So, you’re diving into the chaotic, loud, and weirdly inspiring world of Asta and his quest to become the Wizard King. Maybe you’ve seen the clips of him screaming his lungs out or heard that the animation goes from "kinda rough" to "literally cinematic" over the course of the show. But now you’re staring at a streaming menu and realizing the math doesn't quite add up across different sites.
How many episodes is Black Clover? If you just want the quick number to see if you can binge it in a weekend (spoiler: you can't), the original run of the anime consists of exactly 170 episodes. But that’s actually a misleading answer in 2026 because the series didn't just stop there. We've got a movie, some weird specials, and finally—after years of fans begging—the official return that has changed the final tally.
The Breakdown: How Many Episodes Is Black Clover Right Now?
To understand the count, you have to look at how Studio Pierrot handled the production. Unlike My Hero Academia or Jujutsu Kaisen, which take breaks between seasons, Black Clover ran weekly for nearly four years straight. This is why the numbering gets confusing.
- The Original Series: 170 episodes. These aired from October 2017 to March 2021.
- The 2026 Continuation: Following the massive announcement at Jump Festa 2026, the anime has officially returned to adapt the Spade Kingdom Raid arc. Depending on when you are reading this in 2026, new episodes are currently dropping.
- The Movie: Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King (2023). It’s not an "episode," but it's 110 minutes of canon-adjacent story that you basically have to watch.
If you see someone online saying there are only 51 episodes, they’re looking at "Season 1" on a platform like Netflix or Hulu. These services often chop the long-running show into chunks to make it look like a standard TV show. In reality, those 170 episodes are one continuous story.
What happened at episode 170?
The show didn't get canceled. It just ran out of road. The anime was catching up to Yuki Tabata’s manga so fast that they were literally running out of chapters to animate. Instead of filling the show with 100 episodes of Asta catching magical fish (the Naruto approach), the studio decided to put the show on hiatus.
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Honestly, it was the best move they could have made. It gave the manga years to get ahead, and it allowed the animation team to rest before tackling the "Spade Kingdom Raid," which is widely considered the peak of the entire series.
Where the Movie Fits Into the Count
You’ve probably seen Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King on Netflix and wondered if it counts as part of the episode total. Technically, no. It’s a standalone film. However, the creator, Yuki Tabata, was heavily involved, and the events take place during the six-month time skip that happens toward the end of the original 170 episodes.
Pro tip for your watch order: Watch episodes 1 through 157, then watch the movie, then finish the rest of the 170. Or just watch the movie after episode 170 if you don't want to break the flow. It features characters and power-ups that don't officially appear until the very end of the series, so watching it too early might spoil some of the "hype" moments.
Why 2026 is the Biggest Year for the Series
For a long time, "how many episodes is Black Clover" was a static question. The answer was 170, and that was it. But 2026 changed the game. With the manga moving to Jump GIGA and nearing its "Super Climax," the anime finally had enough source material to come back.
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The new episodes (often referred to by fans as "Season 5" or "Season 2" depending on which marketing material you read) are being produced with a much higher budget. Studio Pierrot has been busy with Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, and they're applying that same high-tier animation style to the rest of Asta’s journey.
Total Watch Time: Can You Actually Catch Up?
If you’re starting from scratch today, you have a mountain to climb.
170 episodes at roughly 24 minutes each (including those long recaps and the "Clover Clips" at the end) equals about 68 hours of footage. Add the movie, and you're looking at nearly 70 hours of content.
If you watched 3 episodes a day, it would take you about two months to get current.
A Note on Fillers
One of the best things about Black Clover is that it has almost no "true" filler. Most of the episodes that aren't directly in the manga were supervised by Tabata to flesh out the world. Even the "Training Arc" (episodes 130–157) is considered canon because it fills in the blanks of what the characters were doing during the manga's time skip.
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Your Next Steps to Becoming a Magic Knight
If you're ready to start, don't let the 170+ episode count intimidate you. The first 10 episodes can be a bit of a grind because Asta's voice actor was still finding his footing (yes, the screaming gets better, I promise), but once you hit the Underwater Temple arc around episode 40, you’ll be hooked.
Here is exactly how to handle your binge:
- Start with the 170-episode run on Crunchyroll or Netflix.
- Skip the "recap" episodes. Black Clover loves a good recap, especially in the early hundreds. You can usually tell within the first two minutes if it's new content or a clip show.
- Watch the movie after you hit the 170 mark to see the animation peak.
- Check the 2026 release schedule for the new Spade Kingdom episodes that are currently airing.
The series is closer to its end than its beginning, so now is actually the perfect time to get through the backlog before the "Super Climax" hits the screens and spoilers start flooding your social media feed.