The tournament comes to an abrupt conclusion when interlopers interrupt the final match. But readers are unlikely to care since they are then presented with a roller coaster ride of reversals and plot developments.
Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Nakaba Suzuki
Translation: Christine Dashiell
Lettering: James Dashiell
What They Say:
Blast from the Past!
Howzer whips up a huge storm in an attempt to defeat Diane, but even a human-sized giant can stand strong against the fiercest tempests. In the next match, Meliodas faces Cain, who conjures terrifying fire magic while also leveling fiery accusations at Meliodas about his rumored involvement in the destruction of Danafell. How will Meliodas respond? Can he take the punishment for his alleged sins?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Well, there is one method of dealing with a growing, perhaps too swiftly growing, cast of characters. Start eliminating some of them. And so we come to perhaps the first major death in the story.
We pick up where the last volume ended, the tournament going into its final stages as Diane finally sees off Howzer, setting up one side of the finals. The other contender is decided by the fight between the old man Cain and Meliodas. It was just coincidence that Cain was the old man who mentioned the tournament to Meliodas and friends, but necessity that he entered, since he has a connection to Meliodas. As a means of revealing more of Meliodas’s backstory (this cannot be done by any of the other Sins asking Meliodas himself, as Ban now tells us that one of the rules of their group is not to ask people about their past sins, a rather specific self-imposed condition on the writing) this is a rather cliched device. And it is revealed in short order that Cain is actually a Holy Knight from the destroyed kingdom of Danafall, Barzard the Blaze. He comes with accusations aplenty to throw at Meliodas, as it appears the two knew each other before Danafall was destroyed sixteen years previously. Of course, we’ve already heard the rumor that Meliodas was involved in its destruction, so Barzard confronts Meliodas directly, both with his fiery magic and his words. Meliodas denies it was his fault and…Barzard just accepts him at his word and gives up the fight. So, anti-climax time.
While it appears that we’re meant to get a real fight in the final, between Diane and Meliodas, especially since Ban riles up Diane by playing on her jealousy of Meliodas being with other women, that fight does not last long either as suddenly Meliodas and the Sins threaten the entire town if they don’t leave. Have they revealed their true colors? No, it’s a pose: they’re trying to get everyone to safety as the quite blatantly evil Guila and Jericho arrive.
The remainder of the volume is a seesaw of both plot developments and fights. Ban and Meliodas fall to the two demon-powered knights, but then King wipes the floor with them easily. But then Veronica comes upon Elizabeth and makes use of an obviously important prop as Hendrickson’s trap (the pendant Veronica gave to Elizabeth, now passed on to Meliodas) is sprung, as Meliodas is sucked within the gem. King is also distracted as Guila and Jericho are saved by Sir Helbram (another Holy Knight with old connections to King, who masqueraded as the commentator during the fighting tournament). The two demon-powered apprentices then come upon Elizabeth, Veronica, and Griamore and reveal their true objectives: which are to capture Elizabeth and Meliodas’s sword. We’ve known for some time now that Hendrickson’s faction of the Holy Knights was up to something sinister and their treatment of Veronica, the first character above the level of minor minion to die, and Griamore, shows us that it’s not about fighting Liones’s enemies and protecting the kingdom. Before he dies too, Griamore gets the evil knights to reveal their true plan: Hendrickson wants to revive the Demons.
But in yet another reversal, this brings Ban (who had been resting) back to life and when Guila attempts to grab Elizabeth, Meliodas breaks free of his crystal prison, though he does not seem to be his normal self (in fact, he’s far, far more dangerous than ever).
About the only balance to the increasingly blunt, mustache-twirling (if they had them) evil of Hendrickson’s faction is the honor shown by Griamore before his death and the hint that Howzer, idiot that he is, can see from the actions of the Sins that there is something fishy about them being so “evil.” It’s clear which Holy Knights are going to turn out to be not-evil, though it would seem there will be rather few of them. And Diane’s disappeared down a hole.
If there is one problem I have with this work, it’s that the pacing is starting to accelerate far too much. In just a few volumes we’ve met Elizabeth’s sister, learned the secret of Elizabeth’s background, learned the secret of Meliodas’s, Ban’s, and King’s backgrounds, watched Elizabeth’s sister die, discovered how the evil Holy Knights are suddenly being powered up, and been told the ultimate evil plan of the main villain, Hendrickson. That’s a hell of a lot to pack into three volumes and worse if you read them in fairly short order. Perhaps it works a lot better when paced out weekly in serialization. At that glacial pace, the sudden transitions and introductions and departures do not seem so abrupt. In collected volumes, though, it’s just too much at once. Sure, if you are an adrenaline junky looking for constant action, this pace may well suit your tastes. But it only works because of how formulaic and predictable the plot progression is and owing to the simplistic personalities of the characters. What is lacking is depth, subtlety and nuance.
Expect there to be quite the tussle in the next volume and then an epic struggle to get Meliodas back into a more human frame of mind, since his appearance now is part-monstrous, though that will likely be necessary to remove Guila and Jericho from the picture and gain some revenge for Veronica and Griamore’s death (at least it sure looks like they’re dead).
In Summary:
The fighting tournament in Vaizel turns out largely to be a sideshow before the major battle as Holy Knights loyal to the nefarious Hendrickson appear on scene to combat the Sins. Yet the Sins are not their real objective. The true plans of the demon-powered knights are revealed, but so is a measure of Meliodas’s past and the power hidden within him. The plot kicks into overdrive, perhaps running forward a little too fast at times for reading in a collected volume.
Content Grade: B-
Art Grade: B
Package Rating: B+
Text/Translation: B+
Age Rating: Teen (13+)
Released By: Kodansha Comics
Release Date: January 13th, 2015
MSRP: $10.99
