English Dub Review: Black Clover “The Lives of the Village in the Sticks”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

After taking over five minutes of recap to begin the actual episode, Licht meets up with Rhya after blasting Asta and Yuno down for the count. But Rhya notices that Licht is all together in the head just yet, though he’s fine with his friend being back at all, especially now that all of they can gather the reincarnated elves in one place. They then take the floating hideout and use it as a ship to find more of their brethren.

Asta, Yuno, Bell, and Mimosa escape and meet up with Zora and an unconscious Mereoleona, but even though they’ve survived, they’re beat to hell and need time to recover. Luckily, En and Nozel make it back to help them heal, followed shortly by Noelle and Kirsch. It’s here everyone gets a chance to take a breather and get their bearings of the situation, pooling all of their information and learning how dire the situation really is. So, Nozel commits everyone taking up the fight once again, even if now they might have to fight and kill some of their friends. But Noelle remembers that Luck wasn’t able to hit her with lightning, even while possessed, meaning there’s a chance their friends and allies can still be saved.

Meanwhile at Hage Village, Sister Lily and Father Orsi witness the glowing floating fortress pass over them. They also notice that a Magic Knight in front of them, Digit, has also been possessed and begins to rant about the discrimination humans commit. However he, as an elf, will not discriminate and kill every human equally. Nozel’s group notice the attack from the air, so Asta and Yuno separate from them in order protect their hometown. They arrive to find Sister Lily protecting the children with everything he has, while Digit’s Poison Plant Magic has infected nearly everyone else.

OUR TAKE
The current arc enters its next stage with new faction lines drawn and trip back to where the journey began. But thankfully not with a recap episode!…because that’s next week. Though I have to say this particular episode moved at a pretty brisk pace with getting everyone caught up and re-establishing the objectives. What once started out as simply wiping out a terrorist group has now become a battle against ghosts of the past who have taken over the bodies of their comrades, on top of giving them extra magical power. So, even if someone might finally be willing to kill Gauche and put him out of all of our collective miseries, it won’t matter if they can’t match his increasing in fighting strength. But a man can dream, I suppose.

While Noelle, Nozel, and the rest head to defend the capital and possibly meet up with Yami, this also puts Asta and Yuno back in their own hometown to defend it from an elf attack. And I have to say, I actually like this choice, especially after the big budget laser light show we had last week. This fight against Digit is certainly smaller in stakes and scope, but it’s a PERSONAL one for these two as this is where they ended up after being abandoned by…whoever their real parents are. If anything I probably like it MORE than the Licht fight BECAUSE of that personal connection, which I feel like is sorely lacking in way too many of the fights that take place in this series. I guess my only real issue is that they’re fighting yet another nobody who didn’t matter before they were possessed. The sadist in me wonders if they couldn’t have had to fight a possessed Father Orsi OR Sister Lily to really press Asta’s buttons.

Still, not a bad way to initiate the next stage of the arc, even if it’s TECHNICALLY just about the end of the “season”…not that the term really means much in this case. It’s not like Black Clover is going to go on break after next week for several months (as much as I really think it should), so really it’s just a way of separating the show up into 51 episode chunks. But as far as this “season” is concerned, we’re just about done, with a big progression forward (surrounded by a ton of recycled clips) next week with the final episode of Season 2.