Moon Magic is a powerful and mysterious form of magic in the world of Black Clover. In this anime and manga series, the moon holds a significant influence over various characters and their abilities. The moon's energy and phases play a crucial role in unlocking the full potential of a person's magical abilities. In Black Clover, mana is the source of all magical power. Every individual possesses a varying amount of mana, which enables them to use magic. However, moonlight has the ability to enhance and amplify one's magic, making it more potent and effective.
I was biased since I read "Star Magic".
If one were to search about the devils of the Qliphoth in mythology you would find that, with the exception of Megicula, all the names of the other devils coincide with those present through the story. Opening 2 of the anime features a montage of him, Gueldre who betrayed the kingdom for money , and Vangeance who kept secret that he hosted Patry s soul with black backgrounds, in contrast to the other captains who didn t betray the kingdom whose backgrounds are white.
However, moonlight has the ability to enhance and amplify one's magic, making it more potent and effective. This concept is known as Moon Magic. Moon Magic is not limited to a specific type of magic but instead affects all forms of magic differently.
Foreshadowing / Black Clover
Yūki Tabata is particularly fond of foreshadowing in Black Clover, hinting at most major events and characters, sometimes even hundreds of chapters in advance.
WARNING: This page is meant to describe events as they related to much later, very significant ones. Thus this page will have no spoiler marks at all. You Have Been Warned.
- In Chapter 70, Vanessa, seeing Asta fighting Vetto, is glad to have left her home and become a Black Bull, noting that the thread of fate is something reeled in yourself. In Chapter 99, it's revealed that she was imprisoned by the Witch Queen for her potential to control destiny. Motivated to save her friends, she manifests the Red Thread of Fate, a spell that makes destiny favor the Black Bulls.
- In Chapter 110 Yami wonders how Mereoleona is able to maneuver mid-air to attack Asta. Chapter 138 reveals it to be Mana Zone, an ability to harness the floating mana in the surrounding area and control the territory at will.
- Chapter 2 shows the silhouettes of different Black Bulls. Mostly they're all revealed shortly after when Asta joins the squad, but there is a notably messy, long-haired member who is not introduced with them. Chapter 5 also has Asta notice that the hideout's interior changed. Come Chapter 140 and the reveal of Henry and his Recombination Magic.
- Yami mentions to Asta during his initial encounters with the Black Bulls that some of their members are off on missions. Zora happens to be one of them who comes into play later. When Asta questions Zora whether he had set traps all around the stage when seeing the latter being uneasy when the stage changes during the battle tournament, Zora concludes Asta can sense ki, a term that someone close to Yami would know. And during the introduction to the Black Bulls in Episode 4, his silhouette can be seen during their group shot.
- Gauche guesses that because Grey can transform other objects, her magic isn't actually the same as what is commonly known as Transformation Magic, and that if she experimented with it, she would figure out what the true purpose actually is. Many chapters later, Grey reveals that it actually lets her alter magic itself, transforming is only one aspect of it. In Chapter 261 Owen notes that Grey reassembling Gauche's very tissue by transforming the giant sword he was run through with may make the true nature of her magic not transformation. Chapter 312 has Owen give a proper name for Grey's magic that changes structure itself — Transmutation Magic.
- Chapter 2 has William Vangeance take note of Asta's five leaf grimoire. Human Fana says that she felt as if someone (elf Fana) had entered her body. Chapter 143 reveals that Vangeance is friends with Patry and the host of his soul. Asta's grimoire originally belonged to Licht, whom Patry was closely acquainted with before the elf genocide.
- The seventh opening has a sequence showing Mimosa cut apart from the rest of the Golden Dawn squad by a spotlight. She is later revealed to be the only member of the squad who wasn't subjected to the elves' Reincarnation Magic.
- In Chapter 51, after being defeated by Gauche's Mirror Magic, the leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun says, "I couldn't bring myself to hurt you." It's not until almost a hundred chapters later, in Chapter 149, that we find out the significance of this line: Gauche is one of the Magic Knights hosting an elf soul.
