Nanatsu no Taizai: Imashime no Fukkatsu Episode 22 [Return of the Sins]

Hmmm…. This episode was definitely not as good as the previous episode. I honestly have no clue what to think of this episode. It wasn’t terrible, but there were things that just didn’t resonate or make much sense.

I heard people were a bit disappointed with the Escanor and Estarossa fight since it was supposed to be a lot more epic. Though with the budget they put in for the Meliodas vs the Ten Commandments, I don’t think they have enough to polish the rest of the fights for the season. Especially since there are only 2 more episodes left. But even if I never read this part in the manga, it ended pretty quickly before I could actually get a grasp of what was happening. I find Estarossa to be a really interesting character and I probably like him a lot more than I should. Something about him intrigues me and it makes me want to know more about his character. Especially since he’s supposedly Meliodas’ younger brother and yet he looks way older than him. Why does he age when Meliodas and Zeldris doesn’t?

In any case, Estarossa has a similar Full Counter ability like Meliodas, but instead of deflecting magical power, he can only counter physical attacks, which actually inflicts Escanor with damage. Even Galand could only get a small wound on Escanor. Though typical, prideful Escanor just takes it in stride, seeing as it was his own strength that could hurt him. But man, Escanor continues showing how OP he is not only in strength but also in magical power. With even just a small amount of energy glowing from his hand was enough to start melting the armor of his allies. Not only that, but his attack on Estarossa dried up the entire lake. And despite it looking like Estarossa was getting the upper hand for a moment, the sun rises ever higher in the sky, causing Escanor’s power to get even stronger and sends essentially sends Estarossa into a fiery oblivion.

The really interesting thing is how Zeldris goes in to try and save Estarossa, but seemingly gets caught up in the attack as well and sends both Commandments blasting off into the distance. I’m sure they’re not dead. Probably just badly hurt. Back at the castle’s front, we actually get to see how Howzer actually has better leader skills than Gil surprisingly. While Gil wanted to continue fighting, Howzer realized that without their armor, they weren’t going to last in the front lines anymore but they could still protect the people in the castle. Howzer isn’t my favorite, but I appreciate him at times, this being one of those times. He’s able to see the bigger picture and is able to act accordingly while Gil seems to be very close sighted and acts more on emotion rather than reason at times.

Now, the next part basically had me facepalming SO HARD. After the group nearly gets overwhelmed by people who had been brainwashed by Zeldris’ commandment, Monspeet and Derieiri confront them. Denzel steps forward, saying that he has a way to combat them. Now, when Deldry wonders if Denzel will be okay and the King sighs with a sollem expression I was literally like “Yep, he’s gonna die.” Death flag was hoisted high into the air there. Denzel Summons a being of the goddess clan from his sword to take control of his body to combat the Ten Commandments. HOWEVER… this lady was completely USELESS. After seeing who her opponents were this goddess was literally “NOPE, I’M OUT. Y’ALL CAN DEAL WITH THIS YOURSELF” AND FREAKING LEFT. WHAT. This part literally felt like a joke especially since after attempting escape, Derieiri goes after her and SLICES HER IN HALF ON THE SPOT. USELESS. Not to mention she had the GALL to try and reason her way out of Derieir killing her. Her reasonings were simply terrible as well. “I know we betrayed our pact with you guys and we killed so many of your innocent people but we were forced to by our leaders.” Yeah… you weren’t do yourself any favors by laying it out like THAT. DENZEL, YOUR SACRIFICE WAS IN VAIN. That seriously was a terrible way to go…

While it was hinted back in season one, the goddess clan is shaping up to be kind of terrible. Especially with what happened here. So far, they’ve only been portrayed as selfish and I had absolutely no sympathy for that goddess. I felt super bad for DENZEL. He sacrificed his life to give that stupid goddess a form to try and stop the Ten Commandments. That’s really frustrating. After that epic facepalm, we actually get some more characterization from Monspeet and Derieir. And in all honesty, I’m starting to really like the two of them too. Monspeet is shown to be kind of deadpan silly with trying to dress Derieri up. And Derieri’s bloodlust for the goddess clan is very intriguing along with her rather aloof attitude.

I become even more intrigued when Derieri and Monspeet confront Elizabeth and Zaratras on their way to the castle. Especially when Derieri seems pretty disturbed by Elizabeth’s presence and seemingly recognizes her, demanding what she’s doing here. Further hints were made to how closely linked Elizabeth is to the goddess clan when she exhibits the exact same ability as that one goddess did earlier, stopping Derieri from killing Zaratras. This seems to convince Derieri that Elizabeth is who she thought she was (whoever that is for the time being) and attempts to finish her off… only for Meliodas to randomly come in at the most opportune time. Maybe they’ll provide some insight on how Meliodas came back next episode (maybe not) but that last minute save from him took me out of the moment by how random and convenience it was.

Overall, this episode felt weird. From the short fight that everyone seemed to be hyped up for, to the stupid death because of a useless goddess, to Meliodas coming in at the most convenient time. I did enjoy seeing more of Monspeet and Derieiri’s characters. And I couldn’t help but giggle when Hawk became a cackling demon pig after accidentally eating a flying piece of one of the demons remains. But Hawk’s mom is turning out to be pretty savage and just straight up eating the demons that were attacking them. First the bird from purgatory, now this… just what are you pigs lol.