Characters / Black Clover: Asta

All spoilers regarding the first 159 chapters are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

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Black Clover Main Character Index
Asta | Yuno Grinberryall | Noelle Silva | Clover Kingdom (Wizard Kings [Julius Novachrono], Black Bulls [Yami Sukehiro, Nacht Faust, Secre Swallowtail/Nero], Golden Dawn, Silver Eagles, Crimson Lion Kings) | Diamond Kingdom | Spade Kingdom | Land of the Sun | Eye of the Midnight Sun | Elf Tribe | Devils | Others

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Asta

Muscle-Bound Shrimp

^{Click here to see Asta after the timeskip}

^{Click here to see Asta's Devil Union (SPOILERS)}

Voiced by: Shun Horie [OVA], Natsumi Fujiwara [OVA, young], Gakuto Kajiwara [Anime], Nao Fujita [Anime, young] (Japanese); Dallas Reid (English)^note Other Languages: Alberto Bernal (Latin American Spanish)

Debut: Chapter 1 (Manga), Episode 1 (Anime)

Magic Attribute: None

"I'm going to be the Wizard King! This is something I'll never give up on!"

In the world of Black Clover, practically everyone has some ability to employ mana to use magic. Asta, a boy from the forsaken village of Hage, isn't one of them. In fact, he seems to be the only person in the setting unlucky enough to completely and utterly lack magic. Even still, he hasn't given up on his dream of becoming the Wizard King, the strongest mage in the land.

To compensate for his crippling handicap, Asta has trained extensively since he was 5, granting him superhuman strength, speed and stamina. Asta also wields the grimoire of Anti-Magic, which contains within it a variety of swords that nullify and cancel out magic abilities, as well as other abilities unique to each sword, allowing Asta to level the playing field.

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# — C

• Accidental Pervert: He gets black out drunk in his first experience with alcohol and jumps into the public bath when it was reserved for women. He ends up getting an eyeful from Ichika, which immediately sobered him up out of fear for his life.
• Action Hero: A sword-wielding Magic Knight who aspires to become the Wizard King and fights against enemies of the kingdom.
• Adaptational Muscles: Inverted. While the rest of the Black Bulls are portrayed as toned and muscular in the anime, Asta's own muscles, which were a major reveal in the early chapters of the story, are far less detailed and prominent by comparison — until we get past the Time Skip, where he's all muscle.
• All-Loving Hero:
  • He shows this trait whenever someone picks on the weak, elderly, and otherwise powerless:
  Heath: [to Asta] But, surely you can see what insignificant creatures they truly are.
  Asta: [angrily] You may think they're nothing but useless beasts, but I'll do whatever I have to to protect them!
  • He refuses to let anyone die if he can help it. Even his enemies aren't exempt from this, hence why he asks his teammates to save Mars during the Dungeon Exploration Arc.
  • He also refuses to see the Devil in his grimoire as evil, despite the Devil itself and Nacht advising him not to, leading Asta befriending said Devil. Helped by how that's actually his mother's adopted son.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Due to being an orphan from the slums, on top of having no magic at all, Asta is treated very much like an outsider by everyone else. However, he's so used to it that it doesn't faze him anymore.
• All Your Powers Combined: In Sword of the Wizard King he temporarily wields the Imperial Sword, which channels the magical power of all previous Wizard Kings, to destroy Conrad's meteor.
• Animal Motifs:
  • He's sometimes referred to as a "shrimp" by others because of his short height.
  • Bulls. He's a member of the Black Bulls, has an attack called "Bull Thrust", and his spiky hair flares out like the horns of a bull. He's boisterous, stubborn, and physically strong thanks to his training. His horns in Devil Union resemble a bull's.
• Anti-Magic:
  • His main trait and the reason why he's so threatening. The Demon-Slayer Sword he summons lacks an edge, but can cut through most forms of magic like a hot knife through butter, making any sort of defense by magical means nearly impossible unless his movement is stopped first. It works both ways too, acting as a nigh-impenetrable shield against direct magic attacks and can even reflect them back at their owners with the flat side of the blade.
  • Later on, he gets the Demon-Dweller Sword, increasing his offensive capability. As the name implies, this sword literally absorbs the mana from its target, giving Asta more potential as a debuff specialist, and can fire Sword Beams of both absorbed mana and anti-magic.
  • After briefly losing his Demon-Dweller Sword against the real Licht, he gains the Demon-Destroyer Sword from the same person. The sword can absorb and also remove effects of magic caused by said spells, which even includes the Reincarnation Magic.
  • His final sword so far is Demon-Slasher, which he got from Captain Yami, after he gave his katana to Asta. It can fire an anti-magic Sword Beam similar to Demon-Dweller, except Asta can chose what it does and doesn't cut.
• An Arm and a Leg: When Nacht performs a Devil-Binding Ritual to summon Asta's devil for him to defeat and formally claim its power, his right arm he had let his devil permanently possess dissipates in response. It returns when he defeats Liebe and makes an equal contract with him.
• Artifact of Doom: Asta's worn-out and tattered grimoire hosts a devil, a malevolent entity from the underworld that tries to take over his body during his moments of weakness. At least, until the devil and Asta end up reaching an agreement, and become friends.
• Attack Reflector: He discovers through pure luck that Demon Slayer's spine can reflect magic, using it to return spells back to enemies.
• Author Avatar: Yūki Tabata stated in a 2018 interview that he based much of Asta's personality off of his own. He also made Asta short like himself.
• Badass Boast: In response to Mars calling him a pebble. He makes due on it too:
  Asta: I may be just a pebble but... I'm the pebble that can shatter diamond!
• Badasses Wear Bandanas: A plain black one that is later embroidered with the symbol of the Black Bulls.
• Badass in Distress: After the attack on Castle Town and the maiming of Captain Vermillion, Asta is kidnapped via teleportation. After realizing that Asta has limited use as a hostage, the Eye of the Midnight Sun members attempt to kill him, only to be promptly bailed out by the timely intervention of the Wizard King.
• Badass Normal: Due to having absolutely no magical ability, Asta made up for it by training to the point where he's referred to as a "ball of muscle". However, his Anti-Magic swords clearly make this a downplayed example. His fight against Liebe shows that Asta is very much this even while one-armed and using Yami's katana, using his swordsmanship trained from fighting with swordsmen throughout the story to defeat Liebe who's controlling the anti-magic swords.
• Bad Powers, Good People: It's heavily implied from the get-go, and later outright confirmed, that Asta's power is demonic and inherently evil in nature due to its status as the five-leaf clover grimoire. Up to this point, he has used it for nothing but helping and protecting others.
• Balance, Speed, Strength Trio: Asta is the Strength to Noelle's Balance and Yuno's Speed, relying on his physicality and swordsmanship to nullify other magic.
• Bash Brothers:
  • Him and Yuno, who are childhood friends and rivals, are this whenever they fight together. Best showcased when they face off against Mars, Licht, and Zagred.
  • He becomes this with Mars after the they work together to save Fana, with the two acknowledging each other as friends and promising to help each other whenever needed.
  • He becomes this with Liebe, his actual adoptive brother at that. They defeat Lilith and Naamah together, with Liebe grateful for Asta for letting him do so, complete with a wrist bump after their time in Devil Union runs out.
• Battle Aura: In his most determined moments, his enemies see him with a dark aura in the shape of a devil, more specifically Liebe's shadow form.
• The Berserker: Subverted as he shows a little more restraint than other examples. Asta himself employs this as his main strategy as he can only fight with his physical capabilities with his Anti-Magic blades but due to his Hot-Blooded nature he mostly just charges into his enemies full force and will continue fighting even if he's injured and will keep pushing through the pain to continue his battle. This is amped up when he activates his Black Asta form as his attacks become much more ferocious as he becomes way more serious and fights with the intent of dishing out as much damage as possible while also being invulnerable to pain thus making him an unstoppable juggernaut.
• Beware the Nice Ones: While Asta is a very kind person, he's easily ticked off when the following happens:
  • He does not tolerate those who insult or put down others, including his friends or the helpless, just because they're different.
  • Given his determination to become the Wizard King, attempting to force Asta to give up will be an annoyance towards him, but it has been serious at times to where he'll demolish someone in a rage for trying to make him concede.
• Beware the Silly Ones: He may look like an energetic and silly young man, but he's an extremely unstoppable force with his swordsmanship.
• BFS:
  • His first sword is nearly as long as he is tall. He also gets a second one later on; more along the lines of a proper longsword, but still quite large. Aside from having slightly different (but still Anti-Magic) powers, the longsword is useful in situations when the larger sword's size makes it too unwieldy. His third sword can remove effects caused by spells and negate Reincarnation Magic.
  • In his Black form, Asta can envelop his Demon-Slayer Sword in anti-magic energy, making it even larger and several times taller than he is.
  • While in Devil Union, Asta can form a Black Divider large enough to bisect the giant ancient demon, and deflect a fused Lilith and Naamah's Freezing Sun bigger than the Spade Kingdom Capital.
• Big Damn Heroes: He does this repeatedly throughout the series and him interfering is usually enough to turn a would-be hopeless battle to the other way around.
• Big Eater: Not to the extent as Charmy, but he devours a week's worth of food after recovering from the injuries inflicted upon him by Mars.
• The Big Guy: Quickly becomes this for the Black Bulls after joining, with the combination of his absurd physical abilities and Anti-Magic swordss making him one of their heavy hitters. And he only gets stronger from there.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: Yuno and Asta are this to each other, respectively, although they were the same height when they were younger, and Yuno is much more intelligent than Asta.
• Big "WHAT?!": This is Asta's reaction to Yuno's reveal that he's the prince of the Spade Kingdom at the captains' meeting.
• Black Knight: Using Devil Union with Liebe clads Asta in a black demonic armor of anti-magic complete with two wings. He's even mistaken as a devil by civilians, but uses the form to save the kingdom by defeating the ancient demon.
• Black Swords Are Better: Asta's swords are black and through them he can use Anti-Magic to cut through spells and dispel magic. It's later revealed that, when wielded by their original owner Licht, the swords were an almost white color, but turn black and rusted-looking when covered in Anti-Magic.
• Blood Knight: Downplayed, but Asta does show some excitement in fighting strong opponents, looking forward to the possibility of facing Yuno in the Magic Knights Examination finals and sporting a wide grin on his face while fighting against Dante alongside Yami.
• Blue Is Heroic: The courageous, selfless hero who wears a navy jacket with matching shorts.
  • In Sword of the Wizard King, using the Imperial Sword coats his left side in a light blue mana skin.
• Body Horror: Giving his devil his right arm to gain the powerful anti-magic needed to defeat Dante turns it black and clawed.
