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A shounen adventure through and through, Nanatsu no Taizai avoids many of the pitfalls of typical never-ending shounen to give us a story that never lets up, never gets boring, and never lets the excitement diminish … all while giving us a real conclusion with world-changing effects by the end.
I love me a good shounen action-adventure. It’s what got me into anime, and judging by the last round of new writer applications, probably you as well (Dragonball Z, Bleach, Naruto, etc). But I get leery when a new one pops up, because there’s a definite fear that it’s going to stretch on forever.
Nanatsu no Taizai doesn’t do that. It reminds me of stories like Mirai Nikki and No Game No Life, which aren’t afraid to burn through plot events in order to give us a good story right now. We started the story with Elizabeth and Meliodas searching for the other Seven Deadly Sins to save the kingdom, and by the end of the second cour, that quest was fulfilled. And, unlike stories like Bleach, I feel like the next adventure might be something different.
Let’s back up. From episode to episode, what makes Nanatsu no Taizai work? What this show does extremely well is manage the ebb and flow of telling a story. That’s a hard idea to grasp, so I’ll try to explain. Part of it is knowing when to take it slow, and when to ramp up the tension—and to always increase the stakes over time, so we don’t go from defending the kingdom one episode to finding a little girl’s lost shoes the next (a criticism I had of the latest season of Log Horizon). To quote the Left 4 Dead episode of Zero Punctuation:
“While most games endeavor to have a uniformly rising difficulty curve leading up to a satisfying crescendo, and hopefully a massive boss fight, preferably in space…”
That’s true of anime as well. (Replace “games” with “stories” and “difficulty” with “tension” for a more direct comparison.) Nanatsu no Taizai did that, which is a tried-and-true storytelling form for a reason.
Other reasons involve knowing how to execute a story well. Every arc had that same rising tension that led up to a satisfying crescendo, and never did they feel like they were wasting our time—we always seemed to be going somewhere, and in the end, we did. No episode was boring either, which is a lot harder to do than it seems—you can take my word for that as a storyteller, or simply look at all the other anime who screw that up.
I think it all comes to Nanatsu no Taizai valuing the feeling and experience over plot coherence. Not that the plot was bad—it was usually good, and usually made sense—but when something came up that didn’t quite gel (Arthur appearing out of nowhere, Guila suddenly crushing on Gowther, the revelation that Elizabeth is a Druid Maiden who can heal wounds with the power of the Goddesses, etc), it was easy to ignore because I was having so much fun. Plot coherence is a bonus in this kind of a story; the fact that asspulls were rarer than they easily could have been is a point in Nanatsu no Taizai’s favor.
I also really liked the main characters, because there wasn’t a damn one I didn’t like. Ban is a fan favorite for a reason, and he could have easily been an immortal bully, but his enduring plotline with Elaine makes him something more. Meliodas could have been an overpowered shounen protagonist, but he’s actually a smiling stoic with a dark past who, by midway through the series, was reliably running into enemies who put him through the ringer. Some people didn’t like Elizabeth because she was the weak girl Meliodas was protecting, but she was anything but weak in personality, and by the end, her magical power showed through as well. Not everyone needs to be powerful, especially when other girls are picking up the slack.
Speaking of, Diane was a bit more one-note, spending a lot of her time pining after Meliodas, but her insecurities are compelling while never turning her into a meek girl, which would have done her a disservice. King used to be my least favorite sin, but his run in with old friend Helbram and the revelations about his past with Diane were … just, dammit. *wipes away a tear* Being King is suffering, so seeing Diane pick him to go to the festival with during this last episode was sweet indeed.
The other sins weren’t as well developed. Gowther is more silly-stoic in the emotionless way, but we never get to dive deep into what makes him tick … save that it seems like there might be a dark reason behind Guila’s sudden love for him, and why Merlin wants to make him more armor. Merlin too was barely introduced before the series was over, though I have a feeling she’s going to be a lot of fun. And the last sin, Escanor … wait, that son of a bitch never even showed up. What the hell!
