5 Point Discussions – Black Clover 53: “Behind”

Yami has a tense showdown with the leader of the Golden Dawn to determine if he’s really an ally…or their biggest enemy. Meanwhile, Yuno and Asta meet again on the battlefield! Remember, if you like this article and 5 Point Discussions, please share it on Facebook or Twitter! It really helps. And if you’ve got any comments or questions, please hit me up @SageShinigami.

1. With most of the threat of the Diamond Kingdom gone, this is a perfect time to convene the first meeting of Yuno’s fanclub of tiny women with large foreheads. In the aftermath of Yuno’s fight and while Asta’s trying to catch up with his rival, Yuno’s wind sylph Bell and Charmy both get into it over who gets to date him. Eventually, the situation breaks down until Charmy’s threatening to eat Bell, while Yuno strangely ignores them both.
Bell’s grown to creepy levels of attachment with Yuno a little too quickly for my tastes. When we first saw her she could barely talk, now she’s infatuated with him to such an extent she’s literally misinterpreting Yuno and Asta saying they used to live together. By comparison, it makes Charmy’s crush seem positively normal–she’s just showering a dude she likes with sweets. Though the show reminding us she’s nineteen and really, really shouldn’t be flirting with a fifteen year old left a sour taste in my mouth.

2. The reminders that the Black Bulls are vastly better than almost every other Magic Knight guild we’ve seen so far come so frequently they feel contractually mandated. While things are actually surprisingly cordial between the Golden Dawn and the Black Bulls, that shifts the moment Finral’s brother Langris shows up. The story doesn’t even try to make you like him; dude’s an absolute dick. He won at life and still feels the need to rub it in with his older brother every chance he gets. He reminds Finral he can’t use attack magic, that he’s stuck in the lowest ranked guild, and that he’s no longer the head of the family because he’s not a strong enough mage.

Asta starts to stand up for him, but the creepy snot mage makes a reappearance, with a shift in his tactics: since Langris uses spatial magic that he can’t completely control, his snot shield is now full of innocent villagers. Now for most logical people,this would represent something of a moral crisis…but Langris decides they’ll just have to be “sacrifices for the good of the Kingdom” and is about to murder them all to get the job done. Fortunately, Asta refuses to allow such a tactically lazy decision and works with Charmy and Finral, taking advantage of their honed teamwork and Asta’s anti-magic weaponry to take out the snot mage in all of two hits.
Y’know, over time I’ve gradually come around to the idea of heroes sometimes needing to kill. Norman Osborn ain’t gonna get better. The Joker ain’t gonna get better. But Langris didn’t even try–he had multiple other mages around and had such little respect for their abilities he just decided it’d be easier to kill the citizens he’s meant to protect. For once, the overly naive, hot-blooded shonen hero was right.

3. Even though this was an obvious red herring, I appreciate Yami for being genre savvy enough to at least explore the possibility of William Vangeance and Licht looking so similar. He notes it himself–they have similar voices, similar builds, and even have what seems to be an identical ki signature. Still, when William unmasks, it becomes obvious they couldn’t be more different–Vangeance’s face has been heavily scarred from birth. Conveniently, magic has been unable to fix it, and so Vangeance spent his youth at the mercy of arrogant nobles mocking him for his appearance.

It wasn’t until Julius Novachrono came along that someone finally looked beyond his scars. Like with Yami, all Julius cared about was William’s powerful magic, and so he recruited them both to work with him–the two of them climbing the ranks until they both made Captain at the same time. Julius is a kind enough man if your power level is over 9000, but given how broken Clover Kingdom’s society still is, it’s clear his meritocracy approach isn’t quite working the way it should. He’s been an annoyance to the power structure, but by no means has he destroyed its foundations like Yuno or Asta would just by being considered. Eventually, if Clover’s going to experience any true change, either Julius will have to change or he’ll have to step down.

4. Lotus continues to be the MVP of the Diamond Kingdom’s army. For the second time in a row, he’s managed to escape from an overwhelming disadvantage and bring back something major for his country. The first time, way back in the Dungeon arc, he managed to escape with valuable treasure to fill the nation’s coffers. This time, thanks to Yami and William wanting to be “honorable”, he’s able to report back to his leaders with a ton of valuable military intel. This is why the whole “promote the strongest” guy makes zero sense–he’s clearly the most strategically sound person in their army, he should be leading everyone else.
Still, even the Diamond Kingdom has recognized their Eight Shining Generals aren’t nearly as shiny as they used to be, and so they’ve already prepared a new wave of people to take their place: the mage warriors. Guess Clover’s spat with the Diamond Kingdom isn’t over yet.

5. Next Episode: With the Diamond Kingdom’s army crushed in timely fashion and Yami having learned Vangeance isn’t Licht in disguise, it looks like we can finally get back to some down time for the Black Bulls. Now maybe after all this time someone can go look after Asta’s arms?  Broken limbs usually take weeks to heal, but action heroes get back on their feet in days, right? So what’s the hold up?
Black Clover is available for streaming on Crunchyroll and Hulu.