Black Clover chapter 342: Release date and time, what to expect, and more

Black Clover chapter 342 is set to be released on Monday, October 31, 2022, at 12 AM JST. The highly-anticipated return of author and illustrator Yuki Tabata’s smash-hit series is just days away. While fans are still about a week away from the issue's official release, spoilers should be released sometime in the week preceding the official release date.

Unfortunately, no such spoiler information for Black Clover chapter 342 is available as of this article’s writing. However, thanks to countdowns on various platforms where the issue will be made available to read upon release, fans at least have concrete information about the issue's release.

Follow along as this article fully breaks down all the currently available release information for Black Clover chapter 342, as well as speculates on what fans can expect from the issue.

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Black Clover chapter 342 set to give fans an in-depth Yami backstory from Ichika’s perspective

Release date and time, where to read

Black Clover chapter 342 is set to be released on Sunday, October 30, 2022, for most international readers, with the exact release time varying by region and time zone. On the other hand, the issue will be made available to domestic Japanese and select international readers in the extremely early morning hours of Monday, October 31, 2022.

Fans can read the issue on either Viz Media’s official website, Shueisha’s MANGAPlus service, or Shueisha’s Shonen Jump+ app. The former two are free services that grant readers access to the first and final three issues of a series, while the lattermost is a paid, subscription-based service that allows fans to read a series in its entirety.

The issue is set to be released at the following times for the corresponding time zones:

• Pacific Daylight Time: 8AM, Sunday, October 30
• Eastern Daylight Time: 11AM, Sunday, October 30
• British Daylight Time: 4PM, Sunday, October 30
• Central European Summer Time: 5PM, Sunday, October 30
• Indian Standard Time: 8:30PM, Sunday, October 30
• Philippine Standard Time: 11PM, Sunday, October 30
• Japanese Standard Time: 12AM, Monday, October 31
• Australia Central Daylight Time: 12:30AM, Monday, October 31

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What to expect (speculative)

Based on how the most recent issue of the series ended, fans can likely expect Black Clover chapter 342 to focus entirely on Yami Sukehiro’s detailed backstory and origin. This will likely be told to readers from the perspective of his younger sister, Yami Ichika, who alleged in the last issue that Sukehiro killed his entire clan before fleeing the Hino Country.

Easily the biggest question about Black Clover chapter 342 in this context is exactly how it will show Yami massacring his entire clan. It’s possible that Yami could’ve done so indirectly, by offending the wrong person or people or accidentally leading bandits or other ruffians to his clan’s village.

What would be truly shocking is if Yuki Tabata showed Yami Sukehiro actually killing the members of his clan for whatever reason. Unfortunately, with so many unknowns about Yami’s past, it’s hard to predict exactly what the reason would be for his killing them. There are countless options, and none have a clear advantage over the others in terms of supporting evidence.

As a result, fans will likely be waiting until the official release of Black Clover chapter 342 to find out for sure what Yami did to his clan and why, and if there was any intent behind such actions. Hopefully, spoiler information set to be released later in the week will address this first and foremost.

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Be sure to keep up with all Black Clover manga and film news, as well as general anime, manga, film, and live-action news as 2022 progresses.