The Seven Deadly Sins (manga)


The Seven Deadly Sins is a Japanese fantasy manga series written and illustrated by Nakaba Suzuki. It was serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from October 2012 to March 2020, with the chapters collected into forty-one tankōbon volumes. The manga features a setting similar to the European Middle Ages, with its titular group of knights representing the seven deadly sins.
The series was adapted into an anime television series produced by A-1 Pictures, which ran for two seasons from October 2014 to June 2018. A third season by Studio Deen ran from October 2019 to March 2020, and a fourth season is in production. A film titled premiered in August 2018.
The manga has been licensed by Kodansha USA for English publication in North America, while the chapters are released digitally by Crunchyroll in over 170 countries as they are published in Japan. Netflix acquired the exclusive English streaming rights for the anime series while Funimation currently has the home video rights for the first season.
As of December 2018, The Seven Deadly Sins had over 30 million copies in circulation. The manga won the 39th Kodansha Manga Award for the shōnen category in 2015.

Plot

The Seven Deadly Sins are a band of knights in the land of Britannia who had disbanded ten years earlier after being framed for plotting a coup of the Liones Kingdom, the Holy Knights who sequestered them before taking control in the wake of a rebellion they organized. Liones' third princess, Elizabeth Liones, finds the Seven Deadly Sins' leader, Meliodas, before they search out his comrades so they can clear their names and liberate Liones from the Holy Knights, who were manipulated by a demon named Fraudrin into unsealing the Demon Race from their prison. As the Sins fight against the Ten Commandments led by his brother Zeldris, Meliodas is revealed to be the Demon King's cursed son whose destiny is tied to Elizabeth's.

Media

Manga

The Seven Deadly Sins is written and illustrated by Nakaba Suzuki. A one-shot pilot chapter was published in the 2011 issue #52 issue of Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine' on November 22, 2011. The manga started serialization in the 2012 issue #45 of the magazine, released on October 10, 2012. The first of three planned story arcs was completed with chapter 100 and Suzuki has originally projected that the series would run for 20 to 30 volumes. In February 2020, Suzuki posted on his Twitter account that the manga has "one more volume left" after volume 40. The manga finished in the 2020 issue #17 of Weekly Shōnen Magazine, published on March 25, 2020. Kodansha has compiled the chapters into forty-one individual tankōbon volumes, released from February 15, 2013 to May 15, 2020.
The series is licensed for English language release in North America by Kodansha USA, who published the first volume on March 11, 2014. As the series is published in Japan, it is also released simultaneously in English digitally by Crunchyroll in over 170 countries.
Suzuki has mentioned in an afterword that side stories are also planned for based on the remaining characters. The first one-shot chapter will be published in the combined 2020 #36-37 issue of Weekly Shōnen Magazine on August 5, 2020.

Spin-off manga

A special issue of Weekly Shōnen Magazine, published on October 19, 2013, featured a small crossover between The Seven Deadly Sins and Hiro Mashima's Fairy Tail, where each artist drew a yonkoma of the other's series. An actual crossover chapter between the two ran in the magazine's combined 4/5 issue of 2014, which was released on December 25, 2013. Nakaba wrote a one-shot for the November 2014 issue of the shōjo manga magazine Nakayoshi, released on October 3, 2014. He also created a comedic one-shot depicting how Meliodas and Hawk first met that ran in the October 20, 2014 issue of Magazine Special. From February 24 to May 10, 2015, two more spin-off manga by Nakaba were available on the smartphone and tablet application Manga Box. Naku na, Tomo yo is about Hendrickson and Dreyfus' younger years, while Gilthunder no Shinjitsu is set after the Vaizel Fight Festival arc and follows Gilthunder. An original 40-page manga by Nakaba Suzuki was distributed during screenings of The Seven Deadly Sins the Movie: Prisoners of the Sky movie. A 43-page special chapter
A comedic spin-off series by Juichi Yamaki, titled Mayoe! The Seven Deadly Sins Academy! and imagining the characters as high school students, ran in Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine from August 9, 2014 to October 8, 2016. It was collected into four tankōbon volumes. The Seven Deadly Sins Production, a comedic spin-off by Chiemi Sakamoto that imagines the characters as actors performing in a live-action TV show, ran in Aria from November 28, 2015 to October 28, 2017. It was collected into four tankōbon volumes.
A comedic yonkoma titled The Seven Deadly Sins: King's Road to Manga and written by Masataka Ono that depicts King as an aspiring manga artist, began on February 20, 2016 in Magazine Special before transferring to the Manga Box app on February 1, 2017 and ending later that year. Its chapters were collected into three tankōbon volumes. A manga adaptation of Mamoru Iwasa's novel Seven Days was serialized in Shōnen Magazine Edge from January 17 to September 2017 and shows how Ban and Elaine met in more detail. It is illustrated by Yō Kokukuji, titled The Seven Deadly Sins: Seven Days ~The Thief and the Holy Girl~ and was collected into two tankōbon volumes.

