Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. What happened to Nanatsu no Taizai? Now I don’t mean the manga, that ended on a rather good note, I’m talking about the anime. When the anime first came out it was a big hit as everyone loved it. When the second season was announced everyone got excited as well but the anime had a different director and writer from the first season and apparently they presented the story in a way that was rather boring and off putting that it kind of made each episode hard to watch. The ratings reflective this as they were down from the first season and Aniplex weren’t happy about it. The staff would try to get the ratings up with a film later on in 2018 but it didn’t work and Aniplex decided to abandon the series to focus on their other hit series. The series was soon picked up by Studio Deen (Konosuba) who at this time had their plates full with other animes they were working on. On top of that, and no offence to Deen, but they just aren’t the right studio to handle something like Nanatsu no Taizai. Given the lineup of their past work this just seems beyond them and everyone thought the same as well as when the announcement went out everyone was biting their fingernails over this news and once the trailer for the series dropped everyone’s fears came to fruition. This is gonna be a tough one folks. Let’s take a look at Nanatsu no Taizai S3: Wrath of the Gods.
Opening and Ending Theme
The first opening for the season is “Rob The Frontier” by UVERworld. While not one of my favorite songs from the band, I will admit the song is good and easily one of the highlights from the season. That should tell you how much trouble we’re in.
The first ending is “Regeneration” by Sora Amamiya. At first I didn’t like it but after the third episode I really found myself enjoying it. The song is quite beautiful and has this air of sadness around it. It’s the kind of song that makes you look forward to the next episode. Even if that episode doesn’t deliver.
Episodes 1-4
The season starts with Meliodas and Ban saving a group of travelers who were offered up by a village as a sacrifice to the demons in order to protect themselves (right away you can tell the animation isn’t on par with the other 2 seasons. It’s so bad, it’s clear that the animation took a huge hit with the studio change. However, it’s nothing compared to the unnecessary censorship. Deen replaced all the blood in this anime with white plasma goo. Why? You would have been better off making the blood purple or green). After saving the travelers, the rest of the episode is just used to re-establish our characters and setting. We see that the country is now under the control of the Ten Commandments who have set up base in Camelot (https://youtu.be/m3dZl3yfGpc?t=9), Meliodas and the others (minus King and Diane) go to rescue a village under control by demons, and Howzer gets named the new acting leader of the Holy Knights (very surprising. I always thought it’d be Gilthunder).
In episode 2 we find out that after Meliodas died in the last season, King and Diane ran away and retreated to the Fairy King Forest (cowards) for safety which means they’re totally unaware of what went down at the end of last season. Through a bit of a dark magic, King and Diane get pulled from the Fairy King Forest and find themselves in the presence of Dolce and Gloxinia where they are attacked. It’s clear from the get go that King and Diane are outmatched (we have a fairy who can’t grow wings and a giant who struggles to dance. I am one billion % sure this fight ends with them losing) and lose to Dolce and Gloxinia. Rather than kill the two, Gloxinia instead revives them and says that he and Dolce are going to train them to be stronger (uh, aren’t you guys the villains?). Yeah, it turns out Dolce and Gloxinia have defected from the demons. In fact, long ago, the two actually fought against the demons but due to a number of things wound up joining the demons believing that way was the right one until they fought Meliodas and began to have some doubts on what they were doing (why are we making this so complicated. Demons. Evil. Stop~). They now want to train King and Diane to prove if their decision to oppose the demons was the right one or not. King and Diane accept the offer from their predecessors and get sent back in time to the Great War that was fought 3,000 years ago where the two take the forms of Dolce and Gloxinia (wow, it’s rare for them to do the gender swap with the girl). Once there they run into Meliodas and a goddess named Elizabeth who looks and sounds like Elizabeth (not sure if this is the author being clever or lazy) and rush towards the battlefield to fight a horde of demons.
Things start to get interesting in episode 3. After defeating demons where we see King and Diane are considerately more powerful in their new forms, we find out that they’re all in an alliance composed of human, giants, fairies, and angels who are waging war on the demons. The leader of this alliance is Ludociel one of the Four Archangels who calls this holy war, but in truth this is an act of genocide as the angels have been wanting to destroy the demon clan for quite some time (all they needed was an excuse). Ludociel has set up a trap for the demons by incasing some of the weaker ones in a net at the edge of the Fairy King Forest to lure the demons out (basically saying here are your friends, come and save them if you can) and it works as a large pack of demons being led by some of the Ten Commandments show up to fight. Meliodas plans to go and talk to them (oh yeah, like they’ll listen to a traitor), but Elizabeth beats him to the punch and tries to get them to turn back saying she will negotiate with Ludociel on getting the demons released (don’t think that’s going work. After all, Ludociel is a dick). Ludociel appears and kills all the trapped demons right in front of the other demons (https://youtu.be/ektZ_RC1VL8?t=14). This riles up the demons who are prepared to fight and if things couldn’t escalate any further, two more archangels arrive to fight.
