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"Surpass your limits!"

"Humanity came close to being decimated by the demons. But just one mage saved humankind. He was known thereafter as the Wizard King and became a legend."
Black Clover is an action fantasy manga by Yūki Tabata that has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from February 16, 2015 to August 20, 2023 and serialized in Jump Giga since. It takes place in a world where mana and magic reign supreme, and focuses on the Clover Kingdom. There is one man in the kingdom whose magic power is unmatched, and thus, he's known as the Wizard King. However, this is not his story. Rather, this is the story of Asta, a young man from the countryside who, along with his best/childhood friend Yuno, compete with each other to become the next Wizard King. The only problem is that unlike his magic prodigy of a friend Yuno, Asta possesses no mana, and despite all his physical training, he cannot compensate for his lack of magical abilities.

This all changes during the ceremony in which everybody receives their own grimoire, which are used to focus and enhance the user's magic. While Asta receives nothing, Yuno receives a super-rare four-leaf clover grimoire, the same type used by the first Wizard King (most people receive three-leaf grimoires). Later, Yuno's attacked by a thief who's hoping to steal his grimoire, but Asta, in the process of protecting Yuno, receives a five-leaf, black clover grimoire that contains an Anti-Magic sword inside. After defeating the thief, Asta continues his promise with Yuno of not stopping until one of them is the Wizard King.

Black Clover is the second major serialization by Tabata, whose first major one, Hungry Joker, was cancelled because of lack of popularity, despite its good reception with readers. Black Clover, unlike its predecessor, has been able to acquire a large number of readers. It is localized by Viz Media and the English version of Shonen Jump. The story went on hiatus for 3 months in preparation for its Grand Finale after 331 chapters, and resumed serialization on July 31, 2022. On August 20, 2023, it was announced that Black Clover would move to Jump Giga to be released quarterly for its final arc.

Following the release of an OVA, it received an anime adaptation by Studio Pierrot, which aired from October 3, 2017 to March 30, 2021. A SimulDub of the series was produced by Funimation. The anime adaptation began airing on Toonami on December 2, 2017. On March 28, 2021, it was announced that the series would receive an anime film. It was later announced that the film would be titled Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King and simultaneously released in Japanese theaters and on Netflix on June 16, 2023.


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Black Clover provides examples of:

    Tropes # to C 
  • Abusive Parents:
    • This is commonly seen in aristocratic families:
      • In Noelle's backstory, her father notes the irony that the last thing Acier gave to the world was someone as useless at her.
      • Finral's father denounced him for being inferior to his younger brother Langris and disowned him.
      • Henry's father disowned him for his illness and abandoned him in an isolated mansion.
    • Luck's mother mistreated him for his inability to stop smiling, with a flashback showing her slapping him at one point. She only began to show him affection when he beat a noble with magic, which began his pathological desire to win fights.
  • Action Girl: Many female Magic Knights are this. Noelle develops into this as she learns to control her immense magical power offensively, Vanessa is a capable fighter using simply magical threads, and Charlotte is the captain of a Magic Knights squad who transforms her sword into a rose bush to fight. Even Charmy has her moments, creating a giant sheep to pummel enemies. The greatest one in the Clover Kingdom is Mereoleona, who is stated to be the strongest Magic Knight and fights using hand-to-hand combat in combination with her brutal Flame Magic.
  • Actor Allusion:
  • Adaptation Expansion: The anime fleshes out and adds certain details not found in the manga:
    • The Flashback in Episodes 55 and 56 fleshes out the introductions of Fanzell, Dominante and Mariella to better explain their sudden appearance at the start of the Forest of Witches Arc.
    • The fight between Yuno and Rill is greatly expanded, both in length and scale.
    • The anime spends two episodes showing how Yami and Vangeance first met, as well as how they became Magic Knight Captains.
    • The anime shows the six months of training in preparation for war against the Spade Kingdom which was not covered in the manga, which had an immediate Time Skip.
  • Aerith and Bob:
    • The Black Bulls are composed of people with names like Luck, Magna, Gauche, Charmy, and Grey. Then there are members with names like Vanessa and Gordon.
    • The Magic Knight captains qualify for this, with captains having names like Yami, Nozel, and Fuegoleon. Then there are captains named Charlotte, Dorothy, and William.
    • The name of the Wizard King is Julius Novachrono.
  • Alchemic Elementals: Spirit Magic allows a mage to summon one of the four elemental spirits to aid in elemental magic and at higher levels allow the user to merge with them to allow for extremely powerful spells. So far, Yuno has Sylph, Fana and later Fuegoleon have Salamander, and Lolopechka has Undine, who has served the Princesses of the Heart Kingdom for many generations.
  • All for Nothing:
    • The Witch Queen's attempts to have Asta kill off Vanessa's friends and make the latter awaken the potential of her thread magic to control destiny backfire on her. Vanessa's "Red Thread of Fate" magic succeeds in stopping Asta from killing her friends and since that particular magic can be formed only from the bonds between her and the Black Bulls, the Witch Queen gained nothing from trying to forcefully obtain Vanessa's magic.
    • In the long run, Patry's plan to commit mass genocide against Clover Kingdom's royals for the elf tribe massacre 5 centuries ago ends up being a horrible mistake. Contrary to Patry's beliefs, royals did not kill all the elves in Licht's wedding; Zagred did. He used a magic tool to siphon mana from the elves to Clover Kingdom royals and killed them using his own magic amplified to make it as if Lumiere betrayed them. He also cast the spell that reincarnated Patry in the body of Vangeance, not Licht. Zagred did all of this to grant himself the ability to wreck mass havoc, and every sacrifice and misery Patry inflicted against the Clover Kingdom was unknowingly used to empower Zagred to the word devil's glee. Furthermore, it's later shown that the elf tribe wasn't even fully wiped out, and Tetia's descendants prospered in Elysia.
  • All Genes Are Codominant: Magic attribute inheritance can act like this. Nozel, whose parents have Water and Steel Magic, has Mercury Magic, in contrast to his siblings who inherited a form of Water Magic from their father. Licht and Tetia's unborn son, whose parents have Sword and Wind Magic, can form a sword of wind through Yuno.
  • All Love Is Unrequited: Noelle, Rebecca and Mimosa all have a crush on Asta, while Charlotte has a crush on Yami. In both cases, the guy is Oblivious to Love. Charmy and Bell both have a crush on Yuno, who does not care. Asta has a crush on Sister Lily, who is a nun. Sol, a woman, has a crush on Charlotte, which seems to be a case of Incompatible Orientation. Ironically, the only major character to have a requited romance is Finral: his Casanova Wannabe shtick hides the fact that he's in love with Finnes, who likes him too but is betrothed to his jerkass half-brother.
  • All There in the Manual: There are some details about the characters that one reading only the chapters (and not even the character information shown between chapters in the volumes) would not get to see, such as a character's age or full name. This is done once again with the official guidebook, which lists more details about the characters, including minor characters.
  • Anachronism Stew: The Clover Kingdom seems to suffer from this. On the one hand, the kingdom seems to resemble the medieval period in many ways, such as in architecture, mindsets and clothing of many of its people. And yet, at the same time, you also have outfits that could easily pass for modern day clothing, and certain kinds of clothes, such as swimsuits, are distinctly modern. In addition, they have other modern technology, such as modern toilets, plumbing, toilet paper or television (in the omakes, anyway). Clover Kingdom aside, the Spade Kingdom also has computerized laboratories.
  • Animation Bump: Perhaps the most jarring example of any anime currently airing. The show is frequently criticized for its mediocre to non-existent animation in most episodes. But then every dozen episodes or so, an episode featuring a major climatic fight will occur and animation quality will skyrocket to a level many anime films struggle to reach.
  • Anti-Magic: Asta's sword has the ability to nullify any magic it comes into contact with. It makes him deadly to any opponent he fights. It's later revealed that the two anti-magic swords that he uses once belonged to Licht, the elf elder. However, the Anti-Magic power in the swords comes from the devil that took over the grimoire, making it the titular Black Clover.
  • Arc Villain:
    • Revchi is the Starter Villain, trying to steal Yuno's four-leaf grimoire, which provokes Asta to manifest his five-leaf grimoire. Later Heath Grice, who's trying to steal a magic stone from a village for the Eye of the Midnight Sun.
    • The Dungeon Exploration Arc has Mars, a mage from the Diamond Kingdom who comes into conflict with the Black Bulls and Golden Dawn.
    • Rades Spirito in the Royal Capital Assault Arc, with his corpses attacking throughout the Capital.
    • The Eye of the Midnight Sun Encounter Arc has Baro and Sally trying to kidnap children from Nean, with Licht then appearing.
    • Vetto in the Underwater Temple Arc, leading members of the Eye of the Midnight Sun to obtain a magic stone.
    • The Forest of Witches Arc has Fana attack the forest for a magic stone, and Mars and Ladros lead an army to conquer the forest. After these threats are dealt with, the Witch Queen establishes herself as this for the rest of the arc.
    • The closest thing the Royal Knights Arc has to one is Langris, whose near-murder of Finral puts him into conflict with the Black Bulls.
  • Arc Words:
    • Whenever Asta gains new power (such as in when he first obtained the grimoire), an old adage is repeated. The arc words are the last sentence:
      "Clover leaves each represent faith, hope and love. Within the fourth leaf dwells good luck. In the fifth leaf… resides the devil!"
    • The significance is a spoiler:Black Clover grimoires have five leaves. They're four-leaf grimoires that have become possessed by devils. Yes, that includes Asta's; his Anti-Magic, and all the abilities he gains from that, come from the devil. When elves holding four-leaf grimoires fall to despair, their grimoires turn black and gain a fifth leaf as well.
  • Area of Effect: Mana Zone, a technique that skilled mages use to control the mana in the area around them, increasing spells’ power and attacking from any direction.
  • Aristocrats Are Evil: Most nobles are arrogant elitists who absolutely abhor citizens of lower ranks and discriminate against them. If a child happens to be conceived through a mistress not part of nobility, chances are even the child will be ostracized by the nobles and be abused for the rest of their life, as seen with Vangeance's backstory. If a child of nobility is inept at magic, they're viewed as a disgrace to their family's name, such as Noelle. And no matter how many heroic deeds a peasant/commoner Magic Knight like Asta or Yuno has accomplished, most nobles still treat them like dirt.
  • Armor Is Useless: Massively subverted when Asta gets stabbed in his chest by Mars.
  • Art Evolution: Tabata's art improves throughout the series and becomes more detailed and shaded during the manga's serialization, with especially gorgeous backgrounds and spreads later on.
  • Background Magic Field: Mana is a supernatural energy used to activate spells that exists not only inside people but also in the world. Environments with strong and wild concentrations of mana, such as Strong Magic Regions, make it harder for mages to properly use their magic. Some powerful mages can use Mana Zone to control the mana in the area around themselves, increasing their spells' power and range.
  • Badass Creed: Asta's catch-phrase is a pretty good example and pretty much emcompasses his character in a nutshell.
    Asta: My magic is never giving up!
  • Badass Family: Deconstructed. Many noble and royal families pride themselves in having members who go on to become powerful mages, with some associated with Magic Knight squads like the Silva and Vermillion families. However, members who don't live up to their families' expectations, like Noelle for her Power Incontinence and Finral for failing to use offensive Spatial Magic, are viewed as a disgrace to their name, which gives them a lot of self-esteem issues.
  • Bad Powers, Bad People: Thanks to the Personality Powers of magic attributes this is common:
    • Rades Spirito makes monsters out of human corpses, and tries to destroy a kingdom full of innocent people over a wounded ego.
    • Catherine is a villainous witch who uses cursed ash to drain others' mana and steal their senses.
    • Curse Mages make a living out of hexing people to bring them misfortune.
    • Devil users, excluding Asta, are the willing hosts of devils, empowering them with the power of evil demons from the underworld. They include the Dark Triad, the primary villains after the time skip, and their underlings the Dark Disciples.
  • Barely-There Swimwear: In episode 40 of the anime adaptation, Noelle is purchasing a swimsuit. Klaus, who entered the store having heard Noelle scream, asks what she and Vanessa were doing there. Vanessa states that they were looking for a swimsuit for Noelle, lamenting that she had offered one of her own swimsuits to Noelle. Along with a shot of what it looked like, Noelle exclaims that it was just strings.
  • Battle Against the Sunset: By the time Asta and Yami finally manage to defeat Dante, the sun begins to set. Zenon picks that exact moment to teleport in, capture Yami, pick up Dante and leave.
  • Beach Episode: Subverted; the first chapter of the Underwater Temple Arc has the Black Bulls fooling around on a beach, with all the hijinks and fanservice required. Yami then tells them to quit screwing around, as they're on a mission, and they quickly get going.
  • Beware the Silly Ones: The Black Bulls run on this trope. Almost all of them (including their leader) is a Cloudcuckoolander and they have a reputation for causing more harm than good. However, they are still magic knights, and each and every one of them is a very capable fighter with most boasting very rare and powerful magics and spells. Even ones like Charmy that come off as joke characters at first end up being magical powerhouses. If anything, the crazier and sillier a member of the Black Bulls appears, the more likely they are to be able to destroy anything in their path if properly motivated.
