Black Clover

No long running show and fanbase has got as much disrespect as Black Clover(ok, Boruto probably has got more). Yet, the fans have stuck by it for years and as Black Clover’s story continues to surpass its limits, their loyalty is finally paying off.

Black Clover is a show that is in many ways the literal embodiment of its protagonist’s struggle. Asta goes from being the laughingstock of town to the literal saviour of the kingdom. During that internal journey, we also watched the anime gradually evolve and get better as time went on. Production qualities seemingly increased as the popularity increased as well. Asta’s journey is extremely satisfying and well written. It’s done so well in fact, that it feels like we’ve been on this journey right with Asta. Everyone loves a feel good underdog story. There’s been no bigger underdog than Black Clover.

For me, the mark of a well written series is how well you’re able to immerse yourself and truly feel apart of the story. When I first got into Black Clover a couple of years ago, I was easily able to binge the first 99 episodes which were out up to that point in the span of a few days. Episodes went by in what felt like a breeze. I found myself in awe at the quality of writing and the magical concepts used. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why so many people shit on the series or rated it lowly.

I’ve said numerous times that if Black Clover went seasonal, it would be one of the highest rated Jump Series. The story is better than MHA and JJK. What has unfortunately been the big bump in the road for BC is the inconsistent production quality throughout. At points, Pierrot have literally had to beg on Twitter for people to help out with episodes. Fortunately, the series is going on hiatus due to how close its getting to the manga, and I really hope Pierrot use this opportunity to make it a seasonal show after the movie. The long running anime model is dead, and doesn’t give animation staffs the time they need to make high quality episodes.

If you’re on the fence about watching Black Clover, do it. Yes, it has some inconsistent animation at times, but the story is genuinely the best in shonen. Loveable characters, an immersive world and amazing action sequences make Black Clover one of the only ongoing shonen that I enjoy. Black Clover gets 10 grimoires out of 10.

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"If you flip the 10, it becomes a 01!" -Some Jerk

Let me preface this pre-review by saying this, I am in love with this series, but for all the wrong reasons. Black Clover, or, Black Clover as the gringos say, is the sophomore effort of mangaka Yuuki Tabata, and it is a far cry from his debut work, Hungry Joker. Hungry Joker had the unfortunate fate of being axed by the higher-ups at WSJ, thus is the fate of most new kids on the block who don't have a proper sense of what they are doing or are given little time to spread their wings. I'm not attempting to white-knight Hungry Joker or anything, but the politics at WSJ are as murky as the Academy Awards Committee. While it wasn't exactly a Dostoyevsky or Hemmingway, Hungry Joker on a conceptual level at least had a fun gimmick to play around with. Couple that with some pretty unique character models and a good sense of panel-work, it easily had the potential to grow into something much greater than it ever did.

I imagine Tabata's frame of mind when conjuring up the idea for his follow-up was one of both pragmatism and...a cheeky disregard for creativity. Black Clover is one of the most creatively bankrupt series I have ever had the pleasure of watching or reading. I am utterly convinced that Tabata wrote this as a cheeky retaliation/statement against the higher-ups at WSJ, and no amount of rationalizing or fanboying can change that perception for me. Black Clover is terrible, it's like the shonen equivalent of The Room except it gets away with convincing people that it's good. The only thing Black Clover is good at is highlighting how by-the-numbers this style of series can get.

Briefly touching on the technicals of this series, the voice acting is god awful. Asta's voice actor has one setting and one setting only, although that has been covered ad nauseam. He makes Junko Takeuchi's work as Naruto seem warm and inviting like Morgan Freeman. It is probably the only time watching a series that it actually elicited a physical reaction from me. Although, as a small caveat, if you attempt to watch this series from the perspective of someone knowing what they are signing up for, the subbed version adds an extra layer of grease to this disgustingly satisfying sandwich. I.e. if you want the genuine Black Clover experience, the voice acting is like icing on that cake.

The animation is in a middling ground of both extremes. It can be good when it wants to and it can also skimp on its budget when it needs to. I feel that Tabata's art style wasn't properly translated from panel to screen. I have conflicting feelings on the animation though. Had the source material been in more capable hands like Bones or Madhouse, I feel that it could've been leaning more towards "beautiful spectacle" territory as opposed to "beautifully terrible". So despite my compliments to Tabata's art style, the mediocre animation mostly serves to its benefit.

Now that the technicals are out of the way, I feel I shouldn't even have to harp all that much on the story and characters. If you've watched Naruto, if you've watched Fairy Tail, if you have even a basic knowledge of writing propensities when it comes to shonen and fantasy, you've already gotten a taste of Black Clover. The story is bereft of shallow gimmicks and instead opts to stuff itself full of cliches and archetypes. The overarching storyline and subplots all have parallels to other works and the characters all have doppelgangers floating around in some other manga.

So why the 10? Honestly, I'm not even really sure myself. They say that there are certain series that require you to take a step back or a dumbed-down open mind to enjoy. I don't even really feel either of those things are required to watch and enjoy Black Clover. I've seen what it looks like when it earnestly feels like Tabata is trying, and he has a lot of genuinely good qualities to the way he draws and writes his manga. In fact, I have no doubt that this series has the potential to grow into something greater than the sum of its parts considering that it hasn't been given the axe at this stage. Black Clover was not a labor of love or a passion project, that is apparent to me. From my perspective, Black Clover is a frustrated and rebellious statement on the current status of shonen manga and the politics that goes into publication. Because honestly, it takes a real genius to write something this stupid. Or perhaps I'm just reading too much into it?

Whatever the case may be, Black Clover is my ultimate guilty pleasure and I wave that 10 with pride.

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This is the first time that I'll be reviewing a long-running series, so spare the pardon if there's any for pleasantries. But without further ado..."Please marry me, Sister Lily! I won't give up until I've hit my limits!"

"If you flip the 10, it becomes a 01!" - Some Jerk a.k.a remember how Black Clover was despised by everyone?

