Black Clover

Episode 95

After an unusually long time with 'JUSTadICE,' (an opening that never really got its hooks in me), we finally have a new theme song with 'sky and blue' by GIRLFRIEND. I can see myself getting into this one. At the very least it's a bright and smooth antidote to the last opening's flavorless grunge. (Plus, the visuals aresuper good.)

Moving into the next phase of this climactic arc, we take a step back in time to get a little more context on Licht and the elf people. For as vague as the series has been about the secret of the elves, most of the important ideas got through in context. Of the cast we clearly recognize Licht and the Third Eye members from their pre-Midnight Sun days. The elves were a peaceful people who feared what humans might one day do to them, but as a bridge between races, Licht fell in love with a human girl named Tetia and they were expecting a child together before a catastrophe happened and killed everyone. In his final moments, Licht cast a reincarnation spell that left the elves' souls without bodies.

The biggest twist here is that the man we've been referring to Licht all this time wasn't Licht at all, but a young elf boy named Patry who took over Licht's body after death.We had a scene last week where "Licht" was congratulating his henchmen shortly before scolding them. After his kind words he said something like "And that's the last thing I'll say as Licht," implying that he didn't actually believe what he was saying. That phrasing didn't make much sense to me at the time but I figured I understood the scene regardless and just went with it. I didn't realize there was going to be some Kingdom Hearts-ass dude-taking-on-another-dude's-appearance-while-living-inside-a-third-dude tomfoolery. It's possible to go a layer too deep with these surprises.

Basically, the way the Third Eye members work is that they were able to take over the bodies of humans who were on "similar wavelengths," meaning their human forms were not too far off from their elf forms. This opens the door to a number of contrivances that don't sit well with me. Fana's deal was always strange, since we knew her first as Mars' friend from the Diamond Kingdom, and then later as a vengeful elf from ye olde times. Elf Fana lucked out and inhabited a human who just happened to look exactly like her and share her name. I imagine there's got to be a cosmic element here where for every elf there exists a similar human who's tied to them by fate, something that makes the wedge between races all the more tragic, but right now it reeks of reverse engineering story points that never made much sense.

Right now, the show is leaving us hanging on Yuno's possession, ending the episode off with the same cliffhanger from last week. This was a dedicated flashback episode first and foremost, though I wish I had a stronger grasp on exactly what the show is teasing me with here. I found it interesting that one of the human characters from the flashback (the original Wizard King, I'm presuming) was also somebody with a Four Leaf Clover grimoire. It emboldens Yuno as a much more traditional "chosen one" kind of hero, which makes it more novel that devil boy Asta is our protagonist. There's plenty to sink your teeth into this week in terms of backstory and getting a greater sense of our villains' motivation. Some of the specifics may be a little goofy, but this arc is definitely a culmination of what everything before it has been building to, as the series' list of unanswered questions gradually dwindles.

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Black Clover is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Sam Leach records about One Piece for The One Piece Podcast and you can find him on Twitter @LuckyChainsaw