The end of the Black Clover manga may be on the horizon based on recent reports. It is rumored that a long hiatus from Black Clover is being planned before work begins on the final arc and final chapter of Black Clover.
According to the Shonen Jump News – Unofficial Twitter account, manga creator Yuki Tabata will begin the Black Clover hiatus with Weekly Shonen Jump Issue 23, 2022, which will be out May 9, 2022. The publishing hiatus will last three months until August 2022.
The reason is that Tabata will reportedly be preparing for the “Final Arc/Chapter” of the entire manga series. It is possible that Tabata takes the time to map out the rest of the story and ensure its quality. It’s also possible that he’s just taking a much-needed break due to his long-term health issues.
While Black Clover’s climax hasn’t been announced yet, there are several good reasons to believe it’s being planned, which could also affect plans for the anime TV show Black Clover Season 5.
Black Clover 331 plot twist shakes the world in time
In Japanese stories, there is a four-company structure known as Kishōtenketsu.
- Ki: Introduction
- Shō: Development
- Ten: Twist (complication)
- Ketsu : Conclusion (reconciliation)
During the Twist phase, the story takes an unexpected turn and contains the yama, or climax, of the story.
Without getting into major spoilers, Black Clover Chapter 331 featured a major plot twist regarding the 4th Zogratis brother that has been announced for years. Manga readers finally learned the identity of the time devil, which could be the biggest complication in the Twist phase.
This revelation has led fans of the manga… look back at scenes from the earlier storylines with fresh eyes† There were hints and the clock fan theory caused some to guess exactly what was going on in 2021.
Even the black clover anime may have contained itself subtle hints about the identity of the 4th Zo Gratis sibling in the OP 2 video. (Don’t click on the links unless you want to be spoiled about Lucius Zogratis.)
Yuki Tabata’s health issues are another reason to end the Black Clover manga
The second reason that the end of the Black Clover manga should be scheduled in the coming years is that Yuki Tabata’s health is deteriorating. This is a common problem among weekly manga creators and Tabata is no exception.
In 2020, some of Tabata’s comments indicated that he was suffering from mental space issues and may be feeling burnt out. Earlier, Tabata had mentioned that for some reason he kept passing out. As a result, he couldn’t draw the usual number of manga pages, so he apologized to readers for the shorter chapters, but empathetic fans responded by suggesting that he take a break from work for his health.
Worse, Tabata reportedly skipped doctor’s appointments in 2021, only making his illness worse. In late 2021, Tabata took health breaks and put the Black Clover manga on hiatus for a few weeks in a row.
Tabata is also a family man. Three years ago, Tabata revealed that his wife was pregnant with their first child and gave birth in July 2019. Having a baby in the household is stressful for anyone, let alone a manga artist.
In May 2022, Tabata revealed that his father-in-law had passed away. Tabata publicly stated that he was grateful to this family member for the support during his work on Black Clover.
Needless to say, these are all good reasons why Tabata needs a 3 month Black Clover break before ending the story. No doubt he should take a long vacation from work when it’s all over.
Will the final chapter of Black Clover be released in 2024?
Now that the battle in the kingdom of spades has come to an end and the greatest plot twist in Weekly Shonen Jump’s modern history has been revealed, it seems like the perfect time to wind down the series. But the end of the Black Clover manga doesn’t necessarily have to be around the corner.
Keep in mind that Black Clover’s final arc can be quite long and can last for years. The Spade Kingdom Raid arc already has over 70 chapters and the Elf Reincarnation arc has 82 chapters.
It’s unlikely Tabata will pull a Tite Kubo and make a Black Clover Final Arc as long as the hundreds of chapters in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War. But let’s assume that Black Clover’s final storyline is the longest in the series, ending sometime around Black Clover Chapter 430.
Taking health breaks into account, it takes Tabata over two years to reach the final chapter of Black Clover. Even if the last arc is shorter than predicted, it means that the end of the Black Clover manga will be released in 2024.
Black Clover Season 5 could be the end of the anime?
While manga fans look forward to the ending, anime fans are still waiting for the release date of Black Clover season 5, let alone the 2023 Black Clover movie. The story of Black Clover Episode 171 picks up the story again in manga Chapter 273: Day of Destiny.
The pace of the anime adaptation is on average about three to five manga chapters adjusted per episode. Assuming the end of the manga falls within 100 chapters of Black Clover 331, that’s only enough source material for about 40 episodes in total.
Studio Pierrot has mostly released the anime courses back-to-back with no major broadcast interruptions, and each numbered consisted of a year’s worth of episodes. The longest, season 3, had 52 episodes, while the shortest, season 4, had only 16 episodes, despite the introduction of original anime stories (filler episodes).
Therefore, it seems reasonable to predict that Season 5 of Black Clover will end the anime TV series. Assuming the final anime season premieres after the movie in 2023, it would be perfectly timed to coincide with the final chapter of the Black Clover manga.
Let’s hope the Black Clover manga ending exceeds our expectations. Stay tuned!
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