Nanatsu no Taizai 231-232 Review: It's High Noon

Nanatsu no Taizai, Chapters 231-232: Pride vs. Wrath/the Almighty vs. the Greatest Evil

Well, this week we got a dual chapter thing going on, and it's glorious. After Merascylla's defeat in a way that gets around the whole Elaine-will-die-if-Scylla-dies plot point (something I found to be a bit of an ass-pull, to be honest) Escanor fights Meliodas, and it's hype as all hell! There's really not that much to say without repeating "OMG" so many times, but by god it's just badass. The art's completely on point as Escanor and Meliodas just unleashes barrage after barrage of powerful moves. Both Escanor and Meliodas are two characters that are very much susceptible to the 'invincible overpowered hero' trope. Especially after the time-skip, they have been punching through enemy after enemy without batting an eyelid, so clearly they're actual threats against each other.

And the manga makes it pretty awesome at showing that Evil Demon Meliodas (great to see him back, by the way) is just absolutely brutal while Escanor is taking a beating... but he keeps getting stronger as he gets closer to high noon (insert obligatory Overwatch joke). Escanor is clearly damaged, but his expression and lines are always bragging and over-confident, which are amazingly shown. We get a gigantic power-up by Escanor as he hulks up at the end of 231 and unleashes a gigantic punch that seemed to surely have ended the contest... and then Meliodas punches up and makes him bleed.

Then 232 shows up and apparently Escanor's not dead yet. Quite the contrary. We get great swaps between sun blasts, axe swings, dagger hellfire stabs and full counters (and a cryptic voice that Merlin hears), whereas Merlin's Perfect Cube gives the two strongest characters in the setting ample space to fight without genociding humanity. The manga is perfect at showing both Meliodas and Escanor surprised at the other tanking their latest attack without going too much into repetition, and as Escanor seems to fall at last... Merlin talks about how Escanor is just delaying until it's high noon... where for one minute during high noon, Escanor's power peaks and he becomes the "invincible incarnation of power, the One". Which... shit, it's basically the Hulk meets Sentry, yeah? He's gigantic, he's burning with sunfire, his eyes are glowing... and then Meliodas unleashes a 'Divine 1000 slices' that seems to fuck Escanor up, like each time Meliodas gets serious earlier in the fight... but Escanor goes "naught but an itch", waves his hand down in the motion of a knife... and cuts Meliodas. Well. It's certainly hype, and Escanor will probably beat Meliodas in this 'the One' form, or Meliodas might withstand Escanor for the full minute and then as Escanor weakens Meliodas will pound Escanor to the ground. Highly doubt either of them will die, and the penultimate panel shows Elizabeth rushing towards them, so it might be a friendship speech that saves the day... but I kinda want to see more Escanor and Meliodas badassery, so hopefully next chapter won't be the end just yet.