Review of Black Clover

I'm not exactly sure why I chose to start Black Clover 2-3 months after it ended, but I did, and boy oh boy do I have a lot to say. The story is Shonen af: A young man named Asta strives to become the wizard king, despite the fact that he lacks mahou. But compared to other Shonen where they give our hero the power he lacks, this anime takes a different turn, and Asta remains magic free the whole story which I thought was an interesting choice in their part. A lot of people call this show a knockoff, but its like its a Shonen,so of course its gonna have the typical shonen traits we've seen before in Naruto, Boku No Hero Academia, one piece, etc. Basically what I'm saying is that its not a knockoff, its just influence.

I've said this before, but an anime where the art style stands out is a huge welcome, and I can easily see that in the way the characters faces are drawn. And I think its also important to mention that even though I absolutely love some of the series that studio Pierrot puts out, studio Pierrot themselves are kind of mediocre in my opinion. mainly due to the fact that it feels like that they have room for improvement. Every now and then there will be shots that feel incomplete and rushed. Its mainly only the OP's and ED's where the animation is super good.

You know, before I saw this show, I saw everyone go absolutely ape-shit over the OP's of this show. And I had the same exact experience with the Fairy Tail OP's as I did with the OP's of this anime. I witness everyone loving the OP's, and the I check them out myself unimpressed. Now to be fair, Black Clover does have its fair share of fine ass OP's such as OP3, 4, 10, 11, 12, & 13. However, the rest are just average. The OP's and ED's are by no means bad, but that high bar that everyone else gives them are just to high for me to reach. I also wanted to bring up that I lowkey feel a little bad for Gakuto Kajiwara's throat in the first few episodes. Thank god they toned down Asta's screaming as the series continued because otherwise, Kajiwara Kun might've needed to get throat surgery like Okamoto Kun.

Characters are a very important part of storytelling, and Black Clover is no stranger to that. Within the first 20-30 episodes of this show, we are already introduced to like 50 or so characters, and although that me seem like a lot to take in, they actually handle it surprisingly well. I'm gonna keep it real with you and say that I really didn't give much of a damn about Charlotte. Other than her little gag with Yami, she really doesn't do much for me in my opinion. My least favorite character by far is Sol Marron because not only is she a big ass simp for Charlotte, but she's also sexist af. Like I seriously cannot understand a soul who would enjoy a character that literally hates half the population, and the same can be said about the witches in the witch arc. A little of topic, but why the hell is it always the tan girls in anime that irritate me the most, and Sol is just another member of that list. A lot of people love Yami, and I can understand why. He is a very badass guy, he orders everyone around like he's a drill sergeant or some shit, and he has a very optimistic attitude surpassing his caveats all the time. But I think the problem that I have with Yami is that he can get a little arrogant sometimes, and it can get really irritating. Noelle is cool I guess, but she's really nothing more than your stereotypical tsundere, and she's quite annoying on top of that. Fanzell Kruger is nice; I love his easy going personality, and well yes he does have an unhealthy habit of walking around exposed. At the same time though, I just cant help but feel bad for him considering the abusive relationship he's in. Gauche is kind of funny I guess, but he really doesn't have any other trait to him besides nosebleeding to his sister Marie which is sus af, but I can't deny that Marie is adorable. But by far the top 4 best characters in the whole damn show is Yuno, Charmy, Luck, and Asta. Yuno is so Sasuke like, and he just doesn't give a damn. He deserves better than Sylph, because Sylph is just flat out annoying as all hell; she's by far the most ear bleedingly awful character in the whole damn show. I love Charmy because she is by far the best girl in the show symptom and personality wise. You know this anime is doing something right when someone like me who only eats to live enjoys Charmy the most who is a girl that literally lives to eat. She's just so easy going and not to mention she's respectful as all hell, and on top of that, her voice actress shares the same birthday as me. Charmy is just the type of character who is simply impossible to hate. Now as much as I love Charmy, I love Luck even more because he more personality and development to him. I love his energetic mahou powers, and his psychotic and optimistic personality, and the fact that he always smiled, even when he lost his family. His best moment was in episode 105 when he bawled into tears for the first time in his life. That scene was just so sad and adorable that I lowkey just wanted to hug Luck and tell him that everything was gonna be ok. Asta being the star of the show is of course the best character because this man literally pushes himself to the extreme despite having no mahou powers and that there is no caveat to his extremely high energy. He legit went from almost giving up on his dream all together in the pilot to building his body like a damn mini hulk. This man is so badass when he's walking in the red smoke in his buff attire in the 13th opening. Its like "That's right Asta, that's what's up." He was obnoxious at first with all his screaming every 2 minutes, but they decreased that to a large extent after like 15 episodes or so.

As much as I enjoyed this shows beginning, I do agree with everyone that this anime did have quite a weak start. For me personally, the lowest point in Black Clover was from episode 52 to 72, but during around episode 80 was when the show was finally showing its true colors and potential, and it only got so much better from there. I really hate to say this I really do, but for an anime to redeem itself is such a rare thing, ESPECIALLY NOWADAYS. Seriously, for an anime to redeem itself is like seeing a youtuber maintain his popularity for a decade plus, because it is so rare that its almost nonexistent. I've been watching anime for 3 years now at this point, and for some reason Black Clover is the only anime I've seen that has crawled itself out of the toilet, and truly redeemed itself. The only other anime I've seen that managed to redeem itself is food wars, but then again food wars went back down in the shitter in season 5, so that show redeemed itself from its shitty first season, and then fell back at square one in the final season. I'm the type of guy who never drops an anime, unless its a recap or something I've already seen before because I'm the type of guy who likes to give things a second chance because at the end of the day, I'm not so cold blooded and I do understand that no one is perfect and that a first impression wont always be a final impression. So to see an anime learn from its past mistakes and built itself into a better show is what makes me love Black Clover so much and why the show earns my respect. For that one reason alone is why Black Clover is kind of special to me.

Overall, Black Clover may be your typical Shonen, and it is by no means a masterpiece, but don't let the cover fool you. If you happen to be starting this anime, or want to start it, its important to remember that patience is key. This anime may not have the best Kickstarter to it, but if you're a patient guy like me, I promise you that it does get so much better during episode 80 and above. And once again, Black Clover is a rare gem because it is the one and only anime I've witnessed that has truly redeemed itself in terms of quality, story, and characters. And one final thing that I wanted to point out before I get goin is that there surprisingly quite a bit of people on production of this show who are either born outside of Japan, or they are bilingual or trilingual. But with all that being said, thank you so much for taking the time outa your day to read my long ass review on Black Clover, and until next time, this is R.S.Soria signing out.