Nanatsu no Taizai 195 Review: Tears for a Villain

Nanatsu no Taizai, Chapter 195: The Battle For the Defense of Liones Concludes

Well, I think this is the first post-timeskip chapter that really felt... impressive. Most of the previous chapters are all simply just, well, hyping up certain characters in a way that really felt kind of rushed, plus I'm still not very keen on the random resurrection and subsequent plot-device-killing-off of Zaratros, as well as Meliodas' resurrection in the first place, but it's clear that the manga at least gives some consequences to Meliodas's death.

And it's the fact that compared to all the other Commandments that were systematically taken out in all the recent chapters, Fraudrin is probably the one to have the most screentime. There are the parts that he was acting as Dreyfus, of course, but for a good chunk of arcs after Galan and Merascylla are dealt with, he's just the POV character for the Commandments. But up until this chapter he's mostly just been a hammy, card-carrying evil demon villain other than one point when he fought the Azure Knights of whatever and he was confused why he was leaving those people alive instead of killing them outright. There are also the hints that he was getting attached to the Dreyfus persona, what with him reacting to Griamore's presence last chapter, as well as refusing to kill the body and adapt a new one when confronted by... Gray Road, I think, at one point. All of it culminates in this chapter.

We start off quite tamely, by which I mean we get an action scene.

Psycho Meliodas is best Meliodas! Fraudrin's power is 31K, whereas Meliodas's is 60K without the demonic transformation, which is pretty cool of Merlin to remind us there. Fraudrin noted how Meliodas had been 'dancing in your own sweet dreams', so is the Nice Meliodas personality a 'dream', the way Sasaki was in Tokyo Ghoul: RE? And Meliodas, meanwhile is just being kind of savage. He's just slapping Fraudrin around with no compassion and characters like Ban note that this isn't exactly the captain that they remember, while the others are just going 'ZOMG SO BADASS'. Which, let's be honest, is what I would do in that situation. 

We get a quick flashback to the moment of Meliodas's betrayal of the Commandments, where apparently the two Commandments we don't know the names of in a previous flashback panel, Aranak and Zeno, were slaughtered by Meliodas. We had Fraudrin discussing with Demon!Gowther (who had glasses even then) about how Meliodas is escaping from the responsibilities of fighting the goddess clan (who may be the final big bad, honestly). But Gowther notes that Meliodas is just giving his undivided attention to fight for someone he loves. 

Fraudrin reveals his moniker, Fraudrin the Selfless... which, I think, is similar to Gowther's. Meliodas tells Fraudrin that he's just a third-rate substitute, but Fraudrin is absolutely pissed off that a traitor is talking shit to him. While Merlin protects the peanuts gallery in a Perfect Cube, Fraudrin decides to pull a Zaratros, draw all his energy and blow everyone up. Fraudrin notes that while Meliodas is likely to survive it, the explosion would be enough to wipe everyone in Liones out. And Meliodas? He's just being a smarmy bastard about it. He could just be calling Fraudrin's bluff, or you can make an argument that he's counting for Griamore to do something. There's absolutely no way for him to know what's going to happen, though, so here's my analysis on that situation: Meliodas is just being a huge, colossal dick. 

Little Kid Griamore then walks away from his father and hugs Fraudrin's leg, creating a huge force field around just Fraudrin and Griamore. He begs Fraudrin to not kill anyone, not kill daddy, all the while Meliodas is just standing there not giving a shit. Fraudrin tells Griamore to be a 'good boy' while Dreyfus is just banging on the forcefield, and Fraudrin ends up withdrawing his suicide attack and promises Griamore that he's not going to blow up. Fraudrin tells Griamore to return to his father's side and reflects that he's the one caught up in silly dreams of being Dreyfus and notes that this was something he didn't exactly want.

I mean, he's still a demon responsible for causing a crapton of destruction and death, so I really can't begrudge Meliodas's decision to kill the dude. But a single punch, and Fraudrin explodes, I think the first Commandment after Garan whose death actually felt satisfying emotionally. 

So yeah. The whole Fraudrin-has-feelings thing is absolutely predictable, but a combination of the sheer hilarity of Evil Jackass Meliodas and the character work on Fraudrin makes this a pretty great chapter.