English Dub Review: Black Clover “End of the Battle, End of Despair”

And so ends the Ocean Temple arc.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Vetto has been defeated, and the Black Bulls are feeling pretty good about themselves. One by one, the rookie members of the squad congratulate Yami on taking Vetto down and leave the temple to regroup with old man Gifso. Gifso offers the Black Bulls anything they want in return for their heroism, but when Yami asks him for the magic stone, he admits he doesn’t know what that is. But that’s alright, because Asta’s bird has found the stone somehow, and gives it to the Black Bulls.

The next day, the Black Bulls are praised by the people of the Ocean Temple for saving their lives, and the Bulls take the day to enjoy the splendor of their victory. Noelle shares a moment with Kahono, who has lost her voice, while Asta reflects on the pain Vetto must have been to be such a monster.

Soon, the Black Bulls depart the Ocean Temple for home. The people of the ocean join together in song to thank their heroes, with even Kahono trying her best to sing with them.

Our Take:

Everything about this episode reeks of grade-F rotting cheese. With all the fighting out of the way and the arc coming to a close, this is the kind of episode that is supposed to give the audience a chance to reflect on its characters and what is to come. But because the writing is so full of sentimental cringe and bad comedy, this episode does not deliver. The pacing is all wrong here, and the episode can’t decide on what kind of tone it wants to have. How can Noelle’s moment with Kahono have any impact when the episode keeps bogging itself down with its immature brand of crappy one-note jokes? Not to mention, the Black Bulls are being proclaimed as heroes of the underwater people, but somehow, that praise feels forced and undeserved. The Black Bulls never developed a real relationship with the people of the ocean temple, so its a stretch to think that they would get this much-unabashed adoration.

Captain Yami is this character who thrives entirely on his “Cool factor”; a thick-skinned tough guy who can get what he wants through his domineering force of will. But this episode gets down to the shallowness of his character. Even when faced with Asta’s lament over the death of Vetto, Captain Yami can only keep up the same hyper-masculine shtick, completely undermining the moment. Captain Yami’s ribbing of Asta is supposed to be cute, but it doesn’t hit that chord at all.

The ending of the episode is of murky quality, but an attempt is made at sincerity, by having the ocean temple people sing the Black Bulls off as they teleport back home. But again, this doesn’t really work either, being sentimental to the point of embarrassment. It certainly doesn’t help that Kahono and Kiato are just way too okay with having lost their voice and leg respectively. You would think that a trauma like that might force some real suffering out of someone, but that’s the quality of writing we get with Black Clover, I suppose.

At this point, I really shouldn’t be surprised in repeating myself, but there is a constant feeling of things being unfinished in this episode. This is the big damn ending sequence, but these moments don’t land well because the story hasn’t done the legwork to make them work. It’s like someone doing a victory lap after losing a basketball game; you can do it if you want, but it’s an embarrassing thing to watch.

Score
4/10