TITLE: Black Clover Vol. 10
YEAR: February 2018 (US Release Date)
COMPANY: VIZ Media, LLC/Shonen Jump Manga
Story & Art by Yuki Tabata
Asta has been cursed and his arms are badly injured. Having seen Asta sacrifice his life for his friends, his friends have now teamed up to find a way to erase the curse and find a way to get Asta healed. But will they be able to find a cure?
Find out what happens in vol. 10 of Yuki Tabata’s hit manga series, “Black Clover”!
What is “Black Clover” about?
In 2015, Yuki Tabata made his debut with the manga series “Black Clover”.
Serialized in Shueisha’s “Weekly Shonen Jump”, with a total of seven volumes published in Japan (as of August 2016), the first volume is available in the US courtesy of Viz Media.
“Black Clover” revolves around two orphans, Asta and Yuno.
Yuno is the wielder of the four-leaf grimoire and has the power of wind-based magic and has great potential.
Meanwhile, no one sees Asta as one with potential as he has no magic powers at all and he talks about one day becoming the Wizard King, which makes many people laugh.
But Asta uses his fighting prowess and physical strength in order to make him stronger and he is determined. One day, a grimoire shows up for Asta during a battle and he immediately becomes the wielder of the five-leaf clover grimoire.
But because he is not a magic wielder, he is seen as the lowest of the magic knights.
As Yuno becomes a member of the Golden Dawn Squad, Asta is assigned to Yami Sukehiro’s Black Bull Squad, known as the worst squad of the Magic Knights.
How will Asta do on missions with his team of misfits?
In vol. 10, Asta realizes that his fellow teammates of Black Bull Squad are gone. But when he overhears two members talking about him, he learns that everyone is out, trying to find a way to help him ever since he has been cursed and his arms are too baldy injured to ever be healed.
Featuring the manga introduction of the three characters featured in the novel “The Book of the Black Bulls”, we are introduced to former Diamond Kingdom Army adviser Fanzell Kruger, his girlfriend, former Diamond kingdom army Dominante Code and former Diamond Kingdom Army Assassination Unit member, Mariella.
The three come to help Asta in his time of need.
With the tenth volume of “Black Clover”, the manga features everyone from the Black Bulls coming together to help their teammate Asta.
Cursed from ever having to get his arms healed and unable to fight, the Black Bulls members have seen how far Asta was to sacrifice his life to save theirs and now they want to pay him back by helping him right back.
The manga features the characters of the novel “The Book of the Black Bulls”. We are introduced to former Diamond Kingdom Army adviser Fanzell Kruger, his girlfriend, former Diamond kingdom army Dominante Code and former Diamond Kingdom Army Assassination Unit member, Mariella.
This leads them to go to the Forest of the Witches, as the Queen of the Witches may be able to heal Asta. But unbeknownst to everyone, the Diamond Kingdom has sent a few of their top people to finish off the Forest of the Witches. Will Asta be healed by the Queen?
If I had to say anything negative, which I really don’t but if I had to think of one thing that may be problematic for a few readers, I think the sheer amount of characters featured may confuse some people, because “Black Clover”, similar to a story like “Naruto” or even “Fairy Tail” includes many different factions, guilds or units, per se. And with that, it means many characters will be featured. While this tenth volume features many characters, I didn’t think it was problematic but others do.
As far as Tabata’s character designs and artwork for “Black Clover”, Yuki has a pretty cool style of character designs and I found his art style unique, fresh and great to see.
He definitely manages to fit a lot into a panel. And the fact that the art is by him and he writes the stories, it’s going to be interesting to see how far he’ll take this series. Definitely a mangaka with plenty of potential and a series that can really become a long-lasting manga series.
Overall, if you love action, humor and a manga series that features a lot of characters (similar to “Shonen Jump” titles such as “Bleach”, “Naruto”, “Dragon Ball Z” and “One Piece”), Yuki Tabata’s “Black Clover” is highly recommended! It’s a manga full of heart, hope and action!