The fierce battle between Meliodas, the captain of the Seven Deadly Sins, and the Great Holy Knight Hendrickson has devastating consequences. Armed with the fragments necessary for the revival of the Demon Clan, Hendrickson breaks the seal, allowing the Commandments to escape, all of whom are mighty warriors working directly under the Demon King himself. Through a mysterious connection, Meliodas instantly identifies them; likewise, the 10 Commandments, too, seem to sense his presence.
As the demons leave a path of destruction in their wake, the Seven Deadly Sins must find a way to stop them before the Demon Clan drowns Britannia in blood and terror.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
Stop me if youâve heard this one before but it seems that battle shounen anime in recent years have been on the decline. Boku Hero no Academia became a big name that is able to carry itself but beyond that, thereâs hardly any other that made a name for itself. Well, thereâs Black Clover but that abomination is an example of giving battle shounen a bad name in recent years. Boruto has been an underwhelming sequel that looked more like a cheap cash grab for the franchise. Where does a show like Nanatsu no Taizai still stand? To be fair, the series already established itself fromsome of its other projects like the first season, OVAs, and movie. It isnât as long as some other shounen like Naruto, Bleach, or One Piece. In fact, itâs not even part of the âBig 3â as Westerners would call it. However, Nanatsu no Taizai does make a name for itself by developing its own ideas. The first season established the principle cast and felt more like a way to get viewers familiar with the story. In this sequel, the business really picks up as new dangers are unleashed into the world.
For those who donât remember, the story picks up right after the first season as Hendrickson breaks the seal on the Coffin of Eternal Darkness. By doing so, he unleashes a group of powerful demons known as the âTen Commandmentsâ. Essentially, they are the central antagonists of this season. While we donât know too much about them, itâs known that they hold a deep grudge against Meliodas for betraying them in the past. The first few episodes establishes their testament in power as one of their members is able to make Meliodas look like a jobber in a one-sided fight. This implies that the Ten Commandments are more powerful than anything Meliodas and his friends ever dealt with. In terms of characteristics, the Ten Commandments are known for their unique âCommandmentâ power and various personalities. For new viewers, you may be surprised at how much personality these beings show for their characters. Itâs actually somewhat human for characters like Galandâs arrogance, Fraudrinâs manipulative nature, or Monspeetâs politeness. Unfortunately, thereâs not much concrete characterization for the Commandments. I blame this mostly on the pacing because the manga explores much more about their past and roles.
Thereâs actually two sides of the coin regarding the pacing of the show. On the surface, it is indeed slow and some elements of the plot can really be condensed. I actually felt impatient after seeing the season focus so much on characters like Diane and Ban. The latter is actually more important but really should of been shorter than shown on TV. In addition, Meliodasâ past is explored only enough to give viewers an impression of who he is. In essence, it isnât enough to show the more important side of his role as a âbetrayerâ to the Commandments. In addition, anime only viewers will probably question what it really means when certain characters call him a âdemonâ and âformer leaderâ. The other side to look at is how faithful the anime adaptation is. Most chapters cover literally everything from the book with many chapters on a panel-by-panel basis. Itâs loyal to the manga readers that really bought the show into what it is. Nothing is changed for fans of the manga especially those who are looking forward to certain scenes to be adapted.
Despite the season focusing on the conflict with the Commandments, new characters are also introduced from the good guyâs side. The most noticeable character is Escanor, the seventh and final member of the Seven Deadly Sins. He makes a hell of an impression that will make viewers hunger for more of his role this season. Other important support characters also make returns that may surprise you.
A-1 Pictures once again uses their resources to adapt this sequel although it actually impressed me for their work. There are certain episodes that really stood out that includes Escanorâs character debut, Meliodasâ confrontation with the Ten Commandments, and Galandâs rampage. Animation quality remains similar to the previous season although A-1 Pictures still falls into the occasional trap of awkward character models. There are also some scenes that didnât feel as impactful as those in the manga especially in terms of character expressions. However, the battle scenes lived up to its expectations. This especially applies to climatic battles in the latter half of the show that also brings credibility of character power levels.
The music and OST is still composed by Hiroyuki Sawano although Iâm a bit disappointed that most of it is just a rehash of the previous seasonâs. The new theme songs also sounds less impactful. Despite that, I think character voice mannerism should be given praise especially for the Ten Commandments. Yuki Kaji is able to voice two characters with very contrasting personalities. Others such as Escanor makes their personality stand out much more thanks to the modern talent of Tomokazu Sugita.
Nanatsu no Taizai: Revival of the Commandments is a battle shounen that is faithful but perhaps a bit too much for its own good. This series suffered from some pacing issues that I feel like some viewers will not easily forgive. Plus, some of the new characters didnât really get the amount of charaterization it deserves. However, I would like to say to give this sequel a chance. Itâs still part of the franchise that is committed to its ideas and continues to develop the main story as itâs intended. I just hope that when the next inevitable season comes, we get a real showstopper.
There aren't great many things that make Nanatsu no Taizai a good anime or even worth of watching. There still are some, and I have personally been able to enjoy this season --or at least most of it-- better than I ever thought was possible. The main characters are not among these reasons. Our mc is pretty much the most boring and uninteresting shonen lead there has ever been. On the other hand, he is also so bland and empty character that he isn't very annoying either. Outside the fact that he is voiced by the same guy who did the main lead in Guilty Crownwhich is always a minus. Elizabeth brings exactly as much to this series as Orihime did to Bleach. Pretty much all the rest are so forgettable that I had to spend 30 minutes reading FAQ's before even starting this season just to get some sort of recollection of who is who... only to see that it literally does not matter if you don't know who anyone is. Practically anyone can be criticized with more words than they can be praised with. The series is amazing like that.