• Body Motifs: Arms, with his muscular ones being given great emphasis when swinging his massive and heavy swords around. The fight with Vetto injuring them as badly as it did is treated as a Dream-Crushing Handicap before going to the Witch Queen. After making a deal with Liebe, his right arm becomes that of a devils, being black and red coloured with clawed fingers.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Asta has a very Hot-Blooded and lovable personality which is his greatest trait as he's very outgoing even in the most fanciest of places to where others have to remind him to calm down as he is extremely but unknowingly obnoxious at times. Not to mention that he's very willing to fight anyone that comes off as dangerous.
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Parodied in that Asta (the Boke) is the one technically in the right, while Yuno (the Straight Man) repeatedly denies the facts (Yuno was about to be killed by Mars and would have died if Asta hadn't jumped in).
  Yuno: [straight-faced with a sigh] Why did you do that? I almost had him…
  Asta: [worked up] Say what?! You liar! You're all beat up! You looked like you were gonna die!
  Yuno: [unchanged expression] I was just about to unleash a furious counterattack.
  Asta: [even more worked up] You're so completely lying! You always do that, you know!
• Book Dumb: Although a lot of it can be attributed to growing up in the countryside, he is unknowledgeable in many things. Asta doesn't know what a date is, table manners, the role of a Magic Knight (the position he aspired to become), and his brain overloads when the Witch Queen provides an Info Dump on the elves. Despite this, it takes him very little time to learn how to sense ki and he quickly grasps the mechanics of his Black Asta form. The Guidebook gives him a 4/5 in "Cleverness", showing that while he may be traditionally dumb he really can be clever.
• Boring, but Practical: In comparison to magic, Asta's anti-magic swords are by no means flashy and are used moreso for negating magic and slicing through spells with giant swords. This becomes averted later on as he gains the power to release more anti-magic energy from his swords, able to unleash beams and transform into his Black form.
• Broken Tears: He cries when Nacht tells him he won't be able to save Yami and he remembers his devil's words, telling Asta it's his fault for being weak that he couldn't stop Yami from being captured by Dante.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Gender-Inverted. Noelle is the depressed Brooding Girl to Asta's optimistic Gentle Boy. His, along with the other Black Bulls', acknowledgement of her worth helps Noelle gain confidence in herself. Noelle becomes inspired by Asta's heroism, and falls in love with him for his kind, courageous nature.
• Brought Down to Badass: He loses his right arm and anti-magic swords when fighting Liebe. Despite this, he still has his physical strength, ki sensing, Yami's katana, and his swordsmanship style formed from fighting with magic swordsmen. With Liebe's anti-magic unable to work on him, Asta manages to evade and parry the devil's attacks with the anti-magic swords and turn the fight in his favor.
• Butt-Monkey: Frequently tormented and teased by almost everyone. Even the anti-birds love to peck at him frequently.
• Cain and Abel: The Abel to Liebe's, the devil in his grimoire, Cain, being Asta's mother Licita's adoptive son. He's trying to take over Asta's body to kill every devil in revenge for her death. After Asta defeats him, he wants to befriend Liebe out of gratitude for having empowered him all this time and refuses to make him his servant. Liebe, because of Asta's kindness and relation to Licita, returns Asta's gesture.
• Career-Ending Injury: Vetto crushes and curses Asta's arms, which are unable to be healed by the kingdom's best recovery mage and prevent him from wielding his anti-magic swords. He almost gives up after finding out until he resolves to find a cure, and if that's not possible another way to fight. His arms are luckily cured by the Witch Queen when he and the others go to the Forest of Witches.
• Cavalry Betrayal: He's on the receiving end from the Witch Queen. After the battle's over in Chapter 98, she shows up as a murder of crows, then hovers before Asta, congratulating him on a job well done. Unfortunately for him, she reveals that her "healing" magic has also granted her access to his blood, which allows her to completely take control of his body, wherein she heals him only to make it easier to compel him to kill everyone on the battlefield, friend or foe alike.
• Character Catchphrase:
  • "Not giving up IS MY MAGIC!"^note This is mostly due to the anime and the previews. In the manga he only said it a total of three times with the last time being in chapter 97.
  • He bellows "I'm not done yet!"^note This is only in the anime. the manga he hardly ever yells he's not giving up most of the time it's actually subdued and he actually hardly says it at all. when he refuses to give up.
• Character Development:
  • After some wise words from Fuegoleon, Asta becomes a calmer person overall and in battle, realizing the importance of keeping a level head when fighting.
  • At first, Asta is unable to comprehend why members of the Eye of the Midnight Sun would attack innocent civilians in the Clover Kingdom, noting that he could never understand them. After witnessing the elves' anger and learning about their tragic pasts, he hopes to establish mutual understanding between them and humans to achieve peace, showing that he's become more mature and empathetic.
  • In chapter 332, he confesses to sister Lily again and was rejected again but this time he understood that there are times one cannot change the feelings of others and finally gives up pursuing her. The way he looks like he's holding back tears in the next scene while trying to stay positive shows that it doesn't make the rejection hurt any less, and his broken heart gets confirmed by another character with the power to know everything several chapters later. Especially since he admitted he had known she would never say yes for a very long time and what the Big Bad does to her immediately after.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: He is exceptionally strong and agile for his age, a trait he received through his own hard work and physical training. This has gotten to the point that when combined with his grimoire, he can cleave through giant constructs made of diamond. It's also a Required Secondary Power, since the Anti-Magic swords his grimoire summons are very heavy, and thus unwieldy for the average person. In addition, his Dream-Crushing Handicap turns out to be one of these, as he would be drained to the point of immobility if it weren't for his inability to wield mana in the first place:
  Witch Queen: It's because of that defect... that you're able to wield that sword. You're nothing special at all. Yet that is why... you were able to become something truly remarkable.
• Cheerful Child: As a child, he was loud, hyperactive, and a big dreamer. Growing up, he doesn't change much.
• Childhood Friend: Of Yuno. They frequently back each other up too, despite belonging to different ends of the talent spectrum.
• Clark Kent Outfit: He looks quite scrawny until Clothing Damage kicks in to reveal just how hard he's been training. Do note that it's not intentional, it's just the way his clothing is. Averted post-timeskip, where he's even more ripped and wears clothes that displays it all prominently.
• Classical Anti-Hero: Despite his seemingly eternally optimistic demeanor at times, Asta struggles with a lot of self-doubt which is tied to being the only individual who cannot use any magic. He nearly falls into a depression when his arms are incurable, preventing him from wielding his anti-magic swords and being a Magic Knight and making him remember the times when others mocked him for being magic-less. When Yami is captured by Zenon and his devil and later Nacht deride him for being too weak to save him, Asta cries and wonders if only he was stronger.
• Close Ranged Combatant: His fighting style largely consists of getting close to his opponents and beating them into submission with his Anti-Magic swords, his lack of ranged options making this a necessity. Becomes increasingly downplayed as he adds more swords and skills to his arsenal, willing to throw his weapons and becomes capable of Sword Beams.
• Close to Home: Since he grew up as a peasant, Asta despises people who abuse their magic to harm the innocent and then proceed to enjoy it, as well as those who view people with weaker magic or lack of control as if they were garbage.
• Clothing Damage: Happens to him after almost every major fight, which often emphasizes his muscular body.
• Clueless Chick-Magnet: Even though he's been turned down by Sister Lily, Asta continues to be fixated on her despite being told repeatedly that she's way older than him and she can't get married because she's a nun. As a result, he fails to notice that Mimosa is outright in love with him, that he's won Rebecca's heart by simply being a Nice Guy, or that Noelle randomly appears around him, because she's stalking him, and often turns bright red in his presence.
• Color Motifs: Prominently black and red, in both his uniform and his Anti-Magic.
  • The former is prevalent on his Black Bull robes reflecting his darker powerset, yet also fits as a colour symbolising power, protection, and comfort, which describe him to a tee.
  • Red befits his Hot-Blooded nature, becoming excited very easily and having a determined and courageous outlook befitting The Hero.
• Combat Clairvoyance: Yami teaches Asta how to sense ki, allowing him to anticipate enemies' attacks and movements.
• Combination Attack:
  • Gauche duplicates him with his left mirror eye, with Asta absorbing Gauche's magic with his sword to unleash many simultaneous slashes to defeat Baro.
  • With Finral and Vanessa. Vanessa uses her strings and Finral his portals to make Asta move faster and with more flexibility while making it almost impossible for Vetto to hit him.
• Commonality Connection: He bonds with Rebecca over their shared experiences taking care of their younger brothers and sisters.
• Conveniently an Orphan: Asta's the main character and, along with Yuno, he was left at the church as a baby.
• Cool Mask: Wears one for the tournament in 'Sword of the Wizard King since he is officially exiled from the kingdom at the time.
• Cosmic Motifs: Stars. His name comes from a flower that means "star" in Greek, his surname in the original one-shot was "Staria", he is associated with one half of a dark star on the Chapter 326 color spread (the other half associated with Yuno), and when he uses Black Meteorite for the first time it's compared to a shooting star.
• Cosmic Plaything: Defied. Asta is an orphaned peasant and the only person who cannot use any magic in a world where social class and magic is everything. Despite this, when his arms are cursed and seemingly incurable, he shouts that he's not giving up and won't let fate mess with him again, stating that he'll find a way to heal his arms and, if not, another way to fight.
• Country Mouse: Asta grew up as an orphan in a village in the boonies. As a result, he's unknowledgeable about many aspects of society in the Clover Kingdom, such as proper table manners and who the current Wizard King is, when he becomes a Magic Knight.
• Covered in Scars: He has scars on his arms from being pierced by Revchi's chains and one large one on his abdomen from his battle with Mars. He gets a large on across his chest from being cut by Lucius.
• Cruel Mercy: He refuses to kill the sadistic Social Darwinist Ladros responsible for the carnage in the Forest of Witches because he sees that as letting the guy off easy.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Due to the nature of his powers, opponents that are completely reliant on their magic fall very easily to him.
  • Him and Yuno are subjected to one by the real Licht. Although they enter their Black form and Spirit Dive, Licht easily overwhelms and defeats them.
  • He gets done in fast by Dante, who only uses 60% of his devil's power.
• Cutlass Between the Teeth: He holds his sword with his teeth to defeat a Diamond Kingdom soldier at Kiten while his arms were cursed by Vetto.

