Black Clover

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Seriously speaking, I have never read or watched Naruto before but seeing the reviews that this manga's getting just made me want to write my own opinions down.

So, for a person who has never read or watched Naruto before, I find this a great shounen manga. Many say it's a ripoff of Naruto but technically, there are many other mangas that seem like a ripoff of another. Aster, the main character, is able to nullify magic a.k.a. he is special. What comes to mind? Mikan from Gakuen Alice.
Personally, I find the main character extremely similar to Hinata from Haikyuu!. There are many factors of different ... manga that seem like "ripoffs" of other mangas that came before it. Unfortunately, great minds think alike and inspirations exist so similar ideas cannot be avoided easily. There are plenty of mangas with extremely similar storylines as others! This applies especially to shoujo romances. It's ridiculous how many of them are similar to eachother.

If you do like Naruto, you may enjoy Black Clover. Who knows- you may end up liking it.

As for Black Clover, I enjoy OP-ness coming from some unknown lil' shit so this is something right up my ally. If you enjoy Main Characters x Awesomeness, I think you'll enjoy this. As for me, I never get tired of that kind of cliche. Many of the other characters start to understand how great the main character, Aster, is after battling alongside or against him.
Aster's rival, Juno, is just as admirable in terms of his power. And no, he isn't "emotionless" like Sasuke from Naruto as one of the reviews commented on. Anyone can tell that pretty easily if you follow Black Clover's story.

The story is good enough for me. Unless you're a big Naruto fan and sees this as a total "ripoff" then you might not be gracious enough to give it a chance. I know Naruto's characters- Naruto and Sasuke, fairly. And they are pretty different from the two main male characters of Black Clover. From what I see- including background, how they grew up, their friendship and views, are all different. They do have similarities but many differences as well. You're just looking at the wrong place.

As for art, I find it great. Backgrounds, scenery, emotions- CHECK.

** Enjoyment is 10/10. **

Overall, I give this a 9, ignoring the possibility that it may be a storyline stolen from Naruto.

Like so many have said before, Black Clover (from now on BC) is cliché if you've read any shounen before you will have a lot of déjà vu moment.
That said it's not as terrible as some can say or as the anime can make it seems.

Story:
Surprisingly, BC's story isn't that bad or even that cliché, it does start like your usual shounen with Asta (the MC) and Yuno (the rival) getting their power and deciding to compete to become the wizard king. Obviously, MC is an underdog and goes into the misfit team, women fall for him, he discovers that he has some super ... ultra rare totally not op power, happen to be in the middle of every big event, ... the usual.
But the author manages to develop and hint at something bigger happening in the background, which ends up making for a rather good twist.
That said after that twist everything goes down with asspull left and right.

Art:
Most of the time it’s okay, the usual quality for shounen manga but it can become really good, especially during big fights, and the character's design is good most of the time. However, the background and the world, in general, is rather bland.

Characters:
The second biggest weakness of the series, most of them are bland and cliché, and the character development is really shallow, most characters will do a 360 and resolve their problems in one fight, at worst a day or 2 with the MC.

The fight:
Surprisingly for that kind of series the fights are bad, like really bad. First, except for 1 fight (maybe 2), there's no strategy, the characters always won thanks to getting some last-minute power-up or using some asspulled never introduce before power. And I know some people will say that the character gaining new power during the fight is part of the power system, but then why does it only happen for the MC and his fried and never for the enemy, the power system does a really bad job at explaining what is, in the end, some power of friendship bs.
And speaking of the power system it's also rather bad, powers are most of the time very loosely defined, mana is never a problem except when the plot needs it, apparently, there's a system of weakness between element but since everything is won by bs power it's basically never user.
And obviously, the MC never goes down but most antagonists only need one bs new power move to be defeat.
Everybody seems to have superhuman strength and resistance without any justification, especially Asta. And speaking of Asta, the author shouldn't have given him swords if they work as a club and never cut any opponent, only inanimate objects and living being that can regenerate.

