It has been years. Honestly, if you’re a fan of Asta’s chaotic screaming and the high-octane magic of the Clover Kingdom, the wait for the last episode of Black Clover to actually feel like a finale has been grueling. On March 30, 2021, Episode 170, titled "The Faraway Future," aired. Then? Silence. Well, mostly silence, punctuated by a movie and a whole lot of manga drama.
People were confused. You probably were too. How does a massive shonen hit just... stop? It wasn't canceled. That's the first thing everyone gets wrong. It didn't fail in the ratings, and Studio Pierrot didn't suddenly hate money. The reality is much more technical and, frankly, a bit stressful for the animators involved.
What Actually Happened in the Last Episode of Black Clover?
Episode 170 wasn’t an ending. Not really. It was a cliffhanger that left us staring at the Spade Kingdom border with our jaws on the floor. The episode focused heavily on Asta’s origin—or at least, the origin of his devil, Liebe. We saw the heartbreaking backstory of Licita, Asta’s mother, who died protecting Liebe from Lucifero.
It was emotional. It was beautifully animated. It also ended right as the Spade Kingdom Raid arc was supposed to kick into high gear.
The pacing of the anime had simply caught up to Yuki Tabata’s manga. In the world of long-running shonen, this is the "Kiss of Death." When an anime catches the manga, the studio usually has two choices: create hundreds of episodes of "filler" (think the Naruto boat trip or the Garlic Jr. saga in DBZ) or stop production to let the source material breathe. Studio Pierrot chose the latter. They didn't want to dilute the quality of the Heart Kingdom and Spade Kingdom wars with fluff.
So, they pivoted. Instead of a weekly series, we got Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King on Netflix. It was a visual spectacle, sure, but it didn't move the main plot forward. It was a side story. A very pretty, very loud side story that reminded us why we miss the show.
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The Manga Struggle and the Jump GIGA Move
You can't talk about the last episode of Black Clover without talking about the health of the creator. Yuki Tabata has had a rough couple of years. The weekly schedule of Weekly Shonen Jump is a meat grinder. It's brutal. It's 19 pages a week, every week, forever.
In 2023, the series made a massive move. It left the weekly magazine and moved to Jump GIGA.
Why does this matter for the anime? Because Jump GIGA is a quarterly magazine. That means we only get four chapters a year. While the chapters are longer (around 50-60 pages), the overall progression of the story has slowed to a crawl. This is the biggest hurdle for the return of the anime. There simply isn't enough new material to sustain a weekly TV run yet.
Think about it this way. The anime ended at Chapter 270 of the manga. As of early 2026, the manga is deep into its final arc, but the "Final Ultimate Battle" (as it's often called) is being told in these massive, sporadic chunks. If Studio Pierrot started production tomorrow, they’d catch up to the current manga chapters in about 12 to 15 episodes. Then we’d be right back where we started: waiting.
Misconceptions About the "Last Episode"
- "The anime was canceled because of Bleach." You'll see this on Twitter/X all the time. People think Pierrot ditched Asta for Ichigo’s Thousand-Year Blood War. While Pierrot did move their "A-Team" animators to Bleach, Black Clover’s hiatus was planned well before that.
- "The movie is the ending." Nope. Sword of the Wizard King is non-canon to the main timeline of the manga, though Tabata supervised it. It’s a "gaiden" or side-story.
- "The series is finished." The manga is still going. It's in its final act, but it's very much alive.
When Will the Anime Actually Return?
This is the million-dollar question. If you’re looking for a concrete date for Episode 171, it doesn't officially exist yet. However, we can look at the industry patterns. Studio Pierrot has recently shifted its philosophy toward "seasonal" anime. Look at Bleach or Kingdom. They aren't doing the 500-episode-straight run anymore. They do 12-13 episodes, take a six-month break, then come back.
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It is highly likely that when the last episode of Black Clover is finally superseded by new content, it will be in the form of "Black Clover: Season 5" or a series of movies.
The animation industry is changing. High-quality fight scenes like the ones we saw in the Dante vs. Yami fight require months of preparation. The old style of weekly production led to some... let's say "questionable" art in the early episodes of Black Clover. Nobody wants to go back to the days of "manga-slide" animation. We want the movie-quality visuals for the final showdown against Lucius Zogratis.
Nuance: The Risk of the Long Hiatus
There is a real risk here. The longer a show stays off the air, the more the "hype" dies. We've seen it with Blue Exorcist and Log Horizon. When a show takes a five-year break, the audience grows up. The kids who were screaming "Not giving up is my magic!" in middle school are now in college or working jobs.
However, Black Clover has a weirdly resilient fanbase. The "Black Bulls" community is loud. The show consistently performs well on streaming platforms like Crunchyroll and Hulu, even without new episodes. This "long tail" of viewership is what usually convinces production committees to greenlight a return.
Real-World Evidence and Expert Takes
Anime industry insiders, such as those frequenting the Sakuga Blog, have noted that Pierrot’s schedule is currently packed. Between Bleach and the rumored Boruto return, resources are thin. But there is a silver lining. Tatsuya Yoshihara, the series director for the majority of the original run, is an absolute wizard at scouting freelance talent. Even when the budget was low, his connections kept the show looking decent.
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If and when the show returns, the focus will likely be on the "Final Season" branding. They will wait for Tabata to finish the manga—which, at the current quarterly pace, could take another year or two—and then adapt the entire remaining Spade Kingdom and Final War arcs in one go.
Actionable Insights for Fans
If you're tired of waiting for the last episode of Black Clover to be updated with new content, here is exactly what you should do to stay in the loop and support the series.
- Read the Manga from Chapter 270. This is exactly where Episode 170 leaves off. You get to see the Union Mode training and the actual invasion of the Spade Kingdom.
- Switch to the Shonen Jump App. It’s the cheapest and most legal way to read. Don't rely on "scanlations" which often have terrible translations that ruin the nuance of the magic system.
- Watch the Movie on Netflix. Even if it's not "main plot," the viewership numbers on Netflix are a massive metric that producers look at when deciding whether to fund another season.
- Track Jump GIGA Releases. Since the manga is quarterly, mark your calendars for the Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn issues. This is where the real story progress is happening.
- Don't Fall for "Leaker" Bait. On TikTok and YouTube, creators often post fake thumbnails saying "Black Clover Episode 171 Confirmed!" Check the official @BlackClover_PR Twitter account. If it’s not there, it’s not real.
The story of Asta and Yuno is far from over. The last episode of Black Clover was merely a "see you later," not a "goodbye." The transition of the manga to a quarterly schedule was a mercy move for the creator's health, and while it makes the wait longer for us, it ensures that the eventual conclusion of the story will be what Tabata actually envisioned, rather than a rushed mess.
Stay patient. The Wizard King isn't done yet.