The Seven Deadly Sins: Revival of The Commandments is the second season based on the manga series. It is 24 episodes long with an OVA that was bundled with a volume of the manga. The series is set in the fantasy world of Britannia and continues directly after the events of the first season. Meliodas and his group, known as the Seven Deadly Sins, had saved the Liones Kingdom by defeating the corrupted Holy Knights who had held the land in tyranny. As shown in the four episode special Signs of Holy War, the villains in this season are known as the Ten Commandments, whom are resurrected members of the demon clan.
The demon clan was once a powerful and evil race whom were defeated and sealed 3000 years ago. The release of ten of them is dire news, especially when it turns out to be the Ten Commandments as they represent the most powerful of the clan. Their appearance also sheds some light into Meliodas’ mysterious powers.
Despite the first season spending a lot of time in introducing and then gathering the characters together, the members of the Seven Deadly Sins soon part ways. At first, it would seem like the season doesn’t waste time by going straight into setting up the plot. Despite already showing off some backstories of the Seven Deadly Sins, it is further fleshed out this season. We learn a lot more about Diane and her past, King and how important his role as the Fairy King is, and Meliodas and his relationship with Liz (who looks very similar to Elizabeth). Although considering the reveal of Meliodas and his relationship with Elizabeth, it is a bit weird that he is constantly doing all these inappropriate things to her.
Hawk, the talking pet / mascot pig of Meliodas’ Boar Hat Tavern, showed a mysterious power at the end of the last season but he regresses back to being the comic relief. Despite that, him and Hawk Mama shows off their considerable power from time to time. Revival of The Commandments tends to retcon a lot of characters from the first season that relieves them of all blame. It feels lazy and forced as if the writers were just trying to find any reason to keep those villains in the show. Despite the sad emotional ties of Ban and his dead lover Elaine, this season kind of resolves that pain in a cheap or easy way… or so it leads you to think.
As the team has split to go their own ways, the anime follows multiple viewpoints which constantly change. This can be annoying at times and it makes the progress on a supposedly important mission very slow, often forgotten until a few episodes later. The demon clan is shown to be absurdly powerful, able to curbstomp a simultaneous attack with multiple members of the Seven Deadly Sins without breaking a sweat. It shakes your confidence in whether the protagonists have the power to fight the Commandments and so a big chunk of the season is Meliodas gaining more power. there is a surprising turn of events where there is the appearance of an ally that is equally as powerful (if not more so) than Meliodas. This helps put things into perspective and affirms that Meliodas isn’t the only savior of the kingdom.
The anime relies heavily on coincidences in order for the characters to pull through. It just so happens that the only one that can save them was here in the middle of nowhere or that it just so happens that there is a character that can heal that fatal wound. It can feel contrived as moments. Characters also continue to call out their attach names and make long winded explanations of what they do. This is distracting and unrealistic.
Despite the early appearance of the Ten Commandments, it ends up being slow going in terms of revealing what they are capable of. This is because they are regaining their power and it only focuses on one or two of them for most of the season. By the time you’re nearing the end, you wonder how they are going to close this arc with the remaining episodes. The answer is it doesn’t, it leaves the arc unfinished. As a result, the season has a rushed ending as it spent too much time meandering that it didn’t leave enough for the climactic battle at the end.
The OVA is a series of short stories featuring the various characters. It isn’t as funny as the previous OVA but is still insightful and amusing at times. Overall, The Seven Deadly Sins: Revival of The Commandments is great fun. It is what you would imagine a classic fantasy adventure story to be. It isn’t perfect, with a lot of time wasting, sidetracks, and questionable moments, but the positives outweigh it all with its charming cast of characters and interesting powers.
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