Manga: SDS Seven Days

The Seven Deadly Sins: Seven Days Vol 1
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Ban is a young, opportunistic thief, drawn to the Fairy King's Forest by the rumor that it holds the most splendid, invaluable treasure of all: the Fountain of Life. But when he meets the Saint of the Fountain, a young Fairy named Elaine, he finds the treasure he most desires may not be the one he originally came to seek. Thus begins the tale of the fated romance between Ban of The Seven Deadly Sins and Elaine, the Fairy King's sister!

This is the first in a two volume prequel series, and it's time to get the tea on Ban and Elaine. Sure we've seen flashbacks in the main series but it's time for all the details. Appropriate timing considering the role Elaine is taking in the main series! 

But it turns out it's not just Ban and Elaine, it was nice to get to see some of Helbram before he was mean, evil Helbram. It actually hit me right in the feels because we see the events with Helbram that led up to King leaving Elaine in charge of the forest and it's kinda heartbreaking. It makes Elaine's dislike for humans in the beginning more than justified. 

I liked getting to see and learn more about Elaine and Baby Ban before he was immortal, his whole attitude is so hilarious and his ale label collection...not the thing you'd picture him collecting. 

I feel like this first volume does really well at filling in some blanks, setting the scene for the next volume when things are going to heat up because we all know what happens to Ban and Elaine. We get to see the circumstances surrounding Elaine being in charge, we get to know her more as a character, and sure we've seen some bits before but this volume expands upon what we already know. I'm loving seeing them get to know each other and seeing Elaine's distrust of humans and Ban turn to intrigue. I can't wait to see them bond and grow even closer in the next volume! Ban is honestly my favourite SDS character and his entire personality and attitude always cracks me up, and I'm excited for him to finally be in the spotlight!

Manga: Seven Deadly Sins 28

Seven Deadly Sins Vol 28
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

When Elizabeth regains her memories of her past lives, Meliodas can no longer conceal the details of the curse that binds them together. In order to break the curse and save Elizabeth, Meliodas and The Sins set out to confront The Ten Commandments. But when an old enemy rises once again, will the comrades be able to weather the onslaught? 

Picking up where we left off it would seem there's more to reveal about Meliodas and Elizabeth's past, and the curse that binds them which was another little shock twist to this series! If you've been wondering what the deal is with Liz looking like Elizabeth and the Goddess Elizabeth...this is the volume that reveals all that and watching it play out is going to be interesting. We'll either be heading for heartbreak or it'll all be fixed, no problem! 

Things continue to move forward as we see Elizabeth come in to her own and use her powers, I'm liking how her character has gotten stronger and has started to join in the fight. Plus Elaine has her moment too! Elaine seems to be a permanent fixture know and it should be interesting to see how she comes in to play and contributes to the group in the future. 

As is usual for this series there's plenty of action in the volume courtesy of a fight with Melascula this time but the situation that we need to resolve will have to wait because we've got a bigger problem than helping out Camelot...Meliodas appears to have lost all control...again. This aspect is a smidge repetitive but it appears he's lost control worse than ever before, so much so that there's about to be a smack down the rest of the Sins. 

Of course we're left on a cliffhanger and we get two cliffhangers for one with the bonus story also leaving us hanging! Volume 28 has a nice pace to it, and throws in a lot of action and a lot of answers to some questions we've had since early in the series! It appears that along with the Ten Commandments, we might be focusing on Meliodas and Elizabeth a bit more! 

Manga: Seven Deadly Sins 27

Seven Deadly Sins Vol 27
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

When they were accused of trying to overthrow the monarchy, the feared warriors the Seven Deadly Sins were sent into exile. Princess Elizabeth discovers the truth - the Sins were framed by the king's guard, the Holy Knights - too late to prevent them from assassinating her father and seizing the throne! Now the princess is on the run, seeking the Sins to help her reclaim the kingdom. But the first Sin she meets, Meliodas, is a little innkeeper with a talking pig. He doesn't even have a real sword! Have the legends of the Sins' strength been exaggerated...? 

Volume 27 picks up right when we left off, and we see that....situation, shall we say, come to a close before we're finally snapped back to the present. We've spent quite a few chapters back in the past, and I've been itching to get back to the present and see what's going on! 

King...well he's kind of like a Pokemon this volume. Our little King, evolves...or starts to at least. He's like a Bulbasaur that's levelled up to an Ivysaur. The bulb on his back has started to bloom and it's not long before he'll become a fully flowered Venusaur. Diane gets a power upgrade to, so all the Sins are united together, they're all powered up and ready to throw down. Which is the first indicator that s*** is about to get real. 

