The history of Black Clover
A 2014 one-shot that became an eleven-year run across two magazines, a 170-episode anime, a Netflix film, and a finished 392-chapter story.
Black Clover is the rare long shōnen series that changed magazines mid-flight and still landed its ending on its own terms. It ran weekly in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 2015 to 2023, then moved to the quarterly Jump Giga for its final arc, closing on May 1, 2026 with three chapters at once.
Around the manga grew the full franchise: Pierrot's continuous television run, an original film supervised by Tabata himself, console and mobile games, stage plays and novels. By September 2026 the books had passed 25 million copies in circulation.
THE TIMELINE
2014 to 20262014
The one-shot. Tabata publishes the Black Clover one-shot in Shōnen Jump Next!! 2014 Vol. 2, a pilot for the series to come.
February 16, 2015
Serialization begins in Weekly Shōnen Jump, 2015 issue 12. Viz announces the first three chapters in English the week before, under its Jump Start program.
June 4, 2015
Volume 1 goes on sale in Japan. It sells 38,128 copies in its first week, reaching number 23 on the Oricon chart.
November 27, 2016
The OVA premieres at Jump Festa, animated by Xebec Zwei, a full year before the television series.
October 3, 2017
The Pierrot television anime premieres on TV Tokyo. It will run weekly, without seasonal breaks, for three and a half years.
September 13, 2018
Black Clover: Quartet Knights, the console game by Ilinx and Bandai Namco, launches in Japan.
March 30, 2021
Episode 170 ends the television run. Days earlier, the important announcement promised at the ending is revealed: a film.
April to August 2022
Tabata takes a break of about three months to prepare the final arc, then resumes in Weekly Shōnen Jump issue 35.
June 16, 2023
Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King opens in Japanese theaters and streams on Netflix worldwide the same day.
August 21, 2023
The last Weekly Shōnen Jump chapter appears in 2023 issue 38. The series transfers to the quarterly Jump Giga.
December 25, 2023
Black Clover resumes in Jump Giga 2024 WINTER, in longer quarterly chapters.
July 2025
A second anime season is announced at Anime Expo.
May 1, 2026
The finale: chapters 390, 391 and 392 appear together in Jump Giga 2026 SPRING. The story ends at 392 chapters.
August 4, 2026
Volume 38 and the Official Guidebook: Complete Grimoire go on sale in Japan the same day.
October 3, 2026
The anime's second season premieres, exactly nine years after the first.