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The main antagonist of Sword of the Wizard King, aka Conrad Leto
The main antagonist of Sword of the Wizard King, aka Conrad Leto (Image via Studio Pierrot)

Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King movie review

Stuart RayBy Updated:6 Mins Read Anime

Fans of the new Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King found their long wait worthwhile as the film opened with an overwhelming success on Netflix. Did you know that by the second day, it had rapidly climbed to the top of the list of Netflix’s top 10, making its spot at number 2 of the list?

Well, the success is well-deserved, in our opinion. While the breathtaking spectacle and animation style are definitely aspects to applaud, the storytelling and narration form no slouch either. Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King recreated everything we loved about the story , which was supported with gorgeous, high-quality animation two years after the anime series’ (hopefully temporary) conclusion. 

The K-pop trio Treasure sings the brilliant theme song, Here I Stand, which is composed by Minako Seki. The 113-minute film has both English dub and subtitles and is available in both Japanese and English. To know in-detail about what we think of the movie, read on but be careful of spoilers!

Note: This article will contain spoilers for Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King.

Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard Kingdom revisits the Clover Kingdom in a splendid clash of the past and present

There were several highlights about the story, but the one most worth mentioning is the conflict envisioned. Black Clover did what it does best, highlighting the power of the underdog in splendid, high-stakes action in the final battle between Asta and Conrad Leto. However, the other fights hardly took place backstage to the same.

The penchant for writing strong female characters has led Black Clover to become a worthy magic-themed successor of Fairy Tail. Subverting popular shonen tropes of showing damsels in distress, the film showed Mereolleona and Noelle at their absolute best. Every single fight pays a small homage to the television anime series, whether it was Noelle assuming her original Valkyrie mode using her water magic, or Mereoleona merely flinging hands as she did in her battle with the elves. 

Mereolleona’s match-up was against a former Wizard King, and seeing her take on an all-powerful foe and beating him in battle was a sign of the fire lioness’ combat prowess. In one scene, the former wizard King Conrad Leto practically stole all of Noelle’s magic, rendering her useless for quite some time of the movie. However, her return to battle as strong as ever shows how far she has come and highlights her as a true successor to her mentor Mereolleona.

The idea of fighting in a group and creatively merging powers has been a staple of the series from the beginning. This manifests most in the scene where Yami’s black dimension slash combines with Fuegoleon’s fire magic and Nozel’s mercury magic to deliver a stunning blow to the opponent. 

We could not have asked for a better foil to Asta than the Wizard King Conrad Leto. The movie stays true to the original myth of the narrative, which centres around Asta, who is without magical powers in a magical world. He sets out to engage in combat with Yuno, his longtime foe, with the goal of becoming the Wizard King of the Clover Kingdom.  However, his preparations are derailed when Conrad Leto, the former Wizard King and Julius Novachrono’s predecessor, shows up as one of the ghosts of the past. To take over the Clover Kingdom, he dispatches the three most dreaded Wizard Kings in history: Edward Avalaché, Princia Funnybunny, and Jester Garandaros.

Asta encounters a personal conflict when he first meets Conrad simply because his ideas were upended in an instant. He has many questions after learning that the person he believed to be the realm’s guardian is instead its destroyer, and the authors did a good job of capturing his mixed feelings. He is the excellent and ideal protagonist (hero) for the show, which causes the audience to support him because of his unwavering morals and virtue. 

He is also incredibly relatable because of his perseverance in the face of failure. Contrary to initial perception, Asta and Conrad are extremely similar to each other. Although they hold ideas that are in direct opposition to one another, their motivation and core principles are the same. The story connects them philosophically to show how people can always have the same opinions while yet being true to who they are.

No ordinary magician can match Conrad’s incomprehensible talents. His persistent mental will and tenacity, in addition to his physical might, is what makes him an outstanding villain. Despite the fact that he is completely mistaken, the audience is compelled to feel sympathy for him and share his worldview.

Conrad’s magic isn’t just used during combat; it also advances the plot and, in some cases, even the character development of select characters. Conrad was an insurmountable foe for all but two characters in the film due to his ability to blend various elements of magic while also getting an endless supply of mana and stealing magic talents. 

However, we would hardly blame you if you think that the other antagonists might have been a little underwhelming. Jester faced out against the most formidable Magic Knight Captains and Yuno, but neither his nor Edward’s or Princia’s stories were fully understood by us. After Princia’s battle with Mereoleona, we realised that she struggled with loneliness, but there was barely anything more to it.

These battles would have had far more significance if the film had provided accurate backstories on each of the prior Wizard Kings instead of just presenting a generic world-threatening situation with huge stakes, in my opinion. However, that does not take away from how wonderful and spectacular the film is. Furthermore, there was very little attention provided to the side characters and even members of the Black Bulls beyond Yami, Asta and Noelle. seeing them team up together never gets old, and it is understandable that such a runtime might not accomodate splendid moments for all our beloved characters.

While Black Clover is undoubtedly brilliant for its portrayal of female characters, no one except Mereolleona and Noelle received much attention. We have seen Charmy’s sheep and food magic being a potent force in the past, but that was heavily underutilised in the story. While Charmy herself does play a significant role, such a role does not involve her combat prowess. Similarly, Vanessa, Dorothy, Mimosa and all the other powerful characters barely get a chance to show off their abilities, and even Mimosa’s brilliance as a healer is not focussed upon.

What do you think about our review? Do you agree with it? Do you think there is someone that we might have missed or an important incident that we had glossed over? Let us know down below!

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Stuart loves anime, writing, and writing about anime. Someday, he hopes to illustrate his own manga from his novel!