Yuki Tabata is suffering from a Bleach problem in Black Clover

Black Clover has always balanced high-stakes conflict with unwavering loyalty for its main cast, but that strength is devolving to a narrative weakness for the series. Yuki Tabata is starting to follow the path taken by Tite Kubo with Bleach, in which tension continues to be introduced without the severity of offering consequences.

Tabata's anxieties appear to incontrovertibly bleed through in chapter 330 with the very tense instances of attempting to eliminate key characters, including the popular Captain Yami. The Black Bulls' captain returns from the dead against all odds when he is magically revived by Mimosa and Charmy. This hesitation to let go of major characters is becoming problematic for the narrative and eroding the stakes and emotional heft of the story.

Disclaimer: The article reflects the opinion of the writer and may include spoilers from the Black Clover manga.

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How Yuki Tabata's Black Clover is suffering from one of Bleach's biggest problems, explained

Yuki Tabata’s anime shows clear signs of falling into the same narrative trap that plagued Bleach: a refusal to kill off core characters, no matter how serious the stakes become. In high-stakes shonen, death is supposed to carry weight. It raises tension, rewards character growth, and shapes the emotional core of a story. But in Black Clover, just like Bleach, major deaths have become teases rather than turning points.

The most obvious demonstration of this is in Black Clover chapter 330. Yami Sukehiro, having taken mortal wounds in the final battle with Lucifero, seems to be about to die. All signs in the scene point toward this being a significant, emotional loss—one that would heavily impact the Black Bulls and firmly establish the ramifications of battling devils.

And yet, just a few moments later, he's rescued by Mimosa and Charmy. The moment is intense, but the resuscitation seems predictable. Yami lives, and the narrative goes on as if nothing irreversible ever occurred.

This is consistent with Bleach under Tite Kubo of foreshadowing death only to retreat. Eventually, it undermined the suspense and made subsequent fights predictable. The same pattern is developing in Black Clover.

Yami as seen in anime (Image via Pierrot)

Tabata's writing reveals he's emotionally invested in his characters, but that investment is beginning to restrict the narrative. Death is not the sole method of emotional stakes, but in a war storyline with devils, kingdoms, and apocalypse-level threats, its lack is being felt. The reader begins to wonder if any battle will ever have meaningful consequences.

The upshot is a narrative in which the threat always seems temporary. Readers can still enjoy the quick pace and magic system, but they're unlikely to take seriously the possibility of big changes, such as a character's death of one of their favorites. Unless Tabata lets the narrative risk something meaningful, Black Clover could go the way of Bleach, into the same disappointing cycle of threatening stakes with no payoff.

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Final thoughts

Yami as seen in anime (Image via Pierrot)

Black Clover is now starting to suffer from the same problem Bleach had years ago, the inability to kill off main characters. The mangaka, Yuki Tabata, doesn't want to let his main cast go. This was majorly noticeable in the recently released chapter 330 when Captain Yami gets critically injured but miraculously recovers.

Although the consequences seem high, the absence of permanent loss diminishes emotional resonance. This increasing trend resonates with Tite Kubo's method in Bleach, in which death never really held: conflicts never seemed to stick, rendering future battles inevitable and decreasing narrative tension generally.

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