Black Clover is one of the many myriad of Shonen shows that Weekly Shonen Jump has been banking on imitating the success Shueisha once had since the diminishing of the Big 3 (One Piece, Bleach, Naruto), alongside many other WSJ titles that have constantly received headlines for breaking sales and adaptations that make up the modern age of the anime landscape. Unfortunately, at a time when the Big 3 were all but fizzled out of the community's eyes, there was but one mangaka amongst the many other Shonen authors who were trying to get the attention of Weekly Shonen Jump to have their works publicized...his name is Yuki Tabata. Being a sophomore into the manga industry, his first work of the short-lived and then cancelled 3-volume long Hungry Joker was not received well, and if you know anything about the intense competition of Weekly Shonen Jump: "If your manga doesn't sell well, we will take it off indefinitely without trial. We have more titles that we are ever ready to sink our time and resources into promoting new material and publicity to the large population who are always ever hungry for more." OK, shame on you for the first try. But take a look at his second work...and yet it still doesn't sell when this came out in early 2015 when it was serialized in WSJ. But Shueisha at least had a good idea that while this work started off being blantantly and averagely similar to the Big 3 in terms of the story and plot, and so they released the first volume thereafter in June of the same year. And to say the rest is history is an understatement, because even in the Oricon charts, Yuki Tabata just couldn't do enough to maintain the growing popularity of his work, only selling within the Top 25 and not even cracking the Top 10, even after the anime adaptation came out (at least for the 1st year running). It's only through the sheer talent of director Tatsuya Yoshihara and his production team at Studio Pierrot that would propel this "then infamous, now famous" work into the greatest of great oblivion with the passing of time, that Yuki Tabata finally can breathe a heavy sigh and continue developing Black Clover into one of the many modern Shonen juggernauts that we know today, selling from the thousands to the millions.

I'm not gonna say that what Yuki Tabata did here was plentiful, the story plot was rife of a roller-coaster ride of the usual Shonen tropes and cliches that quickly garnered attention as one of the worst series to be published and then through Studio Pierrot's infamous low-budget visuals, another strike as one of the worst modern Shonen shows that aired back in 2017. Heck, I probably would not want to include what Black Clover is all about, you can refer to the MAL synopsis or even Wikipedia to read it. In a nutshell, think of the Big 3 and the main MC's aspiration of "I want to be <fill in the blanks of the usual Shonen archetype>", add in a fellow rival, and there you have it. It feels just as awful as any kind of minimalistic story from the start, and the usual shenangians from some heavy power fantasy action to the occasional comedy that just doesn't feel as cohesive, and that's not to mention the immense boredom that quickly sets in if you're not the type to stick around for just "one more chapter". Not gonna lie, the first thing that everyone will remember is the crudely annoying MC that is Asta, especially in particular towards newbie VA Gakuto Kajiwara at the time when he first debuted with Asta. Try to compare the criticisms from Day 1 of the anime to now, and most people will say: "I still remember the days when people hated his voice days after his debut on Black Clover. Although I also wasn't very fond of it too, I found it very funny later, gotta love him and his voice acting now." or "I used to think that he (Gakuto Kajiwara) did a bad job with Asta...I take back what I said. His voice matches Asta completely and it's not bad at all, I've gotten used to it overtime." We've come a long way, friends. To see a rookie VA on his first debut getting flamed for all the wrong reasons, to now seeing the light that no one can replace Gakuto Fujiwara for the long-term investment.

Overtime, we get to see the extensive character cast of Black Clover, and I'm still going to rely on my gut feelings here: each and everyone of them feels like cardboard cut-outs that are worth surmising to invoke the feelings of just blantantly plagarizing from other Weekly Shonen Jump works, and that's where Yuki Tabata can be faulted with trying to make do of the cliches and tropes of the Shonen genre that worked well at the time. The problem is with his way of execution of character traits that we've seen way too often to try lifting inspirations from one source to another, so much so that it becomes overbearing and full of cringe. Let's say Asta's rival Yuno. He's a skilled Wind Magic user, blessed by the gods to have magnificent power for OP prodigy powers, and as indicated by the magic books known as Grimoires: he's the four-lead clover magic user. Now tell me if any of those traits are lifted whether in and out of context of similar characters you might have seen throughout your read list of Shonen lookalikes. But as further evidenced, it's with the passing of time that helps distinguish each and every character to their types and whatnot, giving us the audience enough time to digest about what makes them tick and work, and appreciate them for their presence to the different progressing story arcs of the main series.

You know me, I'm very critical when it comes to studio productions, and Studio Pierrot to me, stands as one of the worst studios to ever exist, even if they adapt works that often lose out on the quality of the source materials that fans so desired to see on the small screen. Black Clover is no different with the stigma that Pierrot productions tend to have, and for 1001 good reasons. But once again, like I've said at the beginning, it's thanks to director Tatsuya Yoshihara for helming this long-running project that has seen its fair shares of highs and lows. Black Clover might've started on the wrong foot for being the similar case towards Studio Deen at being decades-old studios with variable quality, for the test of time stands between the production staff team to stand in the gap and make their efforts worth it, and the payoff was certainly worth it in the long-run that was only destined to run for the full length of a year, that subsequently got lengthened and amounted to 3.5 years worth of time that increased the hype with some episodes having the Asta trademark of "I will hit my limits!" that expressively shared the experience of sticking in the long-run. AND BOY, DO THOSE EPISODES DELIVER with at best 9-turned-10/10 ratings that even trended on Twitter. YES, Black Clover IS BIG in both Japan and the West, and with Crunchyroll being the biggest benefactor that this show has garnered the No. 1 top spot in 80+ countries, you can't certainly lie at where Black Clover is now with the insane popularity. To that I say, great job Pierrot for making me love a show that I now endear as one of the many Shonen long-running series that I can recommend.

Even the music can't be understated. For as many as 13 sets of OSTs within the 3.5 year long run of Black Clover, we've definitely heard some "diamond in the rough" gems that we've gotten used to overtime, with many songs that really stick out to be the series' representatives when it comes to recognizing that it originated from Black Clover. Sound director Hajime Takakuwa certainly did wonders at what he does best, but for this one I have to give props to the many artists that have contributed cult-classic songs, from the OPs: Kankaku Piero's "Haruka Mirai" to Vickeblanca's hit songs "Black Rover" and "Black Catcher", and EDs: Itowokashi's "Aoi Honoo" to Faky's "four". These are just some of my top favourite songs from Black Clover, but there's just too many to list them, because most of them are bangers in their own right (with some just being decent at best).

Like what @Goober-fish has said: "Whatever the case may be, Black Clover is my ultimate guilty pleasure and I wave that 10 with pride." And I reverse the words of some jerk that said the sentence at the beginning: "If you flip the 01, it becomes a 10!" Black Clover may have started with being a score of 01, but looking at it now, it's definitely worthy of the 10 score in every possible way: the story that got better overtime with the characters, the insane Pierrot animation quality and right down to the fantastic OSTs that we are graced with to our pairs of eyes and ears.

Never have I thought that I will return from a hatred of a stigma to loving them for Shonen shows, and even if I or you have never watched the Big 3 before, Black Clover is EASILY the best recommended entry show for anyone wanting to dive into Shonen shows...that's if you can last all 170 episodes in one go. Thanks Black Clover, now it's no longer just a guilty pleasure, and I'm an addition to wearing that 10 with pride.

