Black Clover Manga Thread

So it came to light that Shonen Jump has uploaded two banners on their "current series" page, one with Black Clover and one without Black Clover.

It's unknown what this means as of now.

Okay so, big news. Black Clover will be transfering from Weekly Shonen Jump to Jump GIGA soon. This will mean the schedule will shift from a weekly to a quarterly.

Oof. Hope it's more to do with Tabatas schedule than any lacking sales or whatever.

I recalled reading somewhere that Tabata has had his own health issues, plus something about his wife having health complications?

I don't know for certain about any of it but if that's the case, it's definitely for the best.

EDIT: Tabata's message regarding the transfer has been translated. He apparently discussed with editorial to do this change because of the weekly schedule clashing with his own personal situation. There's some people who've noted that his handwriting for the message isn't great, which could be a bad sign.

Edited by Diana1969 on Aug 17th 2023 at 2:14:31 PM

His author comments as of late have mentioned health problems with not only himself but his family. For the best, from the author comment it doesn't seem like the story will be rushed either considering it's a decision he made for the story as its author and his statement he plans on telling the stories he needs to. So ~50-60 page long chapters every 3 months, looks like the story won't be ending that soon.

Big change going to once every three months. Hope Tabata's doing okay.

Plus, it's not the first time a Shonen Jump series transferred to Giga in the climax of its final arc.

New chapter:

Here he comes to save the day!!!!

Damn the pacing has picked up. From the notes the final fights will be Yami, Nacht, and Ichika vs Morgen, Mereoleona vs Morris, Noelle vs Acier, and Asta and Yuno vs Lucius. See the story back in December, hope Tabata rests up and enjoys the more accomodating schedule!

The mangaka schedule is grueling and I'm just hoping this helps the man's health

"Goodbye happy hell" he said. Sucks that it'll be a probably 50-60 page chapter every 3 months now instead but it's for the best for the story's conclusion and Tabata's health which hasn't been good for a while now. Also doesn't hurt that he'll get to spend more time with his family as well.

So I'm still (slowly) making my way through the manga and I'm up to Volume 29.

Y'know...something feels missing with the story. When I was reading through up to the end of the Elf Reincarnation arc, I was so enthused that I was binging multiple volumes in a single day. I don't normally do that unless I'm deliberately rushing to finish something. Black Clover just had a huge hold on me with each arc. But with the change in antagonists to the Dark Triad, it feels like it's lost a little something to it.

I do want to make clear, the Dark Triad aren't *bad* antagonists or anything. Dante and Vanica have been pretty fun (Vanica especially, I love a villainess who's very immature and sadistic), and Zenon's assault on the Golden Dawn was pretty fucking great. In delivering great battles, they do a good job. Plus, there's a personal element with Vanica and Noelle (and honestly I just love Noelle getting shit to do, she's amazing) and...surprisingly, this arc makes me finally care about Yuno some more? Like, I'm kind of whatever about the twist with his heritage, but him deciding to go It's Personal after Vangeance is taken is actually kinda fun.

But I dunno, I guess like...with the Eyes of the Midnight Sun, it built up into this arc about the Clover Kingdom's past, while tying it into its present. It was kind of a mirror to how Asta is this guy with all these disadvantages and he still rises to the top as a badass hero with a good heart. There's a lot of cool stuff there thematically, even if I think some of it could've baked in the oven a bit longer (the climax is the weakest point of the Elf Reincarnation arc to me). But here, it's...not quite *as* personal beyond saving Yami from the Dark Triad. There's not the same level of depth to them as there was with Patry and the elves. They're just a bunch of bastards. And that's fine, they play their part well, but I guess it's kind of a letdown after the previous arc. The devil mooks are pretty boring too. The elves were a bit one-note personalitywise, but at least they allowed for some interesting fights cuz of the body possession stuff.

Still some cool shit, though. Nacht isn't my favorite character but he's got some interesting depth to him (and he's kinda funny), Leo *FINALLY* does something cool that I like (out of the Vermillion siblings, he's been my least favorite, but god if he didn't pull through with that glyph move in the Heart Kingdom), Noelle is always great and probably tied for my favorite character, Magna gets some badass shit with that soul chain thing, Mereoleona FOUGHT A GIANT FUCKING DEVIL AND WENT MAGICAL SUPER SAIYAN I GUESS, and Asta gets some cool stuff from bonding with his inner devil thing (plus some info on Asta's mom, which was...kinda surprising but also cute?).

But uh, yeah, I'm given to understand the final arc picks up in some interesting ways, so I'm kind of looking forward to that. Just have to keep going through this.

Yeah there's definitely a shift after Elf Reincarnation. Has its ups and downs and the Spade Kingdom Raid Arc has plenty of twists. Nacht is definitely a character to keep in mind and becomes very very important in the upcoming volumes.

Just got to Noelle versus Megicula.

God I love Noelle so much. This was amazing. Everyone pitching in and finally avenging Acier. And Noelle just not having it with Vanica's bullshit was great lmao.

I do appreciate Noelle's stab the crazy bitch philosophy.

There's a time and a place for Friendship speeches and sparing the villain.

And she decided not today.

Yeah that scene was great.

