Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King (Japanese: ブラッククローバー 魔法帝の剣, Hepburn: Burakku Kurōbā: Mahōtei no Ken) is a Japanese animatedfantasyaction film directed by Ayataka Tanemura and produced by Pierrot. Based on the shōnenmanga series Black Clover by Yūki Tabata, the film was released in Japanese theaters by Shochiku on June 16, 2023. It received an international streaming release on Netflix the same day.
Plot
Asta, a boy born with no magic in a world where magic is everything, and his rival Yuno, a genius mage chosen by the legendary 4-leaf Grimoire, have together fought a number of powerful enemies to prove their power beyond adversity and aim for the top mage "Wizard King".
Conrad Leto, the former predecessor of Julius Novachrono, once commanded the respect of the people in the Clover Kingdom. However, he unexpectedly turned against the kingdom and was subsequently sealed away by Julius himself. Now, Conrad has resurfaced and he wields the "Imperial Sword" and seeks to destroy the Clover Kingdom and bring forth a new era where equality prevails by destroying all and reviving only those whom he considers deserving of a place in his envisioned society.
He uses the power of the sword to revive three wizard kings of the past: Edward Avalaché, Princia Funnybunny, and Jester Garandaros, who share the same vision as him, in order to achieve his goal.
An anime film adaptation of Black Clover was announced in Weekly Shōnen Jump in March 2021.[7] On March 13, 2022, in the 15th Issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump, it was announced that the anime film will open in 2023 with Yūki Tabata serving as the chief supervisor and original character designer.[8] In October 2022, it was announced that the film would feature a returning staff and cast from the television series, with Ayataka Tanemura directing, Pierrot producing the animation, Johnny Onda and Ai Orii writing the scripts, and Itsuko Takeda designing the characters. The film was initially set to be released simultaneously in Japanese theaters by Shochiku and digitally on Netflix internationally on March 31, 2023, but was later postponed to June 16 of the same year due to the COVID-19 pandemic affecting its production.[9][1][10][11]
On April 29, the movie's official twitter account announced that the production for the film has been completed.[12]
Music
In October 2022, it was revealed that Minako Seki would be composing the music for the anime film.[1] On December 17, 2022, at Shueisha's Jump Festa '23 event, a new trailer for the film was streamed on Shonen Jump's YouTube Channels with an English subtitled version being streamed on Netflix's YouTube channel. The short trailer revealed and previewed the theme song for the upcoming movie "Here I Stand" by Treasure.[2]
Reception
A single album including the theme song for the movie "Here I Stand" as well as the Ballad version of the 13th Ending OST for the TV anime, "Beautiful"; titled "Here I stand" was released on 29 March 2023. On its debut week the single album, ranked 2nd on Oricon's weekly single chart and sold 235,347 copies on its debut week[13] generating ¥464.4 million (approx. US$3.51 million).[14]
In March 2021, a key visual featuring Asta was released through the official Twitter account, with further details to be revealed at later date.[7] In December 2021, at Shueisha's Jump Festa '22 event, a New Key visual for the anime film was released, this time featuring Yuno.[16] In March 2022, short 30-second promotional video for the anime film was streamed on Jump Comic's official YouTube Channel.[8]
Novelization
On April 10, 2023, two novelizations of the series were announced.[17]
Reception
The film was released on Netflix on June 16th; from June 16 to June 18th the film gained 6.4 million views and was 2nd most watched Non-English movie on the platform that week[18] from June 19th to 25th the film gained another 4.1 million views and was 3rd most watched Non-English movie on the platform that week;[19] from June 26th to July 2nd the film gained yet another 1.2 million views and was 8th most watched Non-English movie on the platform that week.[20]
According to Netflix engagement report, "What we watched", the film was watched for a total of 21.5 million hours from January 2023 to June 2023,[21] 10.5 million hours from July 2023 to December 2023,[22] and another 8.6 million hours from January 2024 to June 2024.[23]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received an 86% critic rating based on seven reviews with an average score of 5.8/10.[24]
^映画『ブラッククローバー 魔法帝の剣』公開延期に関しまして. Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King (in Japanese). February 17, 2023. Archived from the original on March 31, 2023. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
