Episode 170 of Black Clover aired in March 2021, after which the anime entered an indefinite hiatus. The hiatus has not been liked by many fans, especially due to the manga also changing its schedule to quarterly releases per year. However, it was a crucial decision that prevented the anime from airing countless fillers.
Black Clover‘s hiatus was extremely necessary since the anime was close to catching up with the manga. It was a clever move on the part of Studio Pierrot which has already seen poor responses to Naruto and Boruto fillers. In fact, another major series, One Piece also followed the footsteps of Black Clover.
Why Black Clover Anime’s Hiatus Was Necessary
Season 4 of Black Clover received 16 episodes as opposed to the 50+ episodes in its previous three seasons. Creating a full season was impossible as only 6 months’ worth of chapters was left for the anime to adapt until they ran out of source material. Had the anime continued, the obvious road would have been to create numerous filler episodes.
In the meanwhile, Yuki Tabata also switched Black Clover manga’s release schedule from weekly to quarterly per year (due to his health issues). Thus, it would have been a continuous cycle of fillers. While the decision may have caused a ton of fans to be frustrated, in the long term, it will ultimately benefit the series.
The previous seasons of Black Clover weren’t devoid of fillers either. In fact, the filler episodes generally fetched low ratings, and fans prefer to skip them while watching the series. Thus, rather than creating low-quality episodes and becoming the second Boruto, Studio Pierrot decided to bring back the anime when either the manga was completed or close to completion.
One Piece Followed in the Footsteps of Black Clover
One Piece began airing in October 1999, and for more than two decades, it has been continuously releasing episodes with minimal breaks in between. The longest break was during the Covid 19 pandemic, which continued for 9 weeks. The latest six-month hiatus has broken One Piece’s last record.
Eiichiro Oda’s work ethic requires praise, as the mangaka has been dishing out one fabulous chapter after another for 25 years (with little and well-deserved breaks in between). The One Piece anime is also close to catching up to the manga, which has resulted in poor pacing in the anime. Fans have often complained about its slow-motion scenes, prolonged reactions as well as lengthy monologues. Editing tricks have also lent a hand to the pacing issues, just so that the anime doesn’t catch up to the manga too quickly.
Thus, in order to maintain the exceptional animation quality and keep the Egghead Arc moving at a proper pace that won’t frustrate fans, Toei decided on a 6 months break. This decision will let the manga stay ahead while giving the anime staff some breathing room and preparation time for the next episodes.
Black Clover and One Piece manga are available to read on Viz Media, and the anime is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
