) Voiced by: Maria Ise Holy Knight of the new generation.
He fights with a sword and has the “Explosion” magic. Pursues the main characters in an attempt to kill Meliodas and capture Elizabeth. It later turns out that she has a younger brother, Zil, for whom she became a holy knight, and drank the blood of a demon to become stronger and protect him. At the beginning, she is shown to be a cold and cruel girl who is ready to do anything to win in battle, but then it turns out that she is doing this for Zil, and is shown to be a kind and caring older sister. During the final battle of the series, when Diana saves her brother from falling rocks, she rethinks her role as a knight and sides with the Sins. Gila's father was a holy knight, in the manga it is shown that he left his family for unknown reasons, then it turns out that he, like Gila, drank the blood of a demon in order to become stronger and be an example for his children. Despite her young age, Gila is very smart and independent. Hauser (Japanese: ハウザーHouza:
) Voiced by: Ryohei Kimura "Platinum" Holy Knight, a friend of Gilthander, with whom they often work in pairs, forming a strong team.
Using his magic he summons a tornado. Although he is a knight, he never actually entered into battle with the main characters, preferring only to observe from the sidelines, and even has some feelings for Diana. Dreyfus (Japanese: ドレファスDorefasu
) Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi Great Holy Knight, who took this position thanks to the murder of the previous knight, even though he was his brother.
For a long time he was Hendriksen's right-hand man, filled with a sense of honor, and this at the same time makes him feel strong guilt for the death of his brother. He committed murder because of the jealousy that burned him, since his brother was better than him in literally everything. During the battle with Gowther, he used a psychic attack to make Dreyfus feel his fears again, after which Dreyfus rethought his role as a knight and decided to side with the king and the sins. Supposedly he dies in a fight with Hendrickson, but later it becomes known that both knights were for a long time under the control of the demon responsible for the destruction of Danafor and was the true enemy of the Sins all this time. After their victory over Hendrickson, he still carried out his plan to free the demon clan. Hendrickson (Japanese: ヘンドリクセンHendorikusen
) Voiced by: Yuya Uchida Great Holy Knight.
In fact, he was the main villain in the series, as he led a coup d'état and imprisoned members of the royal family. Also supervised experiments on a demon corpse to increase a person's strength. As a result of experiments on himself, he gradually began to turn into a demon. He also intends to fulfill his dream and open the gates to hell with the help of Elizabeth's blood so that the demons destroy the majority of the population and only the strongest remain. However, his intentions are thwarted by Meliodas. Subsequently, it turned out that Hendrickson was only a puppet of a demon who owned both his consciousness and the consciousness of Dreyfus (the latter to a greater extent due to his strength), which he informs Griamore, Houser and Gilthunder, hoping for their help in the fight against the freed demons. Griamore (Japanese: グリアモールGuriamo:ru
) Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai A holy knight who protects Princess Veronica, to whom he is strongly attached.
Son of Dreyfus, nephew of Zaratras and cousin of Gilthunder. His ability is an absolute wall, born from his desire to protect Veronica. This wall cannot be destroyed even by a meteorite (although Diana managed to do it). Helbram (Japanese: ヘルブラムHeruburamu
) Voiced by: Ryotaro Okiayu (human form), Hiroshi Kamiya (fairy form) King's best friend, also a fairy.
700 years ago, he and other fairies who were absent from the Forest were attacked by smugglers who hunted fairies for their wings. He killed the main attacker when he was distracted by King, and, taking on his appearance, began to take revenge on people. Many years later, he died at the hands of King, but was resurrected by Hendriksen and became a Holy Knight. He was subsequently killed twice more by King. Vivian ( Jap
.
The selfish woman, under the influence of her magic, Gilsander became the faithful paw of Hendrickson and became cruel. Jericho ( Jap
.
During the flight, Ban disgraced the girl, tearing off her clothes. After that, Jeriko vowed to take revenge on the ban and sins. To do this, she agreed to drink the blood of the demon, but also because she wanted to become stronger than her brother. During the battle in Luoness, when Hendrickson released the blood of the demon from the new generation of control, lost all his magic.

