Black Clover

Episode 144

Apparently this business about the Devil Banishers isn't a throwaway arc after all. This is playing out as a larger matter, with this episode marking the third straight one devoted to it and at least one more coming next episode, hence making it the most substantial ongoing narrative since the end of the Elf Possession arc. And that's a Good Thing, as shonen action series all too often dodge exploring the smaller consequences of the bigger actions that transpire.

The scenes in the wrecked village, where Nozel and the Black Bulls are asking around about Marie and Nero, drive home the point that the villagers are not going to appreciate the bigger picture when they have to be most immediately concerned with their own livelihoods and affairs. In a meta sense, Dazu's recriminations against Yami for the Magic Knights not being there to help and protect her and her family are patently unfair, as the Magic Knights who were not possessed had their hands plenty full dealing with the heart of the problem, but she does not have the luxury of looking at the meta picture. Yami understands this, which is why he apologizes rather than trying to defend or explain, and Nozel has learned enough from his experience at Arandom to urge restraint on Noelle when the people start reacting negatively to her inquiries. Meanwhile, Gauche is just as understandably not restraining himself; this is the one time where his obsessiveness with Marie cannot be faulted and is not at least partly played as a joke.

In fact, the whole episode is remarkably restrained about resorting to its normal comedy antics. When Yami returns to find Asta awake and grabs him by the head, it's not played as a joke but an honest restraint attempt. When Noelle has a chance to go tsundere and Charlotte has a chance to react to Yami's praise in the later meeting of Magic Knight captains, both start their typical reactions but then cut themselves off. The closest thing to true levity is Yami's insults towards Jack in the meeting, and even those play in the background. The series is treating this as a wholly serious issue which runs counter to the normal high spirits that the franchise traffics in. Though the events portrayed here are hardly a perfect alignment with current real-world events, this is the closest to real-world relevancy that the franchise has ever been.

For all that this is being handled extremely well so far, I also have some niggling concerns about what direction this might go in. Julius's comments about how he feels like they're missing something worries me that this all might be some scheme, with the Devil Banishers being manipulated by some agent rather than being a natural outgrowth of public disaffection, and the most obvious candidate to be the manipulator is Bow. I really, really hope that my suspicions get proven wrong here, as such a twist would cheapen the story that the series has presented to this point.

Rating:

Black Clover is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and FUNimation.