Nanatsu no Taizai: Imashime no Fukkatsu – 19

「メリオダスvs< 十戒>」 (Meriodasu vs )
“Meliodas vs The Ten Commandments”

I underestimated Nakaba-sensei. After the way that Galand—and Melascula, or so we thought—bit the dust, I thought Meliodas was going to shave a couple more Ten Commandments off the number. Which is odd because still the strangest thing is that Galand appears to be gone for good (Melascula coming back is not surprising). It’s just that I’d begun to accept that this story was going off on an odd path. Turns out it’s taking a path more trodden, but it’s going down it swiftly enough to surprise.

Meliodas’ battle against the Ten Commandments shows a level of tension in combat storytelling that Nanatsu no Taizai has proven itself well capable of, but hasn’t employed as of late. I know I tend to harp on it, but once power levels were introduced, combat became a math problem more than a struggle of ability and will. Power levels didn’t matter this episode, though. It was enough to show that Meliodas could handle two of the Ten Commandments—two legendary warriors!—but when the other seven showed up, he was obviously in trouble. It was tense, with that drumbeat of, “How is he going to get out of this? How is he going to get out of this?” thrumming in the background. The others watching and weeping over the proceeding accented it. The result was deeply uncertain.

Even more so because Meliodas had a plan. Take the hits. Make them think your arms are shot. Make them think you’re at your wit’s end, and then use your trump card to kill them all. If you look closely to the images flashing by, eight of the Ten Commandments were shown acting as if this attack would end their lives. The only problem is, there was a ninth.

Oof. That cliffhanger. Nanatsu no Taizai is back to doing that good work, where we can guess where it will go, but what it really comes down to is where Nakaba-sensei wants to take this whole thing. It doesn’t seem like there’s any way for him to get out of there, and five of the Seven Deadly Sins are watching on in horror. Maybe Merlin has a way to extract him from the situation—if anyone does, it would be her, even when she’s stuck in an orb—but the path it will take is deeply uncertain (save for to manga readers, no spoilers please). This was a good darn episode, though. My heart can’t take too many of them, but I enjoyed this one.

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