Plot

The plot of The Seven Deadly Sins is simple, but interesting. Meliodas moves around the kingdom, gathering his comrades scattered to the farthest corners of the earth, while simultaneously fighting enemies in the form of holy knights. The idea of ​​a plot in which the main character assembles his team over long episodes is not new. However, in the case of The Seven Deadly Sins , the plot does not slow down and is constantly developing. In four episodes you will be shown the same amount as in any other shonen in twenty episodes.

Criticism and popularity

As of August 2014, the manga volumes have sold 5 million copies.[20] And by January 2015, their number increased to 10 million[22]. In the first week after the release of the first volume of the manga, it sold 38,681 copies, becoming the 13th best-selling manga according to Oricon[23]. The second volume reached number 5, selling 106,829 copies in its first week,[24] and the third reached number 3, selling 135,164 copies.[25] Volume 12 of the manga was the most successful, selling 307,374 copies in the first week, placing the manga in second place in terms of sales.[26] However, the best result was for volume 9, which became the best-selling manga, but sold fewer copies than volume 12.[27] Nanatsu no Taizai was the 9th best-selling manga of 2014 with 4.6 million copies sold.[28] According to Kono Manga ga Sugoi!

the manga
Nanatsu no Taizai
became the fifth best manga of 2014 for male audiences[29]. The manga was nominated for the Taisho Award as the best manga of 2014[30], as well as at the Angouleme International Comics Festival as the best youth comic of 2014[31].

The manga volumes released in the United States, in particular the eighth and ninth, were included in the bestseller list according to The New York Times[32][33]. Rebecca Silverman, a critic for Anime News Network, gave the manga a 4 out of 5 rating, calling the story an interesting "knights in shining armor" saga. The critic noted that the main character Meliodas was created under the clear influence of the work of Akira Toriama. Rebecca also noted that the style of the female characters is influenced by shoujo manga from the 70s. However, the critic reproached that the main character Elizabeth as a person turned out to be rather weak[34]. Silverman and Danica Davidson noted in another Otaku USA magazine that Meliodas' occasional antics with Elizabeth, while humorous, may be misunderstood by some readers.[35] Jason Thomson noted that the manga's plot itself largely follows shonen conventions, thus making the plot and dialogue predictable, although he praised the manga's style and its "European" theme.[36]

Characters

There are many characters in the title. Who is there in the Seven Deadly Sins : here you have kings, and knights, and magicians, and ordinary residents, and sisters, and brothers, and distant relatives, and the dead who turned out to be alive, and the living who turned out to be dead, and also knights (their really a lot). Among all this diversity, about a dozen characters play a significant role in the plot, the rest appear for a maximum of two episodes. I will not give a detailed description of the main characters, since there is a detailed article on Wikipedia, and I don’t want to repeat myself. I’ll just describe my impressions.

It is clear that the central character is Meliodas . This is another super-strong hero with incredible strength, which, however, is known to few. Due to this, situations often occur when various villains underestimate the enemy, and rightly receive cabbage soup. An often used technique, but no less pleasant. I liked Meliodas as the main character. He was made to be calm, confident, but at the same time ready to fight seriously for his friends and loved ones. The only thing I didn't like about him was his pestering of Elizabeth. But more on that later.

Elizabeth . A typical main character in an anime whose main target audience is boys aged 14 and above. A slender, big-breasted blonde with a sweet character, and also a princess. It's hard to imagine a more fanservicey character. I wouldn't have any complaints about her if the writers made her character deeper, because it seemed too superficial to me. Yes, she is spontaneous, yes, honest and ready to sacrifice herself. And that, in fact, is all. Over time, the character does not develop at all, and this is noticeable. Therefore, I cannot attribute Elizabeth to the advantages of “The Seven Deadly Sins”.

If we talk about other mortal sins, then the writers did their best. They are truly original and unusual. I would especially like to mention Ban - I haven’t seen a more charismatic character in a long time. On the one hand, he was made a positive hero, but endowed with a large number of negative qualities, which draws even more attention to Ban. Plus, the writers came up with a high-quality and tragic backstory for him. It was not for nothing that I chose the one in which Ban and Meliodas are depicted together as the main image for the review, since they seemed to me the most interesting characters. However, the rest of the “deadly sins” are not inferior to them in originality.

