Black Clover Episode 5 Review: The Path to the Wizard King

The climax of Black Clover‘s Entrance Exam arc is here! Yuno’s sure to be part of the Magic Knights, not a single doubt about that! But what about Asta? He did manage to show his grimoire’s prowess to everyone, but was that enough to earn his way into the ranks? Hold onto your seats and your hearts, because things got quite fierce and somewhat emotional!

Japanese Original Episode Title: 魔法帝への道

Plot

Asta successfully defeated his (annoying) opponent, and it somehow piqued the interest of the captains! Meanwhile, Yuno also brought down his (also annoying) foe, which put the others’ perspective on country folk in place! Afterwards, it was time for the judgment of the captains to say who are fit to join their squads! This will determine whether our two protagonists get to continue their path to being the Wizard King, and if their training was successful, so it’s a pretty big deal!

Episode Highlights

Yuno’s fight: I thought those nobles who picked on Yuno in the first episode were snooty brats, but that Salim guy pissed me off the most! I’m glad that, once again, our prodigy proved him wrong. Having true power doesn’t have to do with what background you have! Sure, maybe in their world the royal and noble bloods naturally have stronger magic, but that doesn’t give them license to look down on anyone! Even Asta, who everyone saw had no magic, took everyone by surprise by defeating a skilled opponent! Because of that, they just ended up embarrassing themselves greatly!

Choosing new members: The moment of truth was such a sad sight to see, but not quite surprising, given that there were a lot of participants and the tests weren’t exactly…face-friendly. Which I’m guessing is exactly the point, since you’d have to stand out really hard to leave an impression on the captains, and truly be the best of the best for them to remember you, right? So, it’s no wonder a lot of applicants didn’t have any offers. Then again, that just said a lot about Yuno, who got offers from all of the captains! As expected from the wielder of the four-leaf clover! Asta, on the other hand, might’ve also left an impression on all of them, but not in a good way. However…

Horrible vs. pleasant people: It’s amazing how this show manages to lead my emotions by the nose!! My heart was so full of annoyance at the people who kept jeering at Asta, but totally full of warm, fuzzy feelings when there was another person apart from Yuno who cheered him on! I thought that when Yami suddenly went down to scare Asta off, he was just like the others who kept despising him! And when he said that he’ll give him a hard time in the Black Bulls, I thought he was going to make him give up! But instead, he encouraged him to keep on pursuing his goal to be the Wizard King! Thank you for believing in Asta, Yami!! I don’t know what you saw in him, hopefully it’s his determination and his fiery spirit, but thank you all the same for giving him a chance!!

Parting Ways: Ah, the thought of not being able to see Yuno much and his interactions with Asta is making me incredibly sad! Especially when they showed the two moving towards opposite directions, boo!! I want more friendship screen time!! I guess it can’t be helped, though. They can’t always be together, more so because they’re also rivals. For them to grow more, they need to be surrounded by different people where they’ll fit. Funnily enough, the squads they joined seem to fit them to a tee, Yuno with the powerful nobles (who hopefully won’t look down on him because of his different status, though it wouldn’t be surprising if they did), and Asta with the outcast troublemakers. Yes, I’m sad about their separation, but thinking about their new adventures is also making me terribly thrilled!

Themes & Trivia

Discrimination: The nobles think themselves better than peasants, the city folks better than the ones from the countryside, and the ones who have magic better than those who doesn’t. Clover Kingdom’s society is messed up, but unfortunately, it’s not like ours is any better. Humanity’s just so terrible towards things they don’t understand.

Mana: If you’re a frequent player of RPGs, you’ve probably already heard of this term! This is another word for one’s magic power or MP, that blue bar accompanying the red health bar in games. When you run out of this, you can’t use magic until it recovers or you use potions. The word came from the Austronesian language meaning ‘power’ and games have adapted its concept.

Comments

I‘m quite glad that Black Clover hit two birds with one stone regarding Asta’s fate in the exams; three actually. It happened as everyone expected, that he really wouldn’t be chosen by anyone because of his ineptitude in magic. Yami even shoved the fact to his face, and it pained me! So it was a wonder how in the world he’ll still get into the Black Bulls. However, this gave him a chance to show just how determined he was, even though it made him look pathetic, which allowed us to discover that the same person who made him realize the truth would also be the one to believe in him and give him the chance. I just loved how everything played out!

Onwards to the next step!

The new member of the Black Bulls was met with an explosive welcome, which is quite the first impression! Just what kind of squad did he get into? Let’s eagerly wait for the next episode to find out!

While you do, leave a comment about what you thought of this episode! And maybe go read our other Fall 2017 anime reviews while you’re at it!!

NEXT TIME: The Black Bulls (黒の暴牛)