Oh my God I’m so excited for this second part because he’s finally coming. Let’s get started right now.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening for the second half is “Ame ga Furu kara Niji ga Deru” by Sky Peace. I didn’t like it. While it granted the song matches the tone of the second half, it still doesn’t compare to the greatness of the first opening. This second opening makes it seem like this is a losing battle and no matter what our heroes do they’re doomed to lose which we know isn’t true.
The second ending is “Chikai” by Sora Amamiya. A very nice ending but I think I like the first one a little more. Just like the first ending it’s peaceful and beautiful. I also like how the ending focuses on our 3 romantic couples.
Episodes 13-17
In episode 13 Elaine tries to kill Jericho because she knows she’s in love with Ban (she’s going Yuno on us). Ban keeps getting her way, so Elaine starts attacking him until Jericho finally has enough and tackles Elaine to the ground confessing her love for Ban (what is it with you girls falling in love with this likable scumbag?) and berates Elaine for attacking the person she loves (didn’t you do the same thing last season? In fact, you actually used his blood as lipstick. By the way, eww). Elaine knows that Jericho is right and being embraced by Ban she calms down (scene here: https://youtu.be/xfSsrUrmrI4) where Galland and Melascula arrive and fight Ban who manages to hold his own against Galland but Melascula rips out his soul and it gets eaten by Galland (the flesh may be immortal but the spirit is ghostly and easily taken). Ban’s soul returns to his body thanks to Zhivago who’s soul hung around and acted as a decoy allowing Ban to return to his body. However, this means Zhivago’s soul got eaten by Galland (even in death, that man saves Ban) Ban is able to wound Galland and Melascula and escape with Jericho and Elaine (his mistress and lover) before passing out due to absorbing too much magic with Fox Hunt. He tells Jericho and Elaine to go on without him but they don’t want to leave him behind so Jericho carries them both (Jericho is proving she’s the better choice). In another part of the kingdom Drefyus comes across the Pleiades of Azure Sky who manage to capture Drefyus. The first member Deldrey kisses him which brings him under her control where he’ll do anything to protect her but that doesn’t stop him from attacking the other members like Arden who once he hits you with his magic weapons you’ll have to use much more magic in order to use your magic. Arden hits Drefyus with his magic weapons and Deldrey gives him a deeper kiss (put some tongue into it) which brings him under her complete control. The final member Wayeo knocks out Drefyus and captures him.
In episode 14 we finally get to meet the man himself Escanor (and let me just say it was worth the late). It starts with Jericho carrying Ban and Elaine to safety all while being attacked by Galland and Melascula who are throwing rocks at them like golf balls (nice back spin on that last shot). Jericho finds shelter in a mine where they come across a bar (an odd place to put a bar. Give Meliodas credit, his pub is on the back of a giant pig that can travel anywhere it wants). The bartender and Ban easily recognize each other and the bartender agrees to hide them as Galland and Melascula enter the bar (scene here: https://youtu.be/GeXhu7Q892I, destroying half the mountain) and have a drink (no need to waste good wine and alcohol). Galland knows Ban, Jericho, and Elaine are hiding in the bar but he decides to have fun and challenges the bartender to the Galland game. In the game Galland and the bartender will take turns hitting each other until the other one dies and you can’t run away or you’ll be turned to stone (rated ages 8 and up. Caution, don’t involve alcohol or firearms. Best played with people you hate). Galland accidently knocks out the bartender with a pat on the back and he remains out until morning where he turns into a hulk like man and reveals himself to be Escanor the lion’s sin of pride. Being the sin of pride he course talks down to the demons which pisses Galland off. He tries to kill Escanor only to get cut in half by Escanor using his sacred weapon, a one handed-axe. Galland pulls himself together, and uses up all his magic to give himself a power boast to strike down Escanor only to see that it doesn’t work. Galland’s attack had no effect on Escanor at all (barely broke the skin) and when it’s time for Escanor’s turn to hit Galland, Galland gets scared and runs away which results in him turning into stone (scene here: https://youtu.be/EofDSgPQt6k). Melascula devours his soul only to get heart burn since he has the power of the sun and he burns her alive (now that’s how you introduce and establish a new character. Only on screen for one episode and already he took out two demons like it was nothing. What a badass). He then takes off asking Ban to stick around as he wishes to talk to him and when night comes we see that Escanor has returned to his non-hulk self (he’s pulling a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). Ban explains that during the day Escanor turns into this beefing (no homo) badass but at night he turns into his weak submissive self. Ban catches him up on what’s going on and what happened in the past (you’ve missed a lot my friend). He’s happy to hear that they’ve been cleared of all their charges and looking forward to rejoining the team, but before that he must deliver wine to a town that he promised to deliver (again, don’t waste good wine). As the episode ends, King shows up and comes face to face with his sister. After the credits we see Diane (wow, I totally forgot she was in this anime) is with Matrona who is still alive thanks to a bandit named Zalpa, Diane spared in the past. Zalpa spent 3 days and nights nursing Matrona back to life where the two eventually fell in love and got married with two kids named Sol and Della. While Sol and Della aren’t Matrona’s kids, she loves them as if they were her own.
