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.

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.

To begin, I am going to write this review after knowing that Black Clover is deemed one of the worst manga for anyone, any age (posted on animenewnetwork).

And... I don't think it feels like Naruto... nope... almost zero.

Story:8
To be honest, the story has too much similarity to Fairy Tail and Nanatsu na Taizai (no Naruto here, sorry). For example, the beginning of Black Clover is quite similar to Fairy Tail, and all the friendship and combo stuff. Meanwhile, the main character's destiny and main storyline feels similar to Nanatsu na Taizai (since I do not want to put spoilers, I'll just leave it at ... here.

Anyways, the plot is pretty straightforward, and like most shounens, this manga has a lot of comedy and action. One part that really made me read through to the latest chapter at one go was the way the story was presented. In particularly, it has the One Piece feel thanks to the main character's personality and his "nakama". Another interesting thing about this manga is that while it has a lot of focus on "things you can't do alone without comrades", it does not overly exploit the theme of "friendship can beat everything, even when initially you lost terribly and when you are injured you still can win", like Fairy Tail. This is where it is interesting, as it is less predictable than a lot of shounen manga (which is one reason why I like One Piece so much too).

Art:9
The art is kinda similar to Nanatsu na Taizai but better, 2 of the more obvious similarities is Asta->Meliodas, and Noelle->Diane.

Kudos to the art especially, since a lot of work seem to have been put into the details seeing how much spells they used. At this I can simply say that the Comic Con voters cannot be trusted to value quality work, since when you say some manga is the worst, it includes all aspects, and it is simply ridiculous.

Character:9
Well, since the characters seem familiar to other manga, why did I give it a 9?
The MCs Asta and Junos are kinda similar to Natsu and Gray in Fairy Tai and more similarly to Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei (The irregular at magic high school), which is the despised strong vs the popular strong concept, and the despised MC gets slowly recognised to be popular concept.

And yea, no Naruto feels here, cos if every rivalry makes people think of Naruto, then most shounen manga would be rip-offs (E.g. Meliodas/Ban in Nanatsu, Allen/Kanda in D.Grayman etc.) In fact, Naruto seems like it went for the Talented bad kid/Weak kid gets stronger concept, but in Black Clover, Junos was always on the good side, and Asta was never weak except in the one most treasured area, magic (Shiba Tatsuya anyone?).

Well, aside from all the comparisons, just by itself, the characters are great as most of them complement each other, and there is quite some development not only with Asta, but with other side characters (especially in terms of family background and rivalries). One lacking part though, is regarding Junos. Up to chapter 78, he is still not as developed in terms of character or background as the others, so he is kinda like a side character at this point. Which is a shame, and makes this clearly different from the Natsu/Gray rivalry.

Enjoyment:10
Well, this is one of my favourite shounen thus far, it does not drag out a lot of chapters via one versus one fights, though at some points it reminds me of Zatch Bell and Bleach in fighting scenes. The comedy is mostly funny as well.

Overall:9
Although there are quite a lot of cliched settings here and there, I can't say this is a rip-off of any one manga since I see a lot of references from several manga I mentioned (but not really Naruto). However, the lack of many one versus one battles and the inclusion of some unique concepts made this an excellent shounen manga for me.

When I was younger, I wondered why plagiarism was bad. When I grew up, I read Black Clover.

Yeah, this is bad. I'd say it's like porridge, but I have to admit porridge has flavor. Black Clover is as bland as they come. It's taking a bread shaped cardboard cut out, toasting it, and pretending it's toast. It's also inorganic. Kinda like cardboard toast. Did I mention it was bland?

It's a good thing we're on the topic of cardboard, because that relates to the characters. Which are also bland. In a cardboard cutout way. Almost everything they say or do feels like it comes out of ... the 10 Easy Steps To Being A Believable Character Stereotype handbook. The main character is going to become the pirate hokage, so that he can defeat the black wizard. Whoops, wrong series. It's easy to get confused when over half of this manga is ripped from more popular works. The main character is Uzumaki D. Natsu, his best friend is fujoshi bait, and the love interest is the overtly popular "called a tsundere but isn't a real tsundere" type that is popular for some reason. There's a colourful cast of supporting characters too, who occupy different roles to help the plot along or to look cool, but never really become characters in their own right, because who needs interesting characters, right?

Voice tone doesn't translated into text. Read this in a mix of overt sarcasm and exasperation.

Go read Boku no Hero Academia instead.

Black Clover honestly changed my life for the better!
in a year where everything was shit, in a phase of life where every single step I
take is stressful it gave me a fun and emotional outlet.

Story & Characters:
when I started reading the manga I was caught up with the anime and wanted more! I agree that when the series started it was generic, basic and at some points even boring but i still kept watching. I don't really know why I continued
watching it, but now as I reflect on the past i realize that it was the characters!
The characters were very memorable and their backstories were ... very believable
in the world the story was set. The Black bulls vs Veto fight was when I started
to feel kind of motivated to just do something productive...like exercising, studying etc.