- In Chapter 127, Finral notes that Langris' mana reminds him of Vetto and Fana's. Come Chapter 172, Langris is shown to be a reincarnated elf just like them.
- In Chapter 66, an Eye of the Midnight Sun member senses a beast in Charmy's magic. Previously, when she fought Catherine, Charmy's giant sheep inhaled her Ash Magic. She is also quite short even when not in chibi mode, and also physically grows taller whenever she gets serious, which is noted by other characters and not just a visual gag. On top of this, it's established early on that no commoner should have anything close to Charmy's magical power (which is consistent with the other commoner Black Bulls, despite how skilled they are). In Chapter 194, she's revealed to have Food Magic, with her giant sheep actually being a hungry wolf that eats magic, and her unnatural power is revealed to come from her dwarf heritage.
- Concerning the Word Devil:
- When Vetto opens his Evil Eye, he unleashes eerie magic that Yami describes as abominable. He also murmurs undecipherable runes. The reincarnated elves are afflicted with malice as a side effect of the Forbidden Magic, hinting at its sinister origins, and later on Ronne, when possessed by Zagred, murmurs similar runes as Vetto did.
- Chapter 148 shows that Lumiere has incredibly rare light magic and hoped that humans and elves could understand each other and live in harmony, with no proof or signs of any sort of looming treachery on his end. However, the elves were killed anyway by Light Magic believed to have been his. It's revealed in Chapter 196 that it wasn't Lumiere who was the mastermind of the massacre but Zagred, who lied to the royals and killed the elves using his Word Soul Magic to form light. Zagred also reincarnated the elves' souls with Forbidden Magic instead of Licht contrary to what Patry remembers.
- When Mimosa first runs into Baval, he's surprisingly non-confrontational. Before the Apostles of Sephira strike, he only uses dice magic once before flying into the Shadow Palace. In the Shadow Palace, when Mimosa finds the unconscious body of David, who was taken over by Baval, she notes that there are faint traces of magic floating around that belong to neither humans nor elves. An author's note reveals that Zagred was already possessing and impersonating Baval since Mimosa first meets him.
- In Chapter 159, it's stated that the soul of the elf in Digit Taliss's body is angrily rampaging, with blotches of his skin darkening. Chapter 163 has the elf in Luck's body described as having something ominous swelling up in his magic and about to change into something evil as he's consumed by anger. In Chapter 198, Zagred revealing the truth of the elf massacre causes Patry to fall into despair, transforming him into a rampaging dark elf.
- Julius can transform into an old woman despite having time magic, with only devil hosts, hybrids, and experimented mages able to have two different magic attributes. Lucius Zogratis is the host of the time devil Astaroth, and transforms from the blond child form of Julius into an adult with black hair and a devil host marking.
- The Dark Triad each have an innate magical power that involves part of their body. Dante can regenerate from otherwise fatal wounds with his body magic, Vanica can manipulate blood through blood magic, and Zenon can transform his bones into massive spikes through bone magic. Julius can shapeshift, a power that alters his body by definition. If this is not enough, then his Lucius alter-ego also has soul magic, which can transform the components of someone's soul. Fitting with Lucius's plan to completely remake humanity, the Zogratis sibling's magic turns out to be based on the key components of a human; blood, body, bone and soul.
- Julius's mercilessness against the Eye of the Midnight Sun mages when he confronts them makes a lot more sense when he's revealed to be seeking Vangeance (who contains the soul of its leader, Patry) for the Qliphoth Tree Ritual. In the other hand, he's also willing to keep him alive and in charge even if he got killed and committed treason. It's not a mere act of kindness, it's part of a plan to make sure Megicula, Lucifero and Beelzebub gets drawn out through the Dark Triad.
- Chapter 36 features Julius in the color page and is titled "Light". "Lucius" is Latin for light.