Anime

In April 2014, the 20th issue of Weekly Shōnen Magazine announced that The Seven Deadly Sins was being adapted into an anime television series. The series debuted on MBS and other Japan News Network stations on October 5, 2014. The staff was revealed in the combined 36/37 issue of the year: created by A-1 Pictures, directed by Tensai Okamura, written by Shōtarō Suga, with Keigo Sasaki providing character designs, and Hiroyuki Sawano composing the music. The show's first opening theme song is performed by Ikimono-gakari for the first twelve episodes and the second opening theme is "Seven Deadly Sins" performed by Man with a Mission, while the first ending theme titled "7-Seven" is a collaboration between Flow and Granrodeo, the second ending theme from episode thirteen onwards is "Season" the major label debut of Alisa Takigawa.
A second anime series was confirmed on September 27, 2015 to air in 2016. This turned out to be a four-week anime television special featuring an original story by Nakaba Suzuki, titled The Seven Deadly Sins: Signs of Holy War, that began airing on August 28, 2016 on MBS and TBS. The special was produced by A-1 Pictures, directed by Tomokazu Tokoro, and written by Yuniko Ayana and Yuichiro Kido, featuring character designs by Keigo Sasaki. The music was composed by Hiroyuki Sawano and Takafumi Wada. Its opening theme song is "Classic" by the rock band Mucc and its ending theme is "Iroasenai Hitomi" by Alisa Takigawa. A commercial following the final episode confirmed a second anime series has been green-lit.
The first Seven Deadly Sins anime series was licensed for English release by Netflix as its second exclusive anime, following their acquisition of Knights of Sidonia. All 24 episodes were released on November 1, 2015 in both subtitled or English dub formats. The Signs of Holy War arc, labeled as "Season 2", has also been licensed by Netflix and was released on February 17, 2017. On February 14, 2017, Funimation announced that they acquired the first anime for home video distribution for US and Canada and released the series on Blu-ray and DVD later in the year. Part One of the first season was released on Blu-Ray on May 15, 2017 with Part Two being released June 20 the same year. The complete entirety of the first season was released on August 14, 2018. Madman Entertainment is importing Funimation's release into Australia and New Zealand, with a release scheduled for January 2019.
A second season, titled The Seven Deadly Sins: Revival of The Commandments, was announced at the "Nanatsu no Taizai FES" event in July 2017 and premiered on January 13, 2018. Takeshi Furuta and Takao Yoshioka replaced Tensai Okamura and Shōtarō Suga as director and series composer, respectively, while the other main staff members returned from the first season to reprise their roles. The Revival of the Commandments arc, labeled as "Season 3", was released on October 15, 2018 on Netflix. The first opening theme song of the series titled "Howling" is a collaboration between Flow and Granrodeo, and first ending theme song is "Beautiful" performed by Anly. The second opening theme titled "Ame ga Furu kara, Niji ga Deru" by Sky Peace and second ending theme titled "Chikai" by Sora Amamiya.
A third season, titled The Seven Deadly Sins: Wrath of the Gods premiered on October 9, 2019 on TV Tokyo and BS TV Tokyo. The new season will be headed towards the story's climax. The third season is animated by Studio Deen with Susumu Nishizawa and Rintarō Ikeda replacing Takeshi Furuta and Takao Yoshioka as director and series composer, respectively. Hiroyuki Sawano, Kohta Yamamoto, and Takafumi Wada are returning to reprise their roles as the music composers. The first opening theme song is "ROB THE FRONTIER" by Uverworld, and the first ending theme song is "Regeneration" by Sora Amamiya. The second opening theme song is "delete" by SID and the second ending theme is "Good day" by Kana Adachi. Netflix announced that the Imperial Wrath of The Gods arc would be released as season 4 on August 6 2020.
A fourth season, titled The Seven Deadly Sins: Anger's Judgement was slated to premiere in October 2020 on TV Tokyo and BS TV Tokyo, with the main cast members reprising their roles. However, it has been delayed due to COVID-19.

Original video animation

An original video animation titled "Ban's Additional Chapter" was included with the limited edition of volume 15 of the manga, released on June 17, 2015. A second OVA composed of nine humorous shorts was shipped with the limited edition of the sixteenth volume of the manga, released on August 12, 2015.

Film

An anime film, titled , premiered in Japanese theaters on August 18, 2018. It is directed by Yasuto Nishikata and written by Makoto Uezu, featuring an original story by Nakaba Suzuki and Noriyuki Abe serving as chief director. The other main staff members returned from the anime series to reprise their roles in the film. The movie features three original characters called Sorada, Elatte, and Bellion. It was released later by Netflix in all regions on December 31, 2018.

