To the surprise of absolutely no one, Black Clover announced that it would be getting a second season. The news came from Crunchyroll’s French news website, where a trailer was uploaded. The trailer revealed that the anime would, indeed, continue beyond 51 episodes. The show reportedly returns in October, though an exact date wasn’t given. The series just aired its 48th episode, this Tuesday, meaning there are only three left before the conclusion of the first season. Whether the show will pick up immediately or will take a short break is unknown. The series also announced no changes to the cast and the staff is also returning, with no known additions.
Black Clover premiered in October of 2017. Meaning this second season comes a full year after the show’s debut. This more or less fits with shows of this format. Other long-running shows, such as Bleach and Naruto – both of which were also produced by Studio Pierrot – also don’t abide by the typical seasonal breakdown, also running for around 50 episodes a season. Though Black Clover does treat each new season as an individual cour, if the OPs and EDs are to be believed, having gotten in new ones, more or less in sync with the seasonal rotation.
Black Clover managed to garner some criticism since its premiere, much of it justified. The animation quality isn’t quite up to par with a lot of other popular Shonen Jump titles. The series was (and still is) viewed as heavily derivative. Many mock it for being an almost perfect copy of Naruto in many respects. Though, to its credit, it has managed to differentiate itself a decent amount in that time. But the easiest thing to mock it for is, of course, the first cour. Those earlier episodes feared several minutes of one of the most annoying performances ever. Since then, the actor – who was new at the time – has grown a bit more into the character. And it’s become more tolerable.
Unfortunately, the marketing didn’t help it as it was dubbed “The new king of Shonen” by Crunchyroll. A statement that proved demonstrably false, especially in a world where things like the much-adored My Hero Academia exist. But a new season could bring new life to the series. Other shows like it also begin in a very similar fashion, as the studio tests the waters. All criticism aside, Black Clover was popular. So perhaps Pierrot gives the show a better budget to improve the animation. The writing, while still by no means excellent, has gotten slightly better. So maybe the series can pick itself up with a little more tuning.
