Man this chapter got me hype.
Firstly, Asta's new design is so damn good. Absolutely love it. Big improvement over the first one. I like it much better than what I've been imagining a timeskip redesign would be for Asta, which was something sleeveless like what Yami has. But I really love the Luffy-style medium sleeves vest, and I like that there's still Yami influence with the way he wears the robe. Cool that he still keeps it pretty simple. New headband looks cool too. I like that it makes the reference to Licht's demon form more obvious due to the pattern not being formed by stitches and that the symbol is back on the front, both fitting how more in tune with his demonic/"arcane" abilities he's become.
Speaking of which, this chapter does a good job of giving a idea in very few pages of just how much stronger Asta is. Seems he can surf on his sword now, which is both cool and funny, I'd never even considered that as a potential upgrade. And he can call the sword back too? Another thing I've never considered but is very cool, especially that he shouts the name. (I wonder how that works. Is it an application of his anti-magic? Or is it like the thing that makes Grimoires react to the users' will?)
Most telling by far though is just how casually he used his Black Divider.
For reference, this is how it looked in the devil fight, the very first time Asta used his sword this way:
In the devil fight, he had immense trouble even getting the anti-magic to take shape and then more trouble maintaining it. You can see how much he's straining here. And importantly, he did in not just in Black form but also while being boosted by his devil resonating with the Word Soul Devil (the boosts Yuno and Asta had there kinda give a taste of what they could be like now, Yuno especially was just stacking buffs haha).
Now though? We go from a page of him not having it on to:
In an instant. No enemy devil boost. No Black form. Yet much quicker and much longer. So damn casual about it lol.
Have to note that this still isn't at the level of what killed the Word Devil:
Clearly that Spade goon didn't warrant this effot but my guess is that he can do a Black Divider of this level too now. Maybe in his normal form, maybe in his transformed form.
So yeah, safe to say this timeskip benefited Asta quite well (he's like Thor/Kratos/Jedi now lol). I'm curious to see how he fights with the other swords, as well as his black form. Hype!
As for the rest of the chapter, bunch of curious stuff there too. Spade having control of the Diamond Kingdom now makes sense and puts us in an interesting place, with the Heart assault squad planning to invade the Spade while Spade is getting close to a place where they can invade both Clover and Heart, potentially involving known characters beyond the 12 chosen from Clover.
The vehicle fortress Candelo seems way more advanced than anything seen in the series up to this point, suggesting Spade's military superiority goes beyond just strong mages. I wonder if the one we see is the only one or if there are multiple. Cause presumably, Asta is taking this one down since the chapter ends with him declaring a battle with all of them.
I'm also curious about whether the way low-ranking citizens were used to power the fortress indicates that in the Spade, those citizens are generally exploited for military power, in contrast to Diamond seemingly using them for experiments and Clover for hard labor. Would fit the fact that "military focus" is basically all that was known about them but gotta wait and see.
Last Spade thing is that the Spade symbol on that enemy's grimoire, as well as the Spade symbol on the map, look very simple, which further lends credence to the idea that the guy we saw in Diamond is the "Ace of Spades", given his symbol looked special. Maybe their "4-Leaf" equivalent or just a special symbol for their strongest.
Finally, the end with that guy saying "Master Yuno" is very curious. I wonder where he came from and why he's looking for Yuno. Both this chapter and the previous one end in Hage Village and last time it was Yuno who was there so those things might be tied. Or maybe it's time to learn about Yuno's origins and this guy is tied to whoever brought Yuno to the church.
Looking forward to the next one. Hoping to see the new designs for more characters but if not, whatever I'll try to be patient lol
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Btw, random neat thing about the series, so far you could say that the story of Black Clover kinda happens in chunks of 6 months. The timeline we've had since Ch. 1 is basically:
Prologue: Yuno and Asta receive their grimoires.
Then 6 months of training until Magic Knight Exam.
Part 1: Asta and Yuno enter MK squads. 6 months later, they are named best rookies at the Star Festival. One week later, the Royal Knights Selection happens. A few days after that, the raid on the Midnight Sun hideout begins and the Elf Resurrection happens that same night. In the aftermath, Asta gets exiled, Bulls have to learn about devils/curses, alliance with Heart happens. Overall, this takes place across 6.5 months, maybe 7 depending on how long the post-resurrection stuff was.
Then 6 Months of training in the Heart Kingdom.
Part 2: Present, Spade Invasion.
With Loropechika saying she had a year left to live if the curse wasn't broken and 6 months were dedicated to training for the coming invasion, she now has 6 months left to live as things are now. And I feel that makes it likely that'll be the time frame within which this Spade part happens, with her condition basically being the deadline for defeating Megicula.
If it does end up working out that way then the roughly similar chunks of time for story progress would be interesting. Seems to play into the idea of the author wanting this to last a while, as these 6 month chunks justify big things happening while not making time progress so quickly that the cast ages too fast. Does make me wonder if we'll see a bigger timeskip eventually or a story part that lasts longer than that. Hell who knows, maybe this Spade thing goes on for longer than 6 months and Loro dies partway through (hopefully not).