I started to exercise even tough i recently had a surgery...my grades started to climb and everything just felt like it was going according to plan..and then dropped the show! Its because of the animation...
But after 6 months I picked up the Manga!

The Art:
I freaking love the art...and the character designs...especially Nero's.
God LvL.

Enjoyment:
The manga now is in the midst of an overseas arc where things are starting to get spicy! The story is just so bombastic that you just feel like you have clinical depression when you catch up!

Overall:
Asta has really been a role model in my life. Everything he does just makes sense.

I really think that this is a manga for every age group.
This manga is close to my heart.

"Naruto rip-off." Is it really? Yes, it is. Definitely. If you only read the first chapter. I'm not going to sit and pretend that the first chapter doesn't seem very similar to Naruto.

Asta and Naruto both are reaching for the top ranking status the Wizard King and Hokage. Asta cannot use magic and Naruto sucks at using chakra. Both are hard workers and are obnoxious. Can I continue now? No, sorry, I can't. That's about all I can think of that would make this a "Naruto rip-off." Mind you, that's all stuff that is contained in Chapter 1.

I've often heard people comment that Yuno is ... identical to Sasuke. I honestly just have to laugh at that comment. The two are both geniuses and the main character's rivals, but other than that the similarities end. Yuno has a positive look on Asta and considers him a worthy rival. To be honest, I think Asta and Yuno's rivalry is far more unique than what we typically see in shonen.

Now does Black Clover follow a certain shonen formula? Yes, I would say so. There are definitely similarities that can be pulled from My Hero Academia and Naruto as well as other shonen. But those aren't things that typically bother me. I think Black Clover and My Hero Academia have a more fresh feel than people give them credit for.

Now I was begged to not read this series and have been told so many things about how bad it is. But you know what, I finally decided to ignore it. I wanted to see just what this series was all about. There were enough fans of the series that I figured I could get in on it to. Wow, did I love the ride.

I keep an open mind when reading manga or watching anime. The only series I'm probably biased towards is Dragon Ball. But One Piece, Code Geass, Yu Yu Hakasho, and some others were all some series I thought looked horrible but I ended up loving.

Black Clover was a great surprise for me and has risen as one of my favorite series. It hasn't passed Dragon Ball or Naruto. But I do enjoy it more than My Hero Academia and Attack on Titan. I think this series has the potential to be better than Fairy Tail too, if it isn't already.

The story of this, well, story, is good. One thing I hear said about this is that Black Clover has good pacing. Which it does. It doesn't end fights too quickly and yet, the arcs seem to flow in a quicker manner. You feel fairly satisfied after each arc I would say. The current arc is very long, but its to be expected as this is something all the other arcs have led up to. But don't fret, the series won't end for a long time.

The art is great. There are angles that I've seen this artist pull off very well that others can't do. The amount of detail is beautiful and it might be the best shonen jump detail I've seen.

The characters in this series are a big success. I was very pleased with how they were written and have enjoyed many. Usually it's a little easier for me to pinpoint a favorite character in a series, but I can't in this one. There are just too many I love.

All in all, I really enjoyed this series. I would reccomend this to any fan of Naruto, Fairy Tail, Seven Deadly Sins, or even Berserk (latter Berserk, this isn't a dark series). And if you enjoyed Black Clover yourself, you should check out those series too! (Even though I only got into the first season of Seven Deadly Sins).

Thank you for reading!

Overall Rating- 8.8/10

Black Clover is one of the most generic shonen I ever read. I don't know about the recent chapters but few months ago when I bought the issue, it's ranked like decent?? What the hell? And how come this gets a 7.5 when it's worse. Actually, how come the editorials of WSJ is letting this run?

BUT if you are just starting off with manga and anime, I think this is the manga for you. Black Clover has most of the typical shonen tropes packed in and maybe a good introduction to these tropes. But if you are looking something different in a shonen, this ... is not the manga for you.

It’s full of cliche but it’s not always bad as long as it’s handled well. But the cliches in this is handled very poorly.

Story:3
The story is like the author ripped off from Naruto. Asta wants to become the Sorcery something? Hokage Wizard Edition? I mean, I don't think it's always bad to have some similarity, but really though. The similarity in this manga with Naruto is too apparent to let it slide. Even with some of the direction the characters are going. I could give credit to how the humor is handled though. It wactually made me laugh.

I'm convinced that Tabata Yuki took the chance that Naruto was ending and decided to make a manga that fills the whole that Naruto left.

Art:8

The art is the only good thing about this. I actually like the style. Designs of each character's look appealing. The backgrounds oh my god they’re really nice.

Character: 3

The characters are the worse. Asta another of those generic "hot headed, loud mouth, never gives up cause nakama is with me" type. And further more Asta is first presented as the “underdog” type of character because he can’t use magic. The main message of this manga is probably that “no matter what you’ll achieve your goal as long as you keep working”. But that all crumbles down when he gets that rare five leaf clover book thing. You see if you want to show the audience you can achieve your goal regardless of your ability or situation, you dont fucking give your main character special powers.

