Definitely a nice buildup to the finale in ep 24, next week. Turns out this ended exactly where manga chapter 97 finished, and presumably ep 24 will be chapters 98 through 100.

Chapter 100 finishes the grand fight, and brings back a character who died. It doesn't deal with any of several other story threads. Will ep 24 deal with them, too? Or just leave them dangling?

How was it that Veronica didn't end up dead? Was that yet another case of Elizabeth subconsciously using her healing power?
How did Hawk come back?
Why did the Goddesses want Ban to kill Meliodas? Did they really, or were they just testing Ban? Is he still going to try to do it?
Will Elaine come back, one way or another?
Did Merlin really betray everyone ten years ago, and if not, just what did she do and why?

And perhaps the biggest one: What, exactly, is Meliodas? Ban asked him if he was a demon but he shrugged the question off. Given that he took Elizabeth's blast point blank and was helped by it, while Hendrickson was harmed, that tends to suggest he is not. On the other hand, that may only have meant that Elizabeth didn't want to hurt him.

The manga didn't end with chapter 100; it's up to chapter 118 now. So there's more story to be told here, and maybe eventually there will be another anime. Even so, it would be nice if some of those things got resolved.

We also never saw the seventh sin. (I have entertained the idea that Hawk is actually the seventh sin, in deep disguise, and that even Meliodas doesn't know it.)

If I have any complaint about the final arc, it's this: Diane was reduced to being a damsel in distress. I really hoped for more from her than that she lay wounded on the ground and had to be saved by others. Even after she got healed and was back to full strength, she didn't contribute much. It's a real shame.

But aside from that, this has been an excellent series. It starts slow and it's really easy to underestimate from the first couple of episodes, because it gets deeper and more complex and more interesting every episode, right up to the end. This is one of the best series in recent memory.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 05:56 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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