With many of the top action shonen anime and manga are moving away from romance altogether, Black Clover’s Asta and Noelle remain a beacon of light for shonen fans still looking for a touch of romance alongside their action. Though they may not be at the top of everyone’s list of top Shonen Jump couples, Asta and Noelle deserve more recognition.
Many critics hesitate to praise Asta and Noelle’s potential relationship because they understandably albeit mistakenly get too hung up on Noelle being a stereotypical tsundere, which normally culminates in Noelle rejecting her feelings in a fit of rage or physically assaulting Asta. Although these instances are indeed the worst quality of their relationship, the pervasiveness of Noelle’s aloof, cold personality augments the times in which her defenses drop to the point where these moments become that much more powerful. Plus, Noelle’s rejections are even charming at times. Asta’s cluelessness also complicates the ability to imagine his reaction to realizing that Noelle likes him.
6
5 Asta & Noelle’s Double Date
Double dates in anime can be rife with moments that help viewers get more invested in a couple’s relationship. But Black Clover used this setup to highlight the gap between its prospective couple – Asta and Noelle – even more than usual. This was accomplished by Noelle’s friend Kahono who tries to force Noelle into being more assertive and truthful to herself about Asta. Kahono attempts this through a trial by fire where she couples herself with Asta and assigns her brother to Noelle to make Noelle jealous.
The end result of this double date goes off according to plan as Noelle does indeed respond with rage. Noelle even experiences rare moments of severe depression when Noelle concludes Kahono and Asta are actually a good match. Of course, like in this particular instance, Noelle always reverts to being a typical tsundere, where she hardens herself to the prospect of caring for him and naturally physically assaults Asta. But any time viewers get to experience Noelle dealing with other emotions amplifies their feelings for Noelle and her struggles.
4 Another Girl Forces Noelle To Confront Her Feelings For Asta
The whole concept behind the episode “The One I’ve Set My Heart On” makes for an ideal romantic comedy situation. Asta is going to a mixer without knowing its true purpose and Noelle can’t help but go undercover to watch from the sidelines because she has feelings for Asta even though she won’t admit it to herself. What’s so heartbreaking about the entire scene is that the girl Asta gets paired with actually has something important in common with him. They both have multiple siblings that require constant attention and even though living with them is hard, it’s also difficult not having them in their lives.
The girl’s situation puts her in a place where she would benefit from a relationship. Black Clover clearly wants viewers to feel sorry for her. This, however, leads to some obvious conflicting feelings though since most viewers will be more invested in Noelle. This is especially the case because she gets excited when she misinterprets something Asta was saying about Sister Lily as being about her. This is one of the first times Noelle fails to reign back her feelings. Later on, Noelle stalks Asta again when he’s visiting Rebecca Scarlet. But it hits less hard.
3 Asta Helps Noelle Become a Better Mage
One of the best aspects of love is when it helps someone become a better person. What’s incredible is that Noelle’s love for Asta is enough to help her overcome a massive personal failure that had led to her own family rejecting her, causing her to adopt a debilitating complex that made her a toxic person. When trying to gain control of her magic during an intense training regime, Noelle had continuously failed until she decided to take Asta’s advice because he convinced her that he would be able to protect her. The memories Noelle evokes to help her gain control, of course, centered on the friends she’d made with the Black Bulls. And while she doesn’t mention Asta by name, there are noticeably many more images of Asta going through her mind before she eventually succeeds, creating the impression that she was relying on or gaining more strength from her thoughts of him.
Noelle also gains a new spell, and the fact that it’s revealed later on that Noelle was cursed makes this success even greater. Regardless, this type of situation would have normally involved the love of the person in Asta’s position giving Noelle the strength to move on. Of course, Asta did believe in her, and Noelle was empowered by this, but it was Noelle’s love for Asta that gave her the power to overcome her weakness. It’s touching that Asta helped Noelle become a better mage, but it was much more than that, and that’s what makes the situation stronger. It’s even better that the scene ends with Asta catching Noelle heroically in midair – even though she ends up punching him in the face.
2 Noelle Admits That She Loves Asta
By the 301st chapter of Black Clover and after 297 chapters since the debut of her character, Noelle finally admits to herself that she loves Asta. Of course, this isn’t an actual confession because Asta is still oblivious of her feelings, but this moment is a big deal just because she’s fought so hard to convince herself that she doesn’t love him. She also chronically asks herself why she even worries about thinking of him since there is no reason for it the first place.
Noelle admitting what readers have known since chapter 4 matters so much because she’s now no longer a Tsundere. Although that aspect of her personality played a critical role in her relationship with Asta and is now increasing the suspense, the fact that readers are now more likely to see her open up to him emotionally whenever they have the chance to meet is exciting. She’s now more likable, and, in turn, her feelings for him are as well. It’s also incredibly powerful that she finally realizes the truth near the end of her battle against Black Clover‘s most twisted devil Megicula who cursed and killed her mother.
1 Noelle’s Reaction to Asta’s Supposed Death
Witnessing the supposed death of a loved one is enough to mentally scar any person. Noelle undergoes this even though she later learns that he’s likely still alive. Regardless, her visceral reaction was so intense when she witnessed Sister Lily kill him in Black Clover chapter 335 that many readers couldn’t help but feel more sorry for her more than Asta. It is doubly ironic since she had just come to the realization that she loved him and had yet to confess her feelings to him.
The scene of Asta’s supposed death also sheds further light on another reason why Noelle and Asta’s relationship is the best shonen romance. Noelle and Asta are actually involved in a love triangle. Mimosa is in love with Asta, too, and it creates complications just because she’s a likable character and usually more so than Noelle since she’s not a tsundere.
Regardless, Mimosa’s heartbreaking reaction to Asta’s ostensible death in Black Clover chapter 335 was also emotional, and it’s highly upsetting that this could serve as a foreshadowing of when Asta chooses Noelle instead of her. Asta and Noelle might be the best couple in shonen, but it’s partly because they have such great competition in Black Clover.
Black Clover is streaming on Crunchyroll and can be read on Viz.com.
