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Nov 20, 2025
Minene is the only good thing about this show everything else is mid
Nah, but seriously, this entire plot feels like a retcon. Half of the shit that goes on throughout the story just doesn’t make sense. I feel like this is something I could only understand if I somehow lost access to my frontal lobe. And genuinely most of the developments throughout the show has me scratching my head like a damn monkey. I don’t think I could create a story similar to this even if I popped twelve tabs of acid, and I don’t mean that as a compliment either.
Also, can we talk
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about the “pick your poison” nature of this anime? Genuinely who the fuck is this anime geared toward? Child predators? I’m pretty sure the only nudity shown in this show of someone over the age of like 16 is Minene and everyone, like legitimately almost every female character, has excessive amounts of nudity shown. Including Minene too. So if this show is geared toward a younger audience, then why incorporate so much god damn nudity, and if it’s geared toward an older audience, why are we showing nudity of children? I get the age of consent laws in Japan yada yada, but damn man, it’s still weird.
Anyway, I’ll let y’all know my opinion on this show once I’ve had my lobotomy
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Feb 19, 2025
I will start this review off with a Chinese proverb that I have lived most of my life by, and I also feel is extremely applicable to the story of Black Clover, "Walking among three people, I find my teacher among them. I choose that which is good in them and follow it, and that which is bad and change it." - Confucious.
People love to draw comparison and say Black Clover “steals” plot points from Naruto, Bleach, or even Fairy Tail. While that is undoubtedly true to some capacity, I feel as if Black Clover expands upon those very run-of-the-mill shōnen tropes and improves upon
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it. You could even say Black Clover chooses which is good in its inspiration and follows it, and changes the bad. This is why I believe it is the best long running anime, and why hardcore Naruto, Bleach, or Fairy Tail fans swarm this show with hate. So before I get into the proper review, if you are biased to a show you’ve watched prior, good for you, but it is best to watch this — or any other shōnen for that matter — with an open mind. You will enjoy the show if you stop drawing comparison. Now for the review.
The show follows Asta, a boy who had all of the odds stacked against him. Born with no magic power and existing in a world where almost everybody else has natural magic capabilities has proven to be very difficult for him. Within the very first episode, you can immediately see the difference between Asta’s character and everybody else. Many viewers find him annoying, but they also forget that he has grown up being doubted. Asta has always been the only one believing in himself for his entire life, acting in an almost brazen manner to keep himself and his ambitions in check. Even with his confident outlook, Asta learns very quickly that he cannot brute force his way to success. His magic inability and attitude causes him to be greatly looked down upon by his fellow peers at the village on the outskirts of the capital.
And as you can imagine, when Asta travels to the capital and decides to become a Magic Knight, a role of high respect and authority, his lack of magic, nonexistent formality, and brash attitude aren’t received very well. But against all odds, Asta is eventually offered a position in the Black Bulls squad, infamous for being filled with delinquents, outsiders, oddballs, and bad actors. This is the first turning point of the show where despite there being enemies that Asta has to fight — cause duh, it’s a shōnen — a lot of the fight also comes from Asta trying to gain a positive reputation within the capital as not only a Black Bull, but also as himself.
In a space largely dominated by royals because their natural magic power is simply greater, the Black Bulls are very looked down upon and seen as the “odd ones out”. As the show progresses, it is continuously put into perspective how Asta has begun at the absolute bottom. Asta is initially doubted by the Black Bulls, who, ironically, are the ones who are doubted by all other Magic Knight squads. So while we are watching Asta progress, we are also watching Asta slowly prove himself worthy to the Black Bulls, and we are watching the Black Bulls progress too. Asta’s personality has a domino effect which I find to be quite realistic, because the odds are truly set against him, but through his unwavering confidence, he still inspires. It’s as if we are getting triple underdog action at all times, and it makes the show all the more better. And the best part is everybody still doubts the Black Bulls for a long while, it’s not like an asswipe cliché where suddenly everybody views them as better… It’s realistic, people are biased, especially against those who have the odds stacked against them. The royals will always be held with higher regard, even if others work harder than them.
Which leads me to my next point, the characters. While I do find some character personality traits to be extremely bland and repetitive, I single-handedly think the characters are the best written aspect of this show by far. Characters are introduced in strange ways because it’s like they are all trying very hard to be distinct from one another, but after the introduction hurdle is passed, they all seem pretty rational and very human in their own regard. Hell, even the main antagonists of the show the first 100 episodes or so have actual reason to think the way they do aside from just being evil. I remember almost every relevant character name almost 2 years after watching which I have never been able to do and find so easy with any other show. This show simply wouldn’t have the same charm it does without some characters, even ones that seem somewhat irrelevant. If you take the time to put yourself into the shoes of some characters, you might be able to understand why they are the way they are. Except Gauche, I still don’t know or don’t care why he’s creepily obsessed with his sister. But even he eventually grows on me.
