Black Clover Episode 23 Review: The Crimson Lion King

This week’s episode of Black Clover proved to me again that not only can you get invested in a series because of its story, but also because of the amazing characters that are in it! Actually, there are even times that the characters make or break the story!

Japanese Original Episode Title: 紅蓮の獅子王

Plot

Asta’s safe, ladies and gentlemen! (Yuno shouted for nothing last week.) He managed to dodge that lighting blast, and kept going at it as best as he could! However, no matter how many times he tried attacking, with Alfred in the air, he couldn’t reach at all! Noelle and Leopold wanted to help him out, but Rades prevented them from placing an enemy in between them! Thankfully, Fuegoleon suddenly came to assist!

Episode Highlights

King of the Clover Kingdom: What’s worse than being in a kingdom with a huge discrimination problem? Having a ruler who only bothers about his own status, protection, and about being with ladies, that’s what! King Augustus didn’t even try to pretend to care for his citizens, but instead kept on insisting that Julius himself should protect him! The future of the kingdom looks bright. Marx’s face was so relatable whenever he heard the king rambling on!

Doing what you do best: I still don’t quite understand the importance of showing Charmy fawning over food. Any other time would’ve been lovely. During an enemy invasion, however, what was the point? It’s not like I didn’t appreciate the humor in it though, especially with that royal chef matching her priorities between food and an emergency. But then again, I really hope there’s a reason for all of her shenanigans, and not just as a gag relief. It’s taking away the urgency of the whole situation, in my opinion.

Fuegoleon: This guy was the best part of the whole episode for me, no joke! I was super-duper in awe of his whole character! Despite his high status as a royal and a captain, he still made an effort to apologize to Asta for butting in, explaining why he did so, and teaching him to know his limits and keep a cool head (with a matching whack on the head! That made me laugh)! PLUS, and the best part of it all, he acknowledged Asta as his rival on being the Wizard King, even though he’s just a commoner and the difference in their abilities is so great! Our protagonist’s face when he heard that made me even more touched! Speaking of abilities, the way Fuegoleon fought with such composure and fire (literally and figuratively), it was so awesome! He didn’t panic at all when Rades kept showing new tricks up his sleeve, but even managed to detect a weak point in such a small amount of time! He also got to turn up the morale of his teammates by taking some time to teach them! What a really amazing guy the captain of the Crimson Lion is! I hope we get to see more of him from now on!

Rades‘ revenge: Looks like the discrimination in the kingdom went so overboard that it made its own enemy unknowingly! I guess Asta and Yuno are still fortunate even though they’re also commoners, since the former got lumped in with other outcasts, and the latter has a four-leaf grimoire. Rades, on the other hand, despite being powerful, had magic that was too scary and deemed evil by his peers. And unlike Asta, no one ever stood up for him. That was the fault of his comrades. But Fuegoleon was right, no matter how talented or hardworking he is, if he doesn’t use it for good, it’s only violence. Now he just proved his haters right.

Allies? Rades mentioned that exacting revenge on the kingdom wasn’t the only goal. Is the lady riding the broom and looking over the aftermath related to him? Nozel also kept noticing that something’s not right…

Themes & Trivia

Memes: Goodness, did anyone notice the chef copy Salt Bae, and Rades with the Roll Safe guy? I wasn’t expecting this show to copy memes! That caught me off guard and make me laugh out loud! If you noticed other references in this episode, let us know in the comments!

Julius and Augustus: Well played, Black Clover, well played! It took me a while to realize that the Wizard King, Julius, and the Clover Kingdom’s king, Augustus, are named after Julius Caesar and his grand-nephew and heir Augustus (also known as Gaius Octavius)!

Comments

Honestly, I thought this was yet another episode that I wouldn’t like because of the art. Hot diggity dang my eyes kept noticing ugly drawings no matter how much I tried focusing on what’s happening. It was far more distracting when the action scenes were super awkward to watch! They’re supposed to be the highlight if there are no dialogues! I kept cringing so much.

But then Fuegoleon appeared, and everything was okay again! I’m not just saying this because he became my favorite, but for real, he saved the day in more ways than one. The way he’s written and the scenes after he appeared, it sucked me right back into the story! Plus, the art wasn’t that terrible anymore. So, all is well!

Righteous fury!

Seems like the battle’s not over yet because there’s a witch flying about and plotting something! From the preview, looks like it’ll be Yuno’s time to shine again! Will he be the one pursuing that lady?

Your comments are always welcome in the comments section! Let’s hear all about your thoughts on this episode, as well as other stuff you noticed! And if you haven’t caught up with our other Winter 2018 reviews yet, it’s time to do it now!

NEXT TIME: Blackout (ブラックアウト)