  • Beyond the Impossible: Vetto regenerates his entire right arm and both Gifso and Yami exclaim that this is impossible. Even the best recovery magic specialist couldn't do that. Mythical Beast Magic can ignore this rule.
  • BFS: Asta's first anti-magic sword is this huge claymore like thing that he can use as a shield.
  • Biblical Motifs:
    • The Kabbalah is associated heavily with the elves. Their souls are reincarnated into their hosts' bodies by placing ten magic stones in the Tree of Life Monument, with the reincarnated elves having a glow of mana similar to light. Each of the Ten Apostles of Sephira, who are believed to be divinely blessed, correspond to a spot on the Tree of Life and together can open the Shadow Palace, the space between the living world and underworld. Notably, their leader's Licht's position on the tree corresponds to Keter, the "Crown".
    • The Dark Triad's goal is to create the Tree of Qliphoth to bring devils into the living world using the power of Dark Magic and World Tree Magic. The Qliphoth is the arrangement of evil forces in the Kabbalah and the opposite of the Sephirot.
    • The Dark Triad's eldest sibling, Lucius Zogratis a.k.a. Julius Novachrono, takes heavy design cues from the biblical Antichrist. His real name, Lucius, is the birth name of the Roman emperor Nero, a figure commonly associated with the false messiah for his persecution against Christians, he's killed by Patry, another Dark Messiah who fashioned himself as christ only to come back to life, and is a highly popular, charismatic and responsible authority figure who does many good deeds that turned out to be preparation for the end of days.
  • Big Bad:
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: After the six month time skip, the new villains are the Dark Triad, the leaders of the Spade Kingdom and hosts of powerful devils. They lead their forces against the Clover Kingdom and Heart Kingdom to achieve their goal of bringing devils into the living world by using Yami and Vangeance's magics. While they are technically this, Dante is the leader, while Zenon and Vanica are his Co-Dragons. It later turns out that the Dark Triad formed this with Morris after he was forced out of the Diamond Kingdom by Mars.
  • The Big Bad Shuffle: The Heart Kingdom Joint Struggle Arc and the Spade Kingdom Raid Arc turns out to be this. At first, Dante Zogratis, the leader of the Dark Triad and the host of the ultimate devil Lucifero is built up to be the Big Bad, showing off his threat level by easily defeating Asta at 60% of his power, only for Yami to nearly overpower him, Asta getting back up and seemingly finishing him off and his younger brother Zenon had to bail him out and capture Yami in his place. In his second battle, he gets defeated way quicker and he receives a Fate Worse than Death, and the only Dark Triad member who actually puts up a good fight is Zenon. Morris then becomes Lucifero's host but is quickly defeated and taken over by the supreme devil himself after a few chapters, at which Lucifero poses himself as the Big Bad, a far deadlier threat than Dante, and a personal foe for Liebe. After he's defeated however, it's revealed that even he's just an Unwitting Pawn for the true Big Bad and Greater-Scope Villain of the series; Lucius Zogratis, aka the Wizard King of Clover Kingdom, Julius Novachrono.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Asta rescues people a lot. That's part of his job as a Magic Knight.
  • Big Eater: Charmy is rarely seen not eating or talking about food. the wolf she summons when she unlocks her food magic also applies, though with magic and spells instead of actual food.
  • Bizarro Elements: There are the four great attributes of magic: flame, water, wind, and earth, with attributes derived from them such as ice, lightning, and smoke. Then there are attributes like cotton, gel, and slime.
  • Black Magic: Forbidden Magic is this, using negative mana from the underworld to cast powerful spells that break the laws of magic, at the cost of destabilizing the soul and the caster losing their humanity, developing wegs as a result. Types of Forbidden Magic include Mythical Beast Magic, which regenerates an entire arm, and magics used by devils, who are from the underworld, such as Word Soul Magic.
  • Black Sheep: The common thread everyone in the Black Bulls has is this. Everyone is different, out of place, or just "off" in some way, yet as a squad they come together and, helped along by Asta's can-do attitude, they become surprisingly coherent and effective.
  • Blessed with Suck: In spite of his high combat skills, Asta is recruited by almost none of the captains at the Magic Knights Entrance Exam. No one wants anything to do with a suspicious power and Asta has no magical power, the most important thing about being a Magic Knight. Luckily, Yami sees his potential and scouts Asta after testing his resolve.
  • Blue Blood: In the Clover Kingdom, there are nobles, just below royals in the social hierarchy, who tend to have large amounts of magical power and often look down on commoners. They make up most of the Magic Knights, especially the more prestigious squads.
  • Boss Subtitles: Whenever a locale or a character is introduced, it is always accompanied by a description of their names.
  • Break the Haughty:
    • Vanessa uses Rouge to defeat the Witch Queen, who was trying to have Asta kill everyone, including Noelle.
    • Noelle uses her powers to defeat Solid after years of enduring her siblings' mockery.
  • Breather Episode:
    • The Forest of Witches Arc has the Black Bulls face off against three threats: The Eye of the Midnight Sun, Diamond Kingdom, and the Witch Queen. Afterwards the story focuses on the festival shenanigans and training at the Yultim Volcano.
    • The immediate aftermath of the elves' reincarnation, aside from a trial and brief battle that's actually a test from Lolopechka, is much less serious than the preceding Elf Reincarnation Arc, which was full of Wham Episodes. Afterwards, the Dark Triad invade.
  • Call-Back:
    • Chapter 306 has a large one to Chapter 1 with Allen and Zenon and Asta and Yuno, paralleling the beginning of Zenon's past rivalry with Allen with Yuno's and Asta's. The imagery and dialogue directly mirror Asta and Yuno's promise from the first chapter.
    • In Chapter 308, Yuno obtaining his true Spade grimoire during a time of despair is a call-back to Asta obtaining his five-leaf grimoire in the very first chapter.
    • The first part of Judgement Day brings into mind Julius's final fight against Patry, aside of the roles being swapped. Lucius attempts to blow up Vangeance's left arm with Time Magic, just like he (as Julius) did with Patry, Vangeance's once-inner Elf. His troops also attempt to blow up everyone in Clover Kingdom through a massive Light Magic spell, which was deflected by Yuno.
  • Calling Your Attacks: Practically universal and justified as the incantation to activate a spell. Shockingly enough for a manga of this type, Asta is the only exception as he simply needs to pull his sword out of his grimoire and start swinging.
  • Cape Snag: While Dominante's plan to search for the Witch Queen may be successful, her plans to have Asta, Finral, Fanzell, Noelle and Mariella enter the forest undetected is derailed right from the start. The six enter the Forest of Witches using her invisibility cloaks, but the boys' cloak gets pulled off by a tree branch. This immediately catches the attention of the Security Golems, and the mages have no choice but to enter the Queen's manor by force.
  • Casting Gag:
    • It's not the first time Lydia Mackay, Vanessa's English voice actress, has voiced a character who has issues with her mother, as she previously played Ultear Milkovich in Fairy Tail.
    • Klaus Lunette is portrayed by Aaron Roberts, who, much like Samuel from Fairy Tail, is bespectacled and frequently talks down to his peers until he’s brought low, at which point he becomes hilariously friendly.
  • Central Theme:
    • Hard work: Asta, despite being a peasant born without magic, trained hard every day. He later manifests his own grimoire to wield giant swords that he can only use due to his hard-earned musculature. Through rigorous training, he learns to use his newfound powers and earns a position as a Magic Knight. He works hard throughout the story to prove himself and achieve his dream of becoming the Wizard King, with many coming to acknowledge him.
    • The story often discusses social inequality within the Clover Kingdom. Nobles discriminate against commoners and peasants for their weaker magic, looking down on them and treating them as second-class citizens. Many Magic Knights, who are mostly nobility and meant to serve as the kingdom's protectors, are corrupt and abuse their authority. The figures of good in the story tried to change this, with the first Wizard King inventing tools to increase peasants' magical power and Julius, who was inspired by the first peasant Magic Knight who was killed by his comrades because of his social status, created a meritocracy within the Magic Knights. Asta and Yuno, despite being orphans from the Forsaken Realm, prove themselves to be brilliant Magic Knights through their achievements and slowly change the views of those around them, which has apparently succeeded by the time of the Spade Kingdom Raid Arc. While the Dark Triad problem is seemingly unrelated to the overarching problem of corrupt royals, it goes back full circle when it turns out hell has a similar but way worse caste system in place, and the actual Greater-Scope Villain a.k.a. the Clover Kingdom Wizard King intends to put an end to the system through exterminating humanity and resurrecting all of them into angelic superhumans.
  • Chekhov's Gun:
    • The Third Eye use Trinity Sealing Magic to store incredibly large amounts of mana, which is first seen in Chapter 53. Licht releases this seal in Chapter 144, using the entirety of the mana to cast his Arrows of Judgement, raining down light blades on the entire Clover Kingdom and forcing Julius to sacrifice himself.
    • Sally's human chambers are first seen in Chapter 37. In Chapter 182, they're used by Rhya to reincarnate Vetto and Fana a second time in artificial bodies.
    • Yuno's pendant is part of a group of stones that can power up elves and, apparently, open magic seals. It is used specifically to open the seal of Zagred. The pendant is later revealed to be an heirloom of his biological family the House of Grinberryall, the former rulers of the Spade Kingdom.
    • Early on a spherical magic item is seen in Hage near the skeleton of the demon that the first Wizard King defeated. It's later revealed to be an invention created by the first Wizard King and Secre. And Julius has been storing his Time Magic inside it, using it to revive himself as a 13 year old when he's fatally stabbed by Patry. And that demon? That's actually Licht. Not Patry, the real one.
    • As for that the statue of the Wizard King on top of it? That's not a statue. That is the Wizard King
    • After using Yami's katana with his new devil arm to defeat Dante, it enters Asta's grimoire. He uses it when fighting Liebe, who takes control of his anti-magic swords. Asta gains the upper hand using the katana thanks to his swordsmanship style formed from incorporating other swordsmen's techniques, one of whom is Yami.
  • Chest Monster: Played realistically. At one point, Asta and Noelle find a Mimic monster (a treasure chest with legs, like you'd see in an RPG) and crack it open, hoping to see some wonderful treasure. Instead, they find it stuffed to the brim with the monster's internal organs, because even though it's a walking treasure chest, it still needs those to live.
  • Clip Show: The anime has an unusually high number of these. Episodes 29, 66 and 102 are all recaps.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Many characters are this, but the Black Bulls in particular are a group almost completely comprised of assorted nutcases. You have Gauche, the guy who is way too obsessed with his little sister. Gordon, the incredibly pale dude who's always mumbling about friendship and making very creepy dolls modeled after his squadmates. Luck is a hyperactive pint-sized Lightning Bruiser who is always trying to fight everybody he meets. Magna is a hot-blooded roughneck who's just as ready to throw down. Vanessa, the sexy drunken witch. Finral, the girl crazy slacker. And then we get the the really odd ones. Yami, their leader, is normally either drunk, yelling at/threatening to kill everything, or taking the most ridiculous craps. Asta is a super energetic Pintsize Powerhouse that never stops training and rarely speaks in any volume less than full throated shouting. But by far the absolute champ has to be Charmy. Not only does her Cotton Magic make her very close to a literal example (at least visually), she outclasses the rest because they normally know when to get serious and at least will to show some actual focus. But no matter the foe or how serious the situation, Charmy can never go more than thirty seconds without eating something or mentioning food. Even when she does get serious, it's normally because somebody made the grievous error of wasting some in her presence.
  • Collapsing Lair: After finally defeating Lotus Whomalt and Mars, our heroes (Asta, Noelle, Luck, Yuno, Klaus and Mimosa) find that they have to escape the now quickly collapsing dungeon.
  • Combo Platter Powers: The vast majority of mages are only born with one magic attribute, only able to use spells of that type. However, there are rare cases of mages who can use two attributes. Due to experimentation, Mars and Fana can use Flame and Mineral Magic. Hybrids like Charmy can be have two attributes, in her case Cotton and Food Magic. The Dark Triad, by hosting high-ranking devils, can use their own magic attribute and their devil's.
  • Coming of Age Story: For Asta, Yuno and Noelle. Asta leaves his home to become the Wizard King, Yuno must use his powers to be one of the best Magic Knights of Golden Dawn, and Noelle has to prove herself as a successful Magic Knight.
  • Crapsaccharine World: The story is set in a fantasy medieval world where almost the entirety of the population has magic of many different attributes. However, there's widespread discrimination in the Clover Kingdom, with peasants and commoners at the mercy of arrogant, corrupt aristocrats. Those with lower amounts of magic power are looked down on. Peasants and commoners have little means to raise their social statuses. The Magic Knights have rampant corruption with many of its highborn members oppressing the commoners. The kingdom itself is the target of the Eye of the Midnight Sun, who want to kill all humans, and the Spade Kingdom, ruled by tyrants who mistreat their peasant subjects and plan to bring devils to the living world, which would kill over 90% of the continent's population as a result.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: The Black Bulls as a squad are this trope. They are seen as the worst magic knight squad and have a reputation for causing a lot of trouble. But after Asta joins and lights a fire under everybody's asses they end up coming in second place in the annual award festival and were instrumental in helping defeat Zagred.
