Black Clover

Episodes 109

There's just no getting away from family drama sometimes, and in this episode Finral assists in the fight against his brother Langris, possessed by the elf named Latry (who happens to be the cousin of Patry, but that's a whole other deal.) We're starting to see some of the seeds planted back in the Royal Knights exam bud forth out of the ground, where Finral's first and foremost goal continues to be about rescuing his jerkweed little brother who's done everything in his power to be beyond saving. This is my favorite kind of elf fight, where the story manages to be about the possessed human characters, even when they're not technically in control of their bodies at the moment.

Of course, Finral isn't alone, as he has Yami and Jack serving as the muscle while he uses his spatial magic as support. Latry must be a pretty tough dude if it takes two Magic Knight captains in order to keep up with him, and this fight delivers a delightfully absurd explanation for Jack's ability to cut all types of matter: He just wants to slash things really badly, and the physical properties of his blades adapt to his heart's desires. Inter-dimensional portals that already don't obey the laws of physics? He can cut those too, just by being a badass. I wish Finral and Langris' spatial magic made for clearer fights, since they often result in flinging the other characters around the room at random, or in this case, slamming their portals at each other with little sense of impact. There are instances where a little bit more strategic chess would keep the battles interesting, but we rarely have enough time to arrange anything more sophisticated.

There are a few important characters hanging out on the sidelines of this episode, like the Clover Kingdom's king who demonstrates his light magic for the first time (something a lot slower and less impressive than Licht's magic), and Finnes, the young woman set to marry Langris one day despite having more of a connection with Finral. This is another element that serves as a bit of set-up and pay-off between the Royal Knights exam and the Elf Invasion arc, though Finnes doesn't have a lot to contribute to the story outside of being impressed by Finral's kindness.

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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