If you want to eee the true underdog mc, go read HeroAca or World Trigger. Even when Izuku does get a quirk, he still had to work for it and he’s still working on it. Osamu on the other hand actually has to train like crazy because in his world, experience matters in battles.

Juno was the most bearable character. He does need work, and he’s got that friendly rival friend trope. But he wasn’t frustrating to see.

Enjoyment: 5

I tried to continue reading this but it just bored the hell out of me. The arcs are just copy pasted with different villains. I think the weakest aspect of Black Clover are the villains.

Overall: 4

I'd rather read Naruto instead of reading this 2.0 I'm pretty sure the author took the chance of the end of Naruto. I know people are gonna get mad at me for calling it a Naruto rip off, but the similarity is too apparent to let it slide. Tabata Yuki could've took the story direction in a different way.

Honestly I think Yuki Tabata should team up with a writer who actually knows their shit. Even if the characters are tropey, they can be a good character as long as they are handled well and given development. I feel like his beautiful art went to waste with his writing skill.

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.

Black Clover is your standard typical shounen manga.If you like shounen manga such as naruto,bleach,one piece etc you might like this however if you are annoyed by the troupes in shounen manga such as main characters being weak and looked down on but never giving up then you will probably not like this.If your looking for something different from normal shounen you wont find it here its the typical shounen.
Story:7 Basic breakdown of the story is young orphan boy with no magical power whatsoever in a magical world wants to become the Emperor Magus basically the ruler of magicians/the strongest.The story is ok seen it ... done many times but cliche doesn't necessarily mean bad.Its average however i still enjoy it.
Art:7 The art is pretty average nothing spectacular.

Character:7 The characters are average nothing much to them really seen these types constantly in other shounen.The main character aster is the a carbon copy of what shounen main characters tend to be.He is dumb knucklehead,honest and pure of heart has no magic power in a world that values it and is discriminated against because of it yet he never gives up and wants to become the greatest magician.While the other main character is the standard rival type of character who is a genius though he is a true friend who respects aster's will to never give up.

Enjoyment:7 I enjoy reading this however i don't really have high expectation so far its pretty average its not the best thing ever or the worst just average.

Overall:7 If you want a new shounen to read then you might want to check this out but don't have too high a expectation because its pretty much the same stuff we always see in shounen not that that's bad though.

I think Black Clover is one of the most "mistreated" manga in the community I've seen, because when I started reading it I did not have much confidence and I presented myself quite secpetic (in fact, I only started reading the manga because I saw that Asta will appear in the game Jump Force and wanted to see why they allowed him it in the game as to why was he so popular), but while reading the manga I received a pleasant surprise, Black Claver is not at all what I thought it would be (or maybe yes in content, but not in quality) and ... I would still say that it is a good shonen nekketsu (in case you ask, I have already seen several shonens, Dragon Ball, Bleach, Katekyio Hitman Reborn, Hunter X Hunter 2011, among others, but I have not seen Naruto, which is who they compare ir everywhere). Now I will start the review.

And by the way, this review will have many spoilers, I review this review already being in chapter 188.

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Story:
Many will probably say that the story of Black Clover is not original, that it is a tracing, an exact copy of the plot of many Calisic and mythic shonens, but for me those people are totally wrong, it is true that history is not the strongest Black Clover, not even far, its story is simple, but perfect to achieve exapndir their world and thus create a construction more than decent, the theme of king wizard and the great demon that seem to be the most important lose considerable importance throughout the manga (although the essence of the events is still there), but in my opinion at the beginning the story was not being explored too much (even today it still leaves much to be desired), probably that is the reason why many criticized history beginning in Black Clover, but with the passage of time Black Clover was able to expand its history enough.

One of the reasons why history manages to advance at a good pace due to the general importance of all the sagas; the saga of the dungeon in which Luck is presented for the first time serves to introduce the diamond kingdom and to observe a little the growth of Asta and Yuno in a few weeks, the same is repeated with all the other sagas, when Asta just met Gauche was when the plot moved, all the bases for an acceptable story had already been presented (especially complementing it with the previous saga), I remember when I started reading Black Clover I thought it would be a manga that would not have much attention, a kind of "Fairy Tail" (although I must say that I like Fairy Tail), but in one of the first sagas shows how, strategically, the enemies are able to cut an arm to Fuegoleon (this event is in itself notable changes in characters such as Noelle, Leopold and a little in Asta), so the continuity and events in each saga leave me more than satisfied. I could say that this is one of the aspects that have evolved most throughout the series, even the saga of the elves (which are now) seems the apex of everything that the author planned throughout the manga, it is possible that their turns are cliches or quite predescibles, but they are constructed along so many chapters that they can be acceptable, it is better that to make a totally forced turn and without logic.

Since I made it clear that the plot of this manga happens in a very frenetic way and that the story little by little has evolved well I must also say that the world explored in Black Clover is not very big, the story takes time to narrate his story in good shape, but he does not take much time to explore his world, in about 100 chapters has not revealed much about other kingdoms that made the kingdom Trebol, only the Diamond Kingdom has been known, but has shown very little of him (at least Mars could serve as a reference on the diamond kingdom), the manga takes time to solve the mysteries and move forward with the current enemy, but the bases are inculcated and it would be a waste not to explore more of their world, I hope that after this saga they focus on the other kingdoms, that can give many curious things (especially now that the magician died and that there seems to be a time skip, it's a perfect opportunity).

