“The Lives of the Village in the Sticks”
What They Say:
In a world where magic is everything, Asta and Yuno are both found abandoned at a church on the same day. While Yuno is gifted with exceptional magical powers, Asta is the only one in this world without any. At the age of fifteen, both receive grimoires, magic books that amplify their holder’s magic. Asta’s is a rare Grimoire of Anti-Magic that negates and repels his opponent’s spells. Being opposite but good rivals, Yuno and Asta are ready for the hardest of challenges to achieve their common dream: to be the Wizard King. Giving up is never an option!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
In the previous episode we were treated to a visually stunning battle between the leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun, Licht, and the duo of Asta and Yuno. While the duo managed to pull out all the stops against Licht, they were unable to hurt him at all and were easily overpowered. Naturally, after being extremely hyped up from that epic battle last week, I could only salivate at the thought that their battle was going to continue this episode. Sadly, that does not happen. Bummer. After hurling Asta and Yuno to the ground below, Licht slowly descends and tells Raia that they’re leaving. After gathering all of the reincarnated elves in the area, they leave in their fortress and head towards the royal capital.
Elsewhere, Mimosa is checking up on a passed out Asta while Yuno surveys their surroundings. Zora finds the group and then leads them towards where the captain of the Silver Eagles, Nozel, and the rest of their allies are recuperating from their own battles. Everyone begins to share what they’ve learned with each other and Zora informs everyone that their enemies are heading towards the royal capital. At this point, Nozel walks over to Asta’s group and gives them a magic item that rapidly increases their healing. This is quite uncharacteristic of Nozel as he is usually cold and condescending towards them. Asta then makes a hilarious remark about how he doesn’t know how Nozel can see past his hair and that maybe, just maybe, he’s not such a bad guy. I couldn’t help but laugh a bit at that line. With everyone now healed, Nozel proclaims that they must save the Clover Kingdom. Even if they must kill their fellow Magic Knights, they must come out victorious, no matter the cost. Noelle doesn’t agree with her brother though. She recalls during her fight with her teammate Luck, that he missed all his attacks on her and believes that his soul is trying to fight back. She also points out the fact that Yuno is doing okay and believes that they can find a way to make everyone regain their senses. Everyone agrees and Nozel simply smirks.
With renewed determination, the group heads towards the royal capital to stop their foes. While they are flying, Zora notices that one village is already being attacked. Much to Asta and Yuno’s horror, it’s their hometown of Hage Village! They obviously want to go down and save their village but Nozel refuses. He makes clear once again that their duty is to protect the Clover Kingdom and that means protecting the royal capital first. However, he allows them to go save their village but warns them that they must come back quickly because they are vital in this battle. Nozel has certainly been quite agreeable this episode. In perhaps one of the nicest moments in Black Clover, Noelle asks her brother if she can go with them but he shoots her down immediately and says that she’s coming with him to protect the castle. Noelle recalls all the times her brother had said mean things to her like she didn’t belong here, she shouldn’t have been born, etc. She cannot believe that that very same brother is relying on her now and agrees to accompany him while holding back her tears. Noelle has been through a lot and it was genuinely nice to see her have this moment.
Down below in Hage Village, a reincarnated elf has used his poison plant magic to poison a good amount of the villagers, including Father Orsi. Sister Lily tries to attack him with her water magic but to no avail. He sets his eyes on her and the orphans. The reincarnated elf tells her that human lives are useless and she gets visibly upset by his words. She says that humans also go through hardships but they still laugh and have dreams. Everyone is living the best way they can. Sister Lily’s words resonate with the oldest orphan kid, Nash, as he has a flashback about once saying that orphans are poor and aren’t allowed to dream. Asta scolds him for saying that and tells him that he can’t give up at the beginning without even trying. Everyone is allowed to dream! Nash then tells Asta that if he somehow becomes a Magic Knight, he’ll start believing that he can be anything he dreams of. Back to their current predicament, the enemy has grown tired of all the nonsense and attacks Sister Lily. Nash, full of tears, runs towards that attack and screams not to hurt the sister. It seems like the poor kid is running straight into his own demise but at the last second, Asta and Yuno show up to block the attack! Asta and Yuno tell the teary-eyed Nash that he did a good job and to leave the rest to them. This was a very heartwarming way to close the episode.
In Summary:
After last week’s amazing fast-paced episode featuring the magnificent Asta/Yuno versus Licht battle, this episode slowed things down. That’s not a bad thing per se, but I certainly felt my excitement die down when I realized the fight wasn’t going to continue this episode. It also didn’t help that almost the entire first half we were being fed information that we already knew. That being said, we did get to see some rewarding moments this episode. Noelle was finally recognized by her usually dickish brother and her reaction was genuinely adorable. The ending to the episode was also quite satisfying and I’m sure some fans may have shed a tear or two. Next episode we’re getting a fight and I hope it’s a good one!
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll, VRV