But first we have to deal with the Gowther Problem. He really is...such a creep. But I do feel for him after the revelations of last volume, and I've been intrigued to see how this is all going to be resolved. It was certainly...an interesting resolution and mini revelation! And alongside that the Boar Hat gets an upgrade too! 

Not to mention Margaret. She really surprised me this volume, she's all suited up and ready to square up and go get her man and I actually was fully cheering for her....even though I'd kind of forgotten about Gil going missing....oops. 

As we reach a certain point in this volume, everyone's ready to finally face off with the Commandments. I think that's actually the whole goal of this volume.....finish getting everyone ready, powered up and developing them more. Get them all in one place, and then everything's sorted before we start the next phase of the story. 

We end the volume with the Sins fully armoured up and heading off to Camelot because Camelot isn't in the best place and Merlin has made a rather interesting statement about Arthur, and I'm choosing to interpret that differently than a perhaps...romantically. It's made me think there's something going on with Arthur, or some vital connection she and Arthur have...which wouldn't be surprising as they're you know...Merlin and Arthur. Legends. Unfortunately, I'm kind of gutted that things are looking kind of bleak for Ban and his happiness. 

While this isn't an action heavy volume, we do get the answer to perhaps one of the biggest questions of the series...what's the deal with Elizabeth and her lookalikes!? 

Manga: Seven Deadly Sins 26

Seven Deadly Sins Vol 26
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

When they were accused of trying to overthrow the monarchy, the feared warriors the Seven Deadly Sins were sent into exile. Princess Elizabeth discovers the truth - the Sins were framed by the king's guard, the Holy Knights - too late to prevent them from assassinating her father and seizing the throne! Now the princess is on the run, seeking the Sins to help her reclaim the kingdom. But the first Sin she meets, Meliodas, is a little innkeeper with a talking pig. He doesn't even have a real sword! Have the legends of the Sins' strength been exaggerated...? 

We pick up right where we left off and we're in the midst of a battle with two of the Commandments and the Goddesses....back in the past of course. Elizabeth steps up because she wants to fight for once and do something herself, plus she wants to save the two Commandments because...Elizabeth. She has her shining moment aided by Sariel, Tarmiel and Meliodas.  

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...Gowther is shady AF, and will never not be. I don't think I'll ever be able to trust him to be honestly. But we learn the truth of him this volume, and a side story that fills in some blanks about him and shows us a bit of young Bartra and his sister Nadja...which admittedly did hit me in the feels and I kind of do understand him but still...super shady. 

The pace for this volume is cracking, we're delving deeper in to the past and the pasts of the characters and what makes them tick. There's another cliffhanger ending and it's kind of a heartbreaking one to be honest! Luckily there's a few bonus chapters at the end that are fun and kind of soothe how you felt reading the volume! It's a battle heavy volume with a lot of blood and sad moments, but we get a real idea of what went down 3 thousand years ago.  
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Manga: Seven Deadly Sins 25

The Seven Deadly Sins Vol 25
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

The Seven Deadly Sins may have ended the tyranny of The Ten Commandments for now, but that doesn't mean all is peaceful in the kingdom. Separated from the rest of The Sins, King and Diane strike a deal with former Commandments Gloxinia and Drole, and agree to undergo special training--which sends them to a Britannia 3,000 years in the past, right before the end of the Holy War! Can the pair navigate this strange past--and a threat more powerful than The Ten Commandments? 

Okaaaaay, Gerhard immediately piqued my interest as soon as the volume opened, referring to some mysterious event that has something to do with Gloxinia. This volume as a whole kind of blew my mind because there are some reveals this volume that shocked me and changed my perspective on things. 

The fast pace continues and it's King and Diane's time to shine as they battle it out with Gloxinia and Drole. But there's a shock twist and we get a nice flashback to 3000 years ago and what went down with them, not to mention a familiar face and Meliodas. I am definitely intrigued by the new information on Meliodas. 

There's plenty of action which surprised me as I thought things might slow down after the last volume! But we get so much information and so many plot twists and reveals and blanks filled in it...it was a pretty epic volume! Not to mention the bonus story with Meliodas, King and Ban that had me chuckling! 

Manga: Seven Deadly Sins 24

The Seven Deadly Sins Vol 24
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Meliodas is back--and he's not the only one! As Meliodas faces off against Derieri and Monspeet, Merlin has reappeared for a showdown with Fraudrin and Gray Road, and this time, she's not playing fair. The tide has started to turn against The Commandments, but while victory seems to be within The Sins' reach, the captain isn't all he appears to be...

This volume is action packed from the start as Meliodas has a showdown with two of the Commandments but something is...off about him. Meanwhile everyone inside the palace has been captured by Grey Road and things don't look too good for them. Luckily Merlin makes a shock return...FINALLY. There's a surprise from her before we get to sit back and watch her let her magic loose. She's such a badass this volume and I ended up looking at her a little bit differently to how I have been before. 

