opinion on both manga and anime..
I watched 17 episodes of the anime and then dropped it. I thought it was pretty boring and couldn't bring myself to watch it anymore. If you're a big shounen fan and really enjoyed Naruto, Bleach or other popular shounen, you might enjoy this. If not, I wouldn't go for it.
I did hear from manga readers, though, that the anime is very poorly paced compared to the manga, so maybe check out the manga instead of the anime if you're interested. Can't say for sure as I haven't read the manga, though.
The text below is nothing but a lazy copy and paste job of smth I wrote not too long ago. It goes a bit off topic though, that's why I put it in a spoiler... there are no spoilers in the spoiler though, feel free to open it xD
Personally I wouldn't call it great but it definitely is a solid and enjoyable Shounen.
I don't really understand why it gets so much hate though. While it's totally normal for people to be dissappointed in it, because like in most cases the original work is way better, I'm unable to grasp how this could turn into blind hate.
The people who are complaining the most are the ones that compare it with its superior Manga, the Manga they fell in love with... so why don't they just continue to read the Manga and ignore the Anime? xD
But I guess it didn't really help that "Screaming Asta" became some sort of negative Meme, and also really popular, and so most big Anime youtubers used the opportunity to get some views through bashing an Anime because of its first episode... while in other videos they usually encourage people to not judge an Anime after just one episode... but this is a different topic haha ^^'>
Don't get me wrong. The screaming is annoying. God damn it is. I don't know what went through their minds when they made the first episode but they must have noticed their mistake and they reduced the amount of screaming in the following episodes by a lot, to an extent where it doesn't bother me anymore.
What still bugs me though is that to me it feels like the visual quality is all over the place. Sometimes it looks really good, and sometimes it doesn't. But hey, you can't have everything and I'm fine with what Black Clover offers me as a Shounen.
By now I have reached the recent episodes and it has gotten pretty good, in terms of action. I still don't think it's a great show though haha.
tl;dr: read the Manga and if you really want to go for the Anime, watch 10 episodes, then leave or stay
I advise that you read/watch the series yourself, as it could be universally panned but still something you enjoy.
I would have to mention that it is very much a battle shounen, so if you're a fan of those you should find it easier to get into.
From my perspective, I don't find it all that interested or original, but I know how it could be appealing to some.
Anime: pretty mediocre. Many HATE the MC's VA voice, which doesn't help.
Manga: Initially seemed hybrid of Fairy Tail & a little bit of Naruto (many claimed rip-off of Naruto, but I highly disagree)
A few arcs in and it pulls the Nakama-trope off better than Fairy Tail. Great early on character development and few back stories. Diverse magic abilities we've seen before in other Shounen but done very well in Black Clover.
Latest arc is sadly becoming overly Nakama-gives plot armor-and-saves-all. Sigh. I still have hopes though, because setting is still promising.
I haven't read the manga yet, but I'm enjoying the anime so far. It can be a bit boring sometimes, what with some plot points dragged out for too long sometimes, but it's a very fun anime imo (I'm watching the English dub too). It's not the best action anime out there, but it's definitely a great binge-worthy series to watch.
Manga: Full of action from the beginning of Water Temple Arc and hardly take a break between each arc. What's before is giving you a introduction of what's Clover Kingdom, a little information about rival country Diamond Kingdom and the outcast group Midnight Eye. Clover Kingdom follows a system where by Wizard King is the highest rank as magic knight and status is equivalent as the King of Clover Kingdom but seriously you can ignore the King. Under Wizard King are the Magic Knight Captains, followed by Vice-Captain and Magic Knights. All of them are like a army with magic abilities (except for Asta)
Anime: Same as above but the production team stretch the chapters into several episodes which makes it more boring than the manga. Addition of what many people talked about, Asta's screaming voice but up to certain point of the anime, i think after Episode 20 or earlier, Asta stop screaming and talk normally. So your ears are safe.
What's good about Black Clover (imo):
So if you like anime such as Bleach, Fairy Tail, Naruto or as long as you are a shonen anime fan, Black Clover worth a try.