D — G

• Dark Is Not Evil: His Anti-Magic grimoire casts dark energy that gives him a demonic appearance in his Black form, and he wears a black bandana and black upper robe. Plus, his power literally comes from a devil. Despite this, he's a noble guy who'll help anyone in need. Exemplified when he gains a Black Knight look upon achieving Devil Union with Liebe, yet he's without a doubt the most morally good devil host in the whole series out to save the world from devils.
• David Versus Goliath:
  • Asta is very short, standing at 155 cm (5'1"), and fights against the tall and beastly Vetto, whose brute strength has to be sapped by Asta's anti-magic sword before he defeats him with Finral and Vanessa's help.
  • He faces off against the tall, imposing Dante. Even moreso when Dante uses his Body Magic to turn gigantic and muscular when Asta fights him alongside Yami.
• Deal with the Devil: To the gain the power needed to help Yami defeat Dante, Asta asks the Anti-Magic Devil to lend him his true power. He agrees to a "devil's bargain", taking control of Asta's right arm as the price.
• Demonic Possession:
  • Defied. When the devil inside his grimoire attempts to take Asta's body during their Battle in the Center of the Mind and deliver a Curb-Stomp Battle to the resident villain, Asta puts his foot down, climbs up said devil's body, and is implied to have punched said devil into submission, taking the power for himself.
  • Asta agrees to let the Anti-Magic Devil take over his right arm in exchange for sharing with him its true power to help Yami defeat Dante.
• Dented Iron: He's accumulated quite a few scars from his battles. He has scars throughout his arm from being attacked by Revchi and a large one on his stomach from his fight with Mars.
• Determinator: He wants to be the Wizard King, despite being completely devoid of magic. He gets by giving himself a grueling training regimen, leading to the aforementioned Charles Atlas Superpower. He'll also keep fighting no matter how much of a beating he takes. His Catchphrase is that "not giving up is his magic." Even after getting completely trashed by Lucifero and unable to be healed by Mimosa because she doesn't have enough magic, he still trudges back to the battlefield to help Yuno, making Sekke think that he should have gotten stronger too like Asta.
  Asta: Even if I have no magical powers I'll become the Wizard King! Not giving up is my magic!
• Die or Fly: He manifests his grimoire when him and Yuno are threatened by Revchi, quickly using his new power to cut up Revchi's chains and defeat him.
• Disability Immunity: Asta has no magic power whatsoever, which is shown to be extremely rare. This means he cannot use magic. This also means that the technique of sensing mana to track mages does not work on him. He's also unaffected by mana-draining, with him immune to the underworld substance that Zagred summons. His lack of mana is what allows him to wield his Anti-Magic swords: they automatically drain the magic of anything that touches them, so only a person with no magic at all could wield them effectively.
• Disability Superpower: Probably the one good thing Asta can make out of his lack of magic is the fact that he completely lacks a magical signature. As a result, if the opponent can't see or hear him, his attacks are practically invisible to any wizard unaware of this. This is exploited in the battle against the leader of Hell Lotus. It's later revealed that his Anti-Magic weapons drain mana upon contact, making it extremely dangerous for anyone else to wield them. And then it's revealed that because Asta was born without magic, he is a perfect vessel for anti-magic, a.k.a. the devil blood that is the source of all his abilities.
• Disappeared Dad: Notably, unlike his Missing Mom Licita, who turned out to have a very good reason to leave him at the orphanage (plus being tragically killed), Asta's unknown father hasn't even been mentioned in-story and was apparently gone before he was even born since Licita is shown dropping Asta off by the orphange and raising Liebe by herself with no sign of him anywhere or mentioned.
• Discard and Draw: Played With. In Chapter 156, the real Licht takes back the Demon-Dweller Sword from Asta and appears to keep it after knocking Asta and Yuno out of the the hideout. However, two chapters later, Asta finds he has obtained a new sword, the other sword Licht had been wielding during their fight, which has even more powerful dispelling abilities than his original anti-magic sword. Thanks to that, Asta is able dispel even the Reincarnation Magic used by the elves and can even remove effects caused by spells. This is called the Demon-Destroyer Sword. He eventually gets the Demon-Dweller Sword back, bringing his sword count up to three.
• Disney Death: In Chapter 335 he was thought to be killed by Lucius and a converted Sister Lily. A chapter later, it's revealed that Lily's spatial magic didn't kill him, but instead threw him into the Land of the Sun.
• Dispel Magic: He already has two Anti-Magic swords, but much later, he receives a third sword with the ability to remove curses and possessions, something the other swords cannot do and has bugged Asta for a long time. This sword also makes Asta a Combat Medic in certain situations, as the sword can heal people of poisons and diseases created by magic.
• Ditto Fighter: Throughout his battles with fellow swordsmen Yami, Mars, Kiato, Fanzell, and Licht, Asta has incorporated their swordsmanship techniques and movements into his fighting style. This allows him to gain the upper hand when fighting Liebe using Yami's katana, even when one-armed and without his anti-magic.
• Doorstop Baby: He and Yuno were abandoned at the church's doorstep on the same day.
• Dork Knight: He has the physical strength needed to wield giant anti-magic swords that can nullify magic, is incredibly muscular, and a brave, heroic young man who will put his life on the line to save others. He also greatly admires Julius and Yami, others' passionate nature, and cool magic complete with Wingding Eyes.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: Since Asta can dispel, reflect, or destroy any magic, there are a few things keeping him from being a Crutch Character and having a Story-Breaker Power:
  • In spite of his power, Asta is just a (albeit well trained) human. Many of his attacks and his ability to fight rely on his stamina, endurance, and ability to take damage which are, again, only on the level of a well trained human. Many enemies have exploited this weakness.
  • Asta can go into his Black form where he draws out the dark power of his devil's anti-magic. He can use this energy to enshroud himself in a black aura which enhances his power and durability while also guarding him against lower level magic attacks and allows him to fly. This would be utterly broken if he could control it for more than a few minutes.
  • After training for six months and mastering his powers further, the drama is preserved by the fact that Asta is facing another devil even more powerful than the one that tried to destroy the Clover Kingdom. This devil is powerful enough that anyone who just says its name will be cursed along with any who are around to hear it requiring special circumstances to say it with out being cursed.
• Dream-Crushing Handicap: Just about everyone who finds out that Asta is someone who wants to become the Wizard King without a shred of magical potential thinks his dream is ridiculous. Doesn't stop him from trying though. This is subverted when it's revealed that this defect is what gives him his ability to wield his Anti-Magic Swords in the first place, since they'll drain the magical energy of anyone else to the point of exhaustion, making it a Disability Superpower of sorts.
• Duality Motif: When using his Black form, Asta covers the right side of his body in anti-magic, gaining a demonic black wing, arm, and horns, and turning his eye red. This mirrors Yuno's Spirit Dive form, which covers the left side of his body in green mana.
  • In Sword of the Wizard King wielding the Imperial Sword gives his right side a light blue magical aura, which is juxtaposed with the red and black colours of his Black Mode.
• Dual Wielding: Pulls this with his new sword in Chapter 24, summoning the new sword to dispel the magic binding him before reflecting a water bullet back at the caster. To drive it home, he's dual-wielding BFSs.
  • In Sword of the Wizard King he wields both his Demon Destroyer Sword and the Imperial Sword to destroy the meteor Conrad unleashed.
• Dueling Messiahs: Asta and Lucius's dynamic. Asta wants to become the Wizard King to reform Clover society and end the country's discrimination. Lucius has the goal of remaking humanity into equals and higher beings to create true peace, and to ensure no further mistakes are made rule the world as the Wizard Emperor. Lucius sees himself as the world's savior and Asta as its flaw. For being the only human without magic whose anti-magic defies Lucius's invincible magic and prevents his soul from being remade, Asta is a threat to Lucius's vision of equality that he won't let live in his perfect world.
• Dynamic Entry:
  • Plows through a wall of flames before smashing through a bunch of zombies to save a little girl in Chapter 25.
  • Makes his appearance at the Spade Kingdom castle severing Naamah's hand and saving Nacht.
• Elemental Mtoifs:
  • Is strongly associated with Darkness, his Anti-Magic taking on dark colours and No Selling any magic similar to actual users of Darkness Magic. Him gaining his grimoire has an ominous shadow appear behind him, and his captain and vice captain wield Darkness and Shadow Magic respectively. Befitting the abilities it gives, he can be a surprisingly ruthless and pragmatic fighter, quickly cutting down his foes defenses.
  • Has a less prominent association with fire, having initially tried to cast a fireball spell before learning of his Un Sorceror status, and his first use of Black Asta occurs against Ladros wielding Fire Magic. Quite fitting for someone that is so warm and encouraging to his companions, yet utterly relentless towards his enemies in battle.
• Embodiment of Virtue: Of the three main characters, Asta embodies "hope" of the three values represented by the clover of the kingdom. Despite being the only magic-less individual in society, his dream of becoming the Wizard King motivates him to tirelessly work hard towards his goal. His strong resolve inspires those around him to not give up — leading Vetto to call him "a demon who devours even despair". As the hero of the story, he serves as a beacon of hope in many moments — saving the Clover Kingdom from the legendary demon (after Julius is unable to do anything), saving Nacht (with Asta reminding him of his beloved late twin brother Morgen and that he matters and should live), and Noelle (with his presence reminding her to not give up and giving her the mental strength to continue fighting against Megicula).
• Empathic Weapon: Asta's new sword flies into his grimoire after the battle as he's rendered unconscious by the fight.
• Empowered Badass Normal: Steadily growing into one despite his disabilities. This is best exemplified by Chapter 17 where he managed to defeat Mars, who employs Mineral Magic to create armor, weaponry, and clones and was wiping the floor with the members of Golden Dawn including Asta's prodigious rival, Yuno.
• Enemy Mine: Asta appeals to the Anti-Magic Devil's anger at Dante for beating its host, and surmises that, like himself, it wants to beat Dante too. Asta asks the devil to lend him its true power, which the devil agrees to with Asta's right arm as payment.
• Enemy Within:
  • The devil in Asta's grimoire has this role, trying to take over his body his body when the Witch Queen removes the limits of his body's anti-magic. Asta refuses and instead uses its power to enter his Black form for the first time.
  • When Asta is unsuccessful at helping Yami fight Dante, he willingly speaks to the devil and enters a bargain with it, gaining the devil's true power by letting it take over his right arm.
  • Nacht performs a Devil-Binding Ritual for Asta to defeat his devil and gain its full power, with the devil's face appearing as a more demonic-looking Asta.
• Energetic and Soft-Spoken Duo: Nero is the aloof, calm Soft-Spoken to Asta's boisterous, cheerful Energetic. Despite their differences in temperament, Nero is very loyal to Asta after spending time with him throughout his journey, helping as a dutiful companion.
• Energy Absorption: Asta's short sword can do this, firing off a powerful wave of Noelle's Water Magic after draining the magic and storing it in his sword.
• Ensign Newbie: Played with. At the beginning of the story, Asta and Noelle are the newest recruits of the Black Bulls. They soon becomes two of the squad's strongest members and two of its technical highest-ranked officers, only under Charmy, Nacht, and Yami, but that's because they kept taking missions that got them recognized along with actually being committed to advancing unlike their older peers. Plus, nobody in the Black Bulls actually cares about rank outside of "do what Yami says or die" and treats each other as effective equals.
