Black Clover Season 2 ‒ Episode 174
Four episodes into Black Clover's new season, and I'm still pretty much checked out on its plot. It's whatever at this point. I'm not expecting much anymore. In fact, here's all I'm asking an episode to do:
1) Have good fights.
or
2) Have the plot progress in a manner that doesn't feel made up on the spot. Make it feel natural and thought-out. Which means you can't have, say, sudden flashbacks. They are a cheap trick to make the audience think that the fight and its combatants have more depth than they actually do.
The previous episode followed the first rule to a T. Great fights packaged with great art, great animation, and some great music. No flashbacks, and the fights didn't feel too dragged out. I had fun with it. Not an amazing episode of anime as there were some shortcomings. But it was amazing by Black Clover standards. It got The Pass, the Thumbs Up, the Attaboy. It was a perfect example of a solid episode of Black Clover.
This week's episode? Not so much. Not meeting the two-rule standard means that this episode is the perfect example of a lackluster episode of Black Clover.
On the one hand, I liked the idea of the fights. Two scary devils—one fire, the other ice—fight Nacht in a giant church. How heavy metal! Look, I know I've used the term “heavy metal” a bunch of times to describe this current arc of Black Clover, but hey. You are talking to ANN's own guitar-obsessed maniac, after all. So long as this show keeps on belting out fights that wouldn't look too out of place in a Dio music video, I will continue to call it “heavy metal.”
And it's even cool that Nacht gets to perform his one move that turns everything black and white for a few moments! And yes, I know it's basically his Za Warudo. And yes, I know it's a Jojo's reference. Probably a lazy one too. At least it looks cool. Not that I'm giving it a pass here, but I've long accepted that Black Clover is reheating so many shonen's nachos anyway.
So what's the problem here? Simple: the fight is interrupted by a F L A S H B A C K. Now Nacht is a character with a tragic past! And this flashback takes up almost half the episode.
So it goes that Nacht used to be a straight-up punk who enjoyed mischief while looking like he was rejected from the lamest glam metal band ever (again, I'll still give the show credit for keeping it heavy metal). Nacht's brother Morgen was the total opposite; a boy scout who, unlike Nacht, was liked by everyone. And somehow Yami knew both of them earlier on? Seriously, a younger Yami just pops out of nowhere in the flashback. Why and how does Yami get involved with so many people's lives? Maybe it's me, but it feels like Black Clover introduces a new character; they have to rope Yami into their backstory somehow. I suppose this is to make it feel like all of the characters' arcs are connected in some weird way. It feels too coincidental.
Without spoiling much. Morgen became a revered Magic Knight; Nacht got jealous. That all changed the minute Nacht turned eighteen. His and Morgen's parents had been studying devils for a long time, and it just so happened that Nacht had the right amount of magic in him to summon devils straight from the underworld! Finally! Nacht had been given the privilege of not feeling like a useless black sheep! Did we mention that Nacht's family's last name is “Faust”? Surely with a totally subtle, non-threatening surname like that, a guy like Nacht Faust (repeat: FAUST) could expect nothing but good things to happen in this devil-summoning ritual, right? Right?!
Obviously they don't. I won't spoil what happens, but even if I did, I doubt it'd be a shock. You don't have to be an expert on German fairy tales to see where this is going. It's pretty predictable.
So that's where we come back to the present and thus the fights. I guess Nacht is fighting to right his wrongs and redeem himself from his old punky, devil-summoning ways. And the fire and ice demons come to beat Nacht to a pulp. But right when Nacht is about to become toast, BAM! Here comes Asta to the rescue! Out of nowhere, too. I'm sorry, but I don't think this deus ex machina is needed here. If you're going to have Nacht waltz down memory lane anyway, at least use said memory meaningfully. As cliché as it would be, it would have been better if Nacht mustered up whatever courage rested inside of him to attempt one last blow against these devils. It would have been a great last-ditch effort to redeem himself. But no. This might be Nacht's episode, but Black Clover is ultimately Asta's story. He has to be the protagonist who saves the day.
Nacht isn't too complex or interesting of a character, but by gosh, give the guy his moment. If you absolutely need that little burst of Asta, at least have him assist Nacht in fighting these devils. Maybe Nacht will have his big moment later on, but still? The fight looks like it's poised to have Nacht have his big moment here, only for the episode to pull the rug from underneath us. The actual fight between Asta and the devils is technically well-animated, and I like the colors. It does, however, lack the tight fight choreography the other episodes' fights had, and therefore lacks the rizz. Asta swings his sword around until the devils fuse together into a big boss that we'll have to wait until the next episode to see square off. While I didn't outright dislike this episode, I wish it packed a little more punch.
Rating:
Black Clover Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
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