But the villains didn't impress me. The truly evil heroes in The Seven Deadly Sins show with their entire appearance how bad they are, they look very caricatured. If the villain looks like an adequate person, then most likely it will turn out that he was forced to commit villainy, and in fact he is very nice and fluffy. In general, I expected more from negative characters.

Deadly sins[edit]

Proud look[edit]

The presence of this sin is explained by the fact that such a pitiful creature as a person must steadfastly endure all the hardships and deprivations of his pitiful, worthless, short and never-ending life throughout his pitiful, short and never-ending life, and not show off in front of even more pitiful creatures than him myself. According to the Bible, these servants of God must work from dawn to dusk[1], with their eyes on the ground, and therefore with a proud gaze

is considered if the angle of downward gaze of a mere mortal with the horizontal is less than 22.5°. If the pathetic bastard dares to raise his worthless little eyes above the horizontal, then this impudent person will forever scrub the bottoms of the boilers in his circle of hell.

Lying tongue[edit]

There is only one true

language - Hebrew. All other languages ​​of the world, accordingly, are false. Obviously, only Jews, polyglots, or at least oligoglots can avoid this sin.

Hands that shed innocent blood[edit]

The shedding of previously innocent blood by a sinner during his lifetime.
Yes, yes, drawing blood is also considered shedding. If a mere mortal, who has not yet committed any of these sins, thinks that he will go to heaven after death, then he is greatly mistaken. After the death of such a “holy” person, first of all, an autopsy awaits, during which, at God’s command, pathologists will cut his hands to supposedly study the blood supply to the muscles of the wrist. In this case, innocent blood will be shed from the hands of the corpse, which was required to be proven as the described sin for the deceased.

A heart that forges evil plans[edit]

God introduced this sin just for fun, since the heart is a fibromuscular organ that ensures blood flow through the blood vessels, and is not a blacksmith, and by definition cannot forge anything.

Feet running quickly towards villainy[edit]

God knows absolutely all the atrocities on the planet, no matter how insignificant at first glance they may be (for example, if a grandmother did not give up her place to a pioneer, who had previously repeatedly given up her place to other grandmothers and deserved that pensioners would give way to him in return). And if the vector of movement of some running commoner, for example, late for the bus, approaches one of the places where the crime is taking place, this means that he is committing this sin (formally, not himself, but his lower half, but God doesn’t care ).

False witness telling lies[edit]

A cunning redirect made by the wise Lord to mortal sin No. 2. And whoever dares to doubt the omnipotence and inexhaustible imagination of God will repeat the fate of Sisyphus, who brazenly declared that God would create a stone that he could not lift himself.

Sowing discord between brothers[edit]

To commit this sin, it is enough to have different interests from your brothers. For example, if your brothers like to play “Counter-Strike” on the “de_dust” map as terrorists, and you play “Counter-Strike” on the “de_dust” map as counter-terrorists, then you are grossly committing this sin, since your interests are diametrically opposed compared to your brothers, as well as fratricide[2].

Drawing and music

If I just liked the art, then I am indescribably delighted with the music. Great openings, great endings, great background music. I've said more than once that I don't often pay attention to background music while watching, but in the case of The Seven Deadly Sins, it instantly grabs my attention. The art is also good - clear, bright, perfect for shonen anime. Studio A-1 Pictures rarely disappoints in this regard.

Humor

The last plus that I would like to note is humor. Meliodas' harassment aside, the jokes in the anime are funny and original. Just look at the arm wrestling between Meliodas and Ban, after which the most powerful protective spells begin to break down. Thanks to humor, dramatic moments are balanced, which adds variety to the emotional background of “The Seven Deadly Sins.” And the more diverse the anime, the more interesting it is to watch, right?

Flaws

The first is fan service . Meliodas's harassment of Elizabeth is funny for one, well, two episodes at most. Then I felt nothing but irritation. And it would be okay if she fought back and fought back, but on the contrary, Elizabeth reacts to harassment as something taken for granted. The second drawback is unjustified cruelty. Moreover, I noticed this paradox: despite the fact that blood is constantly being shed on the screen, no one dies! Even if it seems that the character has died, after a few minutes it turns out that he was miraculously saved. Do you show the viewer blood, but at the same time you don’t want to traumatize him with the death of the hero? So what? And the third drawback is chatter during battles. Although this manifests itself to a lesser extent than in other shonen anime, it was not possible to completely get rid of pretentious phrases.

