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I enjoyed the show a lot, it primarily exists to have fun. it did make me laugh out loud and entertained me throughout. just don‘t expect a masterpiece, this show has 12 episodes for god's sake. what it does offer is great art and animation, a very fun dynamic between the main cast and a sensible portrayal of a main aspect of friendship: envy. with a side of getting over teenage angst. another topic that many reviewers seem to neglect is the antagonist fighting against societal pressure to give up his "silly" hobby, something that every older anime fan can easily relate with...

I get ... that the "Dio on a skateboard" character might be a dealbreaker for some, but to me it was a hilarious hommage. and since I don‘t get why you’d watch sports anime for the scripted competition part, deciding to make the races -so- over the top felt like a much appreciated breeze of fresh air. other moments, like the ones with "the loyal dog", were clearly intended to comment on the tropes that the anime makes great use of and if you vibe with that dry meta humor (looking at you, fans of saiki k.), they were hilarious, too.

this anime is not supposed to be a drama or sports epic, it's a made-to-be-taken-as-light-entertainment piece. but it covers enough to keep you interested and again, it looks fantastic. if you take it lightly and enjoy fan service you will have a good time.

never have i ever... wanted to watch an anime that glorifies emotional dependency :(

“you can decide, do you want to sleep with me or not have anything to do with me at all“ (couple 1)
“enough, stop pretending, i know you want me to screw you“ (couple 2)
“i didn‘t mean the relationship when i asked ‚so this is the end?‘.“ (couple 2)

does the art even matter if you hate the show’s concept of love?
my inner alarm bells were triggered so many times throughout this show. it is sickening to think about how many people are stuck in unhealthy relationships like these. seriously guys, i ... even liked Super Lovers, but this is a whole new level. make a reality check before you’re tricked into fangirl mode. DEFINITELY DO NOT WATCH IF YOU’VE EXPERIENCED EMOTIONAL ABUSE IN YOUR PAST!

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couple (1):
uke1 and seme1 haven‘t seen each other since elementary school when they meet again in high school and seme1 drops that „sex or not spending time“ line. let me remind you, at this point they’re strangers, they missed crucial years for anybody’s character development! while the anime suggests somebody who is in love would say something like that uke1 wants his old best friend back so bad that instead of punching him and moving on, he realizes he’s in love with that jerk.

WTF, this is emotional dependency at its best. you’re so afraid to loose an important person that you would do anything said person demands. and adults comment „they were close as kids, must mean they love each other“ - great, so this is the level of depth this anime has...

in their actual relationship this pattern continues. seme1 can’t stand that uke1 has a best friend and is constantly mean to him. uke1 complains but does nothing no matter how unbearable it gets. it is sickening that the show implies this is ok and what love looks like and obviously gets away with it, looking at all the good reviews. just to be clear, this is not seme1 „having a character“, but simply being shitty. if he had any character at least you‘d be able to say uke1 has a messed up taste, but nah, there’s just nothing they could actually love each other for.

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couple (2):
neglected child meets man with helper complex. this dynamic of the main couple sounds dark and quite promising, both sides have a good psychological reason to fall in love. the gang history of both of them as well as the present teacher student situation feel a little like too obvious choices, but whatever, i like it, it‘s sexy. or so i thought. the problem is not the age gap but how seme2 behaves in this scenario.

uke2 lived in hell when seme2 lets him stay at his home. hero turns stray into housewife (eye roll), secretly feelings develop as familiarity builds up over the years. but ok, if the grooming a bride vibes don‘t turn you off, it‘s cute.

when the teenager finally shows signs of a crush but doesn’t make a move the adult gets impatient. deciding the time of restraint and patting hair is over because he might get some 15y old booty now he drops line 2 from above, in a casual conversation. eww. and to top his shitshow off he lies about not being able to return the teen‘s feelings, although he actually expects him to come forward afterwards.

