Yūki Tabata (Japanese: 田畠裕基, Hepburn: Tabata Yūki) is a Japanese manga artist.
After working as an assistant to Toshiaki Iwashiro, he created the one-shot Hungry Joker, which was later serialized as a full series. After its conclusion, he launched Black Clover.
Asta and Yuno grew up together, abandoned at the same church. They both determined to become Magic Knights... Yuno's abilities soon grew to genius levels of power and control while Asta didn't show even a spark of magic and made up for it by training hard physically. It became apparent to both when they received their grimores, Yuno a coveted 4-leaf clover and Asta an unheard of black 5-leaf clover, that they were each other's biggest competition when it came to achieving their goals of becoming the next sorcerer emperor.
Black Clover vol 15 finishes up the Royal Knight entrance battles!! I don't think the outcome is a surprise even though the drama sure brought all the twists it could to enliven the battles. From the cover you may have guessed who is in charge of the Royal Knights and their war with the Midnight Sun... yes, it's Mereoleona Vermillion!!! The Vermillion family is one of my favorites in the Black Clover universe so I was all for learning more about this wild, crazy and wildly crazy strong lady. We transition into their first mission as Royal Knights and set up all the battles. Unexpectedly the Black Bulls castle gets attacked... and its empty except for Gordon, Gauche and Grey!! We learn the castle's history too and the new character about ripped my heart out...
Nozel joins the Royal Knights and I was jazzed to see him!! These transition volumes can be a bit of a drag as it sets up for the next story arc but NOT so with Yuki Tabata!! He makes them fun and gives us reasons to be DYING for the next volume!! Nozel is that star for Black Clover vol 15. We meet Raia of the Midnight Sun and he has a neat ability. It really tests Mereoleona, but as a captain level Magic Knight she gives us a really stellar battle!! Asta is going to learn SOOOOOO much from her I can see it already!! We get glimpses of Yuno learning and the battle at the castle is really good! I don't know which storyline I'm loving more!! GAHHH they are both so good...
We meet a new character to do with the castle, Henry!! He is such a cinnamon roll and I just loved him and his ability. This is what I love about Black Clover!! Such unexpected nuggets of back history that fits in the present perfectly. He was my favorite bit about Black Clover vol 15. BUT GAHHHH I am always putting myself in Asta's shoes and man, I feeeeel for him in this volume. Asta is always going through something and he feels so keenly... His friendship with Yuno and how they feed off of one another but in a brotherly way and not a "we are so rivals I'd kill you in an alley at night if I could get away with it" sort of way. It adds a delicious tension, because lets get real here... Yuno is a genius!! It's no mistake the grimore he got is gold.
The final spread of Black Clover vol 15 WILL KILL YOU!!! I was floored! I love this kind of unexpected twist. The battles were dynamite... We see that a couple of our Knights learn new abilities and we get to see how they work. I have to say though that Henry's battle at the castle was hands down my favorite this time. Though Zora and Asta's interactions with Mereoleona added the much needed humor that makes Black Clover such a joy to read!!
Black Clover vol 15 is a stellar volume as we start the war between the Royal Knights and the Midnight Sun. I'm sure the Midnight Sun have a lot more in store for our specially chosen team but they will surely rise to whatever situation comes up! The beauty of this series is the large range of characters and how fun and different it makes every story line. There isn't a character I've been unhappy to learn more about. Plus we get epic battles and worthy villains!! If you haven't picked up this series or stopped... GO GO GO, you NEED Black Clover!!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Authenticity ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Tension ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Plot ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Art
This is a multi-volume series and there may be references to the plot of those volumes... SO READ WITH CARE! Here is my review of 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
Thanks to Edelweiss and VIZ Media for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review. It has not influenced my opinions.
______________________ You can find this manga review and many others on my book blog every Monday @ Perspective of a Writer. See my manga and graphic novel reviews at the bottom of the page.
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Assalto alla base del nemico, strategia: andate e fate quello che vi pare. Zora era in realtà un membro del Toro Nero, tiratissima la cosa e poco apprezzata. ci sono compagnie di cui non sai nemmeno dell'esistenza, potevano approfittarne e farlo membro di una di quelle. Tra l'altro personaggio di cui non se ne sentiva il bisogno e se non sbaglio si vedrà sempre meno.
