English Dub Review: Black Clover “Quiet Lakes and Forest Shadows”
Overview
As Sister Lily helps a mysterious stranger named “Ralph” recover. Loropehika decides to keep capturing villages from the Spade Kingdom. Charmy has been pillaging the fruit of the forest and there is almost none left. Loropechika takes the girls to the royal hot spring to bathe where Undine is curious which of the girls is dating Asta. leading to an entire scene of unneeded girl-talk.
When Asta finds Charmy in a wacky predicament involving weight gain. Asta suggests she stop eating so she sets her giant sheep chef on him. Yuno receives a message from Hage. Potrof teams up with Asta and Rill who manage to stop Charmy’s antics. Yuno travels to Hage where Ralph reveals that the Dark Triad stole the Spade Kingdom from the former royal family, House Grinberryall, and reveals a major secret about Yuno that changes everything…
Our Take
I’m not sure what I was expecting from this episode but a random bath scene and a rampaging Charmy wasn’t something I saw coming. It’s also really surprising to see Asta who doesn’t have magic that can’t even make a broom float is now capable of flying so fast with his anti-magic sword. The capabilities between the time he improved are far beyond my expectations.
The big reveal at the end may have possibly ruined things about Yuno, but I’m tired of Black Clover trying to make Yuno be the Gary Oak to Asta’s Ash Ketchum in terms of Tier status. Much like Saitama from One Punch Man, there are only so many times Asta can be stripped of any credibility, belittled or 1-upped because the goddamn plot keeps finding contrived excuses from giving him any sort of well-earned hero status before it grows tiresome.
Overall, while this was a very bottom-tier episode in terms of importance (besides the last bit). It seems like we’ll be getting a more fleshed-out explanation about Yuno’s origin next episode. At the very least it could be the only compelling thing to happen so far, and can’t wait to see what other secrets are further revealed…
"There are also other characters that come and go (also owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery conglomerate media company)."
Huh. Is that just referring to other characters from the show itself, or is this implying that the new season is going to have cameos from other WBD IPs