Black Clover Filler: The 18 Episodes and the Arc in Dispute

Black Clover's 170-episode first series has little filler by long-shonen standards. Screen Rant's filler list names 18 episodes: 29, 66, 68, 82, 123 to 125, 131, 134, 135 and 142 to 149. CBR's 2023 guide counts 17, about 10 percent, because it ends the last block at 148 rather than 149; Screen Rant says 11 percent. Most of the list is single episodes, and several of them are recaps rather than new stories.

Season 2, which began in Japan on October 3, 2026, is covered on the watch order. This page is about the first 170 episodes.

How this list was checked

The episode list comes from Screen Rant (J.R. Waugh and Helen Armitage, updated August 21, 2026) and CBR's skip guide (Jonathon Greenall and Ajay Aravind, updated September 20, 2025), which agree on every number. Both belong to Valnet, so that agreement is not two independent checks. The independent check here is Anime News Network, whose critics reviewed the series episode by episode. Where an ANN review says an episode is a recap, a clip show or filler, the table quotes it. Where the review does not say, the table does not pretend it did.

The filler, episode by episode

Episodes	What it is	What ANN's review says
29	"Path": Gordon's diary of Asta's early days	A recap, with "some new content in the framing devices for the clips".
66	The Eye of the Midnight Sun study session	"A clip show going through the past few arcs".
68	Yami versus Jack at the Star Festival	"How about some filler?"
82	"Petit Clover!": Charmy's mushroom episode	"A spin-off/clip show hybrid".
123 and 124	"Nero Reminisces", parts one and two	About "10% original animation and 90% previously-aired clips".
125	"Return": rebuilding the Black Bulls' base	A "goof-around" episode, in the same review.
131	"A New Resolve": Asta and Yuno visit home	Essentially no impact on the plot, though the reviewer rates it highly.
134 and 135	A party, then a second mixer	134 is killing time so as not to catch up to the source; 135 is billed as "Mixer Version 2.0".
142 to 149	The Devil Banishers story	ANN's reviews of 142 to 149 do not call it filler or anime-original. ComicBook.com, outside the Valnet group, reported at episode 142 that the series had "kicked off an original arc for the anime". CBR calls it the series' "most extensive" filler arc.

Where the sources disagree

142 to 149 is the real argument. CBR's skip guide says the arc doesn't "add much to the overall story" and lists every episode of it as skippable. Screen Rant, from the same publisher, calls its lore "practically unskippable". ANN's critic Theron Martin called episode 142 "a great episode" for taking the aftermath of the elf attacks seriously. Of the longer filler, this is the block with defenders.

132 and 133 may belong on the list. Neither outlet includes them, but ANN's review of 134 calls it "the third in a row" of episodes killing time so the anime does not catch up to the manga. ANN's reviews of 132 and 133 describe a training trip and a dungeon crawl at a volcano. We could not establish whether those two episodes adapt manga chapters, so they stay off the table and on this warning.

28 is not on either list, even though it looks like filler. ANN's review of the first mixer episode says it "has the makings of a filler episode (it's not)".

Numbering

Use the continuous numbers from 1 to 170. Some articles count within seasons instead: CBR's 2023 arc guide calls episode 66 "Season 2, Episode 15". The film Sword of the Wizard King is not filler in the episode sense. Screen Rant considers it canon because Yuki Tabata supervised it, and both outlets place it after episode 157.

The practical summary

The recaps, 29, 66, 123 and 124, are the episodes both guides list and ANN's reviews describe as recaps or clip shows. Episode 82 is mostly reused clips by ANN's account, though Screen Rant suggests it for Charmy fans. CBR recommends keeping 68, 131, 134 and 135; Screen Rant agrees on 131 and 135 but calls 134 entirely skippable. Decide on 142 to 149 for yourself, knowing that the guides disagree. For the series order and where season 2 picks up in the manga, see the watch order. Other long shonen runs get the same treatment at Naruto, One Piece and Bleach.