Episode 54 came out dubbed and this is one of those few episodes where I was actually excited to watch it a second time. Asta's VA did a great job on both the "giving up" and "blessed" scenes. And also Yami was funnier than usual. Overall I'm really satisfied with how that ep went as it's a great moment for Asta's character and both the JP and ENG versions handled it well.
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Anyway, speaking of Asta, fun fact: it's now been 3 months since he last showed up in the manga (Chapter 167 in the July 30th issue of WSJ). This is now tied with what I assume was the longest gap, which was just earlier this year when the story switched to the attack on the Black Bulls base and the Julius vs Patry fight (which I just realized means Black Clover has, within the last 12 months, spent at least half of those months away from its MC which shows how big the scale of the arc is).
But what's more interesting isn't really the time spent away from Asta, that's merely a fun anecdote, but rather all that has happened since we've switched away from Asta's perspective. It's clear that we turned the clock back and are working towards the point where the Black Bulls arrive. This means that the more that happens, the more the BB have missed and, more importantly, the less there is for them to do. As such, when we do come to the present, it'll most likely be for the final confrontation of the arc.
Of the top of my head, the following things have happened since we went back in time:
- Yami fought Henry/Marx
- Yami and Sol fought Elf-Charlotte. No clear winner as everyone is still active. Yami went to the castle. Sol hid Julius' body and went off who knows where. Elf-Charlotte is heading towards her allies.
- Revchi and Gueldre broke out of prison and went off who knows where.
- Fuegoleon woke up and got the Fire Spirit. Fuegoleon, Leopold and other Crimson Lions fought Elf-Randall (their Vice Captain). Fuegoleon and co. won, Fuegoleon is the only one currently in fighting shape and is heading towards the capital.
- Most Golden Dawn elves reunited at GD HQ and headed towards the royal castles, split in 3 groups.
- Finral woke up, headed towards the royal castles with Yami. Met up with Jack there.
- The still-friendly members of the raid crew (minus Asta and Yuno) returned to the capital city and headed towards the royal castles.
- Noelle/Nozel/Zora went to the Silva castle. Mimosa/Kirsch/En went to the Vermilion castle. Yami/Finral/Jack went to the Kira castle. Mereoleona (injured and out of commission) has been left who knows where.
- The Silva Castle Trio has successfully taken care of their opponents. Noelle and Zora are still in fighting shape. Nozel will presumably get healed and be able to fight.
- The Vermilion Castle Trio has just encountered their opponents.
- The Kira Castle Trio has successfully taken care of all their opponents except Ratry (Elf-Langris) who is being fought at the moment
So a lot of the elves have already been eliminated. Presumably Elf-Langris is just about to lose and the elves in the Vermilion castle will be eliminated as well. But until then, right now we have the following characters on the human side who are ready for the final battle:
Black Bull Mecha Crew: Asta, Magna, Vanessa, Luck, Gordon, Charmy, Grey, Henry, Rades, Sally, Valtos
Silva Castle Trio(?): Noelle, Nozel, Zora (Solid and Nebra could potentially join in but who knows)
Kira Castle Trio: Yami, Jack, Finral (assuming they all make it out)
Misc: Yuno (Heading towards the capital, timing of his arrival depends on how long the events after he split from Asta took. I'm betting he'll arrive before Asta so that there's some confusion for the people in the capital over his allegiance and also maybe Asta saves him and he'll owe him on again) Poison Plant Dude that's with Yuno, Fuegoleon, Sol (Yami told her to help within the town and not the castle so she may not partake in the big fight but there's Charlotte stuff going on so who knows), Gueldre, Revchi
I assume at least someone from the Vermilion Castle Trio will make it out but that fight may go differently to have the elves win somewhere and also bring some of the elves big shots into the fight.
Meanwhile on the elf side we have:
Midnight Sun HQ: Licht, Patry, Raia, 9-10 humans-turned-elves from the Raid crew
Misc: Charlotte, Gauche
(there are more elves than these around but a lot of them aren't actual characters with known names/faces and are just scattered around the country)
I may have forgotten characters for both sides of the conflict and it's also possible that some of these characters won't be in the big final battle (I don't like Poison Plant Dude's chances) but I think for the most part, this is what we're looking at for the big fight except for whoever wins the battle at the Vermilion Castle. Humans obviously have the numbers but I think it makes sense given how elf-boosted mages compare to human mages of similar rank (aka they're quite a bit more powerful) and also there are the complete, OP-as-hell, powerhouses that are Licht and Patry. It's gonna be interesting to see who fights who and who fights alongside who.
Anyway, just wanted to assess the current situation in the arc but basically once we get back to Asta, it's gonna be a straight line to the end. And as I already said, the more we see, the less there is for Asta and co. to do but this whole post is just taking into account the (lot of) stuff that has already happened. It's possible that a lot more stuff will keep happening before we reach the present. Basically the only thing we know is that the Midnight Sun HQ is still in the air when the BB arrive so they may just find Yami and co. inside the base rather than arrive when the battle for the various castles is over.