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Black Clover is not for everyone, I’ll admit. It’s the trashiest to mid-tier Shounen series out there that manages to gravitate to a certain group of viewers with its cliches, tropes, and generic power fantasy. It lacks anything substantial or impactful. It doesn’t reinvent the Shounen wheel or elevates it. It’s a lackluster written series that exists purely for entertainment for people like me--who self indulges in battle shounen without a second thought--even if it’s the same type of blueprint that I’ve seen before, but with its own modifications. Thus, I don’t have any hate or resentment directed towards this controversial series. I simply can’t.

I’ve been following the series since its inception. I’ve read and re-read its source material and, I can say it does improve--for a Black Clover standard, that is. This series received hate, backlash, and terrible reception since the onset of its TV anime. And to nobody’s surprise, it’s the most hated series of modern Shounen--2014 and onwards, right after the era of the big three. If there’s any advice I can give for people interested in watching this series, it is to go into it for pure entertainment. Be open-minded, have low expectations, ignore the hate, and watch it for yourselves.

Black Clover anime started ugly. The pacing, sheer predictability, genericness, and the dreadful usage of Shounen tropes turned off people--understandably so. But for me, I loved it. I loved it not because it was good, but because it was the purest generic anime that was not afraid for what it was. It knows its production was constrained. It knows its plot and characters took “inspiration” from previous works with few tweaks here and there, and most importantly, it knows its target audience. With this, once the show solved its pacing issues, it quickly flew from arc to arc with hype moments after hype moments, and all I did was to turn off my brain and enjoy the shit show.

To provide some examples, after the dungeon expedition arc, Asta, Noelle, Yuno, and some other magic knight squad members were summoned for recognition medals. In that banquet, the show introduced more of its supporting casts. It demonstrated its power system, characters’ abilities, showcased some of its societal structure and prejudices, and then jumped straight to the Clover Kingdom’s invasion.

Throughout this invasion arc, it entertained me by never letting go of its accelerator. All the Magic Knight captains that were introduced previously got their moments to show off. Whether be their magic or personality, it showed all of it. The show then exploits each of its newly introduced characters to the limit by having them interact and fight alongside each other. The dynamics between characters such as Fuegoleon and Nozel, Asta, Yuno, and Noelle, Yami and Jack, provided the fun. It’s cheap, it’s lazy, but it worked so well for a braindead like me.

The other aspect of Black Clover’s storytelling is the seamless transition from an arc to another. If some terrorists brutally wounded a beloved character, the most logical route is for the main casts to go after them. And they do. If the vice-captain of the Golden Dawn is acting out of character, the most logical thinking is to seek out the true identity. And they do.

How do they do it? They do it by the classic shounen way: Tournament arc--my favorite aspect of mindless battle shounen.

But along the way, the show plants some seeds of suspicion--there’s something more sophisticated with the adversaries that the Clover Kingdom were up against. It’s these careful hints here and there that made the grand finale of Black Clover’s first saga a memorable one. And it is in my humble opinion that the first saga of Black Clover is one of the best of modern shounen. The finale wrapped up every plot point presented up to then, it concluded characters’ development until that point, and it answered every question along the way. Not to mention, the final plot twist was a phenomenon to be held.

Yuki Tabata’s writing isn’t anything revolutionary. He takes inspiration and does his own twists. He utilizes whatever skills he has got at his disposal and tells his own story within the Shounen genre’s confinement. And I enjoyed every second of it. I have no regrets.

As I aforementioned, Black Clover’s production was severely constrained. From the start, the anime lacked staffing--specifically, key animators and animation directors--and had an unsustainable schedule. Before the first episode of Black Clover even premiered, the Black Clover anime production team was given only 5 months of pre-production, for a long-running battle shounen. To put it into perspective, a 12 episode regular anime usually takes a year of pre-production. Thus, it’s no surprise that the animation in Black Clover declined significantly soon after it began airing. As that happened, it’s also reported that some of the staff working on the anime had gone through physical and mental exhaustion, which they eventually fell ill.

Now, why does it matter?

Well, it doesn’t--at least from a show’s quality standpoint. But then I don’t want to clown on Black Clover’s animation either because of this information. I know the animation and art are inconsistent; the consensus is that Black Clover’s animation is inconsistent. It can be mindblowing for a single episode, and then for the next 10 to 20 episodes can range from unbearable to mediocracy. I can list every single flaw of Black Clover’s art and animation, but then that would be repetitive since I’m sure those aspects have been talked about over the years. Lastly, I’m fine with it. I’m okay with its inconsistency in art and animation because I love this series. I grew up with it, I enjoyed it, and I’m willing to forgive its flaws.

If you have read this far, I just want to thank you for taking your time.

Score: 5/10

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Black Clover has probably had the best and most significant turnaround in quality of any anime series I’ve seen so far, and it surely deserves all the praise and hype that it gets now as it trends worldwide more often than not, earning itself (in my book) the title of being a quality shounen series.

I think we can all agree that Black Clover started off quite poorly. Bad voice acting, bad animation, it was just overall shit. Having started later throughout the series’s release (around episode 120), I decided to stick around in the promise of it improving thanks to word of mouth by fans of the series, and it paid off. Little by little, episode after episode, I began to notice that more quality and care was being put into each episode. I began to enjoy this series more and more until I was up to date, going all the way up to the final episode, becoming one of my most anticipated series currently airing, alongside with One Piece and a few other seasonals.

Instead of writing 5 or 6 bullshit paragraphs to fill up space and to seem sophisticated and bash on about the series’s bad points, I’ll sum things up with a list of pros and cons, and it’ll be up to you whether you’ll heed my wisdom and watch the show.

Pros:
- All the openings are 10/10 bangers
- There are loads of hype fight scenes with excellent animation to match
- Some of the villains and protagonists are excellently written, fleshed out & compelling
- The power scale is balanced well and the characters progress smoothly as the series progresses
- Most members in the Black Bulls get a dedicated arc to flesh their characters out
- All the climactic fight scenes are hype as fuck (kept me glued to the screen)
- Not much fan service pushed in our faces like other shounen series, with exception of a couple of juicy scenes/ending card sprinkled in
- Yami Sukehiro

Cons:
- Asta’s yelling (though it stops around episode 15 or so)
- Poor animation (until after the first main arc, also due to being a weekly series)
- Some of the smaller villains are just pointless and badly written
- Most of the characters are your standard character tropes
- Not much relationship development as some of the characters are thick as lead or too tsundere and are afraid of rejection
- 17 filler episodes, though considered low for a long running shounen series
- The anime catching up to the manga and having to slow down by introducing an anime canon training arc (before the time skip occurs)
- The smaller character arcs go by too quickly

I could’ve added the point of it being “clichéd”, but that is a superficial argument that could be said about every and any shounen/action series you can think of.

Although it’s sad to see this show end for now, which is sorely needed as the manga needs to get far ahead, I hope this break will prove beneficial for future adaptations of this series if they decide to go with seasonal releases. I’m hoping the series will continue to work it’s magic (pun intended), as you cannot deny the wild success and popularity that it has endured up until now.