• Establishing Character Moment: Asta's first appearance has him loudly ask Sister Lily to marry him and refuse to give up, showing his energetic, tenacious personality. Yuno promptly points out that he's noisy, short, restless, and immature as well.
• Evil Weapon: His grimoire has a five-leaf clover, with the fifth leaf signifying the presence of a devil. The devil in his grimoire tries to take control of him during his fight with Ladros, with Asta beating the devil into submission and taking its powers for himself.
• Evolving Weapon: His anti-magic swords take on modified appearances while he's in Devil Union.
• Excalibur in the Rust: The five-leaf grimoire is tattered and worn, and the sword it summons is covered in rust. Their shabby appearance belies their true power as Anti-Magic weapons. The Grimoire is so tattered that Asta doesn't even know that it's the five-leaf, since the clover marking on it is obscured.
• Excellent Judge of Character: Thanks to his natural intuition and ki reading, Asta is very good at judging someone's character, correctly deducing that Liebe is not a bad guy and was not trying to kill him. Liebe accepts his offer of friendship and makes an equal contract with Asta.
• The Exile: Along with the rest of the Black Bulls, Asta goes into exile in an effort to investigate the devils outside the Clover Kingdom.
• Exotic Eye Designs: Both seriously and for comedy. Whenever he's in awe of something cool, Asta's eyes turn to sparkles. Because Asta is so easily excited, he has these practically all of the time. This is played more seriously later on when Asta gains a cat-like pupil in one eye due to a demonic transformation.
• Eye Colour Change: Using his Black form turns Asta's right eye red and even makes his pupil more cat-like.
• Fangs Are Evil: His Black Asta form, which comes from the power of an evil devil in his grimoire, gives him sharpened fangs.
• Fanservice Pack: Asta's outfit after the time skip shows that he's definitely gotten more muscular after six months, showing off his chest and abs.
• Fantastic Racism: Asta has been discriminated against all his life for being a peasant and having no magic in a kingdom where everyone else is a mage. Even after becoming a Magic Knight, he continues to face prejudice from the upper class quite often.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Along with the other Black Bulls, Asta becomes much closer with his squadmates through facing dangers together such as saving Saussy and fighting members of the Eye of the Midnight Sun.
• Floral Theme Naming: Named after the flower, which in turn is derived from the Greek word for star.
• Flying Weapon: After the six-month Time Skip, he can use anti-magic well enough to make his Demon-Slayer Sword fly and ride it like a broom. Or given its size and shape, like a flying surfboard.
• Foil:
  • To Yuno in almost every possible way. Asta is the dunce without a shred of magical potential, while Yuno is talented. Asta is the laughingstock, while Yuno is admired by everyone else. Asta is hyperactive and rarely thinks before he speaks, while Yuno is calm and level headed. They're best friends.
  • To his squadmate Noelle. Asta is a poor orphan, has zero magic, wears casual clothing, and despite his situation remains absolutely determined to become the Wizard King, rarely backing down from any obstacle put in his way. By contrast, Noelle was born into royalty, suffers from too much magic, dresses elegantly, and (initially) has serious self esteem issues. Asta starts out as a Close-Range Combatant who overwhelms his opponents with his physical might and Anti-Magic, and retains the same basic approach even as he gains ranged options, while Noelle starts developing as a Long-Range Fighter, she eventually shifts to a balance of it and Magic Knight as the series continues. Both even get a Next Tier Power-Up in the form if a Fusion Dance, Asta gaining a more demonic appearance while Noelle's evokes the image of an angel. Finally, while they both have silver coloured hair, Asta's is short and spiky while Noelle's is long and held in pigtails.
  • With Vetto. Asta is a short teenager while Vetto is a large brute. Asta is seemingly the only human who doesn't have any magic power, relying on great physical strength from muscle training. Vetto has incredibly physical power thanks to magical enhancements derived from his great magic power as an elf. Although Vetto strives to crush the hope of foes and make them despair, Asta's unyielding determination inspires his squadmates to not give up — causing Vetto to deem him as "a demon who devours even despair".
  • To his adoptive brother and devil Liebe. Both were born as outcasts without any magic, both of them defied the odds and became strong, they are both the sons of Licita and both are the arch enemies of Dante and Lucifero respectively.
  • To Lucius Zogratis. Asta is the only magic-less human in the world while Lucius is the strongest mage in the story. Asta is the devil host of Liebe, the lowest-ranked devil in the underworld; Lucius is the host of the supreme devil Astaroth, one of the underworld's three rulers. Asta aspires to be the Wizard King, while Lucius was the Wizard King for years as Julius. Asta wants to achieve peace and equality by becoming the Wizard King, proving even a magic-less peasant like him can attain the position, and use the status to change society. Lucius used the title of Wizard King as a means to an end to manipulate the magic knights, and his master plan is to annihilate humanity and remake them into new bodies so that everyone is equal with him ruling as the last Wizard King. Lucius views himself as the world's savior and Asta as the world's flaw for being the only one magic-less, vowing to eliminate Asta for his vision of a just future. Lucius has invincible time magic, with nothing in the natural world able to defy it except its natural enemy Asta's anti-magic. Lucius is able to purify devil power to become an angelic being, "humanity's true form", while Asta, whose Devil Union turns him into a demonic knight, is unable to change to this form when touched by Lucius.
  • To Ichika. Asta's Devil Union clads him in a black demonic armor. Ichika's Dark-Cloaked Black Warrior covers her in a black, crescentic samurai armor. Asta is grateful to Yami for taking him into the Black Bulls and mentoring him, while Ichika detests her older brother for allegedly slaughtering their clan and abandoning her, with the two refusing to back down on their perspectives on Yami and ignoring each other's.
• Force and Finesse:
  • Asta, a magic-less, muscled fighter who wields large anti-magic swords to cut through magic, is the Force to Yuno's Finesse, a gifted mage who uses his finely trained magic to condense wind into weapons that he can fire with great precision.
  • Also forms this with Noelle, being a muscular, physical fighter whose primary weapon is a BFS in contrast to Noelle's development into a graceful and elegant fighter that wields finely crafted water armaments.
  • Acts as the finesse to Liebe's force during their fight. Liebe remotely controls their arsenal of BFS's to relentlessly attack Asta, while the latter skillfully wields Yami's katana, managing to deflect and dodge everything his opponent throws at him, showing just how much sword skills have grown in the process.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: A firm believer in this. He understands what Patry went through after seeing his memories as just a young elf who turns out to be tricked by Zagred into hating humans that were the opposite of what the real Licht believes. Asta still won't forgive him because he killed Julius while holding the Clover Kingdom hostage, and endangered the people with the reincarnation spell which is why he'll let Patry be around to stop Zagred from completing his plans.
• Freudian Trio: Asta is the Id to Yuno's Superego and Noelle's Ego, being hyperactive, loud, and stubborn.
• Friendly Rivalry:
  • Seems to be the opposite at first given Yuno's somewhat condescending nature, but it's quickly made clear that it's this by the end of the first chapter. Despite their opposite personalities and innate talent, Yuno respects Asta greatly for his determination and has seen him as his savior since they were kids. Through their rivalry, the two push each other to become stronger.
  • Him and Leopold become rivals to be the Wizard King after Leopold is impressed by Asta's strength at the Distinguished Service Ceremony. They're friends, with the two greatly respecting each other and competing whenever an opportunity comes up.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Almost everyone has initially expressed their dismay about his quirks, even the children from his hometown.
• Friend to All Children: Whenever danger seems to threaten young children, Asta puts himself in harm's way, as demonstrated when Rades Spirito tried to torture a young girl during the Royal Capital's assault.
• From Zero to Hero: He's first introduced as an orphan with no magic powers. After joining the Black Bulls, he became a powerful and famous Magic Knight who's willing to go toe-to-toe with others.
• Fusion Dance:
  • Parodied, but taken seriously at the same time. His fusion with Mimosa is literally her tied to his back with plant magic while she heals and helps defend him.
  • While training with Nacht, he manages to momentarily use Devil Union with Liebe. He fully enters the form to save the Clover Kingdom from the rampaging ancient Spade Kingdom demon sent by the Dark Triad.
  • Asta and Liebe achieve a stronger version of this after they fully bonded as brothers which even Nacht noted that their Devil Union is a True version of it. Despite the time limit of 5 seconds, their Anti-Magic became strong enough to not only hurt but also No-Sell attacks from Lucifero at 50 percent of his power!
• Game-Breaking Injury: The bones in his arms were crushed into powder, and cursed to never be healed, even with magic, by Vetto. Not so gamebreaking now as it is healed soon after.
• Gender-Blender Name: His name, Asta, is actually a female nickname for Astrid or Augusta, which comes from the Scandinavian languages.
• Generation Xerox: He has a lot of parallels with his mentor and captain Yami, both being muscled swordsmen who faced a lot of discrimination (Asta for being a magic-less peasant and Yami for being a shipwrecked foreigner) with dark powers associated with evil (Asta's Anti-Magic coming from a devil and Yami's Dark Magic seen as an ill omen) whose goals as Magic Knights is to help the marginalized (Asta wanting to become the Wizard King to end the kingdom's discrimination and Yami forming the Black Bulls as a refuge for fellow societal rejects). Yami later passes onto Asta his katana during their fight against Dante, with it becoming Asta's Demon-Slasher Katana after Yami is captured, with his physical resemblance to Yami becoming more apparent when he wields it and is now wearing a sleeveless tank top with belted pants like Yami's own outfit. Asta's Demon-Slasher — Infinite Slash Equinox technique when wielding the katana is based off of Yami's Dark Cloaked Dimension Slash — Equinox spell, complete with referential poses of Yami's while using it. He uses it to save him, with the editor's note stating that Asta surpassed a mentor.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Asta smacks Mars for refusing to block Fana's attacks, calling him an idiot and telling him that it's not the time for him to die and that he should live to save her. It works.
• Good Cannot Comprehend Evil:
  • He states as such when Rades and other members of the Eye of the Midnight Sun attack the Royal Capital.
  "How could they? Treating life like it's something to throw away!? Like death is nothing! I'll never understand these people! Not in a million years!"
  • This is subverted later on. He tells Mereoleona that they should strive for mutual understanding with Eye of the Midnight Sun, which impresses her. And despite not forgiving Patry for his actions, Asta tells him that he understands his reasons and convinces him to stop running away to atone.
• Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: In his Black Asta form, which becomes stronger when overcome with negative emotion, his right eye becomes red and cat-like while his left eye remains green and normal.
• Good Is Not Soft: Asta is kind to a fault, selfless, and very friendly towards others, with his goal of becoming the Wizard King being to help end the discrimination within the kingdom. He also wields giant anti-magic swords and is willing to kill enemies when he need be, slicing Zagred's heart and landing possibly fatal blows against soldiers of the Spade Kingdom.
• Good Weapon, Evil Weapon: Licht was the kind leader of the elves and original owner of Asta's swords, and they're shining, near-white blades when he uses them. When wielded by Asta, whose Anti-Magic comes from the power of a devil, the swords are black and rusted-looking.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: Asta's anti-magic powers come from a devil. He gains a right demonic wing made of anti-magic energy in his Black form. When consumed by rage, he gains a smaller left wing. His Devil Union gives him two full-sized wings.

