We’re getting closer and closer to the release of that Movie- and I’m getting more and more Amped. Please oh please let this movie live up to the hype. Tabata sensei sure seemed pleased with the finished product according to his Author Comment this week. Then again it IS his baby. I’m going to hold out hope Pierrot has enough respect for this series to make this movie its absolute Best. They started caring towards the end of the Anime’s original run; hopefully that’s something that’s gonna carry over. Please.
I’m glad Tabata Sensei’s back; things don’t feel quite right without “Black Clover” here to talk about. It’s become this…….. Grand Fantasy Series that I never expected it would be, you know? It started off- admittedly– Cookie Cutter; everything was rather simple and there wasn’t much to think about. Which is why it managed to last. Then it started doing it’s own stuff, and it’s become one of my favorite manga currently running. Now if only those Volume sales were higher. The series itself made money, but the Volumes don’t sell very high. And those numbers are telling of what Jump will do with the series; whether or not the coax the mangaka to extend the story a little bit- or Rush to the End. And I don’t want this series to end on a Rushed Note like that. Especially with it’s already Ridiculously Quick Pacing.
Speaking of “Pacing:” Saw some people on twitter saying that THIS- was a little too quick for their liking. I’ll get into that in a little bit. For now; I’m gonna enjoy the fact that the series is back! Black Clover Chapter 361: “The Final Force.” The Fan translations called it “The Doomsday Army.” That one was more Metal. This just makes it look like it’s “The Last Push.”
Overview
Picking Up From The Previous Chapter: Yuno has defeated Lucius. Straight Up- Lucius is down with a Giant slash through his chest. And Yuno believes that to be the end of the story. Until Lucius pops up right behind him. But he knows for sure he just cut down a Flesh-And-Blood Lucius! A Rumbling Occurs, and the ground starts to come up as per Lucius’ will. He reveals to Yuno that he is currently in possession of Soul, Body, Blood, and Bone Magic. On top of being able to create life itself; Lucius is also capable of creating Clones of himself. That was the real Lucius that Yuno cut down- They ALL Are. As buildings come up from the ground- A Legion of Lucius Clones Descend form the sky. While the man himself sits in a palace above the Never Neverland.
Yuno is left to deal with a Fleet of Lucius’ all on his own, as the backlash of Never Neverland starts to kick in. And all across the Capital, Lucius clones appear at each battlefield, sucking out any hope the Magic Knights had of success. But Noelle knows that there’s still hope. FLASHBACK: In an attempt to locate Asta, Vanessa and the Black Bulls appear before Witch Queen to ask for help. She saw that coming, and informs them that Asta is currently in a foreign land- beyond the reach of any Summoning Spells. And that’s where 1 Dorothy Unsworth enters the scene. She figured they’d need someone with an Unreadable future to win this one, so she plans to have she, the Witch Queen, and Vanessa- The Strongest Witch’s in All Of History– put their heads together to come up with a solution.
The Witch Queen admits that Dorothy looks well- considering she left the Forest Of Witches without permission. Flattery and all that. Considering the Fate of the World is at stake, the Witch Queen has the Forest of Witches help out the Clover Kingdom. Starting with getting back the little Anti Magic Muscle Runt. By having Finral at the core of an Extreme Compound Magic Circle, they’ll be able to open “The Door Of Fate-” a spell that makes it possible to meet with the person you want to see the most. And wouldn’t ya know: Over in the Land Of The Sun; Asta’s dressed and ready to go. Black Clover Chapter 361 END!! Yeah; that’s what I like to see.
REVIEW
There isn’t much to say with this chapter; it’s rather short. Meaning I’ll be reaching for things to talk about. But really, there are 3 things:
- The Door Of Destiny And The Pacing
- Dorothy’s Comment
- Lucius’ Personal Army
Startign with Big Sis’ comment: The Witch Queen was always portrayed like that, and she saw such potential in Vanessa that she locked her away to have her grow in private. But then Dorothy puts herself on their same level. Granted: She’s A Magic Knight Captain- she by virtue of her position IS Strong. Though Tabata does not always do the best job in showing that- offscreening her battle with Morris for………. really no particular reason. It felt like something was going on behind the scenes of Spade Invasion, making the pacing erratic- being pretty good when it came time for Qliphoth, and the fights against the Triad being some of the best in the series(Yuno Certainly, Magna’s W was out of left field but cool; and Noelle’s battle- Fan Service-y and Friendship-y as it was- may have been the weakest, but had some good moments, too). Then it comes time to close up the arc, and the Morris Fight was……… It Happened, we just didn’t see it.
