A group of warriors of varying races were once part of a knightship in the land of Britannia. It is said they plotted to overthrow the king of Liones and they were defeated by the king’s special force of Holy Knights (knight wielding magic), though there are rumors that they are still alive /somewhere/. Ten years later, these supposed heroes that saved the land from the Seven Deadly Sins stage a coup d’etat and capture the king and become the new tyrannical rulers. Princess Elizabeth flees the palace to search for the whereabouts of the Seven Deadly Sins, enlist their help to free the kingdom and clear their name.
Her adventures for take her to a traveling bar atop a giant forest boar where she meets a seemingly young boy who owns it. After saving her from knights that were ordered to capture her, he is revealed to be the leader of the Sins, Meliodas. Touched by her conviction to her kingdom, Meliodas decides to help her in her quest and look for his lost companions who have scattered throughout the ten years.
Like the Holy Knights, the sins also have magic abilities, of which seems to loosely be based off the specific sin with accompanying animal persona they embody. Some already have magic prior, as Harlequin is king of the fairies, Ban gains immortality from slaying a demon to save the fountain of mortality, Melin is already a magician, and Diane is a giantess. Meliodas is the most mysterious of all (other than the one sin we haven’t met in the anime adaption) as he has an appearance of a child but seems to be ancient in age.
One by one, each member is found, bringing more pieces of what truly happened when the Sins “overthrew” the king, unveiling it has all been part of the king’s brother’s evil plot.
The biggest draw for me was how it reminded me a lot of The Slayers with its medieval setup, magic, ragtag crew and the delivery of humor. The art style itself seems to call back to the 90s, but in a crisper, rounder, modern flare and vibrant colors.
Hiroyuki Sawano provides the score and that has started to become a reason I check out a series, or at the least preview an OST as a whole. I can’t get enough of his powerful orchestrated scores.
The cast is certainly nothing to sneeze at, either. As this is me we are talking about, it’s no surprise Mamo’s presence in it is what alerted me to this series’ existence in the first place. While his character isn’t first tier main, there’s plenty of other big names that made their way in throughout: Kaji Yuki as main character, Meliodias, Maaya Sakamoto as Merlin shows up later in the series, Tatsuhisa Suzuki as Ban (probably my favorite character), Jun Fukuyama, Junichi Suwabe and Ryohei
A-1 Pictures continues to surprise me with their high-production titles as I check off my list of things that make me go “YES”. I admire how they took a series that still has quite a but of manga ahead managed to end it in a way that if it were to end right there and have no further seasons, I would be satisfied. Still no word on a season two, but there will be an OVA with a later manga volume. It’s unfortunate that nobody picked up the streaming rights, so its existence is lost to the large audience there is. However, the fact that the manga was licensed here before the anime began airing, that gives me hope it won’t fall into obscurity. I think the anime would be well suited at Funimation if I had my way about things.
If you like comedy, medieval times and magic and a well-animated and paced shonen title, I highly recommend this one.
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