Review of Black Clover, “Black Oath”
Warning! Spoilers for Black Clover Episode 167
The battle we’ve been waiting for, Yami and Asta versus Dante! And wow was it worth the wait. There was so much going on I had a rewind a few times to understand what I was seeing. I was so invested in the fight I completely missed part of the dialogue at one point. The animation of the fight was chaotic at times which really brought you into how intense the battle really is. There were times when I almost couldn’t tell who was who but I couldn’t look away.
There was a real difference with this episode as opposed to other fights. Each time there is a final epic battle the animation studio seems to play with the format. I remember back to Asta and Yuno versus Licht and the animation style switched very dramatically to black and white like the manga. It added to the intensity of the fight. This week I got the feeling of a boss fight in a video game. The music that was chosen just had that vibe to it. It didn’t match anything we’ve heard before. This was further played upon with Asta’s power countdown. The countdown added to the viewer’s anxiety. I was on the edge of my seat as that final second ticked down in slow motion.
For such a heavy battle episode there was a surprising amount of information that was given to us. We were able to gain better insight as to the relationship between devil and devil-possessed. We finally had some interaction between Asta and his devil. We have discovered the location of Zenon and William Vangeance. Pieces of the puzzle are slowly coming together as we move into the next phase of this arc. Things are beginning to look desperate and I’m hoping we’re going to see a lot more familiar faces joining the fight.
Until next week!
