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I really don't understand why this anime get's such good reviews, it's average at best hence my rating of 5. There are some nice elements that make it watchable, but ultimately the anime is boring.

SOUND: About what you would expect. It's average, good enough, but not good enough to overlook the drastically detracting qualities of this anime.

CHARACTERS: The characters and character development is good. Their back stories and origins are good. It's nothing special, new, or particularly enthralling, but definitely better than your average Shounen character development by a longshot. In fact, this is the best part of the anime. If you like slice of ... life, or anime's that focus on characters, their interaction, their development, and their relationships, then you may really enjoy this anime.

PLOT: Interesting enough. Without going into spoilers you can see above under characters what to expect here. Character relations and interactions are the main focus. However, the plot is also not good enough to overlook the drastically detracting qualities of this anime.

ANIMATION and DIRECTION: I combine these two elements together because they are both easily the biggest issues that this anime has and are related to each other. THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH THIS ANIME is that it is boring. Specifically the Rakugo is boring. Other reviewers have discussed this as well and it's just bad. I took the advice of another reviewer and searched up Rakugo on an "unspecified video hosting site" (you know the one I just don't know if I'm aloud to advertise it on MAL), and saw a Rakugo performance of the Shinigami, which is one that is discussed and performed in the anime. The one on the video hosting site was 1000x better performed, voiced, and acted than anything in Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu. The characters are not animated (speaking figuratively here as they are obviously 'animated') when performing, the voice actors are boring and just speak faster. It is literally just the characters sitting there, talking fast in Japanese, with a laugh track over it. A real Rakugo performer takes on different postures, voices, and characteristics for the characters they portray. A real Rakugo performer will whisk you away to a different world and build imagery in your mind of the story they are telling. A real Rakugo performer is not even close to what is portrayed in this anime. There was so much that the director and animators could have done to really make this a fantastic anime. So, animation and direction get an F.

THINGS THAT NEEDED TO HAPPEN TO MAKE THIS ANIME JUSTIFY IT'S 8 ON MAL: First, it needed to have better voice actors, or rather, voice actors should know how to portray different voiced characters... Really no excuse for the voice actors on this one. I know they are not Rakugo performers but they are VOICE ACTORS! Voicing different characters in a Rakugo performance should be no problem for them. Second, the Rakugo performances would have benefited from some serious sakuga (for the characters characterizations during the performance) or just other animations. They play around with this in one Rakugo performance where we do cut to a black background and see some other images from the story being told, but it's sparce and underperforms. Three, I understand that they need to tell the Rakugo stories fast because there is only 23 minutes per episode (except the first one) and that a real Rakugo performance can easily be 30 minutes. So, if the director cut the stories down to the most essential parts, directed the voice actors to use different voices for characters in the Rakugo performance, and directed the animators to visually animate the world of the story being told, then this anime would justify it's 8 or even a 9. I know that Rakugo is not a visual medium, but anime is, so animation should have been a key factor in this show but instead, it's just garbage.

Overall: 5 Average. The only reason that I scored this as a 5 instead of a 4 is because 4 is "Bad" and this anime is not bad, it's just deeply flawed, had some very bad choices made by the director, and is just plane boring. If I had to sum up this anime in one sentence it would be "A missed opportunity for greatness."

This anime has a lot of potential but it really depends on how the anime plays out through the rest of the season.

CHARACTERS:
To start with character's and there development, there is some. We are slowly introduced to each characters background which is good for development and understanding their motives, however, it may be a little much as each episode so far has jumped between quite a few different characters (each episode featuring a different character or duo) while still retaining a center view on our two main characters Gabimaru and Sagiri. We can see some character development for Gabimaru due to the interactions with his ... wife and Sagiri, and some character development with Sagiri as she faces the struggles of being seen as inferior as a female samurai. However the character development is minimal though it may be still to early to tell.

ANIMATION:
Average. The characters and scenery are drawn well, the actual animation is standard, nothing extraordinary.

SOUND:
Average.

STORY:
Has potential. So far the story of looking for the elixir of immortality by a group of criminals and their samurai guards on a fantastical island has potential. However, there is a lot of wasted time overly focusing on side characters backgrounds, and repetitive filler of characters going over what we already learned about the fantastical world they inhabit. One of the more interesting aspects is Gabimaru's flashbacks, not to his wife, but to the head of his ninja clan. (Minor spoiler) It would seem that his clan leader is himself immortal which raises the question of whether or not he had found the elixir of immortality himself long ago. These aspects of the story along with Gabimaru and Sagiri's interactions are easily the better parts of the story, though they are minimized by the sheer amount of characters we have to slog through with every episode.

CONCLUSION:
This anime has potential, though it is a little formulaic in regards to the characters and development. It is a little overly cluttered with minor characters whom we have yet to see woven into the purpose of the story. Our two lead characters are fine with potential, and the ultimate success of this anime will depend on how we see it continue to develop their story and the more interesting aspects introduced through Gabimaru's background leading to his future. As for now, I am comfortable giving this anime a 7, Good, as it is good enough to keep me watching for the rest of the season, but the final rating will depend on how the show continues to develop which, from what I have seen, does raise a bit of concern. There is potential to have a good to great anime here, but that depends on that which has yet to be seen.