The battle between the demons and angels begin in episode 4. We start with Elizabeth getting knocked out (this is why healers should never be on the frontlines) and notable members of the Ten Commandments taking on the archangels Sariel and Tarmiel. At first, the archangels dominate the demons with even Ludociel getting his hits in. However, everything changes when Monspeet and Demitri offer up 6 of their hearts to transform into Induras (the demon version of super Saiyans). With this major boost, Monspeet and Demitri knock out Sariel and Tarmiel of the archangels and render Ludociel useless as his magic can no longer hurt them (oh how the tides have turned). Meliodas manages to wake up Elizabeth and she gets between the remaining demons and Ludociel to stop this battle.
Episodes 5-8
At the start of episode 5, Elizabeth tries to save Monspeet and Demitri with her divine powers, but their darkness keeps pushing her back (I’m guessing love and forgive isn’t on the table?). With the aid of Sariel and Tarmiel, Elizabeth is able to save Monspeet and Demitri, returning them to normal. Ludociel tries to kill the vulnerable demons (dude, what is your deal with demons?) but everyone stops him. Just when you think they can take a sigh of relief, it gets revealed that Gowther and Melascula have snuck into the Light of Grace tower to open up the demon gate. The other races try to get in to stop this, but some humans have sided with the demons and kill everyone who tries to get in (where they’re blood has been replaced with jizz. Seriously, make up your mind already). Melascula completes the gate only discover that she’s been tricked back Gowther as she created a gate to a prison the real Gowther was sealed and gets freed.
In episode 6 King is able to pass his trial which was sparing the life of the human who turned traitor. It turns out that the humans had their village destroyed by fairies and giants in the past because they helped an injured demon. They were the only survivors left and they vowed vengeance, but even after killing all the ones that betrayed them all they’re left with is emptiness and their own deaths (where the animators decided to use blood this episode). With King’s trial complete he returns to the present but Diane has yet to complete her trial. We see her talking to the two Gowthers with the real one saying he wants to end the war and asks Diane to look out for the doll Gowther in the future should he lose his way (oh and boy does he lose his way. I’m amazed nobody’s killed him yet). As this lovefest continues Zeldris arrives to kill Gowther.
The trial finally comes to an end in episode 7 (thank God. This lasted way too long for my taste). Diane fights Zeldris while the Gowthers go to end the Holy War but even with Dolce’s powers, Diane is no match for Zeldris who easily defeats her and seals away her magic. Zeldris than gives Diane the choice to either become a 10 Commandment or die (damned if you do damned if you don’t). Diane of course chooses the third option, run away (we’ll meet again Zeldris). Diane finally returns from her trial with her forgotten memories returned so she kisses King and the two officially become a couple (well this is gonna take BBW to a whole new level. (Seras): You do remember she can shrink to human size, right? (Nitsuj): I do, but you never know, people have their own kinks). King and Diane decide to return to Liones while Gloxania watches over the forest. With this, the Seven Sins have finally reunited and king presents Gowther with his heart (the one thing he’s always wanted). Just when it seems like everything is right, Gowther runs away for some bizarre reason and the others chase after him.
In episode 8 we get to see the past of Gowther (and finally figure out why he’s so unstable and weird). After the Holy War Gowther went into a deep sleep where he awakened under the castle of Liones approximately 3,045 years after the Holy War. It was here that he met Nadja princess of Liones and Elizabeth’s aunt. The two developed a bond with each other which later evolved into love (a girl and a life size doll. It’s like an adult version of Pinocchio). The only problem was Nadja had a frail body due to a heart disease that would eventually kill her at a young age. Nadja died in the arms of Gowther (where in the manga she died after having sex with him. Damn, sex with Gowther was so good it gave her an orgasm that killed her. I take back what I said about him in the first season). Gowther tried to bring her back to life by giving her his heart (which we find out later doesn’t have any magical power. It’s basically an amulet that the real Gowther gave him as a gift to let him know that despite being a doll he has a heart) but that doesn’t work and the guards come in to see what Gowther was trying to do (well this is awkward). Gowther was arrested under the suspicions of seducing and killing Nadja and sentenced to death by being burnt alive. It was here that Gowther decided that if having feelings meant this much pain and loss than he be better off not having them. He would soon erase his memories and close himself off from emotions, but his memories with Nadja began to resurface and this costed him to become emotionally unstable. Returning to the present, Gowther tries once again to erase his memories only to get stopped by Diane, King, and Merlin who tell him that not all of his memories are bad (yeah man, you had sex with a princess. You’re the man or doll in this case). Their talk works as Gowther accepts his memories and he gains a huge power boost.
