Important questions gets answered and new major characters gets introduced!

Chapter 336 Recap & Reaction

Addressing the Important Questions

The first page begs the question that all of us were asking, “how will the citizens and the rest of the Wizard King’s followers react to Julius’s betrayal?” Then, it takes the scene back to Yuno, the captains and other magic knights discussing what they are going to do about Lucius and the possible death of Asta.

This chapter addresses a couple important questions that I thought may have had a bigger reaction, but it seems that the writer had them already understand that Lucius and Julius were in an “Elf-like” situation like Patoli had with William Vangeance; lessening the outrage that the characters may have had. They continue discussing Lucius’s capabilities and assessing their current situation.

Quickly, Nacht gives us the answer that Asta could be very far away out of his reach to enter his shadow or he could be dead. Being that Asta is the main protagonist, it’s clearly assumed from the audience’s perspective that it’s the former rather than the latter.

• So far, it seems the writer is underestimating the outrage of a similar scenario in reality. I would have thought there would have been some riots or something similar. However, I can buy into the uncertainty and lack of knowledge of how everything transpired surrounded around the Julius situation and how the public isn’t really in the know either. I would have liked something more from this, but it’ll suffice as the story can always address it some more later on.

• It terms of the captains’ reactions to Lucius and Julius sharing the same body, it makes a ton of sense that they don’t dwell too much on that fact as they are dealing with a larger concern of a war with Lucius on the horizon.

Yuno, the Chosen One

After addressing the major concerns, the spotlight switched to Yuno. Whether Asta is dead or not, Yuno seemed unfazed at the fact that he still wants to become the Wizard King. However, his facial expression shows that his motivation is greater than ever with the possibility of Asta being dead. The panel shifts back to Adrammelech and Lucius speaking of Yuno. It appears that Yuno is the next greatest danger to Lucius’s plans as his strength with the two important grimoires and Slyph are increasing at an outstanding pace.

• Yuno makes the perfect character to bring forth to the story’s main storyline as each arc has built him up to the point where he is likely going to be the most powerful magic knight of this arc (at least magic-wise). With the impending war against Lucius, we’re likely going to see an epic showdown with Yuno involved and all the other characters having to protect him. With so many other characters that need an important role that makes them stand out, it’s going to be interesting to see what these characters’ roles will look like when the action picks back up.

The last panels of the chapter ends with Asta passed out in a desert with a mysterious character hovering over him.

Chapter 337-338 Recap & Reaction

These two chapters offered quite a few more intriguing new aspects to the Black Clover story. Black Clover is still Asta’s story. Duh! And it is finally addressing Yami Sakehiro’s origins that’s likely to play a major role in Asta’s ascension to being the Wizard King.

In typical shonen fashion, the start of chapter 337 begins with Nacht addressing the Black Bulls, galvanizing everyone in their search of Asta’s body because they don’t really believe that he’s dead.

• Like really.. Who actually believed that Asta was dead?!

• Nacht getting all the Black Bulls together to go find Asta is so very shonen. It’s a classic trope of “close friends wanting to go find their missing friend.”

Suddenly, Asta wakes up in a whole new mysterious place. A man that looks like Captain Yami tends to him. He reveals that he grew up with Captain Yami and tells Asta that he’s in the mysterious foreign land that Yami is from. Even more mysterious as he points to his eye-patch is the fact that “he can see stuff,” revealing many important plot elements and knowledge about characters that surprises Asta. Also, he reveals that “Asta isn’t strong enough” to be of any use, if he decides to go back to fight Lucius now. By the end of chapter 337, he reveals that he is the Shogun of this place and his name is “Ryuya Ryudo.”

• Chapter 337 has all the elements of classic shonen that typically sets up the main protagonist to attain some higher knowledge and ability. As an audience, we already know that Asta is physically strong with the ability of Devil Union with Liebe. However, there’s a new foe with OP abilities that no one knows how to defeat just yet. Now, here we are with Asta conveniently in this mysterious place with origins that will likely explain Captain Yami’s mysterious powers—most likely linking some new found knowledge and ability to Asta.

As chapter 338 begins, it is revealed that this place that Asta is in is called “The Land of the Sun.” Ryuya Ryudo or Ryu for short, ends up taking Asta for a tour of the town. He explains how the powers in the land work like how people uses “scrolls to perform Yojutsu.” He further explains to Asta that “your magic is our ‘yojutsu’ and your magical powers is called ‘yoryoku.'”

• Once Ryu explained how magic works, it quickly made me think that this world that Asta is in is within a different dimension. With spacial power and Lucius presumptuously sending Asta to his death, it makes a lot of sense that this is likely in a whole other universe. Ryu explaining that he is the Shogun, further adds to the theory that Asta is likely in Japan on Earth or something similar to that. At the very least, “The Land of the Sun” seems to be a place that is incredibly difficult to access.

All of the sudden, some bandits come blasting through into the village as Ryu uses some power of his foresight to get those villagers to move out of the way before the bandits crushes them. Ichika, Ryu’s attendant steps in the way as it is revealed that Ryu doesn’t have yoryoku. The crowd cheers for “one of the Ryuzen Seven,” which is referring to Ichika as the crowd refers to her as Lady Yami; prompting Asta to recognize and acknowledge what everyone is thinking, but Ichika vehemently shuts him up with a grasp of his face. Humorously, Ryu finishes the sentence for him that Ichika is actually Captain Yami’s little sister!

• Ichika, being Captain Yami’s little sister was actually a nice little surprise. We’re still in the middle of likely many more chapters explaining more about The Land of the Sun and how power here works. Most of these new characters probably won’t be involved in the fight against Lucius, but we’re about to see what new tricks and new life lessons that Asta is about to learn as he witnesses Ichika use unknown powers. Again, it’s setting up to be very classic shonen. However, the weaving of the story to be involved with Captain Yami’s mysterious past is a great way to tie in answers to questions that the audience have been wondering all this time.

Last Thoughts

One of my favorite parts about new arcs and new situations in stories is the exposition elements of the story. New characters, new interesting plot points, new lessons learned and just an overall fresh new vibe with unexpected events. Not only is Asta is in a totally different element, it creates a whole new layer of mystery with more and more questions being raised that we want answered.

Who is this guy that knows Captain Yami? Why does he seem to be in the know of the plot and all the characters? What the heck is this mysterious place? What’s the deal with these mysterious new powers? How the heck did Yami get out of this foreign land?

This arc continues to surprise me with new refreshing elements to the Black Clover storyline. So far, I don’t see much to knock about the buildup of this last grand arc, granted that the knowledge of Julius sharing a body with Lucius seemed to be a little brushed over.