It’s clear that there’s more Nanatsu no Taizai after this last arc, and there’s a risk in that. The pacing was so good that trying to muscle Escanor into this adventure would have caused a time crunch, in addition to leaving all sorts of side plots (most notably, Ban’s quest to resurrect Elaine) unfinished. Yet would it have been better if the mangaka finished it in one amazing arc rather than stretching this out? I have great affection for works that know when to end, lest that continue for too long and poison their own success. I hope Nanatsu no Taizai doesn’t do that, that it eventually quits while it’s ahead. That time isnt yet though, even if it will need to continue in manga form only for the near future.
Nanatsu no Taizai is one of the shows I reliably enjoyed, and will be looking forward to more of even if the risk of never-ending shounen fills me with uncertainty. It’s a damn good shounen anime, and from the very first episode, was one helluva ride.
My first novel, Wage Slave Rebellion, is available now. (More info—now available in paperback!) Sign up for my email list for a FREE sequel short story. Over at stephenwgee.com, the last four posts: Sheet music, Wage Slave Rebellion is officially in print, From LEGO to author, and RIP Sir Terry.
Great anime though that final boss beating move made no sense and was a huge letdown from the build-up.
Well, it was established that Meliodas had a thing for counters, so while it wasn’t as well foreshadowed as the Mana Channeling in the final episode of Log Horizon, it wasn’t too much of an asspull. Besides, that was sort of my point—it’s about the feeling and the ride more than the logical consistency of the thing. That’s a demerit, perhaps, but not a bad one.
I personally found Meliodas’s big plan rather predictable, because it was totally a JRPG attack. If you play enough of those then you’d just know that someone with Meliodas’s moveset must have something like that.
It made perfect sense within the context of the story, they showed us several times how Meliodas can counter attacks in a variety of ways, first they showed him countering a single melee attack at the start of the show, then multiple combined melee and magical attacks by many enemies -holy knights 2nd generation- in the middle of the show when he stormed the capital, so what’s stopping him from having other variations of his counter move (like one with a delayed reaction) … i really don’t know in what way exactly it didn’t make sense to you?
This was my favorite show from the past season and my favorite shounen from a long time. You said it quite nicely – the tension was gradually rising with every enemy getting a bit stronger and ending with an epic showdown with the final boss. The story could have ended as it did even though Escanor was not introduced it was a perfectly satisfying ending, though the world created is rich enough that leaves room for more.
The main characters had amazing chemistry which reminds me of One Piece with all of them having some quirk which makes them unique and playing off quite well against each other. The side characters were also great with every single one of them getting some development and playing some part. Guila, Howzer, Jericho and Helbram were some of the better ones, but my personal favorite was Gilthunder, who played the role of cold-hearted bastard perfectly and the moment when he revealed his true intentions and gave Hendricksen an epic smackdown was my favorite in the whole series.
I am thinking of picking up the manga, though I’ve been told I should start from the beginning since they left a lot of things out. I think they did that in a good way, since I never felt something was left unexplained and they had to cut some material to fit this into 24 episodes.
In any case, it was an amazing, uplifting show of the type we get very few nowadays.
Most things you mentioned do get addressed in the manga though stilts. Like Guilla’s sudden affection for Gowther and why he acts the way he does. When it comes to the whole Elizabeth thing I think the manga did foreshadow it if I’m not mistaken. Overall it was pretty neat seeing it all animated since I had just recently picked up the manga before it got announced that it was getting this adaptation.
How more obvious do they need to make it, i thought Gowther’s sinister smile is proof enough Guilla’s affection for him is related to his power to manipulate people’s emotions/memories, after all he spent a decent time in her head trying to prevent her from turning into a monster, who knows what that creep did in her head.
That said i do agree there is a lot we don’t know about him, and aside from Merlin who seems to know him well the other sins don’t seem to know much about him either (King thought he was dead even though he showed us before he can survive very lethal injuries, even better than Ban), i suppose they left some characters to explore for the 2nd season including the seventh sin, while the ones who got fleshed out this season where Meloidas, Diane, Ban and King.