Black Clover is a solid 8/10.

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THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

UNBIASED REVIEW TO BALANCE OUT THE HATERS

Are there many shounen clichés here? Yes. Is it a groundbreaking anime that will have the anime elitists praising the very ground the characters walk on? No. Is it still a fun, comedic, action-adventure/magical-fantasy and enjoyable shounen? Yes. I give this anime a 7, good on the MAL scale, because it is.

To start: Personally I don't think that cliches are all that bad if done right. There is a reason that cliches, or as we call them in the business "genre stereotypes" exist, and that reason is because they work, they are enjoyable, and people generally like them when done right, and Black Clover does it right. It is true that it's nice to see something break the mold from time to time, but without a mold to break in the first place, then nothing would be ground breaking. In this way, not everything is meant to push the boundaries of the anime elitist's groupthink (ironic I know), some things are simply meant to be fun, easy, enjoyable, and follow our expectations. Again, there is nothing wrong with a "mold" a "cliche" or "genre stereotypes" when done right and Black Clover does indeed do them right, so far. And finally TO BE CLEAR! In my reviews, I never judge an anime by another anime, I never compare the anime I am reviewing to other anime, and I immediately disregard ANY REVIEW that does so. Period. I always judge an anime on it's own merits as I see them. Anything less, to me, would be disrespecting the time, energy, and effort that the creators put into creating a TV show to entertain us, as well as disrespecting you, the reader, as you are looking for a review on THIS anime and not a list of my favorites, as you can check out my profile for that should you so choose. To put it quite simply, you, the reader, deserve an impartial analysis of this anime based only on this anime, and not how it compare to others.

Story 7, good: Interesting world and magic mechanics. I am eager to see how it plays out given the backstory about the wizard king destroying the demons and how it resolves itself with the fact that Asta (one of the protagonists) utilizes a demonic grimoire.

Art 7, good: Nothing really more to say here, it's pretty standard for a 2017 shounen.

Sound 7, good: Enjoyable opening and closing songs. The foley sounds are well done, and voice acting is good. Regardless of what the haters say I find Asta's voice and antics amusing rather than annoying (though this is just opinion, cannot be objectively verified, and thus everyone is entitled to their own. So I hold nothing against those who do find it annoying). Asta is a good counter point to his more serious brother/rival which brings us to. . .

Character 7, good: There is character development in this show, and the characters have a good motivation for doing what they are doing. The only reason that some don't like it is because it's been done before, but that doesn't make something bad. There is nothing wrong with a good underdog story when done right, and when you realize that they (Asta and his brother Yuno, the two protagonists) are not simply fighting for themselves, but fighting for their class of people (the poor peasants vs the rich nobles) their character motivations are very clear. I really do think that the reason the elitist haters hate this is because they are comparing Black Clover to other animes instead of on its own merits, because this character motivation is a very honorable one that makes sense given where our heros Asta and Yuno come from and the world they find themselves in. In other words, the world, story, and characters are all internally consistent which is exactly what you want to see in any work of fiction. You see, there is a reason that the underdog story and fighting for others is a genre stereotype. It's because people like it. The final character (and third protagonist) we will talk about is Noelle. Her story is different and interesting (minor spoiler), as she is a noble who (presumably) chose to join the worst/lowest of the magic knights squads. Unlike Asta and Yuno, her character and backstory is not completely revealed yet, but it appears that she too has something to prove, untapped potential, and may just end up developing into a noble who is worthy of the title unlike so many other nobles in this series, who seem to be just horrible.

Enjoyment 8, Very good: I give the enjoyment an 8 because all of these other good factors come together to craft a story that I can't wait to see the next installment of in the coming weeks.

Overall 7: No, this anime isn't going to be a game changer, or win any awards, but it is a fine addition to the shounen genre and if you like magic action adventure comedy fantasy shounens that are light and don't try to hard to be something that they're not, then you will likely enjoy Black Clover as I am.

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We used to have Big 3 when it comes to anime including shows like Naruto, One piece, and Dragonball. Throw Fairytail in there also. Now as those shows are going away we look to replace them and this show was supposed to be one of those shows hyped to the point it crashed streaming websites when it released. The thing is all this show has are the bad parts of the Big 3. The story also wants to be compared to them and since it is I'm going to compare them here.

The story is about a boy who can't use magic but through some stroke of determination and luck gets a powerful magic only he can use. I purposely manipulating this to sound like Boku no hero academia. Both main characters don't have something commonplace in this world just to get one of the strongest options somehow. Now we can compare it to Naruto, where all they did was replace Hokage with Wizard King as that is our main characters main goal to be the one over them all. Then you have Fairytail's magic elements on top of the fact he basically joined the Fairytail guild and yada yada yada. You have probably had these comparisons drilled into your head by now. All you need to know is this show doesn't do any of things nearly as well as the others except for maybe Fairytail that one is being debated by everyone. And before I move on when the second episode is filler that tells you this show isn't going to have good things to come. The pacing of the show is horrendous as it starts off super slow then starts moving very quickly and slows down again. They even negate some things turning some episodes into nothing but filler that added nothing to the characters development. (No saying it won't make you like a character more or not but objectively it adds nothing.)

The art is good. I don't love it but it's not bad at all the magic looks really good but that's the only thing I really like about it everything else I find around meh.

The music is all that special to me either. No songs still out to me as good or bad because I can't even remember them as it really isn't anything special. But there is one thing that I will get into with characters. The japanese voice actors are perfectly cast and that's not exactly a good thing. ( more on that later.)

Time to let loose the characters.
Asta is the main character of this story and like I said before he can't use magic but you need magic to pretty much do anything in this world as people without it are unheard of except for him. Honestly, all he knows how to do is scream at the top of his lungs I mean listening to him makes me want to blow my brains out. This makes Dragonball look tame and people joke about that all the time. You might grow numb to his voice over time or you might not, either way, you might want to seek out the dub instead. But he is determined although he can't use magic he trains his heart out all day working on his physical abilities and ends up with a grimoire something signifying magic in this world. But his is special as these books all have clovers 1-4 usually 4 being very impressive but our magicless protagonist gets a 5 leaf which means he as the power of the devil or something like that which lets him use a huge sword like another story we know that cuts down magic and negates it completely. Overall his character is super annoying and his ability just leaves me bored as this isn't the first useless main character is actually useful story and I would rather watch any one of those at this point.

The other main character I'm going to go over is our token overpower rival character Sauske... sorry I mean Gray, No Yuno, yeah Yuno. Yuno gets a 4 leaf is naturally good at magic and our main character uses him as a motivation get stronger. He is a rather emotionless character that looks up to Asta determination because he saved him this one time. I'm just going to cut it there and say this character means nothing to me.

