Introduction:
People really don’t give Black Clover enough credit. Sure, it may have some typical Shounen tropes and that made a lot of people give up on it early on, but that unoriginality is precisely what makes it so special. It takes the best aspects of every show that came before it and executes those tropes better than any of its predecessors ever did. Once the story picks up, the fun basically never stops. The show is constantly progressing and escalating. I thought I would lose interest at some point, but Black Clover just keeps one-upping itself and only gets better as time goes on. Unlike most Shounen anime, it has complex philosophical themes, heavy symbolism, and great antagonists. Everything is so well done that I can’t help but love it.
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Synopsis:
The story follows Asta, along with his childhood friend, Yuno, who were both raised in an orphanage in a backwater village deep within the forsaken realm of the Clover Kingdom, after being abandoned at its doorstep as newborn children. From a young age, they both dream of becoming the Wizard King, the strongest mage and the defacto leader of the nation. Unfortunately, the Clover Kingdom is also plagued with corruption and discrimination. For the most part, the nobles are arrogant, classist, and elitist, only using their high magical power as a means to further their agendas and harass the people beneath them. Since the boys are both commoners, they will have to fight an uphill battle for the rest of their lives if they intend to make their dreams a reality.
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World-Building:
The world-building in the show is rather complicated to explain. I’m guessing the best place to start is the power system. Every person is born with a magical attribute and some people have more mana to work with than others. You can’t change the magic you’re born with, but you can definitely master it and make it your own. There are four primary types: Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind. Almost all types of magic derive from one of those categories in some way or another, like Steel originates from Earth, Lightning originates from Fire, etc. However, there are some irregular types of magic that don’t necessarily fit in with the others, like Light, Dark, Spatial, and even Time. The point is anything can be controlled by magic and a mage can sharpen their skills by obtaining a grimoire. Grimoires are essentially spell books that choose its master. Everybody gets one at some point in their life. The grimoires grow with the mage they are contracted to and can cause a mage’s magic to take various shapes based on personality and life experiences. For example, Finral and Langris are brothers with the same magical attribute, Spatial Magic. They both belong to the famed noble house Vaude. Finral was a kind-hearted boy that refused to use his power to hurt others and was never interested in combat training, therefore disgracing his family, and was ultimately disowned. On the other hand, his brother Langris was the exact opposite and looked down on everybody, seeing others as nothing more than insects. He was put on a pedestal by his parents and appointed the next head of the house. It was because of this distinction that their grimoires manifested their magic in different ways. Finral’s spells focus on transporting people and objects to other locations safely, whereas Langris’ spells primarily focus on erasing space itself, obliterating anything that stands in his way. On an unrelated note, Asta’s magic type is the most irregular type of them all. Simply put, it’s called Anti-Magic. Its true origin is unknown, other than the fact that it’s granted to him by a mysterious devil that resides in his grimoire. His anti-magic manifests itself in the form of swords that nullify any magic type on impact. In opposition to the devils, there are also four divine spirits that are considered the embodiment of the four primary magic types I talked about earlier: Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind. Yuno was also chosen by the wind spirit Sylph towards the beginning of the story. As far as the rest of the world goes, there are also other species besides humans and other nations besides the Clover Kingdom, but that doesn’t really get addressed until much later in the story and I can’t talk about everything without writing a novel.
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Rivalry:
You could say Asta and Yuno are two halves of a whole. Asta was a boy without magic in a world where magic is everything, whereas Yuno’s magical power was always on par with even some royals. Asta gains the power of a devil, while Yuno gains the powers of a spirit. Asta gets accepted into the worst magic knights’ squad and Yuno gets accepted into the best. They are polar opposites, but it’s not like your typical underdog protagonist and prodigy rival character relationship. Yuno doesn’t antagonize or belittle Asta. They have a relationship that can be considered that of a competitive friendship for the entirety of the show. They share the same past, values, and ambitions, and they have an undying trust and respect for one another. They build each other up, rather than constantly breaking each other down. It's a healthy rivalry you don't usually see in anime. It's easily one of the biggest stand-outs of the show.
