Review of Black Clover

Ever since Attack on Titan blew up in popularity, every shonen anime has tried to emulate its success in capitalizing on the demand for more complex plotlines and darker themes in in the accessible genre of shonen. Unfortunately, what this has lead to is a tonal disconnect in many series released since then, as authors fail to find a way to combine a shonen plot with these themes. This often leads to pseudo-dark and shallow stories getting jarringly juxtapositioned with happy power-fantasies and leaves much to be desired, if anything at all. I am here to tell you Black Clover is not one of theseanimes.

Black Clover knows its strengths and it plays to them. The writer behind Black Clover, Yuki Tabata, understands what makes the Battle-Shonen genre great, and instead of fighting against the grain, he leans into the strengths of the genre and presents a fun and exciting, albeit at times shallow, journey.

The World - - -
The world of Black Clover is the perfect world for a power fantasy Battle Shonen and it gets built exceptionally well. I honestly don't know what to say besides that.

Power Scaling - - -
Improper power scaling is a pitfall many shonen fall to as a result of poor planning as the show struggles to make each season more exciting and continuously provide the MC with growth. By the very nature of Shonen, the protagonist is usually some sort of chosen one and despite being a teenager will go up against the baddest bad guys ever and hold their own and (usually) even defeat them. And while this makes for some pretty cool scenes, as soon as the fight ends the show now has to find a way to deal with the MC being the strongest person in the world. This dilemma usually results in one of 3 conclusions (the latter 2 being exceptional frustrating: the writers expand the scope of their world and a create a new level of power to strive for (DBZ world-->galaxy-->universe-->time travel-->multiverse & SS1, 2...), the writers retcon/give the MC some preexisting condition/injury (MHA), or the show hopes the audience forgets that the MC is a god (also MHA).
Black Clover doesn't do this.
Black Clover does this funny thing where it devotes sufficient screen time and plot focus to a wide array of secondary and supporting characters, and in doing so creates an environment where audiences are okay with alternate characters taking center stage in the ultimate showdowns. Battles are extremely important in a Battle-Shonen and in creating an environment where non-main characters can fight the ultimate battles and still generate interest from the audience, not only does the show keep the experience fresh, but doing this allows for the main character to not end up disproportionately power scaled which enhances the show's longevity.

Clichés - - -
I mentioned earlier that Black Clover embraces the genre's strength, it must be said that it does not present many new ideas. Anyone who has watched enough shonen will be able to pick out dozens of tropes which the show does not seem to care about covering up, for any who has watched Naruto, you will be able to pick up on this even more. That being said, it's a battle shonen, you're not going to have some life-changing experience by watching any of them and I think you should give Black Clover a shot.

Art/Animation - - -
I've already told you, this show draws from the best things about shonen, and you think that excluded the battle scenes? You know that's my favorite part, 10/10 right here.

Final Verdict / TLDR - - -
Black Clover falls for every trope of the Shonen genre in the best way possible, it draws from everything that makes the genre great and applies it better. Watch this show its basically Battle-Shonen, the Anime.
Unfortunately the show starts off pretty slow, I didn't end up enjoying it until after episode 22 or so. If you're not feeling the show and aren't there yet, just skip to the beginning of whatever arc starts in the 20s, I give you my permission.