Hi folks, I’m Zach. You may remember me as the guy who wrote two articles on Crunchyroll titled “Why I think Black Clover is the Best Shonen in Years” and “Why I Still Think Black Clover is the Best Shonen in Years”. Since I evidently didn’t learn my lesson either of those times, I think it’s time I get into why I think Black Clover is absolutely killing it as a shonen series. Fair warning: a few points here venture outside of the anime, so be cautioned.
I think the anime and manga world’s opinion of Black Clover has changed quite a bit since those pieces came out, which is great, and I know my overall opinion has certainly gone up as time goes on. Now, I know what you’re already probably furiously typing into the comments section: with such recent smash hits as Kimetsu no Yaiba and The Promised Neverland, among the other long-standing classics Shonen Jump has to offer, what right do I have to still consider Black Clover good, let alone the best?
The first thing that makes it work so well for me is it’s pacing. I’ll be the first to admit that the anime is really dragging things out. On the manga side though, there’s absolutely no slowdown. There’s no lull between story arcs. The arcs (current one notwithstanding) are concise and don’t waste any time. They all seamlessly flow from one to the next, barrelling down the track like a runaway train, thrusting you into action with no warning. One minute you’re at a lavish dinner party, wining and dining among royalty. The next you’re protecting everyone from weird magical zombie puppets. Done saving your teammate’s sister? Cool, because we have to follow the boss to fight off a mortal enemy. Got that sorted? Great! There’s a despair fetishist underwater that needs taking care of. Oh, he broke your arms? Yeah, that’s a bummer but chin up, there’s a forest of witches being attacked by extremists from another kingdom. You get the point, right?
One of my least favourite things in the manga, shonen especially, is this kinda tendency to draw things out. A lot of my favourite manga have story arcs that are absolutely awesome but get cut short or are kind of okay and drag on for years. I think Tabata has pacing down to a formula, and if you pay close enough attention, it’s clear he’s building a world with a much larger scope than he’s letting on. He knows how much time to spend in one place, and just when to thrust the Black Bulls into the next page of their adventure. From the outlier, nothing about Black Clover seems to be on the fly. It’s so meticulously planned and choreographed that it’s sort of brilliant in how subtle it is. A few examples off the top of my head is how he snuck in Grey’s real form well before we even actually got to see it, Henry tiptoeing around the Black Bull’s headquarters, and Licht admitting to Gauche he couldn’t risk hurting him after his fight with Yami.
Another subversion to the usual shonen tropes is how brilliant the women in Black Clover are. There are many shonen series in which the female characters aren’t exactly used to the best of their ability, and the border between damsel in distress and fairly pointless.
Noelle was hindered by doubt instilled by her family and herself. She set out to prove herself as a Magic Knight, but not without carrying her fair share of burdens. There’s the crippling self-doubt that comes with comparing yourself to others (namely her siblings), the doubt instilled by her family for having little value and sullying their good name, and the guilt that burrows deep from your birth being the cause of your mother’s death. She not only didn’t give up, but she proved herself to be stronger than the royal blood coursing through her veins, discovering how little royalty truly means when you discover your true family and believe in yourself.
Grey carried so much anxiety in her true self that she found it impossible to reveal who she truly was to her teammates. When she came to the realisation that those who truly care about you don’t care what you look like, she finally found the comfort to simply be herself.
Vanessa, once bound by the threads of fate, was able to revel in a life she considered to be carefree. The lengths she went to for Asta’s sake proved she wasn’t a completely self-absorbed, scantily-clad booze-hound. She’s a selfless human being with the heart to give up her own freedom for the sake of her friends.
And that’s just a few of the Black Bulls!
There was something the Witch Queen told Asta in that really sort of stuck with me, and I’m paraphrasing but: “there’s nothing remarkable about you, and that’s what makes you so remarkable”. So sure — Black Clover may sort of revel in your run of the mill shonen battle fantasy tropes, but it kind of owns that fact and that’s what makes it special. It’s an entire universe brimming with these cool characters, this expansive lore, and undeniable charm. It’s a universe we’ve barely scratched the surface of, and yet each time we return to it, it instantly feels like home. Like we’ve met up with an old friend for coffee and nothing has changed.
