Hey all, Sam here.
Welcome back to another installment of Manga Monday, the reoccurring series where I review a volume of manga I’ve read on Mondays. I hope you are all having a decent 2023, because so far this has not been a great year for me. Well, an okay reading year so far, but that’s all. I’m really hoping that things turn around. I’m tired of feeling sad.
But I don’t want to focus on the bad and sad and frustrating aspects of life. Today is the start of a new week, a week where we’ve got a lot of cool posts planned, and a week where things can hopefully get better. This is actually the first full week of Free State of Geek content, so we’re going to not only get to talk about manga and books and writing, but also about tabletop gaming and 3D printing and anime and TV shows and movies. It’s going to be a geek filled time and I hope you all join us and enjoy what we have to offer. There will be plenty more of it to come.
With that being said, let’s go ahead and talk about today’s Manga volume.
SIN VS VIRTUE
To save her kingdom, Princess Elizabeth has pinned her last hope on the infamous traitors, “The Seven Deadly Sins” and has set out on a journey with Meliodas—the Dragon Sin of Wrath—to seek out the rest of his fellow knights and former friends. Deep within an uninviting forest they find Diane, the Serpent Sin of Envy. Before they can celebrate their reunion, they must deal with an attack from Gilthunder, an electrifying Holy Knight!
My Thoughts
Rating: 5 stars
You can find my review for the first volume here.
I decided to give this series a try, both the manga and the anime, because I was working with some of the voice cast from the English dub, and I find that it’s easier to relate to folks and to sell anime merchandise if you’re familiar with the subject matter.
So far I’ve only read 4 volumes of the manga and I’ve only watched half of the first season of the anime. Basically, there’s still a whole lot of story left to enjoy, and honestly I’m excited to experience it all. Of course, I’ll need to buy more volumes in order to continue reading…or I should see if my library has any copies, whether digitally or physically.
Anyway, to this volume specifically. In the first volume we had Elizabeth and Meliodas and Hawks. Now we bring Diane into the story, as well as more with Gilthunder. I enjoy that we are learning more about Meliodas and getting more of a sense of who he is, even though it’s clear there’s some mystery around him or his past anyway (No spoilers if you know the details. I’m enjoying the fact that I haven’t been spoiled yet, especially for a series that isn’t exactly new).
But we also get more with Diane and with Gilthunder…and boy does he have issues with The Seven Deadly Sins. I’m sure more about that will come out eventually. Oh, and Diane’s obsession with Meliodas…I don’t think that’s going to go well, because he’s clearly more focused on Elizabeth. Although, with perv-y characters, I guess you never really know what’s going to happen.
I enjoy that there’s a blend of travel and adventure as well as action with the story so far. I do like stories that feel expansive and real and varied. It’s not going to be all fighting or all travel or all drama or all romance all the time. There’s going to be variety.
What I will continue to say with most manga I read is that the action/fight scenes are so intense, so detailed, so busy in illustration, that sometimes I have difficulty following them. Now, I’m not going to lower rating for this, because it’s just how things are done, and I can follow well enough to get the general idea. It’s why I actually like watching the anime because then I can fully appreciate the action sequences as I watch them play out.
Well, that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
Free State of Geek 