WTF. we understand you can’t restrain your desires any longer, we know the drill, but is uke2 so unimportant to you, you didn‘t even think this through for 2 consecutive minutes? of course, not only does this crush self esteem, it destroys all the security you built up for him all. these. fucking. years. - for what? a quicker fuck? that’s just disgusting. how selfish can a person be? could this be handled any worse? is „l’m just not a hero“ all you got as an excuse for being an absolute ass? why don‘t you stop him from running away?

down falls the neglected child and with it all the likeability of seme2. but of course this is not the end of things, because... yeah, this is shonen ai.

future „romantic“ events include:
breaking into your student‘s apartment when your bad conscience is finally bugging you. not caring for the pace your 15y old is comfortable with, constantly telling him he needs to show more initiative. playing games about being found out at school although your partner doesn’t want it. knowingly hurting your partner for the sake of teaching him a oh so ‚valuable‘ life lesson. using your friends for a stupid loyalty test to further provoke the thought that the relationship is in constant danger. not seeking the healthy conversation immediately, making sure to trigger his insecurity problems, repeatedly, knowingly. seriously saying line 3!!!

all of this is painful to watch. because again - this is emotional dependency. when everything good that ever happened to uke2 is connected to seme2, then without him, he has simply nowhere to go. breaking up or even trying to avoid the other to think means going back to life in hell. and seme2 doesn‘t care enough to act a tad more responsible and prevent his lover from scarring. instead he is provoking the poor teenager again and again.

being in love is no excuse for totally misusing your position of power. don’t get me wrong, nobody’s perfect. but we’re talking bare minimum common sense here. seme2 could’ve easily taken the pressure from uke2 and given him the assurance he knows this boy needs. you don’t need to be a hero to tell your loved one that it’s ok to have doubts. that he can stay at home anyways. but he doesn’t. why this is considered love i don‘t know, to me it certainly is nauseating.

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if i have to give the anime credit for anything then it would be that it is bold enough to pick the topic of being stuck in an unhealthy relationship.

i think it’s great that gay relationships in general are normalized by the characters. i like the artstyle. i like that it concentrated on an established relationship. that it showed how difficult relationships with big age gaps are for the more experienced partner.

but in the end i can‘t forgive that it‘s romanticizing emotional abuse.
actually nobody should.
the devil lies in the details stated above.

i don‘t want to overlook everything just because this is anime and the industry cannot overcome its tropes. or just because it is shonen ai and there is not a lot of better stuff out there.

i hope someday the quality of my favourite genre will change into something the gay community mustn‘t be ashamed of - No.6 and banana fish are a good start, watch them instead if you haven‘t already, they have an actual genre besides shonen ai. it’s quite sad that this show has almost a rating as high as those...

ok, just a random list of things i liked about it and also might convince you to overthink a negative review. containing mild unspecific spoilers!

+ dystopian post apocalyptic setting (don‘t expect too much though)
+ sewer diving, multiple manhunts, mass murder, corpse pile climbing (i actually felt sick watching this, but it added to the dystopia greatly)
+ unique fantasy plot twist nobody ever expected
(for some ppl it is too weird, i get that, but i‘ll gladly take it, weird is better than more of the same old hero/romance plot cookbook shit)
+ badass action
+ sensitive worldbuilding, background, friendship, falling in love, bittersweet love stuff
+ there is ... a girl openly asking for shion‘s semen for gods sake
+ inukashi is a likeable non binary character
+ consensual realistic homo relationship, much equality
+ crossdressing seme
+ nezumi and shion fight a lot, because they are actually fundamentally different, very refreshing.
+ shion wants to change from within and truly does grow up, not a useless uke type
+ nezumi is broken and needs his time. i don‘t think that‘s boring, it’s psychologically accurate. also it’s a storytelling device that shows that trust must be earned and the established relationship between the main characters is always at stake. very rare in shonen ai.
+ slow steps and nuances in developing a relationship have a place in anime, yay. because this is based on a novel all these characters ‚go’ somewhere. in words there is more room for subtle development than in manga and you can notice, if you’re watching carefully. in contrast to anime in which every thought is verbalized, this anime requires you to interpret what is lying underneath a sentence that is spoken.
+ the anime respects the tone and pacing of the light novel and basically brings it to life. of course you might feel more invested as a reader but this is as close to an original as it gets. as a person who has read the books second i felt like skipping pages because the order of scenes/dialogues were too similar to the anime.
+ no happy end.