    • Asta is a hyperactive knucklehead with no magic, but when his friends or his dream are on the line he simply won't go down until his enemies stop fighting.
    • Charmy is an adorable half-dwarf that never stops eating or talking about food. Even her magic normally just makes sheep cooks so can continuously chow down, or fluffy cotton balls. However, the sheeps' food instantly replenishes mana giving her a functionally infinite supply and very few of her fights have lasted longer than a few minutes. And that was before she unlocked her Food Magic that allows her to summon a wolf that eats her enemies magic and turns it into even more mana for her.
  • Crossover: With Osomatsu-san, having a collaboration campaign and cameo of the Matsuno sextuplets in Black Clover's 76th episode.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle:
    • During the magic knight exams, Asta delivers one to his opponent Sekke with one swing of his sword after the latter said not to hold back.
    • Yuno defeats Salim in one page after Salim gave a quick speech that he would win because Yuno is a street rat.
    • Mars, the diamond mage working with Lotus, inflicts this on Yuno and his teammates. Even after Yuno stops holding back, he's much worse for the wear, while Mars isn't even scratched.
    • Rhya and Meleoleona fight, and the former is absolutely pathetic against the latter, even with his sundry magics. His being on the losing side doesn't last long, though, once Patry revives the elves. Rhya can now cast many magics at once, and to make matters worse, the elf in Rill's body comes to the scene.
    • Licht against Yuno and Asta. Although the two both enter their Super Modes they're easily beaten, which is made even worse by the fact that Licht did not even have his grimoire after being reincarnated.
    • Zenon and his Dark Disciples' attack on Golden Dawn. He easily defeats Vangeance offscreen and Yuno, using only 55% of his devil's power, and half the squad ends up dying.
    • Liebe is a devil who was knocked around all his life in the underworld, later lived a peaceful life with Richita, and then got sealed in a grimoire, leaving him with no real fighting experience. Asta, on the other hand, has learned to read ki, has great physical strength from his training, and become a skilled swordsman thanks to fighting with powerful swordsmen. With his ki reading, he begins to easily evade Liebe's attacks with the giant anti-magic swords even when one-armed, eventually gaining the upper hand in their fight.
  • Cyanide Pill: Instead of being interrogated by Magna after his defeat and losing the chance to complete his mission, Heath freezes himself and then shatters the ice to protect his unknown leader, who later turns out to be Licht.

    Tropes D to N 
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Many of the characters have this, especially Licht and his fellow elves, who were victims of a mass murder during the former's wedding, no less.
  • Darker and Edgier: The Heart Kingdom Joint Struggle Arc. The villains manage to capture Vangeance, Lolopechka, and Yami, kill half of Golden Dawn, devastate the Heart Kingdom, and defeat the Magic Knights despite their best efforts and six months of training.
  • Dark Is Evil:
    • The devils, malicious beings from the underworld who desire to sow destruction and suffering wherever they go. They appear as black, horned beings and serve as the Greater Scope Villains after the elves.
    • The Spade Kingdom's Dark Triad and their Dark Disciples are this. They are all dressed in black and use the powers of devils, with higher percentage use manifesting horns and dark demonic wings.
  • Dark Is Not Evil:
    • The shadow projected by the sword in the first chapter and the old wizard's thoughts on it in the second chapter, all strongly imply that Asta's Five Leaf Grimoire is evil in nature. In reality, the Devil inside it is actually Liebe, Asta's adoptive brother and one of the few Token Heroic Orcs of the Devil race.
    • The Black Bulls as a whole are associated with black, and their captain uses dark magic. They are still heroes, and for what's been up to comparison, their moral compass points way more to the north than any other team shown so far, which always seem to have at least one Nominal Hero when they aren't just elitist and racist.
  • The Day the Music Lied: Although Asta and Yuno are badass once "Haruka Mirai" starts playing when they fight Licht, with Yuno using Mana Zone to attack Licht from behind and Asta launching into the sky for them to attack him together, they're easily defeated anyways.
  • Deal with the Devil:
    • Subverted with Vanessa's bargain with the Witch Queen. After returning to the Forest of Witches, Vanessa asks the Queen to heal Asta's arms in exchange for her freedom. However, the Queen turns on Vanessa and her friends, and she reveals that she knew her daughter would return to the forest after all. Fortunately, the Queen ultimately keeps her word after she's completely defeated by the newly-manifested Red Thread of Fate.
    • To gain the power needed to help Yami defeat Dante, Asta asks the Anti-Magic Devil to lend him his true power. It agrees to a "devil's bargain", taking control of Asta's right arm as the price.
  • Deconstructed Trope:
    • Badass Family: Many noble aristocrats families pride themselves in having members who go on to become powerful mages, with some associated with Magic Knight squads like the Silva and Vermillion families. However, members who don't live up to their families' expectations, like Finral for failing to use offensive Spatial Magic and Noelle for her Power Incontinence, are viewed as a disgrace to their name, which gives them a lot of self-esteem issues.
    • Personality Powers: Mages' magics and spells are strongly tied to their personalities. Finral's kind, cowardly nature makes him unable to learn offensive Spatial Magic, no matter how hard he trained and even after becoming more assertive. This led him to be disowned by his family as its heir and severely affected his self-confidence.
  • Defeat Equals Friendship: Subverted. After Vanica is finally defeated, she tries to invoke this with Noelle, who harshly rebukes the offer and would have finished her off if Megicula didn't show up. Would you want to be friendly rivals with a psychopath who ruined your life by murdering one of your parents?
  • The Determinator: Asta. When he sets his sights on a goal, whether it's becoming a Magic Knight, ascending to Wizard King, or even just saving his friends, he will fight tooth-and-nail to achieve it. No amount of talking is going to dissuade him, and pointing out the odds is just going to make him that much more determined to win. As his squadmates quickly come to realize, it's better to just help him out if you're so concerned. He'll do it anyway, regardless.
  • Deus Exit Machina: Wizard King Julius and his powerful time magic are often conviently busy elsewhere early in the manga, and the moment he seriously fights Licht it's shown why. Even the leader of the Midnight Sun with high-speed light magic can only fight him on even terms because Julius isn't trying to harm Vangeance and only wins becuase he manages to literally threaten the entire kingdom. Julius is then killed (though he does get better), putting him out of action for the rest of the Elf Reincarnation Arc, because if he had stayed in the fight at even half power the heroes would wrapped thing up much earlier and easier.
  • Didn't See That Coming: The Witch Queen does not realize that Vanessa's Red Thread of Fate magic can only be formed from whom she has a bond with. So, when Vanessa's magic stops Asta from killing Noelle and Finral and ultimately thwarts the Witch Queen's plans, the latter becomes puzzled by what has just happened until Vanessa explains it to her.
  • Disk-One Final Boss: The Dark Triad have one hell of a showing in their first appearance, dominating our heroes with the power of their bonded demons combined with and enhancing their own, formidable magics. Come the rematch, and ultimately only the little brother, Zenon, is a true challenge thanks to turning himself into a Devil, and he's just about that strong. The other two are dispatched with relative ease to make way for the true villains; the devils themselves.
  • Disowned Parent: Vanessa flat-out tells her abusive mother, the Witch Queen, she isn't her family before "the red thread of fate" manifests itself. She specifically says that to her, the Black Bulls are her family.
  • The Dog Bites Back:
    • The Witch Queen beats the crap out of Vanessa and tricks Asta into killing the people she loves dearly. Vanessa's response is to use the newly-manifested "red thread of fate" magic to thwart the Queen's plans for good.
    • Noelle's siblings mocked her even when she was a young child. Her response towards Solid during their battle was brutal, but well-deserved on the latter's part.
  • Dungeon Crawling: An entire story arc is dedicated to exploring a dungeon.
  • Elemental Powers: Most mages' magic attributes are these. There are the four main elements – flame, water, earth and wind. Rarer ones include light, ice/snow, lightning, dark, plant, mineral, steel, poison, and ash, to name some.
  • Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Certain magic attributes are effective against others: Poison Magic has an advantage against Plant Magic, Steel Magic is at a disadvantage against Flame Magic, Water Magic has an advantage against Flame Magic, etc. Because attribute affinities have a huge effect in combat, Magic Knight squads always carry out missions in teams organized for members to cover each other's weaknesses.
  • Elite Army: The Clover Kingdom hosts the Royal Knights Selection Exam to choose the members of the Royal Knights, an elite squad of Magic Knights, specifically to defeat the Eye of the Midnight Sun.
  • Empathic Weapon: Every grimoire is unique, with its design, shape, size, and thickness dependent on the personality of its user. As a mage becomes stronger and undergoes personal development, the grimoire's blank pages are filled with spells. Because the grimoire chooses its mage, a mage's grimoire is unusable for anyone else, and can't be destroyed.
  • The End of the World as We Know It: The Spade Kingdom intends to open a gate to the underworld using the Tree of Qliphoth, with Yami and Vangeance as sacrificial offerings. Over seven days, seven gates to seven levels will gradually open. If the final devil Lucifer emerges, the world is finished.
  • Everyone Is a Super: Everyone in the world is born with the ability to use magic, usually in the form of creating and manipulating a form of matter or element. The class system of this world seems to be based around one's magical ability, the nobles using their magical skills as a way of lording superiority over the less magically inclined peasants. The only character that does not seem to possess any latent magical ability is the protagonist Asta. Ironically, it is this complete lack of magic that allows him to wield the Five-Leafed Clover Grimoire, allowing him to wield swords imbued with Anti-Magic.
  • Evolving Credits: The anime's Opening Narration talks about how the first Wizard King became a legend for defeating a demon and saving the kingdom. After his name is revealed and the fight is shown in detail, the narration changes to mention his name and show more in-depth visuals of the battle. After the Elf Reincarnation Arc, which resolves the story of the first Wizard King, the narration changes to talk about Asta and his desire to become the Wizard King.
  • Evolving Weapon: Every mage's grimoire begins with empty pages. As a mage trains and undergoes personal development, the grimoire grows alongside its mage, with new spells inscribed onto the blank pages.
  • Fairytale Motifs: Has its own page.
  • Fan Disservice: Played absolutely straight, then Played for Laughs during the Heart Kingdom Joint Struggle Arc. When a woman tells a Spade Kingdom soldier to spare her sister from becoming their fortress' mana fuel, the soldier strips her topless and gives her a thinly-veiled rape threat. The Played for Laughs part happens after Asta kills all the soldiers and the Black Bulls investigate the fortress, where Finral tries to hit on the same woman only to back off and remind himself not to be worked up on anyone but Finesse.
  • Fantastic Caste System: The Clover Kingdom is split into three realms based on magic power: Noble which is made up of royals and nobles, Common which has commoners, and Forsaken which houses peasants. This causes a lot of class prejudice, which pops up a lot.
  • Fantastic Racism: Patry, Vetto, Fana, and Rhya express their hatred for humans, since they happen to be elves whose village was long destroyed by humans.
  • Fantastic Rank System: The Magic Knights have their own hierarchy:
    • Junior Magic Knight: This rank is further divided into five classes, with the fifth class being the lowest. The protagonist, Asta, is a 3rd class Junior Magic Knight.
    • Intermediate Magic Knight: This rank is further divided into five classes, with the fifth class being the lowest.
    • Senior Magic Knight: This rank is further divided into five classes, with the fifth class being the lowest.
    • Grand Magic Knight: These are the ranks of the Squad Captains.
    • Wizard King: The most powerful Magic Knight in the kingdom, and the commander of the Magic Knights.
  • Fictional Age of Majority: Every year, fifteen-year-olds in the Clover Kingdom go to towers to receive their grimoires, which greatly enhance their magical ability. This ceremony kicks off Asta and Yuno's journeys in becoming Magic Knights.
  • Filler: Some of the original content of the anime:
    • Episode 82 is a special Petite Clover (Clover Clips) episode that consists of a Mushroom Samba fever dream that Charmy has during the Tournament Arc in choosing members for the Royal Knights.
    • The story before the Magic Knights fight the Spade Kingdom focuses on the Magic Knights facing a group of vigilantes called the Devil Banishers, who want to eliminate Asta for being possessed by a devil and blamed for the elves' attack on the Clover Kingdom, and kill Secre and Marie by extension. Things go From Bad to Worse when half of the group turns out to be a cult known as the Devil Believers, who wants to sacrifice the three to gain the devil's powers due to having the same near-magicless background as Asta.
  • Flying Broomstick: Mages use brooms to fly. It's used as a test at the Magic Knights Entrance Exam to see how skilled a mage is based on how well they use it.
