Sunday 4 June 2017

Nanatsu no Taizai 220 Review: Escanor's Blues

Nanatsu no Taizai, Chapter 220: Hero's Feast


The chapter starts off like any other 'heroes hanging out' chapter, basically a lot of fun but ultimately superfluous scenes. Unlike a certain other manga that starts with an F, though, the scenes and jokes are completely new and it's not just the same old character quirks repeated over and over ad nauseam. There is Escanor trying out his poetry and getting ignored, Drunk Ban playing cards, discussion about the fact that all seven sins are there, discussion about Gowther's crossdressing fetish and his newfound emotions... I did think that the two-page-spread of all the seven sins' faces is a bit self-indulgent, but whatever.

There's a couple of intriguing things, too, like Gowther keeping mum about how the Holy War actually ended. Apparently there's something called the Coffin of Everlasting Darkness created by the giant craftsman Dabuzu? I dunno. Gowther seemed super upset and Diane didn't want to push any further. Merlin shows up via teleportation and tries to act like everything is normal, but Meliodas sees through the act when Merlin buggers off after a couple of drinks with the lame excuse that she's drunk.

There's also Elizabeth thinking about the possibility of reincarnation, what with Angel!Elizabeth and Liz being mentioned as having existed in different time periods, but a molestation assault from Meliodas and things end up being waylaid. 

Merlin also tries to get everyone to be serious (and shuts Hawk up with a glare), noting that Zeldoris has basically taken over the entire region of Camelot, even if Liones is free. Diane also points out that Zeldoris is basically the demon king's representative... so why hasn't he really done much before Escanor accidentally knocks him out post-timeskip?

Meliodas notes how they have to free people from the imprisonment of his Commandment, before fighting Zeldoris himself. Which I guess is a problem, huh? Things have been so detached from the Ten Commandment invasion and in my head newly-psycho Meliodas and super-broken Escanor took out all the remaining Sins, so I wasn't even considering any of these.

Meliodas helps the wounded Merlin to her room, quickly guessing what happened -- she got attacked while in a trance-like state. Meliodas also notes that Merlin's true objective isn't saving people, or liberation, or defeating Zeldoris...  it's simply to save Arthur, which Merlin notes, yeah, that's the case, even begging Meliodas that she can't lose Arrthur, who is her hope. (Shit, I forgot Arthur existed!) What they don't know is that Escanor is standing outside the room, listening, and the final page has Escanor's completely shocked and just depressed, sad, rejected face juxtaposed against the bright, shining handsome face of Arthur. Awwwwww Escanor. It hasn't been a good day for our mustachioed friend, huh? Everyone ignores his poem, he gets screamed at by a drunk Ban, Merlin ignores his poem, and now he gets to hear that Merlin's 'Hope' is Arthur, and she is hiding both her injury and motivations from Escanor. 

What the fuck has happened to Arthur anyway? He was briefly relevant when he crashed in on Meliodas fighting Gilthunder, then grew less and less prominent and kind of disappeared into the background as 'that kid with a cat stuck onto his head'. Can't even remember where he is now at the moment. 

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