i am actually quite happy that consensual(!) shonen ai anime with an established and canon(!) relationship as well as actual genre(!) and plot(!) get produced at all! it is sad what a rare gem no.6 is in this respect, so it deserves a high rating :‘D
but tbh i was quite impressed and refreshed by no.6, i did not only enjoy the watch but think „oh, this market in lost town, this dog hotel, this action scene is exactly what i hoped for“, „wtf is happening, this is why i love anime, it can do anything“ or „inukashi just changed from an event without stating the obvious, thank you“. i feel like negative reviewers do not see this anime in relation to the worst shonen ai’s out there but rather they compare it to their ideals, something that won‘t get you far in shonen ai :‘D .

i wish the main characters were just a tad older though, coolness would‘ve been multiplied if they were 22 instead of 15ish...

overall well made, dark and enjoyable.
but the dystopia... well, you should consider this before watching:
after the first 5 min/the first kill you know this is no world worth living in so the rest of the anime you wait for change. change that never comes because this show simply isn’t about rebellion. it is about police officers that kill some psychos and slowly undergo an inner process.

the movie basically is what i would‘ve liked IN the actual season, so maybe just watch that if you want more true dystopian action.

the criminal protagonists are too good and commited no real crimes to begin with, they ... are obviously the victims in this scenario but not once do they fight or even make plans against the system. the good inspectors are naive tools of the system for the most part. their antagonist is basically the saviour of the world with the most sane view on human dignity (freedom). oh yeah, but he is a blood thirsty psycho, too, isn’t that convenient.

supposedly this should make me question the state of society but it just felt forced. like the story is trying way to hard to provoke certain thoughts in the viewer... but never lets the characters that fucking live in this world act on these exact thoughts. meh. it can be frustrating. for the anime’s system being so obviously flawed everything is too black and white by design, thus slowing the anticipated developments down. i expected at least some of the „good“ guys to wake up and change sides for the sake of humanity but sadly the anime avoids opportunities for real conflict and stretches everything out.

that being said - all in all it’s still a solid futurisric dark anime. no humor at all. a lot of violence and some nice quotes/references contribute to an overall entertaining athmosphere that i liked. good character design and the characters develop quite a lot, so that is another plus. read about all this in other reviews. it’s really well made, so although it has the limitations mentioned above and didn‘t quite satisfy me storywise, it still has a cool vibe to it and i would recommend a watch. there is a lot of trash out there but this isn‘t.

(update) OMG YES ELVES, DEVILS AND WITCHES!!
i love how the later episodes turned out - very cool new characters, worldbuilding and meaningful story developments that are revealed at a fast pace. everyone gets their time in the spotlight, too, and fun dynamics develop. god i love yami‘s dry humor. i could not have asked for a better continuation after my old review.

i was quite sceptical if i (25) could ever endure watching another 100+ episodes anime but black clover did so many things right that i never felt bored. everytime i got used to a scenario and thought „oh come on now“ the ... anime added a „shortcut“ or twist, driving the story forward immensely. the writers really didn‘t want it to drag. (just make sure to skip recaps if you bingewatch)

(original review, ch.28 was just released)
normally, i love anime like cowboy bebop and samurai champloo but there simply aren’t many anime that can compare, so, well, fuck it. magic world, somebody hiding the identity of two boys that are exceptional, a stuck up nobility that begs to be stirred up, harry potter like houses of magic - i’ve watched less promising stuff. so i started black clover out of boredom and was positively surprised.

