The Seven Deadly Sins anime ended earlier this year, but the story continued with the new movie. The Seven Deadly Sins: Cursed by Light opened in Japan in August, and the movie is now available to watch on Netflix. The movie, which was announced in April, presented a whole new story set after the events of the original anime/manga.
The story begins 6 months after the end of The Holy War. Seven Deadly Sins have disbanded, and Meliodas is about to take the throne. However, before he does that, he decides to take Elizabeth on a trip throughout Liones. While traveling they run into Zeldris and Gelda, who had a similar idea. On the other side of the country, King and Diane are about to have their wedding ceremony. With Gowther, Ban, and Elaine things seem to be going smoothly, even though Elizabeth and Meliodas aren’t there. But, things are about to change as mysterious fairies and giants start storming the wedding and the capital of Liones. Just what is their goal and who sent them?
Fans of the franchise will surely enjoy another addition, even if it’s just a movie, but just how well does it fare overall?
Production Quality
With the issues in quality of production that the franchise has faced in the past 2 seasons, many of us were wondering just how the movie would look. The story is an original work by the mangaka of The Seven Deadly Sins franchise – Nakaba Suzuki. Studio DEEN returned to anime the movie, but this time with Takayuki Hamana on the helm as the director. Hamana most recently worked on Arte and Sorcerous Stabber Orphen (as director). Yumiko Kuga handled art direction, while Rintaro Ikeda wrote the script. Kohta Yamamoto and Hiroyuki Sawano composed the music. What’s interesting is that, with the exception of composers, neither of these staff members worked on a Seven Deadly Sins anime before.
Animation
And that might have been a good thing. The animation is unlike what we’ve seen before when it comes to DEEN’s adaptation of the anime. The art is closer to what we’ve seen in seasons by A-1 Pictures, but with a slightly different spin. The colors are bright, with bold lines, and the scenes of questionable quality that we saw in the latest seasons are gone. While the fight sequences are far from breathtaking, they are still quite detailed and dynamic, which makes them enjoyable to watch. The CGI used didn’t stand out too much and makes for an interesting choice.
Music and Sound
Music choices, as always, were spot on. Sawano and Yamamoto both worked on the series in the past. The main Seven Deadly Sins theme is always a welcome addition and makes the movie feel like a proper part of the main series, and tracks in a similar style can be heard throughout the movie. Porno Graffitti’s Akihito Okano, who sung the second OP for The Seven Deadly Sins: Dragon’s Judgement, also performed the movie’s theme song “Sono Saki no Hikari e”.
The main voice cast returned, led by Yuki Kaji who voices both Meliodas and Zeldris. The voice acting in The Seven Deadly Sins franchise has always been spot on, and the Cursed by Light movie is no exception. Two new characters were introduced – Dhalia and Dubs, voiced by Yuuichi Nakamura and Shinichiro Kamio respectively.
Story
Warning: Spoilers ahead
While the story definitely feels like a Seven Deadly Sins continuation, in some parts the movie was moving too quickly. 81 minutes of run-time probably weren’t enough to present everything the creators wanted to. Despite that, there are not many loose ends in the story, and it feels quite finished. However, the post-credits scene definitely leaves the door open for a potential continuation or a spin-off, perhaps even something that connects to The Four Knights of the Apocalypse sequel.
Going Forward After the War
The movie spends a lot of time focusing on the characters’ interpersonal relationships. And it does a pretty decent job of it. Meliodas and Zeldris’ relationship is in the spotlight, and we see them making amends. Gelda is present as well, and it’s quite lovely seeing more of her since she wasn’t a part of the original lineup. The future is a common theme with the main cast, and it seems like everyone has grand plans for the rest of their lives. Escanor is still present in their hearts, and it’s quite touching to see how he won’t be forgotten.
What’s interesting is Merlin. She barely has any screen time, but we see her and Arthur mourning Camelot’s people. The ending of the movie hints at a new possibility, and once again it’s Merling making predictions. The age of gods is truly over, and the era of Chaos for humanity is about to begin. Arthur’s role in this could be quite important, seeing as he is the King of Chaos.
Victims of the Short Runtime
Even though Cursed By Light managed to explain most things, there are still some issues because of the rushed plot. The biggest one was the new characters, Dahlia and Dubs. They are introduced as enemies, we see bits of their personalities, and there is space for more but it just kind of… falls through. We soon find out this is not who they really are, in the typical shounen fashion. Their characters seemed promising, especially Dubs since he is the one who made Lostvayne, as well as The Coffin of Eternal Darkness, but sadly, we don’t get to learn a lot about them.
Perhaps it’s just unusual to see a long-running shonen that skims over the new enemies and focuses more on existing characters – which on its own is not a bad thing. The sheer amount of cameos in this movie is insane, and it appears like they tried to give everyone at least some screen-time.
Another issue was the Supreme Deity. An all-powerful create went down pretty easily, and her motives were lacking common sense. If she killed everyone who stopped the Holy War, who would wage another one? But, on the bright side, at least they tried giving her a satisfying exit.
Overall
As far as the story goes, The Seven Deadly Sins: Cursed by Light movie is nothing extraordinary, but, if you loved the main series and the characters you should definitely give it a watch. Even if you had issues with how seasons 3 and 4 looked, the improvements in animation quality make it worthwhile and the music just completes the experience. The fact that it focuses more on the characters than the fights is also quite refreshing, as you will have a chance to “spend” more time with your favorites. The whole movie gives a satisfying conclusion to the main story, regardless of the possible sequel.
You can watch The Seven Deadly Sins: Cursed by Light movie on Netflix, where it’s streaming exclusively.
©Nakaba Suzuki / Kodansha / 2021 The Seven Deadly Sins: Cursed by Light Production Committee
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