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Black Clover
Episode 151

by Theron Martin,

How would you rate episode 151 of
Black Clover ?
Community score: 4.5

Team battles are a staple of long-running shonen action series, but the one this episode offers is a rarity: a formal team-up battle solely consisting of the strongest members of each individual team (in this case Squad Captains), with the normal protagonists relegated to bystander status. I cannot think of another series using a squad/team-based system which has done this. The result is an episode which would probably make the Top Five list for the series' biggest visual spectacles and is easily the most action-intensive episode since the climax of the Elf Reincarnation arc.

The premise for the team-up is a basic but at least easily-justifiable one: the captains are essentially putting on a demonstration of the height of the Clover Kingdom's power, both as a morale-booster for the Magic Knight Squads and as a message to the people that the kingdom's defense is in capable hands. And if that orgy of powerful magic should all happen to play into the Wizard King's fanboyish love for creative magic use, well, that's just gravy, right? Maybe just as importantly, this is not a battle about settling scores or anything like that. Pride may be on the line for most of the Captains (they would not be deserving of the title if their pride was not at stake), but this is just as much about what Captains who do not commonly work together getting to see what each other can do. That could be valuable in a tactical sense in upcoming massed battles.

That is exactly all of the plot to the episode. The rest is just action in assorted venues – over water, in forests, in a dream realm – and the flashy exchanges which result from that. As it has on occasion before, the production team gave this episode extra effort and talent, which shows clearly in several involved, vibrant action displays, whether it's Nozel's bird of mercury crashing as one of its legs gets melted off, Yami using his Equinox attack again, Jack slicing through a massive fireball, or a trio of Captains on each side combining their efforts to pit a mighty whirlwind against a giant version of Salamander. Each of the Captains gets their turn to shine, though the greatest emphasis falls on Yami and Nozel on one side and Fuegeleon on the other. Charlotte gets the least to do in the battles, though her fixation on Yami still allows her to have about as much screen time as the others.

That fixation also contributes in the return of Petit Clover. In the dream realm battle, Yami had to fight duplicates of himself, so when Charlotte finds out about that she cannot help but imagine Yami duplicates doing sexy poses and demeanors. That makes for one of the funnier such installments we've seen in a long time. That makes for a fun cap to a fun episode.

As a final thought, anyone else agree that the guy from Yakuza: Like a Dragon has to be Yami's long-lost twin brother?

Rating:

Black Clover is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and FUNimation.


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