I said that I wouldn’t let that be my last “Black Clover” post until this chapter, but…………. “Life-“ the crux of any broken promise. An excuse? No- that’s not my intention by saying that. I Apologize to you all, and to Yuki Tabata Sensei for not talking about this series more now before this; I was working on a post talking about why I fell in love with this series, and how it’s become one of my favorite manga. But it’s taking longer than I would have ever thought. And with the page count being what it is off rip- a mere 28 pages for a QUARTERLY manga(everyone was thinking like 50 or so because a regular monthly is nothing below 38 at the LOW end)- I think we’re a bit far off from the end of the series. At least; that’s what we’re going to assume if 28 becomes the standard going forward. Anything less would either be a Health Issue at worst and a “He was enjoying his life and lost track of time” at best. Because that IS one of the reasons he chose to move magazines: So he could spend time with his family- helping to take care of his ailed wife and young daughter(and their dog, Amelie who sometimes opens up the volumes). Which he and all Mangaka deserve for what they’re doing. Ah, but where are my manners? 

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYBODY!!!

Well, this will probably be coming out sometime after Christmas, if I do this correctly; I’m also working on this month’s chapter of Boruto- Two Blue Vortex at the time of my writing this(Wednesday, December 20th, 2023, 6:45 pm). The early translations for the chapter are out, and- I have been missing this series in the Weekly Grind. Feel like there’d be a little more “motivation” to keep doing the weekly thing if this one was still going on a regular schedule. But Tabata Sensei’s a family man; he’s got a life of his own to live- he’s not just a machine that lives only to make manga. Despite “Jump’s” wishes IN WHATEVER CASE; I’m happy that I get to cover this series again. And now that I am currently “in between jobs,“ I can talk at my leisure without worrying about dealing with morons!! Best Christmas Present EVER!! Probably shouldn’t be happy that I no longer have a source of income or that it was a “termination,” but I honest and for truly couldn’t care less; I’m just glad to be out of that sh!tty store. Though now any “comprehensive roast” would come off like I’m “salty” about getting fired, when the fact of the matter is: I Don’t Give A SH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!T. 

I usually stop after the “Overview” portion and go back to whatever post I had started before(when it comes to Chapter Reviews), but………… I wanna finish this one in time for Christmass- My Christmas Present To All Of You. I don’t have a job anymore- TAKE WHAT YOU CAN GET. Or you COULD go and check out our Merch store- see if there’s anything you want to get for a loved one or yourself. Just sayin’. Wow, 4 paragraphs without even thinking about it. And it’s only NOW do I realize that the site that I’m using(that I will avoid mentioning by name or linking to for the simple fact that I don’t want Shueisha to shut down my source) doesn’t have the colored cover page for the chapter- which I will put up above somewhere for you all to gaze upon. I think you all are gonna like it. Just like you’ll enjoy Black Clover Chapter 369: “A United Front!” D@MN I missed saying that!!

Overview

Asta- having returned from the Land Of The Sun with a few new “tricks” up his sleeve- and his rival Yuno jump right in to a race to see who will defeat Lucius and become the Wizard King!! They dive at the Lucius clones, believing that this’ll be a simple “2v2” match, when 2 more clones enter the frey, claiming that Asta’s return amounts to nothing; it’s still dozens of Angels, 3 Archangels(The Presumably Highest Class Of Paladins)(that we know of), and 11 Lucius’– all with matching power. And Yuno’s little “Neverland” trick isn’t going to hold up for too much longer with the way things are going. But Asta’s already started his “Contingency plan” with the Black Bulls. FLASHBACK: The Black Bulls are reacting to their new Anti Magic states, asking what just happened. And who Ichika was. They react…………… as you would imagine when they heard that she was Yami’s sister, and she explains that Asta is sharing traits of his Anti Magic with them, allowing them to use “Pseudo” Anti magic. Or as Asta puts it: “They’re Magical Companions!” I feel like Tabata Sensei wrote that line SPECIFICALLY because people are making jokes about the series becoming about “Friendship Power” at a certain point. We’ll get to that later. For now, we’re seeing Swift Black Lightning Demon Luck joins the battle, ripping through as much as he can with his Ultimate Magic!! Every time this money leaves for 3 months, he comes back with an Artistic FLEX. This is one of those times. 