So quite a bit happens in episode 15. We see Diane trying to learn the dance of the giants as instructed by Matrona (well she would definitely win a twerking contest). At first Diane dances horribly (like a boy on prom night) but eventually starts to get it and dances majestically (like a man at his wedding reception. Because his wife to be told him to do it or she wouldn’t have sex with him). Sol and Della get attacked by a demon where their wounds are bad that they could possibly die. Matrona refuses to let that happen and heads for Vaizel where a great fighting tournament will be held and the winner will get one wish granted. Zalpa tells her not to go as the flier for the tournament was delivered by demons but she wants to save her kids, so she heads to Vaizel with Diane behind her. Meliodas and the others also hear about the tournament and decide to go there as well with Gilthunder excited (he’ll get to fight his Meliodas. The man he looks up to or down to in this case). While all of that is going on, we see Dreyfus wake up in the fortress of the Pleiades of the Azure Sky and comes face to face with their leader Denzel. We learn that these guys were assigned border patrol by Dreyfus and Hendrickson in the past and have been spending their time studying and researching the demon clan by order of the king should the demons return. Denzel fights Dreyfus along with another knight named Deathpierce who have trapped Dreyfus in a room which he can’t escape thanks to a magic barrier. As other knights wait outside, they get fooled by Greyroad, one of the Ten Commandments who can shapeshift and disguises himself as one of the knights. He manages to destroy the barrier and heads inside to help Dreyfus fight. Denzel realizing their chances are now slim allows Dreyfus and Greyroad to leave just as the other knights return and Dreyfus stabs Deldry in the chest (someone was holding a grudge). Before leaving he does warn them that he’s not one of the Ten Commandments and is just a stand-in for the real one who lost his memories years ago but is slowly regaining them and that person is Gowther (really? He’s a demon now?).
In episode 16 all of our parties have made it to Vaizel where in order to qualify for the tournament they have to pass through a maze filled with the death traps. We focus on Diana and Matrona who try to cheat by breaking the walls but the wall regenerate too quickly to pass through. Diana tries to jump on the edges of the maze but the maze foils her attempts at cheating (these demons know how to prevent cheating). As Diana and Matrona journey through the maze they get separated and Diana reunites with Hawk and Elizabeth where she doesn’t remember nor does she trust them (can’t blame her. The last time she dealt with Lionnes she got attacked by them). Despite not trusting them, Diana traverses the maze with them until they come across a swamp and Diana gets attacked by leeches only to get saved by Elizabeth and Hawk and she begins to warm up to them. They then get attacked by those same monsters who impersonated Elizabeth back in season 1 only this time they’re impersonating Meliodas and he’s not among them (of course not. If he was he would have been groping Elizabeth by now). Despite knowing they’re fakes, Diana can’t bring herself to attack the man who saved her life but luckily they get saved by Gilthunder and Howzer. But just when they have a moment of peace, they get attacked by a sandworm monster which Hawk eats and it gets revealed that whatever he eats that has magic properties, he absorbs their characteristics and powers (he’s essentially Kirby). But a bigger one shows upand they take care it with ease. Elizabeth senses Meliodas is near and sure enough he and Arthur are just on the other side of the wall from where they are and Meliodas can sense Elizabeth (love will find a way). Meliodas and Arthur come across Ban where Meliodas and him do their typical male greeting and he apologizes for trying to kill Meliodas in the past (not that Meliodas really minds). They combine their skills and manage to destroy a section of the wall so that they reunite with Elizabeth’s group (scene here: https://youtu.be/eZ4aUooBQks).
