BLACK CLOVER, VOL. 18
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia
MANGAKA: Yuki Tabata
TRANSLATION: Taylor Engel, HC Language Solutions, Inc.
LETTERS: Annaliese Christman
EDITOR: Alexis Kirsch
ISBN: 978-1-9747-0741-6; paperback (November 2019); Rated “T” for “Teen”
192pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK
Black Clover is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yuki Tabata. It has been serialized in the manga magazine, Weekly Shonen Jump, since February 2015. VIZ Media has been publishing an English-language edition of the manga as a paperback graphic novel series under its “Shonen Jump” imprint since 2016.
Black Clover focuses on a boy named Asta. He and his friend, Yuno, are found abandoned in the village of Hage of the Clover Kingdom. Both Asta and Yuno dream of one day being the “Wizard King,” the greatest mage in the land. Asta has one big problem; he can't use magic. When he is 15-years-old, Asta receives the rare “five-leaf-clover grimoire” (a book of magic), which gives him the power of anti-magic. Can Asta become the Wizard King without being able to use magic? Is he worthy of being in the “Magic Knights” squad, “the Black Bulls?”
As Black Clover, Vol. 18 (Chapters 161 to 172; entitled “The Black Bulls Charge”) opens, the disaster that struck the Magic Knights continues. The souls of vengeful elves who claim to have been killed by humans have taken over the bodies of members of the Magic Knights. Now, these elves are going to use their new bodies and enhanced powers to kill humans.
Asta, Magna Swing, and Vanessa Enotcca battle their colleague, Luck Voltia, whose body is being controlled by an elf, in order to save a village to which Luck is laying waste. Can the three of them stop a very powerful Luck without killing him? And will the trio accept a new ally, a member of the “Eye of the Midnight Sun, who was only recently possessed?
Meanwhile, in the capital, Black Bulls captain, Yami Sukehiro, battles three transformed Magic Knights. As more Knights recover from the possession, the most powerful elves gather in the capital and give their movement a name, as they prepare to wipe out humanity in the Clover Kingdom.
[This volume includes bonus material: “The Blank Page Brigade;” an “Afterword;” sketches, and the illustrated poll: “The Results of the Second Mage General Election”.]
THE LOWDOWN: The Black Clover manga, one of the best shonen battle manga available to English-speaking audiences, has become one of my favorite manga. I have read eight volumes so far this year, and every time I read a new volume, it is like rediscovering how amazing this series is.
Black Clover Graphic Novel Volume 18 continues to push the narrative ever deeper into this shocking and edgy elves-possession story arc. Yuki Tabata has fashioned a super-addictive story arc, probably the best thus far in this series. Tabata has even managed to make the elves seem somewhat sympathetic and totally frickin' evil at the same time. A concept – vengeful elf spirits – that could have been wonky has turned out to be a sign of this shonen action-fantasy's inventiveness and strength.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of the top Weekly Shonen Jump manga will definitely want to try the “Shonen Jump” series, Black Clover.
A+
10 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
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