English Dub Review: Black Clover “Light Magic vs. Dark Magic”

Yami arrives to bring the pain.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

With the arrival of Licht, the leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun, things aren’t looking good for Asta and friends. Theresa is impaled on spears made of light, while Asta and Gauche are completely outmatched by their new opponent. But, right on time and to no one’s surprise, Captain Yami soon shows up to take on Licht.

The two slug it out for a good while, share their backstories to each other and exchange the occasional quip while Asta looks on in awe. Neither seems particularly challenged by the other and soon Yami takes a break from the fight to teach Asta about “Qi”; essentially, the ability to sense your opponent’s actions by focusing on your senses. Asta gives it a try and, of course, masters it in use against Licht’s second-in-command rather quickly.

This sends Licht into a rage. With his light magic taking the form of a whip he cuts the rocky ceiling of the cave they’re in and tries to bring down the house on Asta and Yami. But, of course, they’re just fine and emerge from the rubble ready for round two.

Our Take:

The epic showdown between Yami and Licht is here, so now is the time for Black Clover to put on its big boy shoes and start really getting into the meat of this story. After all, if anything’s going to be worth watching, it’ll be the big fight between two of its most important characters, right? Wrong. This “battle” (I use the term loosely) is a bad joke to anyone who likes anime or anyone who’s managed to tough it out with this series thus far. This is the one time this show needed to make it work, and it failed miserably.

With the big bad of the series revealing himself to our main character, it’s bizarre to see an anime reveal its cards this early into the series, especially one that’s so bogged down with filler. Its, even more, concerning for the main villain to be a one-note bagel of a man with the motivation that feels like it was written by a ten-year-old. I guess characterization isn’t terribly important to Black Clover; it would much rather try to cram a bunch of hackneyed moments together in a desperate attempt to copy the success of other, better anime.

Furthermore, this episode suffers from a serious problem with tone. This is supposed to be, I imagine, one of the bigger fights of the series; an epic clash between two legendary mages, each with a magical element opposed to the other. Then why, oh why, does this episode feel the need to keep cracking stupid jokes throughout their entire clash? I get that the Black Bulls are an irreverent bunch, but even comedic characters usually buckle down when things get serious. Furthermore, some of my favorite moments in shonen series’ have been when goofball characters actually reveal their inner determination and win the day. But Black Clover doesn’t take itself seriously, and because of that, I can’t really take anything that happens seriously.

Not for nothing, but the whole “Qi” aspect to this episode seems outright ridiculous. Even for anime, the amount of disbelief I have to suspend for Yami to have these meandering conversations with Asta in the middle of a battle is way more than I’m willing to give.

It’s no secret as to why Black Clover can’t seem to get its head on straight. It just doesn’t give a shit, and I really can’t put it any more clearly than that. It’s in the copy-paste animation, it’s in the half-written dialogue and the dulled, cynical voices that are forced to deliver line after terrible line. It started as little more than a Frankenstein of popular shonen tropes, so it isn’t any surprise that when the chips are down, it doesn’t have anything of value to show.

Score
3/10