Black Clover Obliterates Another Manga Cliché With Latest Villain Kill

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Black Clover chapter 329!

Asta’s implied slaying of the King of Devils Lucifero in Black Clover actually pales in comparison to how it impacts manga as a whole, for the young mage simultaneously slew another industry stereotype in the process. Best of all, it happened in the greatest way imaginable.

Last chapter, Asta had literally torn Lucifero asunder in a manner of seconds. While still alive by chapter 329, the devil isn’t particularly in the greatest shape, making it extremely unwise if he chose to continue fighting for the sake of his pride. Luckily for Lucifero, who’s basically just a floating bust with missing appendages at this point, the devil doesn’t appear to suffer from delusions of grandeur and decides to hightail it out before Asta can finish the job. But before he leaves, the devil drops an important bit of information. Although he fully manifested in the human world, only half of his power managed to cross the threshold with him.

And then it happens. Asta, with the help of Yuno, achieves his greatest victory by landing the implied final blow. This was a perfect setup on the part of mangaka Yūki Tabata. Manga are notorious for incorporating the now well-established trope where a villain isn’t actually at their full power despite being ridiculously strong. This realization clearly worsens the heroes’ plight, as they are usually overpowered by this current, incomplete form. But more importantly, it presents the opportunity to further expand the current battle or even the overall arc, potentially spilling into a whole other story down the line if the villain manages to escape. Black Clover was clearly set to dabble in the latter when Lucifero announced his departure. But as previously noted, Tabata threw that possibility out the window. What makes Tabata’s execution even more ingenious is that he literally teased fans by creating the impression that this was his actual intention, making the twist that much more enjoyable and welcoming.

This is just the latest of many instances where Black Clover has shattered stagnant formulas in other shonen. Probably the most surprising and still greatest example occurred earlier in the current arc when Magna Swing actually defeats Dante Zogratis. In addition to being a side character, Magna is quite weak, and not just because Tabata unintentionally made his other heroes overly powerful much too quickly. Magna is a peasant and therefore incapable of getting stronger like most mages. He must therefore resort to unprecedented means in battle, and in this particular instance, he was able to defeat one of the strongest characters against whom even captains struggled. While other manga have attempted to break the mold by increasing the usefulness of weaker heroes, their mangaka rarely follow through by letting them win on their own. They are just incredibly helpful. And now, Tabata has continued defying all these formulas by killing off a villain after basically shoving the possibility in fans’ faces that he was going to escape and come back stronger than ever.

Of course, Tabata can still pull the rug from underneath fans by having Lucifero survive. But the fact that he didn’t do the same with Magna gives readers hope that he may follow through again in this particular instance. Plus, there’s another devil that fans especially want to see more of: Adrammelech. Little is known about this sarcastic creature who’s seemingly unperturbed by status and values entertainment more than loyalty. These amusing characteristics have undoubtedly piqued the interest of Black Clover readers and, hopefully, with Lucifero out of the picture, more will be learned of Adrammelech in the next chapter.

About The Author