I honestly believe that this is what the manga manages best, the characters, it's funny, because normally people try to fit all the characters in this series in a superficial way in a stereotype of a character to always call it cliche, that's why, here I will take my time and explain the characters more thoroughly.

First I have to say that Asta is, as most people know, a "stereotype" of Shonen protagonist, it is because of this that most catalog it as a simple garbage, I will not be pretentious, I also thought the same, no I dislike the protagonist with a hidden power, since that has the potential to create epic moments and, although it also fits the possibility of power ups, but that if controlled can create a great opportunity (you could say that something like that happens with Deku in BNH), this was achieved in part, but on the other hand Asta often pulls out power ups, the manga talks about strong feelings generating new spells, but most times that is an excuse to create convenient endings, but in certain moments of the story it is seen how Asta changes over time, when Asta was injured after defeating Vetto at the end he discovers that, although he was not born with the blessing of having magic, he was born with the blessing of to have friends, that was the first time that Asta I cry and for me it was a very well achieved moment (especially by the dialogue of all the Black Bulls).

The other members of the Black Bulls suffer the same, they are almost always labeled as cliches, but the exaggerated and extravagant personality of all the members makes the chemistry that occurs between them be, in my humble opinion, very ingenious, of the shonen I've seen few are those who have such a charismatic team and I love watching (especially if we combine this with comedy).

Magna and Luck are the most crazy of the group and always maintain the mood, just that makes their friendship is the most startling, provided they fight each other always manage to monopolize the scene in a very good way (in the dungeon, in his battle against Vetto and when Magna confronts Luck, that moment in particular I consider him the best of the whole manga), their friendship is reinforced by flash backs in the middle of the fighting without removing the tension, the only drawback is that Magna is not learning the same amount of attacks and Luck is exceeding it a lot, but in general the group is balanced, since each one knows how to use his power and knows what tactics to take advantage of in a combat.

Another character who has handled well is Finral, the past with his brother is probably the most work and is credible due to the setting of "nobility and plebeians" that has the manga, the problem of Finral is treated more in depth in the saga of the tournament and not only that, the manga takes advantage of that opportunity to show the love that they have among the whole team, since the battle against Vetto, Finral knew how to improve and from there it was changing, I am talking about that battle because that is easily the best of all the manga, not only because that was the first "serious" battle that Asta has (since the other matches even served as a warm-up since in many battles he always had a stronger ally, Yuno and Yami respectively), In addition to demonstrating for the first time in the manga how teamwork works, Finral in that aspect was very useful and knew how to take advantage of the situation, but the fight against his brother is the best, not only because It would be a new technique, if not because you could see a Finral fighting for himself and with clear motivations, in my opinion his evolution is one of the most remarkable.

The characters continue, there are many who recently had prominence, as is the case of Henry, Gordon and Grey, it is true that these characters (except for Henry who is new) were being very wasted, they had personalities and designs that could be attractive for a lot of public, but when the enemies went to destroy the base, they showed a great determination, I do not know why, but I am moved by the simple image of Gordon and Grey, the shy ones, shouting that they would not let their base be destroyed and that they They can defend what they want, many will say that their past was not deepened, and that's true, in a battle like that they could not beat the battle by putting very long flashbacks, so I hope that they will soon deepen with these characters, since lately they have seemed geinals to me.
On the other hand there is Henry, there is not much to say about him, his past was short and all his background they added some comedy, but that did not get him to take it seriously, I consider that Henry has great dialogues, not because he talks about friendship and how much he loves his friends, it is because of the context of his story that most of his dialogues make an impact on the spectator, that is why this character has a lot of potential (in addition we must add that all the current battles where they have been, they have been very dynamic and with an impeccable teamwork).

Vanessa and Gauche are characters to whom they have devoted a saga to try to explain them a little better; Gauche is treated like a madman by his eagerness to spend time are his little sister and Vanessa is treated as a very loose woman (almost like a whore), but Gauche in the saga where Litch appears for the first time, is taken more seriously and the manga stops making jokes about his sister to delve into the reason why he loves her so much, explaining this way because he joined the Black Bulls, being explained in a way that does not seem that Gauche is just a character of joke, Vanessa is the same, in the saga of the witches is where you can see the reasons for his personality so crazy, it is true that in these sagas Asta leads most of the battles, but that does not take away the fact that is explained more in depth to other characters in the group, so the methodology that makes Black Clover to focus on secondary most of the time hit the target, showing flash backs of a perfect duration to avoid misleading or out of tune s battles, group battles where you can see the resolution of the secondary and sagas that always try to focus on someone more than Asta.

