Black Clover is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yūki Tabata. The manga was serialised in Shueisha’s shōnen manga magazine, Weekly Shōnen Jump, from February 2015 to August 2023. However, the series made headlines after it was announced that it left the magazine in August 2023 and will transfer to Jump Giga in December 2023 to finish its final arc.
Here is everything you need to know about the popular manga and why it left Weekly Shōnen Jump.
What is Black Clover manga?
Black Clover is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yūki Tabata. The series is set in a world where everyone is given the ability to use magic. The protagonist, Asta, is a young orphan who does not have any magical abilities but he is given a rare grimoire that grants him anti-magic abilities. With this gift, he aims to become the next Wizard King. To achieve his dream, Asta joins the Black Bulls under Yami Sukehiro, alongside Noelle Silva, while his closest rival, Yuno, becomes a member of the Golden Dawn. Together, they embark on various adventures while contending with an extremist group called the Eye of the Midnight Sun.
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Written and illustrated by Yūki Tabata, Black Clover became the author’s second series in Weekly Shōnen Jump after his first, Hungry Joker, which ran in the magazine for 24 chapters from November 12, 2012, to May 13, 2013, before being cancelled. In April 2022, it was announced that Black Clover would go on a three-month hiatus to prepare it for its final arc Meanwhile, Shueisha, owner of the Weekly Shōnen Jump has collected Black Clover chapters into individual tankōbon volumes since June 4, 2015. 35 volumes have been released as of June 2, 2023.
The series ended its run in Weekly Shōnen Jump on August 21, 2023. It will now transfer to Jump Giga, starting in its winter issue of the same year. Following the hiatus, fans were concerned about the future of the series. However, reports suggest that the decision was based on the well-being of the manga’s creator, Yuki Tabata. The weekly schedule of the manga had reportedly taken a toll on his health and artistic prowess, which led to conversations with the Shueisha editorial team.
The outcome 0f the conversations was that Black Clover would move to Jump Giga, a quarterly magazine. This means chapters of the series will be released every three months instead of weekly, as was the previous case. Also, fans will be getting longer chapters with 40-50 pages each due to the long gap between releases.
Meanwhile, the English version of Black Clover is distributed in North America by VIZ Media.
Adaptations
Black Clover was first adapted into an OVA (original video animation) by studio Xebec Zwei (Space Battleship Yamato 2202). Pierrot, an award-winning studio behind classics like Bleach, Naruto and Saiyuki, produced a full anime based on the series, which initially aired 170 episodes between October 2017 and March 2021. The anime was fairly well received and was even nominated for the “Best Fight Scene and Best Continuing Series” categories at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards in 2019.
However, a movie franchise, Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King, debuted in June 2023 on Netflix. Its first week on the streaming platform became the second most-watched non-English film.
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How to read Black Clover manga
You can read Black Clover on the VIZ Media website.
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