This anime can be summed up in one word. Boring. I have been a Gundam fan my entire life and this is easily the weakest entry into the series. The prequel to this series showed us a hardboiled, dark and distant future that had promise, but the actual anime is a high school drama with mecha duels. The whole premise of the show is basically Gundam girl shows up at a mobile suit academy where corporate disputes and power struggles are settled by children dueling one on one in mobile suits while they also use the duels to settle their petty high school dramas amongst ... themselves. The characters are bland. The protagonist is a stuttering crybaby and a fool. The pseudo philosophy is half baked. Daddy issues abound left and right. The animation is decent and that's about the only positive that I have to share. Some may criticize the queer aspects of the anime but homosexuality is nothing new for Japan. However, having this much focus on romance and marriage proposals and fiancées really has me wondering who this anime is marketed towards? Gundam has a long history of being a shounen anime set in desperate wars that have left humanity ravaged where a hero or heroes are forged to lead us to a brighter future with tons of great mecha battles generously peppered throughout. Meanwhile this anime may as well be called "Gundam the Girly High School Drama Edition." In fact, this so called "gundam" series has a very strong resemblance to another anime titled "Revolutionary Girl Utena" which is a shojo anime and while good in it's own right, it really begs the question of who this anime is made for? I can't help but wonder who is giving this anime such great reviews other than progressive westerners who see the queer angle and are putting this on a pedestal thinking "Yes! Japan is finally embracing our wokeness!" without realizing that is not what Japan is doing. This anime is just Japan being Japan. It is Japanese creators ripping off an older anime, copy pasting yet another high school drama where kids play out the struggles of adults. This is nothing we haven't seen before a million times in other anime's, it's just the first time we are seeing it in Gundam. To be honest, (and as a side note) I am really getting tired of the school setting trope in seasonal anime as only a few have managed to pull it off well. Is there a slump in the creativity in Japan as there has been for the last decade here in the west?
TL;DR
Boring. If you want real Gundam action check out literally any other Gundam series as this one is the worst and is Gundam in name only.
Overall Rating: 1

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.

UNBIASED HONEST REVIEW OF THE CURRENT STATE OF THE ANIME

Story 1 - Pathetic - Right now it's all filler with one actual kind of good arch from the Naruto Gaiden Manga, however, it follows Sarada Uchiha, and Boruto isn't in the arch at all. It's funny that at 33 episodes in the best arch in the Boruto anime is an arch without Boruto in it. Not because boruto is bad, but because literally everything else is filler. The Sarada arch is the only thing that's actually good because it's Naruto canon based on the Naruto gaiden manga, but it's still filler in this anime, because ... while it's Narutoverse canon it's not Boruto canon and this anime is Boruto, not Naruto. The reason for all the filler is because they want to wait to let the manga get further ahead. Even with the good Sarada arch, I guarantee you that years later when newcomers ask us old folks who started watching from the beginning, for a filler list, we will tell them that the first 100 episodes +/- are all filler and you can literally start watching on ep. 101 without missing a thing, because that's when the anime literally starts. Honestly, why they didn't just decide to wait a year to let the manga get ahead is beyond my understanding, but w/e. The story score is subject to change given future non filler episodes, but right now because the show is 100% filler it gets a score of 1 - Pathetic, which is one more point than any filler episode from any anime deserves.

Art 8 - Very Good - The art and animation is really good. Not much more to say here except that the anime is petty and the characters movements are what we expect from a Narutoverse anime.

Sound 6 - Fair - Sound is good. Sound effects/folly's are good. The ost however is not so good. Pretty much a copy paste from Naruto and no real new songs as far as in episode songs are concerned. Idc about intro and outro songs because I skip all that anyways, it's just filler imo. So with sound effects being good and ots being mediocre I split the difference at 6 - fair.

Character 6 - Fair - The characters are fun, and the only upside about the filler is we get to see the characters build relationships with each other. The only problem is that this relationship building takes place in filler episodes that everyone will skip in the future and therefore no one will see the character building that goes on here in the filler. Also, you can only watch so many character-backstory-interaction-relationship-building episodes before you want to pull your hair out and get on to an actual canon story arch.

Enjoyment 4.5 - Decent - I enjoy it because I loved Naruto and generally enjoy anything in the Narutoverse. For this reason I would personally score my enjoyment and the likely enjoyment of Naruto fans at 6 - Fair. However, if I was coming to this anime cold, having never watched Naruto before, I feel the enjoyment would drop to 3 - Poor, because newbs would not be versed enough in the lore to know what's really going on, would not have any connection with this world and characters, and would likely be more turned off by the 100+/- filler episodes than a fanboy like me would. So, I split the difference and give it a 4.5 - Decent.

Overall 5 - Mediocre. This is the number I get when I average all the scores from the component parts, and for right now it about suits the anime. Right now Boruto is a Mediocre anime that you can skip. There is literally no reason to watch this anime until they decide to start doing canon episodes. Once the cannon episodes start to air, then my score is subject to change, but right now after watching 33 episodes of filler, you can skip this anime completely for now.