Black Clover Episode 22 Review: Wild Magic Dance

Last week, we saw the Clover Kingdom capital on fire and being attacked by zombies! Then came the Magic Knights, who were also on fire to save the day and the people! So in this episode, we saw that Black Clover just really never runs out of action and excitement!

Japanese Original Episode Title: 魔法乱舞

Plot

To protect a little girl, Asta faced off with the zombie puppeteer one on one! Our protagonist is already quite powerful and resilient, so he didn’t have any problem knocking down the horde constantly thrown at him, except for when Rades summoned one of his big minions! The other Magic Knights were scattered all over town trying to defend the citizens there, so getting back-up might be hard!

Episode Highlights

Cream of the crop: Okay, you’ve got to admit that, despite the terrible characters of some of them, these awarded Magic Knights earned their merits for a reason! It was so amazing to see them doing their utmost to defend the citizens with their skillful use of AoE attacks! Some of them didn’t even seem to have broken a sweat, while others looked like they were just playing a game, attacking wave after wave of corpses! No wonder the citizens were delighted once they came in. (So delighted that some of them didn’t even bother evacuating the place and just watched from the sidelines?) Aside from finally feeling protected, I think the Magic Knights’ presence in that chaotic place symbolized that everything will be fine since they’ll handle it! Truly, they are the Clover Kingdom’s defenders! Now, if only they’ll fix their rotten personalities…

Defense: Asta wowed me again with his determination, stamina, and combat prowess! Everyone knows it’s hard to protect someone. It’s also hard to ward off enemy attacks. Asta was doing both, so it was twice as hard!! Yet he managed to hold off for so long, even being able to comfort the girl he was defending! It’s no surprise that Leopold was in awe of his (self-proclaimed) rival once again! I mean, I’m sure anyone who saw enemies being piled high by a commoner one-man army would be shocked! On another note, wasn’t Nero’s attempt to protect the girl in his own way super cute? And he even stuck around her and Asta despite the danger! What a loyal familiar!

Rades: I’m very curious about this guy’s whole issue. Looks like he has a grudge on Clover Kingdom because no one there understood his capabilities. Well, if we’re going to be honest, having magic that’s able to control the dead sounds very sinister in itself. So I hope he initially used his powers for good but was eventually misunderstood, instead of just trying to show off to impress. People would really be iffy about that. I doubt anyone would love his magic as it is now, no matter how powerful it is.

Noelle’s resolve: Poor Noelle! She was already traumatized by how her siblings treated her back at the party that I can’t even imagine how life must’ve been like for her when she was still living with them! Her self-esteem really took a blow; she didn’t even bother hiding the fact that she couldn’t do it! Normally she’d at least try, right? Or even be tsundere about it! Which is why I’m so grateful to Fuegoleon and his head whack! He was only properly introduced in the previous episode, and yet I already like the guy! He acted like a better older brother to Noelle than Nozel ever did. I was just so touched! Thanks to him, she was able to believe in herself again and saved Asta and the little girl in a pinch!

Payback: Oooooh!! Asta suddenly went on a rampage like a tornado, and it was incredible! That was so awesome! He was even wielding both his swords, which can’t be that easy to do! But he still quickly defeated Jimmy, though he was covered in bleeding injuries! What a guy! He even impressed Leopold and Fuegoleon! Then again, Rades still had a lot of tricks up his sleeve, or more like minions under the ground. It reminded me of those final chapters in games where the player faces off a lot of mini-bosses before fighting the main boss! Can Asta still bear it? To be honest, somehow the image of him getting terribly injured in the fight with Mars suddenly flashed in my mind as he was delivering the final blow to Jimmy. I hope he doesn’t end up that way again, even if the last thing we saw of him in this episode was getting attacked by lighting…

Themes & Trivia

Necromancy: This is the ability to communicate with dead spirits, and even bringing them back to life. Generally, this magic is used to be able to foresee the future or discover hidden knowledge because it’s thought that, since they are no longer bound by the earthly plane, they have access to those kinds of information.

Magical meanings: The Magic Knights’ spells sound so classy, right? I researched on the meanings for some of them, for those who want to know! Fuegoleon’s Sol Linea and Leo Rugiens are Latin for ‘Sun Line’ and ‘Lion Roaring’ respectively. Hamon’s Verre Fleur is French for ‘Glass Flower’.

Comments

What a wild episode this was (hence the title)! I was absolutely delighted to see the abilities of some of the best Magic Knights, especially the wide range of differences of their spells! Ever since the start of this show, I’ve always been excited to discover what kinds of magic the author has thought of, so I was really thrilled to see these powerful magicians strut their stuff! I suddenly feel like the Wizard King…

Never stay weak!

Did Asta survive that lightning strike from Alfred? Did he get to dodge it, or did he just stare at it? But the biggest question of all is, how did Yuno figure out that Asta was the target of that lightning he saw from far off? Is that friend intuition…?

Unfortunately, all of our questions will be answered next week! So until then, shoot us your thoughts in the comments! Please keep on reading our other Winter 2018 reviews, too! This season’s almost over, I can’t believe it! (But Black Clover is here to stay for more seasons, which is great!)

NEXT TIME: The Crimson Lion King