The side characters (guild members.) can be very similar to fairytail, We have a chick that drinks a lot and wears rather lewd clothing like kana. a overbearing and energetic character like natsu. a powerful and serious like gildarts occasionally can be, etc.

Overall, unless you love shonen anime do not touch this with a ten-foot pole. Watch the shows this wants to replace instead at least you don't have to wait for new episodes. and you have watched them watch them again. This show has nothing redeemable so far maybe it will and I'm going to keep watching because I'm shonen trash. But so far this is a complete garbage can of a show. I'm not saying you can't enjoy this but it's really not good.

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Short review about this show= Overall 9/10 (raiting fluctuates around 7-9) why? ez I just like medieval epoch with magic, dungeons, adventures, actions, some hide romantic= My era my dream world. (DONT forget read the bonus especially those which are gamers and like this anime).
Story 8/10 very good atm, I still hold my thumbs up about what will happen next and it's worth it.
Art 7/10 I would like more detailed art not only in big fights(8-9), but..... all the time, but still the feeling that it would be 2002 year with art drawing style, but you can still watch if you liked like me (dungeons, comedy, actions, unexpected moments, magic).
Sound 8/10 music just almost in my taste and same with >sounds< (>Water magic I hear a water splashing sounds like real, fire like fire brrrrrr! Sword hitting sharp sounds and also ambience<).
Character 10/10 almost all heroes have history what very satisfied and for the rest I care too.
Enjoyment 9/10 it was every day 2-4 episodes.
Overall atm 9/10 I dislik only abit art others like like like, the best I've seen from 170+ shows atm.

Bonus- Bandai Namco Games will release a game called BLACK CLOVER: QUARTET KNIGHTS Sep 14, 2018 on PC/PS4= if you will get hangovers until ends black clover then this game is the removal of a hangover.

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This past season of anime has been full of adventures, romance, and a bit of strangeness, with the likes of Attack On Titan, Horimiya, and now Redo of the Healer as we have drawn curtains on this action, comedy, shounen adventure show “Black Clover”. This particular anime has stood out as an example of hope during the gloomy snowy days, since it started giving an adventure shounen with a different type of storytelling it’s been quite the journey of 170 episodes. “Black Clover” is an anime series that has been written and illustrated by Yuki Tabata, if you liked “Fairy Tale” then I’m sure you’ll love this show as well as for rooting for the underdog characters this show is the one for you if you’re into that.
The show began in 2017, the first few episodes showing the character and protagonist Asta, a brash yet modest peasant without any powers nor capabilities, making do somehow in the society that totally depends on magic for their everyday life usage. In a world where magic determines your rank and social class is not new as we’ve seen in many shows like Fairy Tail, Konosuba, and many more that have come and go but his determination seeks to become the Wizard King despite his position in humanity.

Story ~ 8
Two orphan children, Asta and Yuno are left as babies near the doorstep of a church on the outside border of the Clover Kingdom. The story surrounds the boy Asta, a young boy who’s ostensibly is born without magical powers, while he tries to gain magical powers and the talent to control them. Moved by a desire to become the succeeding wizard king, a consultant character to the clover kingdom, the two protagonists develop a friendly competition. The different features, like humor and the heartwarming moments that this show has helped to build the show from the ground up and build a solid status for the show making it a shounen heavy-duty.

Animations ~ 6
The show in itself isn’t flawless. The animations fell rusty and can be missing consistency. However, all of that can be justified due to the financial issues and creating episodes for almost three years weekly. The only break the show ever took until now was due to the pandemic. Unlike other long-running animes, Black Clover has only had a minority of filler episodes, but some episodes just outshine radiance like the 63rd which is probably the best-animated episode of the show according to me which showed the ultimate dealings with the Eye of the Midnight Sun and the reincarnation of the elves. Even though some of the episodes have been phenomenally uncertain and exquisite the animations could’ve been way better.

Sound ~ 8
The music for Black Clover has been always uplifting and up to the point that you can listen to it on repeat. The show has had 10 openings throughout the entirety of the show it’s a bit hard to choose from these 10 which have been the best because the songs were great, but if I had to choose a few I’d say Black Rover from Vickeblanka and Black Catcher from Vickeblanka have been my favorites.

Characters ~ 7
Asta is that one guy who’s an underdog who’s in the world of magic but does not know magic. He’s a little simple yet humble and loud protagonist who strives to excel even though his hindrances Yuno on the other hand is enormously talented and a natural when it comes to controlling magic and its incredible use. At the age of 15, both boys set out to receive extraordinary books called grimoires which help each conduit their own power. The characters are persistent and crave the hunger to change to become better than they were before to become a man that can overcome all. Throughout every character goes to the phase to transform into a newer self and becoming a new person altogether. This show does not go on easy on character developments as one has to perceiver long to change into someone they want to be.

Overall ~ 8
Though this anime had made a bad impression on me while it was just beginning because of Asta’s strident temperament and a methodic set up, those who’ve stuck with the show have grown to like it to some extent eventually. By now, this show will often be considered a contestant among the likes of Ao No Exorcist, Soul Eater, Naruto, Bleach, and My Hero Academia in the shounen genre. The show's charm has grown slowly climbing the stairs of success so much that it is close to impossible for an anime fan like me to not come across it. Reviews about a show break or make a show, but for me, the expression of the anime has changed drastically from not even being interested in the show to yeah I’ve got to watch the next episode I can’t wait. It’s unavoidably popular now, which helps it to qualify for the Jump’s “Big Three” now and the show just keeps on giving.
From being just an average shounen genre show to being Crunchyroll’s “Most Popular Anime of Winter In 2020” capturing the top 20 most widely held titles and the top most popular anime ranked in UK, Canada, Mexico, Russia, France, and Germany. It certainly isn’t for every anime watcher over there and it starts slow as well until its 20th episode as well, but trust me it gets great, the character developments, the animations, if you’re looking to watch something new in the shounen genre this could just be your cup of tea.
The show became wonderful.

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Holy F the anime has gotten so much better. I dropped the anime when it was at ep 30 or so because i found it kinda boring and annoying tbh. I picked up again and damn 100 ep 2 day binge. GUYS DON'T MISS OUT ON THIS ANIME. First few eps are legit kinda bad but its all for the character development(I mean it ALOT of character development for a lot of characters in the show). Don't fall the heapload of negative reviews as they are all from 2017 era. Sort by recent and you'll see a lot of 10s and 9s. Peace

Black Clover has received tons of hate and criticism, so my role here is to make it clear; why someone should go for it or ignore it. Of course, there are many flaws, but it is undeniable that some things were handled well for a battle shounen anime.

