They say that there are certain series that require you to take a step back or a dumbed-down open mind to enjoy. So why the 10? Honestly, I'm not even really sure myself. The overarching storyline and subplots all have parallels to other works and the characters all have doppelgangers floating around in some other manga.
The story is bereft of shallow gimmicks and instead opts to stuff itself full of cliches and archetypes. If you've watched Naruto, if you've watched Fairy Tail, if you have even a basic knowledge of writing propensities when it comes to shonen and fantasy, you've already gotten a taste of Black Clover.
Now that the technicals are out of the way, I feel I shouldn't even have to harp all that much on the story and characters. So despite my compliments to Tabata's art style, the mediocre animation mostly serves to its benefit. Had the source material been in more capable hands like Bones or Madhouse, I feel that it could've been leaning more towards "beautiful spectacle" territory as opposed to "beautifully terrible".
I have conflicting feelings on the animation though. I feel that Tabata's art style wasn't properly translated from panel to screen.
It can be good when it wants to and it can also skimp on its budget when it needs to. The animation is in a middling ground of both extremes. if you want the genuine Black Clover experience, the voice acting is like icing on that cake. Although, as a small caveat, if you attempt to watch this series from the perspective of someone knowing what they are signing up for, the subbed version adds an extra layer of grease to this disgustingly satisfying sandwich. It is probably the only time watching a series that it actually elicited a physical reaction from me. He makes Junko Takeuchi's work as Naruto seem warm and inviting like Morgan Freeman. Asta's voice actor has one setting and one setting only, although that has been covered ad nauseam. The only thing Black Clover is good at is highlighting how by-the-numbers this style of series can get.īriefly touching on the technicals of this series, the voice acting is god awful. Black Clover is terrible, it's like the shonen equivalent of The Room except it gets away with convincing people that it's good. I am utterly convinced that Tabata wrote this as a cheeky retaliation/statement against the higher-ups at WSJ, and no amount of rationalizing or fanboying can change that perception for me. Black Clover is one of the most creatively bankrupt series I have ever had the pleasure of watching or reading. I imagine Tabata's frame of mind when conjuring up the idea for his follow-up was one of both pragmatism and.a cheeky disregard for creativity. Couple that with some pretty unique character models and a good sense of panel-work, it easily had the potential to grow into something much greater than it ever did. While it wasn't exactly a Dostoyevsky or Hemmingway, Hungry Joker on a conceptual level at least had a fun gimmick to play around with. I'm not attempting to white-knight Hungry Joker or anything, but the politics at WSJ are as murky as the Academy Awards Committee. Hungry Joker had the unfortunate fate of being axed by the higher-ups at WSJ, thus is the fate of most new kids on the block who don't have a proper sense of what they are doing or are given little time to spread their wings. Black Clover, or, Black Clover as the gringos say, is the sophomore effort of mangaka Yuuki Tabata, and it is a far cry from his debut work, Hungry Joker. Let me preface this pre-review by saying this, I am in love with this series, but for all the wrong reasons. Good stuff yet again.ĮD: And another new ending."If you flip the 10, it becomes a 01!" -Some Jerk OP: Well, here’s the third OP to go along with Black Clover. Now, how about we get this mixer started? Enjoy! Regardless I’ll still give that one a review even if it’s rather short. Additionally, it looks like episode 29 is mainly a re-cap episode. We’ve just begun with this one, so give it some time to roll out. Nothing is confirmed yet, but Rebecca doesn’t want to lose to the other girls! Anyhow, if you’re wondering why they included the sudden introduction of Rebecca, well she’ll be part of set up for this new arc. Looks like Noelle has got more competition ahead of herself. They may not look at one another romantically, yet Rebecca has her eye on him. In Asta’s case, Rebecca Scarlet and him have quite a lot in common. Still, while things started off rocky each pair did have a moment together.
Now, Finral may know how to charm the ladies, but Asta and Luck are whole other case. It is here they meet three lovely ladies. It’s always slim pickings among the Bulls, but Luck will have to do for today. So, why not go out and meet some girls? Finral suddenly sprung the idea on Asta, although he’ll be needing one more for this group date. Asta’s hard work during the capital invasion is met with some much needed rest.