English Dub Review: Black Clover “Path of Revenge, Path of Atonement”

(Possible Spoilers Below)

As a side-effect of being possessed by an Elf for a short period of time before Asta freed him, Luck now can now sense three elves in a nearby town and go to investigate thanks to their newest “method of transportation”.As it turns out, it’s three upper-tier characters from 3 different magic schools. Hecairo, one of whom has possessed Xerx Lugner, the Saint of Pure Ice. As Vanessa, Grey and Charmy save nearby citizens, Magna, Luck, and Gordon channel their magic through cannons which nearly overwhelms the elves. It’s here where Asta does something hilariously unthinkable and manages to make quick work of the threat before them in a scene that must be seen to be believed.

Elsewhere, William recalls his childhood, of always sensing Patry’s traumatised soul, of being able to see Patry’s memories and then Patry fully awakening when William reached the age of 16 it’s a well-established flashback sequence that delves into the reasons he’s able to have two Magical Grimoire’s instead of one, along with the symbiotic relationship he has with this troubled elf-soul. Together they planned the elves’ resurrection, culminating in the death of the Wizard King. With his heart broken the death of his mentor Julius, Patry proceeds to permanently take the wheel while William now lies permanently dormant within his body and leaves Will’s Grimoire behind as he goes to join Licht in the Elves revenge-spree against the upper-class humans in the magic world.

Rades Spirito a known enemy of the Black Bulls who was presumed dead previously, is now resurrected and is less than thrilled at being betrayed & murdered having caused his magic to go into overdrive, he even manages to resurrect Sally and Valtos. As the three vow revenge against Licht, while teleporting to Hecairo to enlist the Black Bulls aid in their revenge-spree, but rather than aid them in getting revenge as he knows all the Elves are headed to the “Royal Capital”. Asta in a comical scene instead punishes Rades for his crimes and insists they focus on actually saving as many people as possible. It’s here when Valtos decides to seek atonement for his sins while Sally agrees to help by researching information that would benefit others. The episode ends on a more comedic note when Rades begrudgingly agrees to help after realizing he is starving and being tempted by Charmy’s food which also helps recharge mana within people who eat it.

Our Take

This was quite a well-paced episode. I liked the slow character growth, and the set up for what we can expect for the next few episodes coming our way. Seeing the Black Bulls work together as a unit was pretty great, too. However, part of me doesn’t know how to feel about Rades being alive and having a heel-face turn of some sort since he joined the Eye of the Midnight Sun to fulfill his petty revenge and killed lots of innocent people during his raid at the capital,

But I think that him becoming a joke and being abused by the good guys should be punishment enough for such a prideful jerk like him and helps bring more levity to the stories proceedings when it’s needed, so it is all fine. On another note, I have zero problems with Valtos and Sally either, considering the former seemed to have more sympathetic motivations to joining Patry and Sally just has a fun & weird presence about her. Anyway, I’m glad we have more allies to fight the elves and as far as I can tell, it also fits with the show’s recurring themes of accepting people’s flaws and overcoming differences. Also, the wrestling jokes at the end of the credits gave me a good laugh too.