English Dub Review: Black Clover “Five-Leaf Clover”

Overview

While training, Gaja asks Asta about his early life including the Devil in his Grimoire so Asta explains about being found by Father Orsi, his childhood with Yuno, his full-on progression when he joined the Black Bulls, Fought the Demon Zangred who started that “possessed elf/reincarnation” event, all the way up to his trial by the Wizard Parliament and his task to prove his innocence. What makes this unique is Asta narrating it and sharing what his thought process was at the time of these events which makes this a little refreshing even if retelling everything leading up to this point felt a bit monotonous. Meanwhile, Loropechika explains to Noelle how everyone is improving and Noelle is hopeful she can get revenge for her mother against Megicula…

Our Take

The moment Gaja asked Asta to tell him about his life I knew it was a recap. From the annoyingly problematic “Marry me, Sister Lily!” bullshit, to the proceeding arcs that prove that Asta has progressed a whole lot (well, except for his excessive declarative shouting to prove himself like the “Magical Naruto” every hater assumes him to be). The other Magic Knights are also growing at a steady pace, but to face the Spade Kingdom would also push them to the limits as well.

Even if this was a recap, for the most part, the training scenes of Asta and Noelle looked good. What’s more important is that reportedly, the filler episodes are supposed to end here so we can finally move on to what’s supposed to be a storyline that’s closer to the manga known as the “Spade Kingdom arc”.

Overall, while I understand the purpose of this particular summary and it sort of works on a nostalgic level, it felt extremely unnecessary to me. If they really wanted to do a recap, they should’ve done it at the beginning of a new season and call it “episode 0 recap” or something. Don’t just casually throw it in like it’s a normal damn episode! Hopefully, the next one will compensate for this…