Many years ago, a mighty demon threatened to eradicate humanity, leaving the species on the edge of extinction. The saviour of this world arrived in the form of a young mage, who in victory would be crowned the "Wizard King", his title to be handed down across the generations to those that rose to the very top of the magical arts.
Black Clover is set in a fantasy world where every inhabitant can, to some degree, control magical powers. Your status in society is often linked to your magical power, and on each citizen's 15th birthday, they are invited to receive their own grimoir, a mysterious tome that enhances magical powers.
Enter our heroes, two orphan boys who were raised in a remote village by the local church. Yuna is a quiet, studious lad with a gift for advanced magic. Handsome and stoic, he is adored by the locals and looked up to by the other orphans. By contrast, Asta is a loud-mouthed, over-eager brat who seems to spend most of his time engaging in three activities; asking a nun to marry him incessantly, training his body to be incredibly powerful, and declaring at every possible moment that he will be the next Wizard King. Guess which of the two lads is the focus...
Sadly for Asta, he has a singular, important drawback not linked to his personality - he is unable to harness any magical abilities whatsoever. Not that this dents his confidence, noise level or general irritating behaviour.
This may sound a little negative, but honestly once you adjust your ears for the noise level, Asta is no worse than any other Shonen anime lead, and in fact that's both a strength and a weakness. His Naruto-like declarations of becoming the next leader, followed by the My Hero Academia trait of being born (in the eyes of the rest of the world) defective, means that there's nothing here to offend should you like these shows, but equally nothing new either.
Take the trip Yuna and Asta take to collect their grimoirs. Yuna is gifted with a four-leaf clover grimoir, a sign of supernatural skill and good fortune. Asta is left empty handed and embarrassed, but is rewarded when entering a hopeless fight with a black and dangerous looking grimoir bearing a 5-leaf clover (the fifth leaf, we are told, holds the devil!). This is so My Hero Academia it could be related, and honestly MHA did it better.
One of my favourite moments with Black Clover is the episode on which the pair depart for the main city to join the Magic Knights, the first step on the road to greatness. The voiceover, which is a curious reminder of 80's cartoons like Dogtanian and Willy Fog, intones "so begins their long journey to the castle" or somesuch. I figured I'd be in for an arc where the pair travel across a great distance, meeting friends and foes on their way to their destinies, perhaps even becoming separated so that they would have to find each other in the future.
Nope, they arrive by the end of the episode! What?
It's almost comedic, but I still enjoyed the novelty. Paradoxically, the series feels both rushed and lethargic at the same time, the first two episodes taking time to establish the history of our two leads at length, including extensive flashbacks. It's only really by the time the pair reach the castle and start trying out to join the Magic Knights that the show really comes alive, but this takes a mere two episodes before they're both accepted. It's like anime whiplash!
Okay, so the show is a bit messy going in. The pacing is off kilter and Asta in particular is at least as annoying as Naruto, but I genuinely had a good time with Black Clover's opening volume. The costumes are and character designs are top tier, the animation workmanlike but the direction fluid and exciting to make up for it. Music is good, the dub is more tolerable than most and I think we're in for a solid if not spectacular Shonen ride here.
I'm intrigued enough to want to see more, though I do appreciate that those who are currently loving any similar show may be a bit perplexed as to any kind of unique selling point. Think of it as action Harry Potter with a Bleach-sized demon's sword and a group of Magic Knights who are basically thugs and drunks, and I think you'll understand the appeal. It has boundless potential, so let's just hope the show fixes the pacing a tad and calms Asta down (we're already rid of the nun proposals by episode 4!) and I think this could be a really great series.
One to keep an eye on, but maybe hit up My Hero Academia if you're torn between the two, as it has the edge in terms of pacing and emotional weight.
The review disc was kindly provided by Fetch for Sony Home Entertainment
Follow A.I. on Twitter and Like us on Facebook to get all the latest site updates