H — M

• Hair-Contrast Duo: The loud, excitable Asta has spiky ash blond hair while the quiet, composed Yuno, his best friend and rival, has messy black hair.
• Handicapped Badass: Temporarily, but even with only one arm and wielding Yami's katana, Asta is still able to defeat Liebe, who's telekinetically controlling Asta's other giant anti-magic swords, using a swordsmanship style formed from fighting against and alongside other magic swordsmen throughout the story.
• Heartwarming Orphan: The kind, brave young hero left at a church as a baby, whose goal of becoming the Wizard King is to end the inequality and discrimination within the kingdom.
• Hellish Pupils: A reminder of where his newfound power comes from after clashing with the devil inside of his grimoire.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: The main character who wields large, mysterious swords that contain Anti-Magic energy. Interestingly, while Asta himself is a heroic individual his swords' powers come from a devil inside his grimoire.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • He nearly falls into one when he finds out that his cursed arms are not healable. He says Screw Destiny and that he'll find a cure and if not find another way to fight.
  • He enters this with a listless expression after he's unable to make it to the Royal Knights Exam finals to fight Yuno. He snaps out of it when Mereoleona punches him and drags him off to become a Royal Knight.
  • He panically pleads with Ryuya to help him get back to the Clover Kingdom despite not having trained enough to have a chance of defeating Lucius, wondering if he can even get stronger after having trained all his life. It takes a slap and harsh words from Ichika for Asta to calm down.
• Heroic Build: The kid's got biceps. This is justified in that he spends most of his time physically training in order to compensate for his lack of magic. It's also lampshaded by Klaus, who notes that such a physique is highly improbable at Asta's age. After the reveal, many people have started taking to calling him "muscle-bound shrimp" behind his back. This is further exemplified when he's wearing nothing but a tank top. This becomes even more pronounced after the timeskip, as he becomes even more muscular on top of being a Walking Shirtless Scene wearing only his Black Bulls cloak and a tight-fitting black bodysuit that leaves his chest and midriff exposed.
• Heroic RRoD: Using his Black form allows Asta to use much more anti-magic and fly through the air. It also wracks his body in great pain afterwards, limiting the amount of times he can use it daily unless he's healed afterwards.
• Heroic Second Wind:
  • After Yami slices Zagred, Nero seals Asta's damage and asks him if he's going to be the Wizard King. Healed, he announces that he will and is going to surpass his limits, entering his Black form to land the killing blow on Zagred.
  • Yami calls Asta by his name and asks for his help against Dante, motivating him to get up after previously being defeated to fight alongside his captain.
  • In Sword of the Wizard King after Conrad manages to impale him with multiple blades and gives a speech about how useless each and every Wizard King has been, this spurs Asta on, declaring they were not useless.
• Hero on Hiatus: Asta is temporarily subjected to this when his arms are cursed by Vetto. As a result, he's unable to fight using his anti-magic swords against Fana and the Eye of the Midnight Sun when they attack the Forest of Witches. Not long after, the Witch Queen heals Asta's arms and accelerates the flow of anti-magic in his body by removing his output limit so that he can fight Ladros.
• Hero Protagonist: He wishes to become the Wizard King in order to help others, and gains swords that contain Anti-Magic.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Because his power source is a Devil, Damnatio and the Magic Parliament hold him accountable for the elves' attack on the Clover Kingdom, with his status as a peasant making him even more disliked by the aristocrats. He gets out of it by investigating the devils together with the Black Bulls.
• Hidden Depths: To put it bluntly, he's kind of an idiot who can't even recognize the guy he wanted to surpass ever since he was a kid. But he can be surprisingly clever when the time calls for it, best shown when he stopped a curse that stopped his blood from clotting by cutting the wound with his anti-magic swords.
• History Repeats: Five centuries ago, Lumiere saved the Clover Kingdom from a demon and for it he was honored as the first Wizard King. Asta, whose dream is to become the Wizard King, saves the kingdom from an ancient demon sent by the Dark Triad.
• Hopeless Suitor: He is in love with Sister Lily and wants to marry her, despite her being a nun who is also a good deal older than him and had a hand in raising him. No matter how many times she rejects him, he refuses to take no for an answer.
• Horned Humanoid: He has a weg while using his Black Asta form. When overcome by anger after Dante stabs Gauche he gains more atop his head.
• Horrifying the Horror: His refusal to give up, combined with his power from the devil in his grimoire, cause Vetto to call him "a demon who devours even despair".
• Hot-Blooded: Asta is extremely enthusiastic about his dream and is always giving everything his maximum effort and with his frequent screaming that always hypes up his already energetic attitude. This can also be used with his near unstoppable determination when he really gets his blood boiling and will push himself beyond his limits with sheer fiery willpower and taken to greater lengths when angered as he becomes very passionate and is veru willing to overpower his enemies for unleashing his fury.
• Hot for Preacher: He's infatuated with Sister Lily and wants to marry her, despite being reminded many times that she's a nun.
• Hour of Power:
  • More like 10 seconds of power, but Asta has learned how to draw out the anti-magic properties of his sword and enhance/enshroud his body with that energy. Unfortunately, he has very little control over it and he can't sustain it for long periods of time otherwise it would make him. Over time he trains to gain better control over it and last longer in this form.
  • He only has 50 seconds of using his right arm radiating anti-magic after making a deal with his devil before his body no longer holds out. Asta and Yami barely defeat Dante just before time runs out.
  • His Devil Union with Liebe is only able to last 5 minutes. Despite this, it's long enough for him to defeat the ancient demon let loose on the Clover Kingdom by the Dark Triad.
  • His True Devil Union after he and Liebe bonded as brothers right down to the brink of his health can only last up to 5 seconds which is more than enough to slash through Lucifero in half!
• Humble Hero: Asta is this, having come from a peasant background compared to most Magic Knights who are aristocrats. When a drunk man wonders how a little twerp like Asta became a Magic Knight, he bashfully replies that he's surprised that he made it in too.
• Hunk: Oh yes. Especially if you think he's a boy who is just 15, he's insanely muscular, and doesn't look bad by any means.
• Hyperspace Arsenal: His grimoire functions as this by storing his three (later four) different anti-magic swords, with Asta switching between them for different purposes. He usually wields the Demon-Slayer Sword by itself for combat, the Demon-Dweller Sword to send flying anti-magic slashes, the Demon-Destroyer Sword to dispel spells, and the Demon-Slasher Katana to only cut whatever he chooses.
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • Asta tells the Anti-Magic Devil that he doesn't want to get his butt kicked by someone as short as him, despite being around the same height and having beaten up enemies throughout the entire story, many of whom have underestimated him because of his short height.
  • Asta several times throughout the series considers Yuno hot and more attractive to women than he is, but as time goes on Asta seems to become far more of a Chick Magnet than Yuno ever was and never realizes it.
• I Can't Sense Their Presence: Since he has no magic, he cannot be detected by sensing magic.
• Ideal Hero: Asta has a very strong sense of justice, considering it his duty to protect commoners with weak magic and convincing even his enemies to atone for their misdeeds. After meeting Asta, Zora considers him the one closest to what he believes to be a true Magic Knight. His actions inspire his fellow squadmates to take their duties more seriously and even other Magic Knights, who try to become more courageous and moral like him.
• Idiot Hair: Fits him perfectly with his personality.
• Idiot Hero: Not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He doesn't even know the basics of being a Magic Knight despite aspiring to be one on his way to becoming Wizard King. He doesn't even recognize the current Wizard King, the very position he's aspiring to acquire. This is somewhat justified due to his country upbringing, and to be fair he's untimately rather traditionally Book Dumb than outright stupid.
• I Just Want to Be Special: Asta wants to become the Wizard King and join the Magic Knights despite showing no magic at all. He's disappointed when he doesn't receive a grimoire at the ceremony and almost gives up against Revchi when he tells Asta that he has no magic whatsoever. Luckily, Yuno's acknowledgement of him helps Asta manifest his grimoire, giving him his Anti-Magic sword.
• Immune to Fate: Thanks to being the Un-Sorcerer. Everything is as Lucius foresaw it except for Asta, the only human without any magic and the world's flaw in Lucius's eyes that he needs to eliminate for his plan of recreating humanity to be equal.
• Implausible Fencing Powers: The special ability of the Demon-Slasher Katana. It lets Asta only cut what he chooses it to, not cutting what it wants to protect, using it to slice Lucifero's giant manifestation in half while sparing Yami and Vangeance.
• Inconsistent Spelling: Another unfortunate case due to Japanese phonetics. Asta or Aster? Though the latter would make more sense in the context of the English language, Asta is currently the official accepted translation.
• In-Series Nickname: "Street Rat" along with Yuno. He doesn't mind it all that much. He's also gained the names "Stupidsta" and "Insect" from Magna and Noelle, respectively, when he annoys them.
• Instant Armor: Asta's Devil Union with Liebe forms a black demonic armor of anti-magic around his body.
• Instant Expert: Zigzagged. Asta has yet to be seen practicing his swordsmanship, yet is able to swing accurately enough to hit and reflect small projectiles within days of getting his grimoire. Taken further when he begins proficiently dual-wielding without any prior practice. Subverted in that once he begins to tap into the power of the anti-magic sword, it gives him powers that he's unable to accurately control on command. However, the very next time he consciously taps into the power, he shows complete control over it, including a conscious knowledge of how often he can tap into that power. The first case is justified since between the time Asta got his grimoire and the Magic Knight exam is six months. That is plenty of time to practice, especially given his penchant for Training from Hell. And it's later revealed via flashback that during that six month gap, he wasn't just self-taught, but had Diamond Kingdom defector Fanzell Kruger as a teacher. The dual-wielding is less backed up.
• I Owe You My Life: When his devil is manifested in the living world thanks to Nacht's Devil-Binding Ritual, Asta sincerely thanks him for his power, which has allowed him to fight and saved Asta so many times. His gratitude for Liebe is part of the reason why he chooses to befriend and make an equal contract with him instead of forcing Liebe to serve him and obey all his orders.
• Iron Butt Monkey: He always gets back up and running within a few panels despite all of this. Even when other mages are slinging insults at him for being from the slums, he's so used to it that it doesn't faze him any more:
  Asta: [eating happily] Man, they're not even trying to whisper. Well, it's nothing new.
  Klaus and Mimosa: [mentally] He's a bigger man than them!
• Junior Counterpart: Asta is this to Yami, with both being social outcasts who have had to attain merit through hard work, very muscular, and wielding swords to fight. The difference being that Asta is cheerful and energetic while Yami is short-tempered and rude. Despite this, Yami acts as a mentor for Asta, teaching him how to sense ki as well as providing him with advice and reassurance, with Asta highly respecting him as his captain. He later wields Yami's katana after he's captured by the Dark Triad.
• Karmic Jackpot: Asta gained a five-leaf grimoire granting him anti-magic swords after being mocked all his life for being a peasant with no magic. Moreso by the fact that he trained his body incredibly hard to make up for his magical disability, which is why he's able to even wield his very heavy swords.
• Katanas Are Just Better: After wielding Yami's katana with his devil arm and Yami is captured by Zenon, his katana joins Asta's grimoire like his other anti-magic swords. He wields it against Liebe who takes control of Asta's anti-magic swords.
• Keet: Incredibly hyperactive and enthusiastic about anything and everything pertaining to becoming Wizard King. He's also one of the only people who try to put a positive spin on things with his overwhelming optimism and he also rarely stops moving, especially when training as he feels the need to constantly be active and do something productive.
• Kid Hero: He's the main character and one of the youngest members of his squad due to recently receiving a grimoire at the age of 15 in the beginning of the story. And as a Magic Knight, he has the duty of protecting the Clover Kingdom.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: As he is in the middle of vowing to save Sister Lily from Lucius, she makes him vanish with her new spatial magic.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Asta is courageous, risks his life to save innocents, able to convice others to not needlessly sacrifice their lives and atone, and inspires those around him to become better people. He also garners the affection of women for his heroic nature, with Noelle falling in love with him because of his kindness and recognition of her worth, Mimosa for his character and build, and Rebecca for stopping a man from harassing her. Mars notes he embodies a real knight, and Zora admits that he is the one closest to being an ideal Magic Knight.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Even after becoming a Magic Knight he still squees over others' growth as individuals, cool magic, and those he admires.
