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The release of Black Clover chapter 359’s spoilers and raw scans earlier this week marked the unofficial return of Yuki Tabata’s manga series from a one-month hiatus. While fans are excitedly diving into these leaks, they should take them with a grain of salt until the issue’s official release on Monday, May 22, 2023, at 12:00 am JST. However, given how accurate such leaks and their sources have been in the past, readers can likely count on them to be proven accurate.
Black Clover chapter 359 shifts perspectives back to the Silva family’s battle, where Noelle reveals her new spirit companion and form. While exciting, some fans have expressed shock and even disdain at this sudden shift in perspective compared to where the series left off before its hiatus.
With chapter 358’s final panels suggesting a looming focus on Mereoleona Vermillion’s struggles against Moris Libardirt, many are looking for answers as to why Black Clover chapter 359 has seemingly moved away from the fight.
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Black Clover chapter 359: Why Tabata might have chosen to forego a focus on Mereoleona
Brief spoiler recap
Black Clover chapter 359 begins by shifting to the Silva family, where Acier commends Nozel’s strength and shames the weakness of Nebra and Solid, which she claims was avoidable.
Acier also apologizes to her family for dying but happily says they can get a second chance in Lucius’ new world. Noelle then arrives, saying the woman might be Acier but isn’t their mother, so they need to defeat her together.
Nozel confirms that Noelle has lost Undine as she remembers feeling depressed when Asta went missing. This starts a flashback that sees Kahono approach her, asking Noelle for help taming the dragon-like “Sea God” that has been worshiped since ancient times. Once the two meet, it chooses Noelle as its host for a spirit-like form due to her excellent skills as a water mage.
The two then contract, allowing the Sea God to take on said spirit-like form, which Noelle calls Leviathan. Noelle uses her new transformation Valkyrie Dress: Dragon Form, saying she’ll surpass Acier right there. Acier expresses joyful pride in Noelle's current strength as Black Clover chapter 359 concludes.
Why Tabata may have moved away from Mereoleona
While the issue is far from a bad one based on the aforementioned leaks, it’s most certainly a surprising turn of events. With the series’ most recent hiatus beginning after a direct focus on Mereoleona Vermillion, fans were expecting her to continue having her time in the spotlight.
With this seemingly not being the case (pending Black Clover chapter 359’s official release), fans are curious as to why Tabata may have made this perspective-shifting choice.
One possible explanation, and seemingly the most likely one, is that Tabata wanted to make the splashiest return from hiatus.
In this way, he’s certainly succeeded, with Noelle’s powerup and flashback adding tons of lore and possibilities to the series (albeit during the final arc, but being nonetheless added). The confrontation between Acier and her children is also set to be a favorite among fans, which makes for an even splashier return from hiatus.
It could also be that Tabata wants to offscreen a portion of Mereoleona’s fight against Moris, returning beyond Black Clover chapter 359 to show her in serious trouble. With this being the tone of the fight so far, such an approach certainly makes sense and also creates more emotional distress for the reader regarding Mereoleona’s safety.
Such an approach may also be influenced by the fact that Acier is established as one of the strongest fighters in the series’ history overall. By showing Acier’s strength as a Paladin first, Tabata could be setting Mereoleona up to reach even greater heights than her former teacher ever did.
However, this is all speculative, with no commentary on the decision from Tabata available for now. That being said, fans will likely eventually see the method to his madness once several additional chapters are released. In any case, most readers are far from displeased with the series’ return, with a majority simply questioning this choice rather than critiquing it.
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 2023 progresses.