Starting as an adventure of two brothers who dive into the world of magic, Black Clover introduces us to a world full of colour, battles and a big number of characters. But aside from that, Tabata Yuuki tries to deliver political and moral messages in his own way. The main arcs revolve around pacifism, trust, hope and positive energy; the villains are the complete opposite, thus the protagonists will either end up changing their mind or destroying them. In addition, the hierarchy and political systems are interesting in this one; the satirical presentation of the kingdom’s king, the arrogance of higher-ups and the – unfair – rankings and labels of the Magic Knight squads.

One of the biggest minuses is the power system, how the main characters suddenly gain unreal power and defeat their villains. But the battles are mostly used as fan service and the result includes a moral message that watchers do not care about, and it is not their fault. Although there might be good meaning behind all the fights, it is not easily spotted.

The main reason people like me do not like Black Clover as a whole (don’t get me wrong, some parts are likable), is the ridiculously repetitive comedy, which is not even funny to begin with. Many characters are mostly used for comedic purposes and have their own comedic patterns, and this approach ruins the character part too in this show - even if there are a few exceptions and some good character backstories (Zora, William and some more). And it is not surprising that everyone has heard negative comments about Asta and some main characters, because their repetitive behaviour may end up irritating. In terms of Black Clover comedy, there’s also Petit Clover, which is the short chibi scene at the end of each episode. Fans of chibi anime may check Mugyutto Black Clover too, a short ONA with a good opening song…and nothing more.

The animation is nothing special, but it is colourful and leads to an enjoyable experience. The kingdom’s medieval setting, the different forms of magic and the squad colour patterns are the pros, while the lack of details and spectacular animation are the cons. Mixed feelings on voice acting too, since there were amazing performances and awful ones too. Some of the most noteworthy ones are Suwabe Junichi’s as Yami and Koyama Rikiya’s as Dante.

Soundtrack for dessert, because my words about it can only be sweet. Starting with an amazing combination of OP and ED - kankakupiero’s Haruka Mirai and ITOWOKASHI’S Aoi Honoo – Black Clover never disappointed us with its exceptional opening and ending songs. Many of them are listed on youtube playlists, even by people who have never watched the anime. The battle OST is decent, and the only soundtrack that is poor is the goofy / comedic one, but I don’t take it into consideration since, like I said, the comedic scenes in Black Clover are bad.


To sum up, as far as I’m concerned Black Clover has definitely not been a bad experience overall, but not a good one either. Sometimes it was fun, though the writing and execution lacked a lot and could have done much better. If you ask me if Black Clover is one of the worst shounen anime like many people say, though, I would reply that I’ve seen much worse, and this is the main reason I wrote this review. Any questions and discussion topics will be gladly accepted, feel free to text me.

Thank you for reading!

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I hate this show. It’s horrible. Don’t watch it.

The story is a horribly crafted compilation of clichés I’m 65 chapters in and I still don’t know anything about the world. What is magic? How does it work? Why sometimes a grimoire is needed to do magic and sometimes not with no apparent reason? Why mana usage is only relevant sometimes and others is completely ignored? How does mana work? How is it used to do magic? The kingdom has 2 kings the normal king and the Wizard king, what do they do? Which one rules over the other? Is the wizard king just the head of the knights? At one point they state that the society is merit based but they treat Asta and Yuno like commoners constantly regardless of their achievements just to make some characters look like assholes. And a lot more inconsistencies like Asta’s power and how it’s underestimated despite it being the most OP power of the show because he can LITERALY CANCEL ALL MAGIC IN A WORLD WHERE MAGIC IS THE CENTER OF SOCIETY. I could go on but I would be here all day.

The art is simply the worst I have ever seen, the animation is generic at it’s peak and horrible most of the time.

The sound design is horribly irritating and I’m not even talking of the voice acting the sound effects and the OST are annoying as hell specially the silly trumpet theme they play at every poor attempt at comedy.

Every character is a waking cliché with little to o development and some of them just change their personality dramatically just for the sake of the plot. Asta is just the good for nothing shonen protagonist that wants to be the best in the world but has a disadvantage that has to overcome which isn’t necessarily bad but it’s so poorly executed that it makes it infuriating just to watch. Noelle is just the proud tsundere that is insecure in the inside. And the side characters are just a joke repeated over and over, Yami is always taking a dump, Vanessa is drunk and half naked Charmy eats a lot Luck wants to fight and so on, some of them have had flashbacks explaining why they do this things but they are so generic and boring that they only make it worse.


It personally amuses me that this pile of trash is being broadcasted in TV at it’s current state and absolutely no one says anything. This show is a waste of time, don’t throw away hours of your life like I did.

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Black Clover, possibly one of the rockiest starts to an adaptation there is. Once you hit episode 13 or so however, the show becomes this train barrelling at full speed, and god damn it works.

Why? It's not hiding what it is.

Black Clover is a generic, campy Shonen series that has done EVERYTHING you have already seen if you've watched a good amount of Bleach, Naruto, or One Piece. But the execution. Black Clover has single-handedly made me enjoy Shonen again, and that's a tough thing to do because I lost almost all interest once Bleach got the axe.

What are some simple reasons of why it works so well?
1: Simplicity- think of Hunter X Hunter, but in reverse. Where Hunter X Hunter succeeds in fleshing out it's world to the highest possible extent, Black Clover ignores a ton of world building rules, and just grabs you along for the ride, and it's a good ride at that. Why have this major winding plot when you can just watch 2 rivals duke it out to be the Wizard King?

2: Soundtrack/OPs/Voice Acting(Sub)- Well, while for the first 13-15 episodes Asta's voice actor is decently unbearable, if you manage to stick with the show it is one of the best character performances I think I've ever seen. Every single character (unless they are an irrelevant side character) is oozing personality, and the voice actors definitely help here. When it comes to soundtrack, all 7 openings are absolute bangers, and look incredible too. There is no shortage of artistic liberty here. And then when you get to the soundtrack, this is a massive room for failure, but it succeeds, there are so many tracks and they're all incredibly memorable. Just hearing Yuno's theme is still insane, the show is auditory bliss.

3: Fight Visuals- The bread and butter of a Shonen, with shows like Mob Psycho, One Punch Man season 1 and Bungo Stray Dogs (Yes, they're not Shonen but they are benchmarks) showing me what fight scenes really can be, I was scared if Black Clover would ever live up to anything like them. Episodes 49 and 63 say everything, honestly. (The standard visuals are good, nothing spectacular though.)

Black Clover SHOULD NOT be good, it does nothing to separate itself from what already exists, but the clear love that the manga has been written from and the team behind the anime shows what can happen if you nurture a series to its maturity. I love this show, and I'm incredibly excited to see what will happen with it in the future.