• Land, Sea, Sky: Asta is the Land to Noelle's Sea and Yuno's Sky, fighting with giant rusted swords that generate Anti-Magic, a power from the underworld.
• Large Ham: Very loud and expressive. It tones down as he undergoes Character Development to become more mature and level-headed.
• Leitmotif:
  • He shares a theme with the anime, "Haruka Mirai", which plays during his especially badass moments against Vetto, Licht, and Zagred.
  • "Convinction" is used in his fights against Mars, Rades, and Valtos.
• Light/Darkness Juxtaposition:
  • With Yuno, despite neither having powers directly relating to the above. Asta is a member of the Black Bulls (with the appropriately coloured uniform]], has a black grimoire and wields demonic looking Anti-Magic in contrast to Yuno's white Golden Dawn uniform, bright grimoire and his more ethereal Wind Magic, especially once he gets Sylph. The contrast becomes greater with their respective Super Modes, as well as Yuno Gaining Star Magic at the climax of the Spade Kingdom arc.
  • With Lict/Patry, who wears gold and white robes and wields the rare Light Magic, in contrast to Asta's darker clothing and more ominous looking Anti-Magic.
  • To Conrad in Sword of the Wizard King, especially once the latter goes One-Winged Angel. The former Wizard Kings rainbow aura wings and white sword contrasting against his opponents darker aura and batlike wings.
  • Finally, to Lucius Zogratis in the final arc, Asta's Devil Union armour having a black and red colour scheme, horns, Hellish Pupils, bat like wings, clawed hands and more prominent fangs in contrast to the Big Bad's white, feathered wings, antlers, Unusual Halo, and overall angelic appearance.
• Lightning Bruiser: After learning how to detect ki, Asta is fast enough to reflect laser beams with his sword and pummel virtually anything short of a Magic Knight Captain into submission through pure brute force. He's even moreso in his Black form, allowing Asta to fly and use more anti-magic as well as increasing his strength and speed.
• Like Parent, Like Child: His mother Licita had his same cheerful, optimistic demeanor. So much so that Liebe, the devil in his grimoire and her adoptive son, was reminded of her by Asta when he repeated her same words to him.
• Likes Older Women: He's in love with Sister Lily, who's not only a nun but over 10 years older than him.
• Logical Weakness:
  • Asta's biggest weakness is the fact that his abilities rely and take a heavy toll on his body which, aside from being well trained, is still only a human body. When not going into his Black form, he is physically only on the level of a well trained human and is basically just a regular swordsman battling monsters and things that are physically beyond human. Even with his swords' Anti-Magic properties and being able to deflect or block magic, it's all still backed up by a human body that can't take lots of punishment before it starts to shut down. This weakness still comes into play with his Black form engaged because his power only enshrouds and reinforces his body but doesn't imbue it with any special properties like a Healing Factor or Nigh-Invulnerability. Basically, think Tony Stark in the Iron Man armor. Sure it makes him way stronger and protects him while giving him extra abilities but it's still just a human being inside.
  • He is entirely reliant on the surface area of his sword for blocking attacks. He can't block the attack if it's too fast for him to bring his sword into the firing path, a fact that Mars uses to beat Asta.
  • The sword Nero shows him when he's on the ropes is smaller and lighter, meaning he can swing it fast enough to parry Mars's attacks. However, since it's smaller he can't hit Mars hard enough to overcome Mars's Recovery Magic.
  • He's useless if his arms are restrained, but he came up with a solution to this by summoning his sword from the book directly to break any magical restraints before beginning to dual-wield.
  • The swords are also limited to how long they are, making it difficult to hit a swift, flying target, especially when Asta's already bleeding and running on empty.
  • While he can No-Sell damn near anything magic related, against physical objects his swords are effective as any other, letting cannier opponents get around his defenses by chucking existing, nonmagical materials at him.
  • Anti-magic is only effective against magic and useless against physical skill, which is almost never an issue as most mages in the story are Squishy Wizards and Asta has Charles Atlas Superpower. Lucifero, who's able to stop a Devil Union Asta's sword with a hand, sends him flying with a punch to the face so hard that Asta can’t focus his sight afterwards, without using any of his incredible gravity magic, just amazing physical strength.
  • If his swords have been dropped or something is disrupting his ability to return them to his hand, as happened during his fight with Dante, he's completely helpless unless he either can get into a state to retrieve his weapons or finds a another compatible sword to absorb into his grimoire.
• Long-Lost Relative: He's actually this to the devil in his grimoire Liebe, being his adoptive brother. Asta's mother Licita abandoned him due to her body stealing magic and life from living things near her, and adopted Liebe as her child because as a devil who lacked magic, he was immune to her special trait. This is in fact part of the reason Asta can wield anti-magic so well — being born from Licita meant he could never develop natural magic, similar to Liebe, and in turn made him a natural vessel for his demonic sibling's unique powers.
• Loser Protagonist: Asta was born an orphaned peasant without magic in a society that highly values social status and magical power, leading him to have been discriminated against all his life to the point that others' insults no longer affects him. People also tend to mock and look down on Asta for his general idiocy and short height.
• Love Hurts: His final proposal after becoming a grown man to Sister Lily and rejection is treated completely seriously, and while Asta recovers quickly as expected of him he still needs a moment to compose himself and the way his eyes are drawn while promising to become the Wizard King make it obvious he tried not to cry. Unfortunately he's not given any time to rest on it either with what happens immediately after. Its to the point where Ryu's all seeing eye tells him that Asta had just had his heart broken and continues to refer to Lily as Asta's girl for the rest of the arc since Asta hasn't moved on from loving her romantically yet. Later on, when she gets put in a coma after he frees her body from Lucius' control he's uncharacteristically ready to kill Lucius since it's thought to be the only way to save her.
• Mage Killer: He's literally the only person the setting ever seen with no magical ability whatsoever. This left Asta to get things done physically, and training to do so, leaving him in excellent physical shape. Once Asta gets a grimoire, it manifests a sword that dispels any magic it comes into contact with. While Asta's far from invincible after this, this, combined with his tremendous physical aptitude, and the reliance of every other character in the show on magic, makes him a surprisingly effective Magic Knight, particularly if enemies underestimate him because they sense no magic power from him. He's able to cut through magical defences like a hot knife through butter, can negate damaging spells and their effects, inflict wounds that cannot be healed with magic and unless his opponents magically enhance their physical abilities, getting into a close-range fight with him is guaranteed to be a short one.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Asta has zero magical ability in a setting where everyone else has at least some magic. To compensate, he spent most of his life training his body. This all pays off when he is chosen by the Five-Leaf Grimoire. Said Grimoire allows him to summon a giant anti-magic sword, and his years of physical training make him strong enough to effectively wield the heavy weapon.
• Magic Enhancement: In the final arc he learns the art of Zetten from the Land of the Rising Sun, and how to imbue his allies with Anti-Magic, raising their offensive potential to the point they can defeat Lucius' Paladin and Guardian Angels.
• Magic Knight: Asta wields Anti-Magic through his sword, allowing him to slice through spells and later unleash it as a beam. In his Black Asta form he enshrounds his body in it and can use larger amounts. It's later revealed he's become a skilled swordsman through adopting the fighting styles of magic swordsmen he's fought with.
• Magnetic Hero: With his friendliness, kindness, and strong will, Asta earns the respect of many people he meets, even nobles like Klaus and Nozel who look down on peasants like him. His bravery and work ethic inspire the rest of the Black Bulls to become stronger as well.
• Man of Kryptonite: As somebody who is powered by Anti-Magic and is a physical powerhouse and skilled swordsman even without it, Asta technically counts as this in a world whose greatest fighters are wizards and mages, because his own power nullifies their greatest strength and leaves them struggling to find effective countermeasures before he defeats them. Even in the few occasions Asta faces an opponent who can pressure him close-range, his victory condition is always damaging them enough with his anti-magic blades, which can inflict unhealable and unblockable wounds that eventually overwhelm the target once he gets a good hit in. This trait only gets more pronounced as he becomes capable of drawing more abilities out through his anti magic that enable him to compensate for the few Logical Weakness that his enemies exploited in the earlier chapters, and his True Devil Union form takes this to the logical extreme, apparently nullifying all magic in the area around him altogether, whilst strengthening Asta into a Lightning Bruiser. Lucius later admits that his Time Magic would be completely unbeatable in the entire world if Asta's anti-magic didn't exist.
• Marked Change: Asta gains a black marking down his right eye when he uses his Black form. In Devil Union he gains another one down his left eye along with two gill-like markings across the left and right sides of his face.
• Master-Apprentice Chain: Julius was Yami's captain, taking him into the Gray Deer and teaching him the country's language and social customs, with Yami in turn becoming the captain of Asta. As Julius dies from his wound by Patry, he finds solace in knowing that his ideals of a country free of discrimination and hatred will live on in the next era of magic knights, with Asta reiterating that same dream in the chapter.
• Master Swordsman: Starts out with a rather rough fighting style thanks to being self taught, mostly using his BFS Anti-Magic properties and sheer weight to beat enemies into submission. As the series progresses, he accumulates enough experience fighting against and alongside straighter examples to greatly refine his skills, reaching a level of skill comparable to Yami. Best demonstrated in his fight with Liebe, where despite being down an arm and using Yami's katana (which he just obtained) he quickly managed to overwhelm his opponent while skillfully deflecting the devils own assault with the rest of his swords.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Asta is named after the demon Astaroth, which fits since he can wield devil powers.
  • "Asta" is also a nickname for "Astrid", a Scandinavian name meaning "divine strength." Asta is incredibly muscular and strong due to years of intense physical training to make up for not having any magic.
  • "Asta" also comes from a flower whose name is derived from the Greek word meaning "star", fitting with being a rookie magic knight gaining more recognition for his accomplishments.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Most mages in the story fight from afar with spells and do not train their bodies as a result. Asta, due to having no mana whatsoever, fights with giant Anti-Magic swords, using them along with his great physical strength from years of training to defeat mages.
• Mirror Character: The Dark Triad are the respective Arch-Enemies and Evil Counterparts to the main trio Dante and Asta are both devil hosts whose fighting styles rely on physical power and wielding swords. They also believe in the power of malicious emotions. But while Asta thinks being human is having the heart to control them to do what's right, Dante espouses that being evil in of itself is being human.
• Mr. Fanservice: After the reveal that he's actually incredibly muscular, Asta constantly suffers from Clothing Damage or a situation where his shirt is torn or completely off just to show off how buff he is.
• Muggle Born of Mages: Literally the only muggle in the setting, and was born to a woman who had unusual sealing magic whose body absorbed the life-force and magic of living things around her.
• Muggles Do It Better: Magic is so ubiquitous and widely practiced that defense and detection mainly revolve around locating areas of high magic concentration. Said defenses and detection are completely ineffective, however, against actions done through non-magical means. This gives Asta a bigger leg up than most people who meet him suspect, as everything he does cannot be defended against or detected with magic. For instance, the seemingly unstoppable Kirsch Vermillion, who immediately spotted all of Zora's traps and disarmed them, falls into a pit that Asta dug completely through manual labor.
• Mundane Luxury: Becomes ecstatic over little things like getting his own (but incredibly shabby) room and receiving his first paycheck due to living in the slums for all of his life.
• Muscles Are Meaningful: Initially depicted as somewhat short and scrawny looking, it turns out that he actually has massive biceps for a kid his age. He's also able to rather casually knock a grown man ten or twenty feet into the air and leave a crater in a solid stone wall with a single swing of his sword. Ironically, despite the fact that the Magic Knights are all taller and higher ranked than Asta, almost none of them thought they could take him down physically.
• Mystical White Hair: Subverted. He has ash blonde hair, but he's one of the few in the setting to be born without any magical power whatsoever. Instead, he has unheard of anti-magic.
• Mythical Motifs: Is heavily associated with devils, given his Anti-Magic's demonic origins and the appearance of his Super Mode. Fits even more upon learning of that Liebe, for whom he acts as a devil host, is his adopted brother.
  • In Sword of the Wizard King he briefly gains an angel one while wielding the Imperial Sword, manifesting a light blue aura and angelic wing on the right side of his body, in contrast to his demonic left side.

