Seven Deadly Sins Vol. #03 Manga Review

The Seven Deadly Sins Volume 3 Manga Review

A fairly formulaic tale continues to be reasonably well told.

Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Nakaba Suzuki
Translation: Christine Dashiell
Lettering: James Dashiell

What They Say:
The Heroes’ Past

Inside the Baste Prison, Meliodas and gang finally find Ban, a daring and brash member of The Seven Deadly Sins. However, trouble is on the horizon as their journey continues. Another member of The Seven Deadly Sins appears! The heroes clash as a feud is revived from their past!

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
We already saw in the last volume that Ban, the Fox Sin of Greed who appeared to be out of commission after languishing in prison for years, was more than capable of breaking out at any time. He didn’t simply because he had no reason to do so. With the word that Meliodas was on the way, he suddenly got interested again. Meliodas and Diane break into the prison, where the Holy Knights foolishly think they can all be imprisoned using a special spell that would seal it forever behind a barrier. Of course, that will not be the case, but not because the Sins work to get out of the barrier. Just the usual greeting ritual that Ban and Meliodas go through when they see each other after an absence, which is basically to get into a friendly brawl that has a habit of destroying whatever place it is they are, manages to blast the sealing barrier apart…without them even actively meaning to do that. All part of the comedy of the work.

The rest of the volume is not as comedic, for the most part. As the group continue to travel in search of more of their band, they head towards the Capital of the Dead, where King is rumored to be. But the King they remember appears to be gone, his place taken by a small child bent upon revenge against Ban…and in league with Gilthunder, the Holy Knight. King has been searching for entrance to the Capital of the Dead since the breakup of the Sins, but not managed entry. Of course, Elizabeth manages to get access to the place for the whole group, which sets Ban running off in search of someone, followed by King.

At this juncture, another Holy Knight appears, Guila, who is willing to go to the extreme of killing herself in order to enter the Capital of the Dead (one of the two paths to get there, after all), where she attacks Meliodas and Diane. What makes her insufferably difficult as a foe is her maniacal devotion to hunting the Sins down combined with her ability to discover the secrets to her enemies’ powers, especially the weakness that they have (and we learn something important and interesting about Meliodas’ seemingly overwhelming power).

While Diane and Meliodas are having a hard time against Guila, King has caught up to Ban and the two fight. It appears that they were not on the best of terms when the Sins were together as a group, but in the years it has gotten worse as King has been told that his little sister, Elaine, was killed by Ban. She guarded a magical item that granted bounty and life to their hometown; it appears that Ban killed her and then took the item for himself to make himself immortal. Since he can’t be killed, revenge is difficult, though King has a plan.

We leave things there, with both fights not fully resolved. Not a bad cliffhanger spot for either storyline. About the only problem at this point is how cliche the Holy Knights continue to be. While I’m not expecting a great deal of depth or complexity, there’s just something dissatisfying about how simplistic the Holy Knights seem to be, though that does not put them out of line with the vast majority of villains in shounen works. But it does get slightly tiresome. The rift and battle between Ban and King is much more interesting, even if it, too, is highly formulaic and easily predicted. That’s because here, at least, room for interpretation, misinterpretation, and misdirection has been left. Who did King hear the story about his sister from? From Gilthunder? If so, then there is little reason for us, the readers, to put even the least little crumb of faith in its truthfulness. That does not mean that Ban is innocent. That’s hardly a word any would probably use with regard to him. But it may be that the truth is far more complex. And we’ll get to that truth in the next volume, as we see the shadowy figure of a small girl make an appearance in one of the last frames.

In Summary:
Having reunited with Ban, three of the Sins have now been gathered by Elizabeth, though not without cost. Their journey continues as they go in search of a fourth Sin, King. King, however, appears to have changed greatly over the years and may now have joined forces with the Sins’ enemies for his own personal reasons. The reunion, especially with Ban, is not a happy affair. Throw yet another somewhat leaden and boring Holy Knight into the mix trying to take down Meliodas and Diane and you have a situation where Hawk and Elizabeth attempt to run away, something I should now expect them to do once a volume. The adventure continues as this volume ends in the midst of two battles.

Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B
Package Rating: B+
Text/Translation: B+

Age Rating: Teen (13+)
Released By: Kodansha Comics
Release Date: July 8th, 2014
MSRP: $10.99