Black Clover has come a long way, from being the show about the yelling wizard to being one of the most bad*ss shonen series out there. The second season of Black Clover was announced during Crunchyroll’s Anime Expo panel back in 2025, with the new season set to premiere in October of this year. The manga, adapting Yuki Tabata’s manga of the same name, follows siblings Asta and Yuno in a world where magic is everything. Yuno has incredible magical abilities, but Asta has none. Eventually, when both turn 15, Asta receives a grimoire of anti-magic, giving him the ability to fight by negating and repelling spells rather than casting them himself. The brothers compete toward their shared goal of becoming the wizard king.
During Anime Expo, we had the opportunity to sit down with a duo instrumental to the success of the series: Ayataka Tanemura, director of Black Clover, and Gakuto Kajiwara, the Japanese voice of Asta. We discussed how various experiences across their careers affect their work on the series and what they put into Black Clover to make it so great.
Portions of this interview have been lightly edited for clarity. This interview was conducted with the assistance of an interpreter.
Q: It’s been 5 years since we saw any new Black Clover. How does it feel being part of the return of the series for this new season?
Kajiwara-san: As you mentioned, it’s been a while since the fans have seen and heard Asta. And I think among the fans and the staff, there’s been a large amount of excitement, right? To see how he’s grown and matured as a character. Even for myself, I think I want to really show how he’s evolved in this season.
Tanemura-san: Yes, so, of course, 5 years have passed since that time. We were able to secure a solid schedule and also the funds to produce this new season. We hope that everyone can really see the powered up Black Clover. We just premiere Episode 1of the new season, which was really exciting. And production-wise, I think, for me, I feel like we want to keep making a great product so that fans will enjoy every episode that airs.
Q: Tanemura-san, you worked on the series in a variety of capacities before becoming director. Did your other experiences affect the way you approach directing? Do you still find yourself working in your former capacities?
Tanemura-san: Definitely. I think the former director, Yoshihara-san [Tatsuya Yoshihara] — I’ve seen his work, and for this season, I really want to apply my style of directing to it and really bring a really solid storytelling end product for the fans to see. And for myself, just really learning and also challenging myself and having new challenges at the same time.
Q: Kajiwara-san, the role of Asta came fairly early in your anime voice acting career. As you’ve grown as an actor, how has the way you’ve approached voicing Asta grown as well?
Kajiwara-san: As you mentioned, yes, the role of Asta — I got it at the same time as when my career first started. At the time I was still new. I wasn’t sure — I think a lot of the times, I would do things on the fly. But now, my career as a voice actor spans for 10 years. I think that’s as long as I’ve had a relationship with the Black Clover series. Just for this new season, Asta, he’s not just showing his strong aspects, but also his weaknesses. And also, you’ll see a lot of changes in him in this season. So, my hope is that I can really show that through my acting, and show his kind of emotion through my acting.
Q: Tanemura-san, you’ve already incorporated some changes to the direction of Black Clover when becoming a director. Looking toward the new season, what are you thinking you want to newly focus on or experiment with?
Tanemura-san: It’s not just one thing that I’m focusing on, but various aspects. For example, the magic, we’ll be showing that, the action scenes, putting some new ideas for that, and, compared to last season, we’ll really brush it up and really power up how it looks. Those are some of the aspects that I’m focused on.
Q: Kajiwara-san, are there any other voice actors whose performances have been uniquely impactful for you or helpful for your performance?
Kajiwara-san: Yes, Liebe. So there’s a demon inside Asta. There are many times where they kind of sway each other. Liebe sways Asta, Asta sways Liebe. Sometimes they unite together. So the voice actor for Liebe, Okamoto-san [Nobuhiko Okamoto], I think I just really saw him get into the role and, as a person, I learned a lot from him as well.
Q: What element of your role do you find yourself focusing on most? In other words, what is most important to you?
Kajiwara-san: For Black Clover, as you know, I play Asta, and he’s one of the main characters. Being the main character, my hope is to have the series keep continuing. Also, I feel that I want to work with the other actors as much as possible, and work longer with them. But not just me standing in the middle and being on the front lines. Instead, working with the imagery of holding hands with your fellow actors. Us being on the front lines and working together to make this a great series. I feel like that is something that I really keep in mind and that is important for me.
Tanemura-san: For myself, I feel like Black Clover already has great source material, which is the manga. As an anime director, I want to create an anime that’s really fun and really attractive for people who watch it. With that, the approach to how I can do that is what kind of action can I incorporate, or the tempo of the anime. Those different aspects are what I always think about when diving into directing anime.
Q: Plenty of people enjoy Black Clover for its action and memorable battles. What are some aspects of the series that you wish people paid more attention to?
Kajiwara-san: I think, in terms of Asta, in this new season there are going to be a lot of stronger enemies that come. He’s not going to be able to defeat them just alone with his own power. Something to keep in mind is how he brings together his friends and comrades to help defeat these enemies. That’s just that process of how he does it. I think that’s something — how he works together, and just how he keeps doing that, cycling through that every battle. I think that’s something to keep in mind.
Tanemura-san: I think in this new arc, there are going to be characters that get taken away from the story. That’s one of the big themes of this series. Because of this incident, you can see the characters having more of a stronger bond and relationship, especially within the groups that they’re in. I hope the fans can really focus in on those aspects as well.
We’d like to thank Ayataka Tanemura and Gakuto Kajiwara for taking the time to speak with us about Black Clover Season 2 and thank Crunchyroll for coordinating the interviews. You can watch Black Clover now on Crunchyroll.
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