Black Clover

Episode 157

With the recent announcement that the Clover Kingdom vs. Spade Kingdom arc will officially start on January 5th, right now was probably the perfect time for a recap episode.

Thankfully, this episode was not entirely a recap; only about 2/3 of it is. In response to Gaja's question to Asta about how he became so powerful despite having no mana, Asta provides a very condensed version of his story to date, with a focus on incidents which drew out new levels to his abilities. This was partly welcome, since I had forgotten where exactly Asta learned that he could borrow mana using the Demon-Dweller Sword and project it. Upon reflection, I don't think he ever used that trick again, but it did serve as the basis for other tricks Asta develops, including one last episode where he finally figured out how to project his anti-magic. Putting those clips in the context of a conversation with Gaja also makes the use of the recollections less clunky, as does Asta providing his take on events from the position of his current understanding of things.

But the episode does have at least a bit of new content. Some of it is just showing, very briefly, what others are up to both in the Heart Kingdom and back in Clover Kingdom (Magnus apparently went home?), but Noelle also gets a nice action scene showing her becoming more proficient with her water armor form. Not seeing what kind of training paces Nero is being put through is a little disappointing, but she is not the action figure that Noelle now can be, so that's understandable. The most important point is Gaja being able to coax another new trick out of Asta. Seeing the demon within Asta pop up again, chuckling over this latest development, also seems significant, though I doubt that we will find out why anytime soon. I still maintain that he's allowing Asta to use his power for personal amusement.

The preliminaries are almost done. Only one episode is left (if a new one does, indeed, air on 12/29) before the next big arc begins.

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