This post has a bit of a Story to it. Like; I was planning to talk about this week’s chapter of Four Knights of The Apocalypse- because some HUGE info gets dropped in it, and it looks like the “Downtime” is about to come to a close. But as I was getting started; I realized that I just didn’t want to this week. Chapter was bad by any means, but…….. I just kind of felt like I do the same 2 EVERY week, you know? ‘Cause of the way my schedule is set up, I get most weekday’s off, and have busy weekends that make me have to pick and choose which chapters I talk about(Though I somehow manage to get all 3 Jump chapters, if you can believe). I just kind of wanted a break in the pattern, yeah?
Though I don’t plan to make this the first one I put out. The day that I’m writing this opening- Thursday, December 1st, 2022, 1:54pm EST– I just have access to the raw scans; the fan translations aren’t even out. But they are for One Piece. I just wanted to make this opening so when the translations come out, I can just “dive in” to the chapter. This is how I do things. I do this every week; starts the posts based on the raws, talk about the chapter, and do the analysis and conclusion. I usually do One Piece first, but I haven’t actually read the chapter yet. Gonna do that after this sentence. Black Clover Chapter 345: “Unprepared.” Wonder who that refers to……..
REVIEW
SMALL FLASHBACK: Ryuuya arrives to put an end to the fight from chapter 343, and tells them that the enemy- one capable of destroying the entire Country– has arrived in the Land Of The Sun. He sends Ichika to help the other Ryuuzen deal with it, while Asta continues his training with another, warning him that he’s going to get Th`~RASHED if he’s not careful. Present: Devil Union Asta is getting kicked around by the Strongest of The Ryuuzen 7- Yosuga Mushogatake!! It’s only thanks to the 6th of the Ryuuzen- Fujio Tenmanyashiki- and his Yojutsu that Asta’s still able to keep fighting.
Yosuga and Asta clash again, and thinks that he sees why he was chosen to handle Asta’s training. He admits that the Anti Magic boy is as interesting as Ryuuya had said, but he’s still far off from mastering Zetten if he keeps Hesitating. He can feel it in his katana; his conviction wavers every time he swings the Demon Slasher katana. Where as Yosuga can cut anything and everything put in front of him. Which is why He’s The Strongest.
Asta begins to realize what’s going on with him: He Is Hesitating- not out of fear, but out of regret. He compares himself to Yuno, who became a Grand Magic Knight before him; he thinks that Yuno would have been able to defeat Lucius and protect Sister Lily, because he just keeps getting stronger and stronger. While he’s still far behind. And when he realizes what he’s thinking, something happens………………
Meanwhile; the other Ryuuzen confront Sister Lily and the other Paladins. The new last member we meet- Ginnnojomorifuyu Kezokaku- is shaking while gripping her sword, afraid of the Dragon before her. Sister Lily promises that her “death will be swift,” but then Ichika grabs her sword. Then she becomes a Battle Fiend- cutting Lily’s horn and face, and promises to spill her blood all over the place. But she can regenerate, so she’s fine. Black Clover Chapter 345 END!! These shorter chapters are a little hard to talk about; I can never really “get” the right paragraph length with them. Though they’re pretty “easy” to talk about in general.
Analysis
Asta has been traumatized. And it’s not hard to see why: Just when he seems to be moving closer to the dream he shared with his foster brother; he gets Family Zoned by the woman he “loved,” then found out the person he aspired to be like is being held captive in his own body- and got his @$$ handed to him by the one holding him. And THEN his crush is attacked when he can’t do anything to stop it- then she tells him to “Die.” I don’t wanna meet the man who comes out of all THAT okay. He’s f”cked up up there, people. And I think that’s what’s preventing him from doing a proper Zetten. His doubt- his mental state currently- is messing with the circulation of his ki, preventing him from using it to do a Zetten. Something to that effect. Though he’s still able to get some of it out, as we saw with the Bamboo stocks.
The Last 3 Ryuuzen. I LOVE battle fanatics- in any story; they tend to be the most fun characters in any story I’ve seen them in. Now you would think I’d like Kezokaku the most because I’m a pervert. But I like Yosuga the most- of ANY of the Ryuuzen. I’m curious how they feel about him being the “Strongest-“ if he truly IS the strongest, or if he has his head up his own @$$ on that one. Either way, I think that Ryuuya chose him because he’s tough enough to deal with whatever Asta’s Zetten manifests as. Be it because of his Yojutsu or because of the other Ryuuzen present. It may also have something to do with Asta’s current mental state; he’s the one best suited to help him right now because of the way he thinks.
But Kezokaku is pretty cool, too. No clue what her deal is. But clearly there’s something up with her sword that makes her change when she draws it, thus Ichika forcing her to unsheathe it. Maybe her yojutsu has something to do with it? Or maybe she just feels more comfortable when its unsheathe. As for what her Yojutsu is……….. something Cold. “Fuyu” means “Winter.” Yuki Onna? Kuchisake- Onna? Or is he just going to make a Bleach reference and have her be something like Rukia’s Bankai? 3 options. If I were a betting man, I’d more put my money on the the Kuchisake-Onna, if for nothing more than the way her mouth looked. Yeah, definitely that and not because I thought it was a different Yokai I heard about in a video I can’t find.
The last thing that I really want to talk about would be the Paladin’s regenerative abilities. Devil’s have shown a level of regeneration- something low level like this, but not necessarily a limb(see Namaah in chapter 288). I don’t know where a horn would rank in these cases, but she’s clearly regrowing it right now, yeah? Whether this comes from Beelzebub’s Devil power, or from Lucius having utilized the Triad’s power to make “undying bodies” is unclear to me right now. It’s possible he modified their bodies offscreen, but maybe this might be more Devil regeneration than anything…….
Conclusion
This new format is working WONDERS for me. I’m carrying on the same process as I did for the recent One Piece post, and I’ve been able to finish this before going to bed on Saturday!! Imagine me doing this with Edens Zero and Four Knights Of The Apocalypse; I’d finish both posts in a single day. All the time that I can save. Let me know your own thoughts in the comments, party people. Until the next post; Have A Magically Wonderful day. By~~~e!!