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Symbolism:
While everyone is born with the ability to utilize mana in the form of magical power, commoners have far less than nobility and are often harassed or even killed as a result. Unknown to most of the world, there’s a truly morbid reasoning behind this. You see, centuries ago, there was a peaceful tribe of elves that resided in the Clover Kingdom, whose magical power was so immense, it was thought that they were chosen by mana itself. Some humans even worshipped them like gods. However, the human royalty had a deep-seated envy and hatred for their species, which allowed them to be manipulated by a certain devil into massacring the elves at a wedding ceremony and stealing all of the elves' mana for themselves. Now, if you take a second to think about what’s going on, you might notice something. The elves are a people that are “chosen by mana”, symbolic of a people “chosen by God”. The event is clearly symbolic of the Siege of Jerusalem, with the elves representing the Israelites and the humans representing the Romans who invaded the land and massacred them. This is further supported by the fact that when the elves are resurrected in the modern-day Clover Kingdom, their revenge plot involves a monument matching the description of the Tree of Life, representing the ten attributes of God, and that two of the major characters from the human side are named after Roman emperors: Nero and Julius. Of course, this isn’t the only example of symbolism in the show. Black Clover also incorporates different religions, some literature, and even various types of mythology into later story arcs.
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Character Development:
Sometime after the massacre, the royal family branched off into three separate houses: Silva, Vermillion, and Kira. Noelle, one of Asta’s best friends, is from House Silva. Despite her lineage, her upbringing was anything but pleasant. Her capacity for mana was abnormally high, far more than any child can properly endure. As a result, she was never able to control her magic, and this only worsened under the constant emotional abuse from everyone around her. She was looked down on her entire life like Asta was and even tormented by her own siblings, until she was eventually disowned by them for making the family look bad. However, after rigorous training and her relationship with Asta, she’s able to accept and overcome her shortcomings and eventually became one of the strongest mages in the kingdom, even outclassing the people that used to belittle her. She’s a phenomenally written character and there are plenty more like her in the show, especially amongst Asta’s comrades at the Black Bulls, the magic knights squad that recruited him at the beginning of the story. The Black Bulls is widely considered to be the worst of the worst magic knights squad. They're pretty much the practical joke of the Clover Kingdom. This is due to the fact that, despite while having a solid roster of mages at their disposal, they tend to cause more problems than they solve and they aren’t exactly the people you’d typically see in the magic knights. They’re reckless, lazy, and sometimes just plain stupid, but they’re lovable, nonetheless. First, there’s Asta, who’s undeniably the backbone for the entire group. His fearlessness and persistence manufacture a deadly combination and he motivates his peers to surpass their personal limitations, just like he did with Noelle. The rest of the squad consists of: Luck – a battle addict, Magna – a street punk, Charmy – a glutton, Vanessa – an alcoholic, Finral – a womanizer, Gauche – an ex-convict, and there’s Gordon and Grey, who are both crippling introverts. There are also four more members that are introduced later on. Then, there’s the captain. Yami is basically the physical embodiment of masculinity. This man makes alphas look like betas, but underneath his tough exterior is a man who’ll go to war for any of his subordinates. He's like a retired Shounen protagonist that has already been through all of his adventures and decided to take over the mentor role for the next generation of magic knights. Anyway, I'm not gonna go over each character's arc, because that would make this a million times longer than it has to be, but as you can see, each member has a different background and personality, not to mention magical power. On their own, it may seem as though nobody stands out, but they’re simply amazing when they all come together. Seeing their growth not only as individuals, but as a team is truly fascinating to watch.
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Conclusion:
All in all, Black Clover is a masterfully written show. Is it relatively mediocre at the beginning? Absolutely, but after watching the entirety of the first saga, it’s obvious why it needed to be that way. There's tons of set-up for some huge payoffs. Black Clover as a show is basically like Asta as a character. People assume it will be bad, so they slander it relentlessly. The show really had to fight for the recognition it has today. It kind of reminds me of Attack on Titan in that regard. The story and world-building are on another level, and it has an entire cast of characters that I actually love to spend time with. Also, the fights and the music are amazing. I never thought I’d say this about a Shounen, but hell, there's been one filler arc so far, and not only was that arc great, but it actually enhanced the story that much more. I honestly don't know how they do it. All I have to say is: don't go into Black Clover expecting it to reinvent the wheel, because it won't. It'll definitely take you for a fun ride though. It's literally Shounen junk food and doesn't attempt to become anything more than that until the end of the first series. All in all, if you have the patience to watch this show, do it. It’s more than worthy of your time.