Black Clover Chapter 194 Chapter Review by BelserionChapter Title: SpiteAt the end of last week’s chapter we saw Yuno and Charmy enter the Shadow Palace after Yuno’s stone necklace seemingly opened the way. Now we continue with Charmy having joined Asta and Mimosa who are facing off against Lira, the elf controlling Azure Deer Captain Rill.
After Charmy confirms she was following Yuno when she suddenly appeared there, Asta updates her on the situation. Rill has been painting up a storm, the room they’re in is filled with monsters he created with his
Paint Magic. The priority is to stop him.
Meanwhile Lira is having a meltdown. He hates the monsters he’s painting and wants to paint something more beautiful. Of course it’s all the humans fault why he can’t do what he wants. These elves are like a broken record now. Charmy suddenly appears at his side with food. Not sure why she thought it was a good idea to offer the enemy refreshments, because while he looks like Rill she knows what’s going on and he’s obviously possessed. She figures food will cure his grumpiness. Lira knocks the food away and tells her to shut up, saying he would never eat something from a human like her. Charmy interrupts him asking what he did to the food. Now we all know Charmy takes food very seriously so she’s about to be triggered, the huge sheep looming behind her is proof of this. In answer to her question, Lira states that in order to create you must first destroy and vows to destroy humans and everything humans created, just in case we didn’t already know.
Lira unleashes an attack that knocks Charmy and her sheep down. She takes quite a bit of damage, enough for Asta and Mimosa to start panicking. Before they can get to her, they feel an ominous chill in the air. Suddenly a voice asks if it can come out now. This is Charmy’s sheep asking that question. It’s face seems to be cracking down the middle and it now looks slightly demonic. Mimosa notes that the mana coming from Charmy is different than a normal human’s. Charmy’s grimoire begins turning black. Suddenly an adult sized Charmy is standing in front of a giant wolf. Turns out it was the wolf asking to come out. While Asta marvels that Charmy grew up, Lira recognizes what Charmy is.
A Human/Dwarf Hybrid. Asta and Mimosa are shocked to hear this, but not more than Charmy herself, who had absolutely no idea she was part Dwarf.
Asta asks about Dwarves, but Mimosa only knows what little she learned from stories told by her grandparents. She tells him that they’re a race separate from the Elves with special skills and abilities. Charmy questions her wolf about the fact that he wasn’t a sheep all this time. When he tells her to shut up because it was a bad time for questions, she’s even more shocked that he can talk. She puts that aside and focuses on what she thinks is more important, the fact that she’s hungry.
Lira is irritated and tells Charmy he will erase her if she gets in his way, despite the fact that her sudden non human or half human status gave him pause. This just cements the whole humanity hatred for the Elves. They don’t have issues with other species, and even hesitate to attack someone who isn’t completely human. So that’s a little splash of gray in their otherwise black and white view. He attacks with more of his paint monsters, but this makes the wolf happy. He encourages Lira to make him plenty to eat since everything is his food. Charmy casts
Food Magic: Glutton’s Banquet. Charmy’s wolf and by extension Charmy herself, begin eating everything in front of them. Mimosa and Asta are confused with Asta thinking that Charmy normally uses Cotton Magic. Lira is stunned watching his creations be consumed. He remarks that he’s heard of half breeds who possess two types of magic. Charmy stuns him even more by converting the magic she ate from him into her own mana, not only that but she’s eating more than he can paint. He swears his imagination won’t lose to her appetite but it’s too late. Charmy is still upset about what he did to her food and proceeds to take revenge. She punches through the paint monsters guarding Lira, stating that she’s doing it for the proteins, fats and Carbohydrates he wasted when he threw away her food. He goes into denial that Charmy is actually destroying his creations. She’s using regular punches infused with mana, but their power is unbelievable. The chapter ends with Charmy punching Lira directly, after breaking through his guards.
Phenomenal chapter. I would rate it at
9.5. The art was superb, especially since any chapter that features Rill is bound to be descriptive as he himself is an artist. This chapter introduced us to a new species in the Dwarves. I was surprised by this at first but in retrospect, I shouldn’t have been. This is a series that currently has a war between Elves and Humans. It stands to reason more creatures of lore would show up. I got a very Lord of the Rings vibe when the reveal happened. Humans, Elves and Dwarves. Makes me wonder what’s next. The world building is being done very well.
There was always a hint that Charmy was capable of a lot, we usually saw glimpses of it when someone tried to take her food, so this chapter made me happy. What I love about Black Clover is that it’s very character driven. A reveal like this in any other manga would have gone to one of the main protagonists. Actually it might be something explored with Yuno and/or Asta in the future as they’re suspected to be part Elf. So the fact that Charmy, one of Asta’s teammates and usually used as support, would be given such an exciting plot is commendable. Hopefully it doesn’t stop there. We’re getting a whole arc surrounding the Elves, so maybe in the future we’ll explore the Dwarves and Charmy’s heritage since not only did she not know what she was, but no one else seemed to have any absolute facts about them, only what they remember hearing.
There is also the point about hybrids having two magics. I'm not sure if this applies to all hybrids or a select few, but this now makes me wonder if Yuno, should he be confirmed half Elf, would have dual magics as well. He has wind and the elemental wind spirit, so a second magic might be overkill in my opinion. He's already top tier. This would put him at Magic Emperor tier or higher if possible. Not to mention his transformation when he uses Spirit Dive seems to be incomplete, with half a crown on his head. Not unless that half represents his human side and can only be completed once he taps into the other side of his heritage. But this is where I feel the author will need to be careful. Tabata has handled most of the series splendidly, so i'm sure he has big plans for the upcoming arcs and power levels.
Now as exciting as the chapter was, there is a slight concern and the reason I didn’t give it a full 10. If Charmy wins here, the power scale will be unbelievable. At the end of the day Rill is a captain. Lira possessing him makes him beyond captain level. So for a lower ranking magic knight to not only defeat a captain, but an enhanced captain, would be ridiculous. Even with the power that came with her awakening, she should be captain level at best. Asta and Mimosa are there so I would much prefer if it was a team effort. Yes it would take some of the shine off Charmy, but it would keep things balanced, something I personally would prefer.
Next week I think we’ll switch to another section, possibly Noelle. We didn’t get a definite conclusion to the Vermillion siblings’ fights, so it might be the same here. The fights have definitely stepped up in quality since they entered the Shadow Palace.
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