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I don't know why people keep saying that this anime sucks! I personally enjoyed it and I think that it is underrated. I think that the story is good even though there are many other animes that are similar. I think that art is done nicely and I liked the voice acting even though some people thought that it sucked. I don't know why but people hate this anime because they think that Asta's annoying. Sure he screams a lot but that's what makes me like Asta more. I personally think that Asta's fun and likeable and is not annoying just because he screams a lot. I also hate how people review the anime and hate it when they are barely 10 episodes into it. Sure the anime started out slowly but as the story progressed it gets better and I also love how the anime has many mysteries that aren't solved yet. Like why the grimoire chose him and who's Asta's parents. The fights are really good too and make you want to watch more. The character development in this anime is also really amazing. You get to look deeper into each character's past and they also have their own moments to shine. The anime also never takes a break and always have something interesting happen. I don't get why people hate the anime so much but I 100% loved it and will continue to watch it!

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I dont know why this is given a 6/10. Like ever since the first couple episodes I loved this show! With all of Asta's badass moments it just fuels me. I love anime were the mc is just so badass and everyone thinks so too. Too bad thats not what everyone thought in the beginning but it does get better especially the recent episodes. Just give this show a chance and watch it the whole way through. Its just so cool how the mc has the power to negate all magic!!! And in future episodes everyone is going to know that and either think of him highly or eventually fear him when he gets more power. All I'm sayin is that most people need to give this show better credit and imagine the future of this anime and how far it will go. This anime is definitely in my top 10 favorite out of about 100 anime I've watched. And it will stay there if this show continues to show the greatness and power of Asta. I'm pretty sure the makers wont screw it up and make him weak. He might still be neglected to everyone who hasn't seen him in action for being strong for a while, but soon he will be seen as the True Wizard King!!

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I started to watch this show from the very beginning. At first I thought that it will have a lot of potential, but it had a very slow start and it got kinda boring. After I took a break and came back to it I was mindblown and it quickly became one of my favorite anime among: Dr. Stone, Demon Slayer, MHA Season 4 and others. Don't listen to the haters saying that the animation of some episodes it's garbage. Maybe it is for them because they are probably watching at a very low quality, but for me every single episode, aside from the 5 fillers that I never watched, were really great and made my afternoon, evening or night amazing. I really recommend this show. You won't regret it if you're gonna watch it.

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Let me make it perfectly unequivocally clear that this anime, Black Clover, is a gargantuan pile of hot hot salty garbage. It is also perhaps one of the most successful unintentional comedies it has ever been my pleasure to enjoy. Or is it intentional? After 41 episodes, I still find myself unable to say. That, ladies and gentleman, is the magic of Black Clover.

Story:
Imagine the most basic Shounen anime ever. Congratulations, you have just imagined Fairy Tail. Now make that just a little more seedy, and you have just gotten a good handle on what Black Clover is like. Fairy Tail but with more violence and sexuality.

The Clover Kingdom is a country that is ruled by a Wizard King and maintained by his Magic Knights. In dinky little bumblefuck village of Hage, two orphans named Asta and Yuno dream of becoming Magic Knights and one day the Wizard king. Yuno is a magic prodigy, Asta is completely devoid of even the smallest shred of magical power. But of course that is no impediment to a main character, and soon he acquires a sword that is able to totally cancel the magic of anybody else. The two rivals set out on a competitive dick-measuring journey to become Wizard Jesus.

It is the prototypical hero's tale, a young determined country bumpkin rises up against all odds and becomes OP as fuk very quickly. Lots of fights, some playful with friendly rivals and some against crazy people who can make lizards out of jelly, ensue. It is comforting in its simplicity and derivativeness. Nothing that requires you to think for a second.

Art:
Started off completely terrible. Really boring and bland, and kind of lazy with a lot of repetition. As the show went on it started to improve dramatically, to the point that the fights in the later arcs actually look really cool. Even the look of the slapsticky comedy moments improved over time, although they still look shitty enough to be lovably awful. The art is a small part of what makes this show such a campy gem.

Sound:
Oh boy. Here we go.
There is one central element of this show that simultaneously makes me hate and love the fuck out of it; it is what both repulsed me and kept me coming back for more. There is no way around it. The voice of the main character, Asta no last name, is the single most annoying sound that it has ever been my pleasure to endure. It is so mind mindbogglingly irritating, it haunts my dreams at night. If it is a genuine attempt to do a serious voice worthy of the protagonist of a long running Shounen battle anime, it is the single worst performance since Ashley Simpson did that hoedown on SNL. If it is an intentional joke, either by the voice actor or the director, it routinely makes me laugh so hard I cry.

Asta screams 100% of the time. He thinks his biggest curse is that he has no magic, but it is really that he has no inside voice. This cat quite literally ends most of his sentences with WHHHAAAAAAAAAAA! Swap him out for Waluigi, nobody would kind the difference.

The music is mostly average, but the OPs have been getting better and better. The first was eminently forgettable, but they have improved to the point where I watch them every time. The endings are universally not worth the time.

Characters:
From the get, the first thing we learn about this world is that everybody sucks. They are all maddeningly childish, most of the time they are being huge dicks to each other, nobody has any concept of personal space, nobody behaves like a human being in the slightest. While this pissed me off royally at first, I have reached a level of Stockholm Syndrome with this show that has left me rather warmly disposed toward almost everybody. Asta is a total spazz, screams all the time, is very dumb, an has no consideration for other people's feelings barring the rare times he can pull himself together and focus. His sword cuts through anything, it is Kryptonite and everybody else is Superman and also made of paper. Yuno's crazy-strong power is air, and that is fitting because he is also completely invisible as far as a personality goes. He wants to beat Asta and become wizard king. It is the only thought he has ever had, it is the only emotion he has ever expressed. Also there is a girl who is there named Noelle, who has water powers and confidence issues and likes Asta and that's about it.

Side characters are so aggressively quirky that I kind of expect to side with any villain who manages to do a nice thorough job of murdering them all. I do have to admit that I kind of love them for it though. Special shout outs to Charmy, a chibi whose magic is to conjure sheep and who is basicaly moe-blob Gluttony from FMA, Luck, a sociopathic child made of lightning and bloodlust, and Sally the mad scientist evil girl who makes salamanders out of Jelly.

Enjoyment:
Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated? I really should rate this show a 2 overall, because objectively it is poorly made, annoying, and is covering ground that has already been much more competently trodden by a million shows before it. But the amount of fun I had watching Black Clover leaves me giving it a 10 in enjoyment and an overall 9 for the experience I had following its story's devastating fall down the world's longest flight of stairs. I laughed harder watching this than at anything I can call to recent memory. It is so hilariously inept that is really should be seen and cherished for the shiny, polished turd it is.


In conclusion, if the phrase "so bad it's good" means anything to you at all, you would be doing yourself a disservice by not watching Black Clover. As Asta always screams, his magic is not giving up, and I am so glad he inspired me not to give up on Black Clover just because it was terrible. I am eternally grateful that he did, and my life is richer for the experience.

