A group of super-powerful fighters are only super-powerful when it's necessary for the story.
Series in more sentences:
A young princess goes out to find seven legendary fighters to save her imprisoned family from the "holy knights" that started taking matters into their own hands. But these legends are said to be criminals and nobody has seen them in years.
I enjoyed myself, but if the main hero hadn't shown off his cool moves so early in the game, I would've stopped after the first episode.
Upon watching, you're immediately introduced to the worst clichés the anime branch has to offer; like the soft-voiced, angelic girl character who cares about everyone and cries about everything while sad piano music plays in the background, the "funny" sexual harassment, an aggressive blood-hungry captain/knight who acts like that just so we can hate him, and a loud comic relief who isn't funny. Though, the latter we see enough in Western cartoons as well.
Three of these four clichés continue on throughout the rest of the first season, so I hope you like that kind of thing. Can't judge the quality of the later seasons, they did not yet exist when I started watching this show and haven't seen them yet.
In general, the cast was enjoyable. I despised the princess and the pig character, but near the end of the season they had grown on me. Though, that can also be because the creators eventually realized that the other characters were way more interesting to give screen time to; and the princess and pig were usually teamed up and dumped into the background. They proved themselves useful at one point, but it's still a shame they were this unnecessarily irritating most of the time.
The pig's dialogue is screaming, always screaming, and I don't care for cutesy anime girls that cry all the time, so the princess turned me off as well.
I also don't understand why the script writers dumped the giant, Diane, with this princess in so many episodes. She's actually a good character and skilled fighter, but she sat at home often.
When you're first introduced to the cast, you think you're about to get something you've seen in millions of other Japanese fiction, but the majority of them were given an interesting backstory for that extra flavour. Of course, some backstories were still overused, but it succeeded at making me care for them.
The only thing I'd like to mention is that the friendship between two of the fighters, that was described to be a tight and loyal one, actually proved to be disappointingly fragile. It was weird and I didn't like it.
The last episode was rushed, but the cliffhanger at the end promised a second season before there ever was one, so it can be excused.
Despite my harshness and complaints, I think this is an adventure you should check out for yourself. You'll learn soon enough whether or not it's for you.
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18-8-2020 UPDATE:
I finally watched the other three seasons, so let me give my quick opinion.
The second "season", that consisted out of FOUR whole episodes WOW, was absolutely heinous to sit through. What a waste of time. It calls itself "Signs of Holy War", and it's so pointless, you could and should skip it and go right to season 3, "Revival of the Commandments".
This is where the story begins, and just like season 1, it keeps your attention. Still, throughout the last two seasons it felt like the position of crybaby was now given to Diane -as if the abundance of crotch shots wasn't enough to ridicule her otherwise cool character- and there were so many subplots, there was no time to properly focus on them, they were overdramatic, and sometimes interrupted the more interesting storylines.
The one with Arthur is really boring, and after Meliodas leaves in season 4, you hardly see the guy anymore.
But well, I can't say this didn't hype me up for season 5.
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6-8-2021 UPDATE:
Alright, just finished season 5. It was boring. Many battles were fought, but scenes lingered, while important developments were rushed. I was unimpressed and occasionally confused.
This season also casually cast aside the fact two characters traversed Hell for more than a lifetime, yet somehow kept the same fresh determination to help their friends as when they started the journey. After 100 or so years, you can bet your ass I'll stop caring.
Feelings for people waver as time goes on, especially when you stop meeting them face to face, that is a fact of life. This show has way too many characters who's obsession for their love interest makes them willing to wait hundreds or thousands of years to see them again. Damn, just get yourself a new bitch, you sad little fool.
I believe this is the last season, which makes this a pretty lacklustre end to things. Many issues are still not resolved, but I suppose the idea is to consult the manga. I won't.
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