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The Seven Deadly Sins. The Seven Greatest Criminals turned Seven Greatest Heroes. Heroes who've been given a rough hand at life but have made the best of their tragic situations, some of which still continue to haunt them to this day. Each one is amazing in their own right and their backstories just add to the intricacies of their character and influences where their character arc will take them.
However, out of these Seven Protagonist, there is one character in particular whose progression stands out from the rest. Not because it's good or exceptional, but because it's so disjointed, scattershot, and, dare I say, bad compared to those we've already seen. The one Sin whose backstory not only feels disconnected from her current path in the story, but who feels like a completely different character from where they started and where they began. The character that I am speaking of?
Why Diane, of course, if the title of the thread didn't make it obvious.
So what happened? She started out as a strong, mature, and more importantly, independent character who more than held her own with the reuniting cast of characters. However, after the first major arc in the series and a certain incident involving a certain, magnificent, pink haired bastard, she's regressed dramatically to a childish character who is seemingly dependent on those surrounding her. Whatever the plan was/is, the execution leaves a helluva lot to be desired and her character has suffered for it.
But before we continue into the major problems, let's go back to the start of the series and see how Diane started out.
From her first appearance in chapter 3 to the start of the Liones Invasion arc, Diane was, well, a Sin. Quirky, yet reliable and more than capable of holding her own in a fight. Her character had agency and was a integral part of the group. During this introductory portion of the story, we also had one of her defining character traits. Her love of Mel. What does this have to do with anything? Well, it gave her a sense of maturity. Diane was feminine, but not "girly", if that makes sense. She was confident in her sexuality and owned it whenever Mel was around. She talked about girl stuff, but was measured in her actions, unlike now where it's pretty much her defining character trait. Another slight thing that's fallen to the wayside it seem is Diane's perceptiveness. Whereas King is pretty much the mouthpiece of power observation now when he's with her, Diane did a fair share of it at the start of the series as well. Both had a good back and forth observing Mel and Ban's fight. Her strength was paramount in the group and very few could withstand her blows.
Quick recap of Diane's role in Liones, she's the 4th Sin to arrive, not counting Merlin who was in disguise at the time, and was greeted by Dreyfus, Helbram, Guila, Jericho, Hauser, and Gil. She put up a valiant struggle before falling to Dreyfus' Break. From this point on, combat wise, she's out of the game. She's saved by Guila and Hauser, and then by King.
Once King arrives, this is where a big shift happens. We get his backstory and learn that he and Diane go back further than anticipated. While it's King's story, we learn that Diane had been out on her own for a quite a while, despite her young age. The circumstances surrounding her initial departure from Megadozer are still unknown, but it was made clear by King that her Creation was advanced for someone her age. Keep this in mind. This is also the time where, in story anyway, Diane regains her memory of King.
After that bit of backstory, she's mostly background until the final fight with Hendy, where she's as useful as the every other Sin not named Mel. They defeat him, everyone high fives, and that's the end of the first arc.
S’all well and good yeah? Well buckle up baby, because shit’s about to go off the rails.
So, a bit into the new arc, we finally learn that Diane’s memories have returned and she wishes to see King. This shit was pretty surprising at the time. Like, holy shit, we’re following through with this much quicker than I anticipated. I wondered where Nakaba would be taking this development. Of course, when it’s revealed, King wasn’t around at the time, but it was great. This, my friends, was around the time I started to warm up to Diane. For the most part, at this point, I’d been neutral to her character in the series and basically only tolerated her because of her association with King. Kinda harsh of me to say, but it’s true. But I wanted to like her and I started to like her more as the series progressed, but then it happened.
Diane versus Gowther.
This fight itself, was fine. The conclusion, on the other hand, was not.Thanks to Gowther, Diane’s memory was, once again, erased. After that, things took a turn for the Sin of Envy.Sometime after that fight, we finally got Diane’s Gaiden. And it was…underwhelming to say the least. The first part started well, but the second part wasn’t good. The entire incident leading to her Sin felt forced and contrived. Random Holy Knight is a catalyst for her Sin. Matrona “dying” in front of Diane due to a Poisoned Arrow that just so happened to be capable of piercing Heavy Metal. Diane’s Envy coming off as an after thought than a legit reason. It just wasn’t engaging as the other Gaiden. Either they set to high a bar or Diane’s wasn’t that good.
So after the lackluster Gaiden, we see Diane runs into Matrona who helps her escape from Galan and Monspiet. Now, the first moment I knew something was off was her reaction to Galan and Monspiet. Fear. Not only fear, but crippling fear. She cowered at the mere mention of them…okay then. And then she proceeds to instantly perk up at the thought of dancing with Matrona, as if dancing has always played a part in her history since her inception…okay then. So, it’s around this time that I noticed that Diane had changed. It becomes a lot more apparent later, but it’s here where she begins to act more childish than before. That maturity at the start is no longer here. Her air headedness is amplified to an annoying degree. She feels like a new character. She didn’t even feel like her Gaiden self that much.
