Since the proper second season of The Seven Deadly Sins has now started, I thought it was time to rewatch the first series to refresh my brain about it. The first time it ended up being pretty fun to watch, yet the second time it ended up being even better.
Story (9/10)
Set in early medieval Britannia, it follows a princess called Elizabeth, who is looking for the Seven Deadly Sins to help her stop the Holy Knights. Luckily she happens to accidentally encounter the Sins Captain, Meliodas.
It actually has a fairly simple story, the first half mainly has Meliodas, Elizabeth and Hawk finding the other sins, while also battling with the Holy Knights on some occasions.
But it keeps the story entertaining by concentrating a lot on the characters while also having them fight a bunch of battles, which was entertaining and fun to watch because the show gives the characters very quick development where you just like them instantly and a lot of the stuff that happens between the sins can be either hilarious or emotional because these guys have such good chemistry together in battle or having nice beer.
The second half of the story does continue with finding the sins, but once Gowther was acquired, the story really takes a shift in tone as it becomes more serious and gives us more information on the Holy War and The Holy Knights. A lot of these episodes actually focus on the big climatic battle for this series and boy is the action non-stop fun, but it also has a break from the action at points to give us some more background on the sins, It also tries to go for a Akame ga Kill vibe where the Holy Knight characters get a lot more focus and we see they aren't as connected as we first thought and they suddenly see through the lies they've been fed over the years.
The final battle also introduces on of my favourite aspects of the show and why I love it's setting, because it is set during the time of King Arthur and I really like how they have brought this myth into play.
The series also ended on a good note, the bad guy is defeated and the heroes continue on their journey, which really did open for a season 2, but it just got me hyped for the eventual second season which has finally arrived.
Characters (9/10)
Seven Deadly Sins has a huge range of characters, but it manages to balance them out very well especially the sins themselves.
Meliodas is the Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins and is the sin of Wrath, however he is probably the most laid back and chill Captain I have ever seen. However that doesn't mean you should underestimate him, because he is probably one of the most OP characters I have ever seen, but in a good way since the enemies are pretty powerful too. He's also a big pervert and tends to mess around with Elizabeth from time to time, but he also cares for his team and any civilians he comes across making him willing to sacrifice his own life to protect them.
Elizabeth is the third princess of Liones, after watching this the second time I can see why Elizabeth isn't as popular compared to the other characters, to me she isn't a bad character by far, her reasons for trying to fight and not run away are commendable, but it just becomes a drag for her character and makes her a little annoying sometimes. However in the end I still liked her character and hopefully her new powers can help develop these faults.
Diane is the sin of Envy, she is the giant of the team, no seriously and she actually ends up being the best female character of the series, because it amazes me how they make a giant girl adorable yet badass at the same time, her relationship with King also helps too as their both developed quite a lot during this season. Despite being a badass fighter, her unrequited love for Meliodas makes her a big Tsundere sometimes especially when he clings to Elizabeth which is probably her only negative, but it does work sometimes as a comedic device.
Ban is the sin of Greed, Ban is arguably the best character of the series even though I like each and every one of the sins, but Ban just kicks ass. He's that very likeable douchebag character who plays jokes and doesn't take the situation too seriously, but he is also a tormented character who has been cursed with Immortality and yearns to bring back the one he loves making him a very well rounded character, his relationship with Meliodas, King and Hawk made him such a funny character until the moment got very serious which definitely happened between him and Meliodas as the situation got a little drastic.
King is the sin of Sloth, He's actually the fairy king and is probably the most powerful member of the sins thus far just from magical power, although he's painfully the weakest when it comes to physical fights, his feelings towards Diane and the bumpy relationship he has with Ban made him a fun and relatable character even if he was a bit smug sometimes, it was also funny seeing him pop between his normal and bigger forms which always made great timing.
Gowther is the sin of lust, despite only joining the crew just after the halfway point, Gowther manages to become an instant likeable character, by being the clueless guy who doesn't really know the meanings of what the other characters say very well and his unintended jokes just end up being absolutely hilarious, he can also be a pretty creepy character especially with the power he has which mainly focuses on peoples minds.
Hawk is the sin of Scraps disposal as he likes to be called, Hawk is pretty much the talking animal character of this show, people might think Hawk is pretty annoying, but rewatching this made me realise that Hawk actually makes a lot of good points to the characters and is secretly badass at times, proving to be a bit of an underrated character, but I feel like the whole talking pig thing is leading up to something big.
Merlin the sin of Gluttony, she shows up towards the very end which does suck a little because the screentime she got, made her out to be a ruthless Mage especially considering none of the sins even dare pull a joke on her showing how feared she is.
The Holy Knights consisted of a lot of characters, but they were all memorable in some way, well apart from a few who were just there because of how ridiculous they looked. I did like how they weren't entirely the bad guys apart from Hendrickson and Dreyfus who are the ones pulling the strings all along and tricking everyone else.
Art (9/10)
What I really liked about the artstyle in this show, has got to be the variety in the character design, because each of the sins looked awesome and different so it was pretty cool how each of them are a different race as well. The same can be said for the Holy Knights, each of their armour felt unique and really colourful albeit a few that just looked stupid.
Some of the locations looked pretty damn good too like the Fairy forest kingdom and the land of the dead looked very cool too, instead of feeling like death and misery it felt very mystic. However most of the other places just felt like they lacking, the whole countryside just doesn't feel great to look at, maybe it's because the setting is Britain and I'm British.
Sound (9/10)
Both of the ops in this anime were well done and fitted the style of the Seven Deadly Sins, the first op had the adventurous feel while the second op had the more serious vibe going as we entered the final battle.
It also provided one of my favourite ed's during the first half, which made me feel like this should've been the op because it was so catchy and fitted really well with how the characters are portrayed in the show. However the second ed just didn't do well for me and felt very lackluster after the first one.
The soundtrack is also pretty damn good, it always had the right beat when the moment felt comedic or when there was a battle going on and the main theme Perfect Time was definitely the best choice for a show like this.
Extras:
I really enjoyed the action, it just kept getting more and more intense each time something happened and I felt like they didn't hold back either, especially when we got to the final episodes when everything is unleashed upon us, the only thing action wise or even character wise is, the show really doesn't have much of a backbone for killing off characters. With the sins it made sense, but I'm surprised how only two characters that actually made an impact died, also the names of the magic spells weren't very amazing to hear they just didn't feel like they had any omph to them and felt very simple.
This show actually has a lot of comedy and it works really well on so many levels, mainly due to the chemistry between the sins which has made them a very likeable bunch compared to other anime's who try to create a group of characters.
Now despite having Ecchi in there, it isn't too bad from what I remembered, just a bunch of groping, pantie shots and a few jiggle effects, so the usual really, but it doesn't overstay it's welcome and never becomes a big distraction. I think what kinda hurts the story a little is the amount of romance subplots, the one between Meliodas and Elizabeth just doesn't stick with me and I see them more as friends than lovers. On the other hand the ship between King and Diane is definitely one I can get behind and made them much better characters by the end, because they work so well together and every moment between them felt so cute.
Enjoyment (9/10)
Overall (9/10)
Overall this is a very entertaining fantasy, adventure anime, sure it has slight problems, but they don't impact the anime that much and I can't wait to see how season 2 ups the enjoyment factor.
