REVIEW: ‘The Seven Deadly Sins,’ Season Four – “Imperial Wrath of the Gods”

The fourth season of The Seven Deadly Sins, which is titled “Imperial Wrath of the Gods,” was released earlier this month on Netflix. The anime is an adaptation of a Shonen manga series that’s written and illustrated by Nakaba Suzuki.  Season four was the first season to be animated by a new studio, Studio Deen, instead of A-1 Productions. “Imperial Wrath of the Gods” sees Meliodas, who just came back to life, afraid of turning back into who he was while the leader of the Ten Commandments. Elizabeth is willing to help, but has her own moments of doubt when she learns the truth about her history with Meliodas.

Diane and King, still mourning the death of Meliodas, go into hiding. It’s there that they’re forced to deal with challenges brought on by Drole and Gloxinia, two members of the Ten Commandments. While all of this is going on, the other members of the Seven Deadly Sins get ready to face off against the Ten Commandments once again.

While I appreciate the more upbeat and action-heavy moments of the series, I enjoyed the much darker tone that was set this season. Showing how heroes pick themselves back up after a major loss isn’t something new in the realm of anime, but it was handled really well this season. Every member of the Seven Deadly Sins struggled with the fact that they couldn’t stop the Ten Commandments.

Their loss meant that the entire kingdom of Liones and surrounding lands would be easily taken over by demons. Carrying such a heavy responsibility and having to rectify their failure to live up to them elevated the stakes. Gone were the days of the Seven Deadly Sins hanging out in the Pig’s Den and living a care-free life.

Meliodas’s journey throughout this season was centered around him being scared of turning back into who he once was: the leader of the Ten Commandments. Even though he would regain the power that he once had, Meliodas did not want to be that person again. Since the start of the series, he’s had a care-free attitude while also willing to save people in need.

Realizing that he could lose that if he changes back into a full demon is an interesting storyline for him to go through. Meliodas continuing to fight against his brothers would have sufficiently added character development, but this inner struggle contributes a bigger impact to the show as a whole. This inner struggle surely saved Meliodas from falling under the typical “overpowered protagonist” trope.

I was quite happy to see that the other members of the Seven Deadly Sins were getting more screen-time in “Imperial Wrath of the Gods,” especially Diane and King. I’ve been rooting for them to be a couple from their first appearance together, so I was excited that they were given a more prominent role this season. Since they both believed that Meliodas was still dead, I can’t think of them mourning his death with anyone else. The challenge that they face from Gloxinia and Drole would not have worked had they been separated from each other.

However, this doesn’t mean that they’re characters that need each other to move forward. The immense character development that they both underwent while dealing with Meliodas’s death was excellently portrayed. Without going into spoilers, Diana and King proved that they were more than ready to face anything by the end of their journeys this season.

Even with all of this incredible character development, the show’s fourth season suffered from a lack of action and poor animation. These two issues relate to one another since the show was being produced by a different studio. One of my personal favorite fights in the manga series involving Escanor takes place during this season, which would’ve been such an incredible moment. Unfortunately, the animation style took away the emotion and overall tone that the fight had in the manga series.

I was looking forward to that fight for so long, which made things even more disappointing. I was also bothered by the character design and overall look of the settings. There were times where the characters looked stiff when they should have been showing emotion. All that character development wasn’t enough to make this season memorable.

Overall, I quite enjoyed the fourth season of The Seven Deadly Sins, ¨Imperial Wrath of the Gods.¨ While I have read way beyond the last episode of the season in the manga series, I was still very excited to revisit several storylines in this adaptation. The major character development that occurs for all the members of the Seven Deadly Sins was handled well.

However, the season suffered heavily because of its animation and lack of fighting scenes. I remember watching the first season of the show and being blown away with how incredible those fight scenes were, especially towards the end of the season. ¨Imperial Wrath of the Gods¨ also suffered from the character animation and lack of emotion they would often show. I can only hope that improvements are made, especially with the upcoming fights in the series.

The Seven Deadly Sins: Imperial Wrath of the Gods is streaming now, exclusively on Netflix.