They can’t insert Escanor as he hasn’t had an appearance yet if you don’t count that one side story. Everything else has been slightly explained already, or at least foreshadowed (well apart from Arthur, that is).
Yeah, Stilts. A lot of your grievances are addressed in the manga. An the author found an excellent way to continue it.
I’ll answer all the “it was in the manga” comments here:
Fair enough. Good to know. Most of my points weren’t that this was bad (I didn’t have grievances, per say), I was just pointing out how the anime still worked even with some deficiencies. Hearing that it’s all better in the manga is cool, but I’ll probably never read it because I can barely keep up with my anime (I have to keep y anime blogger bona fides) (in fact, I don’t even really keep up with my anime nowadays), and if I’m going to spend any time reading anything, it’ll be a book so I can better learn how to tell stories in written form.
tl;dr Good to know some of the deficiencies aren’t present in the manga. Other viewers, you’d probably enjoy picking up said source material. I doubt I will, though, for time reasons as much as anything else.
The ending worries me if ever a second season comes as a lot of it has deviated from the manga. Explanations all that would have to be made and transition may be difficult. I can see a future for this show and hopefully the studio handling it can make a good transition into a possible new season.
Sin’s mangaka says he has 3 main arcs planned in total, and would like to end it around 20 volumes. He’s also been pondering a sequel arc that could bring the total to 30 volumes.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-01-19/the-seven-deadly-sins-manga-1st-of-3-planned-arcs-ends/.83434
Also, manga readers voted King as the most popular character in a recent Shonen Jump character poll for Sins.
PS. Is there enough material for a Season 2?
Is there enough for a new season?
Alas, not yet. This show took the story up to about chapter 102 or 103, and the manga right now is at chapter 120. So unless they want to leave the manga behind, it’ll be years before there’s enough for a sequel anime.
Taking a break for a year or more while releasing OVAs or a movie covering some side-material or side-stories seems like a good idea to me until the manga moves ahead a bit, kinda like Attack on Titan is doing now, the Attack on Titan OVAs and the recap movies will keep people interested until the manga moves ahead enough creating enough material for a decent 2nd season with zero filler.
I really really can’t watch anime series that have unappealing character designs. I probably missed tons of great anime over the years because of this, but unless it has a nice graphical aesthetic, I am out.
Fact is Nanatsu has some of the most appealing character designs in a shonen series, this manga cover is in fact the reason why i fell in love with that manga even before the anime was announced.
http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/nanatsu-no-taizai/images/3/3e/Volume_8_Illustration_Card_Animate.png/revision/latest?cb=20140501095352
Stilts, I suggest you follow the manga. The last episode opens itself up to the possibility of a second season with some unanswered questions but the manga does not, so the questions will be answered in due time. The only problem is this episode is somewhere near chapter 100. And by the time of this writing the latest chapter is 120. Catching up will not be that much of a chore(I think). As for Escanor: he is not shown in the main story of the manga yet! But in a side story, he proved to be a very interesting character.
I think Nanatsu no Taizai could have reached the level of the ‘Shounen Big Three plus Others’ but it is still very young. It just got its animation relatively early. But it was a great ride (both the manga and anime) and I would recommend this to anyone, even non-anime fans.
My one big disappointment with this show: I was on the watch for deus ex machina from all angles to save the day, but the one I was really hoping for was: Mama Pig. Come, if you have a giant, green, computer-generated pig in your story, you really have to have some fun with it.
She was not Green.. Watch episode 1 carefully 🙂 there she was Gray or something (i think). But lucky they gave her a Anime Texture, so with that she fits better in this World
Sorry, looks like my Memory fails me. She was Green from the Start, but somehow they changed her a Bit to fit her better in
I know, I mean I honestly though it was matter of time before Mama Pig sat/lied down/stomped on someone XD …Or, breathed fire or something 😀
But there is still hope!
