Reign of the Seven Spellblades Episode 9 sees us finally come to a conclusion on a name for the friends, which is a bigger happening than anything else in this episode. Let’s see how things went in this review!
Reign of the Seven Spellblades Episode 9 Overview
Reign of the Seven Spellblades, or Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai suru in original Japanese, is an action and fantasy anime set on the backdrop of a magical world that is being produced by anime studio J.C.Staff. The studio is also known for producing and animating popular shows such as Toradora and One Punch Man. This episode is also known as Nanatsuma Episode 9.
The series is based on a light novel written by Bokuto Uno and Ruria Miyuki and is directed by Masato Matsune. He has been behind several smaller-scale productions before this, even directing shows like Megido 72 and Chronos Ruler. Click here to read the review of the previous episode in the series.
– Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai suru Episode 9 Review does not contain spoilers –
Reign of the Seven Spellblades Episode 9 Review- Explore
Last week, the show introduced an arc that felt refreshing and set us up for some great battles and exploration of the dynamics of the main characters. The show has been inconsistent since it began, and it did not surprise me for a second to see that the competition wasn’t followed up on much in this episode. There were still some decent things happening throughout, but why did the show take its time to establish a plotline if it didn’t want to move with that as its focus?
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The first thing to get out of the way is this- we have a name for this group of six friends, and it couldn’t have come any sooner. It is not much of a spoiler, given it doesn’t mean anything as of yet, but I will put it out there so that I can use it in the review after this- they are called the Sword Roses. It is a decent name, although it doesn’t seem to fit them very well, given that only three out of the six appear to be good at using a sword. At least for now, as the show still has a lot of time for everyone to showcase their true potential.
The Sword Roses got tangled up with Rossi again, who is surprisingly still alive after that encounter towards the end of the previous episode, making it seem like he wouldn’t be around for a while. He had a much more pleasant appearance in this week’s episode and has learned from his past mistakes. He is a fun character who should add a lot to the show’s cast, as we are currently sorely lacking characters in our focus other than the Sword Roses.
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Most of this episode was centred around Katie, who has somehow proven herself to be the third most important character of the Roses. She and her ideals have consistently gotten more screen time in the show than everyone but Oliver and Nanao. Given how meek and flavourless her personality is, you wouldn’t have expected it, but she has something tangible and important she stands for, which is more than most other characters. It is also a noble thing to stand for, especially since it isn’t constantly scoffed at and made fun of by her own friends (looking at you, SPEW).
Each member of the Sword Roses seems to be getting their own feud, except Guy, that is. Michella has now gotten entangled in some familial tussles as a member of her own family seems hell-bent on taking her down. That is certainly an interesting direction to take someone as uptight as her, given her strong familial ties and how much she attributes to growing up as a part of that family. It will be interesting to look out for the battle of the cousins in the next episodes if the show decides to show us.
Verdict
Reign of the Seven Spellblades Episode 9 was a worthwhile episode that saw the friendly bond between the Sword Roses become stronger as they found a place to be among themselves, even within the dangers of the labyrinth.
Click here to read the review of the next episode!
I agree, this episode was handled better than the last “breather episode”. And I really enjoy the more agreeable attitude the series takes towards Katie’s activism. As you noted, unlike Hermione, she’s supposed to be ultimately right — the show doesn’t pull the “golden mean fallacy” HP fell into by de facto arguing that slavery isn’t wrong, just mistreating your slaves is. But merely being right isn’t enough: making real change requires real power — soft power just as much as magic power — and Katie is willing to put in the work.
There’s a big running theme in the novels that, as much as this world sucks, most people don’t actually WANT to live like this: they’re pushed into it by fear and ignorance, cycles of abuse and hatred, and a minority of powerful bad actors who really do like the world just fine as it is. Whereas HP — along with some other works of the era like Disney-canon Star Wars — has a very neoliberal attitude that the world was fine all along, it’s just a few bad actors that are screwing it up.
Also apparently the season is going to be fifteen episodes, so they really are going to fully adapt all three of the Year 1 books.
Thank you very much for your comment! I am honestly really excited that this is going until Episode 15, as I truly believe this show has a lot of potential waiting to be uncovered bit by bit.
Also, I am personally so over HP, and I think that Reign is a very worthy piece of art that stands on its own very well.