N — S

• Naïve Newcomer: When he first joins the Magic Knights, Asta has no idea about what a Magic Knight is supposed to do, despite it being his dream to join the organization and become the Wizard King. As a result, he relies on the other Black Bulls to tell him what they're supposed to do.
• Named Weapons: Asta's anti-magic swords are all named: the Demon-Slayer Sword, Demon-Dweller Sword, and Demon-Destroyer Sword. After Yami's katana becomes part of his grimoire and another anti-magic sword, he calls it the Demon-Slasher.
• Next Tier Power-Up:
  • In the dungeon, he gains the Demon-Dweller Sword, which absorbs mana from its target and can borrow magic from people around him, increasing his attacks' force and range. It's also lighter than his original sword, giving him more mobility and when combined with his Demon-Slayer Sword he can Dual Wield.
  • After the Witch Queen uses her blood magic on him, he can channel Anti-Magic energy throughout his body and attain his Black Asta form, using anti-magic more freely and greatly enhancing his strength and speed as well as giving him flight.
  • He gains the Demon-Destroyer Sword after the real Licht takes back the Demon-Dweller Sword from him. It has stronger anti-magic powers, letting him dispel the elves' Reincarnation Magic and remove curses.
  • After their training under Nacht, Asta can enter Devil Union with Liebe for five minutes, covering himself in an armor of anti-magic and able to use enough to erase the ancient demon's magic. He becomes strong enough to quickly defeat the demon when all the knights who were currently in the kingdom couldn't stop it.
• Nice Guy: He's very friendly to pretty much everyone he meets, and thus adjusts well to groups like the Black Bulls.
• No Indoor Voice: Virtually every line he says is boisterous and loud, and this is amped up in the anime adaptation in which all of his lines are over the top.
• No Last Name Given: Justified, as he was left at the orphanage with clothing bearing only his first name and no knowledge of his family. It's unknown what his last name would be. In the one-shot, his last name was Staria.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Asta points this out when Mereoleona states that the elves aren't interested in mutual understanding:
  "We can understand each other. I mean, they're just like us, you know? Somebody hurt something important to them, and they're mad!"
• Oblivious to Love: Doesn't seem to catch on that Noelle, Mimosa, and Rebecca are interested in him. Hilariously, even when he recognizes that Charlotte has feelings for Yami, and that Noelle has feelings for him, he fails to grasp that the feeling in question is love, assuming that both women just have trouble admitting that they trust somebody else to have their back in combat.
• Odd Friendship:
  • With Yuno, who is the complete opposite of Asta in terms of temperament and magical ability. They're best friends who grew up together in the same church and friendly rivals.
  • He is the only person who can regularly be around Henry without risk, since he has no magic for him to drain. The two get along well because of this.
  • Nero becomes Asta's loyal comrade and one of his closest companions, despite being a cold and quiet girl while Asta is very cheerful and outgoing.
• Oh, Crap!: Has a giant one when a half manifested Lucifero appears right next to him, angry at Asta, who's just used his Devil Union, for trying to interfere with his manifestation.
• One Degree of Separation: The devil in his grimoire, Liebe, had been cared for by Asta's mother Licita as though he were her own child after she left Asta at the church to protect him from her body's tendency to absorb magic and life. While Liebe notices the resemblance, he doesn't say a word of this to Asta, who is in the dark about his parentage. Asta later figures it out himself when he sees into Liebe's memories, thanking him for letting him see his mom and learn that she did love him.
• One-Handed Zweihänder: Whether it's due to his Charles Atlas Superpower or the anti-magic within the swords themselves, he's often seen Dual Wielding his Demon-Slayer Sword and Demon-Dweller Sword as soon as he gets the latter.
• One-Man Army: He proves himself as this after the six month time skip when he attacks the Candelo fortress, defeating all the soldiers by himself with relative ease.
• Only One Name: Due to being left at a church as an infant, Asta has no surname, unlike most of the rest of the cast.
• Only Sane Man: As odd as this sounds, he tends to act this way, sometimes sharing this role with Noelle, over the antics of the Black Bulls, especially early on after joining them.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • After being told that he doesn't have a shred of magic power in him and can never use it, for the first time in his life, Asta actually gives up. It doesn't last, though, because Yuno gives Asta words of encouragement to spur him on, which provokes the manifestation of his dark grimoire.
  • Way later, after the Royal Knights Exam, Asta is surprisingly quiet, thinking about Yuno's mighty magic and the fact that "Xerx" was really a fake.
• Our Hero Is Dead: In Chapter 335, Asta is seemingly annihilated by the possessed Sister Lily. The next chapter reveals that he was teleported to the Land of the Sun.
• Outside-Context Problem: No one has ever seen someone without magic or who can negate and reflect any spell, and most of them don't know how to deal with him. He's still one for the elves because even though they know about the swords, his devil powers are something none of them have seen before.
• The Paragon: Quite possibly his greatest power is that everyone around him can't help but follow his example and put 100% of every waking moment into becoming a better person. Most notably, he's this to all the Black Bulls, even his own captain Yami, who by following his example, went from being by far the worst Magic Knight squad in history into being the second most decorated in one year. He's even this to other squads, some of their captains, most of the enemies that try to fight him, and his own greatest rival Yuno, who all become much stronger and more heroic by trying to be just like him. Even Zora notes that Asta is the one closest to what he considers to be the ideal Magic Knight. Seeing Asta get up and continue fighting Lucifero in spite of his heavy injuries makes even Sekke realize he's been making excuses for himself and should have gotten stronger like Asta.
• Parental Abandonment: He was left at the orphanage's doorstep. Asta shares this aspect with Yuno, who was left there along with him. They grew up together and became each others' rivals, and thus the two are like Sworn Brothers in the absence of actual blood relatives/family. His mother Licita left him at the church because of her condition that absorbed the magic and life of those near her.
• People Puppets: A victim of this in Chapter 98. The Witch Queen decides to take control of the demonic power inside of him. Asta overcomes it by forcing the demon back and owning the power while conscious.
• Personality Powers: Each of his Anti-Magic swords reflects an aspect of his personality.
  • The Demon Slayer is his first (and largest) sword, reflecting his unyielding will, sheer physical might, and it's ability to knock back magic attacks reflecting how he lets any discouragement bounce off him. Not to mention it's Black Divider (making it even bigger) coinciding with his own growing strength and refusal to be left behind by Yuno.
  • The Demon Dweller is his second sword, it's lighter weight and ability to absorb magic meshing with his great speed and rapid advancement in skill from watching other swordsmen fight as the series continues. [[spoiler:Learning Zetten lets him use it to empower his friends, perfectly fitting for someone who inspires those around him.
  • The Demon Destroyer is his third sword, and possesses the ability to undo magic that attacks internally (like poison) and acts on a larger scale, letting him function as an impromptu Combat Medic. This befits his determination to help his allies as well as his empathetic nature, wanting to spare even his enemies the pain of a prolonged battle.
  • With Liebe, they weren't chosen by mana, what with being born without any magic whatsoever, and as a result resolve to make their own choices. Their power together while wielding the Demon-Slasher Katana in Devil Union represents this, choosing what it cuts and not those it wants to protect.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Noelle wears a light purple dress and has pink eyes. Asta, before the time skip, dons a dark blue jacket and pants.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Short for his age at 155 cm (5'1"), but able to wield a massive sword longer than he is tall with ease. Justified, because Asta spent years building up muscle to make up for lack of magical prowess.
• Poor Communication Kills: A very minor example. He is temporarily discouraged when he thought he heard Yuno say that there's no way for Asta to catch up with him. What Yuno actually meant to say was:
  Yuno: [in the middle of being saved by Asta] Asta, not being chosen? There's no way that could happen!
• Positive Friend Influence: To all the Black Bulls, who are impressed by Asta's refusal to give up and heroic nature, especially during the Underwater Temple Arc when they fight against Vetto. So much so that the usually lazy Black Bulls search for ways to heal his cursed arms, and the squad jumps from last place to second place in the annual squad rankings.
• Power at a Price: Asta makes a deal with the devil in his grimoire, gaining its true power by giving it control of his right arm. His right arm radiates anti-magic, turning demonic, and is usable for 50 seconds.
• Power Dyes Your Hair: In his Black form, Asta has anti-magic cover the right half of his hair, turning it black. When overcome with rage, the anti-magic turns most of the left half of his hair black as well. In Devil Union his entire hair turns black.
• Power Gives You Wings: Gains a single black wing over his right arm after taking the power of the devil inside his grimoire. Using Devil Union with Liebe manifests two wings.
  • In Sword of the Wizard King Liebe briefly gives him access to his full power, manifesting two wings. And later on wielding the Imperial Sword replaces the left one with a light blue angelic one.
• Power Incontinence: He has a lot of trouble controlling his Black Asta form after gaining it, unable to maneuver it however he wishes due to it being drawn to mana and use it for longer than a minute. Him training under Mereoleona and over the six month timeskip help fix this.
• The Power of Friendship: Asta always believes in his friends and when they are in danger, nothing will stop him.
• The Power of Hate: Asta himself admits to Dante that he's sometimes overcome by malicious feelings that fill him with power, but he has the heart to control them to do what's right, which is what he considers humanity instead of Dante's belief that Humans Are Bastards. His anger at Dante for stabbing Gauche to rile him up causes him to enter a more corrupt, berserk Black Asta form.
• Powers via Possession: Asta's anti-magic is powered by the devil possessing his five-leaf clover grimoire: He lets his devil permanently possess his arm to gain the stronger anti-magic needed to help Yami defeat Dante.
• Powers via Weapon: Asta is the only person in the setting who cannot use any magic whatsoever. But thanks to this, he is chosen by the four-leaf grimoire, which gives him giant swords that can unleash anti-magic to slice through spells and nullify magic.
• Power Tattoo: After making an equal contract with Liebe that lets him use his true power, Asta gains a marking of runes around his left wrist.
• Power-Upgrading Deformation: In his Black form, his right eye turns bestial and red, he gains fangs, grows a horn from his head, and his arm turns into a demonic claw. Making a bargain with his devil permanently turns his right arm demonic in exchange for its power to draw out stronger anti-magic.
• Primal Stance: Asta does this after Dante stabs Gauche, with his Black form powered up by his anger.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: He calls out several bigoted Magic Knights at a banquet when they insult Noelle.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Subverted. His anti-magic is black in color and his grimoire glows red when used — with their source being a devil from the underworld. However, Asta himself is a thoroughly good individual and the hero of the story.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: His Black Asta form, which uses the power of a devil and is empowered by negative emotions, turns his right eye red.
• Red/Green Contrast: Childhood friends and rivals Asta and Yuno contrast with each other in various ways. One of these contrasts in the anime portray Yuno's four-leaf clover grimoire glowing bright green when in use, while Asta's five-leaf clover grimoire glows an ominous red.
• Red Hot Masculinity: His Anti-Magic has red outlines that become more prominent in his Super Mode, and is the most obviously muscular and physically powerful of his squadmates (barring Yami), befitting The Hero of the story.
• Red Is Heroic: After black, red is the colour he is most commonly associated with, particularly in his Super Mode. He is also the most straightforwardly heroic character in the story.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni:
  • He is the Hot-Blooded and energetic red oni to Yuno's stoic and calm blue oni.
  • Asta is the Red Oni to Nero's Blue Oni; the hyperactive and energetic Asta in comparison with the aloof and collected Nero.
• Red Right Hand: After the Anti-Magic Devil takes possession of Asta's right arm in exchange for sharing with him the true power of a devil, it becomes dark and clawed.
• Required Secondary Powers: As the wielder of the five-leaf grimoire and its associated anti-magic weapons, he requires a few things to use them. They're both exceptionally heavy and the cancellation property of it means it rapidly drains the mana of even the person who holds it. This is apparent when the Wizard King attempts to inspect the sword and realizes both that he can't really lift it and that even if he did, it would drain all of his powers. Thus, Asta's lack of magic functions as this because he's the only one who can actually use the swords in combat.
• The Rival: Both Asta and Yuno are this to each other with both parties admitting it in their quest to become the next Wizard King. Leopold inserts himself into this mix as well once he sees Asta's combat skills in person.
  • Downplayed given there's less personal investment on their part, but even Magic Knight Captains like Nozel and Fuegoleon consider him and Yuno competition for the title of Wizard King.
• Rotating Protagonist: The main trio (Asta, Yuno, and Noelle) are spread out throughout the continent and facing a different member of the Dark Triad shortly after Asta separates from Noelle following their completion of a mission against the Spade Kingdom. Asta and some of the Black Bulls fight Dante, who's trying to capture Yami, near the border of the Spade Kingdom.
• Rugged Scar: He has scars throughout his arms from being pierced by Revchi's chains when he tries to steal Yuno s grimoire. He also gains a large scar on his abdomen from being pierced by Mars when they fight in the dungeon. Later on he gets a big one across his chest after Lucius strikes him while he's shocked from a controlled Sister Lily asking him to die.
• The Scapegoat: Him and Nero become this for the Magic Parliament, with Damnatio blaming him for the elves' possession of the Magic Knights because he uses a devil's powers. They manage to get out of it with the Magic Knights having the Black Bulls investigate the devils.
• Scarf of Asskicking: Gains one in the Demon-Slasher Katana variant of his Devil Union, giving a little more Ronin-esque look to his Black Knight form fitting for wielding Yami's sword.
• Scars Are Forever: Has scars on his arm from fighting Revchi and on his abdomen from his battle with Mars.
• Screaming Warrior: One of his defining traits and can be counted on to be screaming his lungs out in the midst of battle or training.
• Screw Destiny: After finding out he may never be able to use his arms again from being injured by Vetto, he says this, proclaiming that he'll find a cure for his arms and a way to fight without them if not.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: He enters his Black Asta form to save Marie from Damnatio, essentially dooming himself to be judged guilty by the Magic Parliament until the Black Bulls luckily show up.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: In their early childhood, Yuno was the timid, crybaby Sensitive Guy to Asta's determined, brave Manly Man. After Asta stopped a thug from stealing Yuno's necklace, Yuno became more calm and stoic to distance himself from his crybaby past and deeply admires Asta's resolve, sharing his dream of becoming the Wizard King since that day.
• The Shadow Knows: When Asta first acquires the five-leaf clover grimoire and summons his sword, his shadow briefly takes the form of a devil.
• Shonen Hair: His hair manages to curve upward against gravity.
• Shout-Out: His Demon-Slayer Sword is one to Gut's Dragon Slayer, as Tabata has stated that he's inspired by Berserk. Both are giant black swords that are very similar in appearance.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: When Dante tells him that evil is the true shape of humanity, Asta angrily replies that being human is controlling those negative emotions to do what's right. This leads him to stab Gauche to awaken Asta's malice, causing him to enter a more corrupted Black form.
• Sibling Team: Forms this with Liebe, his adoptive brother through Licita, after they make an equal contract with the two learning to go into Devil Union together. Asta learns about their relation when he sees into Liebe's memories with Licita during the fight against Lucifero, with the two resolving to fight together and calling each other brother.
• Sigil Spam: His Devil Union covers his headband in its cross-like symbol and has it vertically repeat down the pauldrons, gauntlets, and greaves of the armor.
• Single-Target Sexuality: He's deeply infatuated with Sister Lily, so much that he refuses to peep on other girls at the hot springs and is completely oblivious to the fact that Noelle, Mimosa, and Rebecca all have a crush on him.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps: After battling Dante and meeting Nacht, he returns to wearing his sleeveless tunic but now without the blue jacket, which shows off his muscular arms.
• Spell Blade:
  • When using his Black Asta form he can envelop his sword in anti-magic energy, making it more potent and able to unleash a beam with a swing.
  • Asta's spell Black Divider forms a giant blade out of anti-magic energy from his Demon-Slayer Sword.
  • He holds Yami's katana with his transformed right arm, coating it in anti-magic to land the defeating attack on Dante.
• Stepford Smiler: Growing up without magic, Asta had a cheerful, boisterous attitude to hide his insecurity. After his arms are broken and cursed by Vetto, he nearly becomes depressed until he urges himself to move forward.
• Stock Shōnen Hero: Hot-Blooded Lightning Bruiser Nice Guy with Shonen Hair who is hell-bent on becoming the Wizard King despite lacking magic entirely. Asta fits this to a T. This trope is deconstructed later on. Vetto curb-stomps him whilst listing the logical reasons why Asta hasn't a hope in the world of defeating him: his poor attack range, general disadvantage against those who can magically enhance their physical ability, and his refusal to concede even when completely outmatched. His arms get broken and cursed by Vetto to the point that they can't be healed until the next arc. Thus, many of his fights require Asta to team up with his compatriots until he gets better with controlling his anti-magic to keep up with stronger opponents. As for his stupidity, he's aware of it but it works to his advantage of being Too Dumb to Fool by his enemies to the point he skips the lectures and just kick their ass while making them pay for their actions.
• Strong and Skilled: It's revealed that Asta has become this thanks to fighting with Yami, Mars, Kiato, Fanzell, and Licht, incorporating their swordsmanship styles into his own. Using Yami's katana with his physical strength and ki sensing, he manages to deftly evade Liebe's attacks with the giant anti-magic swords and parry them to eventually gain the upper hand in their fight.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Asta's mother is basically a female version of him, even having the same Idiot Hair. Him and Liebe also have similar apperances as well as their personalities being similar once Liebe stops being antagonistic to him, though they're brothers by adoption.
• Super Loser: Even after gaining the unique power of Anti-Magic after being mocked all his life for his lack of magical power, Asta is pretty much the same immature, simply guy looked down on by nobles for his peasant background.
• Super Mode:
  • When Asta draws out the power of his swords and enshrouds/enhances his body with anti-magic energy. It appears as a shadow over his right arm and half of his body with a black horn and wing. This for allows him to fly at high speed, makes him stronger, protects his body like armor, and more freely project and use anti-magic energy. Over time, Asta gains more conscious control over this ability and is able to make it last longer.
  • After training with Nacht and Liebe, he can access Devil Union, which completes the look of the original Black form and clads him in a demonic armor. With this power-up, he defeats the ancient Spade Kingdom demon that all the Magic Knights currently in the Clover Kingdom were unable to stop.
• Superpowered Evil Side: Defied. When Ladros puts Asta in dire straits and knocks him unconscious, the devil inside the blade attempts to take over Asta by tempting him with power. Asta promptly tells him to suck it, punches said devil out, and takes said devil's power as his own, entering a demonic form called Black Asta. That said, when overcome by malice in his Black Asta form he's covered in more Anti-Magic and his powers are strengthened, playing this straight.
• Surpassed the Teacher: The editor's note at the end of Chapter 316 states this after Asta uses his Devil Union to stop Lucifero and save Yami using a spell based on Yami's own Dark Cloaked Dimension Slash — Equinox, with flashbacks to Asta and Yami's fight against Dante with Yami passing Asta his katana and Nacht training him to achieve Devil Union. The chapter itself ends with a smiling Yami and Nacht praising Asta for doing it.
• Sword and Sorcerer:
  • Asta is the Sword to Yuno's Sorcerer whenever the two team up together. Asta is the only person in the setting who cannot use magic, and wields giant anti-magic swords to fight up close and cancel enemies' magic. Yuno is a gifted mage blessed with a four-leaf clover grimoire, and casts ranged spells such as gales and blades of wind from afar.
  • While they fight together less often, he also forms this with Noelle. Asta typically fights in melee range with his Anti-Magic swords while Noelle would protect allies/civilians with Sea Dragons Nest or prepares to fire Sea Dragon Roar.
  • Briefly forms this with Mimosa when they 'combine'. Her Plant Magic lets her constantly heal him even as he rushes in for melee combat against enemies.
  • Frequently plays this with the rest of the Black Bulls, their more traditional magic making for excellent support to the offensive capabilities of his Anti-Magic, whether it be through mobility (Finral and Vanessa), counters (Zora), or general combat support (Nacht).
• Sword Beam:
  • Both of the swords Asta wields can do this once he masters the properties of the weapons. The Demon-Dweller Sword can generate one, seemingly in response to Noelle's words of encouragement, which turns out to be a burst of Noelle's Water Magic. The anti-magic sword can also generate an anti-magic beam once Asta starts to tap into its powers.
  • Using the Demon-Slasher Katana, Yami's sword, he unleashes the Demon-Slasher — Infinite Slash Equinox, a vertical slash based on Yami's own spell that bifurcates Lucifero's manifestation while saving Yami, thanks to the sword's power to choose what it cuts.
• Sworn Brothers: Due to growing up in the church together, Asta and Yuno consider each other as family and more connected than people who're related by blood.