Yes, this Show was a Helluva Ride. I liked it too
Yeah, there where this insane Power Ups, but somehow it still Hold the Balance entirely
This was a Nice Show. And if there would be a comeback, then Camelot would be the next Fighting Area
But i dunno, i think i can not say the same think about the mangas path. There seems the balance a bit off.. But lets see
Loved it through and through, the biggest reason why likely having to be how the show never once took itself seriously. One of the problems I have with most of the new age shounens is how they try and maintain an air of near hyperbolic seriousness and grimdark not fitting with their world of fantastical power-ups, names for every single move, and fight sequences that end up taking a season and a half to conclude. Taizai had a lot of these tropes, but the show to its betterment relied upon visual exposition over word dumps and kept the fight lengths down to a reasonable episode or two. In a sense rather than compete to see who can have the better story, Taizai decided to just have fun.
Manga readers have complained to hell and gone regarding this adaptation, but IMO as an anime-only viewer this show worked very well and gave everything that was expected and more. There were certainly some issues with missing story elements or rushed elements concerning some of the secondary characters (ex. the tournament arc), but there was more here that was a success than a flop. Definitely looking forward to Taizai’s return in a few years because you sure don’t give a teaser like that in expectation of never returning to the story. Who knows, might just get HxH back at the same time too 😛
It seems most people agree that Nanatsu is so good and enjoyable that they are willing to let some things slip as long as they are having fun, and i totally agree with that, i have few qualms (i.e too many supposedly dead characters coming back to life) but i don’t care .. it doesn’t detract from my enjoyment at all because i’m having a blast with the interesting characters and action, also the artstyle and character designs are the first thing that made me fall in love with the manga and wish it got an anime (which strangely happened very soon after i started reading the manga) .. there is just something charming about the character designs and use of colors … i stumbled upon this pic from the manga while wandering online and without knowing anything about the manga and i instantly fell in love with it –> http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/nanatsu-no-taizai/images/3/3e/Volume_8_Illustration_Card_Animate.png/revision/latest?cb=20140501095352
Can’t wait to get a new season, i don’t mind if they take a long break like Attack on Titan instead of flooding the series with pointless filler (looking at you big three shonen series), instead they could release OVAs and maybe a movie exploring the side-stories of the manga and keeping interest in the anime going until they have enough manga material to use into the 2nd season
I’m sorry but no…….no no no no FUCKING NO! This might be the combination of everything I hate about shounen. It amazes me how fast this anime pushed my buttons and made me question what on earth was going through the writers head.
There were deus ex’s EVERYWHERE. Not to mention so many freaking convenient events that you might as well call the show “The Seven Deadly Coincidences” because that shit happened at almost every turn. That’s one of the things that pisses me off VERY quick. Just going to list a bunch of examples. Grab a seat kids cause I’m going in full rant mode! >:/
First things first. Diane and Elizabeth magically running into a creature that could turn Diane small. How convenient? Or how about the Hawk’s mom SOMEHOW knew where Diane was and that Diane would transform back into her original form at that time? Is she secretly a telepathic pig or something?
Later in the Gowther arc
Let’s get this straight. The old man just HAPPENED to be carrying Liz’s sword and Elizabeth just HAPPENED to have the presence of Liz (she totally fucking doesn’t btw) which gave him an excuse to talk about her then the seven deadly sins just HAPPENED be in trouble near by giving Elizabeth enough time to save the day by bringing the sword at JUST the right time.
Yep…………..The Seven Deadly Coincidences it is.
To better explain this Liz doesn’t act or talk ANYTHING like Elizabeth. At least from what we were shown. For him to suddenly mistake her for Liz is really stretching the realm of human thinking. It was a forced contrivance of logic just so we could learn about Liz and her past AND so that he would give the sword to Elizabeth to give to Melodias in a poor attempt to make her seem useful. If Liz and Elizabeth both has similar personalities I’d be more forgiving of this circumstance but since they don’t I’m calling black label bullshit ^_^.
Didn’t like how they just skimmed through Liz’s backstory either unless they plan to reveal more later. All i saw was Melodias proving the stereotype that if you grope a girl enough times they’ll like you. If I had a nickel man………..if I had a nickel.