  • The Force Is Strong with This One: This is commonly used to show how strong a character is whenever they exert their enormous magical power, intimidating others around them.
  • Foreign Queasine: Something of a Running Gag is Asta's love for the local potatoes grown in his home village of Hage, which most everyone else finds incredibly dry and bland (except Charmy; she starts eating them because they remind her of Yuno).
  • Foreshadowing: Lots of it in the separate page.
  • Four-Leaf Clover: A grimoire with a four-leaf clover is a sign of a mage's great magical power and supposedly endows them with good luck. Yuno, a magical prodigy, gains one in the beginning of the story, and Licht, a powerful mage who wields incredibly rare Light Magic, has one as well. Asta, the protagonist, instead gains a five-leaf clover grimoire, with the fifth leaf signifying the presence of a devil.
  • From Cataclysm to Myth: There was a powerful demon that threatened to wipe out man, but a single wizard defeated the demon and became known as the Wizard King. They became legends ever since. However, it turns out it wasn't as simple as that. The elf tribe was attacked by humans who apparently feared the elves for their great magic power, and the elf elder summoned an ancient demon god in response. The story later became butchered, however, saying that the elves were demons who wanted to control the world instead, and that the demon god was the elder himself. In truth, neither side is very accurate as there's a third side to the story.
  • From Zero to Hero: Asta is seemingly the only person in the setting who cannot use magic. Despite this, thanks to his handicap he manifests his own grimoire that lets him wield Anti-Magic swords, allowing him to fight other mages and join a Magic Knight Squad. Through the Black Bulls, he defeats enemies of the Clover Kingdom and hopes to one day become the Wizard King, the strongest Magic Knight in the kingdom.
  • Functional Magic: Naturally this exists in a story centered on mages. Magic being an Inherent Gift is a technicality, with everyone in the setting able to use magic except for Asta and nobles tending to have more mana. Magic is, for the most part, Elemental Magic, with each mage having one attribute, with the exception of human experiments, hybrids, and powerful devil hosts. The attributes range from the classical elements to Cotton, Mirror, Time, and Wraith. That said, strong mages can use their attributes in many different ways like healing themselves or shaping their element into different forms. Some mages can use arrays to empower their magic if their attribute is found in nature, and Forbidden Magic uses mana from the underworld to cast powerful spells that defy normal conventions. Spells are stored in grimoires. New spells can manifest through natural talent, training, or intense motivation in a crisis, with the spell corresponding to the mage's personal development at the time.
  • Goo It Up: Sally can use gel magic to create a titanic blob-like salamander that she often modifies by injecting them with magical products.
  • Grand Theft Me: Many characters are subjected to this by the elves once they are reincarnated by Licht using the magic stones, taking over their bodies.
  • Gratuitous Foreign Language: While the magics are in English/Japanese, some spells' names are in foreign languages with the words' meanings fitting the spell, including: French, German, Latin, and Spanish.
  • Greater-Scope Villain:
    • Zagred is one in the first saga, he’s the one who massacred the elves and tricked the humans into absorbing their mana, given that the elves' deaths led to Patry's reincarnation and him becoming the Big Bad of the story.
    • Lucifero and Megicula are these in the second saga. The former is the most powerful devil and the source of Dante's power, with Dante acting on Lucifero's behalf to form the Qliphoth and bring Lucifero to the living world. The latter is responsible for placing the curses on the House Silva and the princess of the Heart Kingdom, and it's no coincidence that Vanica, who is its host, is invading the Heart Kingdom, where Noelle is with the princess.
    • Lucius Zogratis is the overall Greater-Scope Villain. A megalomaniac hiding within his other soul, the current Wizard King Julius Novachrono, he desires to use all of devilkind to destroy humanity and resurrect them as immortal beings. To this end, he manipluated or preyed on his sibling's desires to turn them into devil hosts and infiltrated Clover Kingdom royalty through his split persona. Once there, he worked his way to becoming the Wizard King and prepared for his Evil Plan in absurdly subtle ways, accumulating with him killing Lucifero and taking his heart to enhance his magical power. Nobody really notices anything off with Julius until Lucius shows up right in front of Asta to kill him 15 months after the Dark Triad, Lucifero and Megicula fall.
  • Happy Ending Override: The end of the Elf Reincarnation Arc. The real mastermind has been defeated, the possessed humans regain their bodies, and the elves are able to peacefully pass on to the afterlife. However, Julius has been turned into a thirteen-year-old and seemingly lost most of his magic and by extension, his influence over selfish nobles, the Magic Knights are exhausted, and the elves caused widespread destruction. Damnatio quickly proceeds to attempt a sham trial against Asta and Secre, and Julius orders the Black Bulls to go into exile. In the aftermath, the Clover Kingdom loses their most valuable band of fighters and is more vulnerable than ever to attack from nearby countries. Six months later, the Dark Triad invade...
  • Hard Truth Aesop:
    • Julius tells Asta and Yuno that "producing results is the only thing that counts" to become the Wizard King. Sure, the series also encourages effort and kindness, but it's a very cold and pragmatic Aesop for such a conventional shonen manga.
    • No tragic backstory or motive justifies villainous or immoral actions. Asta and Yami call out the villains for this, making it clear that a Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse. The only way to earn forgiveness is through atonement. Even then, it does not fully absolve someone. Well-Intentioned Extremism is especially frowned upon and treated with contempt, and Nacht states that he hates it when evil people suddenly do something good that makes them more likeable to others.
  • Hard Work Hardly Works:
    • Played With. Despite being born without any magic, Asta has trained diligently for years, giving him an incredibly muscular body and great strength. However, in the first chapter it's established that, despite his musculature, he still can't compare to skilled mages. Then, he manifests his grimoire - later revealed to have been passed down by his mother, who sealed a Devil with abilities obtained through The Power of Hate inside of it - which gives him an anti-magic sword that he can wield because of his lack of magic and strength from years of training. So while his abilities are certainly greatly aided by his hard work, if he wasn't specifically who he is, he would never have achieved anything through just hard work.
    • Played 100% straight with The Rival, Yuno. Descended from Spade Kingdom royalty, gifted with a four leaf clover, naturally talented with two magic types, empowered by the wind spirit and not shown to train nearly as hard as Asta. When first applying to join the Magic Knights, he was selected by every squad, even the famously anti-male Blue Rose. On joining the Golden Dawn, widely recognized as the greatest squad, he quickly rises through the ranks and eventually becomes the Captain.
    • This is discussed regarding the kingdom's aristocracy. It's stated that the biggest factor to learn spells is natural talent. Nobility rarely train as a result and look down on it as something people who are not born into power do. However, it's also stated that dedicated training, battle experience, and intense determination in a crisis are important factors in manifesting power. This explains how the Black Bulls, who are mostly commoners who have been through many tough battles and trained hard, effectively face off against other, mostly noble Magic Knights in the Royal Knights Exam. And it's because Noelle has natural talent and worked hard as a Black Bull that she learns her spell Valkyrie Armor to save her siblings.
  • Hellgate: The Dark Triad's goal is to create the Tree of Qliphoth, a magic channel that would connect the underworld to the living world, allowing devils to pour in. It requires Yami's Dark Magic and Vangeance's World Tree Magic.
  • Hell on Earth: The Dark Triad's goal is to create the Tree of Qliphoth, allowing devils to enter the living world and killing over 90% of the continent's population.
  • Heroic Fantasy: The setting we're introduced to is relatively peaceful, thanks to the Wizard King, and everyone in the series has a degree of magical abilities, and our hero's primary goal is to become the next Wizard King, so it qualifies as such.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard:
    • Lotus can't see through his own smoke and has to rely on sensing his opponents' magical signatures. As a result, he's caught off guard since Asta, being an Un-Sorcerer, has no magical signature at all. His earlier advice to Luck about the value of teamwork also works against him since Luck takes the advice to heart and cooperated with his teammates to beat him, something Luck is quick to mention.
    • The Witch Queen spent years trying to make Vanessa realize the potential of her thread magic. After Vanessa helps her friends stop the Diamond Kingdom from invading the Forest of Witches, the Queen manages to trick Asta into almost killing the Magic Knights. This triggers Vanessa's latent "red thread of fate" magic to manifest and since it can only be formed from whom Vanessa has a bond with, the Queen's plot is ultimately thwarted.
    • Zora is this trope personified. His trap magic has no outright attack spells and his go-to is to lay traps that reflect a mage's spell back at them with twice the speed and power.
    • Last but not least, we have Vanica. Her sole motivation is self-amusement, everything else damned. She kidnapped Lolopechka to piss of Noelle despite the Heart Kingdom princess is largely irrelevant to the Dark Triad's goals, and she casually detonates her Dark Disciples despite she could always resurrect them even if they are taken out. Both of these came back to bite her. Hard.
  • Hope Spot: Asta and his friends stop the Diamond Kingdom's invasion so that they can make the Witch Queen heal Asta's arms. Unfortunately for them, the Queen instead attempts to trick Asta into killing them all, starting with Noelle and Finral.
  • Hot Springs Episode: Blatantly lampshaded at the end of the Hot Springs Training Camp mini-arc:
    Narrator: Thus ends the obligatory hot springs episode.
  • Hybrid All Along: Charmy learns that she's actually half-dwarf while fighting the elf Lira, manifesting her second magic attribute, food magic which lets her eat an enemy's magic, when injured. Hilariously, she not only learns that she's half-dwarf but doesn't even know what dwarves are, with Mimosa having to describe the race to her.
  • Hybrid Power: Hybrids can be born with two magic attributes, in contrast to most mages who haven't undergone experimentation or are devil hosts. Charmy has Cotton and Food Magic thanks to being half-dwarf.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The chapters of the manga, and the episodes of the anime, are called "Page #".
  • Idle Rich: Discussed. It's stated that because nobles are born with innately powerful magic they rarely ever conduct research, train, or risk their lives on the battlefield, with many even looking down on hard work. As a result, their magical potential is, for the most part, wasted. This is seen with most non-Magic Knight nobles being overconfident about their magic and soon afterwards put in their place.
  • Inappropriately Close Comrades: Played with. Charlotte has a close friendly relationship with her subordinate Sol, while Sol clearly is in love with her. Meanwhile, Charlotte has feelings for Yami, the leader of a different Magic Knights squad. Interestingly, each of these infatuations resulted from the crushee rescuing the person who likes them.
  • Instant Runes: Zora Ideale independently found a way to use his Ash Magic to draw magic circles that create his Trap Magic. As a result, despite having a magic affinity that's useless in a straight fight, Zora can defeat much more powerful mages by turning their own magic against them. As well as a variety of other traps, such as bombs and pitfalls.
  • Internal Reveal: Yuno reveals that he's the prince of the Spade Kingdom at the captains' meeting in Chapter 264 when Nacht asks him who he is.
  • Ironic Echo: As a child, Solid tried provoking Noelle into hitting him with a spell. Before she uses her Sea Dragon's Roar to defeat him, Noelle asks Solid if it's all right if she hits him.
  • I Want Them Alive!:
    • One arc's Big Bad and his Mad Scientist minion are both dead set on capturing Asta alive and studying his Anti-Magic powers.
    • The Dark Triad need to capture Yami and Vangeance alive because their magics are needed to form the Tree of Qliphoth. Dante is willing to tear off a leg or two from Yami when they fight, however.
  • Just a Flesh Wound: Averted. Unlike most other Shonen series, losing an arm or a leg in battle is NOT treated as a minor wound here; the victim will pass out from blood loss almost immediately and the injury requires immediate medical attention, or they will bleed out and die.
  • Kangaroo Court: The Magic Parliament, comprised of nobility, is the legal authority of the Clover Kingdom. They're very willing to condemn Asta and Secre due the latter's wegs, a sign of her use of Forbidden Magic, and Asta for being a peasant. They're led by Damnatio, who knows Asta is innocent but would rather have him be blamed than the Magic Knights.
  • Karma Houdini: On-screen, Dazu and the Devil Believers are this. They kidnap Marie and Secre, incite riots, and murdered three Magic Parliament guards. After all that, Damnatio merely sentences them to exile and the arc ends with them getting to walk away, with them even getting to have the final word about how if the Magic Knights don't make change, more people like them will arise. However, it's heavily implied that off-screen they won't get it so easy as Dazu admits there's almost no chance for their group to make it to the Spade Kingdom alive going through the Grand Magic Zone. And if by some miracle they do make it, Dazu is still going to lead a very bitter, miserable, and hate-filled life for the rest of her days.
  • Karmic Death: As Zagred dies, he's mocked by Asta's Devil, the source of the power that led to his undoing and a devil he previously disparaged for being a low-ranking devil.
  • Kick the Dog:
    • Langris was willing to murder numerous innocent people to get to the Diamond Kingdom underling using them as hostages, dispassionately saying he had no choice but to martyr them. Thankfully, the Black Bulls stepped in.
    • Langris doesn't like his fiancée Finnes and knows she has feelings for his older brother, so he tells Finral he will make her sad by killing him the next match to piss Finral off.
