Black Clover Is Speeding Towards the End, And It’s Ruining the Finale

Videos by ComicBook.com

Ever since Yuki Tabata shifted over to a quarterly release schedule for the manga last year, Black Clover has returned every few months with multiple chapter updates working through the final fights in the war against Lucius Zogratis. But with its ending seemingly coming very soon, the latest update seems even more egregious in how it’s speeding through the last of its major developments to make sure it can come to an end by next Spring at the latest.

What’s Going On With Black Clover’s Final Arc?

Courtesy of Shueisha

Black Clover returned for Chapters 384 through 386 of the manga, and they pick up right from where it all left off as Asta has been fully healed by Mimosa after taking what seemed to be a lethal blow by Lucius in the previous chapters. Quickly getting back into the main fight, the new chapters start to speed through what fans had previously expected to be what likely could have been big moments for the final war. First off, Noelle unites with Asta and has healed to the point where she can once again uses the Black Dragon variant of her Valkyrie Dress.

The chapter then quickly cuts back to the Land of the Sun to reveal that one of the Lucius clones had since torn through Shogun Ryuya Ryudo and the Ryuzen Seven in the region after Asta and Ichika had been sent back to the Clover Kingdom. It’s a huge chunk of this final war that had been ignored to this point, and also seemingly wraps up its importance when that Lucius clone is defeated. Ryuya explains that he’s been watching Asta all this time in the hopes that Asta would be ready for this day, and now he’s betting it all on the young hero.

You’d think such a big moment would feel like it would have the space to have that impact, but there’s not enough time to do so as the chapters continue along. Asta returns to the fight to help Yuno, but then Lucius tries to stop him with a Paladin clone of Asta’s mother. Asta and Liebe take about half a page to consider whether or not to fight her, and then defeat her as quickly as she arrives without Licita saying anything in the moment. Once again, another seemingly huge moment is dealt with immediately and pushed aside.

Black Clover’s Ruining Its Grand Finale

Shueisha

Black Clover taking this extra time for its final arc was originally a great idea as it allowed Tabata a much easier schedule to follow, and has resulted in two years of great entries that have given the focus to all of the final arc’s big moments so far. But now that the actual final battle is nearing its end, it’s clear that Tabata plans to end the story on this final fight too. Even curious elements like Adrammalech suddenly decided to turn on Lucius, and turned out to be a devil with light magic based powers, who then fuses his power with Yami (who is also suddenly revealed to be capable of that ability).

There’s just so much that felt like it was crammed in here that the series is throwing away that great pace and build up that the final arc has had so far. It’s felt increasingly messy as it seemingly “needs” to end despite the fact that these moments like this should have gotten bigger times in the spotlight to get the focus on. And it’s all in service on making sure it ends with a cool battle rather than highlighting each of the character moments fans have really loved instead.

Black Clover still has a lot on the table when it comes to Asta and Yuno’s futures, and perhaps that’s where the focus is going to be once it rushes to the end of its battle. It could be that the series ends with its next release in January 2026, or March/April 2026 at the latest. Either way, Black Clover is rushing to get to that finish line despite all of the cool work the series has done to make sure its final arc is as great as possible. It might be in service of the new anime starting next year, but it’s still a bummer to see happen.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!