Black Clover

Asta and Yuno were abandoned at the same church on the same day. Raised together as children, they came to know of the "Wizard King"—a title given to the strongest mage in the kingdom—and promised that they would compete against each other for the position of the next Wizard King. However, as they grew up, the stark difference between them became evident. While Yuno is able to wield magic with amazing power and control, Asta cannot use magic at all and desperately tries to awaken his powers by training physically.

When they reach the age of 15, Yuno is bestowed a spectacular Grimoire with a four-leaf clover, while Asta receives nothing. However, soon after, Yuno is attacked by a person named Lebuty, whose main purpose is to obtain Yuno's Grimoire. Asta tries to fight Lebuty, but he is outmatched. Though without hope and on the brink of defeat, he finds the strength to continue when he hears Yuno's voice. Unleashing his inner emotions in a rage, Asta receives a five-leaf clover Grimoire, a "Black Clover" giving him enough power to defeat Lebuty. A few days later, the two friends head out into the world, both seeking the same goal—to become the Wizard King!

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Asta Main

Kajiwara, Gakuto Japanese

Silva, Noelle Main

Yuuki, Kana Japanese

Yuno Main

Shimazaki, Nobunaga Japanese

Sukehiro, Yami Supporting

Suwabe, Junichi Japanese

Vermillion, Mereoleona Supporting

Minagawa, Junko Japanese

Voltia, Luck Supporting

Murase, Ayumu Japanese

Nero Supporting

Sasaki, Hitomi Japanese

Novachrono, Julius Supporting

Morikawa, Toshiyuki Japanese

Pappitson, Charmy Supporting

Yasuno, Kiyono Japanese

Ideale, Zora Supporting

Midorikawa, Hikaru Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Herek, Samantha Assistant Producer

Yoshihara, Tatsuya Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, In-Between Animation, Key Animation, Animation Director, 2nd Key Animation

Tanemura, Ayataka Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Assistant Director

Reviews

Feb 20, 2025

jennisiaria

Recommended

Black Clover is one of those anime that hits you like a freight train of pure excitement—fast-paced, action-packed, and with just the right amount of “I want to be the greatest wizard in the world” energy. From the very beginning, I was hooked. If you like a main character who shouts his dreams into the void while charging full speed ahead, Asta is your guy. Seriously, the guy yells more than my neighbor's dog, but somehow, it works.

The premise is simple but oh so effective: Asta, a boy born without magic in a world where magic is everything, decides he’s going to be the Wizard ... King. Yes, it’s a classic underdog story, but Black Clover executes it perfectly. Asta’s determination is ridiculous in the best way possible. Watching him scream his goals to the sky, literally fighting with the power of friendship and sheer will, is what I imagine an anime about raw, unfiltered ambition would look like.

The characters are lovable, each bringing something to the table. Asta’s rivalry with Yuno? Classic, but satisfying. Watching Yuno be all calm, collected, and supernaturally powerful next to Asta’s “I’m going to scream at the world until I win” vibe is honestly hilarious and works so well. And don’t even get me started on the Black Bulls. They’re a chaotic group of misfits with their own quirks, and somehow they all manage to work together like a well-oiled machine… that occasionally breaks down and catches fire, but hey, it’s fine.

The action is next-level. The magic battles are intense, and the animation is absolutely stunning, especially in the later episodes. Every time Asta whips out his Anti-Magic sword and shouts his battle cry, you can’t help but feel pumped up. There’s something about watching him swing around like a human wrecking ball that makes you want to jump off the couch and start your own epic adventure—though, maybe don’t try to actually swing a sword unless you’re in a safe place.

Now, let’s talk about the little flaws. As much as I love Black Clover, it’s got its moments of filler and repetitiveness. Like, sure, we get it, Asta’s gonna yell and keep fighting with all his might. But sometimes you just wish they’d speed up the story a little, or give us a break from some of the endless shouting and dramatic pauses. Also, the pacing can occasionally feel like it’s on a rollercoaster—one moment, you’re on the edge of your seat, and the next, you’re like, “Why are we fighting again? Didn’t we just do this?”

But honestly, the flaws are small potatoes compared to how much Black Clover delivers. It’s the perfect combination of action, humor, heart, and good old-fashioned perseverance. By the time you get to the big climaxes, you’ll be fist-pumping in the air, screaming “YES!” like you’re the one saving the world.

In conclusion, Black Clover is the kind of anime that you’ll love with all its loud, imperfect, beautiful chaos. Sure, there are a few bumps along the way, but who cares? It’s a rollercoaster, and you’re having fun. If you’re into watching dreams get shouted into existence and enjoying epic magic battles with characters who actually grow and develop, then this anime is as close to perfect as it gets. Plus, it's got enough yelling to satisfy your inner battle-hungry soul.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jan 19, 2025

zaharded

Mixed Feelings

Black Clover is a 12 episode anime stretched out into 170 episodes. It is a whole lot of nothing, you’re gonna finish this and question your life choices that led you to do absolutely nothing but watch this brainless dribble of a show.

