It’s time to take a look at Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai Suru (Reign of the Seven Spellblades) It’s another case where I am a manga reader first and an anime-watcher second! In these cases, I always do what I don’t like to do and that’s compare the anime to the manga to see how well it adapts it. I understand that there are light novels out for this as well; however, I’m more of a picture book guy! (Yes, I am a light novel author so this makes no sense. It is what it is). Anyhoo… how did it stack up the manga?
Let’s go!
First Episode Synopsis
Some kids are on their way to Kimberly Academy! You can tell the school is all about magic because the first scene we get is a boy being lectured by a talking flower attached to a seemingly long vine. There are others along the way but we don’t get any character introductions. Instead, we get some standard fantasy beasts being paraded around, one of which is your classic troll… a very big classic troll. Suddenly, one of the girls gets a spell cast on her legs and she takes off running against her own will… right at the troll. The spell conveniently wears off in front of it and the troll doesn’t seem too happy. Of course, this puts her in danger until a samurai girl shows up and gives the troll a good thwacking after our unnamed main cast of characters combines their spells and does everything short of calling Captain Planet.
With the incident handled, it’s time to meet the headmaster of the school who tells them that only 80% of the students survive their education! Some go mad, others die, you know… really motivating stuff to hear on your first day. Suddenly, they get flipped upside down and enjoy a welcome banquet… on the ceiling. It is only here that we learn the names of our main cast along with where they are from. All I will say as a manga reader is that stick to Oliver and Nanao. Trust me (wink).
Why do I say that? Because the episode ends with Nanao bathing… publicly… in a fountain… and she gives 0 Fs that Oliver can see her topless!
Worth Watching?
YES – It’s my first YES of the summer anime season thus far only because I am aware of the source material. If you’re here for the answer to the main question posted in the intro, then yes… this does follow the manga really well… so far. I always give a studio the benefit of the doubt because there is plenty of time to screw things up. Just ask Tokyo Ghoul.
However… if you are an anime-only watcher… it might be easy to not find anything compelling in this first episode. Sure, there was a little action at the beginning but the rest consisted of an orientation, eating dinner with intros, and bathing in a fountain. There was no real hook at the end. The manga started off the same way so yes, it does have a slow start, and had I not read the manga already, I would have given this a MAYBE just based on what we got so far.
But I can say with confidence that good things are coming so if you give this the 3-episode rule, this should be a series you would have no problem continuing watching!