Black Clover

Episode 50

With the Vetto fight finally over, it's time for some relaxation. Of all the big battles we've faced so far in Black Clover, the sentimental falling action feels more earned here than usual, but that's almost entirely because the fight itself was so good, because otherwise there are some tough shortcomings. It's going for a very One Piece-y vibe where the heroes end the arc all beaten and battered, and the locals patch them up and thank them as they leave. It'd be much sweeter and more beautiful if the arc's narrative strengths had anything to do with the people living in the Underwater Temple, which they certainly did not. (Aside from maybe Kahono)

Right off the bat we discover that the old man had lied about possessing the magic stone because he wanted to initiate the battle royale. It turns out he didn't even know what the magic stone was to begin with and the only reason the Black Bulls were able to obtain it was because Asta's bird just found it laying around offscreen during the fight. The whole battle royale set-up is still so baffling to me. Now that the arc's over we can see the through-line in full and it's a cooky old man holding his grandchildren's dreams hostage for fun so the viewers at home can watch a dull tournament that gets interrupted immediately, and none of it mattered on any conceivable level.

Which brings us Kahono and Kiato, who have suffered the most in the fallout of the Vetto fight. Kahono's lost her vocal chords and Kiato lost his leg. Even though she's lost most of her voice, Kahono can still speak to Noelle telepathically and they share a nice moment together. Kahono's a good girl and you hope she can recover sooner than later, and her friendship with Noelle is a genuine and heartfelt beat that I wish could have been explored with more lucidity in the arc itself.

Also in need of some rest and relaxation is Asta, who's broken both of his arms and gets to spend the episode dual-weilding a pair of slings. It's a really funny visual, but more so I really appreciate the scene where he and Yami pay their respects to Vetto's corpse. Vetto was by far the show's most effective villain yet, and he isn't simply knocked-out or imprisoned. He's straight-up dead, and it's not without recognizing that there's some kind of injustice at the heart of the Clover Kingdom giving birth to villains like the Eye of the Midnight Sun. I thought the extraordinarily entertaining fight was enough to warrant a moment of silence, but the show offers Vetto sincere sympathy for the ambiguous despair he's been carrying throughout his life.

So that's a wrap on the Underwater Temple arc. It was like a delicious sandwich being held proudly together by two slices of stale, moldy bread. The Vetto fight alone is enough to call this the best arc of the series to date, and it's a good thing that it makes up about 80% of the arc because it exists in spite of some honestly garbage material. This is a conservatively animated conclusion that in equal parts cuts to the heart of its most important characters and suffers from the fundamentally weak storytelling that kickstarted the arc. I want to say I really enjoyed myself, and I did, but it still has some serious issues.

Rating: B

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