It’s been quite a while since I reviewed any Black Clover chapter, isn’t it? The length of the 327th chapter coupled with the fact that there was barely any content to be discussed led me to leave it untouched. The best thing to do would be to wait for 328 and double the fun. And that’s what we’re doing today.
Chapter 327 is all about how Asta and Liebe are now finally “merged” together, what Nacht refers to as the true Devil Union. A nice moment from Yami remembering when he found Asta interesting back in the Magic Knights Entrance Exam, but moving forward the big take here is that Asta can now potentially defeat Lucifero as anything he touches cancels out its magic. The only problem? He has only 5 seconds left to use this power, so he has to defeat Lucifero in this short span of time.
Now in chapter 328, Asta lashes out to finish off Lucifero and between flashbacks of Licita telling Liebe about the son she had to abandon due to her stealing life force magic, she expresses her regret for not being able to see him ever again; butt nevertheless, she will always love him. Lucifero realizes that Asta is in fact Licita’s son and Asta continues attacking until he finally slashes Lucifero in half. As the Devil Union fades away, both brothers declare their victory and how they’re now going to live and be happy.
Opinion:
Power-wise, “Anti-Magic” raises some interesting points. Many of those have to be explained in future chapters but at this point, isn’t Asta pretty much at (or beyond) a captain level? I don’t usually like to discuss about powers scaling and all but in a series where it’s power system relies so much on the hierarchy established in how the magic society works, its importance is undeniable. If when achieving this ideal state of Devil Union Asta fan now cancel magic so easily, is there really any opponent in his way that he couldn’t possibly beat? Sure, the only drawback presented so far is the stamina – it requires a lot from both Asta and Liebe (makes me wonder if it’s stealing Asta’s life force at a fast pace or something) and it pretty much depends on how he uses it, as any chance of collaboration is a zero (like seen when he fought alongside Yami, Nacht and Yuno). Just wanted to address this little something that Tabata-sensei has to work on in the future. It’s always exciting whenever an author can keep their power system alive.
Now Lucifero is down and again, I have to wonder if he’s really done for. Since the moment he manifested at 50% in the Spade Kingdom, I was under the impression that the Magic Knights would have to flee – I really couldn’t see a possible outcome where they came out as victorious. Contrary to my expectations, with people getting up and now (and some doing nothing to help) the fight continued – but is he really gone? Sure, in practical terms there’s the stuff about a devil only being killed once their heart is destroyed – but story-wise, as much as I don’t feel comfortable with the way he got defeated, it seems we’re ready to wrap this page up now.
From the get-go we knew we had to eventually defeat Lucifero – but things only started to create a circle that needed to be finished once we learned about Licita and Liebe’s backstory. Once we discovered that it was Lucifero who killed Licita and ruined Liebe’s life, we knew that it was fated that Asta would have to defeat him together with Liebe. And from a narrative standpoint (similar to what happened with the whole Noelle-Vanica-Megicula stuff), this pretty much seems to be closing the circle – he got defeated by the children of the woman he killed, with the power he so much despised.
I never hid my disappointment about Lucifero – for a guy that’s been hyped up as such a major boss character, I did expect a lot more from him. He’s stated to be this massively powerful force but we barely saw any feat worth of that title. He’s completely apathetic and uncharismatic, what makes his appearances really lackluster. He failed to connect with anyone or anything in the battlefield, making him forgettable – all in all, a huge disappointment. If the Spade Kingdom Raid Arc was already divisive – having him in the finale really leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Since I’m not really vibing with his presence, part of me couldn’t care less if he went down right now. But then, the rational part keeps looking for the logic of having such a huge powerhouse defeated in this point of the story. It’s the big question that stays in our heads, “where do we go from here?” “what have those characters not accomplished to make sense to have to keep going?,” and hopefully, Tabata-sensei already possesses the answers for this. I’m pretty much cracking my head around for how much of a disappointment this fight has been – perhaps the fault lies a little in me, for keeping expectations too much high – but then again, how can you not do it when a character is hyped up this much? Upon rereading the whole arc I may come around this more but as the moment stands, I can’t deny how much lacking this battle was.
But anyway, we saw no heart getting sliced and with the regeneration ability, Lucifero could be standing up in the next chapter and who knows, smash everybody down. Or run for a while until he finds a way to counter Anti-Magic. I do think his story has been much conclusive but anything can happen, and I hope Tabata-sensei can aww the shit out of us in the conclusive chapters of this arc. Today, I guess I’m the end of the unpopular opinions, so I’m curious to know what your thoughts are. Thanks a lot for reading and I’ll see around. Until that time, stay safe.
Best Part: 328 chapters in, Anti-Magic is still cool.
Worst Part: Lucifero didn’t deliver it.
Chapter 327 Score: 2/5
Chapter 328 Score: 3/5
OTAKU SPACE 