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REVIEW: Black Clover GN 8




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SkerllyFC07



Joined: 08 Jul 2017
Posts: 108
PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 10:35 am Reply with quote
I know that other mangas have had this case in the past here on ANN, but isn´t it bad when you jump from Volume 2 to 6 of a manga to review the latter? And what happens with previous volumes? I´d like to see that mangas are reviewed in continuity, from 1-6, with no skipped volumes, but then again I don´t know how do you work in the site.

And yeah... the Water Temple arc might be the best in this manga, if only because it feels like its own product, but it´s still marred by its common narrative issues of rushing through a story arc without providing worldbuilding or character development.
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ShinuZERO



Joined: 18 Jul 2013
Posts: 53
PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 10:51 am Reply with quote
I'm kind of out of the loop right now in terms of modern WSJ series but checked out the first few episodes of Black Clover. The rehashed elements kind of bother me to the point where I don't know if I can keep watching/reading. I love the art style though. The other one I'm reading/watching is Boku no Hero and while it does fall into tropes it somehow manages to feel fresh. Are there any other currently running shonen that are worth keeping an eye on? and should I stick with Black Clover?
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GoldCrusader



Joined: 25 Apr 2017
Posts: 1021
PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 11:04 am Reply with quote
ShinuZERO wrote:
I'm kind of out of the loop right now in terms of modern WSJ series but checked out the first few episodes of Black Clover. The rehashed elements kind of bother me to the point where I don't know if I can keep watching/reading. I love the art style though. The other one I'm reading/watching is Boku no Hero and while it does fall into tropes it somehow manages to feel fresh. Are there any other currently running shonen that are worth keeping an eye on? and should I stick with Black Clover?

Yea you should definitely keep an eye on Black Clover. It does execution really right and it's the kind of series that only gets better with time.

Of other WSJ series, I'd say World Trigger and Kimetsu no Yaiba are the 2 other best. Dr.Stone, RxL and Promised neverland are popular, but I'm not that big a fan of them.

Also I agree with the other poster. You guys shouldn't jump on just reviewing volume 8 like that before doing the others.
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 16 Dec 2008
Posts: 2597
Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City
PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 11:07 am Reply with quote
I don't think Black Clover is ever going to fully stand on its own, but it does get better - but if you're looking for something more original, I think it will likely keep annoying you.

There's some good shounen coming out in the next few months; keep an eye out for Astra Lost in Space and maybe give Haikyu a try. Even if sports aren't your thing, it's a really engrossing series.
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Niello



Joined: 22 Dec 2013
Posts: 302
PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 11:43 am Reply with quote
ShinuZERO wrote:
I'm kind of out of the loop right now in terms of modern WSJ series but checked out the first few episodes of Black Clover. The rehashed elements kind of bother me to the point where I don't know if I can keep watching/reading. I love the art style though. The other one I'm reading/watching is Boku no Hero and while it does fall into tropes it somehow manages to feel fresh. Are there any other currently running shonen that are worth keeping an eye on? and should I stick with Black Clover?


The Promised Neverland is a really solid title. World trigger is pretty good, but it's been on hiatus for a while now. Dr. Stone is alright, it's a bit too over exaggerated but at least it's going in a more unique direction.

Outside of WSJ there's Shoukoku no Altair. It is worth a try as it's much better than it's anime adaptation. There's also a web comic manhwa called Tower of God if you want action shounen that is done better than most (great world building and fun characters). Another big shot to consider is To You, the Immortal. I cannot recommend this one enough. It's done by the same author as The Silent Voice.
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myskaros



Joined: 13 Jun 2011
Posts: 598
Location: J-Novel Club
PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 11:54 am Reply with quote
Niello wrote:
Another big shot to consider is To You, the Immortal. I cannot recommend this one enough. It's done by the same author as The Silent Voice.

