'Black Clover' Preps Next Arc With New Casting Announcement

Black Clover surprised fans when it extended beyond its original 51 episode order into a second [...]

Black Clover surprised fans when it extended beyond its original 51 episode order into a second season of the series, and now fans will see the fruit of that labor as the anime heads into its next arc.

Three major players coming into the Witch's Forest Arc have been cast, and the series gets that much closer to the big battles at the arc's climax.

Debuting in Episode 54 of the series are Satoshi Mikami as Fanzell Kruger, a former Diamond Kingdom soldier who actually helps to teach Asta swordsmanship, Misako Tomioka as Dominante Code, Fanzell's wife and former Witch's Forest resident, and Sayaka Senbongi as Mariella, an assassin from the Diamond Kingdom who becomes Fanzell's ally.

Fanzell and Mariella were first seen briefly during the newest opening theme sequence for the series as Fanzell is the mysterious red-haired gentleman using wind magic and Mariella is the short-haired Brunette shown straight after. The peculiar thing with these characters, however, is how they will be introduced into the anime series.

In the manga version of the events, Fanzell, Dominante, and Mariella appear suddenly and reflect on events with Asta that happen in a canon side-story first introducing the trio. Fans in the West were supposed to believe that Asta has a long history with the three, as they were part of one of Asta's early Black Bulls missions, but not many of them were able to explore the short side story that gives context.

The anime adaptation could have this same issue, but it's easily remedied as long as there is time spent in flashbacks or exposition explaining who they are and what they mean to Asta. If not, the "we've been here the whole time" act may not fly in the anime.

Yuki Tabata first created Black Clover for Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 2015. The popular series follows two young boys named Asta and Yuno who are growing up in a world where magic is everything. Asta, unfortunately, seems to have been born without magical powers while Yuno is a young prodigy whose magical powers rival that of the strongest magic users in the Clover Kingdom, the Magic Knights. The two young boys now strive to become the strongest wizard in the Clover Kingdom, The Wizard King. You can currently find the Japanese language version with English subtitles on Crunchyroll, and the English language dub can be seen on FunimationNow and Saturday evenings on Adult Swim's Toonami block.

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