What Is ‘Black Clover’s New Arc About?

Black Clover has been a popular manga series for some time, but its anime adaptation had a bit of a rough start thanks to its first episode leading some fans away from the series thanks to its admittedly abrasive main character.

But the fans who stuck around have been rewarded with a shonen series that is just beginning to show what it can offer, and why Studio Pierrot has produced with a high level of conidence.

Black Clover has been a series with the potential of becoming a major anime series over the course of its run, and the evidence of this has become clear now that the anime is halfway through its first major arc (technically second if you include the beginner Magic Knight training and the like), “Dungeon Exploration.”

If you want to jump in, but don’t know what the arc is about, here’s a guide to everything that has happened so far in Black Clover.

What Is ‘Black Clover’ About?

Black Clover was originally created by Yuki Tabata and debuted as part of Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 2015. The series is set in a world where magic is everything, and everyone is born with some kind of magical ability. The world is set in the Clover Kingdom, a kingdom ruled by the strongest wizard (known as the Wizard King) who is selected every few years ever since the first Wizard King helped defend the world from a magical demon. 

The series follows two orphans who hope to surpass their humble upbringing and eventually be crowned the Wizard King of the Clover Kingdom. 

Who Are The Main Characters?

Those two orphans are Asta and Yuno. Both were left to be raised in a church orphanage, and ever since they were kids were dreaming of becoming the Wizard King (mostly to pay back all the good the church has done for them). Over their years of growing up, the two became rivals due to their wildly different skill sets.

Yuno is a genius with magic. Exceptionally skilled and adept at most things without trying, was eventually granted with a special grimoire with a four leaf clover. Gifted with a high amount of wind magical power, this is a far cry from Asta. 

Asta was born without any magical power. Hoping to eventually develop magic power, he trained his body everyday. But this instead gave him a physically strong body, and he’s eventually granted a strange, black grimoire with a sword that lets him nullify any opposing magic.  

Who Are The Magic Knights?

In order to become the Wizard King, Asta and Yuno first strive to become Magic Knights. The Magic Knights are a group of smaller squads full of strong beings who all one day want to become the Wizard King themselves. 

Yuno’s proficiency in magic draws the eye of the Golden Dawn, a group considered to be the strongest in the Magic Knights overall and with the wizards the closest to becoming the king (especially the members of nobility in their ranks). 

Asta, on the other hand, is recruited by the Black Bulls, a squad deemed to be the most troublesome of the knight squads. But he impressed the squad’s leader Yami with his strength. Now the two are working towards the same goal, but starting at completely different points. 

What Is The Mysterious Dungeon?

One of the duties of the Magic Knights is to eventually get sent out on missions. The most important of these is dungeon exploration. Mysterious dungeons open up all over the kingdom and the Knights must explore these mysterious locations in order to find special magical items that only appear in these locations. 

The most important thing is for the Clover Kingdom’s Magic Knights to recover the items before any of their enemies do. Asta and Yuno are set out to explore a super important dungeon, which falls on the border between the Clover and Diamond Kingdoms. 

What Is The Diamond Kingdom?

The Clover Kingdom sends in two sets of Magic Knight squads into the dungeon. Asta is joined by fellow Black Bulls, Noelle and Luck, while Yuno is sent in with fellow Golden Dawn members, Klaus and Mimosa. 

A rival country to the Clover Kingdom, the Diamond Kingdom, shares a border with the Clover Kingdom where the dungeon appears. Sending in their own magic soldiers, they present a major threat to Asta and Yuno since the Clover Kingdom knows very little about the Diamond Kingdom overall. 

Two of their strongest soldiers, Lotus and Mars, are enough to battle six Clover Kingdom knights. 

Who Is Mars?

The two Diamond Kingdom mages, Lotus and Mars are surely stronger than they appear. As has been proven in the series so far, each of them is going to take more than one wizard thinking intelligently to take down. 

Mars is definitely the stronger of the two, as casting magic doesn’t seem to be having a negative effect on him. While the others deplete a bit of their mana with each spell they cast, his spells don’t seem to drain any of his power. 

Mars is the surviving magic of a large group of children the Diamond Kingdom tried to breed into a strong mage. After killing the other children, he was embedded with magical stones that unnaturally amplify his power. 

What Happened In The Last Episode?

In Episode 17 of the series, Asta and the Black Bulls finally confronted Mars. Mars had been dealing with the Golden Dawn fairly easily, even after Yuno was using two spells at the same time. But Asta jumps in to save Yuno just in time, and Mars has yet to figure out how to fight off Asta. 

Asta surprises everyone there when he’s able to bypass Mars’ offence. Mars is able to summon diamonds, form diamond clones, and create a mammoth crystalline body. But Asta’s ability allows him to cut right through that, allowing him to land the first major blow against Mars. This move impresses everyone in attendance, and shows off more of Asta’s physical prowess (and muscles). 

What Comes Next?

The “Dungeon Exploration” arc is important in establishing the new paths and Asta and Yuno will go on. A major villain appears after the end of this arc, and both the battle with Mars and the eventual discovering of what’s in the dungeon will definitely play a major role in dealing the future troubles. 

To not spoil too much of what’s ahead, Asta and Yuno will grow further into their Magic Knight roles and discover a new power along the way. It’s also important for establishing the Diamong Kingdom, which will play a major role later in the series. 

Why Is It Worth Watching?

Black Clover may have turned fans away early on, but the latest batch of episodes have provided a great deal of entertainment. To be perfectly blunt, Asta isn’t as loud as he was in the beginning of the series. And as things get more serious for the characters, the series downplays Asta’s more abrasive characteristics and makes a character that can stand with the shonen genre’s other popular lead characters. 

Fans also appreciate how speedily the series is introducing major characters and new levels of power. What could have been dragged out as explorative filler, is instead already having the arc’s key players interact with one another. 

It’s definitely a far cry from Black Clover’s slow start.