Firstly, the characters are extremely one-dimensional and surface level. I don’t know the best way to explain this without spoiling, but they get NO character development throughout the entirety of the 50 hour snooze fest. In fact, I think that nearing the end they were starting to regress and their ENTIRE personality began to get centred over one trope. Let me put this ... into an analogy - let’s say that you have a friend who likes football, but his obsession over football is so severe that his house is a ball and every time he sees you he starts yapping about wanting to kick a football 24/7. That is exactly what every character consists of in this series, one likes footballs, but the other likes basketballs and the other likes golf balls (etc etc). So every time these characters are introduced in unison, the animators like to individually present each character and make them monologue about how much they love balls rather than 1) have them all express their obsessions in tandem or 2) STOP WITH THE GENERIC AND BLAND tropes.

An average episode of black clover will literally consist of 1) recap 2) intro 3) 5 minutes of talking about what was mentioned or 4) a backstory that lasts three more episodes, and this is without a joke nearly how every episode goes and develops itself without fail. Near the end, I started skipping full chunks and/or whole episodes if it was based on a backstory which we as the viewers hold full knowledge of.

The main character, above all else, is the most insufferable. I’d like to think that the main character represents the whole cast of this show because whenever he thinks too much his head starts to steam and explode. He has no personality whatsoever and unfortunately suffers from the same problems that the side cast do too.

The animation fluctuates episode-by-episode. Some episodes had world-class animation, while the others probably were made by just one person and this is very noticeable, but generally the animation and art style are good

This show is definitely not for everyone and has worse pacing than something like one piece, but the concept and general gist are good if you suffer from a shortage of braincells.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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Nov 22, 2024

Papitaa

Not Recommended

Funny

Well-written

Black Clover has taken 2 years of my life. Was it worth it? Probably not, but it has yielded some interesting things to think about.

Its biggest crime is that the author can't write characters for shit. Stupid two-dimensional characterisation prevents it from being something greater. Cool moments occasionally make their way through hours of rubbish comedy and boring sequences led by paper-thin characters repeating their one personality trait over and over again. Let me share with you a drinking game I've come up with, where you take a shot everytime one of these things happen:

1. Asta is impressed by something
2. Noelle says a cartoonishly typical ... tsundere phrase
3. Noelle has family issues
4. Luck wants to fight
5. Gordon creepily talks about friendship
6. Vanessa drinks or talks about drinking
7. Charmy eats or talks about eating
8. Charmy is head over heels for Yuno
9. Yuno's fairy is head over heels for him
10. Mimosa is head over heels for Asta
11. Gauche is head over heels for his sister (...)
12. Finral hits on girls or talks about hitting on them
13. Charlotte is head over heels for Yami
14. Sol calls Charlotte "sister", which results in the latter getting annoyed
15. Sol hates men
16. Nero lands on Asta's head

With this, you can actually have some fun, as these things happen so often you can get hammered in the span of a single episode! Well, you get my point now.

While the plot itself does have some intense and fun-to-watch moments — such as the battle between Black Bulls and Vetto, Asta's special powers awakening (vague to avoid spoilers), the climax of the elves' scheme (same here), or Yami's poop jokes (funniest shit I've ever seen) — it is all incredibly infantile and lacks depth. The characters' motivations behind a plot point can be so shallow that at some point I legitimately viewed Black Clover as a collection of over-exaggerated parables, painfully mawkish to allegorically demonstrate the values beneath and make sure that no one misses them. And I almost accepted it because Black Clover's values are really positive and motivating, even if trite.

That's also why for a while I developed another theory that Black Clover's world is like a family - a family in which there are flaws you grow to accept and cherish the ensuing highs. For some time, I had somehow accepted the shitty things and started perceiving even the filler sequences as family time as a result of spending a lot of time with the characters.

But I think I got manipulated by Black Clover into refraining from criticising its repeated flaws, lmao. That's just bad writing. Good moments are placed within hours of either poor humour that oversimplifies the characters to the point of them seeming as caricatures, or tiresome fight scenes consisting of repetitive cant and a random clusterfuck of spells and attacks at which my brain turned off. You also can't accept lack of nuance as an intended measure — as is the case with the LOTR books, for example, where everything is set in stone and the story unfolds like fulfilling a destiny — just because it's long-running. I wonder if that's what the majority of shounen giants suffer from, baiting the audience into forgiving the flaws for an interspersed cool moment or two.

I also want to mention the last arc specifically because I think it needs individual treatment. The build-up to it is literally just one big filler that is justified by "training". Another thing are the plot twists. They have overall been quite random, forcing their way into a previously established landscape and flipping it on its head as a cheap solution to a problem. But the one with the emergence of a new character in the last few episodes is just taking the piss, you know what I'm talking about.

There were moments when I had fun, I can't lie. I also like the core ideas behind a lot of the stuff here. The poor writing is just inexcusable, though. It feels to me as if Black Clover was straight-up disrespectful towards its viewers, even if with good heart all throughout.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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