Review of Black Clover

The protagonist dreams of becoming the Wizard King, who is a kind of general in the army of mages (the Magic Knights). He wants to do this not only to prove that he can rise to the pinnacle of social classes through meritocracy but also to use the acquired power to make the world fairer. The kingdom is divided into the noble region, the common region, and the forgotten region, where rich, poor, and destitute people live, respectively. So, it can be concluded that the kingdom has failed miserably to be a good kingdom for hundreds of years. Prejudices of the royalty and nobility towards commoners appearin practically every episode. There is also significant prejudice against people with low amounts of mana. It can be inferred that nobility typically has large amounts of mana, while commoners have small amounts. Nobility marrying among themselves perpetuates this pattern.

Children of nobles born with little magical ability or mana are treated as failures by their parents, and many hear that they should not have been born, should have died, are a shame, and similar things. So, one can also see that there is a hegemonic project within this society.

Keeping all this in mind, the current Wizard King was a commoner who reached the top through merit. This is unbelievable given the absolute and oppressive prejudice that nobles have even when accepting new members into their squads.

Even though he reached the top and is the most benevolent, wise, and understanding person in the entire show, this Wizard King did not change anything in the social class structures, government, relationships of exploitation, prejudice, favoritism, etc.

The entire show depicts these Magic Knights fighting against problems that were caused by the Clover Kingdom itself. Like genocide, racism, betrayal, greed, abuse of power, discrimination, etc.

The show tries to paint a beautiful picture of the nobility's honor, how blood relations are stronger than prejudice and resentment among siblings, and the acceptance of commoners among nobles who recognize their strength and worth. But this only reinforces the aspects mentioned above: the normalization of prejudice, hegemony, privilege, and the myth of meritocracy.

The animation varies, but in combat scenes, it tends to be superior to the rest of the anime. The protagonist's powers are a mystery and are gradually unveiled to maintain curiosity.

The anime's pacing is noteworthy because there seems to be almost no episode without conflict.