In episode 17 Meliodas’ group along with everyone that matters (and a few side characters) make it to the center of the maze where waiting for them are 2 of the 10 Commandments who are the host of this tournament. The first one is Gloxinia the first king of the fairies and the second is Droole a legendary giant warrior. Gloxinia announces that the first around will be a 2 on 2 fight between the competitors (you win by other neutralizing your opponent or killing them, anything goes, and no running away). Meliodas and Ban wind up on a team (my picks to win the whole thing) while Elizabeth and Elaine wind up on a team as well and have to face off against these masked assassins from a kingdom that used to be an ally to Lionnes until the holy knights broke their treaty and destroyed the kingdom. Our two lovely ladies manage to win with even Elizabeth using her powers to heal one of the assassins (scene here: https://youtu.be/wo4jRsiWTF4). In Meliodas and Ban’s fight, they’re taking on those bird demons from last episode where the two completely ignore their competitors and just argue with each other about who’s girl is better (well I can’t say Elaine otherwise I’ll go to jail so Elizabeth all the way). As the two argue with each other they knowingly deal damage to the birds and unintentionally kill them (scene here: https://youtu.be/a3-BbVvZTFU). In another fight we see King and Diane team up to take on the stand-ins created by Gloxinia and Droole where King has the best seat in the house (between Diane’s breast. Talk about VIP treatment). King eventually joins the fight and shows off his sacred gear powers even revealing a new form for his spear (scene here: https://youtu.be/XDcPej0WvuI).
Episodes 18-21
In the first half of episode 18, Diane and King continue to fight against the stand-ins where King uses his full power to take out Gloxinia’s stand-in and Diane uses her golems to defeat Droole’s stand-in where her golem of King was able to defeat the stand-in where as Meliodas’ golem failed (I guess that means Diane thinks King is stronger than Meliodas. Good for you King). In the next fight it’s Jericho and Gowther vs Escanor and Hawk. Gowther wants to win so he can get a heart (the Tin Man is going out of control again) but Jericho tries to get him to stop so he doesn’t hurt his friends. Gowther doesn’t listen and instead takes out Jericho (oh my God, talking to him is like trying to teach a cat a trick. Totally pointless and a waste of time) along with Hawk. He traps Escanor in a nightmare where we get to see his past. He was born as the prince of a country where his parents doted on him which made his older brother jealous. One day when the older brother was bullying him with a twig, Escanor fought back awakening his amazing power which everyone said was a curse. His parents and the kingdom turned on him and tried to kill him but escaped thanks to a woman named Rosa. Once out in the world he was still seen as a monster by the people until he met Meliodas and Merlin who welcomed him into their knighthood. For the first time ever Escanor felt accepted and even started to fall in love with Merlin who resembled Rosa and wasn’t terrified of him (scene here: https://youtu.be/jd23M-Caaqo). Gowther’s nightmare begins to take hold by making Merlin turn on Escanor and say he’s only good as an experiment who she could never love and to Gowther’s shock Escanor is okay with that. He’s okay knowing that his chances of getting with Merlin are 0 (which sucks because that woman has it going on), what matters to him is that she was the light in his life when he had nothing and he’ll always treasure her for that. Escanor becomes the Hulk, summons his axe and prepares to strike Gowther with his intense power only to instead aim his attack to take down Gloxinia and Droole which works while he takes the full hit of Gowther’s attack.
In episode 19 despite Droole and Gloxinia taking the full hit of Escanor’s attack, they’re still alive and Meliodas takes advantage of this. He goes directly after Droole and Gloxinia while the others get teleported back to Liones’ castle. Meliodas does a good job fighting both Droole and Gloxinia by keeping it a one on one fight (good strategy). However, whenever he comes close to taking them both down, Gloxinia keeps on healing both himself and Droole (it’s the typical brawler/healer conundrum. If I attack the healer I leave myself wide open for the brawler to attack me. If I attack the brawler the healer will just keep on healing them and all my efforts will be for nothing. Who do I take out first? Scene here: https://youtu.be/q26iwDGwdds). Their fight alerts the other Commandments to their location and they show up and fight Meliodas who gets a spell put on him that stops him from escaping. Despite Meliodas’ valiant efforts the numbers are just too much for and he keeps getting beaten up by the Commandments until he’s on his last leg. During the fight, we see how the Commandments call him a traitor and caused their downfall (also, Melascula is alive but she won’t be entering any beauty pageants in the foreseeable future). In a last ditch effort to win he tries to use revenge counter to take them all out but it gets stopped by Estarossa, one of the Ten Commandments who is the second son of the demon king as well as brother of Meliodas. He throws Meliodas to the ground and begins to stomp on his chest saying how much he doesn’t want to do this (scene here: https://youtu.be/YacLX2n6zsM).
