Black Clover follows the action/adventure shounen manga type to the letter. It follows the style of a main protagonist and friends raising their skills in a particular art in a special group to achieve a goal. In this case, Aster (the main protagonist) and friends join the magicknights to try and become the next sorcery emperor.
I wouldn't call that premise as a cliché as it is far too used, more of a genre. The clichés come after.
1. Main protagonist (MP) seems to have no talent, but has a hidden talent that makes him the messiah.
2. MP's friend is a genius yet cares deeply about MP.
3. MP and friend have the same goal.
4. They are both overpowered.
5. Every girl characters seems to fall in love with MP.
6. MP is super confident and goes against all the norms of civilization.
7. Almost every character has a dislike for the MP until they learn how awesome he is.
8. MP never gives up.
All of these lead to a somewhat predictable outcome in story (the MP will win), but the fun thing about shounen mangas is reading how it happens. And that is in my opinion the greatest flaw of the manga, everything happens because the MP is 'super awesome'. There's normally a progression in skill at the start of shounen mangas, where the protagonist, even if with hidden unique talents, starts weaker than many others and evolves while beating only those at his current level. Hierarchy in skill is thrown out the window in this manga, as the MP defeats everyone evil that appears in front of him, no matter how much more experienced and powerful they are. He gets beaten to a pulp, but always manages to fight back and win. It brings no fear or real expectations of the MP getting in trouble when all he has to do is yell louder and then he can get out of the problem.
So far it's in its early stages, so the story hasn't evolved into something major.
Characters 3/10
Aster - the Main Protagonist.
Most of the problems I find in the manga seem to come from the main protagonist mostly, as he is a cliché himself. Loudmouth that never gives up and isn't useless only because of his special talent. Chick magnet because he says what every reader is thinking, yet never notices that they are attracted to him. Thought as a joke by everyone, even the super gifted and experienced, who then get super surprised when he's not normal. Even with all the clichés there doesn't seem to be a backstory as to why he behaves as he does (so far at least).
Juno - best friend of MP
The super genius childhood friend. This is actually the character I have least against. He doesn't have much of a backstory as well, but all the bad characteristics of Aster don't seem present in him. On the other hand, that is also his downside. Besides being the genius, there doesn't seem to be much else besides being the MP's best friend with the same goal. Not much depth to him.
"The Titan" - The 'teacher'
The only experienced person that noticed that the MP is special. Of course he's the one that everyone hates, but actually has a good heart, he's just very tough. Another cliché really. It’s author made it clear from the moment the character was introduced that it would be like that.
Noelle - The clumsy girl
Super rich, super snob girl, which is clumsy with her gift, yet still looks down on everyone else, including the MP. That is until because of him she is able to start not being as clumsy. Clearly she falls in love with him.
In all, they are mostly shallow as well. I would say two dimensional characters that don’t evolve or behave in any way meaningfully.
Art: 6/10
Can't say I dislike the art, yet I don't have much to comment on. I am not intrigued by it, appears to be standard shounen artstyle. I can't say I know much of art in manga (I'm more of a story type), so I'll leave it at that.
Enjoyment: 3/10
It's... really disappointing. Quite predictable, the plot doesn't seem all that interesting, the interactions between characters are repetitive, the dialog as well, the direction it's going seems to be downhill, as most mangas get worse with time, this one should as well, yet it started not all that good.
Overall: 4/10
This manga is decent for those starting out reading mangas. They would learn the tropes of what a shounen manga is fairly quickly. For those that already read things like Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Fairy Tail, The Breaker, The Seven Deadly Sins, and so on, I don't believe it would be anything special.
