Nanatsu no Taizai, Chapter 144: That Man [Greed]; Chapter 145: A Beautiful Soul
Double chapters of Taizai! Which is awesome, and also the reason why this review is relatively late. Chapter 144 just basically focuses on Ban beating the fuck out of Galan and Merascylla by robbing their powers and generally having Wolverine regenerative powers, the former a thing that I forgot to consider last chapter, and it's awesome to see the Ten Commandments get their asses handed to them by a power and a situation that makes sense, not just "a bunch of people beat Fraudrin up whoops" like we got a while back. But chapter 145 immediately turns this around as we remember that the damn commandments have more powers than just physical strength and a gimmick or two, and after a bit of more badassery we have Merascylla display her powers and, uh, just basically push Ban's soul right out of his body, and it ends up with a long flashback and Galan chomping down on Ban's soul...
I'm quite certain that Ban's not going to die, considering that Taizai has proved itself to be a manga where very few people die (sadly). He's going to be inconvenienced and maybe hang out within Galan, or King or Elaine or whomever can probably do something. But it's still a pretty awesome moment for Ban, both as a character and as a freaking badass.
Well, anyway, the art in this chapter -- especially with Ban and Galan doing all their acrobatic slashing and cutting and whatnot -- are top-notch. From how Galan bifurcated Ban straight off the bat and sliced up the mountain too, to Galan just roaring in race still pissed that Meliodas beat him down... top notch art. We again get some re-establishment that the demons are nowhere near full power yet, and after recovering from the initial slice Ban just introduces him as Ban the Undead and just dodges all of Merascylla's dark tendrils and even manages to knock Merascylla back, though she doesn't really look hurt.
Galan apparently plays a lot of video games and the panel where he just reverse-punches Ban's head apart is another awesome panel. And I do like just how surprised Galan is at Ban recovering his head, and both Merascylla and Galan take the time to stop and discuss this. They note how magic disappears once the person dies, and that makes Ban absolutely different.
Galan then goes all 'well, I'll let you hit me with any one attack' all cheerful and everything, while Merascylla is just all 'you're going to get yourself seriously hurt one day' though Galan is just curious and after all, they're two to Ban's one, what harm could it do? Galan also establishes that he is Galan of the [truth], and he will never go back on his word. Ban is grinning and shit as he activates Hunter Fest, which draws the physical powers of Galan, Merascylla, Jericho and it appears even some of the townsfolk. I actually forgot Ban could steal physical power and the the demons are nothing but physical powers at this point.
Ban's slightly buffer and just does this absolutely satisfying kick to Galan's stomach. I mean, you could argue that Galan got nerfed, but on the other hand Ban is just using Galan's own strength against him. And, again, Galan's nowhere at full strength yet. Ban whacks Galan in the chin and sends him tumbling away, before proceeding to smack Merascylla though she just wraps herself in her shadow ball thing. We get a nice little sequence of physical attacks between Galan and Ban -- and this is Ban with just a bunch of random nunchucks and not his sacred treasure, so...
Both Galan and Merascylla note how Galan's movements have became closer, and Merascylla instantly realizes that Ban just stole their strength -- a highly effective move for a giant mass of physical strength like Galan. Merascylla also mentions something about Balor's Demon Eye (tut, tut, that Merlin, keeping secrets from everyone...) and we get a nice page full of Buff!Ban as Merascylla note that Ban's power may exceed even Galan's physically.
It picks up next chapter as Galan continues to fight Ban, holding up but still losing as Ban delivers some pretty solid hits. Merascylla is all observant and is like 'why don't you steal more power? Drain Galan until he's helpless before finishing him off'. And while I do enjoy the camaraderie between Galan and Merascylla, she does have a point -- and Merascylla concludes that since Ban doesn't look like the warrior-pride type, his body must have a threshold of power it can absorb. Which is great. I've never thought about it before! Noting that Ban is losing breath, Merascylla also notes that Ban's powers have a finite duration as well.
This ticks Ban off so he charges at Merascylla, but Merascylla's shadows just engulfs Ban in a 'Gloom Cocoon', basically something similar to Tosen's Bankai from Bleach, where Ban can't see the enemy and is just trapped in a space of darkness. Merascylla isn't just going to drain Ban's magic power dry since there's the matter of his immortal regeneration, but she notes that she is Merascylla of [Faith]. So these Ten Commandments are just going to be extremely loosely based on the biblical commandments, and just facets resembling said commandments.
Merascylla notes how every being has faith in something. In a god, in family, in a sword, something like that, but people also loose their faith easily at any sign of adversity, so under Merascylla's Commandment, anyone who is faithless will have their eyes burnt out. Something similar to Galan's lies, I guess. And we see this man who refuses to acknowledge the zombie of his lover get his eyes burnt out since he lost faith in their love... which is pretty fucking sadistic considering, y'know, zombies.
Ban despite Elaine's yandere behaviour, Ban's faith in Elaine never wavered from a moment which is like a gajillion times more heartwarming that I would put it. And Ban's soul is absolutely pure... but Merascylla points out that Ban's soul is nowhere as immortal as Ban's body. Merascylla then directly attacks Ban's soul... we know the demons acn rip out people's souls if they are in close enough vicinity, but I've never expected it to be, y'know, actually weaponized. Merascylla's cocoon thing breaks apart and Merascylla just pushes Ban's soul out of his mouth.
Merascylla's shadow tendrils shoot up as Ban's soul tries to escape into the sky... and we get four pages filled with flashbacks to people who were kind to Ban which is honestly a bit of an overkill, real death or no.
We get a short cutaway to Meliodas (and Hendricksen, dressed in waiter clothes) sensing that something is wrong.
Merascylla's tendrils can't hold onto Ban's soul, so Galan just hops up, grabs it and chomps down. I mean, Galan hasn't swallowed yet so there's a chance that King would show up and whack Galan with Chastiefol and cause Galan to spit Ban's soul out, and, again, I don't think Ban would die right this moment, but it's definitely an awesome chapter in all aspects. Action, villain monologue, characterization, power balance, handling threatening villains while still keeping your heroes badass... it's something I was worried would happen to the Commandments, but thankfully so far it hasn't. Good show. Looking forward to 146.
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