Dante vs. Magna is probably my most favorite fight in the whole series, maybe in all of Shonen — a guy that was being built up as the Big Bad, with enormous power, with a personal connection to the hero, who was barely defeated by our two strongest main characters and is now more powerful then ever — get whomped in three chapters by a supporting character. It's like if Krillin beat Freeza.

And sure, that could prove an anti-climax, but seeing Dante's smug face get punched in is just so satisfying. Plus, it's kind of a theme in the Qliphoth arc that the villains who were so threatening the first time around are revealed to be paper tigers once the heroes can make up the power difference.

The only exception is Zenon, the only Triad member who had greater motivations for releasing demons than "Shits and Giggles."

I guess I have some mixed feelings on it because it *does* feel somewhat anticlimactic, but at the same time...Magna did good and it was fun seeing him develop and bridge the gap in a genuinely unique way.

There was a video about this from a few months ago;

stating that Dante was basically a spoiled child with delusions of grandeur, coasting on his devil host's power while putting up a front to mask his own insecurities.

The same guy did a video on Noelle vs Vanica too, because it was an awesome moment.

Edited by Dracoblade on Sep 11th 2023 at 12:47:06 PM

Hm.

Okay so, still reading through, of course. *ALMOST* caught up, only three more volumes and the ten chapters that haven't been collected into a volume yet and I'll be caught up completely.

So, a couple more thoughts as I've been reading.

One: Zenon's backstory is alright enough, definitely the deepest of the Dark Triad. Man killed his emotions because of regret over the death of his friend/rival. Doesn't completely absolve the Dark Triad from feeling kind of generic compared to the Eyes of the Midnight Sun, but still.

Two: Yuno's got a little more to him, this is good. I liked seeing his dedication to the Golden Dawn and his drive to avenge Vangeance and rescue him. But I also feel meh about his powerup and the twist with his magic. Like...I'unno, I'm not psyched about his new backstory details? Fucking Yuno continues to baffle me, I *want* to like him and I genuinely adore his relationship with Asta, but overall he leaves me cold.

Three: the Captains just do NOT get the best showing in this arc lmao. Mostly they're support, and while they do get their moments, Lucifero just mops the fucking floor with them. Dorothy gets it the worst. I liked her in Elf Reincarnation but she's just cannon fodder right now, it's kind of a shame. Jack doesn't do too hot either. Shame.

FINALLY CAUGHT UP.

Hooh boy. So.

The Lucifero fight was amazing. Genuinely one of the best fights in the whole damn series.

The twist with Julius having a twin personality of Lucius...see, I'd been spoiled a bit on it, but even then I don't really know where it was foreshadowed. I've never seen any hate for the twist, so I'm guessing I just missed something. Mind, I'm kind of eh on Lucius as a villain. Ungodly power like the typical big boss shonen baddie, has creepy motivations, but otherwise just a boring personality.

Loved Asta training in the Land of the Rising Sun, loved the setup for the final battles, loved the last stand to bring Asta back to the Clover Kingdom...and I dunno how to feel about Asta granting his anti-magic to the rest of the Black Bulls. On the one hand, definitely a sign of their bond and building up from what had been done previously. On the other hand, it feels like it happened a bit too fast. The people who complain about this though (and there was a LOT of complaining about it that I saw) are overreacting as always, of course. Seriously, I dunno what was so upsetting about this.

It's not even just a case where Julius and Lucius are different personalities. They are two souls within one body. It's even brought up by another character that this is like the situation with the Elves' souls reincarnating and sharing bodies with human souls.

It's even worse for Julius since he had no idea he was sharing his body with someone else until it was too late. Julius is very much a Helpless Good Side compared to Lucius.

The Lucius foreshadowing is pretty subtle but it's present – Julius being able to transform despite having time magic and the rule of one mage one attribute unless you're a devil host or hybrid like Charmy or human experiment like Mars, one of the big three devils of the underworld being Astaroth of time, and the weird coincidence that the two mages needed for the Qliphoth (Yami and Vangeance) both happened to be mentored by Julius, on top of other stuff people have pointed out

How did you feel about the Ichika Yami clan killer twist by the way Diana? A lot of people expected it would turn out that Yami didn't do it, but I don't think anyone really suspected it was actually Ichika

I mean, it was incredibly obvious that Yami didn't do it. I guess I'm mostly kinda ambivalent about it? Ichika is fine but I don't exactly feel much over this twist.

I dunno, everything after Elf Reincarnation isn't hitting the same way for me. I kinda miss the earlier arcs where it was a slow buildup all the way to the end, with all these smaller adventures going on, y'know? But that's not to say I dislike the stuff post-Elf Reincarnation. Noelle keeps being my fave, I've really warmed up in hindsight to Magna versus Dante, the Lucifero fight is just exquisite, Asta's relationship with Liebe is pretty nice, Nacht is great, and FUCK do I even need to mention the Black Bulls all going out of their way to save Yami? I love the Black Bulls so much, their loyalty is so fucking endearing.

But yeah I dunno, even beyond the truly amazing stuff, something still feels missing.

I agree somewhat. Pre-Elf Reincarnation had more "charm" to me? More endearing slice of life esque moments and worldbuilding and more gradual buildup to the climax even if the story has always been fast paced. I do enjoy the character moments and development post-Elf Reincarnation more though personally but it does lack that early charm with a focus now more on action and dramatic turns to me.

With the new release schedule I do hope the story concludes on a high note and under better circumstances for story planning, art, etc.