    • The Witch Queen stomps on Vanessa's head and manipulates Asta into killing her friends just to pile misery onto her daughter. The last one ends up being a bad idea.
  • Knight of Cerebus:
    • Mars is the first opponent in the series to come extremely close to killing Asta and his allies.
    • The Dark Triad's introduction as the new main villains change the story to a much darker tone, with Zenon and his Dark Disciples killing half of Golden Dawn and leaving Yuno near-dead. Even when the heroes try to fight back, their sheer sadism, cruelty and misanthropic world views make the battles much more grisly.
  • Latin Is Magic: Most of Fuegoleon's Flame Magic spells are Latin, such as Leo Rugiens, Latin for "roaring lion", and Ignis Columna, Latin for "fire column". His older sister Mereoleona's spells' names includes "Calidos Brachium", which is Latin for "fiery arm".
  • A Lighter Shade of Grey: The conflict between the Clover Kingdom and the Elf Tribe. The main heroes are the Black Bulls, a group of Magic Knights much more moral than other squads, and the Wizard King Julius Novachrono, whose goal is to dismantle the social inequality within the stratified Clover Kingdom. That said, the kingdom is ruled by classist nobility who mistreat commoners, and many of the Magic Knights are corrupt, abusing their authority. Then there are the elves, a peaceful tribe massacred five centuries ago by humans who want to come back to life and get revenge. To accomplish this, the elves reincarnate into the bodies of, mostly, Magic Knights and try to kill every human in the kingdom. However, it's stated that what the Eye of the Midnight Sun did was wrong, with Yami calling out Licht for his justification. After the mastermind of the elf genocide is revealed, Asta tells Patry that although he understands his reasons, he cannot forgive him for killing Julius and endangering countless innocent lives. However, he has enough sympathy to convince Patry to atone for his mistakes. Tabata himself stated that he intended to portray the elves not as villains but more as antagonists.
  • Light Is Not Good:
    • The leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun, Licht, uses some kind of light magic, often brightens an area simply by being there and dressed in white. He's also a dangerous leader of a group of would-be revolutionary terrorists.
    • The elves as a whole are this once reincarnated, donning white robes and glowing with light-like auras of mana. They try to slaughter innocent humans and fully take over their hosts' bodies.
  • Magic Enhancement: Reinforcement Magic is used by most mages to increase their strength and speed. All Magic Knights (except Asta) can use Mana Skin, a form of Reinforcement Magic that coats them in mana to protect them. Environments with strong and wild mana concentrations make it harder to use.
  • Magic Knight: Although the Clover Kingdom's military force are called the Magic Knights, most of them are not actually examples as they fight as regular mages with spells and serve a "knight" role by defending the kingdom from threats. The Magic Knights who actually fit the trope are a minority but they exist. Asta, despite having no magic whatsoever, wields swords with Anti-Magic that can cut through spells, deflect magic, and dispel curses. Yami uses Dark Magic to cover his katana in darkness and launch blasts. Charlotte fights using Briar Magic to transform her sword into a bush of thorns. Noelle becomes one when she uses Water Magic to create an armor and lance, which she can use to pierce spells and cast spells herself.
  • Magic Wand: Some mages, like Vanessa and Noelle, use wands to help focus their magic power.
  • The Magocracy: The Clover Kingdom is ruled by the king from the royal Kira family. The kingdom's legal authority is the Magic Parliament, who are a group of royals and nobles. The kingdom's military are the Magic Knights, comprised of chosen mages divided into squads with captains who all follow the Wizard King, the strongest Magic Knight who has more influence than the unpopular king. The society of the kingdom itself is dominated by nobility, who are all born with great magical power and look down on peasants as a result. There is no official correlation between magical power and nobility, but this is purely because the established nobility is reluctant to share power with commoners who happen to be great mages (many people can still remember times when commoners couldn't even try to become Magic Knights regardless of their abilities) - nobles with weak or poorly controlled magic are routinely dropped in their family's succession behind their relatives with more impressive magical skills.
  • Make Way for the New Villains: The Word Devil, Zagred, shows himself when he uses the last magic stone to create his body. He reveals he was behind (and personally committed per an author's note) the elf genocide and cast the reincarnation magic, then easily defeating the previous Big Bad Patry.
  • Mana: The world revolves around the use of mana. Mana is used to perform magic, so the more mana one possesses, the more impressive the magic they can perform. However, just having a lot of mana isn't enough, since the user also needs to practice fine mana control.
  • Mark of the Beast: Wegs are seen as this by the public. They are black horns that sprout from the heads of mages who have used Forbidden Magic or the power of devils. Although this doesn't necessarily mean people who have them are evil, this causes the Magic Parliament to condemn Asta and Secre.
  • Mass "Oh, Crap!":
    • The entire Clover Kingdom when Licht is about to rain down countless blades of light.
    • This happens throughout the Clover Kingdom as people begin glowing with light, with them taken over by elves and attacking nearby humans immediately after.
    • Vanica's Dark Disciples and their opponents have this when she uses her Curse-Warding Magic to detonate them.
    • The Black Bulls when after Asta and Yami defeat Dante, Zenon arrives and captures Yami.
    • This happens to the Magic Knights and Resistance members invading the Spade Kingdom when Morris accelerates the growth of the Tree of Qliphoth.
  • Master of One Magic: Zigzagged. Most mages are capable of using only one element, and all known exceptions are experimented mages, hybrids, and powerful devil hosts. Asta can only use Anti-Magic, Magna can only use flame magic, Julian can only use time magic, etc. However, they quickly learn how to use their magic types to do many different things, with the most skilled mages able to do near anything they want with their designated types.
  • Medieval European Fantasy: According to an interview with Tabata, one reference material that he uses is The Lord of the Rings.
  • Military Mage:
    • The Clover Kingdom's Magic Knights are this, individually selected by squads' captains to serve as the country's military, whether it be handling local crimes or defending against invasions.
    • The Diamond Kingdom is focused on strengthening its army due to the country's poor resources. Their military soldiers are called Mage Warriors who are led by the Eight Shining Generals, with Mage Scholars performing human experiments to create powerful soldiers for the country.
    • Under the Dark Triad, the Spade Kingdom began using the power of devils to increase their military power, with the highest-ranked soldiers aside from the triad known as the Dark Disciples. They use said devil powers to invade the other kingdoms.
  • Mood Whiplash:
    • In the anime, a lot of the episodes are followed by Petit Clover / Clover Clips, humor themed vignettes, which turn particularly serious or dark episodes into this.
    • When Solid encounters and taunts Noelle during the Royal Knights Exam, the latter recalls the abuse he put her through as a child. Immediately afterwards, it shows Sylph dropping fairy dust on Charmy's eyes and calling her a thieving raccoon.
    • Chapter 332 consists of an inauguration celebration for Asta's promotion as a senior magic knight. It's mostly light-hearted unlike the heated battles in the Spade Kingdom Raid arc, but when Asta was bantering with Sister Lily, a man resembling Julius but with black hair and a Spade uniform, Lucius Zogratis, suddenly drops right next to Asta, congratulates him for making this far, then tells him that "This is your final destination".
  • Moving the Goalposts: Asta and the Black Bulls try to make a deal with the Witch Queen to heal him and his friends for defending the Forest of Witches against the Diamond Kingdom. But the Queen altered the deal and brainwashed Asta into almost killing his friends.
  • Mutually Exclusive Magic: Mages are born with only one magic attribute like water, plant, spatial, etc. and can only cast spells of their attribute. The exceptions are hybrids who can be born with two attributes, mages who have been experimented on, and hosts of high-ranking devils who gain the magic of their devils.
  • Myth Arc: The story has one regarding the truth of the elves' massacre by the Clover Kingdom, with the Eye of the Midnight Sun attacking the Clover Kingdom out of revenge and gathering magic stones to reincarnate the fallen elf tribe. By the end of the Elf Reincarnation Arc, which finished at Chapter 214, the truth of the genocide is revealed, with the revelation and its fall-out revealing the existence of devils who become the next greater antagonists of the plot.
  • Narrator: While Unshō Ishizuka narrated the 2016 Jump Festa OVA adaptation, Kenichirou Matsuda replaced him for the TV anime adaptation.
  • Near-Death Experience: It's stated that intense wishes or determination can grant power in a crisis. This is seen with characters learning new spells representative of their Character Development in dangerous situations. Gauche gains the power to duplicate others when he learns to trust Asta when they fight the transformed Baro; Noelle learns the offensive Sea Dragon's Roar when she and her friends are threatened by Vetto; an angry Charmy manifests her power to eat magic when she's nearly killed by Lira, after he rejected her offering of food.
  • New Powers as the Plot Demands: Weaponized along with Character Development. Every person who has a grimoire has a case of Personality Power. As people grow and develop, so does their magic, which creates new spells based on heat of the moment situations. For example, Noelle initially could only use the defensive Sea Dragon's Lair, a symbolic representation of the trauma she suffered thanks to her family. She would later develop an attack called Sea Dragon's Roar against Vetto due to her growing as a person and now being brave enough to fight.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Dominante has Fanzell, Finral, Asta, Noelle and Mariella cover themselves to avoid detection. When they enter the Forest of Witches, they lose their cloaks at the worst possible time, alerting the Security Golems to their presence.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The Witch Queen manipulating Asta to try killing Noelle and taunting Vanessa over how she would return to the forest one day allows the latter to awaken her Red Thread of Fate magic and defeat the Witch Queen.
  • Nominal Hero:
    • A huge problem with the Magic Knights is that a huge portion of these aren't really good people. Most of the major ones such as the Silva and Vermillion families want to help their country, but others such as a huge chunk of the Purple Orcas or the Golden Dawn are just elitist nobles and Royal Brats. Standouts include Gueldre and Xerx, the former who set up for the fall of his squadmate who would later become the Starter Villain and became an accomplice of the Eye of the Midnight Sun for rare magic tools, and the latter attacked an old lady who begged him for help to find her missing granddaughter, because he was too tired to do it only to be attacked by Zora. And that's not even getting into the unstable and awful wreck that is Langris. In the other hand, while the Silva family did want to protect their country, in particular Nozel and Acier, Nebra and Solid are throughly nasty jerks, although they later mellow out.
    • This is further explored in Zora's backstory which includes how he decided to become a vigilante mage that attacks Magic Knights after witnessing a two of them causing a ruckus in a tavern, demanding service for their good deeds and them attempting to rape the waitress, as well as learning that Magic Knights killed his father, who was the first peasant to become a Magic Knight and they didn't wanted to be associated with him.
  • Non-Dubbed Grunts: The Latin Spanish dub retains Rouge's original Japanese vocal effects.

    Tropes O to R 
  • Odd Name Out:
    • "Yami Sukehiro" is the only Japanese name introduced before the final arc. He's noted to not be a native: a castaway from his homeland, The Land of the Sun.
    • The Golden Dawn is the only squad that isn't named after a living thing.
    • The Blue Rose Knights, notably the squad that favors women, are the only squad named for a plant.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • Revchi's utterly terrified when Asta quickly bests him in battle.
    • During his team's fight against Finral's in the tournament, Finral teleports him to the Black Bulls headquarters' bathroom, where Yami is taking a dump. Sekke realizes how screwed he is in no time.
    • Once Asta becomes possessed by anti-magic, Ladros, once having gloated about his new powers that he had absorbed from Salamander, becomes scared and tries to flee.
    • Vanessa understandably panics the moment the Witch Queen uses Asta to try and kill everyone.
    • When the corrupted Asta swings his sword down on her, Noelle can only watch in shock before dying.
    • The Witch Queen is initially confused the second time Asta tries to kill Noelle and then gets visibly distressed as Rouge stops Asta from killing Finral and releases the former from her control. And when the Queen attempts to off Vanessa, she's utterly shocked when Rouge touches her forehead and completely foils her plans.
    • Yami has one when he spends the entirety of a chapter laughing about how hilarious and awesome the Black Bulls are only to have his jaw hit the floor at the very end when he realizes Dorothy is possessed by an elf.
    • Solid panics when Noelle easily overpowers his attack during their duel.
    • Nozel has a moment of slack-jawed horror when the Black Bulls beat his team.
  • Old Magic: The Heart Kingdom, being a country rich in nature, uses magic attributes found in nature (water, lightning, plant, etc.) and natural mana as runes to empower their spells. The Clover Kingdom abandoned the protection of natural mana long ago as the country became more technologically advanced. The country lost the techniques of natural mana rune arrays and, in turn, developed more eccentric magic attributes like chain, spatial, and steel that their Old Magic counterparts did not have.
  • Once More, with Clarity:
    • When Zora is introduced, he is seemingly attacking the Vice Captain of the Purple Orcas for no apparent reason and seems to have an unexplained hate for Magic Knights in general. When his backstory as a vigilante mage is revealed, the scene is shown again from a few minutes prior, where the Vice Captain was just about to attack an old lady who begged him for help to find her granddaughter because he considered her a bother and Zora defended her from his attack.
