CrunchyrollAfter what’s felt like a never-ending hiatus, the Black Clover anime is finally making its return, with Season 5 (or Season 2, depending on how you look at it) officially in production. Now the manga’s creator, Yuki Tabata, has shared an exciting message.
First debuting in 2015, Tabata’s Black Clover manga quickly rose to popularity during its time with Weekly Shonen Jump. Often seen as a spiritual successor to Naruto, the underdog story centers on Asta, a young boy born without magic in a world where magic is everything.
The anime adaptation arrived in 2017 and ran for 170 episodes until 2021, cementing Black Clover as one of the most popular new-generation series. Since then, the show has been on a hiatus, although fans were treated to the movie Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King in 2023.
It felt like the anime might never fully return, but this all changed at Anime Expo 2025, where Crunchyroll’s panel announced a new season alongside a teaser trailer. And it’s safe to say Tabata is excited.
Yuki Tabata is “ecstatic” about Black Clover anime’s return
In a message to the fans, Tabata said (via Game Rant): “The production of the long-awaited new anime season of Black Clover has been confirmed! I am beyond ecstatic going into this new anime season after the super passionate movie that came out.
“Thanks to all of you, Black Clover is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. I definitely plan to keep this hype going.
“I want fans from Japan and all around the world to enjoy the powered-up anime that is going to be brought to you by the most awesome anime production staff. Thank you so much for supporting Black Clover.”
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Fans were quick to turn the thank you back around, with one writing, “No Tabata, thanks to you.” Another said, “They defo not making this on a weekly schedule again so it’ll probably look a lot better.”
“We used to pray for this time to come, can’t wait,” added a third, while a fourth chimed in, “Thank you, Yuki Tabata!”
Why was Black Clover delayed?
The main reason for the anime’s long pause is simply that it caught up too quickly with the manga. By 2021, the show had almost run out of material to adapt, forcing Studio Pierrot to halt the weekly series rather than risk excessive filler arcs.
Studio Pierrot also switched focus to the Bleach sequel series, Thousand-Year Blood War. At the same time, Tabata himself was feeling the pressure of the relentless Weekly Shonen Jump schedule.
As he’s admitted in past interviews, his workload often left him sleeping only a few hours per night, sometimes going years without a proper vacation. He once described the job as a “happy hell” – a childhood dream achieved, but one that came at great personal cost.
In 2023, Tabata made the decision to move Black Clover to Jump Giga, a quarterly magazine, in order to protect his health and spend more time with his family.
This change gave him longer deadlines, but it also means fewer chapters per year, slowing the pace of material available for adaptation.
With production finally underway again, the question is when the new season will arrive. For the uninitiated, the first bout of episodes were split into four seasons, meaning Black Clover’s next chapter is Season 5.
However, narratively, the first four installments are technically one long season, which is why the new episodes are being named “second season”.
Neither Tabata nor Crunchyroll have confirmed a release window yet, but given the timing of the Anime Expo 2025 announcement, many estimates predict it will arrive sometime in 2026. We’ll be sure to keep you posted when a release date is confirmed.
Until then, check out everything we know about Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3, our ranking of the best One Piece story arcs, and the best anime on Crunchyroll.