The story certainly does not make this series worth of a watch for anyone. Or if it does, then I surely am not among these fellas who watch this series for its story. One could say the story makes it hard to enjoy even (especially during the 2nd half of this season), but it doesn't require all that much effort to look past most of its problems. If you have the tendency to pinpoint flaws and count how many times a series aimed for 13 years-old youngsters chooses the most obvious outcome, then this show most likely is not for you no matter what I will say few paragraphs after this one. Smart choices have still been made here in terms of writing. For one, the series doesn't constantly rely on powerups, asspulls nor friends who come to save the day on the very last second. Even "the best anime ever", Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, did this constantly. In fact, being a cliche shonen story, Nanatsu no Tanzai has abandon surprisingly many of the common cliches and tropes. Few of the romantic subplots and the heart-warming conclusions to drama are actually pretty well-written, and the show can be praised for how well it succeeds in terms of the given drama and past stories.
The art, sounds and overall production of this series are not the reason -- or even close to the reason -- why I considered this to be entertaining. In fact, the art is often eye-catchingly bad. Especially the character design on most of our main dudeouses seem to be the visual representations of their uninteresting personalities. The animated mouth movements seem the worse the more you pay attention to it. It's hard to unsee once you do. The OST is nonexistent, but during some of the drama moments, makes the series seem better than it is. Powerful, good songs right there. Otherwise the OST rarely serves the series, but on the other hand, it is fairly original and has practically no similarities with tracks commonly heard in FTS series. This is, at the very least, worth of noting. Now that all the reasons on why this show is not the best thing ever are over with, let's talk about why I was able to enjoy it: Let's talk about two amazing characters.
"Apologize to me that you were born into this world."
The not-even-a-bit-arrogant Escanor is the epitome of 3 things: badass, manly and bro. This fella is the manliest character I have seen in anime since the muscular, mute and shirtless Freddie Mercury seen in the anime 'Cromartie'. Escanor speaks, has manlier mustache and occasionally even wears a shirt. Are you part of the Armstrong cult from Full Metal Alchemist? I have good news for you: You are now part of the Escanor cult. Remember that guy from Saint Seiya who only ever trained his grip power? Running around in the forest, strangling bears to death. Frankly, that fella couldn't even shake Escanor's hand. Overall, Escanor is the most interesting character I have seen in shonen anime since Hisoka (Hunter x Hunter). Man so manly, he is able to carry pretty much any content with his personality.
"This must be the nest of humans."
Galland is the other great character and also a real bro. Only cares about destruction, sees humans as parasites or insects. I admire this character. He does great job on creating the illusion that our main characters are in real danger and might as well die at any point. Without spoiling if this happens by his hands or not, he really does manage to convince me upon his introduction that this might as well be the faith of any character who is not protected by plot armor. The way he manages to corner our main characters is just really badass. It's surprising even to see how the author challenges his own writing skills by creating such hard-to-overcome situations around Galland. To put is simply: Galland is so merciless that if he had a role in Fairy Tail, I would still be convinced that he can actually kill someone of importance in it.
As a conclusion, these 2 characters make this season highly enjoyable. The former season + OVA are air to me, I never cared about this franchise until now. The 2nd season of Taizai does one thing right, it is this thing, and it does in a manner which I can give it credit for. Despite all the problems the show has, this season was still of high caliber for approximately 70% of the time.
30 found helpfulJun 29, 2018
kokuborou
Recommended
7
This is a short and on point review about the second season of Nanatsu no Taizai. A-1 Pictures adapted the source material as it did with the previous season but this time it did a good job regarding the characters. After finishing the first season nothing left a good impression, the story and characters become forgettable after some time . Season 2 solves all the previous problems from the first season and focuses on the bonds between our characters, their past and how they eneded up as the 7 deadly sins making them memorable for our viewers. We also have a new sin Escanor whois probably imo the main reason to watch this season.
As you watched the ova series you know how Ban ended up being immortal , in addition to that season 2 shows his past as a child and the one who teached him how to be a thief and many more surprises who will bring a litlle warmth to your hearth....We found out more about Melioda's lover more about his connection with the 10 Commandments and his bond with Elizabeth. Even the bad guys from season 1 get their reasons explained so they won't end up just as a tool for the 7 deadly sins to look cool after beating them. Long story short, less fights more worldbuilding and characterization which for I praise A-1 Pictures for sticking to the source material.
The story overall is not something outstanding it follows the usual shounen formula but what gives some substance and depth to this season are the characters ! Music is good as always the animation top notch(A-1 Pictures always invest tons of cash regarding that..) and enjoyment guaranted nothing more or nothing less from this genre.
Enjoyment has always been a + factor for this anime and season 2 doesn't forget to entertain its audience with the character's humour side and fights. The skills are mostly explained and also in each fight their is a stake involved.. What brought new season 2 in comparasion to season 1 are the Ten Commandments who among them are some interesting characters who you cannot hate them despite being evil.
In conclusion this season managed to make me experience a variety of emotions, managed to amaze me and entertain me to a certain point in each episode and finally it left a overall good impression after I finished it. I recommend it to those who are interested in this genre or for the usual Nanatsu no Tazai manga and anime fans.