Another favourite trope that shonen has is the "elderly woman" who is the strongest and kick ass. In here, it is really embraced and the old lady is bonkers. And it works! Another part of the volume is a "sudden attack" on the main guy's hideout and it's interesting.. But the problems with the worldbuilding are a little bit worrying. Suddenly there are new members of the brigade, new members, which always were there and we just didn't see them. Unfortunately, it feels a little bit too convenient - but it's fun and that's what counts.
*Catches up with the anime, so jumps into the manga where the anime left off.*
This was a really great volume. While I honestly have only ever read the first volume of this series (and then watched the anime), the progression this manga has gone through is amazing. Namely because the focus isn't always on Asta. This volume focuses mainly on Mereoleona Vermillion, who is probably one of the most badass characters in all of Black Clover, and what's great about that is that she is a woman. Also, much like her siblings, the Vermillion's are a group of royals who do not give a crap whether you are a peasant or nobility. All that matters is if you are strong or weak.
Love it! Be the change!
Also, I really enjoy how Asta's hopes and dreams are starting to wear off on all of the Magic Knights around him. No longer is it just the Black Bulls, and a select few he crossed paths with thanks to Yuno, but all of the Magic Knights that took part in the exam arc. The scene where he was falling because he used too much power, and all of the other knights came to help him was powerful, because it shows how much of a difference he is making.
Great volume. Time to go get caught up on everything else.
*Yami be like*: SHE'S A BLACK BULL, HE'S A BLACK BULL, YOU'RE A BLACK BULL, EVERYBODY IS A BLACK BULL! Everyone appearing in less than a second to support Asta when he was about to fall gave me actual chills. So so happy. Mereoleona is a badass AF, FUCK*NG QUEEN OF EVERYTHING! I just love Nozel's attitude towards Fuegoleon, that bromance dude...
Me encanta ver a Mereoleona en todo su esplendor!! Definitivamente el mejor personaje de todo ese mundo y que le hayan dado la portada completa es una muestra de eso.
The Royal Knights Selection Exam Arc ends, then jumps almost immediately into the Eye of the Midnight Sun Base Invasion Arc with little respite, as is common for this manga's pacing. Actually, for whatever it's worth, the fan wiki lists both events together as a singular "Royal Knights Arc," which I guess kinda makes sense, but the events are distinct enough to me that I feel it makes more sense to separate them.
Anyway, the climax of the arc is the battle between Asta and Finral's brother, which basically ended last volume. The first few chapters here speedrun through the conclusion, the main point of which is that Yuno has unlocked a transformation of his own, kinda making him better than Asta, or at least more rival-y. His power involves fusing strength with Bell to magnify his mana, which is of course something Asta can't really do, making them at least quite different. But, to be honest, I feel like Asta earns his powers better; Yuno gets power-ups simply because he needs to be ahead of Asta to give Asta a new milestone to surpass; this makes Yuno feel a lot like Vegeta in Dragon Ball Super, who always gets consolation prizes every time Son Goku unlocks a new ability.
Mereoleona expands magic into something more closely resembling Haki, as she generated a "Mana Zone" giving her greater access to the mana around her, while also granting a sense of foresight and increased agility. Then Yuno turns out to be able to do this as well, making it feel almost cheap. There's room for growth for Asta, as he feels he can learn from Mereoleona's physical attacks to do shit with ki, but that's before he learns of Mana Zone, which, of course, he'd be unable to do....
The Gel Magic girl from a long time ago returns, and I forgot I liked her boobs and glasses (I feel like I've said before that she's a ripoff of the vacuum chick from HxH. There are also some nice hangers on some random prisoner in the EotMS base.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
As much as I loved the fight between Mereolona and Raia as well as Rill's fight with Yuno, I had a couple of issues with this volume.
First off, the tournament arc wrapped up way too fast for my liking. On top of that, while Luck and Rill's potential face-off was hinted at in the last volume, the fight was so fast that it was kind of unsatisfying. Also, Yuno's fight immediately after Asta's was too fast and while I got that he ended it fast out of pent-up anger for Asta's injuries, it made the fight seem cheap. Not to mention that Noelle and En got no chance to shine and that made me unhappy. That being said, I did like how Rill was the one who made his team lose because he misused his magic. Considering Yuno's role in the match was to show how much better he had gotten in mana control, Rill's lose stands out even more. There were things that I liked, but ultimately this was a fairly disappointing end to the arc.
