Title: Black Clover Vol. 24
Author: Yuki Tabata
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Genre: Shounen, Battle
Publication Date: January 5, 2021
The Story
Volume 24 of Black Clover opens up on the other side of a 6-month time skip. As expected, Asta got WAY stronger than he was and the focus has now shifted to the Spade Kingdom. In the last 6 months, they invaded most of the Diamond Kingdom and had set their sights on the Clover Kingdom. Asta speeds off to the town of Tolon where citizens with very little magic are being captured and used to power their floating fortress. Asta makes quick work of everyone before Mimosa, Noelle, and Finral show up to mop up his mess.
Afterward, we learn about The Dark Triad… mages infused with the Devil’s Power who took over and are now ruling the Spade Kingdom. It appears that they are setting their sights on retrieving an Arcane Stage-level mage… that mage just happens to be Captain Vangeance of the Golden Dawn! They invade the Clover Kingdom; however, Yuno was summoned to his hometown where a man by the name of Ralph shows Yuno his true past. Right in the middle of it, Yuno gets word of The Dark Triad’s attack and heads off to help his comrades.
The battle was pretty fierce; however, The Dark Triad, presumably, got what they came for in the end. They announce that their next target is Captain Yami of the Black Bulls and our volume comes to an end!
This arc is already really interesting! There’s a new force to be reckoned with and, as expected, they are a step above in power than the Eye of the Midnight Sun. The Dark Triad seemed pretty powerful; however after a few of them fell, it makes you wonder just how strong they really are? After all, Asta was able to hand a few of them on his own when he helped out the town of Tolon. With Asta getting even stronger, it’s pretty predictable that he will be the one to fight The Dark Triad’s leader, Zenon.
With the way things are being set up, though. I can see Yuno getting in the way of that fight or even joining Asta on it. What the fallout will be once this is over with; however, remains a bit clouded but I could wager a guess just based on some of the events that happened in this volume.
Characters
The biggest development here (and probably the biggest development in quite some time) comes with Yuno’s character. It’s really tough to talk about it without spoiling a good portion of the manga; however, I will say that we do get to see Yuno’s true past. It answers a lot of questions that we had about him from the beginning and it establishes a possible new path for his character once this arc is over. There are quite a few ways it could go but given the events here plus Yuno’s convictions, I could see him becoming a bridging character between nations. I’ll let you read it in order to figure out why that is for yourselves.
Of course, everyone got more powerful after 6 months of training. Asta can summon and fly on his sword now, Noelle can ride on a sphere of water while maintaining her armor, Mimosa’s plant recovery magic is almost getting on par with Captain Vangeance’s. (Maybe that one’s a stretch but she is getting good with it). Something like that was to be expected after a time skip so it was only natural for it to happen.
We also got to witness Fuegoleone’s son… Shoto Todoroki!
Okay, so his name is Leo but he does have a hybrid fire/ice power as he rode upon a heat-infused ice phoenix. I mean, if this is going to borrow a lot of plot points and development from other shonen manga, why not add Boku no Hero Academia to the list?
Final Thoughts
This new arc has been really good thus far. The time skip was handled quite well, we’ve established the new big bad of this arc, and everyone got nice power-ups. There were some “hold your breath” moments in the volume; however, plot devices came to the rescue which kind of ruined the shock a few times. That’s one of my biggest qualms in manga overall (not just this series.) Far too often will a mangaka teeter on the edge of a REALLY huge event that could change the entire landscape of the manga only to cancel it out with a cheap plot device. I cringe every single time that I see it used!
It’s like… either pull the trigger or don’t! If the event wasn’t meant to transpire, don’t tease it! Have more meaning in your panels and story plots and stop going for shock value! After you’ve seen it happen time and time again, shocking moments don’t feel as shocking anymore. Instead, you become conditioned to look for the plot device and when you find it, the emotion you experience is nothing more than a disappointing sigh. I think a lot of mangaka need to learn this as stuff like this is way too prevalent in shonen series.
But griping aside, Black Clover usually has a “okay…” feeling as I’m waiting for the next volume. This arc; however, actually has me excited to see where it goes next. I swear, though… if a certain character goes rogue and emo after this volume’s developments, I’m going to have an epic rant about how Yuki Tabata needs to stop ripping off other series and focus on making Black Clover his own. Don’t you dare turn a certain someone into Sasuke! I’m watching you, Tabata!
*menacing glare*
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