It doesn’t stop there. This anime pulls shit out it’s ass quite a bit later as well. Like how King apparently just happens to have a dog that can teleport people to other places…………yet he somehow forgot about it until the last minute? Like seriously? I’m surprised that Diane didn’t beat the shit out of him for forgetting something so useful. And he doesn’t ever use the dog again even though there were plenty of situations that would have called for him. It’s like the anime forgets the tools it’s established for the sake of the damn plot!
There is more stuff to come but let’s talk about the villains for a second (at least the ones that were worth mentioning imo).
Guila-
To be honest even with her backstory I have a hard time feeling bad for her. She’s been a rather cold bitch to in pretty much every case before we got her sob story but now all of a sudden I’m supposed to believe she’s doing it for her little brother? Meh that’s treading the line of cheap emotional manipulation. It’s like having a villain say I’M EVIL I’M EVIL! Then all of a sudden giving them some tragic backstory to justify it all. This isn’t something that is unheard of when it comes to villain backstories but I suppose I just prefer it when they show signs of having good intentions BEFORE we get their tragic sob story. The knight who fought with Diane (forgot his name) is a good villain because he’s one of the only knights that cares about the well being of civilians and is only fighting the Seven Deadly Sins because he’s been misinformed that they are evil.
Guila just wants to restore her family’s name by becoming a respected warrior ( i guess) so in hindsight that’s a respectable goal. I just don’t like the way she goes about as she deliberately screws people over while being uncaring of who she’s told to step on. Not to mention she should have the means to provide better protection for him since she’s a knight anyways. Your telling me she can’t afford to hire someone to watch him or something? Yeeeeeep bullshit for the sake of a sob story. Seeing the trend? 😛
Speaking of villains somebody needs to kill the main baddies for being stupid. This whole “we’ve been tricking you the whole time” trolling is really not necessary. They could have kept their mouths shut and went about their business. But nah they gotta blab about it so we can have two turncoats save the day. Not to mention the eyepatch guy decides “Yeah I’ll totally kill one of my soldier’s little brother (who for some reason conveniently shows up during the big showdown in the city because………..yeah no explanation there) and they’ll STILL be loyal to me!…………..probably.” Fucking retarded assholes :).
Gilthunder-
The anime seems to like pulling the rug out from under the audience for the shock factor but it really ruins any sense of emotional connection to these characters. Apparently Gilthunder (another villain) has been under control of Hendrick the whole season yet this entire time we were given virtually no clues or hints that this was happening (the closest being the jail cell scene he has with “Damsel in Distress #2). We suddenly get his little backstory which doesn’t really explain how he became this way because “we gotta keep it secret!”. We know that the true aspects of personality were hidden to this point so it’s a little late to just tell us “Yeah I had no choice bro. My bad!”.
And there was no real indication he was against fighting Meliodas his childhood hero (the anime tries to explain it with “manly bros” logic but that’s not something I’m willing to buy into). How did that “I’m stronger than the seven deadly sins” line let Meliodas know EVERYTHING about Gilthunder’s situation? It might tell him Giltunder wasn’t doing things intentionally but that’s it. How the shit did Meliodas figure out someone was captured? How the shit did Meliodas not merely assume Gilthunder could have just been trying to be ironic? FUCKING BULLSHIT LOGIC THAT HOW! The anime doesn’t even really explain it. It just says Meliodas knew because………..he fucking does! There is a lot that didn’t make sense there. But most of all it really cheats us from actually feeling bad for this character. We never got to see the years of pain he had to suffer through all this time. We never got insight on his backstory where he must have reached his breaking point multiple times. To put it simply his entire character felt wasted to me. Everything about his story is sympathetic but the anime just ruins it to the point I really didn’t care for him.