- Opening 2 of the anime features a montage of him, Gueldre (who betrayed the kingdom for money), and Vangeance (who kept secret that he hosted Patry's soul) with black backgrounds, in contrast to the other captains who didn't betray the kingdom whose backgrounds are white.
- When Vangeance recounts how Julius recruited him into the magic knights, he states that "He didn't care about my appearance. All he saw was my power." Lucius sought out Yami and Vangeance, the only mages whose magics could create the Tree of Qliphoth for his plan, as Julius.
- In Chapter 128, Julius has a discussion with Marx about unconscious betrayal, using the Royal Knights Examination to find an unwitting traitor within the magic knights. Chapter 331 reveals that he was an unconscious traitor all along.
- While fighting Julius, Patry questions why he's so strong despite being only a human. Julius's, aka Lucius's, strength comes from being the devil host of Astaroth, the devil of time and one of the underworld's three rulers.
- Julius in Chapter 215 mentions that he has an instinct about unique magics "developed over long years from traveling in disguise" when excitedly asking Nero what her magic is, the double meaning being that Lucius spent many years in a different country as the persona Julius Novachrono.
- From Chapter 274 to Chapter 331, the Spade Kingdom clock tower is consistently present in the background of scenes, with following chapters showing clock times that'd be impossible with the plot progression. Chapter 331 is titled as "And Time Starts to Move" with the clock ticking to 7:29 and the reveal of Lucius and that his plan was successful, heavily implying that he has been manipulating time the entirety of the raid to obtain the outcome he wanted. Julius also supposedly doesn't have enough mana or time stored to affect the time flow of an entire continent, but he does because his power doesn't come from "stealing time", it comes from a devil bound to Lucius.
- In the fight between Vanica and Noelle, the latter's Saint Valkyrie Armor lasts long enough to defeat Vanica despite she supposedly had a minute to use it. The same thing happens to Rill's Twilight of Valhalla against Megicula (lasts for "a few minutes") and Asta's True Devil Union against Lucifero (that had 5 seconds left while Lucifero is still standing in one piece), despite they shouldn't be able to defeat the devils in time. It's another implication that he's been manipulating time to get his desired outcome. Lucius also wanted at least Lucifero dead, and Megicula replaced his host demon Astaroth as one of Qliphoth's supreme devils.
- When Julius tries to go back to his adult form temporarily to save the kingdom from the giant Spade demon in Chapter 281, he's out of time very quickly to his shock. In Chapter 311, Julius feels something isn't right, stating something enormous is about to emerge. He continues to feel this unease despite Lucifero's defeat, with it then revealed in Chapter 331 to be because of Lucius, who cut his time in his adult form short.
- In Zenon's first flashback, there's a mystery man in a wheelchair that isn't Dante who refers himself as the eldest Zogratis sibling to young Zenon. We do not see his face, but he does have a rather familiar square jawline and short, unkempt hair, just like Julius but with dark hair instead of gold. It's not a coincidence.
- If one were to search about the devils of the Qliphoth in mythology you would find that, with the exception of Megicula, all the names of the other devils coincide with those present through the story. This, coupled with Nacht's flashback mentioning the three rulers of the underworld, one of whom is the devil of time, and Julius using Time Magic it was clear that something was very wrong and didn't add up. Julius is the host of the time devil Astaroth, who left the underworld over 20 years ago, and Megicula is Astaroth's successor in the Qliphoth.
- Take a close look at Ichika and Ryuya when they see Yami on the beach. Ichika is completely unharmed and looks less like she's in pain and more like she's waking up from a bad stupor. Meanwhile, Ryuya was already injured and bleeding by the time he and Ichika arrived at Yami's location. It's Ichika's memories of the event, but this means Ichika committed the slaughter when drugged.
- Ichika states that, after the age of wars ended, the Yami Clan became protectors of the island region known as Goshu. Then we see her father, who was shown to be a belligerent, peace-hating Blood Knight who despised the fact that their people were reduced to being the guardians of a remote chunk of land, and actively desired battle again. If anyone wanted war and bloodshed, it was him. It would make sense for him to have either one of his children drugged to induce mass bloodshed regardless of cost.