T — Z

• Tears of Joy: Asta cries these when he finds out that his squadmates are searching for a cure for his arms.
  I… wasn't blessed with any magic. That always frustrated me. But I sure was blessed with amazing friends…
• Tempting Fate: After giving an introduction to the readers about the Black Bulls, Asta thinks to himself he does not want to be put in this group. When the time for selection comes no one wants him except for... you guessed it, the Black Bulls.
• Thanks for the Mammary: When they enter the Shadow Palace, Mimosa falls on Asta with her breasts landing on his face. She's quite embarrassed by this.
• Theme Naming: His anti-magic swords are all named "Demon-blank: Demon-Slayer Sword, Demon-Dweller Sword, and Demon-Destroyer Sword. After getting his fourth sword when Yami's katana joins his grimoire and becomes an anti-magic weapon, he calls it the Demon-Slasher to fit with the theme.
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: Prone to this when agitated.
• This Is Unforgivable!:
  • Asta tells Patry that he won't ever forgive him for killing Julius, threatening countless innocent lives, and causing the elves' reincarnation that hurt people in the kingdom. Despite this, he persuades Patry to stop wallowing in his despair to atone for his mistakes.
  • He tells himself he will NEVER forgive Lucius for turning Sister Lily into a monster to try and kill him, and will kill Lucius if that's what it takes to wake her from her coma.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: While his anti-magic is definitely not useless, his Demon-Destroyer Sword is the only means available for the Clover Kingdom to save their squadmates who has been reincarnated to elves by dispelling the Reincarnation Magic permanently.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Throws his sword at his enemies on a few occasions, such as when he throws one of his anti-magic swords at Rades just as he's being teleported away by Valtos, and when fighting Ladros, he throws it directly at him to drain his magic. Asta even mentions how stupid he would be to pull it out and that he purposely aimed it at his non-vital spots.
• Tome of Eldritch Lore: His five-leaf clover grimoire hosts a devil from the underworld which is the source of Asta's anti-magic. His grimoire was formed when Licht was overcome by despair after the elf genocide, turning his four-leaf grimoire into a five-leaf.
• Too Dumb to Fool: He is well aware that he's an idiot. As such, he absolutely won't fall for We Can Rule Together, Villains Want Mercy, or I Surrender, Suckers type ploys. In fact, when Ladros, a powerful magic using villain, begs him to pull out his Demon-Slayer Sword, making all sorts of promises of power and glory, Asta makes quite clear how he intends to render the wizard unconscious with his other sword!
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • He gains the Demon-Dweller Sword in the dungeon. Using it he can directly absorb enemies' mana, which when used in tandem with his Demon-Slayer Sword greatly enhances his offensive capabilities by dual wielding both blades.
  • Yami teaches him how to use ki, letting him anticipate enemies' attacks and improving his fighting skills.
  • His Black Asta form after the Witch Queen uses her blood magic on him to remove his body's anti-magic limits. He can use more anti-magic energy and fly on top of his increase in strength and speed.
  • After the six-month timeskip he can release more anti-magic and control it better, allowing him to use his Black Asta form for longer periods of time.
  • After making a bargain with his devil, his right arm becomes possessed, releasing stronger anti-magic from it for 50 seconds.
  • Following his training with Nacht alongside Liebe, Asta can use Devil Union for five minutes. In this form, he can release enough anti-magic to completely erase the ancient demon's magic and is powerful enough to quickly take it down when the Magic Knights in the Clover Kingdom were unable to stop it.
• Trademark Favorite Food: He really likes tatoes, even after joining the Magic Knights and having more choices of food to eat.
• Training from Hell:
  • Asta put himself through grueling physical training since he was young to make up for his lack of magic, doing thousands of exercises like push-ups daily which gave him an incredibly muscular body.
  • He's subjected to this by Mereoleona at the Yultim Volcano, where he trains his Anti-Magic to willingly enter his Black form.
  • After making an equal contract with Liebe when Nacht summons him through a Devil-Binding Ritual for Asta to gain his power, Nacht makes them fight him while using his devils' power, telling them this is the beginning of the training. Asta manages to momentarily use Devil Union with Liebe, so Nacht leaves Gimodelo with them so they can polish it up and then join him and the assault force at the Spade Kingdom.
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Asta enters a more berserk, powerful Black form when enraged by Dante stabbing Gauche through with a giant sword.
• Two Guys and a Girl: The core trio of the series consists of Asta and Yuno as the Two Guys and Noelle as the Girl.
• The Unchosen One: Asta was the only one born magic-less in a world of mages, being unloved by mana and only because he trained his body very hard since childhood to make up for being magic-less he could even wield his giant anti-magic swords. He's only able to use his grimoire because of a rare genetic defect, and as the Witch Queen puts it Asta is nothing special, but it is because of this that he is special. Him and Liebe think about how they're this when they use the Demon-Slasher to save Yami — the sword chooses what it cuts and leaves intact what it wants to protect. Him being this is why Lucius wants to eliminate him — as the only living being born without any magic he's the flaw in his plan to remake humanity to be equal.
  "We weren't chosen by mana. And so... we'll make our own choices!!!!"
• Unskilled, but Strong:
  • Asta is a powerhouse that has tremendous amounts of strength due to all of the physical training he has put his body through. He is able to use brute force with his Anti-Magic blades to make up for his lack of actual magical abilities.
  • After gaining his Black form, Asta can use it to unleash large amounts of anti-magic able to negate powerful spells. However, he can't consciously control the amount released and flies out of control towards targets with strong magic. As he trains, Asta is able to better control the anti-magic he releases in the form. And after the six month time skip, he can fly towards wherever he chooses.
  • It's later revealed he's become a very skilled swordsman thanks to adopting the fighting styles of swordsmen he's fought with into his own, letting him gain the upper hand against Liebe using Yami's katana.
• Un-Sorcerer: He has absolutely no magical potential. The reactions of various characters such as the leader of Hell Lotus and Klaus imply that this is very unusual. The Witch Queen says that it's an incredibly rare genetic defect.
• Unstoppable Rage: When Gauche gets stabbed by Dante, Asta goes berserk, his Black form much more corrupted than before. However, he still seems to be able to think somewhat, as he figures out where Dante was going to reappear.
• Unwanted Harem: His harem consists of up to 5 chicks.
  • As a result of just being an all around hard-working Nice Guy, he gains the interest of his teammate Noelle, her cousin Mimosa, and the girl he met on a group date, Rebecca.
  • In addition, there's Sally, a Mad Scientist girl who really wants to experiment on Asta's peculiar magic-resisting body.
  • Asta is blissfully unaware of any of the previous examples, and is instead devoted to winning the heart of Sister Lily, the nun who works at the orphanage where he was raised. Unfortunately, she isn't interested in him.
• Unwitting Pawn: He becomes one for the Witch Queen when she decides to have him kill everyone on the battlefield, friend or foe alike, in an effort to test his new powers. Given Vanessa's shocked reaction and the Queen's comments, she had no idea how close Vanessa was to Asta and the Black Bulls. It backfires on the Witch Queen because Vanessa is understandably not happy about her tricking him in that manner.
• Vitriolic Best Buds:
  • With Nero. Despite Nero's constant pecking, they're always concerned about each other, as demonstrated when Nero becomes his Head Pet and gives out valuable intel.
  • Becomes this with Liebe out of Asta's desire to befriend him, refusing to force him to become a servant, with Liebe reciprocating out of Asta's kindness and his relation to their mother Licita. They continue to squabble as they bond during their training with Nacht, with Liebe calling Asta an idiot and Asta getting annoyed in return.
• Vocal Evolution: He becomes less loud as he matures and his voice deepens over time, which is especially noticeable after the time skip in the anime.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: His outfit after the six month time skip leaves most of his chest and stomach exposed. Meanwhile his uniform leaves his midriff completely exposed from the back.
• Wardrobe Flaw of Characterization: His outfit consists of a blue jacket and matching stitched pants that are too short, ending mid-way. They represent his poor peasant background, which he faces much prejudice for throughout the story.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: He has a BFS with one single ability, and one alone: it negates all magic that comes in contact with it. While he can also use his sword for the usual swinging and cutting, Asta has discovered that the anti-magic can also be used to lift curses, heal people who were hurt by magic, cut magic signals, revert changes to people and objects done by magic, and by using the flat sides of his sword, deflect projectile magic back at the caster like a mirror.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Asta's dream is to establish a country without discrimination or hatred as the Wizard King, even in spite of his mistreatment all his life for being a peasant without any magic and witnessing the rampant discrimination in the Clover Kingdom. Mereoleona is impressed by his straightforwardness when he states it, and Rhya is surprised that he's actually serious about it.
  Asta: A free country, where everybody can appreciate each other and joke and laugh together. That's the sort of country I want to build once I'm the Wizard King!!
• Wife-Basher Basher:
  • When at a mixer with Rebecca, a drunk man thinks that she's a single mom trying to nab a Magic Knight and harasses her. Asta stops him and throws him into the ceiling, with Rebecca falling for him not long afterwards.
  • He stops a Low Stage Spade Kingdom woman from being sexually assaulted by a corrupt soldier when he raids the Candelo fortress.
• Wingding Eyes: Asta's eyes turn into sparkles when he gets excited about something.
• The Worf Effect: Asta and Yuno are easily defeated by a reincarnated Licht, who did not even have his grimoire, despite using their transformations. This is to show that defeating the newly reincarnated elves won't be easy.
• Wrong Context Magic: Thanks to his power to use Anti-Magic due to having no magical power at all, Asta is classified as an Arcane Stage, a mage with inexplicable powers, on the Magic Stages scale. His Anti-Magic itself comes from the power of a devil, making Asta this even moreso than other Arcane Stages.
• You Are Not Alone: Tells this to a despairing Liebe crying over being unable to defeat Lucifero and avenge Licita, blaming himself for her death, after seeing Liebe's memories in his mental world. Asta thanks Liebe for his anger and sadness giving him his strength and expresses his gratitude for meeting him, leading Liebe to realize that he isn't alone and the two brothers continuing the fight against Lucifero.

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"Even if I wasn't chosen, even if it wasn't wanted, even if they wouldn't forgive me, I made that decision!!"

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