Nanatsu no Taizai – 11-12

Sorry for the missing episode review for last episode but when writing the review I looked over it and found that I was mostly recapping the episode rather than reviewing it. There was also the fact that I had a cold and was not in the best mood for it. Still while I didn’t have a lot to talk about last episode I at least have a good bit to comment on with this one. I am disappointed that the match between Meliodas and Daine couldn’t have been longer after Ban went to all the trouble of framing Meliodas to anger Daine. But then when Meliodas takes on the role of a villain and attempts to get everyone to flee to avoid the incoming holy knight attack it brought up something that rather bugs me. In many animes when a character has committed so terrible crime or unforgivable act there was always some reason to absolve them from guilt. Usually some other entity is responsible and the main character only has guilt over not being able to stop it. Personally I would like to see a character who actually did the deed. Someone who truly did wipe out a town or murder someones relative for the reasons believed. I understand that your main characters need to be likable and having them be morally flawed hinders that a bit. But it is rather aggravating to have these scenes of them being accused only to have their so called sin be a misunderstanding.

Though speaking of morality at least they are making it clear that not all holy knights are evil. There are the very stereotypical evil knights that make you wonder how they got the job in the first place but a few show themselves to be better people. Though personally it seems to be a case of good people being on the wrong side. Another problem is that there was a character death. A genuine character death. I spoke previously about how when a show uses fake deaths it would take the impact away from a real one. Well from my knowledge of the manga this is a real death. This girl is gone, finished, dead for good. Yet in the death scene I found it hard to get invested because even I don’t believe that fully. It would be very easy for her to come back into the manga some way or another. But truth be told this could be blamed on the fact that the character had very little screen time. Her significance as a character was given right before she was killed off. To make a death have impact you not only shouldn’t fake out the audience with false deaths but make the character significant enough to affect the viewer. Even the Urobutcher knows to establish in a character to the story first before bringing out the scythe.

Then theres Jericho. She was the holy knight Ban previously stripped and well was apparently hiding her gender. Poorly at that. Her crush on Ban has gotten overboard and now with her powered up with demon blood she presents a threat. But I really don’t feel comfortable with this. What with her claiming that Ban made her a woman and going as far as using his blood as makeshift lipstick. I just don’t like the way her character is going. It’s a bit too…sexist. But on things I liked, the surprise reveal of the announcer being a holy knight was very good. King also is proving himself to be one of the strongest sins with him taking down two knights that previously defeated Ban and Meliodas. He may not be much of a fighter without a weapon but he’s a powerhouse with one. Sooner than expected we have berserker mode Meliodas coming out to cap the episode off. Expecting many cries of “Impossible” and “That can’t be!” in our next episode.