Nanatsu no Taizai 266 Review: Archangel Possession

Nanatsu no Taizai, Chapter 266: The Follower and the Followed

Not the most interesting of chapters, I would say. The first few pages is just a bit of a 'what are these other characters doing' recap, which is neat. I was wondering what some other characters are doing, so we get a bit of a roll call of Dreyfus, Slader, Jericho and Griamor defending Britannia from the demon army. We get a bit of Griamor getting impaled by just some generic stronger-than-usual demon (poor Griamor can't catch a break, can he). When Dreyfus charges in to save his son, however, he suddenly grew large, and apparently Fraudrin's lent Dreyfus strength? Is it something that Dreyfus consciously did, or is it just coincidence that Fraudrin's magic was left behind in Dreyfus's body? Either way would work, I suppose.

Meanwhile, the archangels give up their mortal vessels. I'm not sure just why Sariel and Tarmiel went through all the hassle of explaining how angelic possession and vessel-usage, as well as showing off Sariel's grown up and fanservice-y host only for him to discard the host two pages later. I guess there's the foreshadowing of what may happen to Margaret's body if this lasts? It's a bit clumsy, though, and it could've easily been told to us pretty quickly without the convoluted way of having Sariel's body growing into adulthood and then Sariel abandoning it immediately? Eh. We get some clarification as to when Tarmiel and Sariel took over their bodies if you really care that much (I think we can infer), before the two archangels manifest as their real bodies, which begin to break apart immediately, and they hunt down Estarossa.

Meanwhile, Estarossa's just crazy and still thinks he's Meliodas, but... somehow has access to Meliodas's memories? I'm genuinely not sure what's going on with Estarossa. Did someone really fuck with his mind? I mean, Gowther is a candidate for sure. Is he just crazy? Is he part of Meliodas that split away? Eh. I kind of want to say I really care about Estarossa and am invested in his story, but to be honest... I'm not. He's an interesting antagonist, but at this point his weird angry madness is just being dragged on and on.