Good old Hendrickson gets his moment as he goes after Dreyfus/Fraudrin. I feel like Zaratras was back all of a sudden out of nowhere just for this particular moment. It was a bit convenient, as was the moment between Fraudrin and Griamore so I was kind of disappointed in that respect. Likewise Meliodas reappearing. 

We do find out what the deal is with Meliodas, who's remained kind of a mystery throughout the series. Like we have gotten some information about him and his past but there's still so many questions. I'm kind of intrigued by the reveal about him because it'll be interesting in the future volumes to see how it plays out and what ends up happening to Meliodas. Quite the internal struggle on his hands plus we get to see two different sides to him this volume, one of which was more vulnerable than we've ever seen before. 

So we get to see some different sides to the characters, and I ended up looking at both Merlin and Meliodas differently. Seeing the different sides, learning this new information about them, it paints them in a different light. Gowther however, remains shady AF. I'm kind of over him. Make him go away now! Things got super interesting for Howzer too and I'm looking forward to seeing him step up and get some more page time, hopefully! I've always been intrigued by his character. Although Gil is missing apparently?! Maybe he's just having a vacation. 

One battle has ended but the war isn't over yet and the action could be shifting back to Camelot which means we'll hopefully get to see more of Arthur again! 

Manga: Seven Deadly Sins 23

Seven Deadly Sins Vol 23
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

With Meliodas out of commission after his battle with The Ten Commandments, it’s up to Elizabeth, Ban, and the rest of The Seven Deadly Sins to avenge him and bring him back. While Elizabeth, hoping to find the key that will bring Meliodas back to her, visits Meliodas’s memories, Escanor goes head-to-head with Estarossa, the Commandment of Love. Will Escanor’s pride prevail and bring him to victory, or will it lead to his downfall?

After the ending of the last volume, the wait for this one was pretty excruciating, I'm not going to lie! This volume certainly didn't disappoint either. There are some reaaaally nice parallels to how the series started, with a scary knight wandering about and showing up at the tavern. I actually really liked that whole scene, it was such a nice touch, and made me all nostalgic for the older volumes! It kind of gave a sense of how much things had changed too! 

The wandering knight heralds a giant plot twist, and I genuinely screeched "WTF?!" out loud at the reveal. I still can't even. I mean technically it's not a new character, but I can't say much else because spoilers. But said newish character is pretty hilarious and I'm looking forward to seeing more of the character in the coming volumes, as well as a certain reunion! 

With Meliodas down for the count, we get to go in to his memories and see what happened after Danafall, something I've been curious about for a long time. There's still a lot of mystery surrounding Danafall and we get a little piece filled in, as long as some background on Elizabeth. But it was nice to get to see more of Meliodas and his life, and how the Seven Deadly Sins came to be. The world and the characters are getting more and more fleshed out and little bits filled in with each of the volumes. Interestingly we get some more information on Meliodas and his curse and how it works. 

While that's all going on, everyone else is pulling together to try to fight the Commandments. We don't see much of Gil, Ban and Howser but we do get a glimpse. Escanor gets a lot of page time this volume, and he gets his badass moment...sort of! 

It really feels like we're starting afresh in this volume, a brand new chapter is beginning, the parallels to the first volume kind of underline it and it feels like everything is being manoeuvred in to place in this volume for the next stage of the story. Some pieces fall in to place with some revelations and everything's ready for the big showdown that's no doubt coming as our heroes you know...heroically fight back. We also get an intriguing little bonus story too that should prove to be interesting! 


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Manga: The Seven Deadly Sins 22

The Seven Deadly Sins Vol 22
Rating: 5/5
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

In order to protect the rest of The Seven Deadly Sins, Meliodas faces off against Gloxinia and Drole of The Ten Commandments alone. But just when he appears to have the upper hand, the remaining Commandments join the fray! Meliodas's demonic powers are strong, but will he be able to prevail when it's 10-versus-1? And when a secret from Meliodas's past is revealed, will The Seven Deadly Sins stay by his side?

So you guys may remember that Volume 21 left us hanging, it was cruel. It was mean. But we finally get to see what happens next! This volume has so much action and fighting throughout, and things get pretty dark, so fair warning. 

After the end of last volume it seems that Meliodas has run out of patience and he's not f***ing around anymore. He even engages his whole dark mark thing but seems to be more aware than before either as a result of his power growth or because he's mastered it more. Not sure. Meliodas faces off against not just Drole and Gloxinia but all of the remaining Commandments. As you can imagine, the battle is pretty epic and there's a lot of twists and turns as the tide of power changes. 

