The last season of the animation series ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’ focused on members of the title squad pulling themselves together in readiness to face off against the Ten Commandments once more. The new season five is also the final one based on the fan favorite Japanese Manga series of the same name written and illustrated by Nakaba Suzuki. Susumu Nishizawa helmed the new collection while Rie Nishino returned to work on the character designs. The score was taken care of by Rintaro Ikeda.
This season’s story is very similar to the overall franchise style; however, chapter five puts the magnifying glass on the wrapping up of the Holy War. The Arc Angels and the Liones join forces to bring the war to an end. Ban goes deep into purgatory in a mission to retrieve Melioda’s emotions to stop him from becoming the next Demon King. As audiences remember, Meliodas is the bearer of the sin of Wrath and a Dragon symbol and the captain of the Seven Deadly Sins team. Estarossa goes nuts, kidnaps Elizabeth, and takes off with several commandments. Now the Sins find themselves at a crossroads on whether to be loyal to their leader or focus on protecting and saving the humans.
When production switched from A-1 pictures to Studio DEEN, the animation quality drastically deteriorated, with some absurdly looking scenes making it to the final cut. It was so noticeably bad to the extent that fans started making memes of the images. Compared to its predecessor though season five saw a significant improvement when it came to the visuals. All the fights look better done, and the action flows smoothly. However, it is not there yet as stills, and missing frames are still visible in the fight scenes. Also, when the group shots are zoomed in, the finer details are entirely lost.
The emotion and intensity in the action scenes of the anime and the character designs are a mirrored version of the accounts in the Manga. A notable scene is an iconic showdown between King and one of the members of the Ten Commandments. Newly introduced roles are also fantastic, and Melioda’s demon form is way improved in look and form compared to previous seasons.
Meliodas is one interesting character who fans of the series have watched blossom over the series span. In this season, his emotions are a vital aspect. The connection between himself and the other Sin members are an essential part of his life. His emotions make him who he is, and audiences have seen him fight through tough times to overcome the darkness that once controlled him. Now that his emotions roam lost in purgatory as he keeps taking in several commandments, he and the team are facing the biggest challenge of them all as he is on the verge of becoming the Demon King.
The focus on Melioda’s emotions makes him appear sympathetic, and to some extent, it will undoubtedly make fans want to root for him to become the Demon King.
Gowther continues his plotting tactics into the fifth season, something that comes quite handy. As a matter of fact, he is the sole reason why the Holy War halted in the first place because he wittingly manipulated everyone into thinking that Mael was Estarossa which neutralized the tensions. Consequently, it is the same act that gave birth to the dire issue the team is facing.
Zeldris also gets his moment in the spotlight. His complex story with Meliodas and his background tales are brought to the fore in this season. The origin of Hawk is also given, Ludociel finds redemption, and Henricks delivers a surprise once again. After the last season left viewers daggling and itching in suspense, more information is provided here about the vampires.
The series plays on the cliched aspect that love and compassion can overcome all evil to some extent, an idea which is pretty heart-melting but has been used repeatedly in these kinds of series to the extent that its charm doesn’t have any grip anymore. However, the filmmakers could explore some other bonds a little more, like the one Ban and Meliodas share, to create some uniqueness. It is fascinating to witness different members with different powers pool their compatible gifts together into a powerful defense, making the series even more exciting if pursued further in this direction.
‘The Seven Deadly Sins’ is everything that die-hard fantasy lovers would crave. There are tons of magic, kingdoms, commandments, potential successors, and even a Demon King. The gender aspect is completely balanced in this series despite being a Shonen anime. Both Merlin and Diane are extraordinarily talented, and they bring their fighting skills to the table, which help the team win pretty intense and challenging fights.
As it is usual on these kinds of series, especially if they have spanned a couple of sequences, fans who haven’t read the Manga or watched previous seasons might have a bit of a challenge catching on as the plot feels rushed at times, new characters don’t get much screen time. Some background stories are all mixed up. However, most of the characters are recurring, and if one has been following the anime, then everything falls back in place.
When one looks at some early episodes, one can’t help to notice that some are missing background music and effects. For instance, some fight scenes have zero music and no exaggerated sound effects. Both things are the essential ingredients in this genre and leaving them out under these circumstances makes the experience pretty weird. Still, the overall music is very varied and compliments those scenes with poorly done and dull animation, making them feel complete and accomplished.
The voice acting is superb. The entire cast from the previous season returns with Mamoru Miyano now joining the party, lending his voice to Wild.
‘The Seven Deadly Sins Season 5’ might not be the best series in the Shonen genre; however, the story that drew millions of fans is still present as well as the beloved characters. This first part of the final take consisting of 12 episodes, forms the basis for the grand finale. There are still quite a few loose ends that need to be tied up, and hopefully, this will happen in the second part of the season. It is worth giving a shot whether you are an avid fan of Manga or love good anime. ‘The Seven Deadly Sins Season 5’ is now available to stream on Netflix.
