Review of Black Clover

It's no mystery Black Clover was a mess when it started and gained tons of hate during its run. And none of that hate was unjustified. It's generic without a doubt and filled with problems. But Black Clover had a clear vision, and it succeeded toward a strong comeback, and some of the strongest I saw in anime. Or maybe I barely watch anime. I'm still not wrong though. The story definitely suffered a very bad start. With a generic plot, horrible pacing, bad writing, and its notorious animation. Oh yeah and Asta's Scream™. I will point out the story is not over yet. This is basicallyBlack Clover Part 1.

The story starts with Asta & Yuno adopted to a church as newborns and raised as peasants, where magic is everything, Yuno is a prodigy with magic while Asta doesn't have any magical powers. They aim for getting into Magic Knight squads in order to become the Wizard King of Clover Kingdom. A little familiar?

Yeah, it's not really a new shounen. There are lots of elements throughout the anime which are very generic and can sometimes feel cheap. The setting, while not new does have a nice blend with shounen medieval fantasy. The humour isn't honestly very funny and feels too forced and out of place. There are so many cliches that you end up knowing what happens next and The issue is where all that ends up. Is it still a good anime?

Yes.

Well, at least for me. While there are plenty points in the story that felt underwhelming, it picks up into a story in depth and they explain things better, the characters felt less awkward, and the story is genuinely interesting and doesn't feel slow. It still suffers from generic shounen traits, and is generally unoriginal, but honestly it's meant to be. A strong cohesiveness still succeeds. However, Black Clover isn't for everyone. The frustrations still remain and that ruins the experience. If the writers attempted to be more ambitious it wouldn't be a reduction in quality. That alone brings my score from an 8 to a 7. I sure as hell didn't feel thrilled about some of it...

However, it is not all doom and gloom! The story, like I keep annoying you about, does make a comeback into a more unique, respectable and actually impressive story. While the generic plot elements stay, the qualities improve. Asta screams less, we get a more satisfying plot development, tension, chemistry between characters, mysteries, and exciting moments.

The art, while a fitting and nice looking art style and pretty backgrounds, suffered from bad animation. The animation had numerous production issues, so many choppy movements, weird looking characters, and inconsistent art in general which really sucks. Of course Pierrot do pull a Pierrot and make the occasional episode with amazing animation, but it still is a very mediocre overall package in animation. Even the OPs suffer a bit of this, but they do re-do it a few episodes later. There is CGI, but it actually doesn't look out of place and is usually done well.

The characters, while there are many likable ones, suffers from lack of development and do feel one-dimesional at times. They rely too much on pushing a character trait and shoehorn it unnecessarily at times. However, there is good character development to assist in these characters, and backstories which add to a character, and while it isn't new, it is still done well. There are characters I dislike, but none I hate. If you need characters that are very powerful in personality and development, Black Clover will leave to be desired. However, they are just fine otherwise.

The OPs are fantastic, when it comes to music and the actual scenes. While I complained about the animation in the OPs, like I said it improves within a couple episodes but it still looks fantastic, and the last few don't suffer from this. The EDs are actually pretty underrated, but I'm guessing you don't care about them. The OSTs, while not exceptional, are still nice to listen too and the SFX are good too. Fitting for a magical theme too. The VAs are alright. Asta being my only problem, but after his Asta Scream™ era it's hard to be bothered by it.

Black Clover is a fun anime, and even though it has its strong problems, it's still a blast. It's clear that there is heart and effort put into this, and I commend Tabata and Pierrot for what they have done. Even though it is a long-running shounen by Pierrot, there surprisingly isn't too much filler that kills the experience. What's there is done extremely well and commendable, even though its far from a masterpiece.

Thanks for reading & sorry if my review was explained poorly, I'm not too good at it.