Dhruv Sharma
While the first episode of ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’ Season 4 was merely a disappointment with its tedious recaps and skimpy animation style, the second episode showed some promising improvement with not only the storyline but also with the overall animation quality as well. As mentioned in my previous review, instead of focusing on the main overpowered characters, so far, this season has been bringing light on the development of King and Diane who were previously left unexplored. Treading the same path as episode 2, episode 3 further dwells into the arc of the two characters and along with that, it also begins to diminish the lines between good and evil through a major back story.
Though I am starting to get used to the present animation style, I still feel that Studio Deen needs to level up and at least match the standards of the previous seasons. In the past, since ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’ is a shounen, the action scenes have been a major selling point for the anime. But in this season, it’s an interesting storyline that is making up for its lousy animation quality. Undoubtedly, Season 4 holds a lot of potential but as of now, its new censored animation style is holding it back from achieving greatness.
Seven Deadly Sins Season 4 Episode 3 Recap
With a surprising twist of events, the previous episode re-introduced us to Gloxinia and Drole who, instead of mercilessly killing Diane and King, offer them help. Soon after this, King and Diane acquire the bodies and abilities of Gloxinia and Drole and are sent back 3000 years in the past. In the ancient lands of Britannia, they meet Elizabeth and Meliodas who are heading towards a village to battle the demon clan. The second episode leaves us with a cliffhanger where the two come face to face with one of the ten commandments—Calmadios.
Episode 3 starts off exactly where the second one left and while most of us were expecting King and Diane to get brutally beaten up by Calmadios, it turns out that the two of them are actually pretty strong because of their new embodiments. But soon after this, the whole battle between them and the demons abruptly comes to an end and Elizabeth explains how she convinced the demons to leave. This is the first time when it is hinted that the demons may not be all that evil after all and deep inside, even they seek peace. Soon after this, Mr. Ludociel, one of the four great angels is introduced and everyone is instantly drawn towards him because of how overpowered he seems.
The Angel announces his sinister intentions of completely destroying the demon clan while Elizabeth and Meliodas— who only want a peaceful world—start questioning his sense of purpose. Meanwhile, King begins to feel a very strange magic force that seems to be heading from the lush forests that surround them. This is when Gerharde (Glosinia’s sister) shows up and explains to him how Ludociel created a boundary field around the forest which acts as a bait for the demons. Soon, the sky brims with a swarm of demons who have seemingly figured out that Ludociel is holding many of their kind as captive. Elizabeth steps in their way and tells them that she is on their side and only wishes to end the war. Almost convinced that she will be able to help them, Ludociel comes out of nowhere and proves that they have been right all along.
The forest shudders and its solid crust breaks open. With this, a giant arc rises up from the core of the exuberant green lands. The arc holds many eroded demons in its entrapment where they are kept in a state that lies between life and death. Without a warning, Ludociel destroys all of these demons and further infuriates the ones who were there to rescue them. A ferocious war in on the way but Mr. Ludociel is already prepared for what lies ahead.
Seven Deadly Sins Season Season 4 Episode 3 Review
In the past three seasons, for the most part, ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’ was all about the rivalry between the ten commandments and the Sins. As much as I loved the action scenes, the character build-up and also, the whole animation style adopted by A-1 Pictures, the monotonous tone of its plot was really starting to concern me. With a baffling yet engrossing storyline, Season 4 is now starting to make us empathize with the overarching antagonists of its previous seasons by portraying all the atrocities that they have gone through in the past.
With this, it also introduces new potential antagonists who actually initiated the Great War in the first place. I won’t deny that all this while, especially after its lackluster of a pilot, I was expecting the entire season to get butchered by Studio Deen’s approach towards it. But with this subtle shift in the entire tone of its story, it seems like Season 4 might eventually bring forth one of the best arcs so far.
Getting back to the technical elements of it, as mentioned earlier, I personally love the opening theme and with time, I’m also starting to enjoy the vibrant closing theme that is usually followed by some comical post-credit scenes. The animations style, though I was able to overlook most of its flaws in this particular episode because of the interesting twist in its plot, its inept standards could certainly ruin the entire season in the upcoming episodes. So far, the season has been focusing more on the development of its characters and thus, holding back on its action.
The few action scenes that have been featured till now were very upsetting not only because of the censorship in them but also because of their dreadful choreography. From the looks of it, in the episodes that lie ahead, another great war seems to be on its way. If the Studio does not upgrade its animation style and quality till then, as promising as the story may be, its lack of technical sublimity will certainly lead to its downfall. So hopefully, soon enough, even the animation will catch up with its immaculate storyline.
Read More: Seven Deadly Sins Season 4 Episode 2 Review