However, a quick flashback tells us that they’ve only got enough Anti Magic in them for “2 Large Scale Moves,” or a few smaller ones. Which shouldn’t be a problem for them so long as they clean house QUICK, as Luck shows off. One of Lucius clones is so focused on HIM that he fails to notice Magna sneaking up behind him. Another Property Of Anti Magic: Can’t be sensed by those who can sense regular mana. Lucius is fast enough to dodge, though, only for ANOTHER characteristic to reveal itself: Anti Magic chases Powerful Mana sources. And BEING Anti magic in nature- it’s unaffected by whatever defense spell he was about to use. Such an Efficient Display of  Anti Magic’s practical use- WITHOUT 5 panels of Dialogue, I might add. Why does that matter? Again- WE’LL GET TO THAT. But, well; Magna launched 2 of these attacks, debuting his NEW Spell: “Dark Black Flame Magic- SOUL CHAIN TEAM DEATH MATCH-” an update to his now iconic “Soul Chain Death Match.” Though I question why the initial English release labeled it “Dark Black-” it sounds like they didn’t know which to use so just used both.

It’s a 4 way version that latches himself, Luck, this Lucius, and the Guardian Angel together with Black Chains, meshing all their mana together splitting it up evenly. Together, he and Luck take out the Angel, leaving the 3 of them with more mana to work with than a minute ago. Lucius is fast, but it only takes a few attacks for him to realize: He ain’t healing like he should be- they’re using the Anti Magic to damage him faster than his recover spell can catch up to. And with all of them now being equals, it becomes a battle of Attrition; Lucius has to outlast their Anti Magic amp. Which he is, leaving them both with about half the Anti magic they can here with. BUT THAT’S ALL THEY NEED!!! “BLACK Lightning- Flame Magic: EXPLOSIVE CANNON!!!” 

Looks like Ol’ Lucy is down to 10 Clones, as the Lightning-Fire duo fist bump. MUNCH IT, B!TCH!! Black Clover Chapter 369 END!! The Next Chapter Will Be Sometime In Late April- Early May 2024. Just to give you a scope of how this release schedule will go: This is a Quarterly Manga- 4 times a year. And the fiscal year of 2023 is over- this is the Winter 2024 issue. Then spring; summer; fall; then back around. 369; 370; 371, last one of 2024 will be 372. And this one was 28 pages. 3 possibilities: 

1. Health problems(Though he says in his latest Author Comment that his Health has gotten better).
2. He got wrapped up in taking care of his family and had to cut the chapter short at 28 pages. 
3. He doesn’t want to “rush” the story and do 60-70 pages cramming as much story as he can just to wrap this up.

If I were a betting man; I would say 3 is the best option- he has most respect and love for his fans and his story than to do it the disservice of rushing it just to get it over with. And if 28 is gonna be the new standard, with content as- let’s be honest for a minute: Inconsequential as whatever Luck and Magna are doing- we’re going to have this series for another few years. Heck; this might be one of the rare few that’ll actually come during and end after One Piece!! I feel SO BAD for the Mangaka who come in when One Piece is 3 chapters from the end; the entire financial(and to a somewhat lesser extent; cultural) future of Shonen Jump will be on their shoulders more than anyone elses! “NO PRESSURE” OR ANYTHING!! Please treat them kindly; they’re gonna have an uphill battle as it stands……………….

REVIEW

Oh……………. That. Felt. Goooooooood. I LOVED collecting these images for this post; loved making the images I’m going to be using going forward; enjoyed seeing the more “observant” readers point out little details in the cover page like Adrammelech’s color scheme being hinted and the fact that he has his back showing indicating that he’s up to something like we think, or Licita being on the cover but her face being hidden, but the fact that she’s there AT ALL is enough for us to say with absolute certainty: Paladin Licita is On The Horizon. Or how Luck kicking that Angel was a similar drawing to when True Devil Union Asta kicked Lucifero in the face. And evne the “Copying Naruto” allegations were nice to see again!! Do the orbs on Luck’s back look like the Truth Seeker Orbs? YES. A reference? Possibly. I’m not gonna say “yes” or “no” because Luck had them before this and they were blue like the color of his Lightning; this Anti Magic coating just turned them black. Maybe Tabata knew this is the direction he was going to take Anti Magic back then, and he set those up so he COULD make a “Naruto” reference. Or maybe he just decided to do that on a whim and forgot about the Truth Seeker Orbs. WHO. THE H#LL. CARES? THEY ARE COOL- They Look Cool- LET THE MAN DRAW. Because he is VERY good at making cool looking characters. 

