Nanatsu no Taizai 257 Review: War Games

Nanatsu no Taizai, Chapter 257: The March to Attack

Arthur's fate is still apparently in the air, because everyone's acting like there's no saving him, but at the same time no one's outright saying that he's dead. We get a hideously horrifying picture of Cath with demonic eyes and a really, really angry expression. So maybe Cath's going to be relevant sometime down the line? I don't really care all that much for Cath, who hasn't been much of a character. Arthur's essentially in some weird state of suspended animation, and we get the requisite scenes of Merlin going "my dear Arthur" while Escanor listens from the outside, trying to comfort Merlin but hearing all the talk about how Arthur is as precious to Merlin as Meliodas is to Elizabeth. There's definitely some bit of jealousy bit going around, but we're not entirely sure if Merlin's feelings towards Arthur is truly romantic love or if it's a different kind of love. It definitely is enough to get Merlin to cry in a surprisingly tender scene. 

Merlin then throws herself straight into work, resolving to not lose anymore precious people to her. Escanor, poor sod, is just in an extremely foul mood throughout the meeting, not caring for the two lesser Archangels going all "holy crap, it's Mael!"

Merlin then gives a bit of an extrapolation about the division of the forces, placing a chunk of their forces to guard Liones (led by Dreyfus, Griamor and Hendricksen), the bulk of their forces to engage the demons' own main forces (led by Tamriel, Sariel, Gilthunder and Hauser), and a small assault squad (Escanor, Merlin, and Ludoshel) that will directly attack Camelot and fight Meliodas and his brothers. Keeping the strike squad a minimum to counter Zeldoris's ability is pretty neat, and we also get confirmation that the giants and fairies have pledged their forces off-screen. 

We get a bit of a little exchange between Ludoshel and Elizabeth on whether Elizabeth is going to join the assault squad, and we get an actually neat moment when Sariel and Tamriel tell Ludoshel to shut the fuck up -- albeit in a polite way -- and not antagonize Elizabeth needlessly. Ludoshel then pull off another dickery by demanding that Hendricksen (who totally, honest, no-strings-attached gave his consent) go with them in the assault squad. So yeah, Hendricksen's definitely manipulated by Ludoshel in some way or form. Gilthunder also decides to go along, wanting to protect Margaret.

It's a lot of setup which finally leads to the final scene, where the army of demons presumably going to be met by the search-and-destroy team (what an awkward name) is led by Chandler and Cussack. They turn into their 'true' demonic forms, and I think we've actually seen Chandler's true form before? Cussack's just looks ridiculous, though. Overall, it's mostly a setup chapter with a huge focus on Merlin for the first half. Neato.