Alright, it's time to talk about Black Clover. One of the (few) benefits of being a teacher is this glorious span called summer break; I am now free to travel, experience culture, revel in the warmth of our local star... except I have no money and I hate the heat, so I have spent the last week in my apartment catching up on reading and anime. Both those combined in a marathon for both the manga and anime of Black Clover, a current running shonen fantasy series about a young boy in a magical world with no magic and his quest to become the wizard king. A beautiful day of reading and binge watching later, and I am caught up with the series and bursting with excitement for all the characters, plot points, and general awesomeness that is this series.
I am going to start with a (mostly) spoiler free summary and review, however this will be an ongoing analysis series, and later posts will have both anime and manga spoilers.
Summary
So Black Clover is a shonen manga/anime about a young man in a fantasy world and his quest to become the wizard king. Asta, the main character, is an orphan boy from the country who is unique in the world because he cannot use magic. Everyone else in the kingdom has the ability to use magic to some extent, but Asta cannot. This lack of magic is compounded by the fact that his adoptive brother Yuno is a magical genius. At the age of 15, every person in the kingdom is awarded a grimoire, a magic book that specifies the type of magic that they use. Yuno receives a 4 leaf clover grimoire, which is supposed to be extremely powerful and lucky. Asta does not initially receive a grimoire, but later is chosen by a "black" five leaf grimoire which holds demonic powers and the ability to nullify magic. The two adoptive brothers set out for the capital of the realm to become magic knights and achieve their ultimate goal of becoming the wizard king. Their paths diverge at the capital as Yuno is welcomed into the elite magic knight squad, the Golden Dawn, because of his extraordinary magical power, while Asta barely makes the cut, joining the "worst squad," the Black Bulls, a group of eccentrics and outcasts who don't fit into any of the other squads. Asta continues to train to grow stronger as a magic knight, while combating a series of external and internal threats to the kingdom with the help of his new friends in the Black Bulls.
Review
So, as I mentioned earlier Black Clover is the story of a world with magic. Everyone has a little bit of magic, so it's use is constant in everyday life. From the get go, it's a pretty basic shonen formula; main character with a shockingly unrealistic goal, genius rival, and the adventures they encounter along the way, mixed with some pretty basic fantasy tropes; the poor orphan farm boy who journeys to the magic kingdom in search of adventure who ends up being "the chosen one". So why, you might ask, am I raving and writing about such a "basic" show?
The answer is in the execution. Yes, Black Clover reuses types and tropes we have seen a million times. But it takes those tropes and examines them from a different direction. Yes, Asta is the "powerless" shonen protagonist using hard work and perseverance to pursue his dream fighting against a constant parade of increasingly powerful villains, but unlike basically everyone else in the genre, he doesn't fight alone. 90% of shonen fights come down to the hero punching the big bad guy until he stops moving, and sure, that happens here, but because Asta has no magic he has to rely on his teammates in order to win. I can't think of a single major villain in the show who is taken down by Asta alone; he is always assisted by his fellow mages in the Black Bulls or from other magic knight squads. While many anime glorify companionship (nakama!"), it is very rare to see multiple characters team up to take on a single opponent, yet this is constant in Black Clover. In the same way, the typical fantasy elements are also uniquely synthesized; Black Clover has one of the most richly dynamic magic systems I have ever seen, an amazingly developed world with a deep history and evolving mythology, while also taking full advantage of fantasy's subversive potential with powerful conversations about class, race, mental health (particularly survivors of trauma) that don't over simplify these complicated issues but also manage to retain a hopeful and positive outlook.
I'll try to come back to all of these point later in my analysis. To get on with the review portion, however, in my opinion Black Clover has everything a good shonen and a good fantasy should. An interesting world filled with ever expanding possibilities, amazing magic, great characters, and that cozy, heartfelt sense of community that all shonen try but only a few really nail.
As for negatives; many critics will say that the first few arcs of the story drag a bit. As a fantasy fan, I didn't find the pacing unusual (as someone who goes through 8 or so 1000+ page novels in the average fantasy series, a slow start is par for the course). People also found Asta's voice (and almost constant screaming) annoying. This is probably true... I didn't notice on a first watch, but the second time through it is pretty bad. The animation, especially the 3D CGI, can be clunky at times (although the same thing can be said for Attack on Titan), but it does improve, and the most recent magic battles are beautifully executed (as in possibly the best animated magic battles of all time).
I really can't say a lot more for review without spoilers. If you are the type of person who likes shonen anime and manga, or the type of person that likes epic fantasy, please look into Black Clover (and keep going at least until episode 40 or so). Any earlier mis-steps the story might take are easily made up for by how good it gets later on.
I was planning on doing more analysis, but honestly, I have so much to say about Black Clover that I have decided to break it up into multiple posts. The next one will probably be on the role of women in the series (and boy is it refreshing to have a show with such a diverse and badass cast of ladies), with future analyses looking at the complex view on racism and class-ism in society, unpacking the role of abuse and trauma in the show (especially as it relates to the magic system), as well as a comparison of the concept of rivalry in Black Clover with other that of other shonen anime, as the show promotes a healthy perspective on competition and growth.
Well, back to reality.
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