The last important personages would be Noelle and Yuno, both are an archetype very common in the shonens; Noelle the waifu of Asta and Yuno your rival, the input is not bad, the idea of ​​putting this type of character in a manga, and you can usually evolve the characters, in order to have a chemistry, and be able to create situations very well cared for with a little effort, that is precisely what happens in this manga, Yuno being a rival of Asta often serves as a natural incentive to the protagonist, creating a vision of progress to be compared both and note that both have a amount of power very similar, Yuno, despite starting as a very used archetype, has managed to manage in the series, not because we can see much of his work too, as if it were a second protagonist, so we can see 2 realities of the Kingdom Trebol; the reality of the best group (Yuno) and that of the worst group (Asta, although later they become the second best), Yuno manages to evolve throughout the story in a disguised way, at first he shows himself very skeptical towards the Kingdom Trebol and even only cares to ascend and fulfill his dream, but then learn to work as a team and value their colleagues (that is much more in the saga of the tournament).
Noelle is almost the same, but increased, Noelle is easily the character that has evolved the most in the history, meaning that she is treated like trash by her brothers and that her place is to be in the Black Bulls, where she always She says that the biggest rubbish in the whole kingdom has gone, but despite everything, Noelle knew how to improve her skills over time and stopped being the shy girl who thought she could not compete with her brothers, right now is where Noelle is demonstrating greater conviction and where you can see the fruits of having to train to achieve your goals, I would say that Noelle is the one with the most "normal and justifiable" power ups (I'll talk about that later), since Noelle has always been the one that trains the most (when Mimosa speaks with Noelle, Mimosa says that she always saw Noelle train and in the saga when they go underwater), Noelle often serves for comedy due to the romance of Asta, this arises so naturally what e the comedy does not seem farfetched or monotonous.

I can talk about many other characters, but I already talk about how much I love the main ones, they make the world feel more alive and their personalities combine and impact each other, creating a great atmosphere in the team, the same happens with interactions with other characters, such as what happens with the harem of Asta, being always used for comedy or characters such as Yami, despite looking like a simple character and typical character who plays the role of boss, manages to teach everyone Black Bulls to find their way to fight and always serves to cause comedy in combats without looking stupid.

One point that I will agree with many is about the excessive power ups that the manga presents, and yes, most serve to create transcendental moments in the story, but it is no excuse that the spells are learned when experiencing feelings strong, many shonen sleeves present power ups, so for some it may be passable, but it is a fact that Black Clover is often helped by the script.

The antagonist of Black Clover is interesting, Litch manages to interest me for several reasons; share body with William, his way of expressing himself towards humans with a very "special" form of hatred (Litch seems very intelligent and despite everything always speaks in a very metaphorical way towards humans, making cynical comments like his companions) , has the light element that proved to be very powerful (assassin to the magician king), it is not that his motivations are great, since he wants to take revenge on humans, but his background and his past makes everything make sense and adds an aura of mystery to Litch, he has had a whole chapter of reflection where he shows how happy he was, so much that he believed in humans, but in the end the humans ended up betraying him. A unique and charming design like the majority of Black Clover characters, it catches my attention to know how to develop their past more deeply.

Battles and art are very good, and talk about how the characters are combined in groups to make dynamic battles and unique, this combining with the facial expressions that the author manages to capture (when faced with Vetto, when Asta finds out that his friends will help him find a cure for his arm, expressions of terror of all when the elves took possession of the bodies of many companions), the faces that Mr. Tabata achieves seem extremely accurate and reflect the feelings of the characters very well either in battle or out of battle, the attacks of the characters are drawn in an agrdable way, but a bad point of his art is confusion when drawing attacks, many movements that he draws look so rare that they are difficult to distinguish (that's less for me), outside of that the approaches he makes to the cities or towns manage to transmit the space they occupy and at a glance it shows the state in which it is, m Many details when it comes to making scenarios makes me really appreciate your art.

I would say that this is the best example of how you can use the cliches in your favor, mold them and manage to create a story with charisma and personality, many mistakes have improved over time, Asta has evolved and often requires the help of their peers to defeat stronger enemies, so it is not a very powerful protagonist to ruin the tension, the female characters are not only for the Asta harem and they are no longer just fan service, female characters like Mereoleona are clear proof of that, making a character memorable and know how to get epic moments in addition to presenting decent battles (or even Noelle and Vanessa that have been improving over time), this among many things has made me not regret having read Black Clover, probably many do not agree, but Black Clover easily surpasses Boku No Hero Academy or Nanatsu No Taizai (especially NNT that I consider that its quality has gone down a lot), I'm proud to give an 8 to Black Clover, and enjoy many of its chapters.

After having seen many comments & thoughts on this work, generally gearing towards either of the hype (due to various shounen fandom) or the fact that this manga seemed to have quote "ripped off of the idea of other manga like Naruto", I wanted to add in my comments; in terms of how this manga is presented as a whole in terms of the author's writing rhetoric.