I'm not going to lie to you guys, my fave saved the day...or at least he tried. I love Ban and it was nice to see him get his hero moment, even if it didn't go quite as planned. Meliodas and Ban's friendship is one of my favourites in this series and last volume kind of spoiled me with it and then this volume and I was loving it. It's been nice to see the different facets of it and Ban's belief in his friend. 

Things get pretty dark towards the end of this volume so the light hearted bonus story was definitely necessary. The story moves along with a one month time jump that's definitely changed things up just from the small glimpse we got! There's a nice big, shock plot twist too. I'm interested to see what's happened in the month we've missed and how the plot twist and time jump will have changed things. I'm hoping we'll get to see more of Arthur as we do get to know some interesting information about his cat friend, and I'm curious about how it's going to play out. 

Arthur's fighting until the bitter end. The Holy Knights aren't safe anymore. The Commandments are running rampant. Our story has moved forward to a new place and we have to wait until next volume to see who's still alive, and what's going on with our group and how the dynamic of the story has changed. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again...you can't just leave me hanging like that! What is it with manga and anime and these mean cliffhangers recently?! The wait between volumes is getting more and more painful as the story picks up and really starts to get serious. 

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Manga: The Seven Deadly Sins Vol 21

The Seven Deadly Sins Vol 21
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

The Fighting Festival between The Seven Deadly Sins and The Ten Commandments has finally begun! With The Sins and company divided into groups of two, they have no choice but to work separately as pairs in order to prove victorious in their duels against the other contestants. But when Gowther and Escanor are pit against each other, will they fall into The Ten Commandments’s trap and fight, or will their friendship be strong enough to get them through unscathed? 

I remember watching this show on Netflix, I'd been intrigued by the trailer that they'd been constantly showing and decided to give it a try, and while I was a bit iffy at first, I ended up getting completely hooked. Then of course, once the anime ended I had to know what happened next so I started to read the manga...and here we are at Volume 21 already! 

I've been so excited for this volume because of the end of last volume, with everyone getting paired up for the fighting festival. Like I've been so ready to see everyone throw down, I knew it was going to be awesome! I wasn't wrong. And it was nice to see Elaine and Elizabeth hold their own when they got dragged in to it! 

I'm not going to lie to you guys, Ban and Meliodas are my BROTP. I love the two of them, they crack me up. They had me absolutely cackling in this volume, when they had a little spat during their fight, and they're like, *argues about who's girlfriend is better* and then five minutes later Ban's like "Why's this guy dead? Guess we won. Oh well". I was full on cackling. Only those two would accidentally kill an opponent while arguing between themselves. 

We get to catch up with Denzel and co, and Guila who's in a crew with Gustaf (Jericho's brother) and a surprise relative of Elizabeth's which should be...interesting to see play out. I'm looking forward to seeing more of said relative, I was hoping we might get to see more of her after she showed up earlier on, I actually quite liked her and I'm intrigued to see what role she's going to play in the coming events and so on, and get to delve in to her character more! 

Camelot has unfortunately fallen to Melioda's brother. Damnit Arthur. You had one job. Just one. I'm looking forward to seeing the gang inevitably take it back, but more importantly...I'm looking forward to seeing more of Arthur. Ever since he popped up I've been exited to see him and what he can do and so on, but I feel like he hasn't really had a chance to shine yet, so I'm hoping that next volume we'll finally get to see him in action, and see how he can contribute. 

I have to say, Gowther gets more creepy with each volume. I actually quite liked him when he was first introduced but now he just plain creeps me out. Seriously. Then we get confronted with a new mystery involving him, and I'm like...part of me feels sorry for him..but most of me is just hugely creeped out and kinda wants to hand him over, mystery be damned. 

One of the greatest parts of this volume, for me anyway, was finally getting to see some more of Escanor's background! I've been so curious about him, and then we finally get to meet him and he wasn't at all what I was expecting and I've been itching to know more about him and this volume really delivered for that. I'm also warming to Jericho more and more as the volumes go on, I wasn't sure I'd ever actually like her all that much but I'm slowly getting there and it's nice to see how her relationship with Ban has changed, and how they've finally bonded and become a team. 

My main problem with this volume? When Escanor goes full badass and you're left hanging until next volume! Hello....you can't just bust that out and then leave it there!? It's just cruel! Although it's safe to say things are stepping up again, there's more going on, there's plenty of action again, we've got sub plots and little mysteries springing up. We're learning more about characters both new and old, and I'm excited to see what's going to happen next. There's certain events I'm looking forward to in particular, as well as seeing how the Commandments get taken down. Because we all know they will get taken down! 

The Seven Deadly Sins is continuing to draw me in with the world and the characters, not to mention the action and the plots proceeding at a nice pace with plenty of things thrown in to keep you hooked!