Things take a turn for the worst in episode 20. Melascula tries to take the soul of Meliodas only to get stopped by Ban who snaps her neck and destroys all of her 7 hearts (yes, demons have 7 hearts) to kill her for good this time. As for Meliodas, he suffers the same fate as Melascula at the hands of Estarossa who pierces all of his hearts and kills him (scene here: https://youtu.be/jSuufMgw06o). With Meliodas out of the picture (our hope now lays in the Sun warrior), Britannia is now at the mercy of the demons who begin taking souls and even turning the people against the holy knights in return for being allowed to live a little longer. Elizabeth heals the children of Matrona and takes over the Boar’s Hat reopening it and everything.
In episode 21 we see that Elizabeth and Hawk have reopen the Boar’s Hat to ease the lives of the citizens. They also took Meliodas’s body believing that he’ll return someday (trust me, if Elizabeth’s body is waiting for him, he’ll come back). They receive a visit from Zaratras, the chief of the holy knights who was killed in the first season (and Gilthunder’s father). He was bought back to life thanks to Melascula’s powers and his grudge was that he never got to save Hendrickson and Drefyus from the demons. We get to see that despite being this powerful knight he’s actually quite kindhearted and carefree (and a guy who can’t hold his alcohol). He finds out what happened to Meliodas and uses some magic spell to allow Elizabeth and Hawk to see the past into how he met Meliodas where he was holding a baby which just so happened to be Elizabeth (holy shit, they weren’t kidding about that whole reincarnation stuff were they). Elizabeth was soon adopted into the royal family with Meliodas becoming a holy knight and watching over Elizabeth as she grew (keeping men away from his woman). It also gets revealed that Meliodas can’t die (really? Then how do explain what happened last episode and our current situation). They return to the real world where Elizabeth’s faith that Meliodas will return is now stronger and we cut to Meliodas where he’s in purgatory trying to fight his way back. Meanwhile, the Ten Commandments have invaded the capital of Lionnes with Estarossa rendering Ban, Gilthunder, and a few other knights useless as his commandment of Love stops anyone who holds hatred in his presence from fighting. The only who’s able to fight is Escanor who thanks to his pride really can’t bring himself to hate someone who’s weaker than him (https://youtu.be/aZHvd0ks7Es).
Episodes 22-24
Episode 22 starts off with Escanor fighting Estarossa (avenge Meliodas, Escanor. Avenge him~) where we see Estarossa can use full counter which negates any physical attacks on him and send them back to his opponent. This cuts off Escanor’s physical attacks but doesn’t hinder his magic attacks which is the power of the sun (praise the sun). He blasts Estarossa into a lake and tries to burn him to death but Estarossa survives and uses a spell to stop Escanor from using magic (can’t use physical attacks. Can’t use magic attacks. I guess we can try going Mike Tyson on his face or something). But when noon arrives Escanor’s powers grow stronger and he manages to blast Estarossa away with another mini sun along with Zeldris (scene here: https://youtu.be/SGbfObc9fUQ. I’m sure they’re alive somehow. But they’re going to need a lot of medicine for those sunburns). Back at the palace Monspeet and Derieri arrive where Denzel sacrifices his life in order to summon a goddess to inhabit his body to fight the demons only for the goddess to turn into a bitch and bail on them (fuck you). She doesn’t get far as Derieri (who seems to have some deep hatred for the goddesses) catches up to her and kills her with ease. Back at the palace, some of the knights have become the slaves of Zeldris thanks to his commandment and have begun attacking the other knights. Elizabeth, Zaratas, and Hawk are just outside the kingdom where they fight off a bunch of demons only to come face to face with Monspeet and Derieri. Derieri sensing the power of a goddess within Elizabeth tries to kill only to get stopped by the one the only Meliodas who has returned from his slumber to kick ass and grope Elizabeth (and there’s plenty of asses to kick. Scene here: https://youtu.be/nyLzl8lo2LA).
We start episode 23 with Meliodas fighting Derieri and Monspeet where he easily destroys them (scene here: https://youtu.be/faKm1mVhtPg. Well now that he’s all warmed up let’s go to the palace and see what he can really do). Back at the palace Dreyfus and Greyroad have captured the innocent citizens within the castle and Greyroad traps them in demon eyes which will turn them into demons themselves. To make matters worst they can’t kill the demons due to Greyroad’s commandment which is pacifism, anybody who kills in his presence dies as well. Just when the others are about to hatch and turn into demons, Merlin shows up (sexy body and all) to freeze the eggs and takes on Greyroad herself. She kills a fewbugs in his presence and she doesn’t die because her time has stopped as she’s the daughter of this powerful being that all the demons fear. Greyroad is so terrified that he tries to escape but Merlin captures him and seals him away in a bottle. Dreyfus escapes only to run into Hendrickson who tries to purge the demon from his body but has no luck until Zaratas shows up and uses his life to purge the demon out of Hendrickson and it works. We finally get to see the real demon inside Dreyfus named Fraudlin where Drefyus gets back up and blasts him believing he’s dead but no, Fraudlin is still alive and ready to fight (I know just the guy). Enter Meliodas who steps in to fight Fraudlin and to finish their power struggle they started years ago.