Moving on with the plot of that arc…..(I know you all must have hit the downvote button by now but I’m almost done :P)
How the hell how did Meliodas’s attack not kill Morga? Is it an attack that only kills evil or something? It’s called “Divine Slayer” but it’s clearly infused with his demonic power soooooooo how is that not a power combination paradox? Well that was never explained so I guess we gotta roll with it. Heck what would Meliodas have done if Morga didn’t conveniently come to the top of that building at exactly that time? I’m telling you man the coincidences in this show are even more OP than the heroes! 😛
It was so painfully obvious that Ban was going to have to kill someone close to him to revive his loli lover. The way they built it up almost felt like that fact was being beat into my head. That’s always how these things work. And Ban of course being the upstanding and swell guy he is has shows no noticeable genuine regrets about doing such a thing nor does he bother to even explain himself. Shit dude this is a world where you can apparently bring someone back to life TWICE (for plot conveniences of course). I doubt there isn’t something else out there he could look for to try to bring her back. He’s fucking immortal! It’s not like taking the time to find another means of bringing her back would take to long. Also the way Melioda’s arm magically came to Ban’s hand even though it was clearly shown flying off to the side of the screen beats any sort of magic I’ve seen in a long time.
Oh did I mention I hate Ban? Well in case you haven’t noticed I hate Ban so much. He’s such a terrible example of how you should do a anti hero character. None of his actions in this episode made me like him. In fact it already solidified the hatred I have for him. It’s funny how he’s supposed to appear selfless when he offers to give his life to bring his loli girlfriend back yet when it comes to killing his quote “BEST FRIEND” he just says FUCK IT! Did anyone not realize that actually makes him appear selfish NOT selfless? We even have to hear this stupid sob story about how he’s supposedly ALL ALONE even though the captain/sins have been his friends for ages now. The fuck outta here with your bullshit you man child!
Hawk on the other hand seemed to been an advocate for the audience calling him on his stupid logic. Yes killing your best friend at the request of some goddess you’ve never met and TOTALLY trust makes sense. You could not possibly find another way to bring back your loli even though you are CLEARLY immortal and have all the time in the world to do so. I should totally sympathize with this love struck idiot? Nope not happening. I’ve defended characters who have done similar things but the serious lack of emotional struggle Ban had during that episode made him completely unidentifiable.
Now that I think about it adding more to Ban’s list of douchebaggery he probably should have just told King what happened with that demon and what his plan was so that whole misunderstanding when they first met didn’t happen but you know…………..”he’s a badass” and all that. Drama between the main characters has to happen no matter how contrived it is right?
Oh and convenient demon placement is convenient so Ban could be the first to see it ^_^. It just never stops…….
Speaking of dumb heroes our Sins decided NOT to dispose of the person who has played a great hand in orchestrating this whole disaster (the teleporting lady). I mean seriously the girl can teleport at will. Who the fuck thought it was a good idea to at least not neutralize her power so she wouldn’t come back and mess things up? Are the heroes SUPPOSED to be stupid? Or is she being set up for redemption later too? Wouldn’t surprise me honestly. And it would make more sense than suddenly making her useless to the plot like she appeared to be afterwards.
SPEAKING of useless (Ok I lied I’ve got much more to complain about :3)
Elizabeth did something! Shit only took 23 episodes. So her power is super fast healing through the power of crying……….just think about that for a second. She activates her power………by crying. Like you can’t have a better power for a useless character can you? :P. Shit up until that point she didn’t really do much besides be used as Meliodas’ personal groping toy and get captured multiple times. Even early on she didn’t have the self respect to slap the shit out of him for assaulting her so I didn’t see her as much more than eye candy. If there is one thing I’ll admit the anime was actually somewhat clever in foreshadowing how her power worked at times but still that’s the ONLY thing I could give credit for in regards to the portrayal of her character.
Anyways this all leads to a pretty cheesy and expected ending.
I already knew what the Captains plan was before they explained it in the anime. It was so incredibly obvious that I think I lost respect for big bad’s intelligence. But what gets me the most is why on God’s green earth wasn’t the captain using his full counter BEFORE that final tactic? I mean it just makes no fucking sense. He had plenty of instances in which he could of done it. But he didn’t because……………I don’t even want to know anymore man. This anime is so forgetful of it’s established rules freaking Patrick Star would be impressed.
Probably the best thing about the final episode was Gilthunder actually acknowledging that the suffering he caused people in the end cannot be easily forgiven. I’d like to see them handle this development similar to how Avatar did it. But from the ending it doesn’t even look like he’ll have time to think about what he’s done since the plot happened before he could. Don’t you dare ruin one of the only moments I’ve liked so far show!