But eefrit, you might be saying, she lost her memory, of course she’s not going to act the same, she doesn’t have the same experiences. And that’s true. She isn’t. But here’s the thing…she didn't need to lose her memory again in the first place. Not only did it rehash the same concept that she was cured from a few chapters ago, this entire sub-plot has done nothing for her character. The way I see it, this isn’t Diane’s subplot, it’s still Gowther’s. Diane’s character hasn’t benefited from this at all. Gowther is the only one who stands to gain anything from this little plot. Everything that Diane is experiencing now could have easily been done with her memory intact and the only thing that would have changed would be that Diane wouldn’t have ran into Matrona, which honestly, doesn’t change a thing either. This entire rant actually began as a complaint I had about Matrona now being inconsequential to Diane’s character since Dolor is the one who has taken to training her. Which is probably for the best, because, as much as I like her, she seemed like a pretty shite teacher who didn’t even explain the basics of Golem’s to Diane. Something King had to do, which, goes back to what I mentioned about her character being more dependent than independent. Anyway, Matrona’s only reason for being there was apparently just to mention the idea of dancing to Diane. She no longer has any point for Diane, except gawk at Diane’s power and, maybe, pull a Zhago.
So where do we go from here? Diane is currently participating in an actual flashback, after which she is supposed to get some training from Dolor, which, aside from putting Matrona out of the job, is cool. But what about her character? Since Gowther isn’t around (and with his recent development, we don't even know if he cares about this shit anymore), I don’t see Diane getting her memory back yet. Even if she did, I doubt it would improve her current characterization. I don’t think Nakaba is going to bring back mature, somewhat measured Diane from the start of the series, especially with Merlin now a regular on the cast. I think Childish Diane will be here to stay as it separates her from the Sin of Gluttony.
I want to like Diane. I do. I wouldn’t have written this rant if I didn’t care about her. But the way she’s been recently handled in this arc has been less than flattering. I’m sure there are a number of you who trust Nakaba to put her back on the path, or hell, maybe even think she never left the path, and that’s fine, but to me, she’s fallen behind the other Sins in terms of interest. Hell, Mel is my least favorite Sin, but at least he’s got something going on and is developing as a character, rather than staying stagnant. I’m hoping for the best but who knows what her future holds in this series.
Anyway, it’s out of my system now and I’m tired of typing. What do you folks think?
However, out of these Seven Protagonist, there is one character in particular whose progression stands out from the rest. Not because it's good or exceptional, but because it's so disjointed, scattershot, and, dare I say, bad compared to those we've already seen. The one Sin whose backstory not only feels disconnected from her current path in the story, but who feels like a completely different character from where they started and where they began. The character that I am speaking of?
Why Diane, of course, if the title of the thread didn't make it obvious.
So what happened? She started out as a strong, mature, and more importantly, independent character who more than held her own with the reuniting cast of characters. However, after the first major arc in the series and a certain incident involving a certain, magnificent, pink haired bastard, she's regressed dramatically to a childish character who is seemingly dependent on those surrounding her. Whatever the plan was/is, the execution leaves a helluva lot to be desired and her character has suffered for it.
But before we continue into the major problems, let's go back to the start of the series and see how Diane started out.
From her first appearance in chapter 3 to the start of the Liones Invasion arc, Diane was, well, a Sin. Quirky, yet reliable and more than capable of holding her own in a fight. Her character had agency and was a integral part of the group. During this introductory portion of the story, we also had one of her defining character traits. Her love of Mel. What does this have to do with anything? Well, it gave her a sense of maturity. Diane was feminine, but not "girly", if that makes sense. She was confident in her sexuality and owned it whenever Mel was around. She talked about girl stuff, but was measured in her actions, unlike now where it's pretty much her defining character trait. Another slight thing that's fallen to the wayside it seem is Diane's perceptiveness. Whereas King is pretty much the mouthpiece of power observation now when he's with her, Diane did a fair share of it at the start of the series as well. Both had a good back and forth observing Mel and Ban's fight. Her strength was paramount in the group and very few could withstand her blows.
Quick recap of Diane's role in Liones, she's the 4th Sin to arrive, not counting Merlin who was in disguise at the time, and was greeted by Dreyfus, Helbram, Guila, Jericho, Hauser, and Gil. She put up a valiant struggle before falling to Dreyfus' Break. From this point on, combat wise, she's out of the game. She's saved by Guila and Hauser, and then by King.
Once King arrives, this is where a big shift happens. We get his backstory and learn that he and Diane go back further than anticipated. While it's King's story, we learn that Diane had been out on her own for a quite a while, despite her young age. The circumstances surrounding her initial departure from Megadozer are still unknown, but it was made clear by King that her Creation was advanced for someone her age. Keep this in mind. This is also the time where, in story anyway, Diane regains her memory of King.