yes, asta‘s voice and enthusiasm is going on my nerves like naruto did when i was 14, but at least he gets to a decent and entertaining level of power fast. the underdog showing off almost from the get go has me watching episode after episode. no whining, just fuck off the established elite, tysm. after mere 28 episodes the kingdom was attacked already, i question the agenda of the current wizard king and wanna know if there is some demon left in asta as the old tale implies. neighboring countries are in the picture, too, so maybe it won‘t be all about the class fight between nobles and peasants but a full front mage war in the end. i mean, probably i will be disappointed as always, but that i even have those hopes and feel engaged in the story is more than i ever expected when i started black clover for lack of better options...

keep your expectations low and enjoy the mix of a lot of animes you used to love :) black clover might not be that deep, but it is also not cringy. better middle class in other words. i‘ve watched so many anime and i felt entertained, this is definitely not the worst...

ps: i do not know the manga.

I LOVE GORE! I HATED THIS ANIME! WHAT A WASTE OF TIME!

i really wish i hadn't stuck with it in the hope it would get better. my boyfriend couldn't get past episode 3 but nooo i had to fucking continue... i hope i can save those of you who are here for the violence/gore or expect some kind of dark mystery. here is my advice:

1) watch ep. 1. make yourself an impression of what's to be expected of the "storytelling". congratulations you now know the main character and general setup, there isn't much more to know really :D also you might now understand this review. ...
2) SKIP through the rest of the episodes until you come across some monster/blood (there is literally one fight per episode, usually in the end).
3) watch ep. 11 and 12 to find out what the actual fuck was going on. also enjoy the grande finale as seen on youtube etc :)

it will be like you've seen it all, promised.

it's not even that i don't like fluff. i just cannot stand when an anime is shallow and consists of 80+% filler trash. maybe if it's really funny i can make exceptions - but we literally see the main character waking up, doing household chores, singing a song about how nice the weather is, getting breakfast at her favourite cafe, talking with the owner about how good the coffee is and that she is feeling fine, on her way to school she's now singing some more, with her friends she's pretending to be okay again, then bragging about the great food at her favourite cafe... oh time to go home again - of course singing how nice her day was (at the point of the second song you want to shoot yourself), more sitting in the cafe, having dinner, chatting about the texture of some sweets she eats... did this description bore you? skip episodes 2-10, trust me.

i am not fucking kidding!!! it is this or gore, nothing in between! the 2 minutes feel out of place, squeezed in there to stop you from dropping the anime. you will be angry in the end because it is just not enough to make up for all your wasted lifetime.

"wait, seriously?! what about later episodes when she already turned into killer queen?"
sorry, you will not miss cool badass characters (i fell for it damnit). saya herself has the emotions and IQ of a five year old. she often just stands around while the monsters are happily devouring people. after randomly attacking the monster without any special tactics she complains that basically everybody died. it is SO painful to watch.
saya’s friends are generic, overly nice and have no backstory. cute guys are the shallow "oh hey, you look promising... wait, no, where are you character that i wanted you to be"-kind.

„but wait, won’t i miss important story bits when i skip?“
no, surprisingly, saya never really questions anything happening to her until maybe late 10th episode. cryptic backflashes fail to do anything for the plot or the suspense, they are only adding up to the slow pace. and who is dying is completely irrelevant, you had no connection to any character in the first place. it is just soooo boring!

the best part (haha) is that episode 11 & 12 reveal a big twist. (ok ok, i give it some credit: the turn of events is super unexpected, the backstory is explained and the tragic events happening are super satisfying to watch). while i don't particularly dislike the feeling of finally seeing something interesting... the twist also „justifies“ why all the prior episodes had to be boring in the first place. oof.

no, wait, fuck that!! seriously?!?
it could have been a gory piece of fun with a strong heroine and cool sidekicks!!

sadly, the coolest gory stuff you've already seen in those popular gifs and youtube videos while the anime has nothing more to offer than, well, making you mad (or drunk if you like drinking games and bad movies).
2 overall only because of the refreshingly crazy violence...