You may have noticed that the last 2 categories were rather negative, but the manga is really good on 1 thing: its pacing. The story is quick with good transitions between each event. And that alone is what let the manga be a fun quick read and not garbage, but it's also one of the reasons why character development is rather bad.

Overall it's far from being a great manga but if you like shounen and want some quick funny story then it's a good choice.

Story: 3/10
Black Clover follows the action/adventure shounen manga type to the letter. It follows the style of a main protagonist and friends raising their skills in a particular art in a special group to achieve a goal. In this case, Aster (the main protagonist) and friends join the magicknights to try and become the next sorcery emperor.

I wouldn't call that premise as a cliché as it is far too used, more of a genre. The clichés come after.
1. Main protagonist (MP) seems to have no talent, but has a hidden talent that makes him the messiah.
2. MP's friend is a genius yet cares deeply ... about MP.
3. MP and friend have the same goal.
4. They are both overpowered.
5. Every girl characters seems to fall in love with MP.
6. MP is super confident and goes against all the norms of civilization.
7. Almost every character has a dislike for the MP until they learn how awesome he is.
8. MP never gives up.

All of these lead to a somewhat predictable outcome in story (the MP will win), but the fun thing about shounen mangas is reading how it happens. And that is in my opinion the greatest flaw of the manga, everything happens because the MP is 'super awesome'. There's normally a progression in skill at the start of shounen mangas, where the protagonist, even if with hidden unique talents, starts weaker than many others and evolves while beating only those at his current level. Hierarchy in skill is thrown out the window in this manga, as the MP defeats everyone evil that appears in front of him, no matter how much more experienced and powerful they are. He gets beaten to a pulp, but always manages to fight back and win. It brings no fear or real expectations of the MP getting in trouble when all he has to do is yell louder and then he can get out of the problem.

So far it's in its early stages, so the story hasn't evolved into something major.


Characters 3/10

Aster - the Main Protagonist.
Most of the problems I find in the manga seem to come from the main protagonist mostly, as he is a cliché himself. Loudmouth that never gives up and isn't useless only because of his special talent. Chick magnet because he says what every reader is thinking, yet never notices that they are attracted to him. Thought as a joke by everyone, even the super gifted and experienced, who then get super surprised when he's not normal. Even with all the clichés there doesn't seem to be a backstory as to why he behaves as he does (so far at least).

Juno - best friend of MP
The super genius childhood friend. This is actually the character I have least against. He doesn't have much of a backstory as well, but all the bad characteristics of Aster don't seem present in him. On the other hand, that is also his downside. Besides being the genius, there doesn't seem to be much else besides being the MP's best friend with the same goal. Not much depth to him.

"The Titan" - The 'teacher'
The only experienced person that noticed that the MP is special. Of course he's the one that everyone hates, but actually has a good heart, he's just very tough. Another cliché really. It’s author made it clear from the moment the character was introduced that it would be like that.

Noelle - The clumsy girl
Super rich, super snob girl, which is clumsy with her gift, yet still looks down on everyone else, including the MP. That is until because of him she is able to start not being as clumsy. Clearly she falls in love with him.

In all, they are mostly shallow as well. I would say two dimensional characters that don’t evolve or behave in any way meaningfully.


Art: 6/10

Can't say I dislike the art, yet I don't have much to comment on. I am not intrigued by it, appears to be standard shounen artstyle. I can't say I know much of art in manga (I'm more of a story type), so I'll leave it at that.


Enjoyment: 3/10

It's... really disappointing. Quite predictable, the plot doesn't seem all that interesting, the interactions between characters are repetitive, the dialog as well, the direction it's going seems to be downhill, as most mangas get worse with time, this one should as well, yet it started not all that good.


Overall: 4/10

This manga is decent for those starting out reading mangas. They would learn the tropes of what a shounen manga is fairly quickly. For those that already read things like Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Fairy Tail, The Breaker, The Seven Deadly Sins, and so on, I don't believe it would be anything special.