I don’t know what was going on, but Tabata might have been under some kind of pressure to conclude that arc soon- then was granted an extension. That arc felt………… “Climactic,” you know? It felt like it was the end of the everything the series had built up to. Then the Lucius Panel Happened, and Tabata told us that- while there’s more to the story– this is the Finale. He wrote the Lucifero fight like it was the Finale, but he was given more time to the story. So he revealed some more stuff about this world. Though that being said: This is all speculatory. I’m just sayin’ the pacing was janky in places, and it might not have done the best job in displaying Dorothy’s strength as a Captain. So this comment just feels……….. Hollow; as if we’re just supposed to accept the fact she’s a Top 3 Witch “just because.”
And with all that being said: She knows about the “Door Of Destiny” spell. That means that this is a spell that’s existed for a while- something only someone with Fate Manipulation Magic like Vanessa would be able to help with. At least that’s the way that it’s portrayed here; it takes a Spatial Mage, someone who can manipulate fate to some extent, and a HUGE Magic Circle to compound the Magic and make it stronger. Through that and what Dryad told us in chapter 284, using an array of that scale allows one to control more magic than they actually have- creating Rudimentary form of Ultimate Magic. But that’s a technique only the Elf Tribe ever had access to. Does this imply that an Elf had Fate Manipulation? They had enough Mana to manipulate weather itself– even making a volcano erupts all on their own. Why not? If one of them ended up with thread magic like Vanessa, then it might be possible. How else would the Witch Queen know about it?
The Witch Queen is said to be hundreds of years old; the fact that she knew about the Elves means bare minimum 500. If she saw an Elf with Thread Magic that could pull around the Red Thread of Fate, then she might have expected Vanessa- as a Relative of hers– to be able to utilize the Red Thread in the same way. That and her ability of Divination. Though she may have already had something of an idea.
But the “Door Of Destiny” itself………… random. If this was a spell that they spent some time working on- that they spent crafting over the course of the last few days leading into Judgement Day- a completely new spell that they’d only get to use the one time because there isn’t a whole bunch of time left right now, as opposed to a spell utilized in the past that we now have to think about the origin of- I don’t think this would have received such a poor reaction from fans. Though fans were reacting to its purpose in the story- to bring Asta back to the Clover Kingdom. Because it’s just………….. A Plot Device; just something to get Asta back without having to go through a whole “Travel” bit. The way that it’s being portrayed; the Land of The Sun is like…………… DISTANT- as if Yami was travelling for……….. weeks or something. Unless the 5 Headed Dragon’s Mana in the water made it possible for him to get washed away to the Clover Kingdom in just a few hours. But with the Dragon gone, I imagine the distortion’s been closed up, meaning that Asta would have to travel back the Old Fashioned Way– If Not For The Door Of Destiny.
Dorothy probably learned about it from studying, just as Magna and Zora learned about arrays on their own, and just confirmed it with the Witch Queen. But I feel like we didn’t need the both of them to tell them about the door; one or the other. I would choose the Witch Queen, but either one works, honestly.
And then there’s Lucius’ army. Fragments of his Soul? He does mention Soul magic in addition to the fact that these are his Flesh-And-Blood Copies. But I feel like that would leave he himself weak enough for Julius to come back. And he must know that- should Julius regain the reigns- he will not be getting them back. So perhaps his Legion is nothing but Artificial Souls- souls he conjured up for the bodies he made. How strong are these things? And…………. Can they think for themselves? The Lucius that Yuno just cut down was clearly shocked by not being able to read Yuno’s future anymore; he kind of got the sense that he was about to die. And he looked pretty darn panicked for just a Clone, right?
I think that the Real Lucius- the one up in the sky above the Neverland- has a contingency plan in case any of his copies goes rogue, yeah? I’m just sayin’: “Soul x Time x Bone x Body x Blood x Gravity Compound Magic: Annihilation-” God’s ability to destroy Angels in the Bible. And that’s the sole ability differing himself from his clones. Heh- “Sole.” ‘Cause it’s Lucius, get it?
Conclusion
Hm………….. Not bad. I’d thought that I’d have more to say about Lucius’ clone army, but it actually came out a little shorter than I had originally thought. I was gonna make a joke about how he can now be “Anywhere And Everywhere At all Times,” but having multiple copies of himself everywhere isn’t the same as “Omnipresence.” So that part is still yet to come. Yeah, I think he’ll become Omnipresent at some point- or at least come as close to it as he can. I liked the chapter, but it was a rather short one. Let me know what you think in the comments, and until next time, everyone- Stay Happy; Stay Safe; and Have Yourselves a Cookie. You earned it! Later.