Having read many fantasy literature novels and as well as fantasy & kingdom setting manga, there are many stories out there that are similar to one another even within the kingdom world building setup stories. So it is no ... surprise to find that in a work such as this there exists magicians in this world, where they are the primary source of power in this setting. So if anything, I have absolutely no qualms in that Black Clover seems to have a similar feel of story in terms of what other people have accused and claimed it to be. If anything, Black Clover could have had the exact same story as Naruto and the others, for all I care. But then that would be over stretching things and the story would essentially become a work of fan fiction. The fact is, kingdom and world building are rather hard to come up with, given the material in all of the other works people have seen. And so rather in terms of the how similar the idea of this story is, I believe that this would have a lot of potential depending on how the author decides to go on about it.

But here then on lies my main problem with this work, in that straight from the beginning the story of this manga was not executed properly. I can only mention so much without spoiling too much of the story, but here goes.

From the first chapter the main characters are introduced, readers are introduced to their disadvantaged lifestyle living in the very outskirts of the kingdom. Everything of the main characters the readers should know at this point in the game are shown, including a random "flashback" of the two's promise - the kind which I believe should have been showed at a very later point in the story, similar to Luffy's childhood past "arc" in the manga One Piece.

Afterwards things happen, and the second chapter introduces the readers of the magic knight exam. And then the third chapter shows Aster's new life in the order. I'm sorry, did I miss something here in that the author had the potential of dragging out the magic knight exam - making it into a possible "magic knight exam arc", but instead decided to short-case or summarize it all in one chapter? There was a small antagonist character introduced which I felt could have been utilized fully in each rounds of the exam; each round of the exam could have been complex & hard if the exam part of the story was properly dragged out; and heck even potential rival characters other than the antagonist and Juno could have been introduced into the story if the exam was practically made into an arc. But instead, everything about this was summarized in just 1 chapter.

So in terms of writing & rhetorics, this is one example of what I mean. And afterwards this manga follows along the same pattern with its later arcs, where given its story content so far it should already have at least 60 chapters or even more. So personally, with this work only having at around 28 chapters says something.

In summary, like I mentioned before in terms of story, this manga had so much potential in dragging out some aspects of the story, but the author essentially ruined himself and his chapters short because he did not utilize his arcs to the best of his ability. Having read Bakuman, I could not help but question what on earth the author's editor and even Jump magazine was and is still currently thinking, since they're not able to point out that some elements of the story could have been dragged out and utilized much better. They probably have at one point, but following the demographics of fans and the audience implies them from further bringing these points to the bitter end. But the hype occurring in a work which cannot execute itself properly is just a matter of my opinion, in that I cannot understand why.

In terms of my official rankings following the schema of this site, they are... (all considered individually and not on an "average" side of things with the overall ranking of score).

Story: 6 / 10
Art: 5 / 10
Character: 8 /10
Enjoyment: 2 /10
Overall: 3 / 10

But other than finding myself criticizing this work due to how badly the author AND Jump presented itself in terms of writing & story telling devices and mechanisms, I found myself quite liking the characters and wondering about the use of magic in this world. Seeing Aster's "tome" made me wonder and refer to another work of a webtoon & theorize on my own. Aster's development in the order (albeit again, rather fast), and characters of the Black Sheep's Crook I came to like - with each having problems of their own and thus needing to solve them sort of thing. Regardless, as long as the author continues to make the bad points of his storytelling very obvious and on point, my judgement on this series will continue to remain on the low side.

This series is incredible. Pacing is really well done and there is never a boring stop. For art, it a weekly series so don't expect high-level art like berserk but it is still really really good. All the characters are great. The first saga has just concluded and there are more sagas to come. If Black clover continues with the consistency it definitely will be one of the top tier shonen of this time. I have high hopes for the manga for the upcoming arcs and sagas as there are many mysteries and plot points to be encountered. If you like shonen such as One ... piece or naruto this is a must-read.

Also, make sure to read the entire thing as the beginning may seem a bit generic for some but its a manga that truly gets better the more chapters you read.

Based on reading this manga with a complete open mind and finding these reviews are not fair I will give my view on the story. Yes it is cliche and seems to be similar to Naruto but given I didn't like Naruto because I found the characters too annoying. But with this story I will say I find it more enjoyable than Naruto.

Story 7/10 (so far)
The story is your typical Main Character has no talent but his friend is a complete genius type of story. But the fact that the story is based on the MC (main character) not having any type of Magic in ... a ALL magic world to be interesting. Also I think this story can be very good if the creator played it out right and because I feel the story does have similar traits to others easily makes you judge it based on other stories. If you judge it on other manga's of cause your not going to like it thinking the creator simply copied the ideas. But forget about other stories from different manga and thinking it has it's own story not based on others you can see there is a platform of a really great story or a really bad one.
But this being said the fact it is based in a world mostly on magic makes you think there is more than what you think.

Looking at it with a open mind I feel it can go either way on story. It has great platform to make a great story or it can be a cop out story.

Art 8/10
The art in this manga I feel suits the style of the story. It don't give me the feeling of it being either too much or too little for the story. I feel the character designs are very good and they are very different and they do make you remember them. And for a manga like this I feel like the characters and the area designs are very well suited for the story.

