The Seven Deadly Sins is a 2014 fantasy adventure Japanese animated series created by Nakabi Suzuki, and follows a group of criminals known as the Seven Deadly Sins, who are framed for murder, who join the third princess of Liones, Elizabeth, who travels to liberate the kingdom of Liones from the oppressive rule of the Holy Knights.

Positives:

• Great characters
• Good voice performances
• Good animation style
• Good score
• Funny dialogue
• Moving moments
• Good English dubbing

Negatives:

• Some characters are cliche
• Predictable story

Plot: The Seven Deadly Sins has an interesting story though it is more simple than complex. There are a number of twist that keep the story interesting especially when it comes to some of the character backgrounds and motivations, and when it comes to the Holy Knights. There are some elements that could’ve been handled better, especially the developing arcs as well as the exposition of events ten years prior to the main story, and the developing relationship between Elizabeth and Meliodas without letting it become cliche. (3 out of 5)

Characters: The series does feature some likable and memorable characters. There main cast consist of Meliodas, Elizabeth, Ban, Hawke, Diane, King, and Gowther. Now the majority of the main cast have great moments, great backstories, and great arcs. Unfortunately, Meliodas and Elizabeth are probably the weakest points of the main cast. Both characters are pretty cliche which Meliodas being overly cheerful about everything and Elizabeth just being plain useless and their entire “relationship” feels both forced and unnecessary. A lot of the Holy Knight characters are actually pretty interesting. What usually starts off as flat characters actually become fleshed out into more rounded ones with believable motivations.  (4 out of 5)

Animation Style: The animation style is highly appealing, very vibrant and works well with the Shonen anime style. Some of the character designs do seem a bit odd for the setting of the anime (Ban’s, Meliodas’, and Gowther’s clothing for example). (4 out of 5)

Score: The score does sound good. The intros and outros do a good job of establishing a sense of wonder. The musical overlays aren’t bad. Voice performances are pretty solid. The English dubbing is actually pretty good but the dubtrack sucks when it comes to subtitles. The actors do match their characters. (3 out of 5)

Writing: The writing is just as artistic as the anime style. The dialogue is pretty humorous and witty. The emotional moments are handled well though it could’ve been paced a bit better. However, there are moments in the script that just should’ve been done better. Such as many of the elements surrounding Meliodas. Most of his dialogue, choices, and character are poorly written. (3 out of 5)

The Verdict:  In the end, The Seven Deadly Sins is a fairly good anime.  Despite some issues with the main characters Meliodas and Elizabeth and how they were written as well as how predictable the story is, the anime does feature great characters, an interesting story, great action, a good score, good setting, funny dialogue, and some moving moments.  The Seven Deadly Sins gets 3 out of 5.