English Dub Review: Black Clover “A Reunion Across Time and Space”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Licht has resorted to forbidden magic in an effort to keep the demon from possessing him by transforming into a Demon himself. He then tasks the Wizard King Lemiel to honor his request to kill him to make sure the Demon’s reach doesn’t go any further than it already has in terms of collateral damage, by reducing Licht’s monstrous body to a giant demonic skeleton that’s become a monument throughout this entire series. As for what happened to Lemiel’s familiar Secre, she retrieved the magic stones and further stopped the Demon from taking Licht’s Grimoire while attempting to seal him, only for the Demon to cast the resurrection spell to send himself and the pissed-off elves five centuries into the future.

Secre then petrifies the near-dead Lemiel at his request and is turned into the horned-bird creature for using forbidden magic. Under her new name “Nero” she then spent the next five centuries making sure Licht’s Grimoire never fell into the wrong hands, until Asta eventually acquired it in the show’s early episodes. When we cut to the present, Asta Yuno and Patry concurrently catch up to the Demon as Lemiel and Secre arrive, with Licht’s soul is fully awakened by their presence.

As everyone teams up to fight, the Demon realizes Licht and Lemiel have become stronger due to being previously affected by his magic in the past, while Asta’s Anti-magic can stop his attacks. The Demon then reveals his magic mass will continue to grow as long as he is alive, so Licht casts a spell, using the power of all the remaining elves to unlock the Demon Dweller Sword’s true potential to obliterate the Demon. Unfortunately, the Demon’s heart survives as he regenerates, revealing that no magic from their dimension can kill him. And the episode ends on an intense cliffhanger as Asta realizes that this Demon Slayer Sword must also have ultimate power and that he may have found a potential solution to unlock it…

Our Take

I was worried that the first half would be underwhelming but the “Studio Pierrot” animation team managed to do a fantastic job to keep things consistent and the addition of continuing the main plot by showing the level of hardship and determination Nero had before the events of the show, it was easily one of the most emotional and at times kinda inspiring and I’m growing to like Nero’s personality after this big reveal of her in human form. I especially liked her interactions with Asta too.

I really have no complaints, but I just can’t understand how Licht’s grimoire ended up in Asta’s hands? Hopefully, we’ll learn more about this in later episodes but for now, this episode really knew how to increase the hype!