Characters 7/10
The Characters in the story I enjoy getting to know them. And from what I read and looked at the characters each have a charm to them but also have like something you want to know more on. Like the group in the Black Bull Magic-Knights are very different from each-other and you slowly grow to want to know more about them. Like there is one who is the Rebel kid, Drunk Witch, Sister loving wizard, food lover and so on.
I feel the characters can be explained on will be one thing I will look forward to and something which can make the story and get you involved with the characters. But so far the stories characters get you interested and wanting to get to know them and their back-stories.

Also I find the MC isn't over powered since he does get his share of battle wounds and the fact he isn't sure on why he has no magic makes him more interesting. Also if you feel he is over powered then you should look at it like "if he didn't have this ability then he will die on the first mission he had and manga over. The End. On to the next manga."
Also he is very loud with no view on giving up. This is why I like him because if he gives up quickly then what story can there be? He is not going to give up because he has been looked down on and he wants to prove them wrong. Also think of what he does in the beginning he trains his body to it's limits because he has no ability in magic, he done what people with a fire in their heart will do. Find something they can do and train themselves in it. So instead of training in magic cause he will useless at it, he trained his body so he can be a heavy hitter and faster without the aid of magic.

Enjoyment 9/10
Has I said if you go in to the story with a open mind and not with other mangas to compare it to, it is very interesting and quite funny. But if you go in with not so open mind and judge it when it hasn't gotten into the greater story you won't find it enjoyable and quickly find it boring.
I find the fact the MC has no magic interesting and wanting to know why he is like that and the reasons and if there is any more like him. But also I find the enjoyment in some funny one liners which is quite funny and make you chuckle.

The story is little fast in the beginning which makes me think it might be either a long story similar to Naruto or a decent sized one which gets you involved for about 20 volumes. But either-way the enjoyment of learning the characters and the backstories will be something I am interested in and looking forward to.

But if you go in with other mangas to compare it to then it is game over and you won't enjoy it and finding things to pick at it and you will find alot of similarities to more popular mangas and judge it on them.

Over all I give it 8/10
I feel it has potential to be a very good manga if the creators do it justice and based on the chapters I have already seen the story is just getting into the grip of what could happen. Also I advice people who have read other mangas to not do the rookie mistake and judge based on other mangas since they ain't the same story.
If you feel it is similar to another manga then just not let it be a mark where they have to meet because the stories will never be the same 100%.

Black Clover has become one of my favorite manga from Weekly Shonen Jump. The fast pacing of the story makes the chapters great to read from week to week without feeling bogged down from slow pacing. The story itself is solid with a large cast of characters that get their moments of character development without feeling left out, countless references to European mythology, and a great MC in Asta and fantastic heroine in Noelle Silva. The art looks downright incredible at times and the paneling makes Black Clover very easy to read. Black Clover, despite being in a genre known for its action, has some ... of the best foreshadowing I've seen in manga with plot twists that keep readers on their toes. I highly recommend this manga to any potential readers who are fans of the shonen genre.

In a point in time where there is a plethora of shonen manga to read, each with some unique aspect or approach that at least tries to make things different and/or original, Black Clover manages to be the most derivative, bland, uninspired and predictable of the current, "relevant/popular" shonen mangas.
Having read upwards of 300 chapters, there hasnt been one time which I was surprised by an outcome of a battle or plot point, anyone with half a brain cell can see everything that happens from a mile away. Every potential high stakes conflict or curveball that the manga throws at you, ends up being solved ... in the most unimaginative, inconsequential way possible.
Reading Black Clover is like watching a replay of an awful sporting event. You know everything that is going to happen, and it doesnt captivate you. 95% of the roster is as one dimentional as a black dot, almost an amalgamation of most archetypes in shonen manga so some perverted version of a character checklist ticks every mark, with as much character progression as one would have with a pet rock.
If only to say something positive, some of the art and character design really shows competence, as well as some artwork and panels featured in the work

Tl;dr: read something else, you ain't missing out on anything

First of all Black Clover is one of the series from SHUUKAN SHOUNEN JUMP MAGAZINE from Japan and being published by SHUEISHA which generally this magazine and publisher are popular for publishing alot of SHOUNEN MANGA for these past decades, so ONE PIECE, BLEACH, NARUTO and MY HERO ACADEMIA are also under this publisher soooo its not quite suprise why this manga is a very typical generic shonen manga compare to the big series from shounen jump right? so what with the hate? because the plot and some of the characters are kinda similar with NARUTO? oh I WANT TO BE A PIRATE KING, ... oh I WANT TO BE A HOKAGE, oh I WANT TO BE A HERO just like ALL MIGHT!! pfftttttt see they all are the same as for me it does not even matter at this point as long as im enjoying the whole series, the artwork is good and somes are quite epic, the plot is slowly progressing more interesting feature, the objective for the comics/manga is to make people entertain when they are reading it, so if you are not enjoy this manga just leave it be. THE ANIME ELITIST WANNABE NERDS thinks their opinion are superior than other people so they can spit at any manga/anime which did not meet their pleasure and act like an asshole(well they are) by saying some shit for this manga.

