The Seven Deadly Sins: Ban's Side Story OVA

七つの大罪 (Nanatsu no Taizai OVA)

7.5(107,813)

MAL Score

Ranked #2296

Popularity #1418

Action
Adventure
Fantasy

Episodes: 2
Duration: 24 min per ep
Aired: Jun 17, 2015 to Aug 12, 2015
Status: Finished Airing

Synopsis

Bundled with volumes 15 and 16 of the manga, *The Seven Deadly Sins: Ban's Side Story OVA* offers extra animated material set in the world of *The Seven Deadly Sins*.

The DVD included with volume 15 centers on Ban, the Sin of Greed, while the volume 16 release presents an omnibus of side stories spotlighting the main cast.

Otaku Consensus

The OVA’s reputation rests heavily on the first, Ban-focused release: fans single it out as essential character work, and its manga-bundled format lets A-1 Pictures deliver a compact supplement rather than a stretched TV detour. The second volume’s omnibus format is the common weak point, landing more like bonus skits or filler compared with the sharper, better-paced Ban material.

Why You Should Watch

Watch this if Ban was the character who kept pulling your attention in The Seven Deadly Sins and you want concentrated context without committing to a full filler arc. The appeal is not scale; it is the rare shounen side release that fans consistently point to as useful rather than disposable, especially because the first DVD was tied directly to manga volume 15. It scratches the same itch as the character-focused extras in Fairy Tail or Bleach: familiar fantasy-action energy, magic and super powers intact, but with the tempo of a short bonus chapter. Viewers who prefer the medieval-adventure texture of early Seven Deadly Sins, before later franchise animation debates dominated discussion, will find this 2015 A-1 Pictures OVA especially worthwhile.

Key Characters

B
Ban
Ban stands out here because fan reception consistently treats his episode as the OVA’s real reason to exist, giving the Sin of Greed the kind of concentrated attention ensemble shounen series rarely spare.

What Makes It Stand Out

1
The release was not a standalone TV special; it was bundled with volumes 15 and 16 of Nakaba Suzuki’s manga, making it a source-adjacent bonus aimed at existing readers and anime fans rather than a casual entry point.
2
Its two-episode structure is deliberately uneven: the volume 15 DVD focuses on Ban, while the volume 16 DVD shifts into an omnibus of side stories, which explains why fan praise clusters so strongly around the first half.
3
A-1 Pictures produced the OVA during the early Seven Deadly Sins anime period, before later franchise discussion became heavily tied to animation-quality complaints, giving this release a distinct place in the series’ production timeline.
4
AniList’s tag profile leans hardest into Fairy, Magic, and Super Power, while Medieval sits much lower, signaling that the OVA’s appeal is more character-lore and shounen fantasy mechanics than detailed worldbuilding.
5
The reception numbers show a bonus release with unusually durable visibility: 107,813 MAL votes, a 7.47 score, AniList’s 72/100 score, and 447 AniList favourites indicate that fans did not treat it as a forgotten extra.

Fun Facts & Trivia

Fun fact 1: The two DVDs were released nearly two months apart: June 17, 2015 with manga volume 15 and August 12, 2015 with volume 16.
Fun fact 2: Nakaba Suzuki, the original creator of The Seven Deadly Sins, is credited on the OVA, reinforcing its connection to the manga rather than positioning it as an unrelated promotional short.
Fun fact 3: Noriyuki Abe’s listed contribution is specifically tied to the ending, where he is credited for both storyboard and unit direction.
Fun fact 4: Fan comments repeatedly separate the Ban episode from the rest of the OVA package, describing it as the part that provides meaningful background while framing the other material more as comedic bonus content.
Fun fact 5: A community listing cited in the research records the OVA at 80% recommended from two fan ratings, a small sample but one that matches the broader pattern of praise for Ban’s installment.