Seven Mortal Sins (Review)
Seven Mortal Sins is the Kind of Anime You Don’t Want Anyone to Know You Watched.
Over the years I’ve seen more than a few anime that were inspired by video games (most of which were pretty awful), but Seven Mortal Sins is the first one I’ve seen inspired by figurines. Unfortunately, it’s based on fantasy figurines, which means it’s an anime that takes gratuitousness to a level I’ve honestly never seen before. It might not be hentai, but Seven Mortal Sins is pretty much softcore pornography. It’s a series there to fill a niche that obviously has a demand. What I can do is say that it’s not a series with any sort of depth to it at all. Seven Mortal Sins is strictly frosting with no cake to speak of (well, there is a certain “type” of cake). Because of that it makes quite an initial impression, but not a lasting one.
Oddly enough the whole concept of the Seven Deadly Sins has been making a pretty big come back in recent anime series. Seven Mortal Sins focuses on Lucifer (who happens to be a chick this time around and is voiced by Nicole Endicott) who is thrown out of heaven and lands in hell only to find it controlled by the current incarnation of the Sins. Of course, there are the typical ones you would expect to see there Wrath (Dawn M. Bennett), Sloth (Ella Davis), Greed (Annabel Thorne), Gluttony (Arielle O’Neil), and Lust (Morgan Garrett). However, there are two additional sins in Vanity (Elizabeth Maxwell) and Melancholy (Jad Saxton) that aren’t traditionally included in the seven. Lucifer finds herself getting her butt handed to her in hell initially, so she flees to Earth along with the lesser sin Envy (Brittany Lauda) and decides to beat each of the sins at their own game in order to take over Hell. Afterall, she is the sin of Pride, so it makes sense that she would think she could be the best of the best. What ensues are battles that will make even the most open perverts among you blush at the very sight of them.
Studio TNK is no stranger to anime that are pretty much just excuses for women to strip down (voluntarily or not) and shake their physics defying bosoms in battle. The thing is that their production values are just so damn good that as much as I want to take a moral high ground to their content, I find myself drawn to it even though I should know better. As much as I hate to admit it the animation for Seven Mortal Sins is some of the prettiest I’ve seen in awhile. Then again, when all you’ve got are beautiful women serving as the basis for the core of your story, it probably pays to make them look as good as possible. While a lot of anime will only include minor shadowing, Seven Mortal Sins includes highlights and lowlights (mostly to create “glistening” effects). Alas, this is probably the both the best and most embarrassing part of this anime.
Kinji Yoshimoto isn’t a director known for his “woke” approach the anime he takes on (most notably the Queen’s Blade series). I can’t say that Seven Mortal Sins is necessarily any better than a lot of his past work, but he’s a man who knows his audience and this series feels tailor made just for them. The women at the core of the series all seem to speak to a specific fetishized animated ideal from the lolita to the busty dom to even a “cat girl.” It’s almost as though he had a cchecklist of all the cliches that the kind of otaku you see carrying body pillows at conventions would be drawn to. Because of that, I can’t “kink shame” Seven Mortal Sins, even though it is an anime that is purely made to satisfy kinks without forcing viewers to switch to “incognito mode.”
As much as I want to focus on the shame that seems to come with watching a series like Seven Mortal Sins, I have to give credit where it’s due. As I mentioned, it’s an absolutely beautifully animated anime with meticulous attention to the “details.” However, the voice acting also proves to be top notch and there was more than one occasion I had to turn down the volume when the performances became a little too intense. I wont say the dialogue is exactly great. In fact, it’s pretty bad, but the actresses involved in the series sell the hell out of it which makes it a bit more palatable even in the most absurd moments.
By this point if you think you might be interested in Seven Mortal Sins based on what I’ve had to say, then it’s probably right up your ally. For me though, it’s a series that I’ll always be reluctant to admit I watched because of the obvious connotations that come with it. There’s a taboo when it comes to softcore porn like this, but that shouldn’t reflect on the quality of the art. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to trumpet this series with praise, because it’s such a gratuitously executed tale that shamelessly clings to classic elements of