I’ll Say THIS, though: After playing through Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections– playing through the History mode and special story for Boruto– I’m realizing how much I like all the Kyuubi Chakra modes. Especially Sage of Six Paths mode for him; I didn’t think orange and black complimented each other as well as they do. Props to you, Kishimoto Sensei. 

But as for what I can say about the chapter: We’re getting a better idea as to how this Anti Magic sharing thing works. I likened the process to “coating” in the beginning- Asta’s adding an Anti Magic “coat” is surrounding one of Magna’s fire balls, giving it properties such as “cloaking” from mana sensing, chasing immense sources of magic, and cutting through defensive spells. That’s what I had originally thought, based on OPScantalations translations of the chapter. TBC scans translations imply that it’s not simply a “coating,” but more……….. Fusion. Like………….. the magic itself is the coating, instead of the other way around; Asta channeling the Anti Magic through the Black Bulls changes the properties of the Anti Magic, and the Anti Magic gives their spells its characteristics. Luck’s taken the Anti Magic and given it Lightning Properties, and gained the ability to destroy Magic; Magna’s Fire magic gave the Anti Magic fiery properties, and can now- put simply– burn Magic. That………….. yeah; yeah, that sounds right!! I originally just gonna tack on another paragraph after this, rather than delete the work I did. But…….. meh; it’s not like it hurts me any- just a little more “behind the scenes” work on my part. Which I don’t mind. I’m just glad to be talking about this series again. 

As I suspected: Combatants like Luck and Magna are making use of Anti magic’s more Destructive properties, using it to injure regenerators like Lucius gradually before destroying his completely. Which is just………… F*cking COOL to see; THEY JUST DESTROYED HIS BODY!! He’s note even made of mana; Lucius channeled his siblings Magic to outright create Living, Organic Bodies! So cool. So someone like Charmy with her Cotton Magic; her “Strike Of The Sleeping Sheep-” the wool might just destroy anything in her path- in a VERY LITERAL SENSE. Vanessa’s threads might just corrode whatever’s unlucky enough to get caught in it; even Finral‘s portals might serve as some kind of Black Hole(No Pun Intended) that destroys what falls in. The Black Bulls are the Most Destructive Force The Clover Kingdom Has Right Now!! I didn’t even GET to Grey in all this!! Her Transmutation might just end with Destroying Magic and matter all together!! 

And then you have Luck And Magna themselves. Magna using “Soul Chain Death Match” in this capacity means that he has reforged the spell sense using it against Dante. It took him 6 months to craft the spell the first time, and it seems like there’s been nothing but peace for the last year and 3 months since the Spade Raid. That would give him 2 uses– maybe even the 2 he’s used here. Or perhaps he’s gotten better at crafting the spell; maybe he doesn’t need as much “prep time” as he used to! It’s only going to get easier every time he reforges the spell- it starts to be come “muscle memory” or whatever, or maybe even crafting smaller scale, “rudimentary” versions of it. I think this spell really fits with the Classism theme of the series; Asta’s Anti magic let’s him level the playing field with whoever he’s fighting, be they a royal with Insane Mana reserves or “Thinky” type that likes to do tricky sh!t- he just cuts through both; the Royals that look down on him for being a commoner and the “Intellectual” who takes the time to think before he acts. Asta negates all that. Magna just makes sure that everyone’s on the same level- he could actually end up lowering himself to less than what he was before if he fights a weaker opponent. And brings those Uppity Royals down to size. One’s about Negation– One’s About Equalization. But the same general idea. 