Now, to finish in true Black Clover style, WHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

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I don't know what happened, but the anime to me is a complete joke. I enjoyed the manga alot, and to be fair i did like different things like the art and how everything was animated, that wasn't bad. However the sound, the progression, transitions were all disgusting for what this could have been.

Sound
- it felt like the voice actors came cheap and they picked whoever offered to do it. It sounded terrible it didn't feel like most of the voice actors even fit with the characters
-The sound gets irritating as well from basically how bad it all played out. Especially if their shouting or screaming is annoying, ASTA.
-music decent, wasn't bad
Progression
-There is no feeling of progression that you typically see in these types of shounen animes where the main character grows with experience. we're just left with some kid who bring out some swords from a book, feels like the real progression are left with the side characters.
Transition
-this mainly ties in with the sound, but adding onto their terrible voice acting the way it shifts lines from character to narrator to character is stupid, i hate it.

Story- it's your typical generic shounen type of setting of hoping to achieve something great with hard work and overcoming obstacles. It is not a bad type of story and has alot of potential to be interesting.
Art- The magic looked really cool, the fighting was well animated and smooth.
Characters- generic but interesting characters, tsundere good for nothing rich girl, naruto like attitude big sword wielding kid, OP do it all magic rival, etc. yep, not that bad.

Enjoyment- really low, the voice acting just totally strips any type of immersion. you start to get into it "maybe it's not that bad" terrible voice acting, bad transitions, and Asta annoying screaming "nevermind"

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I think it's time I wrote a review of Black Clover. At the time of writing, I've watched a horrendous 108 episodes. I've really given it my best shot.

Here's the short of it: Black Clover is an anime for people who don't watch much anime.

Black Clover really, badly wants to be one of the big boys. You've got a bit of Naruto and Fairy Tail, even One Piece influences. I haven't watched much of the extremely long-form shounen series, with Naruto being the only one I enjoyed and completed, so I'm sure that there are influences from others as well.

There is a whole cast of major characters and a world full of unique side characters that really is the strength of the show. Unfortunately, the characters are mostly one dimensional, with very little complexity behind their motivations.

The art is pretty atrocious most of the time and it's clear that the anime is on a tight budget. Some of the best most important scenes of the anime were completely ruined by some of the worst animation I've ever seen.

In my eyes, the sound is the most important part of modern entertainment. People really don't even notice it, but it makes all the difference. I strongly believe that Black Clover could be three or four times better if it had a good soundtrack. The music is absolutely atrocious and I don't know what they were thinking. As a side note, although it didn't bother me as much, the main character is extremely loud and annoying, pretty much all the time.

If you want an example of how important music is, go watch an intense scene of Naruto, and then go watch one of Boruto. Then go watch the Boruto arc where they go back in time and all of the music is switched back to the original anime. It's a stark and obvious contrast.

That brings us to the most important part of any anime. The story. Bad news, the story of Black Clover is boring. Yeah, there's a big twist in episode 115 that changes the meaning of the last 70 episodes, but it's not big enough to make those episodes worth watching. The story arcs are usually focused on uncovering one of the major character's powers or dealing with their 'struggles'. But the arcs are very simplistic and don't have a lot of depth to them.

The only positive note about this anime is that there is little filler. Things move pretty fast although some of the arcs were too long for what they were trying to accomplish in my opinion.

Black Clover is hamstrung at every turn by it's poor animation, boring story, flat characters and appalling soundtrack.

HOWEVER, you're also going to read a lot of glowing reviews. I strongly believe these are coming from people who don't watch much anime and don't know any better. That or young teenagers, maybe even children. If you fall into any of these categories and don't have more refined (or jaded depending on how you look at it) taste, then this anime might actually be for you.

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The trickling sound of raindrops echoes throughout your room as you stretch your legs under the covers. Looking through the glass panes on your window, you unfurl the overcast sky with your eyes. A sense of sloth weeps over your body while you sift through the potential ways you can entertain yourself on such a gloomy day. You weigh your options and eventually stumble on some reality show from the mid 2000s. As you begin to watch you realize that there’s something almost reminiscent about it. It’s like you’ve seen this scripted story play out before. You let yourself be guided by the charm of the heavily-edited storyline that the producers set up for your entertainment. At times you even question whether they know that everyone can see through the conspicuously manufactured storytelling. Nonetheless, you let the Hollywood producers that orchestrated this show and its motley cast of characters take you on their journey... and you end up kinda digging it?

Black Clover is like that reality show that you binge on a rainy day. It’s not a sophisticated or groundbreaking piece of media, perhaps it’s even your guilty pleasure; however, the anime manages to be entertaining enough to make you stick around. Let’s be real, any one of us can come up with Black Clover’s plot. I’m sure I could pick out one of my friends at random to create a story of equal depth and detail as Black Clover’s premise easily. That being said, the execution of said plot is still entertaining and somewhat successful. Don’t get me wrong, just because the story isn’t some intricate narrative full of complex themes doesn’t mean it can’t hold its own against its peers. We don’t need to consume revolutionary media all the time, it’s fine to let your mind take a break and engage with straightforward storytelling; in fact, I think Black Clover allows its viewers to do this quite well. The dynamic between the characters becomes more endearing as the story progresses. The plot also contains some nuance that gets fleshed out as you move through the episodes, with the peak being the Elf Reincarnation Arc.

In terms of production quality Black Clover has its ups and downs. There are times when the animation is not up to par with modern anime whereas in other instances it excels. In general, Black Clover manages to successfully adapt the source material despite fluctuations in quality. My favorite part of the show is probably the opening and ending themes. Almost every OP/ED delivers a fantastic musical performance with visuals that are just as good. This is ultimately one of Black Clover’s strongest points.

Breakdown
Story: 5/10
I’ve penalized this category mostly due to originality. Since most people I know could come up with a story of this caliber I can’t give it more than a 5. I don’t mind watching an archetypal shounen plot unfold, but some of the naming choices make me wonder if this was written by a middle schooler.. “Princess-Healing Flower Robe”?? “Curse-Breaking Blood Cocoon”? whose kid came up with that, please lmk. The first few episodes are also a little bit insufferable, relying too much on shounen tropes.

Art: 7/10
As mentioned earlier, there are some fluctuations in the animation’s quality, especially during the Royal Knights Arc. Overall Black Clover still maintains a competent level of animation with a nice art style.

Sound: 8/10
The openings slapppppp, that’s all I have to say.

Character: 6/10
The characters are charming and fun to watch, some of them are annoying but what can you expect from a long-running shounen. Other characters remain a bit questionable (I’m looking at you Gauche) but overall they’re well thought out.

Enjoyment: 7/10
If you’re looking to sit back and relax while watching a straightforward action anime I think you might enjoy this pick. Black Clover probably checks every box on the list of Generic Anime 101, but hey, when did returning to the fundamentals become so bad?

Overall: 6/10

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