The final episode starts off with Meliodas taking on Fraudrin where he unleashes a barrage of attacks which damage him, but something seems off. This isn’t the same Meliodas we’re use to seeing, there’s an air of darkness and evil intent in his fighting (it’s like he’s not fighting to protect the kingdom but rather fighting to satisfy his own hunger for blood). Fraudrin decides that if he can’t take Meliodas down, he’ll take the kingdom down with him. As he prepares to self-destruct he spots Griamore (still in his child form) and remembers how he played the part of his dad growing up and starts to have doubts about doing this (what was meant to be just an act became something real). Griamore not wanting to watch everyone he cares about die, decides to sacrifice himself to protect everyone. He creates a protective sphere around him and Fraudrin fully prepared to die to protect the kingdom and Fraudrin finally breaks and stops his plan to sacrifice himself (he can’t do it. He’s your son. In a sense). Fraudrin than surrenders and tells Meliodas to go ahead and kill him and he complies (scene here: https://youtu.be/Z6r-wLXKF6w, this was a fitting end for Fraudrin. He couldn’t go back to the commandments, they would have killed him for failing and the kingdom would not accept him. Getting killed by Meliodas is the option he has left and the only way he can say he died a somewhat honorable death). With Fruadrin defeated the kingdom is safe (for now at least) and Merlin fills us in by letting us know that Meliodas can’t die thanks to a curse given to him by the demon king. The one major downside of this curse is that when Meliodas returns his emotions get devour and he slowly starts to become his former self who was once called the strongest demon. As a few characters bury the bodies of the holy knights who died Meliodas goes to the remains of his pub to have a drink and eat alone where he gets joined by Elizabeth and for the first time ever we see Meliodas cry. If he returns to his former self he’ll have the power necessary to protect Elizabeth and everyone but in the process the Meliodas that we know now will cease to exist (he’s caught between his two lives and he doesn’t know what to do). Elizabeth comforts him (in her royal bosom. That’ll make anyone happy) and promises to stay by his side no matter what happens. The next day Merlin prepares the kingdom and the others figure out that demons have made Camelot their home base. Gowther who was imprisoned under the accusation of being a commandment gets freed where we find out he really is a commandment but doesn’t know who’s side he’s on (or even if he’s on a side to begin with). Meliodas decides to reunite with King and Diane and together with the rest of the sins they’ll prepare to counter attack the demons and make them pay.
Final Thoughts
So that was The Revival of the 10 Commandments and. . .it’s kind of a step down from the first season. I mean, the season isn’t awful. We got to see Escanor who lived up to the hype and quickly became everyone’s favorite character, but the story and character development unfortunately takes a heavy hit this season. We really don’t learn that much about the 10 Commandments and their connection to Meliodas. A lot of the conversations and backstories feel dry, boring, and uninspired. They don’t add much to the overall story or situation the characters are in and come across as pointless at times. The handling of the characters wasn’t nearly as good as it could have been. Ban always comes across as sad or angry, Diane acts like a crybaby at times, King doubting Meliodas is stupid, Gowther’s actions are annoying and make no sense, and the handling of Meliodas’s inner struggle was done poorly. I will say that the 10 Commandments are good as they’re overpowered villains just like our heroes which make them the perfect rivals, but I really don’t get the power of their commandments and how they work.
While the animation and fight scenes are good, it isn’t nearly as good as you would have hoped. If anything, it seems like the openings of this season had a better budget than the whole anime and instead of getting these big group fights like they hinted in the opening, we instead keep getting one on one or one vs many fights. Also, I didn’t like how everyone besides Meliodas and Escanor were made to be weak. We’ve seen how strong everyone in the firs season was, so why do they get nerfed in the second season and regulated as helpless characters who can do nothing but watch? And what was the point of killing off Meliodas if you were gonna bring him back in 2 episodes?
Final Score
The second season of Nanatsu no Taizai is a 6/10. While not an entirely bad showing, a disappointing follow-up to an otherwise great series. While the first season felt like a fun adventure of these characters, this feels like a generic set up with the characters becoming downgraded portions of themselves. I think a large reason for this is because of the director and writer change. Having new guys take over without consulting with the previous ones and getting on the same page on what to do was a big mistake. The third season will have a new writer and director who are more experienced so hopefully they can give this anime justice. Till then, thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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