So if Hawk is alive but mini now does that mean all the other people who died are the same way too? Or does no one care? I’m betting on the latter :P. Don’t me wrong I’m glad Hawk is alive but there better a better explanation than “duh…….shit happens right?”. I’d like it better if they at least acknowledged why this happened by indicating Elizebeth’s strong feelings to bring Hawk back were stronger than they were for everyone else that way it sets up another strong emotional moment due to the nature of Elizebeth’s sympathy.
Bleh it’s whatever though. (Epilogue. It’s been a long journey lads but you’ve final reached the conclusion of this rant! ^_^).
I kind of went into this anime with low expectations. Expecting it to be a big dumb action adventure with a hint of romance. That’s something I’m typically ok with but this anime just pushed all the wrong buttons for me. The sheer reliance on luck, coincidences and dumb villains rivals Akame ga Kill standards. I strongly stand by the fact that an anime can be stupid but smart at the same time. It doesn’t have to be ALL stupid contrived nonsense. And to it’s credit the anime DID foreshadow some events in clever ways but those moments were far and inbetween. This is a series that runs on shock factor not coherent linear progression. Instead of giving us characters we can feel sorry for we are giving douchebags who when it’s most convenient make a sudden leap towards redemption when it’s rather unearned. Instead of making them sympathetic we have to see them only as jerks so we can be fooled by their 180 heel turn later. It’s that kind of manipulative writing that will NEVER sit well with me. I’ve seen that shit so many times in shounen it’s not even funny. I’m just not one of those people who can change my opinion of someone at the drop of a hat. Same thing is done with the heroes to. They end up doing things that the show had PLENTY of time to build up but just hides until the right moment to surprise the audience. Nope not flying with me.
Overall can’t say I enjoyed much about this anime. The Sins were pretty annoying (except for Hawk who isn’t even a sin), there was nothing really compelling about them and I wouldn’t really be sad if any of them kicked the bucket. The fights barely ever had any tension since most of the time it was just a matter of the Sins not using their full power similar to DBZ. And even later on when the fights got more serious you can count on stupid villains not finishing the job or deus ex’s popping up. FUCK THIS ANIME!
My redemption arc:
In all seriousness I acknowledge this anime just pushed my personal buttons and can see why people who don’t take it as seriously as I do like it. That’s why my rant was much more light hearted than usual 😛
So to that point I’m not trying assault anyone’s taste or anything. Hell I liked Kill la Kill (even if that’s more of a guilty pleasure) which is much absurd than this show. So I’m not acting as if I’m without fault here. It’s just that this is one of the few shows I decided to watch this past season since I’ve been slowing falling out of anime. So even with my low expectations for it to manage to piss me off to such a degree made me lose my cool a bunch. So forgive my noobish rant if you would :(.
Feel free to correct me on anything as I didn’t have to many manga readers where I was commenting on the show.
lols, that’s pretty much the longest rant i ever saw on RC, you beat my rants by a long shot, congrats, as for the actual content, look .. you simply ain’t going to change anyone’s opinion about the show even with a rant like this, if you don’t like it or feel shonen isn’t for you, just avoid it .. no need to waste your energy trying to make us hate it … we are all here enthralled by the show’s irresistible charm XD
Honestly, if you didn’t like it so much, you should have dropped it and saved yourself some bellyache.
I appreciate that you acknowledge that this one just pushed your personal buttons, and I understand why … convenient storytelling and deus ex machinas are a pet peeve of mine as well, it’s just one that I can ignore in certain circumstances where it’s more about the experience/ride.
Basically, they didn’t shatter my suspension of disbelief like they apparently did yours. I enjoyed it a lot, but me thinks you shoulda dropped it instead of enraging yourself, my friend.
This show really doesn’t take itself seriously enough to warrant all that. It’s not meant to be analyzed so meticulously. The concept itself is ridiculous. The charm in the show is the ride/experience but it’s not trying to be the next Ghost in the Shell.
