Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Black Clover: Season 3, Part 4 Blu-ray Movie Review

Black Clover: Season 3, Part 4 returns with a vengeance. The action-packed anime series continues the thrilling adventures. The Black Clover series is one that comes from the collaborative minds of the producers: Masahiro Sugasawa, Naomi Komatsu, and Maiko Isogai. The hit series first aired on the television network TV Tokyo in Japan.

The anime became a staple success on the Cartoon Network action-anime block Toonami. Fans of Black Clover will feel excited to return to the world of the series with more energetic whiz-bang adventures. Featuring animation from production studio Pierrot (Yu Yu Hakusho), Black Clover continues to reward viewers with its excellent combination of action alongside a great cast of characters. The third season continues onward with more energetic action.

As the action-packed adventure continues in the third season of Black Clover, the events following the third collection of Season 3 expand in new and unexpected ways in Black Clover: Season 3, Part 4. The journey of the magic knights is one that leads to a series of unexpected threats – some unlike anything before. Both the Space Kingdom devils and Megicula are threats to the magic knights – and everyone is preparing for duty.

With the risk of battle, the knights must prepare for war. Yet the stakes are even higher with a short window span of time to accomplish these goals – only six months are left for the knights to prepare against their foes. Can the evil devils be defeated by the magic knights using the power of water, fire, and earth?

The animation remains one of the key production merits. Black Clover is a beautiful looking production and there are a lot of elements to appreciate about the series. The unique art style is ushered in from art director Yuki Maeda (Meitantei Conan: Excalibur no Kiseki, Your Lie in April). The art style imbues Black Clover with a nice combination of dark colors and vibrant style. These elements create a style some might consider “emo” (so to speak) and it works well with the production.

The third season isn’t quite as strong in the storytelling department and if there is one area where it could have been improved, it’s the screenwriting, which isn’t as convincing at times. Yet the main scriptwriter Kazuyuki Fudeyasu (Beyblade, Claymore) still manages to retain a sense of charm with compelling characters and some fun action-packed excitement. The script remembers that viewers want more action and this is one of the key strengths of the screenwriter.

Directed by Tatsuya Yoshihara (Yatterman Night, Muromi-san), Black Clover: Season 3, Part 4 continues the adventure. Yoshihara is a confident and skilled filmmaker and manages to provide Black Clover an impressive sense of atmospheric style. The animation is certainly a key element of the production and Yoshihara understands and reflects that component with his filmmaking style. Black Clover continues along with action and adventure and fans will be pleased with the journey.

Black Clover: Season 3, Part 4 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from Funimation Entertainment, Black Clover – Season 3, Part 4 is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The presentation quality is excellent on the release. The native high-definition video looks exceptionally clear and organic. The animation shines with good detail and clarity and given to the art style. The encoding is solid as well and doesn't suffer from egregious compression woes. Funimation delivers a solid high-definition presentation.

Black Clover: Season 3, Part 4 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes a selection of lossless audio options: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 stereo (with English subtitles). The lossless, high resolution audio tracks are significant improvements over any streaming options (which tend to stop at 320kbps quality – even in this day and age).

The lossless audio sounds rewarding with clear dialogue reproduction and the lossless surround track sounds nice and crisp. The surrounds are actively engaged and help expand the score in the presentation. Though the English dub track benefits from the surround stage, audio purists will be pleased with the stereo Japanese audio presentation. A solid encode by Funimation.

Black Clover: Season 3, Part 4 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Black Clover: Season 3 – Voice Actor Panel (HD, 32:12) is a panel discussion featuring members of the dub cast. Fans of the voice cast will find the supplement to be well worth watching as the cast offers insights. The piece is over thirty minutes long and provides some extra behind-the-scenes fun for the biggest fans of the cast. It is nice to see Funimation provide some nice material for the supplements, with this type of bonus feature providing a nice alternative to more bare-bones releases.

Clover Clips Special Edition (HD, 2:34)

Textless Opening Song "Stories" (HD, 1:32)

Textless Closing Song "Answer" (HD, 1:32)

Black Clover: Season 3, Part 4 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Black Clover: Season 3, Part 4 offers more exciting and thrilling action- packed adventures. The series offers action-anime fans a nice mixture of kick-ass fun and a compelling cast of characters. The hit production continues its winning formula. The animation looks excellent and the production team provides the right ingredients for success. The Blu-ray release includes an excellent video and audio presentation. Fans of Black Clover should consider picking up the release. Recommended.