    • Seeing Gauche get stabbed by Dante has Asta seemingly remember a memory of his mother before going berserk. Although she is Asta's mother Richita, who abandoned him due to her body stealing magic and life from whatever is near her, it's a memory of the devil in his grimoire Liebe, who was adopted by Richita and killed by Lucifero, who tried to take over Liebe's body.
  • One Person, One Power: Ultimate Magic, the elves' esoteric art, is this, being the essence of one's magic. It embodies all the magic of its caster, making it a unique, unrivaled spell for each individual who can cast it.
  • One-Winged Angel: Both Asta and Yuno get access to new forms during the Forest of Witches Arc for Asta and the Royal Knights Arc for Yuno. Funnily enough, they both literally have one wing in these forms. Asta gets the Black Asta form, where he pulls anti-magic from his swords into his body giving him the ability to fly as well as severely increased speed and power. It also gives him a devil wing and a horn. Yuno fuses with Sylph and gains a similar power boost, along with a mana wing, mana crown, and mana sword. Both are appropriately badass.
  • Only the Chosen May Wield: Four-Leaf Grimoires, which are said to bestow good luck, only choose mages with exceptional potential, with Yuno being blessed with one.
  • Opening Narration: The opening prologue describes how the Wizard King saved humanity from a demon attack:
    "Humanity came close to being decimated by the demons. But just one mage saved humankind. He was known thereafter as the Wizard King and became a legend."
  • Our Demons Are Different: Devils are vaguely similar to most traditional depictions of demons, being evil humanoids from the underworld with bat-like wings, horns, and tails. They require a very specific type of grimoire in order to manifest their true forms and powers.
  • Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Dwarves are a race from long ago that had special powers like elves, and were short miners who wielded axes. Charmy is revealed to be half-dwarf and why she has two appearances and dual magic affinity.
  • Our Elves Are Different: The elf tribe look like humans with pointy ears. They had immense magic power greater than most humans, able to use magic stones and forbidden magics, and were worshiped as gods. As a result, humans began to fear and desire their power, slaughtering them and stealing their magic power centuries before the story. Their leader Licht supposedly suspended their souls to eventually reincarnate them in human bodies, but that's just what Patry thought he saw before his death. What he did was to transform himself into the demon seen in Chapter 1, and Zagred, the Word Devil, was the one who both slaughtered the elves and recinarnated them into human bodies in order to grant himself a body to wreck mass havoc.
  • Our Mages Are Different: It is a mix of multiple version of mages. Mages are like scholars: Some people like Yuno can take time to study and improve their magical abilities and have magic that is not physically based. Mages are like a race: As almost everyone in the series has the ability to use magic. Mages are like gadget users: Even though the people can use magic on their own, their true power comes from the use of grimoires. Mages are like athletes: some mages can increase their magical strength through training. Asta is unique in that he is not a mage. The way others react to finding out he has no magical power at all, it's implied that this is very unusual.
  • Outside-Context Problem:
    • Asta is a problem that came completely out of the left field to basically all mages. He has no magic, so people can't sense him, nor can they use any mana-manipulation related power on him. He has an Anti-Magic weapon, which were never even seen before and can deflect and cut through magic. Last but not least, mages rarely, if ever, focus on their actual physical aptitude, since they can fight long/medium-range in most cases and all their opponents will be mages anyway, Asta has a lot of actual physical strength, making him a warrior where there are only mages, making their defenses against magic useless against him and their lack of physical defense becomes a huge problem.
    • Arcane Stages as a whole are this to the Spade Kingdom. Due to their powers being too unconventional to be classified within the power scale of Magic Stages, they, theoretically, could defeat devil users. As a result, one of the Spade Kingdom's missions is forcibly recruiting Arcane Stages, and Dante is pleased to find out that Vanessa and Grey are ones when he attacks the Black Bulls.
  • People of Hair Color: The members of the House of Vermillion all have red hair, with the family members in the Crimson Lion Kings having a darker red, and members of the House of Silva have silver hair. Noelle's hair color helps identify her as a Silva at the Star Festival.
  • Personality Powers: Characters usually have personalities that perfectly fit their magics. For instance, Noelle is usually calm but can be temperamental like water, Grey is extremely shy about her true appearance and can transform into others, Gauche is self-centered and uses Mirror Magic that can duplicate himself, and the Crimson Lion Kings' Vermillion siblings are all hot-blooded and have Flame Magic. It's also weaponized. Mages can gain new spells that fit with their important personality developments, sometimes in the heat of the moment. Gauche gains a spell that duplicates others when he resolves to become more selfless and cooperate with Asta. Noelle learns to cast Sea Dragon's Roar after overcoming her subconscious desire to not harm others when her friends are threatened by Vetto. Vanessa manifests the Red Thread of Fate, which only affects those she cares for, when she shuns the Witch Queen and acknowledges the Black Bulls as her true family.
  • Pet the Dog:
    • Klaus shows that he's not entirely a jerkass inside the dungeon that appeared on the border with the Diamond Kingdom. When Mimosa is sneak attacked by Mars, he doesn't blame her for it and instead tells her to focus on healing herself, then defends her from a second attack.
    • By the time of Chapter 101, the Witch Queen willingly allows Vanessa to do as she pleases after the latter easily bests her in battle.
    • In Chapter 190, Solid proves that he deeply loves Noelle by telling her that as her older brother, he will become stronger than her, and acknowledges her as a member of the Silva family.
  • Place of Power: Strong Magic Regions are special areas with strong mana force fields, causing many different magical phenomena to occur there.
  • Playing Card Motifs: Each of the four kingdoms are named after the suits of playing cards, with the Clover Kingdom using an alternative name of the clubs suit.
  • Politically Incorrect Hero: Several of the magic knights are from noble families. They are on the good side, but they are classist, elitist, and racist.
  • Power Copying: Subverted with Rhya attempts to copy the Anti-Magic properties of Asta's sword by touching his grimoire, but he only succeeds in copying just the sword. After all, anti-magic does just that - it nullifies magic, and therefore cannot be copied by it.
  • Power Levels: The Heart Kingdom and Spade Kingdom use a scale for magical power and skill known as Magic Stages, with Stage Zero the strongest and Stage Nine the weakest. Then there's Arcane Stages, whose powers are unconventional enough to not fit into the scaling. After the six-month timeskip the Clover Kingdom uses it as well.
  • Power Gives You Wings:
    • Asta's Black Asta form comes with vastly increased speed, power, and control of the anti-magic in his blades. It also gives him a devil wing on his right side, a horn, turns the right side of his hair black, and a red devil eye.
    • When Yuno combines with Sylph, he gets a massive power boost to his Wind Magic, complete with a crown, a crown like bracelet made of mana around his left hand, and eventually a sword made of pure mana. He also gains a fairy like wing on his back.
    • Noelle's Valkyrie Armor form has her gain a boost to her magical power and speed, with wing-like ornaments that jut out from her lower back and help her to fly through the air.
  • The Power of Friendship:
    • Not only is friendship the catalyst for Noelle's character development, but her friendship with one of the mages from the Underwater Temple moves her to finally become an attack mage, capable of the devastating spell Sea Dragon's Roar, that is capable of rivaling the Fire Spirit Salamander.
    • Asta always believes in his friends and when they are in danger, nothing will stop him.
    • Weaponized by Vanessa with her Red Thread of Fate spell. It allows her to change the fate of herself and anybody she has a close personal connection with (i.e. the Black Bulls). This basically means that as long as the spell is active, she and the rest of her squadmates are immune to dying, as she can just change their fate so they survive. Though as the Witch Queen discovers, much to her dismay, it only works on those Vanessa truly considers family, regardless of any blood connection.
  • The Power of Hate: Rades's hatred and rage over Patry using him as a Human Sacrifice causes his Wraith Magic to become True Wraith Magic. This more powerful magic allows Rades to bring himself, Valtos, and Sally back from the dead.
  • The Power of Love: Vanessa's actions towards the younger members of the Black Bulls are driven out of the intense love she has for her friends. Her love for the Black Bulls as her true family and desire to save them unlocks her Red Thread of Fate spell, which only protects those dear to her.
  • Properly Paranoid: Dominante and the other Witches in the forest know damn well that if you return to the forest after you ran away, you are bound to be beaten by the Witch Queen. They turn out to be right when the Queen beats the crap out of Vanessa after the latter returns.
  • Race Against the Clock: The Magic Knights have three days to build an elite force around Asta and assault the Spade Kingdom to retake Yami and Vangeance and destroy the Tree of Qliphoth before the gate to the underworld opens. Over seven days, the seven gates to the underworld will gradually open and if the final devil Lucifer emerges the world is finished.
  • Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: As the story develops, the Black Bulls present this: looking almost comical at first but eventually becoming not just be very effective, but also a closely-knit fraternity united by the very fact they're misfits (see Black Sheep above).
  • Really Royalty Reveal: In Chapter 233, Yuno is revealed to be the lost crown prince of the Spade Kingdom, explaining his incredible magical ability. Yuno himself is shocked by the reveal and doesn't want to accept it, declaring himself Yuno of the Clover Kingdom.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: During Asta's battle with Vetto in the Underwater Temple Arc, Vetto curb-stomps Asta whilst listing the logical reasons why Asta hasn't a hope in the world of defeating him, those reasons being his poor attack range, general disadvantage against those who can magically enhance their physical ability, and his refusal to concede even when completely outmatched. This is intentional, as he is intending to use it also as a Breaking Speech to instill despair. Then it gets gloriously defied when Asta gets assistance from the rest of the squad, and they pull together to actually fight off Vetto long enough for Yami to break free and join in to finish the job.
  • Red/Green Contrast: In the anime, Yuno's four-leaf clover grimoire glows bright green when in use, while Asta's black/five-leaf clover grimoire glows an ominous red.
  • Relative Button: The Witch Queen tricking Asta into killing his friends is what finally causes Vanessa to unlock her Red Thread of Fate magic and break her control.
  • Remember the New Guy?: Asta and Noelle meet up with a group of three mages, Fanzell, Dominante, and Mariella. Though they have never appeared in the manga before, Asta and Noelle are not only familiar with them, but have apparently already helped them escape from the Diamond Kingdom, and even received trained with them. The characters were originally introduced in Black Clover: The Book of the Black Bulls, which serves as a side story to the manga.
  • Rescue Arc: The Spade Kingdom Raid Arc is this. Previously, the Dark Triad set out to invade the Heart Kingdom and kidnap Yami and Vangeance. They are successful in all of their goals even after the leader, Dante, was defeated by Asta and Yami leading to the Clover Kingdom assembling a raid team to invade the Spade Kingdom castle and stop their plan by rescuing Yami and Vangeance. During the raid, Morris uses knowledge taken from Loropechika in order to accelerate the growth of the Tree of Qliphoth but is stopped by the Black Bulls after the Dark Triad are defeated.
  • Resignations Not Accepted: When Vanessa returns to the Forest of Witches after many years, the Witch Queen wastes no time beating the crap out of her. The Queen notes that Vanessa leaving the forest was ultimately pointless.
  • The Reveal:
    • The captain of the Golden Dawn, William Vangeance, takes off his mask in a private talk with Julius Novachrono before his face morphs to that of Patry's, the leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun.
    • The devil Zagred was the one who caused the elf genocide, convinced the humans to steal the elve's magic using Lumeiere's Magic Siphon, killed all the elves by copying Lumiere's magic, and cast the reincarnation spell, with Patry as his unknowing pawn the entire time.
    • Nero was originally a human called Secre Swallowtail who was the servant of the first Wizard King, who had been sealed as the statue near Hage all this time.
    • The demon that attacked the Clover Kingdom and was defeated by the first Wizard King was the real Licht, who turned himself into a demon to prevent Zagred from taking over his body and asked his friend Lumiere to kill him.
    • The Wizard King's statue on the top of the slain demon in Hage is the Wizard King himself, being turned into stone to protect him from the after-effects of the above-mentioned fight.
    • Noelle's mother Acier Silva didn't die from childbirth, but instead a curse by the devil Megicula.
    • The Dark Triad's plan is to form the Tree of Qliphoth, letting devils come to the living world and killing over 90% of the population. The Advent of the Qliphoth requires Yami's Dark Magic and Vangeance's World Tree Magic. Furthermore, the original goal as outlined by the eldest Zogratis sibling was to recreate everyone killed by the devils as immortals.
    • Liebe, the devil in Asta's grimoire, was adopted by Asta's biological mother Richita, who was killed by Lucifero when he tried to take over Liebe's body. She sealed him inside the grimoire to protect him, with his goal to kill every devil in revenge for her death.
    • Speaking of Licita, she's the reason Asta has no mana and was left at the church after he was born. She unconsciously absorbed mana and life force, to the point she had to live a reclusive life to avoid hurting people.
    • After Lucifero is defeated at the end of the Spade Kingdom Raid Arc, Julius Novachrono is revealed to be the fourth Zogratis sibling who planned the events that would lead to him obtaining the Devil king's heart.
