English Dub Review: Black Clover “Lightning of Rage vs. Friends”

(Possible Spoilers Below)

While Yuno & Asta are told to split-up to take care of two separate problems with the promise of meeting at the capital, The braggadocious & sadistic elf who calls himself Rufel, in a big reveal, says that he’s behind the proverbial wheel of Lucks body and making Vanessa come to the realization that Luck is possessed. As Rufel brags about the Elves’ most recent victory over the Royal Knights, Rufel proceeds to almost murders Magna but is thankfully intercepted by Vanessa’s cat Rouge, the Red String of Fate. This time Magna retaliates against Rufel but is also stopped by Rouge as tiny red kitty protects the rest of the “Black Bulls” branch of the school, but I can’t help but laugh at the fact that the Kitty is also protecting Luck since the Cat doesn’t know that Luck isn’t exactly behind the wheel of his own body. As Magna manages to trick Rufel with his knowledge of Luck’s physical abilities and blows him up.

When Magna demands Rufel return Luck, Rufel summons a lightning storm, increasing his powers, and Magna only survives due to Rouge. Rufel realizes that using Rouge costs vast amounts of magic and forces her to repeatedly save Magna until it begins to put a strain on Vanessa almost causing her to pass out. As Rufel arrogantly claims that he’s completely taken over and declares a premature victory, a subtle sign on his face makes Magna realize that Luck must be able to subconsciously hear them, so they desperately try to force Luck to wake up.

Rufel almost murders Magna but Rouge uses the last of her magic to alter fate, resulting in Asta appearing at the very last moment. Rufel manages to sense Asta’s movements and tries to kill him, but Vanessa attaches a string to Asta, holding him back for a split second causing Rufel to mistime his attack and he is tackled to the ground by all three of them. Asta prepares to stab him in the chest and end the possession before Rufel unleashes an electrical explosion ending the episode with one hell of an epic cliffhanger.

Our Take

This was better than I expected. The fight scenes were well animated, but still hard to believe that the Elves are quite the heavy-hitters. It kinda makes you wonder if we’ll see one of them take on Licht at some point…the most powerful one of their own kind later on, or if that was massive power display by Luck, was Rufel realizing his full potential that Luck has yet to realize for himself.

As far as I can tell, this interpretation of Elves in this anime are sadistic & violent a-holes. Completely the opposite to what they traditionally are in most fantasy stories like LOTR where they have longer lifespans, calm & collected and are highly skilled in archery. I will also give Magna and Vanessa points for also reaching a higher tier of power and excelling in Teamwork, but that was nothing for the possessed Luck. I can’t even count how often Magna was just dead without Vanessa’s ability I’m at least glad Asta made it in time and also loved how the kitty Rouge was the reason why Asta was summoned to the fight.

It now remains to be seen until we know what really happens in the next episode.