Black Clover Episode 40 Review: A Black Beach Story

We’ve now entered the last cour of Black Clover! Time flies by so fast, doesn’t it? What better way to celebrate this than having fun at the beach! That’s right, the Black Bulls headed out to the beach and forgot about their mission (and one other person, as well)! So to the ones on their summer vacation right now, this is a reminder to not forget your homework.

Japanese Title: 黒の海岸物語

Plot

The Wizard King gave the Black Bulls a new mission last week: to get ahold of the Magic Stone in the Underwater Temple before the terrorist group does. However, to get to the temple, they must go through the beach. Of course, the misfit squad didn’t let this chance to get some R&R slip by!

Episode Highlights

Grey’s magic: We’ve first seen Grey transform into Asta back in Episode 8, which was so long ago, right? That’s why when he suddenly revealed that he was only pretending to be Gordon, I was caught by surprise as I already forgot about his magic! Well, now that he used it multiple times to turn into the different members of the Black Bulls, I’m sure I won’t forget what he can do anymore. Actually, I noticed that once he copies someone, he seems quite energetic and game for anything, compared to the gloomy person he normally acts like. I’m now curious how his magic works exactly, and who he really is. Is his original appearance really even the huge guy who keeps breathing out steam? The blue-haired girl in the opening sequence is making me think otherwise.

Gordon Alone: Okay, I feel REALLY TERRIBLE for Gordon now! Not only has he been getting left out on certain things, but now he was left out from their vacation/mission! He became Kevin from Home Alone! (If you know this 90s movie, you’re one of my people. Take that how you will.) I wish the others went back for him or at least noticed Grey was missing earlier on. And so poor Gordon, who seemed so excited to hang out with his friends, was forced to become the base sitter. You’ll get your chance soon!

Escapades at the Beach: If seeing the characters at the beach was a surreal sight because they’ve always been surrounded by houses, mountains, and trees, then no wonder they were so excited to be there! They didn’t even know they were already staring at the ocean! It was that big of a deal. All of them were so hyper doing their own stuff that it was like setting kids loose, especially Luck and Magna! Even Sekke and his friends were there; what were the odds! It makes me wonder if he’ll do anything significant again or just be an extra dimwit this time. The swimsuit talk were pretty funny, like when the others pointed out to Vanessa that there’s no difference between her swimsuit and her usual underwear outfit, and when Magna’s jewels got revealed when his manly loincloth dropped! Good thing Yami came and knocked some sense into his members before it became chaotic! It was refreshing to see him taking his duties as captain seriously, too, by taking the lead on the mission. He even encouraged Noelle to control her powers!

Night training: While telling someone that they’re ‘the only one who can do a task so they better not fail, or else everyone will die’ doesn’t ease off the pressure at all, I’m glad it worked and motivated Noelle somehow! She seemed like she was still having such a hard time though! I always thought she could already control her magic properly using her wand ever since the dungeon arc. Maybe her control has something to do with her confidence or the urgency of the situation? Well, at least Asta’s training there with her, so she won’t have to worry about her magic going berserk again.

Themes & Trivia

Fundoshi: This is what the loincloth Magna’s wearing is called. It was the main underwear of adult males before World War II, when boxers and briefs were introduced. Currently, you can probably only see Fundoshi worn during traditional festivals, or sometimes as swimwear.

Where’s Gordon in the Opening?: Any hope of Gordon catching up with the others is crushed when you notice that he’s not shown anywhere in the opening. However, at least his cap got to make a cameo below the blue-haired girl (who I still think is Grey) in the final shot.

Comments

Don’t you think the new opening sequence is super awesome and badass? For me, the song Guess Who is Back by Kumi Koda is perfect for this last cour. Meanwhile the visuals, I love them so, so much, especially the slow motion parts! I wish the whole show could be animated as well as that… If you must know, this and the previous opening song (Black Rover by Vickeblanka) are tied in my heart!

Anyway, thanks to the teasers we’ve seen in the opening, I have a really good feeling about this arc! The thing I’m most excited about is the fact that (most of) the Black Bulls members are involved! Despite their constant bickering and wreaking havoc in the base, we’ll finally get to see (almost) all of them working together! At least, I hope they do. I’m just sad that since this arc will focus on the Black Bulls, that means Yuno’s small appearance in this episode might be last we’ll see of him in a while…AGAIN.

A summer episode for the summer season!

I thought we were finally gonna know who that mysterious pony-tailed girl is, but seems like we still have to wait for the next episode! At least we found out that she sings (in a language I personally don’t know), and that she can probably control water with it? There were floating droplets around her back there.

So! How did you like the 40th episode of Black Clover? Do you have any expectations for the rest of the arc? Let us know in the comments section! If you’re looking for more anime series to watch this summer, check out our first episode impressions list, or our weekly anime reviews!

NEXT: The Water Girl Grows Up (水の娘成長物語)