One of the most consistently praised aspects of author and illustrator Yuki Tabata’s Black Clover anime and manga series is the quality of its fights. For the most part, the series brings innovative new approaches to magic-based combat, especially when the spotlight is on Black Clover’s protagonist, Asta.
While a majority of the series’ fights are incredibly enjoyable, there are a few that stand out as major disappointments. Simultaneously, there are a significant number of Black Clover’s fights which are considered criminally underrated by fans.
Here are 5 Black Clover fights that were underrated, and 5 more that were major let downs.
Yuno vs. Catherine, 4 other underrated Black Clover fights
1) Asta vs. Mars
Easily one of the most underrated fights in all of Black Clover is Asta versus Mars in the series’ first major arc. The fight sees the series’ protagonist finally discover what it means to be a Magic Knight, as well as begin to understand exactly what his abilities are and how powerful they allow him to be.
Additionally, Mars has become a recurring character and a fairly important one for the first major leg of the series. His story even becomes intertwined with that of some Eye of the Midnight Sun members, helping to bridge the gap to their introduction and emphasizing just how impactful their evil ways can be.
2) Asta vs. Revchi
As the first fight overall in the series, Asta versus Revchi is definitely one of the more underrated bouts in Black Clover. It serves as a fantastic introduction to the series’ protagonist and who he is, as well as demonstrating how he’s much more powerful than others deem him to be.
The image of a devilish shadow behind him upon summoning his Grimoire is also a great clue of things to come, foreshadowing essentially every major plot point in the series. Overall, it’s definitely one of the more underrated conflicts in the series.
3) Yuno vs. Catherine
Many people often write off the Yuno versus Catherine fight because of how quick it is, failing to see the beauty in the animation and choreography of this quick skirmish. Additionally, it introduces viewers to one of the funniest long-running gags in Black Clover, that being Charmy Pappitson’s obsession with Yuno.
The fight also sees Yuno use his Spirit Magic for the first time, and it’s also the first time any sort of Spirit Magic is used in the series. If anything, the quickness with which the fight ends once Yuno elects to call on his Spirit Magic emphasizes just how powerful the technique can be.
4) Magna and Luck vs. Vetto
Many Black Clover fans often forget about this fight since it’s overshadowed by Asta, Vanessa, and Finral's fight against Vetto. However, it’s undoubtedly a great fight to watch, and perfectly sets up how overpoweringly strong Vetto is before letting the star of the show take a crack at him.
Despite the two’s eventual loss, they go out in style with an amazing combination spell that remains one of the most visually appealing in the series. Without a doubt, it’s an incredibly underrated fight which is often unjustly pushed to the side.
5) Vanessa Enoteca vs. Witch Queen
Vanessa Enoteca versus the Witch Queen is one of Black Clover’s most underrated fights for a variety of reasons. One stems from how intertwined the fight is with her backstory, which is fully revealed and fleshed out over the course of the arc. Another comes from the powerup she receives here, which becomes incredibly impactful in the series’ immediate future.
Furthermore, it sees Black Clover make the rare choice of giving a Black Bull that isn’t Asta or Noelle the spotlight, which ends up working with tremendous results. Despite being incredibly quick with no real victory or loss achieved, it remains one of the more underrated skirmishes in the series.
Captains vs. Lucifero, 4 other disappointing Black Clover fights
1) Yami vs. Vetto
While being eye-candy for viewers, the major disappointment in the Yami versus Vetto fight is how quick it is. Like many of Black Clover’s later bouts, things simply resolved too quickly when just drawing the fight out a little bit could’ve made it that much more memorable and exciting.
This is exactly the pitfall Yami versus Vetto finds itself in, and it most definitely could’ve been an amazing fight if the conflict had drawn out a tad bit more. However, this sadly wasn’t the case, making it one of the more disappointing fights in the series.
2) Asta and Yuno vs. Elf
Considering that this fight marked Asta and Yuno’s triumphant return to Hage after becoming skilled Magic Knights in their own right, this fight certainly could’ve had more grandeur. It instead essentially becomes the two playing defense until a window opens up for attack, making for a very static and visually unappealing fight.
While there obviously wasn’t a point in spending several chapters on this fight, it certainly deserved more than just a few pages worth of panels. Black Clover’s anime actually made this fight even more disappointing, further highlighting how stagnant it was for a vast majority of the bout.
3) Captains vs. Lucifero
With the hindsight of knowing that Lucius Zogratis was orchestrating the outcome of the Magic Knights’ battle against Lucifero, the Captains versus the devil fight was very disappointing. For those who are supposedly some of the strongest fighters the Clover Kingdom has to offer, it’s certainly a disappointing demonstration of their capabilities.
While some argue that Lucifero was simply too powerful for humans to handle, this is clearly not the case with Yami, Nacht, and Yuno all contributing to the fight after the Captains lose. Even if Asta was the winning condition for this Black Clover bout, it’s disappointing to see that the Captains essentially toyed with their attempts to defeat Lucifero.
4) Asta vs. Rades
One of the main disappointments of the Asta versus Rades fight being so short and eventually interrupted is that it robbed fans of a chance to see their protagonist in a great matchup. Asta’s various techniques excel at area-of-effect attacks, making him a perfect counter to Rades’ vast, magically manipulated zombie corpses.
At the very least, it would’ve been an opportunity to show that Asta’s techniques are very adaptable and able to succeed in a variety of situations. Instead, it became the Fuegoleon show as the Captain steps in, takes over, and brings home the victory. Without a doubt, it’s one of Black Clover’s biggest let downs when it comes to fights.
5) Luck Voltia vs. Svenkin Gatard
Finally, one of the more recent disappointing Black Clover fights is easily Luck Voltia versus Svenkin Gatard. For a fight meant to demonstrate exactly how much stronger the Black Bull has become, it excels. However, in every other regard as a fight, it’s a complete and utter failure.
Svenkin is given almost no introduction, with fans essentially being told how powerful he is rather than it being shown. Furthermore, for someone who’s supposed to be as strong as the series professes him to be, he goes down incredibly quickly to a singular spell. While the fight does achieve its number one goal, it’s disappointing in every other aspect.