Since Black Clover is coming to an end as we all know. I thought it would be appropriate to finally make a review on this long running Shonen. So watch out as there are lots of spoilers here.

The story follows the life of Asta, a boy born magic less in a world where having it means everything. Throughout the story, the creator pushes the meaning of never giving up. As Asta makes up for his lack of magic by training his body and getting stronger.

Although the odds were against him, he aimed to be the wizard king. Not to have a high title, but because it is a one that he needs in order to accomplish his goals. To end racism, classism, and discrimination against those in lower realms that deal with it on a daily basis.

Throughout the anime you probably can notice many flaws in production. Such as the bad animation that has lead to it being one of the most prominent reasons for people hating on it. Along with the over the top yelling that Asta did in almost all of his scenes. It's notable to note that at the time Asta's voice actor was fairly new and that it did get better as the anime progressed.

Putting these flaws aside, Black Clover is an actual decent anime. Sure there are bad animation moments from time to time, but when it counts it's good. When looking in deeper to the production. Since it is weekly there's not alot of time for staff to work on it, and the scheduling isn't the best. Given more time to work on episodes would be a major turning point for the anime.

As for story wise, some could argue that it is a Naruto clone, which also has been a big problem. While the anime does indeed take some parts from other animes/mangas, the way it gets executed is different along with the way it builds itself from the ground up.

Black Clover has some of the arguably best characters in terms of the way that they're written. They all are written with meaning & have amazing character development. The Black Bulls all being perfect examples. With Noelle going from a stuck up loner royal persona, to being very strong willed and confident in herself & squad. Grey breaking slowly out of her shell and finding ways to incorporate herself into being useful. Most importantly Finral, someone who would dread doing any work and would be scared and timid during fights. Turned into a reliable support character, that even went on to work on offensive spells that he would then use in the mock battle again his brother. I could sit here and go on & on about the other characters and how their development/growth impacted the story, but I don't have the time nor want to turn this into a character discussion.

The foreshadowing is also something to take note of. The story obviously wasn't just put together as it went along. Moments from it's first arc all the way up to the Midnight Sun Arc all came together to build one of the best plot twist.

When the story is set up we get introduced to some long running and reoccurring characters. Skipping on later into the arc, we see Litch or so we thought. It was actually Patry who took on his leader's persona to enact revenge on the humans who so heartlessly massacred a whole race, basically genocide. With this, it was his driving force to build up followers to one day do the same thing the humans and punish them. As this all goes one we encounter the wizard kings death which was a very unexpected thing, but he was later brought back and needed. Which I guess was for the whole Dark Triad Arc to occur.

Moving on to the near end of the arc, right when we think it's all about to end, we then see the devil. Or otherwise know as Zagred. Here we all see this was a calculated plan. One made by the sealed devil in order to free himself to once again. The devil had caused fear within the humans and made them believe that the elves were something to be feared. That they would attack when given the chance to. This didn't help with the case that Elves were loved by mana, which humans weren't exactly the same in that case. Leaving already pent up resentment to be exposed, giving them a reason to act.

Using the wizard king's invention to neutralize their magic, they massacred them. Which lead the soul surviving soul Patry to go on believing it was the humans who betrayed them, most importantly the wizard king as it was "his" light magic.

This then leads to him finding himself in William as both shared the same wavelength, and then it all worked out in the devil's favor from then on.

The biggest plot twist in this show was definitely finding out that it all was an orchestrated plan from 500 years ago.

Going on to filler wise, the filler is actually decent even throughout a whole arc of nothing but it. Sure it wasn't the best one of the series or anything grand. It was just an average one that actually correlated to story and gave more background on the aftermath after the big fight from the last arc. So are you missing much if you skipped it, no not much.

Anyways with the current arc, it's obvious they're pulling out all the stops. We are getting some of the best animation yet, in a arc where fights occur back to back. It could possibly be one of the best and biggest Black Clover arc depending on were it ends. The fact that Black Clover is among some of the top anime shows that people really like it, sure popularity doesn't mean good. It's just that when taking a look into the characters & arcs, you see that it is deserving of the praise it gets.

During this new arc, if you've read the manga you might feel that it all is getting adapted far too quickly. It's important to know that during these certain parts of the arc the manga was only 15 pages per chapter. With most of them containing back to back fight scenes. So far the new arc introduced the new characters and a very good pace, and has even offered a bit more backstory to parts that weren't explain in dept in the manga.

Especially with the episodes leading up to Asta & Yami vs Dante, which is one most well animated fights. All having decent animation with no lack to detail. Well the background art was lacking, but the plot & story wise it's all moving quite good at it's pace.

At the time of this review only 3 episodes remain, but it's safe to say it's going to end on a high note. I'll update this review if this turns out to not be the case.

The horrible animation was something of the past in Black Clover. Animation has went up alot compared to what it used to be and staff are working hard to make these last few good. While I do think it's important to critique an anime or show based on it's contents. It's also important to praise a good staff that works hard throughout odd scheduling to give us something decent. Which honestly looks good considering the production situation.

So in all with the final thoughts. It gets an 8.8 in overall adaption. It stays true to the manga & pulls through in moments when needed. It's definitely enjoyable if you're in it for a good story with fun enjoyable characters. Just don't go expecting some outstanding animation & a perfect anime. It has it's flaws but nothing too major to turn anyone away if you've made it through the first 15 episodes. Throughout it all for me personally it's among my favorites, but judging from an unbiased stand point I have to acknowledge what it does bad and what it does wrong.

Updated Review After The Last Episode

After watching the last episode it was pretty reminiscent as this was the show that I watched every Tuesday for years. I didn't want to make this biased, but I bumped it up a few points due to personal opinions. The last episode really captured the show as a whole, and represented & showed all the things Asta learned throughout his time as a magic knight. Even the ending with the extended version of the ED was the cherry on top. Seeing these characters all at the end provide a since of wow, this is how it all came up though the years. So truly in all, although it's not a perfect show, or has the best animation. It is a show full of enjoyable moments, characters, and a nice community. Just to note, my score isn't based off feelings alone, I just bumped it up by .8 from the original 8.0.

I hope this makes out as a good final review, and maybe one day if it returns. I'll definitely make another one.

~~I only posted this cause I'm bored, and don't feel like recording it~~