Anime Review: Seven Mortal Sins

Seven Mortal Sins (UK Rating: 15)

Right…first off, this is some pretty extreme ecchi. The very basic premise sees the archangel Lucifer cast down from heaven, ending up in hell where she faces off against the seven great demon lords, the Seven Deadly Sins, before heading off to Earth, along with a sycophantic demon that has become obsessed with her. Throughout this, the cast of buxom ladies are undressed, groped, and violated in a wide variety of ways - all completely and utterly uncensored. No thinly veiled beams of light covering nipples here... It's all on show. That quick summary should quickly weed out much of the audience, so for those who find this promising, or existing fans of the statues, read on.

Lucifer's arrival in hell lands her in the icy depths of the lowest level known as Cocytus. There she stumbles on a demon known as Leviathan, a girl who wants to become the great demon lord of envy. Leviathan is well aware of who Lucifer is and hopes to use her to gain the rank she's been aiming for. This initial meeting quickly degenerates into Lucifer's clothes being stripped off, followed by an extended sequence where Leviathan suckles on Lucifers nipples… Nipple licking becomes a core part of the series. Lucifer takes Leviathan under her wing, and after battling the Seven Deadly Sins, she heads back to Earth to pick up her new human disciple - a young nun named Mariah; a poor girl who gets her heart stolen by Lucifer… literally… as it is torn out, forcing Mariah into an existence of subservience as an immortal slave… with magic boobs. Yep.

There is some absolute insanity here. As the third episode opens, Lucifer pulls open Maria's top to expose her breasts. Leviathan is annoyed and takes her own top off, saying "If you just have to look at boobs look at mine, they're way more awesome than hers anyway!" Lucifer responds with "Yeah, but your boobs don't have psychic powers." Boobs with psychic powers. Psychic boobs. Yup. That's why Lucifer was licking them in episode two… so, Maria would sense where the other sins were in the world… The G in GPS is for grope apparently.

Astaroth is up next, the sin of Melancholy, is living on Earth as a YouTube sensation, utilising modern technology to corrupt humanity. Good! Lucifer has to take part in a rap battle then to try and outdo her on views online. Bad. Belphegor, the sin of Sloth, is running an MMO on Earth; again, good, modern take, makes sense. Lucifer has to enter the game, and then posing as the new DLC must defeat Belphegor's dedicated players, including Maria who has taken the role of the hero in game. A bloody isekai?! There's an eating contest with Gluttony. Finally, the final sin just wants to have a fight.  Satan, the sin of Wrath, is fittingly just down to do a big battle scene. After wrapping up each of the sins, Lucifer heads off to hell, but whether she's travelling there to destroy the place, or take over, is unclear.

The series is directed by Kinji Yoshimoto, and anyone who knows of his work will know what to expect here. Most of his previous work falls under Queen's Blade banner - a series known for busty women beating the clothing off of each other. Queen's Blade is the closest comparison, from the character designs, to the art and animation, the quality of storytelling, and the fan-service. It must have been even worse when censored on regular TV. All this show has going for it is its fan-service. That fan-service consists of the usual focus on the girls' clothes exploding, along with them either standing around or battling naked, with the camera lingering on the T&A as they jiggle. There's also plenty of groping, licking, tentacles and… viscous fluids. Not to mention mass amounts of suggestive scenes. Gluttony has a few scenes where tubular objects are forced into her mouth.

The basic premise of splitting each episode into having Lucifer face off against each of the Sins on their own terms, facing them at their own games, seems interesting. Sadly, it's done with such poor skill that the episodes just end up being dull. There's the odd good moment. Astaroth's rock anthem is great, at least in the Japanese dub, when sung by the heavenly voice of Azusa Tadokoro. It's the only enjoyable musical performance throughout the entirety of the series, however, and only enjoyable in Japanese. The English dub actually manages to make the series even worse - some strange accents from a Southern belle to whatever the heck Mamon is meant to be.

3/10

Bad

While not everyone's cup of tea, fan-service and ecchi series have their fandoms and their place. The problem is that for many it's basically porn… and, without something to elevate it, that's all it is. Softcore hentai. It needs an interesting story, interesting characters, funny comedy. Something. That's all missing here, and all it really has... is its fan-service. There, it is the closest thing to hentai, without actually being full-blown hentai. For some, that's enough; for fans of Queen's Blade, this will likely be enjoyable. However, there are much better ecchi out there.