English Dub Review: Black Clover “Crazy Magic Battle”

Go Go Black Bull Rangers!

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Everyone is surprised by the sudden appearance of the long haired guy within the Black Bulls hideout who can rearrange parts of the castle at will to keep the Midnight Sun members from destroying the place. Through flashbacks, we learn that Yami came across him when he was scoping out the place for his then-new Magic Knight Squad. The man couldn’t speak or move very well due to an illness and was certain he would die soon, so he asked Yami to wait until then, but Yami refused and took the place anyway. He also expected the company might help the man’s health. It also helped that the man could also absorb power from people who lived around him, but he could only live within that castle. As such, he gained some strength from the members Yami would eventually bring into the castle, which the man would observe and come to care about greatly.

That man, Henry Legolant, now plans to protect his home and friends (who apparently never knew they were friends with him) by using his own Recombination Magic, turning the castle into a giant bull megazord: The Raging Black Bull. This apparently came from all the power he absorbed from other members, which he can then use for this major attack. It also means he can’t really get to know most of of his teammates very well, since he would just absorb their magic quicker and drain them, but he conveniently already knows Asta, so that’s…ostensibly better than dying.

Sally counters this sorta-mecha by increasing the size of her salamander, but Guache uses his Mirror Magic to create more Greys so as to use her Transformation magic to turn the salamander from gel to vegetation, followed by Gordon using his Poison Curse Magic to destroy it. As this happens, Valtos finds the magic stone that Asta picked up from Heath during their first mission. Once it’s retrieved, the enemies all take off, giving the Black Bulls the seeming victory, even though this just puts Licht that much closer to his goals. Only two magic stones left to gather before their plan can commence.

Next week: back to the real battle!

OUR TAKE

New Ending song this time! Surprisingly not with a new Opening, since that’s how it usually is with this show, but that seems to be coming sometime next month. As for this ending, I’m actually liking it a lot compared to the last two, which felt pretty samey. That isn’t so bad on its own, but when you hear them for about six months, just about anything even a little different is going to be pretty refreshing, especially with such a distinct aesthetic. Admittedly a cheap looking one, but that’s nothing new for this show.

As for the episode, it definitely did something different with unfeeling this new (technically old) member of the Black Bulls and his abilities. Henry’s definitely got this show’s brand of “eccentric” with having one key defining trait that is supposed to cover his lack of a clear personality, but I think I can handle a character talking slow more than one who says the same thing over and over…though that doesn’t hide the fact that he’s basically Gordon, but slow instead of quiet and with the now mandatory skill of shonen to have a building turn into a giant robot. Which is still pretty awesome.

My main issue this time (besides the usual plain and cheap looking animation that keeps me from getting too excited whenever a fight scene happens) is that, despite this being pretty different, it still feels like a waste of an intro, mostly in how they just seem to work in that he’s met people like Asta before and just sort of seen people from afar. I think it would have been better for Asta to come across Henry sometime early on in his time with the Black Bulls, with everyone else already apparently having known about him and maybe having Asta’s optimism and willingness to talk to him over time encouraging him to stand up and fight back. Instead it feels pretty out of nowhere. Maybe it was too late to change things up like that, but it still feels like not the best way to handle things.

But hey, now this little detour in the main fight is over and we can get back to the assault on the Eye of the Midnight Sun base!…until something pulls us away in a couple more episodes because this show gives me major trust issues. Would love to be proven wrong, though.