A moment of reflection

A few boring thoughts that are not directly related to “The Seven Deadly Sins” . I think it's obvious from the introduction to this review that I have a generally negative view of shonen. The reason is simple: very often, when writing a script, the authors openly mess around, which leads to a sharp decline in quality. You don’t have to look far for an example - take Naruto or Bleach . I'm not saying that this anime is bad, but one fact is undeniable: it is simply impossible to make an anime rich and interesting when its length exceeds five hundred episodes. In the works I have listed, the plot is generally not bad, but it is so diluted with useless chatter and fillers (branches of the plot) that it becomes, as it were, secondary.

Now imagine Naruto, but consisting not of five hundred episodes, but of fifty, even a hundred episodes. Throw out the pretentious conversations during battles, throw out the episodes that are not related to the main plot - and you will get a very high-quality and rich series that will be interesting to watch not only for ardent fans, but also for anyone who cares about anime. But, unfortunately, it is more profitable for studios to release five hundred episodes of a popular shonen, because there will still be an audience, so you don’t have to worry about the quality. Money, money decides everything...

It's actually not that bad. I can think of only four shonen anime whose length exceeded 300 episodes: the well-known Naruto, One Peace, Fairy Tail and Bleach. They just seem so dominant that when the word “shounen” is mentioned, these are the titles that come to mind. However, shonen has long ceased to be slow and boring. It’s no longer so easy for viewers to feed themselves on sluggish anime. Therefore, studios have to come up with new tricks when releasing shonen anime in order to gain the attention of the viewer. And in the example of The Seven Deadly Sins this can be seen in all its glory - the competent work of the screenwriters and directors is obvious.