Episodes 9-13
Nothing much happens in episode 9. Merlin uses a familiar to search Camelot for Arthur (yeah where did he go?) only to get attacked by Zeldias in a very downplayed scene (in the manga Zeldias attacks her through her crystal ball with hellfire and leaves her severely injured covered in bruises, blood, and burnt marks. In the anime, it’s just a light magic blast. Way to downplay the scene Deen. God, how is this the same studio that gave us Konosuba and Is this a Zombie?). This results in Merlin getting a fever and Elizabeth using her powers to save her where she comes face to face with Zeldias who reveals what we already knew or pieced together, the Elizabeth that we’re seeing now is the same Elizabeth from the Holy War. Yep, it turns out Elizabeth goes through a cycle of reincarnation destined to meet and wind up with Meliodas. This news makes her happy as this means that she’s always been with Meliodas and wants to continue being with him. However, this discovery comes at a risk. Once Elizabeth starts to regain the memories from her past lives, she’ll die in 3 days according to Meliodas.
So in episode 10 we learn the tragic story of Meliodas and Elizabeth. We all know that during the Holy War Meliodas and Elizabeth fell in love with one another. Unfortunately, this was a big taboo (just like every other story that has this trope) as their respective clans saw them as traitors. The two fought for their love against the demon king and deity themselves only to lose (also, I hate to be that manga reader guy, but I have to address just how terrible this scene was. I know it’s an anime adaption and things have to change but if you’re gonna change things from the manga at least make them better or make them a good substitute as opposed to the manga. In the manga the demon king and deity looked massive compared to the anime. They were as tall as the sky and looked like they could destroy the world if they felt like it. The manga showed just how powerful these two were and how outmatched Meliodas and Elizabeth were against them making their last stand against them courageous but at the same time hopeless. Here, they actually seem like they stood a chance). Meliodas and Elizabeth were defeated but rather than die the two were cursed to suffer. Meliodas received eternal life, even if he dies, he’ll be resurrected no matter what. As for Elizabeth, she’ll continue a cycle of reincarnation where she’ll continuously meet Meliodas, fall in love with him, regain her memories, and then die right in front of him (that’s messed up). For over 3,000 years Meliodas has met Elizabeth 106 times and each time she dies right in front of him with him unable to save her. During those years Meliodas tried to find a way to break the curse with the only person who can break it being Zeldris (and given their history with each other, I don’t think Zeldris will be doing Meliodas any favors any time soon). After telling his story to everyone, he shifts gears and tells everyone to focus on the task at hand and that’s reclaiming Camelot. The only problem is, the kingdom is surrounded by dimensional distortions that stop people from entering, so the sins take a side trip to Coland the dead kingdom which holds the powers of the distortions. Once they arrive, Zeldris is there to greet them and Meliodas goes to attack him.
At the start of episode 11 we see that Zeldris was just an illusion created by Melascula. Meliodas soon gets captured by her and taken into the destroyed kingdom where she uses Meliodas’s anger and rage to wake the dead and have them attack the sins. Of course the sins are able to handle the walking skeletons (need more calcium on those bones) until Melascula uses the rage of people to possess Diane who begins attacking the others. Halbram decides to sacrifice himself to save everyone as this whole mess is his fault. In the past, he literally attacked this kingdom and killed everyone all in the name of vengeance. The decease souls kill Halbram but even when they get revenge it’s not enough to satisfy them (what more do you guys want? What a spoiled group). Thankfully, Elizabeth shows up and performs an exorcism to put them to rest.
In episode 12 Melascula shows her true form, a giant poisonous snake. Meliodas manages to break out of dark prison but goes into berserk mode so now it’s up to Escanor to knock some sense into him (well this should be cool, the two strongest people in the series so far going at it. Even in the manga this was a cool fight). Sadly, they do nothing with this fight and the parts they do show are crappy as hell. The episode pretty much focuses on the sins fighting against Melascula where thanks to Elizabeth they manage to shrink her down to a tiny snake to make her powerless and weak. They capture her and since it be pointless to kill her Elaine gets to continue to live (pow, we overcame that hurdle in a clever way).
The fight between Meliodas and Escanor continues in episode 13 where I have to admit the animation has improved (they’re using real blood! It’s a miracle), but the fight still pales in comparison to the manga fight (we have two of the strongest characters in this series going against one another. This should be the most epic fight in the series so far and yet it feels poor and empty). Meliodas easily overpowers Escanor, but everything changes when noon comes and Escanor becomes The One (Shizuku: Which one? (Nitsuj): The One) an invincible entity that nobody can stop. Escanor manages to defeat Meliodas but takes heavy damage and passes out. Meliodas also takes heavy damage both physically and mentally. He’s awakening to his demon king side and will kill anyone around him (ironically, he’s stronger now more than ever). In order to protect everyone, Merlin plans on trapping Meliodas in the cube again and Elizabeth goes in with him to nurse him and hopefully return him to back to his original self). With Escanor and Meliodas down, this only leaves the others to fight against Zeldris and his army of demons in Camelot. Speaking of Camelot, we see Arthur and a few of the citizens are in hiding where Arthur is devising a strategy to get his hands on the holy sword Excalibur. Zeldris receives a message from his father telling him that Meliodas will become the new king of the demon clan (oh~ that’s got to hurt Zeldris) and he must retrieve Meliodas by any means necessary.
Well this part of the anime has been empty and hard to watch. I need to give my eyes and mind a break from all of this. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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