Nanatsu no Taizai manga or as it is known in English ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’ is a Japanese Shōnen manga written and illustrated by Nakaba Suzuki. The manga features the Seven Deadly Sins as a group of Knights representing the proverbial cardinal sins of the same name.

Nanatsu no Taizai manga was picked up for three anime television seasons by A-1 Pictures and Studio Deen while Netflix has acquired the exclusive English streaming rights for the anime series. 

The manga follows the story of Elizabeth Liones, the third princess of Liones who is looking for the Seven Deadly Sins. The Sins were a band of knights in the land of Britannia, who were disbanded ten years ago for going against the Kingdom. The Holy Knights who defeated the Sins have now taken control of the kingdom by organizing a rebellion. Elizabeth and Meliodas, the leader of the Seven Deadly Sins must clear their name and free the kingdom from the Holy Knights. The Seven Sins must fight against the Ten Commandments who are a group of ten warriors, in control of the Demon King. 

Christianity in the Nanatsu no Taizai Manga

Nanatsu no Taizai manga obviously is filled with Christian references. The entire plot is based on the Christian teachings of immorality portrayed as the seven vices of pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth. The members of the Seven Deadly Sins all embody a sin each which forms the basis of their abilities. However, there is the contradictory nature of the groups in the Nanatsu no Taizai manga. Characters are reflected in the emergence of the titular group as the protagonists and the group of “Holy Knights” as the antagonists of the series.

The Seven Deadly Sins are actually helping our protagonist Elizabeth take control of her home kingdom and the Ten Commandments are actually under the control of the Demon King who intends to rule over all existence. 

The Seven Deadly Sins and the Ten Commandments

Meliodas, our male main protagonist and leader of the Seven Deadly Sins, bears the sin of Wrath and his knights represent a sin each. Diane bears the sin of Envy, Ban has the sin of Greed, King is the sin of Sloth, Gowther the sin of Lust, Merlin embodies the sin of Gluttony and Escanor bears the sin of pride. 

On the other hand, the Ten Commandments include, Derieri the Purity

Drole the Patience, Estarossa the Love, Fraudrin the Selflessness, Galand the Truth, Grayroad the Pacifism, Melascula the Faith, Monspeet the Reticence and Zeldris the Piety. 

Critical Reception

We loved the Nanatsu no Taizai manga and hope you will love it too, if you are a fan of the Knight lore that is.

Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network (ANN) gave the first volume of the manga a B grade, calling the art interesting and the story a “neat take on the basic knights-in-shining-armor.” While she expressed concerns about the art and the character development of ELizabeth, overall she had high praises for the series.

Other critics such as Danica Davidson of Otaku USA warned readers that Meliodas’ perverted actions may be misinterpreted by some even though the actions themselves are used for comic relief in the manga.

The setting of the manga which is similar to the European Middle Ages was praised by American artist Jason Thompson who is known for his Eisner-nominated book ‘Manga: The Complete Guide’.

So what are you waiting for? Head over to Crunchyroll to read the Nanatsu no Taizai manga and let us know how you liked the different portrayals of the sins in it!

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