I WANT TO BE A PIRATE KING! -Luffy, One piece

I WANT TO BE A HOKAGE! -Naruto, Naruto

I WANT TO BE A HERO LIKE ALL MIGHT! -Deku, My Hero Academia

its just the same shit, just read it and enjoy the manga if you like it, if you didnt just fuck off and leave it be,simple af. THE ANIME ELITIST WANNABE NERDS get a life and stop stay in your parent`s basement.

Experts at Comic con declared that Black Clover is the worst manga of 2016. and they also claimed that Bleach is underrated(lol). I didn't know trolling was acceptable at such serious events. and I hope people don't take them seriously. that's why I decided to write this review but it's my first time writing one so, pls, forgive my mistakes.(plus I am somewhat angry so I might be biased)

Story(7) - First of all, the Story of this manga isn't that great(from the start). When I first read it, it was like Naruto, Bleach, Fairy tail combined together but if you are patient enough you would ... see the potential of BC(Black Clover) verse. after introductions and small world building the manga picks up a pace and shapes into something that could be called an independent piece of writing. it isn't anything like other shonen mangas I mentioned before so rest assured. Fights are mostly teamwork and never give up style. MC might look OP for a while but it's not true at all.

Art(9) - Art is great. every character has it's distinctive feature and great design. Action is super fast paced and easy to follow. scenery is beautiful and background gets a lot of attention too.

Characters(8) - there are many great chars is BC. MC(Aster) is your typical shonen protagonist. some people will find him annoying but he has many redeeming qualities. every character has their own backstory and motives to explain they actions. and this manga has arguably the best character ever. his every appearance is a joy to watch(I don't want to spoil him though). the problem I had with this manga were Villains who looked super generic at first but it's certainly not the case. they are gaining depth bit by bit.

Enjoyment(9) - I enjoyed this manga very much. it has a great action and comedy which makes me smile. especially the interaction of the characters are spectacular.

Overall(9) - if you want a great paced fights, good character interactions and a story which gets better and better you should read this manga. It feels like I only talked about it's good points. ofc there are many flaws. Story needs to be developed. MC need more depth and development(other characters are developing quite well though). more world building(though this weakness is slowly evaporating) etc. etc. but please give this manga a shot. it certainly isn't a worst manga out there. those experts doesn't know anything about it. If even one person starts reading BC because of my review I would be happy.

Black Clover Review (Chapters 1-331)
Nothing has quite managed to move past its rocky, meme-able beginnings like Black Clover has. Since its release, it’s managed to go from being the butt-joke of Shonen Jump to standing toe-to-toe with all the modern greats. While MHA dared to be more than its genre and then buckled under the weight of its own promise, Black Clover started out as the most generic and cliche shonen of them all, only to go and use those tropes to its benefit.
It has the sad backstories of Naruto, the sheer hype of Gurren Lagann, the power-ups of Dragon Ball and the found-family camaraderie ... of One Piece.
Nothing in this story is overly original, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t make for an incredible experience. I have no doubt if this came out twenty years ago it would be up there with the big three. Black Clover is the true shonen underdog that started the race dead last but now stands a fair chance of winning and I can’t wait to see it cross the finish line.

Let me start this off by saying the people who call this a cliche rip off of naruto don't understand the author's intention at all. It seems so blatantly like every other shonen, because the author does use a lot of cliches. However the way they're used is more like a parody of the genre than a rip off. This is further supported by the fact the manga doesn't take itself too seriously outside of the fight scenes, which are wonderfully executed btw. The characters embody certain shonen tropes to the extreme that the author often uses for comedic effect, making it more of a ... parody. And speaking of the author, he's the same dude that wrote hungry joker, so expecting this to be just like any other shonen is a real shame. The characters don't have much depth as of now, but they're charming and the interactions between them more than make up for it. That on top of the wonderful art makes this quite an enjoyable read.

Calling Black Clover a knock off Naruto is a pretty dull review title plus its an incredible disservice to what I think Black Clover does exceptionally well

The goals of the main character Asta is probably where similarities end with Naruto or BNHA for that matter since BNHA is more of a slower burn show that puts an extreme emphasis on character relationships and a meticulously planned out plot/story like with other series like Attack on Titan

on the other hand

Black Clover simply takes a completely different approach rather that it is FAAASSTTT paced instead of taking a meticulous approach to the story rather it ... wastes zero time and always keeps the reader interested as hell in the story with fights and world exploration and while some may call the series "Standard" i honestly think thats what makes it so great is that it doesn't bore readers to death with setup and boring info dumps rather its like your running with the characters really fast I'd have to say though that even when it does have fast paced-ness to its story it honestly knows when to slow down the action and dialogue.

Its pretty standard going in but it ramps itself up in quick bursts and succession that keep you interested and delivers great highs and lows

The Art is perfect for the type of series that it is and the medieval magic knight aesthetic
and overall the individual panels are really packed with gorgeous line work and stellar backgrounds it also manages to capture such impact in blows or strikes

in summation solid story, characters, and art the fact that its really fast and enjoyable with the fights and pacing make it a really good binge read