- Ichika has a moon motif, much like her brother does - the crescent moon, to be precise. Her Dark Cloaked Black Warrior gives off a black aura that takes the shape of a small crescent moon, and one of her sword attacks is even named "Black Crescent Moon". On the night the Yami Clan massacre took place, a crescent moon can be seen in the sky.
- Chapter 341, where Ichika begins to tell Asta her backstory, is titled "Hazy". "Hazy" refers to something that is vague, uncertain and unclear - just like Ichika's memories of what really happened that night.
- Every time an atrocity involving mass death and destruction has occurred, it's always shown to be the result of someone whose actions were unconsciously/unwillingly carried out on their end. For the elf village and Clover Kingdom, it was Zagred possessing a Clover Kingdom minister and corrupting the Elves into thinking the royals did it, and for the Spade Kingdom, it was a Batman Gambit Lucius conducted through possessing Julius. While there's no one being possessed this time around, Ichika's actions are still not her own and Yami is definitely not the one responsible for the massacre.
In mangas when someone has Star/Gravity-related powers I'm lost already and need more of them xD.
Some characters may possess moon-based magic attributes, such as spatial magic, which allows them to manipulate space and teleport. Other characters can tap into the moon's power to enhance their existing magic or cast unique spells. Furthermore, the phases of the moon also have a significant impact on Moon Magic. Each phase of the moon, namely the New Moon, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter, and Waning Crescent, has different effects on magic. The Full Moon phase is considered the most powerful, as it amplifies magic to its highest potential. The Black Clover series showcases several characters who possess Moon Magic or are deeply connected to the moon. For example, the protagonist, Asta, harnesses the power of his Anti-Magic swords, which were forged using rare materials influenced by the moon. Alongside his Anti-Magic, Asta can tap into the moon's energy during a Full Moon, unlocking incredible strength and speed. Another character, Yami Sukehiro, possesses the dark attribute magic known as Dark Magic. During the Full Moon, Yami gains access to an ultimate spell called "Dimension Slash," which allows him to cut through space itself and deal devastating attacks. Moon Magic is not limited to just a few characters but plays a role throughout the Black Clover universe. It creates a unique and captivating dynamic within the series, allowing for diverse and powerful magical abilities. Overall, Moon Magic is a fascinating aspect of the Black Clover series. It brings an additional layer of complexity and intrigue to the world of magic, influencing characters' powers and abilities. The moon's energy, phases, and impact on magic make Moon Magic an important and exciting element within the Black Clover universe..
Reviews for "Moon Magic and the Art of Spellcasting in Black Clover"
1. Emily - 2 stars - I was really excited to read "Moon Magic Black Clover" because the concept sounded intriguing. However, I was really disappointed with how it turned out. The characters lacked depth and the plot felt really cliché. The writing style was also just average, nothing special. Overall, it felt like a wasted opportunity and I would not recommend it.
2. Michael - 1 star - "Moon Magic Black Clover" was a complete letdown. The world-building was poorly executed and didn't make sense at times. The pacing was incredibly slow and it took forever for anything interesting to happen. The dialogue was also unnatural and the characters were forgettable. I honestly couldn't wait for the book to end and I would not recommend it to anyone.
3. Sarah - 2 stars - I had high hopes for "Moon Magic Black Clover" but it fell flat for me. The magic system wasn't well explained and left me confused throughout the entire book. The romance felt forced and lacked chemistry. The main character was also quite bland and I had a hard time connecting with her. Overall, it was a forgettable read that didn't live up to its potential.
4. David - 2 stars - "Moon Magic Black Clover" had an interesting premise, but it failed to deliver. The plot was predictable and lacked any surprises. The writing was mediocre and didn't captivate my attention. The characters felt one-dimensional and lacked development. I was hoping for a unique and exciting read, but unfortunately, this book fell short. I wouldn't recommend it to others.
The Origins of Moon Magic in Black Clover