Asta’s Lack of Mana, 5-Leaf Grimoire & Connection with Devil Explained!

Asta was born without mana, and Yuno was born being loved by mana. As two children left at a church in Hage village together who grew up as brothers, they couldn’t be more different, at least when talking about powers.

Yuno was a member of royalty and had the soul of Licht’s son within him, resulting in his superior magic and abilities. He was blessed by mana itself, while on the other hand, Asta had none.

However, this feature of Asta has become the starting point that led to his current developments. Everything from his courage to strength and gaining the five-leaf clover is related to the lack of mana in his body.

There are many theories behind Asta’s lack of magic, such as him being of the Demon race or being born to parents with opposing magic abilities resulting in a mutation. However, the recently released chapter 268 of Black Clover finally put an end to this mystery.

1. Why Is Asta Manaless?

Asta is manaless, i.e., does not have any mana, because it was absorbed by his mother, Lichita, when he was born. Lichita’s body took the vital energy and mana of anything near her, which meant that not even her own son was spared.

As Asta’s mother was introduced, we were made privy to her body’s unique constitution that absorbed the vital energy and mana of any living being near her.

The only exception was Ribe, i.e., the Anti Magic Devil, who could stay beside Lichita fearlessly due to his utter lack of mana.

In the same chapter, while protecting Ribe, we also saw a panel where Lichita was leaving/abandoning Asta at the church.

She did this to protect him from herself, as staying near her would result in his vital energy and mana being stolen.

Instead of giving Asta an early death, Lichita made the excruciating decision of staying away from her son. However, despite that, he was still affected.

I. Asta, the Grimoire & the Devil

Asta does not have any mana, which was why none of the grimoires from the tower selected him during the ceremony. However, it is also because of that exact reason that the five-leaf clover grimoire chose him.

When the owner of a four-leaf clover grimoire falls into absolute despair, the book is corrupted by its owner’s deep despair and hatred, becoming what is known as a Grimoire of Despair. During this process, the clover turns black and develops a fifth leaf.

These five-leaf clover grimoires can be taken and possessed by devils, who use the books to manifest themselves into the human world. This grimoire then becomes the only link between the humans and the devils.

When the superior devil, Lucifero, tried to manifest himself through the Devil of Anti Magic, Ribe, Lichita used her magic to put him in the five leaves of the grimoire.

By doing so, she managed to protect and give him time to get strong enough to at least escape Lucifero’s control.

This grimoire in which the Anti Magic Devil resided later presented itself to Asta, who became its owner due to the fact that he was the only person able to wield it due to his mana deficiency.

2. Will Asta Ever Get Mana?

Asta has been manaless since birth and cannot wield any magic. However, it is also because of this that he was able to own the Five-Leaf Grimoire.

The anti-magic properties of the Grimoire and the Anti Magic Devil residing in it helped Asta grow stronger and take significant steps towards his dream of becoming the Wizard King.

Asta will not get mana as one of the protagonists of the series; what sets him apart from everyone else is his inability to use magic.

If this is taken away, there won’t be much meaning in giving him anti-magic powers and the Five-Leaf grimoire.

In the Witch Queen’s words, what is special about Asta is that he is not special at all. By giving him magic, all the buildup Tabata Sensei has worked towards will lose meaning.

I. Asta Anti-Magic Theory

While Asta will never get mana, or the ability to use magic, it is possible for him to do something very similar with the help of anti-magic.

There is one theory that talks about Asta mastering anti-magic in a way that others use magic.

It states that if Asta is able to course anti-magic through his body for extended amounts of time, as others do with magic, then he will be able to create a zone similar to the mana zone.

This anti-mana zone will allow Asta to negate every magic that enters its territory.

We saw a prototype of this when Yami used his Dark magic mana zone: Blackhole. His magic was able to eat all spells using the never-ending gravitational pull of darkness.

Similarly, if Asta is able to master his anti-mana/magic zone, he won’t just soak magic up, but magic will simply cease to exist for him.

3. About Black Clover

Black Clover is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yūki Tabata. It has been serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine since February 16, 2015.

The story centers around Asta, a young boy seemingly born without any magic power, something that is unknown in the world he lives in. With his fellow mages from the Black Bulls, Asta plans to become the next Wizard King.