Anime Review – Black Clover

Japanese: ブラッククローバー
Type: TV Series
Aired: Oct 3, 2017 to Mar 30, 2021
Studio: Pierrot
Genre: Fantasy, Action, Shounen
Duration: 23 min. per ep.
Rating: PG-13 – Teens 13 or older
Add to list on MAL
MY RATING: 9 out of 10

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!

I love fantasy and adventure shounen anime, so when I saw a snippet of Black Clover on Facebook, I knew I had to watch it. It’s currently on-going at the time so I told myself that I need to binge watch it when it’s finished because I have a feeling that this series is going to be really great. And tada! As usual, I forgot to check this series, lol.

So I was only able to finally start it last May 2021, but had to pause when it’s already 10 episodes until the end. I have this nasty habit of pausing a series or anime that I really love because it makes me feel that it’s final. Heck, it’s not like it’s impossible to watch them again lol. So last month, I finally had the courage to finish it. And tada! I still love it like the day I started this series. It was sooooooo good! You really have to watch it if you love fantasy!

I finished this series last month, and it’s only just now that I decided to write the review, lol. So please bear with my review below. I hope I can give justice to how good this series is.

Opening & Closing Themes + Songs

I believe that all opening and closing themes of Black Clover are bomb! I don’t think there’s even one that was poorly made because everything always gives stars to my eyes. This series has 170 episodes with 13 closing and ending themes, but from start to finish, the quality was always maintained.

Aside from the animation, the songs were equally as perfect as well. It was so good that I don’t think I skipped watching them in every episode lol, *wink.

I don’t think I only have 1 favorite because as I’ve said, everything just looks so good. So I’ll just share the final opening instead for you to feast your eyes, hehehe.

Story

Black Clover shows us an amazing story of a boy named Asta who works very hard to achieve his dream of becoming the Wizard King despite not having magic power. His journey was very hard, but it was really heartwarming to see his determination and positive attitude despite the hardships.

This series’ main setting is in the Clover kingdom which comprises magic knights that protects the kingdom. That being said, magic is everything in this world. Imagine having a magic knight without magic, eh?

I really enjoyed this series. For me, this series gave me all the things that I love in my anime – action, magic, excitement, happiness and emotion. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed and appreciate this series, so I’m begging you, please try it! Chaar, wahahaha. But seriously, it was really good, plus you won’t be disappointed with the animation.

The character development is also huge in this series. And almost all the characters are very likable.

Characters

The thing I like about long series is that they have a wide range of unique and fun characters, and Black Clover is also the same. There’s a lot of characters here, but they are very easy to tell apart because they all have different personalities, so I’m sure you will also have one or more characters that you will be cheering on, *wink.

As for the main focus, Asta, I absolutely love his character. He doesn’t have magic power, which is very rare since everyone has magic power and the only difference is how strong or weak they are per person. Since he doesn’t have magic power, he compensates with his physical abilities. He trains everyday to get stronger and always has a positive attitude even if there are a lot of people who discourage him. And I am one of those people that are so happy and proud everytime he accomplishes the impossible and shows everyone his strength.

In this kind of series, it’s normal to have a childhood friend, a family member or an idol that are considered stronger and more popular than the main character in the story. As for this series, we have a childhood friend, Yuno, who is popular not just because of his strong magic, but also because of his looks. When I started this series, I was not fond of him. He’s very rude to Asta, and I really hated that. But that didn’t last long though. He’s a crybaby as a kid so I can understand how he wants to prove himself after promising to Asta that he will become strong and will compete with him to become the next wizard king. He’s quite a popular character to viewers, but I can’t seem to make him a favorite character, lol. Probably because liking Asta is more than enough to fill my heart.

Art & Animation

The animation especially on the battle scenes were soooooo good. I’m not really an expert on this part, but even a noob like me can really appreciate how great it was. I loved it when they added this “manga” feel (not sure if that’s an accurate description on that one lol) on every intense battle that even though I haven’t read the manga yet, but it’s giving me that “feels”.

As for the character design, it was pretty unique. I am not actually a fan of thick necks for the muscular characters, but I learned to love it since two of the most badass characters in this series look like one, lol.

Voice Actors

Not gonna comment more on the Japanese dub, because I don’t think I ever encounter one that I really hate. So as usual, it was perfect.

As for the English dub, it was surprisingly good. I want to say that I am not picky in this aspect of anime, but once in a while you will meet anime series that will make you shudder because of how bad the English dubs are. And fortunately, Black Clover has a decent English dub. There may be some characters that sound a little cringy, but the majority sounds really good.

Fillers

I have to add this one, because this series only has a few and almost all of them were very enjoyable to watch. You would even wish there’s more, lol. They are also placed nicely, and not on cliff hangers episodes (like some anime we all know, lol), so all’s good, *wink.

***

Black Clover series ends with the team getting ready to fight the spade kingdom, and I heard it was really epic in manga, so what a shame. There’s a new movie available on netflix, and I can’t watch it without writing this review first, lol. So I hope it’s as good or even greater than the series <3

That said, if you are a fan of the shounen and fantasy/action genre, Black Clover is highly recommended!

One of my many favorites Black Clover Ending <3

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