– 04 November 2018 – Pop culture
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- The Seven Deadly Sins are back on Netflix: what is this second season worth?
Six months after its initial release in Japan, the sequel to The Seven Deadly Sins is finally available on Netflix. At the time of the simulcast where French anime fans discover the titles a few hours after the Japanese, this late programming appears almost off-topic.
It’s the end of 2014, Naruto is ending, Bleach is coming to an end, Hunter x Hunter has been on a break for a while and D.Gray-man is almost abandoned. A place for a shônen manga is thus to be taken to reign with One Piece and The Attack of the Titans . Among the new generation, one title stands out: The Seven Deadly Sins (Nanatsu no Taiza in VO), started in 2012 by Nakaba Suzuki ( Kongoh Bancho ). Based on their experience on other successful shônen, the studio A-1 Pictures launches the anime.
But in order not to distort the original work only 24 episodes were produced. Like Magi , the series will be rhythmic and will cover considerably more chapters than other adaptations of the genre. In short, not like Pierrot ( Naruto et al.). All certified without episode fillers or dusty realization at the Black Clover . Tensai Okamura ( Darker than Black ), who had worked miracles on Blue Exorcist in 2011, is in charge of transposing everything to the screen. Taking advantage of the end of the anime Hunter x Hunter , The Seven Deadly Sins was a big success during its broadcast.
A-1 Pictures/via Netflix
Shônen and Arthurian Legends
After various FVOs, including Signs of Holy War (or The Marks of Holy War) in 2016 that Netflix tried to sell as a season 2, the adventures of the Seven Deadly Sins resumed this year. In the meantime, the manga has always been ranked in the top 10 of manga sales in Japan and to date has 30 million volumes sold. For this new season, Takeshi Furuta ( Saint Seiya : Soul of God ) is the director and we find part of the previous team (notably the talented Hiroyuki Sawano on music).
The Seven Deadly Sins saved the Lioness Kingdom from the attempted coup by the Commander of the Sacred Knights, Hendrickson. However, the latter, possessed by the spirit of the demon Fraudrin, breaks the seal that held the Ten Commandments. This elite unit of the Demon Clan invades Britannia and spreads terror in its path. Meliodas and his companions take up arms again to face this new enemy. But what link does Meliodas have with these demonic warriors who seem to know him well? And where is Escanor, the famous last member of the Seven Deadly Sins who could be a useful help in this battle?
A-1 Pictures/via Netflix
Se7en
Three years to see this suite arrive is a long time Fans of The Attack of the Titans know what we’re talking about. So much time between two seasons can generate a feverish expectation but also nip interest in the TV series in the bud. If the manga is still selling very well (the 34th volume comes out this month in Japan), this Return of the Commandments has, it seems, not unleashed passions. My Hero Academia has been there, becoming the new darling of shônen fans. In France, this sequel to The Seven Deadly Sins comes almost too late, drowned in the continuous stream of Netflix productions. This is unfortunate because this season is clearly better than the previous one.
After a few short introductory bows and a first big threat eliminated, things got serious with the confrontation against the Ten Commandments. The Seven Deadly Sins follows the classic shônen pattern with ever more powerful opponents to fight against. Heroes are thus forced to train in order to compete in strength. Another obligatory passage of the kind: the famous tournament. Although already present in the previous season (a pretext to justify a Meliodas/Ban fight), this new game has a surprising outcome, to say the least. Nakaba Suzuki’s work does not reinvent anything. Like all shônen for nearly a quarter of a century, it is inspired by Dragon Ball . But it often comes up with far more ideas than the competition.
A-1 Pictures/via Netflix
More mature on the bottom
The highlight of the show of Return of the Commandments is undoubtedly the entrance on stage of the last member of the Seven Deadly Sins: Escanor, the Lion of Pride, reputed to be the strongest man in the world. Nakaba Suzuki had a genius idea for his character: during the day, he is a powerful warrior, while at night, he is a small, frail and shy man. He is, at the same time, an irresistible comic spring and a monster of charisma, offering us the best sequences of the whole series (his first appearance, the fight against Estarossa…). This second season also gives us the opportunity to explore the past of Meliodas and Ban. The first via his relationship with Liz and the second with Zhivago, the only paternal figure he could relate to as a child. Touching stories that give relief to these characters.
More ambitious in form and more mature in substance, this new bow nevertheless gives the impression of a transitional season. See a preamble to a future climax that promises to be apocalyptic. Not all members of the Ten Commandments are being exploited. Estarossa and especially Zeldris will have a more important role in the future, which explains their diminished presence here. Like many shônen (if not most), a lack of dramatic intensity is severely felt. We do not fear for the fate of our heroes. Even when a character dies, he comes back two episodes later even more fit than before.
A-1 Pictures/via Netflix
Nakaba Suzuki recently announced that her manga will end next year, around volume 40. Which leaves plenty of room for another season, maybe two. Hopefully A-1 Pictures will not give up until then, due to lack of sufficient sales in physical media (such as Magi ). But let’s not bring them bad luck and wait for the feature film Prisoners of the Sky , released this summer in Japan. By coincidence, it was at the same time as the film My Hero Academia , which ended up attracting double the number of admissions.
In this standalone, our heroes go in search of a special ingredient, the “fish from the sky”, to celebrate the king’s birthday. But when Meliodas arrives on a flying island, he is mistaken for someone else and sent to prison. The first opinions speak of a film with a careful direction but with a particularly weak script…
The Two Seasons and the OAV The Marks of the Holy War are broadcast on Netflix. The first season is also available in a Blu-ray and DVD box set published by Kana on Anime-Store.
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