Also this point will make no sense at all, but the show feels like it was animated by underdogs. At times, the animation is so ass it’s almost hard to watch, but when there is something they KNOW they need to execute well, they lock in and it makes those moments all the more better. This show is perfect, despite its flaws, it’s is quite the rollercoaster of a show. But it still manages to be my favorite anime of all time. It undoubtedly has its highs and lows, but I think the highs stand out way much more than the lows.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Apr 2, 2024
Solo Levelling is a modern masterpiece in some areas, but a complete fumble in others.
To preface, I can understand why my review would be the unpopular opinion here, it’s undeniable that the overall quality of the show is astounding. For those of you who like to watch stereotypical shōnen anime and/or overpowered main characters brutally destroy everything and anything, then this show is 100% for you. Furthermore, Solo Levelling established and made it apparent quite early in this show that they are focusing more on the fights than the story, so I’d say that you’d know quite early if you would like this anime
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or not. But if you find that concept a bit shallow, then you may be like me, and you may have a few gripes that only escalate more throughout the episodes.
The best way to describe the feeling of this anime is it’s the equivalent to that kid in elementary school who’d play fight, but would never lose because they’d always come up with some bullshit excuse on the spot… But now give that kid a multi-million dollar budget with great animators, and boom, you got Solo Levelling. At times, the plot armor is unfathomable, I mean, the entire story is just about Sung Jinwoo (aka Himothy) who’s just him, because he’s him. That’s it. In all fairness though, to give the benefit of the doubt, I was someone who had the manga hyped up to me quite a lot, but I never took at it dig myself (which I might do, we’ll see). So I’ll be honest, a fair sum of my review is based upon my expectation for this series. Also, for only 12 episodes, the show does a phenomenal job at establishing the baseline for what’s to come.
But without further ado, I’d like to get into more depth as to why I feel the way I do about the series.
Pros:
* Animation | The animation is outstanding, it’s undeniable that the best part of the show is the absolute eye candy the studio provides you with throughout its 12 episode tenure.
* Theming | The aesthetics and use of blues in the environment to match with the main character is a cool addition to me. An example I found particularly interesting is how the theming contains frequent use of blues, which kind of subconsciously associates itself with the main character, who is obviously the most important based on the title alone. It’s cool to see directors taking the beaten path when it comes to creativity, and I’ll give the show credit for that.
* Soundtrack / sound design | I found the soundtrack to be undeniably amazing at some points, especially during the fights. If it’s not abundantly obvious to you by now, the production does is NOT lacking in any way.
* Swag | As much as it makes me cringe even writing this, I think the main character has some pretty cool moments. I’m mainly reiterating this point for those who live for action with no regard for story.
* Choreography | As a sub-point to the animation, the fight choreography is great.
Cons:
* Story / writing | As mentioned prior, the writing just doesn’t pique my interest to be honest. It’s kind of hard to cover this without spoiling anything as the main focus of this show is important fights, but I mean, if you’ve heard nothing of the manga or anime prior, you’ll get what you expect, I guess.
* Characters | Out of any anime I’ve seen, I think this show has the most forgettable characters, even getting to the point where I forget the name of the main character at times. I personally tend to dislike anime which only draws its attention to one character, so this point may be more of a personal gripe, but I enjoy variety… This show just feels like nobody was even living before the main character decided one day he was gonna be the best, I guess.
* Pacing | Not to spoil, but I will say, the show takes like, 4 episodes for the main character to become arguably the best out of anybody else who was introduced at that point. For an example, I swear there was one episode where the main character just entirely changed appearances randomly… it just felt out of place.
* Plot armor | My biggest issue with the whole series which certainly does ruin it for me a bit. Each fight is just a compilation of watching the main character get his ass beat for like 10 minutes straight, then seeing what bullshit he can pull out his ass to just barely scrape by. As I’ve already said 100 times, if you enjoy a bit of depth or even variety to your stories, then this show might not be for you.
* Length | To be honest, with a show of this nature, I would’ve preferred to watch the main character develop and build himself slower, hence why I love shows like Black Clover so much.
* Serotonin release, the show | Most people who rate this show highly are praising it on its production, I really don’t see any any other reason to be rating it so high, to be honest. So I don’t know, maybe I’m just too old, or maybe I’ve just watched one too many shōnens by now, but I’m just very disinterested. If it was my first time watching anime, I’d likely have given this show a higher rating, but I think in comparison to what else is out there nowadays, this show waned in comparison story-wise.
Overall review:
* Animation: 10/10
* Story: 4/10
* Theming: 8.5/10
* Characters: 4.5/10
* Overall: 67.5% (but I rounded down cus I’m a hater… jk).
If I had to compare it to other shows of the sort and/or other shows that are 12 episodes in length, I’d certainly say this is one of the best for what it is. I definitely just think that this style of show just isn’t my niche, hence why I said that I’m probably in the unpopular opinion here.
TL;DR, If you’re in dire search for a show just to watch for leisure and you’re an absolute FIEND for action, then certainly give this show a go. The coldness of the main character is quite cool at times, and the theming is almost unparalleled entirely in anime for me. But in my opinion, the show suffers greatly when it comes to the writing, pacing, characters, and storyline (at least thus far). After all, it’s only 12 episodes, it wont hurt at all to give a try. I do recommend it, but it wouldn’t be my top choice, 6/10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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