Black Clover’s latest episode brought the series to a new status quo as it takes more concrete steps into its next big arc, but it’s an arc that’s currently being explored in the manga. Unlike the last time this happened with the Reincarnation arc, the manga isn’t too much further ahead from where the anime is now. As Black Clover‘s anime continues to release new episodes on a weekly basis with no signs of stopping, there’s a good chance that it will be catching up to the manga release soon. So this begs an unfortunate question many anime fans contend with, is there some filler on the way?
The next episode of the series is a good example of this. Teasing a two-part special focusing on Secre titled “Nero Reminisces Part One” for Episode 123 of the series, this could be the first in a string of original anime stories that flesh out the members of the Black Bulls as they head out into the world in search of more information on the Devils. But could filler work well in this case? Light spoilers to follow.
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Black Clover‘s anime run has been surprisingly tight considering its weekly production schedule. Out of the 122 episodes released thus far, only about ten or so of them can be qualified as “filler” material not seen in the original manga (or an elaborated version made for the adaptation). The few times it does explore filler take place across one or two episode condensed stories that explore unknown characters (like Fanzell, who was originally introduced in a spin-off novel story) such as this upcoming Nero flashback.
But if the anime wanted to explore a filler arc, the perfect opportunity is coming ahead. As Asta and the Black Bulls head out to the other kingdoms, they make their way into the Heart Kingdom. It’s here that we find out about the threat of the Spade Kingdom, and the series jumps ahead several months after Asta and the others train for an upcoming battle.
Yuki Tabata’s manga has a brisk pace that fans surely love, but this gap in time offers up some serious potential to explore further in the anime. Training episodes are one of the most widely accepted forms of filler material to action anime fans, so there probably won’t be too big of an issue if we get a few episodes to see how Asta and the others train. It’s skipped over entirely in the manga, with zero clue as to what they actually did to train, so it could be a win-win.
The only other alternative would be to halt the series for a few months, and maybe coming back in the Summer or Fall. We all know that’s not happening, so a training arc wouldn’t be the worst idea. But what do you think? Do we have some more filler on the way? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or talk to me directly about all things anime and other cool things @Valdezology on Twitter!
If you wanted to check out Black Clover for yourself, you can currently find the series steaming on Crunchyroll, FunimationNOW, and airing as part of Adult Swim’s Toonami block every Saturday.