  • Rewatch Bonus:
    • Nero, who makes her first notable appearance in Chapter 9, actually appears in Chapter 2 as one of the anti-birds pestering Asta and can be distinguished by the shape of her eyes.
    • Shiren Tium, a minor character who's a member of the Golden Dawn, appears way before he's formally introduced, as the one who demonstrates how to fly on a broomstick.
    • When Asta, Noelle, and Vanessa are in town, a blue-haired girl in the Black Bulls cape can be seen in the background darting furtively into a shop. In the Underwater Temple Arc, the same girl's seen again. Here, it's revealed that she's Grey.
    • Heath Grice, the first notable villain, has an unknown employer, who ends up being Licht. It isn't ever explicitly said who the employer is, but the stone sephirot that pops up in the chapter in which Heath kills himself pops up later when the Eye of the Midnight Sun is shown to be involved with it, which pretty much confirms that his employer is Licht.
    • The man shown to be a human friend of Licht's in Chapter 86 is unnamed, but may seem familiar. Well, upon rereading Chapter 1, one can see that he's actually the first Wizard King, since his clothes and hair match those of his statue.
    • The woman shown to be Licht's bride can be deduced to be the first Wizard King's sister, since in Chapter 69, the Wizard King tells Licht to take care of his sister right before a glimpse of his wedding is shown.
    • When several reincarnated elves attack the Clover Castle in chapter 179, one of the elves, Baval, doesn't attack Mimosa when he spots her, instead telling her how she should give up and the elves will kill everyone and leaves. In chapter 182, Baval re-appears, only to introduce the Shadow Palace to the heroes, low-rolls his Dice Magic and flies towards the Shadow Palace. When Mimosa and Asta find him inside there however, he was found on the floor unconscious. Baval was later revealed to be possessed by Zagred via author's note, and his non-confrontational act is likely because Zagred's priority is to reach the Shadow Palace, so he had no reason to attack Mimosa or the other heroes at that time.
    • In Megicula's fight, Noelle was able of drawing Megicula out from Vanica after 30 seconds and Rill's Twilight of Valhalla lasts long enough for Noelle to finish her off. A similar thing happens in Asta's fight against Lucifero, where his True Devil Union was somehow capable of reducing a fully intact Lucifero to shreds in five seconds. It's implied that Julius a.k.a. Lucius Zogratis, was using his powers offscreen to ensure the battles end up the way he wanted to.
    • Most of Julius's actions make a lot more sense when we find out he's actually a split soul of the fourth Zogratis sibling who infiltrated Clover Kingdom and became its Wizard King. Suddenly, Julius recruiting Yami and Vangeance and sparing the latter despite his treasonous acts can no longer be rationalized as mere kindness, and anything else about him might have to be reconsidered with ulterior motives in mind.
  • Ribcage Ridge: The village Hage, where Asta and Yuno are from, has a massive skeleton of the demon that the first Wizard King defeated.
  • Rite of Passage: Every year, fifteen-year-olds in the Clover Kingdom go to towers to receive their grimoires, which greatly enhance their magical ability. This ceremony kicks off Asta and Yuno's journeys in becoming Magic Knights.
  • Rousing Speech: Every so often, Noelle gives one of these. It's one of the few times royalty is shown in a positive light, and it's very unusual to hear her talk like this given her usual haughty nature, but the objects of her speeches come to realize she has a point and are enlightened or encouraged afterward.
  • Royal Blood: The Clover Kingdom has three royal families: the Houses of Silva, Vermillion, and Kira. The Silva family includes the heroine Noelle and her siblings Nozel, Nebra, and Solid. The Vermillion family has Mimosa, her brother Kirsch, and their cousins Mereoleona, Fuegoleon, and Leopold. The Kira family is the current family on the throne. Royalty all have high levels of magic power because their ancestors stole mana from the elves.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: A lot of the nobles go on to become Magic Knights, and as such, they end up serving the nation's best interests and security. Granted, a large portion of these same nobles are raging elitist jerks who are Royal Brats at best and Nominal Heroes at worst.
  • Royalty Superpower: The reason members of the royal families have such great magical power is because their ancestors stole mana from the elves when they (allegedly) massacred them. It's for this reason that the elves especially hate royalty.
  • Runic Magic: Mana Method is a technique used by the Heart Kingdom that forms runes out of natural mana that add effects to and increase the power of spells derived from magic attributes found in nature, at its peak forming the real element cast by the user. After the Clover Kingdom and Heart Kingdom form an alliance, it's taught to some Magic Knights.
  • Running Gag:
    • Noelle overpaying people for simple tasks.
    • Sol calling Charlotte "Sis" ("Char" in the dub) instead of "Captain".
    • Sekke bragging about his false accomplishments and the text stating that it's a lie.
    • Yami being interrupted while using the toilet.
    • Charmy becoming a lap pet for important people like the Wizard King or the Queen of the Heart kingdom

    Tropes S to Z 
  • Science Destroys Magic: This is discussed to describe the difference between the Heart Kingdom and Clover Kingdom's magics. The Heart Kingdom is a country rich in nature, using natural mana as runes to empower their spells of natural attributes, like flame, lightning, and plant. The Clover Kingdom, on the other hand, became more technological, developing eccentric magic attributes like chain, steel, and space in exchange for abandoning the protection of natural mana. In essence, science led to the creation of new magics at the cost of losing natural magic techniques.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
    • Noelle attempts to leave the Black Bulls after meeting with Asta and Magna, but it ultimately doesn't work out thanks to Asta and the Black Bulls accepting her for who she really is.
    • Vanessa leaves the Forest of Witches after enduring a childhood and early adulthood of the Witch Queen's abusive behavior, with the help of Yami.
    • When Mereoleona and Yuno continue to attack Lucifero to no avail, he tells Adrammelech to fight them in his place. He refuses, at which Mereoleona mocks him about it. Based on what happens next however, he might be purposefully staying out of the fight because it's Lucifero's heart he's going for.
  • Serial Escalation: The story begins with Asta and Yuno dealing with local Eye of the Midnight Sun terrorist threats and competing to become the Wizard King. Then it degenerated into dealing with the group leader, Licht/Patry who seemingly kills the Wizard King and unleashes hordes of reincarnated elves that possess the Clover Kingdom's Magic Knights to wreck havoc, cumulating into dealing with a Manipulative Bastard of a devil. Then the Dark Triad invades and tries to unleash Hell on Earth through releasing the gates of hell, with each sibling of the Triad and their supreme devils being the most awful, monstrous people encountered as of date. After they and their supreme devils are all taken down, it all ends here, right? Wrong! At this time the Wizard King rears his ugly head to reveal himself as the eldest brother of the Dark Triad, a literal supervillain who manipulated pretty much everyone (including his siblings) to grant him the power equal to a God so he can unleash a Holy War that purges all of humanity and revives them as angelic beings.
  • Shaping Your Attacks: Mages get access to a particular elemental magic (though they need not be a classical element, with characters having powers themed on the likes of ash, fungi, or wool). Upon finding out what that element is, there is seemingly no restriction on what form the powers have to take, as long as they have the mana (magic energy) needed for it. As a result, most mages love to shape their magic attacks into whatever they like. Take three flame mages: Magna uses baseball-themed moves, Fana prefers to assemble her flames into animal shapes, and Mereoleona shapes her magic into a Battle Aura.
  • Sliding Scale of Gender Inequality: The story has Noelle, Vanessa, Charmy, Mimosa, Mereoleona, and many other women that are as competent as the men of the franchise and sometimes stronger than them, in the case of Mereoleona. While some common shonen tropes are present, such as the main male characters getting most part of the focus, the development of the female characters have as much love as them - something that resulted in the third popularity poll (warning for spoilers in the picture) where, out of ten characters, five were women and five were men.
  • So Much for Stealth: During their search for the Witch Queen, Dominante provides Asta, Fanzell, Finral, Noelle, and Mariella with invisibility cloaks to enter the Forest of Witches undetected. Unfortunately, they lose their cloaks thanks to Fanzell's actions and catches the attention of the Security Golems and the other witches.
  • Sore Loser: After his humiliating defeat and being put in a lesser magic knight group, Sekke attempts to attack Asta with a poisonous magic lizard while the latter is in the bathroom. Yuno puts a stop to this immediately and sends Sekke off humiliated even more than before.
  • Spell Book: In the series, they are referred to by the archaic word "grimoire", and are received by young magic users in a yearly ceremony so that they can unlock their true magical potential.
  • Spell Levels: Certain magics have been shown to have stronger forms, which are expressed in their different naming. When at his limits, Vetto's Beast Magic becomes Mythical Beast Magic, which breaks magical rules and copies unknown animals. Mages in the Heart Kingdom use magics like True Lightning Magic and True Flame Magic, which involve the use of the actual element through natural mana. At the moment of his death, Rades's rage and hatred transform his Wraith Magic into True Wraith Magic, allowing him to recall souls and fully resurrect the dead.
  • Spiritual Antithesis: To Naruto. Both stories have a hyperactive underdog aspiring To Be a Master with a more talented rival. However, Black Clover is inspired by Medieval European Fantasy while Naruto is inspired by Japanese folklore. Whereas Asta and Yuno care deeply for each other and have a friendly rivalry, Naruto tries to redeem a fallen Sasuke, who becomes immoral as he's consumed by revenge. Naruto stresses the importance of finding it in one's heart to forgive enemies, whose tragic backstories caused them to act so. Black Clover espouses atonement, with Asta holding enemies responsible for their actions and stating that a Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse.
  • Spy Cam: The Witch Queen can monitor the Forest of Witches using Security Golems. A few of them detect Asta, Finral, Fanzell, Noelle, Mariella and Dominante, and sound an alarm a few seconds later. They even fire mana while pursuing them.
  • Squishy Wizard: Most mages are this, relying entirely on their magic to fight and having little combat prowess. Asta defeats many of his enemies in single hits once he can bypass their magic. There are notable exceptions, such as Yami and Mereoleona.
  • Step Servant: Grey was mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters, who made her do all the housework which left her covered in ash. After she used her magic to look like her stepsisters, they attacked her and she was forced to leave her home. The chapter on her backstory is even called "Cinderella Grey".
  • Steven Ulysses Perhero: All over the place. Yaminote  is a Dark Magic user, Magnanote  Swing has Flame Magic with a baseball theme, Luck Voltianote  uses Lightning Magic, and Julius Novachrononote  is a master of Time Magic.
  • Stock Sound Effects: A non-Public Domain example. Many of the anime's sound effects come from Fizz Sound Creation's sound library, which have been used in Toei Animation's works such as Dragon Ball and One Piece.
  • Successful Sibling Syndrome: This is commonly seen among characters from noble families whose children become Magic Knights. Noelle's insecurity regarding her poor magic control is tied to her being a member of the royal Silva family, with her siblings all high-ranking members of the Silver Eagles. Finral grew up in the shadow of his younger half-brother Langris, who was seen as a prodigy for his powerful Spatial Magic whereas Finral couldn't use it offensively. Leopold is fully aware of Mereoleona and Fuegoleon's strength but has been compared by others to his sister's power and brother's charisma, causing him to have self-doubt.
  • Supernatural Elite: Although everyone in the setting is a mage, except Asta, nobles usually have much higher magical power than commoners and peasants and use that as justification for their superiority.
  • Supernatural Martial Arts: Zetten is an advanced form of Ki Manipulation used in the Land of the Sun, where magic power is concentrated into their limbs. By doing this with physical action like punching or kicking, they can release the magic power into a powerful technique based on how they move.
  • Superpowerful Genetics: Magic attributes are hereditary to an extent, especially among noble families. The Silva Family children all have magic related to liquids (Mercury, Mist, and Water). One branch of the Vermillion clan (Fuegoleon, Mereoleona, and Leopold) uses Flame Magic while the other (Mimosa and Kirsch) uses Plant Magic, and the brothers of the Vaude Family, Finral Roulacase and Langris, both have Spatial Magic. Out of Clover Kingdom, the Zogratis siblings (consisting of the Dark Triad and Clover Kingdom's current Wizard King) have soul, body, blood and bone magic respectively, attributes that when combined together forms the human being.
  • Swiss-Army Superpower: Mages have only one magic attribute, with there being a few notable exceptions. Despite this, skilled mages are able to use their sole attribute for different purposes, like shaping it into many different forms, restraining others, and incorporated with healing.
  • Systematic Villain Takedown: The Third Eye are the strongest members of the Eye of the Midnight Sun who serve under Licht, and are sent against the Magic Knights. The Black Bulls defeat Vetto when he fights them in the Underwater Temple in an attempt to steal a magic stone. They defeat Fana when she invades the Forest of Witches. Mereoleona, leading the Royal Knights when they attack the Eye of the Midnight Sun's hideout, wipes the floor with Rhya. However, Licht uses the magic stones to resurrect them along with the rest of the elves, with the Magic Knights now having to defeat many newly reincarnated elves.