The thing is when a show attempts to make the audience feel sorry for it’s characters or have these big dramatic emotional moments the “it’s not taking itself seriously” card doesn’t work for me. The thing with Kill la Kill is most of the time even during the serious moments the characters were constantly making light of the situation which made me able to ignore most of it’s character progression flaws.
Nanatsu doesn’t do it that unfortunately. It tries to have some moments of emotional despair that fall completely flat while being completely humorless during them. Ban and Gilthunder both had most of their suffering cut short for the shock value. But in doing that I was completely alienated from them when the show tried to redeem them leaving a bad taste in my mouth as I had to think about rooting for them. In my opinion if your going to make a show like this you have to establish a strong foundation between humor and emotional despair. Something Akame ga Kill and this completely fail at. That’s one of the things I liked about FMA Brotherhood. The show has TONS of humor and sometimes in places that mess with the tension but it knows when to let the heavy moments sit and strongly builds up the conflicts between the characters making their angst very relatable.
That’s probably the best aspect of the show, that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. There are def far worse current running shounen out there. One Piece I’m looking at you.
I never gotten past your first sentence…..
I would have to agree that this was just a fun show. Plus I liked the fact that instead of seeing a group have to slowly build themselves up, this group was legitimately strong from the start. Sure they could get stronger (like say Diane after getting her special weapon), but even without it she was pretty able to handle herself.
I’m not sure if Elizabeth’s ability was as much a shock. They had foreshadowed that fairly well along the way with people having miraculous recoveries, such as the doctor who got stabbed early on. Show just kind of shrugged those off though.
The whole cast was interesting in their own ways. Ban definitely ended up as my favorite despite not expecting him too. Mostly since by the end his behavior makes plenty of sense. A lot of it is just an attempt to distract himself.
Got to appreciated Meliodas getting a lot of badass moments especially near the end. While he has his silly moments no one else you can trust in a serious fight. A lot to that guy. No wonder he’s their Captain.
And yeah, King really shoots up the popularity scale when you get his full story. I mean damn being King is suffering. Loses his home, his sister, his best friend, and while technically his own doing….even his backstory with Diane. I mean wow he has a lot of bad stuff going on. Although I guess you can say that about Ban and Meliodas as well.
The show brought the action, some good music, and a likable cast. That’s enough for me to enjoy watching a good adventure. Just too bad we’re years out from getting another season.
…..This show is what FAIRY TAIL should have been.
I Agree with you. Fairy Tail can become a masterpiece if they didn’t take many detour.
Nanatsu no taizai can be described with one word “Fun”. It didn’t need any complex formula or one hell of stretch episode about training or flashback.
You can just enjoy the show and watch it for fun. Honestly this is the most recent Shounen anime i fully enjoy. I Think the big naruto,bleach,and one piece is good, but sometimes it lack the “Fun” factor. that’s what make Nanatsu no taizai different.
Nanatsu no Taizai was one of the most epic shows that have I seen in quite some time, and the manga even brings it up a notch. I’m happy that I discovered the series.
I know that many of you (like me) wants a second season, the ending was a subtle cliffhanger begging for continuation. But we’ll have to wait for another 100 chapters so that the studios can make the second season. The least the studios can do is to makes OVAs that carries the Edinburgh mission, I would love to see Ban’s face all drunk and LOLing after he used physical hunt, but he got what he deserves for that in episode 16.
To anyone who liked this (and in particular the manga source), I would recommend you try reading Kongou Banchou, the mangaka’s previous work. It’s a helluva lot of fun too (I dare say even more than Nanatsu no Taizai)!
So glad Hawk lived! Damnit, I love that pig.
I’ll take a season 2.
Oh, this was a fun ride indeed. Had a little mix of drama and emotion going on in there, but what I like as compared to the shounen ‘heavy-hitters’ is how the show doesn’t waste time with fillers and stuff like that, yet devoted some parts to character development. I like the humor too – pure and simple.
I hesitate to call this a masterpiece, of it was every bit the show I thought it would turn out to be – enjoyable, fun, doesn’t require too much thinking. I would watch a season 2.