Another day, another anime delayed as a result of the dangerous new coronavirus disease. As concerns and lockdown orders over COVID-19 spread throughout Japan, many of the important cogs in the anime-industry machine have ground to a full stop as actors and employees are no longer able to work on new and upcoming productions. As a result, massively anticipated television premieres like Sword Art Online: Alicization War of Underworld and film debuts like Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 have been delayed indefinitely. Currently airing anime, unfortunately, are being hit just as hard, with the currently running Pokémon anime series having recently announced it would be delaying new episodes. Many other anime are joining the delay list, and the latest one to be hit with delays is a doozy, as mega-popular shonen magic series Black Clover has confirmed that it will not be getting new episodes for the foreseeable future, due to a production shutdown.
The official website for the Black Clover anime series confirmed the news, announcing that the production committee for the anime will be delaying the broadcast of the upcoming 133rd episode, as well as all future episodes, due to the effects that the rapid spread of COVID-19 has had on production. This news was somewhat foreshadowed by Weekly Shonen Jump in their combined 21st and 22nd issue, which revealed that the anime would be rerunning the very first episode of the series on May 5 instead of the upcoming 133rd episode.
The 132nd episode of Black Clover is still scheduled to air in Japan on Tuesday, April 28th. A return date for new episodes, however, has not been settled upon yet. Funimation, meanwhile, has managed to record a dub for episode 124 of the series, having released it over the weekend on their streaming service. As the English localization and dubbing company continues to settle into their new remote dubbing setup, more episode dubs are expected to arrive in the upcoming days and weeks. Crunchyroll, meanwhile, is streaming Black Clover with English subtitles only. The show also airs weekly on Adult Swim’s Toonami block, where it premiered back in December of 2017.
Crunchyroll describes the series as follows:
In a world where magic is everything, Asta and Yuno are both found abandoned at a church on the same day. While Yuno is gifted with exceptional magical powers, Asta is the only one in this world without any. At the age of fifteen, both receive grimoires, magic books that amplify their holder’s magic. Asta’s is a rare Grimoire of Anti-Magic that negates and repels his opponent’s spells. Being opposite but good rivals, Yuno and Asta are ready for the hardest of challenges to achieve their common dream: to be the Wizard King. Giving up is never an option!
Source: Anime News Network