  • Theme Music Power-Up: The first opening "Haruka Mirai" plays when a character is about to do something badass. Most notably, when Asta defeats Vetto, Asta and Yuno fight Licht, and Yami, Yuno, Asta, and Secre work together to finally defeat Zagred.
  • Theme Naming:
    • The Clover, Diamond, Spade, and Heart Kingdoms are named after card suits.
    • The Wizard King (Julius) and the king himself (Augustus) are named after Roman statesmen. Interestingly, Nero, Asta's anti-bird friend, has the same name as the infamous emperor, which hints that there's more to Nero than she looks.
  • Threads of Fate: Vanessa's Thread Magic allows her to produce the "Red Thread of Fate", which usually takes the form of a cat spun from red yarn. This cat can rewrite someone's fate simply by touching them, changing it instead to something more favorable.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone:
    • After getting mocked and disrespected after everything they've done, the Black Bulls are finally rewarded with enough stars to take second place.
    • By Chapter 176, Noelle finally gets praised by Nozel when the former comes to help her siblings fight against the elves.
  • Time Skip:
    • There is a six month time skip after the Clover Kingdom allies themselves with the Heart Kingdom to prepare for war against the Spade Kingdom. This has the Magic Knights train to become stronger during this time period, with some going to the Heart Kingdom to learn the kingdom’s unique rune arrays to strengthen their magic.
    • A fifteen-month time skip takes place after the magic knights raid the Spade Kingdom and defeat Lucifero, with Asta promoted to Senior Magic Knight, Damnatio missing, the Spade and Heart Kingdoms recovering, devil activity in the Clover Kingdom's outlying region, and Lucius now revealing himself.
  • Title Drop: The series is named after Asta's Anti-Magic grimoire, which has a five-leaf black clover on the cover.
  • To Be a Master: Both Asta and Yuno are competing to be the next Wizard King in the kingdom.
  • Toilet Humour: It's used sparingly, especially in relation to Yami. Episode 49's omake even features him being interviewed about his toilet habits, while he's on the toilet, no less.
  • Tome of Eldritch Lore: Grimoires that host the power of devils are this. Five-Leaf Grimoires, including Asta's, are formed after a Four-Leaf Grimoire user is overcome by despair, allowing a devil to possess it. Through the possessed grimoire, the devil's magic, which is empowered by negative mana from the underworld, can be used.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: In the first half of the series, Noelle evolves from a haughty royal to a friendly girl thanks to the efforts of Asta and her fellow teammates.
  • Tournament Arc: The Royal Knights Competition. The Wizard King hosts a competition between randomly assigned teams of Magic Knights to decide which among them are worthy to become the Royal Knights, a special task force to deal with the Big Bad's group.
  • Training from Hell:
    • Mereoleona drags the Crimson Lion Kings, Asta, Yuno, Noelle, Yami, Charlotte, and Sol to the Yultim Volcano to practice their Mana Skin, using the aforementioned captains as examples. Asta trains his Anti-Magic to willingly enter his Black form.
    • The Magic Knights as a whole do so for six months to prepare for war against the Spade Kingdom. Some mages go to the Heart Kingdom to learn the country's magic rune array techniques.
  • Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Mages, with prior training and/or natural talent, can gain new power representing their Character Development when having intense resolve in dire situations: Noelle learns the offensive Sea Dragon's Roar to save her friends after seeing Vetto crush Kahono's throat and overcoming her mental block of not harming others, Vanessa gains the Red Thread of Fate — a power to make fate favor her close companions — when a controlled Asta is about to kill Noelle, Asta enters a more berserk, powerful Black form when enraged by Dante stabbing Gauche with a giant sword.
  • Trilogy Creep: Originally, the anime was only meant to go for 51 episodes. At some point, it was decided the series would continue on beyond this.
  • Underestimating Badassery:
    • The Black Bulls get this a lot, especially Asta and Noelle, the former for his lack of magic and peasant origins and the latter for being the Chew Toy of the royal family and being forced to join the group because of her Power Incontinence. The Black Bulls are actually amazingly powerful, but their rowdy, quirky nature means that people usually don't take them seriously to a detriment. Gifso quickly realizes his mistake of judging the Black Bulls by their rankings once they show themselves to be tougher than he expected when they overcome all his challenges at the Underwater Temple, several of Vanica's Dark Disciples learnt it the hard way and even Dante lost to them in both of his fights against them. There's a reason why Asta's final enemy, Lucius, defies this trend and recognizes Asta as a proper threat.
    • As Asta and Yuno are being honored at the Star Festival for their contributors, Sekke tries to spoil the fun by revealing that both of them are peasants and that Asta has no magic. Yuno decides to set up an impromptu demonstration by casting an immensely-powerful wind spell at Asta, which he proceeds to cut with a single swing from his Anti-Magic sword. Everyone is stunned. The Wizard King then asks the crowd if there's anyone else who doubts their abilities.
    • Dante has this in spades. He's so filled with himself that he tends to underestimate his enemies. Fittingly, on both instances he gets defeated by them, the second time even in the most undignified way possible that his defeat is nothing compared to the no holds-barred beatdown to his ego.
      • Asta is defeated by Dante, who only uses 60% of Lucifero's power. Unfortunately for the Dark Triad leader, Asta teams up with Yami and makes a bargain with his devil, giving him his arm and using its increased anti-magic to help defeat him. At the end, he's the only member of the Dark Triad the heroes actually beat for the first time, and the Dark Triad only got away with both Yami and Vangeance because Zenon (a more competent fighter), was on his way back after capturing the latter.
      • Although Dante has high expectations for Yami's fighting power because he's an Arcane Stage, he didn't expect Yami to actually wound him to the point that he had to use his second magic to heal himself. He's impressed, calling Yami magnificent, and looks forward to them continuing to fight. However, he has no such regards when Magna and Jack the Ripper confront him; he smugly tells Magna to hit him with anything under the impression that the "lowly" peasant knight can't hurt him, only for him to cast a spell that drains away a large portion of magic power and forcing both of them into a fistfight. Magna comes out victorious and Dante turns into a grotesque Humanoid Abomination that gets beaten again within several frames.
    • Devils generally don't take human opponents seriously, believing that they're just playthings to them. Justified since they have immense mana reserves and some of the strongest magic in the series, and even without they're so physically strong that they can simply overwhelm even very powerful mages without using magic anyways. This means that they often don't count on the possibility that a human can kill them. Several supreme devils, including Lucifero, paid for it dearly by underestimating ones like Asta or Noelle.
    • While Lucifero held Zagred in regards as a high-ranking devil, he views Asta's anti-magic devil as low-ranking and less of a threat. Ironically, Zagred was defeated by Asta with the help of Yami, Yuno, and Secre, and he proceeds to defeat Lucifero with the help of several Magic Knight captains and Yuno.
  • Unskilled, but Strong: Most non-humans, like elves and devils, have immense amounts of mana, so their spells are way stronger than the ones humans cast, and in the case of Devils, can easily overwhelm foes using superior physical strength. This also applies to Dante, Vanica and the dark disciples. A common flaw of these entities is that are very confident of their powers, so they don't really bother strategizing against opponents and tend to just overwhelm opponents upfront, which can be taken advantage by human tactics. Averted for Patry, Rhya and Lucius — all three of these are tactful enough to strategize against opponents in and out of fights.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
    • Nozel Silva keeping Acier's death from being cursed by Megicula a secret to his family results in Noelle being ridiculed and mocked by her older siblings for her indirect involvement as well as her Power Incontinence. And tragically, Acier never lived long enough to see it.
    • Inverted with the Witch Queen, whose willingness to let Vanessa go after she ran away ends up helping the Black Bulls and the Forest of Witches in the long run.
  • Villainous Breakdown:
    • Yuno just existing drives Alecdra nuts, but the Curb-Stomp Battle Alecdra received at his hands (with Yuno not using Sylph for extra insult) drove him over the edge.
    • Langris starts to slowly lose his sanity during his fight with Finral, and it gets even worse in his next match until he is finally knocked out.
    • While not the most stable individual in the first place, Vetto really starts to lose it as the heroes stubbornly refuse to give up hope no matter what he does to them. In the end, he collapses into total despair when facing imminent defeat.
    • The Witch Queen starts to become completely desperate when Vanessa's power manifests and stops Asta from killing her friends, to the point that she even tries to kill her own daughter. After the Queen's plans are foiled, she remains in total shock and admits defeat.
  • Visual Pun: When Charmy first unlocks her Food Magic, the giant sheep she summoned sheds the wool to reveal a giant, monstrous wolf. It's a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing.
  • War Arc: The Heart Kingdom Joint Struggle Arc is this, with the Spade Kingdom waging war on the newly-allied Clover Kingdom and Heart Kingdom to obtain the power of Yami and Vangeance, whose magics combined can create the Tree of Qliphoth, which would bring devils into the living world.
  • Water Is Womanly: Water is associated with femininity, with the Water Spirit as the motherly Undine, and the most prominent water mages being Noelle, Lolopechka, and Sister Lily.
  • Wham Episode: See the trope page for the examples.
  • Wham Shot:
    • Chapter 142 has Vangeance tell Julius that he can't choose between him and his friend. Vangeance's scar disappears, then showing the face of Licht.
    • In Chapter 145, Julius erases Licht's light blades before they kill everyone in the Clover Kingdom. Licht is speaking to Julius, who's smiling, while Yami has a shocked look on his eyes. The next page shows Julius stabbed through the chest by Licht's giant light sword.
    • Chapter 195 has Rhya ask who Ronne really is, with Ronne creepily smiling and the next panel showing a hole in Rhya's stomach.
    • In Chapter 196, Ronne places the magic stone, creating a black mass. It takes the form of a very evil-looking devil.
    • On the final page of Chapter 227, Vanessa, Luck and Magna see a shocking sight after sneaking into the Diamond Kingdom: hundreds of defeated Diamond soldiers are laid out on the ground, including two of the Shining Generals, with a single man standing over them bearing the insignia of the Spade Kingdom and whisps of solid black energy resembling a devil's power over his shoulder.
    • The final page of Chapter 238 shows the aftermath of Yuno's battle with Zenon after he uses 55% of his devil's power, with Yuno impaled and looking lifeless.
    • Chapter 246 shows that there is a Clover Kingdom spy in the Spade Kingdom looking for information on the Dark Triad's plans. The last page shows his grimoire pouch, which has the Black Bulls' symbol.
    • In Chapter 260, as Yami is about to bind a defeated Dante after a grueling battle, a dark portal with Zenon appears.
    • Chapter 332 is mostly a light-hearted celebration of Asta's inauguration as a senior magic knight. This was until a mysterious man resembling Julius the Wizard King but with black hair and a Spade Kingdom uniform approaches him and casually tells him that "this is his final destination."
    • Lucius's promised Judgement Day begins in Chapter 354 with all of the Kingdoms on high alert (with the Diamond Kingdom absent). When he announces the start of his own little holy war, A man resembling Nacht Faust walks in front of Jack the Ripper, blows a hole on his body and cuts off one of his limbs. We find out that's actually Morgen Faust, Nacht's long-dead brother. Then Acier Silva shows up right in front of her offspring as a Paladin, telling them that she didn't expect to fight them like this.
  • The Worf Effect:
    • The members of Golden Dawn (Klaus, Mimosa and Yuno) suffered this at the hands of Mars, the mineral mage, despite being from the best magic knight group and Yuno's ace tendencies. This served the purpose of demonstrating how freakishly powerful Mars was, and Asta would need more than standard determination and anti-magic to defeat him.
    • Despite training for six months after being permanently empowered by the elves' possession, nearly all of the Golden Dawn members apart from Vangeance and promoted Vice Captain Yuno are all utterly beaten by the Dark Triad's elite Dark Disciples of the Spade Kingdom lead by Zenon. Yuno and Vangeance themselves are easily defeated by Zenon.
  • Workout Fanservice: There are quite a few scenes of Asta working out shirtless. The twelfth opening "Everlasting Shine" noticeably begins with him doing push-ups shirtless.
  • World of Jerkass: Very much so. Nobles and royals are very snobbish, seeing commoners and peasants with little to no magic ability as beneath them, and several see no problem with killing said commoners should they feel disrespected. Noelle is no exception, as she at first intentionally despised Asta because he had no magic, she herself being disowned by her family for having no control over her own magic.
  • Wrong Context Magic:
    • Mages should only have one magical attribute. However, through experimentation the Diamond Kingdom created mages who could have two — Mars and Fana who both have flame and mineral magic. There's also Charmy, who has cotton and food magic thanks to being a dwarf hybrid.
    • The Heart Kingdom's Magic Stages scale has Arcane Stages, who are mages whose magic are referred to as inexplicable powers. They include Asta, who was born without magic, letting him use Anti-Magic, Secre's Sealing Magic permanently changed after using Forbidden Magic, Yami's Dark Magic that can affect the underworld, Vanessa's magic to change fate to favor her friends, and Grey's transformation magic to transmute magic into different attributes.

 
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Yami Sukehiro

Yami is a self-proclaimed "magic swordsman", fighting by using his dark magic through his katana.

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