Nanatsu no Taizai: Imashime no Fukkatsu Episodes 7 & 8

Episode 7: Where the Memories Lead

Alright, so right off the bat, I am not a huge fan of Diane losing her memories AGAIN. Especially since she had just regained them not too long ago and realized her feelings for King. As someone who has read a little ahead of some of the manga, there is definitely a huge pay off to this game of tag with Diane’s memories, but still.

GOSH DANG IT GOWTHER. I swear, it literally felt like after Diane shouted at him that no one would be able to erase her precious memories, Gowther’s response was “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.” I’m very torn about Gowther as a character and as I’ve iterated in previous reviews, what he did was despicable but I can’t completely fault him. Especially since he doesn’t seem to understand certain moralities and what is acceptable. Honestly, I think he just needs someone to look after him to help teach and buffer his actions. Which Slader seems to pick up on. Though I must say, it was rather satisfying to see King give Gowther a powerful punch to the face courtesy of Chastiefol.

So we finally get to see how Diane got her sin and what happened to her after King wiped her memories of their time together. However, what broke my heart the most was realizing how important King’s feelings for Diane are. King loves her BECAUSE she’s different from the ordinary giant and accepts her for who she is. It’s also pretty obvious that he left a large impression on her from her clothing to protecting those she cherishes. Despite not recognizing King when they met again, she really was able to retain her precious memories of him, even if just vague figments. It’s almost as if they’re meant to be together, but the world find some sort of circumstance to keep them apart. Ah, why must fate be so cruel…

We get two giant deaths (I’m not sorry) this episode and both majorly impacted Diane. We as the audience probably didn’t feel too much for Dolores’ death, however this hit Diane pretty hard considering she was probably her only friend in the clan. From how things seemed, Dolores was the most similar-minded to Diane out of all the giants with her hating combat. So her death must have took a large toll on Diane. Matrona’s death was sad, but because of how harsh she was, I feel like it was a little difficult to care too much about her. Though most of my feels went to Diane because of how distraught and anguished she was over her death. Despite their rather rocky relationship, Diane must have felt a lot of respect and affection for Matrona considering she used her name during that one tournament she partook in.

While her backstory wasn’t as compelling and painful as Ban and King’s, it was still really interesting to see it and I eagerly await to see what happens next. Especially since… well, Diane is unknowingly headed straight towards the lair of a bunch of OP demons and all.

Episode 8: The Druids’ Holy Land

I don’t know about anyone else, but despite me being terrified by Galand, I actually really like him as a character. All in all, he’s a pretty funny character. Despite the murder. I mean, look at how he’s laying down, as if he’s the king of the world. And then he goes wild attacking the ground when he knew his enemies were hiding from him. All the while laughing maniacally. He may be psychotic, but he’s a fun character. I don’t know if I should be concerned about my preference in characters… SO MOVING RIGHT ALONG.

I was pretty scared for Diane especially since she has no clue what’s going on anymore. And then she gets ganged up on by two of the Ten Commandments. Alright, so I have no idea if this scene in the manga will be shown this season, probably not. I won’t spoil what it is but I do want to point out something real quick. Now, the giant clan is a proud race where their sole reason to live is to fight. They would never think to run from a battle and would rather die than to do something that would damage their pride as a warrior. So the fact that Diane’s first reaction was to RUN from Galand says quite a lot about her as a giant. She has a better sense of self preservation than the rest of her kind and won’t throw her life away for the sake of pride. Lets put a pin in that thought for the time being.

Probably one of the most interesting parts of this episode was that Matrona is actually alive. And man, did she come back in the most glorious way, by taking both Monspeet and Galand by surprise like a boss. It’s also pretty interesting to see the visual changes in Matrona, such as her clothes and expression. I think the thing to keep in mind was that she berated Diane for the clothes she wore, commenting how it was like clothes that a fairy or a human would wear. But when we see Matrona again, she’s wearing human-like clothes (albeit very modern) instead of the rags she used to have. Her expression is also considerably softer. It’s almost as if she’s a different person. I’m really interested in finding out how she survived and what caused her to change.

Can we also take a moment to admire how beautiful the purgatory bird was? And also the fact that it literally destroyed everything it came into contact with. It was both beautiful and terrifying. Almost poetic in a sense. However, the fact that Hawk’s mama ATE the attack was both hilarious…. And a bit concerning. It definitely raises a few questions of what exactly are the pigs. They’re not normal pigs for obvious reasons. Though I guess the questions were already raised when Hawk came back to life without any explanation.

In any case, it looks like it’ll be the start of the training arc with the druids and a lot of hurt in store for Meliodas emotionally. Hoo boy…