Nanatsu no Taizai 121 Review: Thou Shalt Not

Nanatsu no Taizai, Chapter 121: Impossible to Predict

We pick up straight from the end of last chapter to Galan being all creepy behind Merlin, and we get confirmation, I guess, that that weird fang-thing on the knight's helmet is actually Galan's mouth. Well, he's a freaking demon, he can be a suit of armour if he wants to. Threader jumps in the way in-between Merlin and Galan and activates 'Overpower'... but honestly, does anyone really expect Threader to be effective against someone that the combined forces of Merlin, Meliodas and Diane couldn't even scratch? Kudos to Threader for having the balls, but Galan's just way too overpowering. And then he basically, uh, pulverizes Threader's entire right flank good god that panel with the scrunched-up arm looks so painful

Merlin tries to bargain for time, telling Galan that she knows stuff and will give the Ten Commandments information they want in exchange for sparing them, all that jazz... then suddenly Merlin gets a surprised expression... and gets turned into stone! People react, then we get this nightmare face of Galan just gloating that he is the 'Truth' of the Ten Commandments. By the power bestowed to him by the Demon King, anyone who tells a lie in front of Galan will be turned into stone regardless of power.

So that's the gist of the Ten Commandments, then -- each of the Demons have a power corresponding to one of the ten biblical commandments, with Galan's presumably being 'thou shalt not lie'. In which case the girl who keeps saying she likes to take it up the ass is probably the one regarding adultery.

Also, so much for the 'powerful bad guy spares the good guys because they're not worth his time or some stupid reason' that is so common a manga trope to take place here. Galan's too much of a psycho.

Galan is about to shatter Merlin the Statue into pieces, when Meliodas charges at Galan, half-transformed into his demon form. Hawk gives us a running commentary. With the tattoo active, Meliodas has an attack power of 4400. But that ain't worth shit, as we get another awesome page of Galan slicing up all the generic Camelot knights that zerg-rush him... rather brutally, I might add. He then slices off Meliodas' arms. While Galan is making shish-kebabs out of Camelot knights, Meliodas mumbles something about Merlin's spell, and then activates his poker-face demon form for the first time since the battle against Hellbram, re-attaching his arms and exuding black shadows and shit.

Hawk notes that in this form Meliodas has a power level of 10,300, and indeed Meliodas manages to kick Galan backwards, then deliver a shit-ton of blows to Galan. It seems, really, that this is going to be 'Shonen power accesses forbidden power within himself that allows him to easily trounce a superior opponent that has proven otherwise invincible', which is a trope common in so many mangas.

This time, though, Meliodas manages to control the darkness and then summon this gigantic pillar of blackness which we know is kind of Meliodas' M.O. when he needs something razed to the ground. And truly, for the next page or so Meliodas looks like he's winning, with Galan going all 'I cannot believe it!' And then we cut to a two-page panel of Galan just one-shotting demon!Meliodas going all 'I can't believe how weak you've became'.

Well, how's that for bucking the trend. I honestly expected Galan to make a good show of himself then get taken out by Meliodas' demon form or some secret skill of Merlin's, but no. I probably shouldn't like Galan as much as I do, but he's fast becoming a character I really do enjoy.

Galan spears Meliodas in the gut, and I think this time it's clear that it's the real Meliodas. He then stabs Meliodas in the head, slices Diane in the chest, crushes the mangled body of Threader and shatters Merlin the statue. I mean, they're going to be fine somehow -- Elizabeth's going to cure them with her Sharingan, or Merlin will have prepared some reversal spell, or something -- but seeing our heroes brutalized as such without even the chance to fight back? Pretty awesome.

Galan tries to kill Arthur, Elizabeth and Hawk, but they are protected by Perfect Cube. Galan acknowledges that even he cannot destroy Perfect Cube so easily, hinges his mouth open then just buggers off.

Then we see that while he's bouncing away a familiar tendril of light is trailing from his shoulder... and apparently Gowther has regained his (nude) human form. So maybe it's just a Gowther illusion? A likely reason, but the last page is a naked Gowther walking through the bloodied near-dead bodies of Meliodas and the rest. So unless it is an illusion and the cliffhanger is being a douche, Gowther seems to have snapped again.

Again, still really interested to see where it's going and this new fact about the Ten Commandments really make me look forward to seeing just how powerful the rest of them are and what their respective 'Commandment' powers are.