Sorry for not giving this a first impression but I felt that to do so at this point would be redundant. So Nanatsu no Taizai, or Seven Deadly Sins if you prefer. An anime that certainly does nothing new. Every ounce of which filled with standard shounen battle manga tropes. Yes this anime does nothing new, instead it brings back something old. Seven Deadly Sins is reminiscent of old school shounen such as dragonball, Slayers and Fist of the North Star. Even the artstyle of the manga had a similar feel to that of Akira Toriyama. And in the age where mainstream shounen is that of blatant wish fulfilment such as Sword art online and Mahouka, this is most certainly welcome. To those who grew up on the likes of Dragonball Z, this will hit the nostalgia buttons.
The story is of a kingdom being terrorised by the holy knights, where a young princess Elizabeth seeks out the legendary Seven Deadly Sins. A group of exiled Knights who may be the last hope for the saving the kingdom. On her search she runs into a mysterious boy who owns a pub who could be connected to the ones she seeks. The story is simple but effective and wastes no time in getting started. It’s not long before we are introduced to our first Sin, Meliodas. Being our main protagonist, Meliodas is rather happy go lucky though not with the sense of idiotic naivety like Monkey D Luffy. More in the sense of a powerful warrior with a heap of confidence. The one aspect I am not fond of is his constant sexual harassment of Elizabeth, which is played for laughs. This is not out of righteous indignation mind you, but rather that it gets old fast. Elizabeth is a character chained by her role as a princess. Therefore you can likely guess her personality. She serves the needs of the plot but it doesn’t remedy the fact that she is rather boring. Daine the second sin, on the other hand is a great character. It’s so rare to have a giant as a main character and her method of fighting with brute force is one I love to watch. I also find her concern for her size and how others view her interesting. Such a pity she is crippled with a lovestruck fascination with Meliodas. Again used for comedic effect. The talking pig is a typical mascot character but well at least doesn’t grate on the nerves.
The animation seems fairly good with fight scenes having the necessary thrill. The art didn’t quite capture the style of the manga but it’s close enough to not warrant complaint. I do find fault with the fanservice but in comparison with the standard as of late this is very tame. And so far the story has been adapted perfectly. To those missing the glory days of Naruto and Bleach or looking for a nostalgic fix I do recommend this show. As both the manga and the anime have yet to suffer the curse of long running Shounen battle manga. I only hope it can stay that way. One last thing, the new third Sin in the fourth episode should have kept the beard. He looked much better with it.
Well.. in early story of Dragon Ball, Bulma is used as fanservice too all the time.
I found Elizabeth to be more endearing in the anime than in the manga, thanks to Amamiya’s voice acting.
Hence one of the reasons I prefer Dragonball z rather than Dragonball.
Speaking of shonnens, what did you all thought about the first half of Jojo Stardust Crusaders?
I felt it was much weaker than the first season of Jojo. There was too heavy a reliance on stands and the characters just where not as good. Jotaru falls short when compared to Jonathan the stoic and Joseph the joker. I prefer the ripple over the stands because it forced the fights to find creative ways of using it. But with stands it’s just a rather predictable outcome as these are pretty much a cheat code. The monster of the week format got tiresome and instead of a small set of dynamic villains we got a large group of lesser villains with character quirks. The entire thing felt directionless and at times just was stalling for time instead of making it to the real showdown.
But most of it, Stardust crusaders was just less fun.
I see, i did read the whole manga up to the current part 8, so i can say while the stands get way more creative over time (particulary over the last third of stardust crusaders) they do start out pretty weak, and while the monster-of-the-week format doesnt bother me, the fact that all villians have the same basic motivation (thankfully this problem is solved in a brilliant way from part 4 onwards). And while i do agree that jotaro is pretty weak as a main character, id argue that johnnathan is more bland than him
Oh Yes, Jonathan was bland. But he worked because he was so serious when events around where completly ridiclous. Almost making him seem like a unintentional parody. Seeing him get so worked up over small matters like two boys stealing a doll was just gold. He also had better motivation to fight againest Dio. Jotaro on te other hand is just too much of a asshole to be likeable and too Gary Sue to be interesting. His motivation is half hearted(While he is trying to save his mother he’s not all that worried about it) and his attitude downright irritating at times
I can completely see where you are coming from regarding Stardust.
The thing is, it just kind of…works in the manga. I don’t know why, but it does. In terms of a series, it doesn’t work so much because monster of the week just doesn’t work that well IMO. Especially considering how the first season was very much an “adventure”, and while they are on an “adventure” in stardust, it’s very much monster of the week. I think it’s something that would work better in a shorter format where the novelty doesn’t wear off.
With that said, I honestly think stardust is the weakest compared to what’s coming in the future. Monster of the week continues, but they make it more interesting. I’m not done reading the manga, but I’ve finished part 4/almost done part 5 and part 4 is very different. Part 4 has a really great main antagonist, and has a weird slice of life-ish mood to it in parts due to the setting and characters. It’s weird but it works.
As for Nanatsu no Taizai, it’s going to take a while for things to work out as I think everyone who knows shounen will know. They’re really just finishing up their first big arc now.
Hey I’m watchin this too! It felt like I’m watching “Slayers” and “Fortune Quest L”
I like this show but for some reason don’t the heroes feel a little bit too overpowered? Anyway, good fight scenes definitely reminiscent of DBZ, also the Ninku vibe throughout the entire thing is unmistakable…