Video games

A video game titled Seven Deadly Sins: Unjust Sin was developed by Bandai Namco Entertainment and released for the Nintendo 3DS on February 11, 2015. A game titled The Seven Deadly Sins: Knights of Britannia was developed by Bandai Namco for the PlayStation 4. It was released in North America and Europe on February 9, 2018. A mobile game titled The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross of Light and Darkness was developed by Netmarble and released in Japan and Korea on June 4, 2019. On March 3, the game was released globally for Android and iOS.

Other media

Four light novels based on The Seven Deadly Sins have been published; The Seven Deadly Sins -Gaiden- The Seven Wishes of the Royal City from Old Times by Shuka Matsuda on December 17, 2014; The Seven Deadly Sins: Seven Days by Mamoru Iwasa on December 26, 2014; The Seven Deadly Sins: Seven Scars They Left Behind by Shuka Matsuda on October 16, 2015; and The Seven Deadly Sins: Seven-Colored Recollections by Shuka Matsuda on October 17, 2016. Vertical released Seven Scars They Left Behind in North America in May 2017, with Seven-Colored Recollections set to follow in March 2018.
An illustration collection titled Rainbow of Sin and an official fan book were both released on February 17, 2015, while a guidebook for the anime called Ani-Sin was released on April 17, 2015.
A stage play adaptation, The Seven Deadly Sins The Stage, was performed in August 2018. A second stage play, The Seven Deadly Sins Stage Play: The Treacherous Great Holy Knights was announced on the official website to be performed in June 2020. The performance has been cancelled due to Coronavirirus.

Reception

The 2014 edition of Kono Manga ga Sugoi!, which surveys people in the manga and publishing industry, named The Seven Deadly Sins the fifth best manga series for male readers. The title was named Best Shōnen Manga at the 39th Kodansha Manga Awards alongside Yowamushi Pedal. It was also nominated for the 2014 Manga Taishō award and as Best Youth Comic at the 42nd Angoulême International Comics Festival in France.
In October 2017, Netflix revealed that The Seven Deadly Sins anime was the fourth most binge-watched show within its first 24 hours of release on their platform.

Sales

As of August 2014, the collected volumes of The Seven Deadly Sins had 5 million copies in circulation. By January 2015, this number had grown to 10 million sold. As of June 2018, the series has 28 million copies in circulation, and over 30 million copies in circulation as of December 2018. The first collected volume of the series sold 38,581 copies in its first week, ranking number 13 on the Oricon manga chart. Its second volume ranked 5 selling 106,829 in its first week, while its third debuted at number 4 with 135,164 copies. The thirteenth volume had the manga's best debut week to date, selling 442,492 for first place on the chart. The series was the ninth best-selling manga of 2014, with over 4.6 million copies sold that year. For the first half of 2015, The Seven Deadly Sins was the number one best-selling series. It finished the year in second place with over 10.3 million copies sold, behind only One Piece. It was the sixth best-selling of 2016, with over 5 million copies sold, and the seventh of 2017, with close to 3.6 million copies sold.
The North American releases of volumes two and four charted on The New York Times Manga Best Seller list at number seven and nine respectively.
The first DVD volume of the anime debuted at number one on Oricon's Japanese animation DVD chart with 3,574 copies sold. With 32,762 copies sold of the five volumes released at the time, The Seven Deadly Sins was the 30th best-selling anime of the first half of 2015.
The novel The Seven Deadly Sins -Gaiden- Sekijitsu no Ōto Nanatsu no Negai was the 33rd best-selling light novel of the first half of 2015, with 61,939 copies sold.

Critical reception

Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network gave the first volume a B grade, calling the art interesting and the story a "neat take on the basic knights-in-shining-armor." She saw influence from Akira Toriyama in Meliodas and 1970s shōjo manga in the female characters. However, Silverman felt the art had issues with perspective and commented that Elizabeth lacked character development. Both Silverman and Danica Davidson of Otaku USA warned that Meliodas' perverted actions towards Elizabeth, which are used for comedic relief, could possibly be misinterpreted by some readers. In a brief review, Jason Thompson claimed that the series follows common shōnen manga elements, making its plot twists and dialog predictable. He did however like the art and the series' European setting.
Reviewing the first anime for ANN, Theron Martin felt that the series has a slow start with generic shōnen action fare but the storytelling picks up significantly in the second half. He had strong praise for the music and enjoyed the main cast and their interactions, but not the common archetypal villains. Martin noted that the art has a "semi-cartoonish look" that one would expect in a series that "skews a bit younger," but The Seven Deadly Sins graphic violence and minimal fan service prove it's "anything but a kiddie show."