Notes

1. ↑ 1 2
   Man With A Mission, Alisa Takigawa Perform The Seven Deadly Sins' New Songs
   (unspecified)
   . Anime News Network (December 21, 2014). Access date: January 19, 2015.
2. No.52 2011年11月22日（火）発売 (Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved November 9, 2013. Archived November 10, 2013.
3. 七つの大罪 (Japanese). Kodansha. Access date: June 20, 2014.
4. The Seven Deadly Sins Manga's 1st of 3 Planned Arcs Ends (unspecified)
   . Anime News Network (January 19, 2015). Access date: January 20, 2015.
5. FAIRY TAIL」、真島ヒロが「七つの大罪」を執筆 (Japanese). Natalie (October 19, 2013). Date accessed: November 11, 2013.
6. Fairy Tail, The Seven Deadly Sins Get Crossover 1-Shot Manga (unspecified)
   . Anime News Network (December 6, 2013). Date accessed: December 6, 2013.
7. The Seven Deadly Sins Gets School Comedy Manga Spinoff (unspecified)
   . Anime News Network (June 29, 2014). Access date: June 29, 2014.
8. The Seven Deadly Sins Gets One-Shot in Nakayoshi Magazine For Girls (unspecified)
   . Anime News Network (September 3, 2014). Access date: September 3, 2014.
9. The Seven Deadly Sins Manga Gets Comedy 1-Shot Story (unspecified)
   . Anime News Network (September 20, 2014). Access date: September 21, 2014.
10. The Seven Deadly Sins' 2nd New Spinoff Manga by Creator Posted (unspecified)
    . Anime News Network (February 26, 2015). Access date: February 26, 2015.
11. Kodansha Comics Adds UQ Holder, Seven Deadly Sins Manga (unspecified)
    . Anime News Network (October 11, 2013). Access date: November 4, 2013.
12. The Seven Deadly Sins Volume 1 (unspecified)
    . Amazon.com. Access date: November 4, 2013.
13. CRUNCHYROLL LAUNCHES "CRUNCHYROLL MANGA" DIGITAL COMIC PLATFORM (unspecified)
    . Crunchyroll (October 30, 2013). Access date: November 4, 2013.
14. Crunchyroll to Simultaneously Offer Kodansha Manga in 170 Countries (unspecified)
    . Anime News Network (October 26, 2013). Access date: November 8, 2013.
15. The Seven Deadly Sins Fantasy Manga Gets TV Anime (unspecified)
    . Anime News Network (April 11, 2014). Access date: April 11, 2014.
16. 」TVアニメ化決定！単行本は累計300万部突破 (Japanese). Natalie (April 16, 2014). Access date: July 27, 2014.
17. アニメ「七つの大罪」10月より日5枠で放送 (Japanese). Natalie (July 27, 2014). Access date: July 27, 2014.
18. ↑ 1 2
    The Seven Deadly Sins Anime Commercial Streamed
    (unspecified)
    . Anime News Network (July 27, 2014). Access date: July 27, 2014.
19. The Seven Deadly Sins Anime's Game, Cast, Staff Announced (unspecified)
    . Anime News Network (August 1, 2014). Access date: August 3, 2014.
20. ↑ 1 2 3
    The Seven Deadly Sins Anime's Theme Songs, Game Detailed
    (unspecified)
    . Anime News Network (August 12, 2014). Access date: August 12, 2014.
21. The Seven Deadly Sins Manga to Bundle OVA Episode About Ban (unspecified)
    . Anime News Network (March 16, 2015). Access date: March 16, 2015.
22. The Seven Deadly Sins Manga's 1st of 3 Planned Arcs Ends (unspecified)
    . Anime News Network (January 19, 2015). Access date: January 19, 2015.
23. Japanese Comic Ranking, February 11-17 (unspecified)
    . Anime News Network (February 20, 2013). Access date: November 10, 2013.
24. Japanese Comic Ranking, April 15-21 (unspecified)
    . Anime News Network (April 24, 2013). Access date: November 8, 2013.
25. Japanese Comic Ranking, June 17-23 (unspecified)
    . Anime News Network (June 26, 2013). Access date: November 8, 2013.
26. Japanese Comic Ranking, December 15-21 (unspecified)
    . Anime News Network (December 24, 2014). Access date: January 19, 2015.
27. Japanese Comic Ranking, February 16-22 (unspecified)
    . Anime News Network (June 25, 2014). Access date: June 25, 2014.
28. Top-Selling Manga in Japan by Series: 2014 (unspecified)
    . Anime News Network (November 30, 2014). Access date: November 30, 2014.
29. Top Manga Ranked by Kono Manga ga Sugoi 2014 Voters (unspecified)
    . Anime News Network (December 9, 2013). Access date: December 9, 2013.
30. 10 Titles Nominated for 7th Manga Taisho Awards (unspecified)
    . Anime News Network (January 20, 2014). Access date: January 20, 2014.
31. Akira's Katsuhiro Otomo Wins Angoulême's Top Prize (unspecified)
    . Anime News Network (January 29, 2015). Access date: January 29, 2015.
32. New York Times Manga Best Seller List, May 11-17 (unspecified)
    . Anime News Network (May 23, 2014). Access date: May 23, 2014.
33. New York Times Manga Best Seller List, September 14-20 (unspecified)
    . Anime News Network (September 26, 2014). Access date: September 26, 2014.
34. The Seven Deadly Sins GN 1 - Review (unspecified)
    . Anime News Network (May 15, 2014). Access date: June 29, 2014.
35. The Seven Deadly Sins Manga #1 (unspecified)
    . Otaku USA (April 14, 2014). Access date: June 29, 2014.
36. House of 1000 Manga - Crunchyroll Manga (unspecified)
    . Anime News Network (November 14, 2013). Access date: November 14, 2013.

Ratings

Characters – 7.0. As in any other shonen, there are a huge number of characters, but only a dozen important to the plot. High-quality positive characters, stereotyped negative ones.

Plot – 7.0. It's banal, but catchy and looks surprisingly easy. You don’t notice how you swallow episode after episode. The main interest is not the main storyline, but some side ones.

Drawing – 8.0. Beautiful and bright. Perfect for shonen anime.

Music – 10.0. Very high quality background music, and wonderful opening and ending songs.

Humor – 8.0. If we put aside the harassment towards the unfortunate Elizabeth, there were many funny moments.

Season Three[edit | ]

Holy War Memories Arc[edit | ]

Colland's Arch[edit | ]

Mentor Arc[edit | ]

Gathering of Commandments Arc[edit | ]

New Holy War Arc[edit | ]