Sad news to share Nerd Lighters…Black Clover is ending! In just 4 days on March 30th, Black Cloverends with a 170 episode run. And let me just say I am feeling ALL of the feelings.

If you didn’t know, Black Clover is basically ending because the anime wants to stay true to the manga material. Black Clover came at a time when new anime shows were picking up speed. It’s one of the highlights of my blog with my highest viewed article here. In it, I am comparing the show to being a new version of Naruto. There are people who love the show because of this similarity, and others believe it’s just a knock-off. But at this point, especially if you’ve watched all the way up to this current season, it’s fair to say Black Clover is very much its own thing.

Naruto: Shippuden focused a lot of energy on the fact that Naruto wanted to save Sasuke. And that Sasuke didn’t want to be saved. Naruto wanted to show him that he didn’t have to go through this world alone. Asta and Yuno, in comparison, share a healthy competitive bond. To me, Black Clover has served to show people that no matter where you come from you can find value, importance, and friendship. Now before I get too sappy, let’s talk about what’s happened so far.

Btw this is your warning for SPOILERS if you’re not up to date on the anime.

Wow so much has happened after the Elf arc. So I’m going to try to sum it up really quickly. Because of the destruction by the elves, Asta, Nero, and Marie (Gauche’s sister) will be scapegoats for the destruction of the elves. The public points to them because of their visible connections to the devils. Damnatio is leading these charges with his scale magic. The Black bulls burst through the trial declaring they will be taking Asta back. A deal was made in order to stop a brawl.

The deal, in order to delay their trial, is the Black Bulls will find the source of the Devils. They then learn about the queen in the Heart Kingdom, Loropechika having a curse by a devil from the Spade kingdom. So Asta and crew travel to the Heart Kingdom to learn more about the Devils and the growing threat of the Spade Kingdom. They learn about her curse and that the Spade Kingdom has the Dark Triad: three powerful magic users who also have Devils. So they come up with a plan to move forward in taking down the Spade Kingdom.

TIMESKIP: 6 MONTHS

Now we are in the thick of training to take on the Spade Kingdom. King Julius after meeting with his captains, has sent over multiple magic Knights and a couple of Magic Knight Captains. On the training squad is of course Asta, Noelle, and Nero. To round out the Black Bulls we also have Luck and Charmy (although she’s only there as the queen’s “pet”?) Magna begs Yami to join the training claiming he will not be left behind by Luck. Captains Vangeance and Fuegoleon send Mimosa and Leopold respectively. Finally, we have two captains joining the training Charlotte of the Blue Roses and Rill from the Aqua Deer. They all train for 6 months and we get to see a new and more buffed-up Asta who can now apparently fly on his swords.

Recap: Episode 168

Now that you’re caught up, here are my thoughts and predictions for the end of the series. We are introduced to the Dark Triad: Dante, Vanica, and Zenon. They conquered the Diamond Kingdom and are closing in on both the Heart and Clover kingdoms. Coordinating an attack, the dark siblings lay waste to the magic knights and kidnap Queen Loropechika, Yami, and Vangeance. Dante reveals their need of Yami with his dark magic and Vangeance with his world tree magic to open the Tree of Qliphoth. And Vanica states she thinks Noelle will come to rescue Loropechika with a casual mentioning of her mother. Vanica hopes Noelle, like her mother, will battle with her again but stronger since she wants to save her precious friend.

In episode 168 we are finally introduced to the spy that’s been in the Spade Kingdom, vice-captain Nacht Faust. From what we’re shown so far, he is a devil host with way more control over them than Asta. He stops Asta from further injuring himself and declares he will show him how to better control his Devil powers. Again, we only have 4 days until the final episode. It seems that there is a lot that needs to happen before we actually get this final showdown in the Spade Kingdom.

Predictions for the Last Episodes

Who is Nacht and where did he come from? How does he know Yami? What was that flashback Jack the Ripper saw with a younger smiling Nacht? How does he become a devil host? And looks like there are multiple devils under his control. There’s a lot of questions not to mention what happened to the team in the Heart Kingdom? Again, it seems like there is a lot to cover in only a couple of episodes.

I’m thinking this is where we will see another Naruto-inspired move which is to end the series and come back with a name change. In doing so, the anime can return continuing the current arc. Past anime would usually divert into an anime-only arc for a while to allow the manga time to produce enough chapters to get back to the main story. We saw this in Naruto Shippuden and in Bleach two series that were impacted negatively because of the random anime-only arcs.

However, Black Clover will be following in line with other recent manga series by continuing to stay faithful to the manga and eventually ending. I’m thinking Black Clover will end on a huge cliffhanger so prepare yourself. These are only theories as I don’t actually know how the show will end nor have I read the manga. I do think we will see more of Asta’s devil in these last two episodes and we may even get a chance to hear a name. I don’t think we will see them actually fight the Dark Triad yet, rather that will be the main driving force for the new series. We will probably see Asta gain access to a new power in his training with Nacht. Oh and let’s not forget about that reveal at the end of ep. 168. The elves have returned and are helping?

Final Thoughts

But no matter where the series decides to go I am so excited for this climactic ending. I think it’s coming at a great time as well with some other very popular anime series returning this weekend and over the coming weeks. I want the writers and manga artists to take the time they need to come back stronger than before. This definitely isn’t the end of Asta and Yuno’s journey and I’m looking forward to seeing what they become. Here’s to the last episodes of Black Clover!

Are you ready for the end? Let me know in the comments or over on Instagram @thenerdlight