Second, this volume holds easily the most rushed character backstories and motivations I've ever seen in this series. Yes, I love how concise Tabata is with both of these things, but Gordon's, Grey's, and Henry's intros/ backstories were so fucking rushed that I didn't really have a chance to get attached to them. Not to mention this is the first time Henry's introduced and the first time Gordon is seen fighting, so I would have wanted more time to get to know them. Instead, all three of their backstories/ introductions felt slapped together and I can't connect with them outside of "hey, they have cool magic. I like that". Considering how much I praise Tabata's character writing, this was kind of insulting and I would have liked him to have waited until later to handle it. Besides, why did we need to see Grey's, Gordon's, and Henry's motivations for defending the hideout? They're Black Bull members, a group of terrorists are attacking their hideout, ergo they should protect it. WHAT OTHER MOTIVATION DO YOU NEED BESIDES THAT?
Despite this, I did love some of the fight scenes and Mereoleona continues to be one of the best characters in this series, plus seeing her and Nozel show such passion and determination to avenge Fuegoleon made me smile. This wasn't a bad volume by any means, but it definitely had more issues than most.
Some thoughts that I took note of while reading (might contain some spoilers...)
- I guess it's too soon for an Asta vs. Yuno battle... I wonder when would that happen. - The Yuno vs. Rill battle ended so quickly. I was expecting more, having watched the anime first.
- Also, Yuno looks so elegant in his Spirit Dive form. No wonder Charmy was in a daze afterwards lol.
- I really love how chaotic it is in the Black Bulls hideout... - Of course, Zora's actually a member of the Black Bulls! Only Captain Yami would accept someone with that kind of attitude. Lmao.
- I dunno if I should laugh or feel bad that they ran out of fabric for the robe of Asta (and only Asta). It seems like a cruel joke! Like, the boy's already got no magic! Even in clothes, he's the one getting shorthanded! Asta didn't really mind it though, and I admire him for that. - Mereoleona is the baddest badass! Love that she's effortlessly tackling every spell from Raia and saying "NEXT" like they're nothing. Lmao.
- The Grey-Gauche-Gordon (oooh, triple G) team is... interesting. And yay, it's finally their time to shine! - Another Black Bulls member revelation! Henry is so adorable and precious. Though I bet washing his super long hair is a nightmare.
It’s been a while since I last read this manga in favor of waiting until it got longer or to have more chapters.
Anyway, I got back to this after watching the new movie and WOW. Definitely hyped up for the newest chapters.
As for this one, obviously I enjoyed this one probably because of the Anegeoleon (not sure if I’m spelling the nickname of this awesome woman). She’s the STAR of this volume tbh.
Like I said, straight into book 15. Another 5 star read, and WE MEET HENRY! The end of the Royal Knights exam, an invasion of the hideout and the Black Bulls bade attack make this manga jam-packed with awesomeness! Can’t wait to move onto book 16. As of this point in time, I own up to and including book 21. I feel like this series goes so fast, but I don’t want it to end. Anyway, I really enjoyed reading this edition, another 5 stars from me.
It was so much fun discovering the things of this volume. Won't write here what it was, since it's a huge spoiler, but I bet you guys would love it too.
After Asta's battle, it feels like the rest of the competition just rushes through. The crystal is broken quickly for the remaining battles, and while Asta's battle didn't go as he planned, Yuno gets to show off, pretty much. After that quick ending, we move onto the next round of competition pretty quickly, competing again to be a Royal Knight. Just as we're learning there's a member of the Black Bulls we didn't know about, the story switches back to the home base, where we find out another aspect of the Black Bulls we never knew about. The member we meet is creepy as fuck. The other surprise, though, I find quite interesting. I'm intrigued to see where these new characters go next.
A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!
I really enjoyed this one. It was a bit better than the previous one because one of the main arcs finally begins in this volume. Royal Knights exam finishes and Mereoleona reveals herself as the leader of the Royal Knights whose purpose is to attack the base of the Eye of the Midnight Sun. This is also the beginning of the Reincarnation Arc which is the longest if I'm not mistaken. Mereoleona is one of my all-time favourite characters so she is one of the reasons why I really enjoyed the book. I'm curious to see what happens next.
This whole series went from "ehh" in book one to being fantastic all the way through. As a lover of manga action, this series delivers. Also the author thought his plot through well, leaving little surprises when you re-read the series after the major twists and reveals happen. So good.