And Luck’s still just a “Battle Maniac-“ The Most Fun Type Of Character There Is!! And looking better than ever with the Black inking. I seriously can’t wait for the anime to come back– to see this state in animation is bound to be sick!! So long as the anime is treated with care. In all honesty: I kind of want more anime to get the same treatment that One Piece is getting right now- a Remake for series such as Bleach and Naruto who……………… SUFFER from filler and slow pacing, but also for “Black Clover” which was mishandled when it started with the voice acting and the general look of the series. Readapting the material would certainly prevent any anime remake from catching up to the source material(especially now that it’s release is going to be so much slower than before), and we could have the iconic moments done their proper justice. Pierrot TRIED, but…………. they might have tried to force into the position of Naruto to much, rather than 1)Let the series stand on its own and 2)Take a note from its ACTUAL inspiration in “Bleach” when it came to pushing the series. Tabata sensei has stated that he took some inspirations from series such as Bleach and Berserk predominantly. Why am I saying all this? I forget why. I just know I wanted to point out the actual inspirations for the series. 

Um……….. I actually think I’ve said all I wanted to. I don’t know what the contents of volume 36 is gonna look like; it’s usually 10 chapters per Tankoban, and that one would comprise everything from chapter 359 to 368 when the swap to Giga happened. But those were 15-19 page chapters plus extra pages; how’s this gonna look with 28 or so paged chapters? Guess we’ll find out with volume 37. I wonder how many volumes we’ll have by the end of this? I suspect no less than 42- a similar volume count to the original Dragon Ball series, even thought it………….. so will NOT be 519 chapters. There was once a time when I thought that this series would have a staggering 81 Volumes before it ended. Then again, I also thought My Hero would end up lasting for 96 Volumes. But with Horikoshi’s health concerns and the sheer fact that I can’t CONCEIVE what 96 volumes worth of “My Hero” content would look like- I feel like 42 or less would be where that series concludes. And volume 39 is already out in Japan. 

Isn’t it crazy how these volumes work? Bleach has 74 volumes total, but 686 chapters(Not counting the H#ll Arc special chapter or “Burn The Witch”) vs Naruto at 72 volumes and 700 chapters! My Hero is probably gonna reach the same 42 volumes Dragon Ball did(not counting the 13 volume Vigilantes prequel and ongoing “Team Up Missions” spin off), but won’t have more than…………. I had once thought 425, but looking at it currently– 435- 440. Somewhere in that range. “Black Clover” might, also, but with…………….. significantly less chapters. Although…………. maybe the page count’ll offset the volumes so it’ll end up with something along the lines of 47 or more; this chapter shows that Tabata sensei’s still going to give us some side character stuff- still some chapters seeing some battles other than the main ones. So……….. eh; let’s say around 50 volumes or so by the end of it. Though- fortunately or unfortunately- we’re still a ways off from the ending. I’M thankful for that, ’cause I’m not ready to say Goodbye. But as a recent season finale told us: “A Thing Can Either Be Good, or It Can Last Forever.” Hopefully this one’s the former………… 

Conclusion

I’ve Said it Thrice Now, And I’ll Say It Again:

It’s Nice To Have This Series Back!

With this move to Jump Giga; this series is going be around for…………. a good minute. It’ll even end up surpassing My Hero in terms of serialization, even without chapter or volume count. Does that matter? Ultimately No. But I’ll say: It’s kinda funny how these 2 started out with a similar motif and all these accusations of plagiarism, only to see them go in radically different directions with their premises. And then of course there’s the talk of Quality. And- to be “Real 100” with you guys for a second– There’s Very Little That My Hero Has Over “Black Clover” At This Point. “Black Clover” has character designs, character writing, characters, world and world building, “Cool Factor,” is easily digestible, a solid movie, cool fights, and a Mangaka who continues to write no matter what the sales are looking like. Vs “My Hero that has an anime that doesn’t hit like it used to; a good movie, an okay movie, and a dud with a 4th on the way no one asked for; an Author who backed down and caved to Editorial demand when the arc he fought so hard to make dropped in sales; and at some point made the Villains- which were the Main Thing the series had over “Black Clover-” into caricatures of much cooler Antagonists. I’m just being genuine when I say this: “Black Clover” Over My Hero Academia Any Day of The Week. 

Though………………. My Hero has its moments, still; that recent Bakugo chapter actually was pretty cool- great art and all. Kinda reminded me of why I liked the series. At least- what I did. Okay, I’m like running out of ways to stop talking so I’m just gonna try and wrap this up. Let me know what you guys are thinking in the comments. ‘Til next time, all; Stay Safe, Stay Magic, And- 

Happy Holidays, Everybody.