Black Clover

Episode 159

In fairness to the new opener, I gave it a second try this week. While there are parts of it that I like, it's just not growing on me that much, and thus will likely be relegated to the “regular skip” realm starting next episode.

There are bigger matters to talk about here anyway – or one much bigger point, really. While most of the episode is time-killing fluff, the first and last couple of minutes deal with Ralph, who was found by Sister Lily last episode. Unsurprisingly, Lily and the priest call for Yuno, as Ralph has a whopper to tell: Yuno is the Prince of the Spade Kingdom, whose Royal Family was exiled when the Dark Triad came to power. This is not a hugely surprising revelation after seeing how much Ciel looked like Yuno last episode and what Ralph said as he went unconscious. However, it does raise a lot of interesting questions, especially how recently the Dark Triad came to power. Megicula's curse dates to before Noelle was born, and she's about the same age as Asta and Yuno, so that suggests that Megicula, at least, may have been connected to how Yuno ended up at Hague Village as a baby. (This still leaves the question of how Asta fits in, however.) Given the apparent youth of some of the Dark Triad members, I get the impression that they came along much later. This also implies that Ciel is a member of the Royal Family of Spade Kingdom as well. Fortunately, we will not have to wait long for an explanation on this, as it appears to be coming next episode.

You could probably skip the rest of the episode and not feel like you missed much. The Clover Kingdom ladies and the Queen have a bath together (which turns out to be less fan-servicey than might be expected) and talk love matters. Notably, Mimosa never denies that she has a thing for Asta, just that now is not the appropriate time to be trying to date, while Noelle tries to deny it but is not very convincing. Nero also finally lets us know where she stands (er, sits): his head is just a comfy perch in bird form. As the Water Spirit does, I also feel a little sorry for Gaja, as in her own way Loropechika is just as oblivious as Asta is. Otherwise the rest of the episode (including the Petit Clover segment) is about Charmy's eating becoming so out of control that she's a) gained a lot of weight and b) become a monstrous threat. Ever since the elf reincarnation story hit its peak and Charmy faced down the possessed Rill, I have wondered if she was not secretly among the most powerful of the Black Bulls, and these scenes seem to support that. How dangerous would she be if she got serious?

As a final thought on the Yuno matter, I also have to wonder if Yuno turning out to be royalty might not change a big chunk of the overall story's dynamic. But I'll wait until after the revelations next episode to discuss that further.

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Black Clover is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and FUNimation.