I heard, manga is skipping some scenes/events from anime. I don't know If that's ture, but I heard that few times. Right now, I completed 44 episodes of anime. Mangas are not easy to get in Poland. So, sorry man, but I can't tell you anything about the manga.
there are some characters suddenly intoduced to us in manga. it was kind of confusing. to understand how asta knew them you had to read the light novel. the anime adapted the light novel into two episodes. tbh knowing a but of th context helped a bit. sometimes the manga would go faster then go to a point suddenly. the anime takes its time and have a bit of context for what happened befor ethat happened. the anime is good in giving you more context so you can understand more and get attached to what is going on more. but the manga overall is still bette, for me at least.
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I remember reading the first chapter when it first came out and the mc gave me major naruto vibes so i dropped it( i don’t like naruto so it was a major turn off). I’ve heard some pretty good things about it lately esp regarding the female representation so i’ve been pretty interested. Also how much does the anime diverge from the manga( if it does at all) so i can know which to read.
so basically do you think it’s worth picking up ?
People either really love it or really hate it. I'd say form your own opinions. It picks up more at around 20 episodes IMO, not that I think it had a bad start. Some might argue 20 episodes is too far for a show to get interesting, but since this is gonna be a pretty long running series and those first few episodes will be a small percentage of the overall show, I'd say it's fair game. Maybe watch like one episode a day when you're bored or something instead of binging.
Anime is quite faithful, but it's like Naruto or One Piece in the way that animation quality can frequently fluctuate between pure shit, average, and beautiful.
It starts off rather bad but as it goes on it gets pretty good. If you like a good amount of comedy and cool fighting scenes you will enjoy it ( the fillers are comedy most the time so unless you like the characters and in show jokes, you might not like them ), I don't read the manga so I can't tell you if it diverges but I heard it somewhat follows it with maybe adding the missed chapter after a important arc but otherwise it follows it well.
What I do is to add to enjoyment I pick fun at it and I get a good laugh at the fillers and sometimes main plot. I'd say give it maybe a good 50 episodes before you think about dropping or going, some of the earlier arcs kinda suck but its the later arcs that show promise.
Naruto and Black Clover follow very, very similar patterns. The general premise, the way they develop their characters, the arc structure, the way the power-scaling is dealt with etc etc all resemble how Naruto dealt with those points. It's kinda like a Naruto 2.0
Also, if you're gonna watch it, there's a lot of the whole "power of friendship/emotions/rivals" B's that you're gonna see. Just a forewarning.
Personally, since I really don't like Naruto, I found this even worse and boring, but if you liked Naruto, you might like this too
I personally think it does things a lot better than other manga do. The 'power of friendship' trope is portrayed much better in this manga than it is in other manga. Regarding the female characters, yes, they actually do something in this series, rather than most shounen series where they just sit in the background. I enjoy this manga than a lot of the other things I'm reading, but, that isn't saying too much if you look at my list.
The anime adaptation, from my knowledge, is pretty much the same, though as someone said up above, there's problems with animation and there's filler like shows usually do. The past 15 or so episodes have been anime-only due to the fact that it's too close to the manga.
The first couple of episodes are pretty terrible and the animation sometimes can be very raggedy and overall very rushed. However, beyond episodes 17+ the storyline becomes very interesting and worthwhile for watching, the animation slightly improves as well, with the exception of a couple of rough scenes. If you really want to, read the manga instead of watching the anime, plus the manga at the current moment is amazing, and in regards to your comment on female representation, I think they do a pretty good job on the female cast of characters, they all get their moments to shine and can probably go toe to toe with the main protagonist.
so basically, TL:DR: Yeah, it's worth it but the beginning episodes are pretty terrible.
I personally like it. It has its flaws, but they don't really bother me that much. It's up to you whether or not you want to watch it. I'll admit that it has its similarities to Naruto in the sense that Asta has a very energetic personality and he dreams of being the Wizard King of his kingdom just like Naruto wanted to be the leader of his village. But I'm able to look at Black Clover through a different lens than most people. At the end of the day, most shonen anime, whether it be new or old, have similar aspects to each other in some way. It can be similarities in the characters' motivations, personalities, and their backstories. I think it just depends on whether or not you're able to enjoy it despite those similarities. If you already don't like it because of its similarities to Naruto, then I wouldn't force yourself to watch it. I just enjoy Black Clover for the artstyle, the fights, the story, the pacing, and the characters.