Highlights: - The Asta/Finral/Zora vs Langris/Fragil/Sekke battle ends in a tie AND is determined to be a 3rd round fight, since Asta and Langris wanted to fight immediately. - Rill's team redirects the magic of Luck's team and defeats them - Yuno takes out a team's crystal by himself, and gets his team into the finals vs Rill's team. Yuno wins, but only because Rill accidently destroyed his own crystal, finally being able to go all out against Yuno, who has just increased in power again. - The Wizard King speaks with Zora Ideale (who was passing himself off as Xerx) and gets him to go back to his original team, the Black Bulls, saying they need people like him. - Mereoleona, Captain of the Royal Knights, collects Asta, Noelle and Luck to join the squad. Zora joins too. - The Royal Knights first mission is to take out the Eye of the Midnight Sun base. They are doing well, and then one of their leaders wakes, Rhya. After trying to use Light Magic to try to pass himself off as Asta, Rhya reveals himself as the Third Eye (with Imitation Magic) and he and Mereoleona fight. It looks like the members of the Eye might not be human - Gauche, Grey, and Gordon are back at the Black Bulls lair and it gets attacked by Valtos, Rades, and Sally from the Eye. They are losing badly until someone else comes out of the base, naming himself as Henry. Henry is connected with the house, which is why things move on their own, and he is also very powerful.
- le combat de l'équipe d'asta et de langris c'est terminé sur une égalité. Après ducoup la finale opposé l'équipe de yuno vs rill ça va le combat était bien avec la victoire de yuno prc rill à détruit son cristal. Mais le problème c'est que dans l'animé le combat était incroyable il duré 2 fois plus la on a rien vu dutout.
- après c'était stylé ceux qui étaient choisi pour être les chevalier royaux et quand ils sont partis pour la zone a forte densités magique. C'était mais vraiment trop stylé quand nozel et mereoleona on voyait les 2 en même temps faire leur attaque en mode pour venger mon frère et mon rival.
- aussi le combat de mereoleona vs ryah trop stylé on voit vraiment la puissance de mereoleona qui explosé littéralement ryah.
Point négatif :
Moi j'ai pas trouvé ça ouf ouf le truc ou y'a grey gosh et Gordon vs Sally et rades. Y'a juste une scène où y'a Gordon et grey qui Cris "nous devons défendre notre repaire ! " Grave stylé mais après pas ouf avec l'arrivée d'Henry que j'aime pas dutout ce perso il m'insupporte.
This issue of black clover is quite outstanding in relation to the previous issues. It began by wrapping up the major story conflict that started two issues ago. I greatly respect the story for not having the main character win every fight. It also opens a new series of fights. These fights answer some lore questions that a reader of the series might have regarding the mimicry of abilities in the series. Not only that, but it also furthers the development of techniques introduced three issues ago. Unfortunately, the conclusion of the arch mentioned earlier is somewhat unsatisfying. The victor didn't truly earn their victory in my opinion. I am quite excited to see what the new additions to the black bull team will do for the story though. Over all, I think it's an amazing installment in the series.
Wauzi im Schnee! Ja, ich mag diese Art von Vorwort. Die Kämpfe im Schnelldurchlauf waren ganz nett. Yuno sieht in seiner neuen Form aus, als trüge er eine Krone. Luck ist echt über jeden Mist froh, diesmal zu recht. Zoras outfit ist…. Sisgaleons Plan find ich toll, die Szene davor war unnötig aber sie zeigt sich in dem Band von ihrer besten Seite. Wird mir wirklich sympathisch. Auch Nozel und Kirsch können ein wenig aufbessern. Raia nimmt ne andere Taktik als die anderen beiden, startet gleich mit drei Augen und er ist inkonsequent, er wollte schon mit einer Dame trinken gehen, die ebenfalls adelig ist (und sich im Gegensatz zur Löwin auch so benommen hat). Endlich kommt Gordon etwas zum Vorschein und mei ist seine Attacke putzig!
I’m glad that both Asta and Yuno made it onto the Royal guards, but can we just talk about Big Sis Leo? She kicks absolute butt. I love the way she just picks someone up when she needs them and is probably one of the most OP characters we’ve seen, but judging from prior anime/manga knowledge, she’s going to go down and Asta and Zora will actually help fight.
And HENRY OMG. I did not expect the Eye of the Midnight Sun to ambush the Black Bulls. And then Henry just spawns in the house and pulls a Gravity Falls and turns the ENTIRE FREAKING HOUSE INTO A MECH.
Needless to say, Vol. 16 is very anticipated, and, yes, I will stay up to read it.