Black Clover Chapter 197 Review by Belserion
Chapter Title: False HopeLast week’s Black Clover chapter was really surprising with a demon suddenly showing up taking credit for the war between Humans and Elves. It was a bit out of left field, but there was always an undercurrent that there was something else at play, especially since the Shadow Palace was revealed and a different power from that of Humans/Elves was felt by Mimosa. This week we continue where Asta and Mimosa have joined the fray in order to aid Yuno against The Devil.
While Asta and Mimosa try to figure out what The Devil is, he decides to leave them alone and turns his attention to Patri. The Devil was pretty confident here, not even the least bit bothered by the new arrivals. Patri is still in shock, especially when he thinks about the kind of magic The Devil possesses. His
Word Soul Magic allows whatever he says to happen in reality, so Patri wonders if he used it to re-create Ronne’s
Switching Magic. He gets angry and unleashes his
Light Creation Magic: Light Whip of Judgment. The Devil casually says “
Vanish” and just like that Patri’s magic dissolves. The Devil continues his attack on Patri by launching
Iron Spears at him. The spears pierce Patri all over, it happened so quickly he didn’t even have time to dodge.
Yuno and Asta suddenly power up and launch themselves at The Devil, with Yuno informing Asta that The Devil is the one behind everything. The Devil attacks them with
Storm of Blades, which causes an unlimited amount of swords to rain down on Asta and Yuno. Asta realizes some of the swords are physical since his
Anti Magic is useless against them, and even Yuno is finding it difficult to dodge them. The Devil seems to be having fun now and creates a
Vacuum Wall that pulls them towards him. He then continues his assault using his Word Soul Magic by telling them to be
Crushed, Smashed, Broken to pieces, Riddled with holes. Yuno and Asta appear to be buried under rubble afterwards, with The Devil lamenting that he won’t be stopped this time like he was the last time when Licht and the First Magic Emperor stopped him from fully incarnating. He tells Patri that after he was stopped the first time, he set his sights on him, a new sacrifice, beloved by mana, and easily swayed. He knew that tragedy and a sense of mission would be enough to get Patri to dabble in
Forbidden Life Magic, which confuses Patri who claims Licht was the one that dabbled in the Forbidden Magic and reincarnated the Elves.
Now this is where it gets a bit iffy. The Devil claims he was the one that reincarnated the elves not Licht. He goes on to tell him that Licht didn’t want humans exterminated and the Elves were doing the exact opposite of what their leader wants, including their reincarnation. Patri has basically been walking the path The Devil prepared for him, leading others down with him. Patri has gone into full denial, calling everything he’s hearing a lie, but The Devil delights in telling him that everything Patri has done has led him to a future Licht didn’t want and ultimately The Devil’s reincarnation. Patri continues to ramble about how he’s like Licht, chosen by the four leaf clover, while The Devil mocks him by agreeing that he was chosen as his brilliant, foolish pawn. Patri screams out in agony while The Devil laughs in delight, saying the dreams and ambitions of Humans and Elves make excellent playthings.
Asta and Yuno choose this moment to make their grand comeback. They start mouthing off to The Devil accusing him of coming out of nowhere and screwing everything up. Asta calls him tough and scary but asks who The Devil thinks he is. Yuno says The Devil makes him sick, while Asta continues by calling him filthy scum. These two were on a roll with the insults. Yuno and Asta suddenly proclaim that their dream won’t lose to even The Devil, while getting obvious power ups since the matter surrounding Yuno starts disintegrating because of the magic welling up inside him and the overflowing Anti Magic flowing around Asta is erasing the magic around him. A badly injured Rhya wonders if Licht’s child is finally waking up inside Yuno while The Devil wonders if the other Devil inside Asta is resonating with his magic.
Asta and Yuno attack together, with Yuno targeting the physical blades and Asta targeting the magic blades. To Mimosa’s surprise they block them all easily. They tell The Devil if he’s going to get in their way then he breaks. The chapter ends with Asta attacking him with his sword.
This chapter was action packed.
8/10. I’m not sure how I feel about The Devil planning all of this, from the Human’s response in going after the Elves, to Patri’s blind obedience to “Licht”, but it seems a bit farfetched. I don’t mind the introduction of Devils, but I don’t like how everyone is suddenly blameless and poor pawns. I mean the Humans were manipulated into going after the Elves the same way the elves were manipulated into retaliating, so this war is basically all for The Devil’s amusement and has no basis.
Logically Asta and Yuno should still be no match for The Devil even with their power up because The Devil should be able to just say something and it would render their attacks useless. Not to mention if Asta’s anti magic is erasing all magic then how come Yuno’s magic is still working? I really can’t tell where this is going which I guess is a good thing as it keeps the story fresh, but hopefully the author doesn’t leave any gaping plot holes because these power ups are bordering on ridiculous at the moment, not to mention the power scale is officially broken.
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