After that bit of backstory, she's mostly background until the final fight with Hendy, where she's as useful as the every other Sin not named Mel. They defeat him, everyone high fives, and that's the end of the first arc.
S’all well and good yeah? Well buckle up baby, because shit’s about to go off the rails.
So, a bit into the new arc, we finally learn that Diane’s memories have returned and she wishes to see King. This shit was pretty surprising at the time. Like, holy shit, we’re following through with this much quicker than I anticipated. I wondered where Nakaba would be taking this development. Of course, when it’s revealed, King wasn’t around at the time, but it was great. This, my friends, was around the time I started to warm up to Diane. For the most part, at this point, I’d been neutral to her character in the series and basically only tolerated her because of her association with King. Kinda harsh of me to say, but it’s true. But I wanted to like her and I started to like her more as the series progressed, but then it happened.
Diane versus Gowther.
This fight itself, was fine. The conclusion, on the other hand, was not.Thanks to Gowther, Diane’s memory was, once again, erased. After that, things took a turn for the Sin of Envy.Sometime after that fight, we finally got Diane’s Gaiden. And it was…underwhelming to say the least. The first part started well, but the second part wasn’t good. The entire incident leading to her Sin felt forced and contrived. Random Holy Knight is a catalyst for her Sin. Matrona “dying” in front of Diane due to a Poisoned Arrow that just so happened to be capable of piercing Heavy Metal. Diane’s Envy coming off as an after thought than a legit reason. It just wasn’t engaging as the other Gaiden. Either they set to high a bar or Diane’s wasn’t that good.
So after the lackluster Gaiden, we see Diane runs into Matrona who helps her escape from Galan and Monspiet. Now, the first moment I knew something was off was her reaction to Galan and Monspiet. Fear. Not only fear, but crippling fear. She cowered at the mere mention of them…okay then. And then she proceeds to instantly perk up at the thought of dancing with Matrona, as if dancing has always played a part in her history since her inception…okay then. So, it’s around this time that I noticed that Diane had changed. It becomes a lot more apparent later, but it’s here where she begins to act more childish than before. That maturity at the start is no longer here. Her air headedness is amplified to an annoying degree. She feels like a new character. She didn’t even feel like her Gaiden self that much.
But eefrit, you might be saying, she lost her memory, of course she’s not going to act the same, she doesn’t have the same experiences. And that’s true. She isn’t. But here’s the thing…she didn't need to lose her memory again in the first place. Not only did it rehash the same concept that she was cured from a few chapters ago, this entire sub-plot has done nothing for her character. The way I see it, this isn’t Diane’s subplot, it’s still Gowther’s. Diane’s character hasn’t benefited from this at all. Gowther is the only one who stands to gain anything from this little plot. Everything that Diane is experiencing now could have easily been done with her memory intact and the only thing that would have changed would be that Diane wouldn’t have ran into Matrona, which honestly, doesn’t change a thing either. This entire rant actually began as a complaint I had about Matrona now being inconsequential to Diane’s character since Dolor is the one who has taken to training her. Which is probably for the best, because, as much as I like her, she seemed like a pretty shite teacher who didn’t even explain the basics of Golem’s to Diane. Something King had to do, which, goes back to what I mentioned about her character being more dependent than independent. Anyway, Matrona’s only reason for being there was apparently just to mention the idea of dancing to Diane. She no longer has any point for Diane, except gawk at Diane’s power and, maybe, pull a Zhago.
So where do we go from here? Diane is currently participating in an actual flashback, after which she is supposed to get some training from Dolor, which, aside from putting Matrona out of the job, is cool. But what about her character? Since Gowther isn’t around (and with his recent development, we don't even know if he cares about this shit anymore), I don’t see Diane getting her memory back yet. Even if she did, I doubt it would improve her current characterization. I don’t think Nakaba is going to bring back mature, somewhat measured Diane from the start of the series, especially with Merlin now a regular on the cast. I think Childish Diane will be here to stay as it separates her from the Sin of Gluttony.
I want to like Diane. I do. I wouldn’t have written this rant if I didn’t care about her. But the way she’s been recently handled in this arc has been less than flattering. I’m sure there are a number of you who trust Nakaba to put her back on the path, or hell, maybe even think she never left the path, and that’s fine, but to me, she’s fallen behind the other Sins in terms of interest. Hell, Mel is my least favorite Sin, but at least he’s got something going on and is developing as a character, rather than staying stagnant. I’m hoping for the best but who knows what her future holds in this series.
Anyway, it’s out of my system now and I’m tired of typing. What do you folks think?
). What he did was horrible and he doesn't get why King punched him, it'll be interesting to see how he will deal with all of this. I am so hyped for his arc :down.
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