English Dub Review: Black Clover “Beasts”

It’s a Magna episode! (Mostly)

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Noelle, Magna, and Asta are deployed on a mission to do some boar hunting, a mission Noelle finds to be beneath her. Nonetheless, the three go off on Magna’s broom that reminds me of a Harley Davidson to hunt some boar. Of course, Asta tries to take on the boars by himself, which prove to comically being too much for him. Hijinx ensues, but the three manage to beat the boars off-screen. Magna then tells them they’re going to take the newly killed boars to the nearby village Magna is from.To no one’s surprise, Magna was a delinquent and a troublemaker his whole life and was taught how to be a man and was inspired to be a magic knight by the village chief, Seyhe.

They arrive at the town to find it enshrouded in creepy mist. Using Asta’s abilities, they try to cut through the magical fog and manage to find all the villagers trapped in the town square by a malevolent ice magic-wielding villain. The three rush to their aid, but its too late; Seyhe has been mortally wounded and dies in front of Magna’s eyes. The mysterious villain admonishes Magna for ruining his schedule, and decides to kill all the villagers, but is stopped by Asta and his giant magic-repelling sword.

Asta demands to know why this man is trying to kill the villagers, and gives us some exposition about the world they’re in and how the villagers here are insignificant because they don’t have strong magical power. Through a flashback to Asta’s childhood, we learn that those at the top of society are those with the strongest magic, which is controlled mostly by the nobility. Back in the present, Asta fights the wizards and their icy mist powers. The mages keep our heroes occupied by trying to massacre the villagers, but its pretty clear they’re just toying with them. All seems lost, until Noelle realizes that, even with her noble blood, she’s still just holding everyone back, and her magic awakens to its full power as she awakens to the importance of her being a magic knight who helps people. The episode ends as Noelle stands strong, declaring herself a proud member of the Black Bulls.

Our Take:

Black Clover as a series has never been particularly cerebral and firmly rests on the cliches and tropes established by pretty much every other shounen series out there. In that way, this show can never be too great but sometimes gives us some fairly entertaining episodes. This, however, is not one of them. Most of this episode is either flashback or rushed expository dialogue, and Noelle’s rapid manifestation of her power feels too shoehorned to mean anything. This show has a problem with learning to take its time and actually tell a story, and until it figures out how to do that, it will exist only as a symbol of anime mediocrity.