‘Black Clover’ Shares A Clever ‘Naruto’ Easter Egg

Black Clover shares a bit of good natured fun each new episode during its non-canon, comic relief Petit Clover segments, and it’s here that Studio Pierrot often cracks jokes at themselves too.

The latest Petit Clover segment saw a clever allusion to Pierrot’s past as Asta devours several “Naruto” and asks for more.

The naruto, from which the main character of Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto is inspired by, are a spiral fish cake that’s often cut and served in ramen (it’s one of the many reasons Naruto’s such a fan of ramen in his series as well). In the latest Petit Clover, Asta’s so pumped up from regaining the use of his arms that he’s prepared to cut anything thrown at him.

First is a wave of Naruto cakes that Asta chops up into tiny pieces with his swords. Then he proceeds to eat them all. Following this, he’s attacked by natto (a sort of sticky bean paste) and the resulting chopping makes his swords all gross and sticky.

While this isn’t as direct of a reference to the Naruto series as fans would hope (surely a crossover between the two series would be well received), it’s a hilarious Easter Egg to fans who are aware of Pierrot’s past adaptations. Though Pierrot still has a had in the Naruto franchise with the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations anime series.

Originally created by Masashi Kishimoto, Naruto ran in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump for 700 chapters. The story follows a young ninja, with a sealed demon within him, that wishes to become the leader of his home village. The sequel, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is set several years after the events of the original Naruto story and features the children of many of its key characters such as Naruto and Hinata.

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.