Black Clover

Episode 8

I think one downside to not having read this manga is that I only have my gut to call out filler whenever it might pop up. There are a few moments that I'm sure are important this week, like the concluding cliffhanger and the introduction to Magna's Crazy Cyclone broom, but the lead up to these things is so breezy that it leaves no room for conversation. I like my shonen anime a little slow, but you gotta give me a good carrot on a stick first.

In all fairness, the episode opens with a scene designed to better familiarize ourselves with the supporting cast. However, all of their personalities seemed pretty clear from the get-go, and now would be a good time to see how they actually bounce off each other. Do they get on each other's nerves? Maybe some of them share hobbies? If they're not one of the major characters introduced (Yami, Magna, Noelle), then so far they're just here to sit around and announce their one-dimensional quirks. I'm sure the supporting Black Bulls will have something to do eventually, but if we're going to buy time by hanging out with them, some fleshing-out would be appreciated.

The central scene of this episode is a card game where Yami and Magna lose all of their money to the mayor of a village (including their clothes, so they get to shamelessly wander around buck naked), and now they're indebted to the village to stop a boar attack. This mission is being put on the shoulders of Asta and Noelle, and their transportation is where we're introduced to the aforementioned Crazy Cyclone. I actually found it kind of cute that neither of them could fly a broom, since Asta has no magic and Noelle can't control hers.

This is an episode that takes its time and suffers from too much padding. We're offered a good cliffhanger, but it's so abrupt and short that I think we may have benefited from it being drawn out, so the rest of the episode could tighten up a bit. I can't say this episode is bad necessarily, but it reminded me of episode three, where I found the material so light that it became frustratingly boring. I want some punchiness and intrigue, darn it! Episodes like this are to be expected, but this is not my favorite side of Black Clover by a long shot.

Rating: C+

Black Clover is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Sam Leach records about One Piece for The One Piece Podcast and you can find him on Twitter @LuckyChainsaw