Hahaha... nothing against your recommendation, but this fact is actually what kept me from trying out Immortal. Silent Voice was really good, don't get me wrong, but when I considered reading Immortal I thought to myself "ehh... I think I prefer to have happy feelings when I read manga." I'll get around to giving it a shot someday, but for now, nope!
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Snakebit1995



Joined: 25 Apr 2015
Posts: 842
PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 12:43 pm Reply with quote
The Sea Temple is probably the best arc of Black Clover so far and the series does honestly improve with each volume (Except the one that randomly introduced Light Novel Characters and just expected you to know their motivations, backstory and reason for being where they were.)

Few notes, I believe the Captain of the Bulls is Yami, not Yomi. I can't find it written as Yomi in any of my volumes or the wiki.

Also calling Finral and Vanessa Lackluster feels a bit harsh. Finral is, after all his whole character trait is that he's kinda just male Noelle (Slight Family inferiority complex, weak magic, etc). But Vanessa is definitely not lackluster, I believe she's considered, when not drunk, to be one of the squads most capable members.

You spoke of borrowed elements but Vanessa is IMO, one of the most borrowed elements that never gets mentioned. She's so similar to Cana from Fairy Tail it's scary. Both are capable but spend to much time drunk and wearing almost no clothes and would be some of the strongest in their peer group if they actually gave a damn. They both have long hair, both flirt when drunk, both had past regrets. I know BC gets a lot for lifting Shounen cliche's and staples but this is a scary amount of character lifting.
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CookieXL



Joined: 05 May 2016
Posts: 33
PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 1:00 pm Reply with quote
Snakebit1995 wrote:
The Sea Temple is probably the best arc of Black Clover so far and the series does honestly improve with each volume (Except the one that randomly introduced Light Novel Characters and just expected you to know their motivations, backstory and reason for being where they were.).


Ugh. Don't remind me of that arc with the LN characters. To me, that was the worst arc so far within BC, but the recent arc is pretty enjoyable so far. Smile
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5821
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 2:49 pm Reply with quote
I think Black Clover is quite good. I look forward to each volume. If a story or manga is good, why should we care if it is completely original or not. Also, I think the art is good, which is important to me.
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ThatMoonGuy



Joined: 13 Oct 2017
Posts: 364
PostPosted: Sun Oct 15, 2017 9:10 am Reply with quote
Black Clover is one of those cases where after failing with a series with some strange elements the author just goes back to the basics. His last manga (Hungry Joker) had a pretty nice concept, specially the one shot, but ended up axed pretty quick. So no wonder the guy went out to make a mostly standard series next.
I did start reading the first few chapters but just couldn't get over how annoying it all felt. Asta is obnoxious to the point of making me sick and a lot of the villains are so card carrying and can be summedin one word they keep shouting non stop.
The art, however, is rock solid and I do enjoy some of the characters. Its just that so much of it feel so old that I can't quite get into it.


Quote:

I'm kind of out of the loop right now in terms of modern WSJ series but checked out the first few episodes of Black Clover. The rehashed elements kind of bother me to the point where I don't know if I can keep watching/reading. I love the art style though. The other one I'm reading/watching is Boku no Hero and while it does fall into tropes it somehow manages to feel fresh. Are there any other currently running shonen that are worth keeping an eye on? and should I stick with Black Clover?


I'm on the board of those who recommend World Trigger. It's a really well thought-out manga albeit the art is mostly subpar. But the writing is really, really good.
Of note are also Promised Neverland (which has a very interesting XIX-century children adventure novel feel) and Kimetsu no Yaiba. Dr. Stone is good if you can swallow some of it's worse points and Boichi's hyperssexualized art-style.
Lastly, if you like sports manga, Robot X Laserbeam is shaping up to be a pretty solid one although it's pretty new so I can't exactly vouche for it just yet.
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
PostPosted: Mon Oct 16, 2017 4:54 am Reply with quote
Snakebit1995 wrote:
Also calling Finral and Vanessa Lackluster feels a bit harsh. Finral is, after all his whole character trait is that he's kinda just male Noelle (Slight Family inferiority complex, weak magic, etc). But Vanessa is definitely not lackluster, I believe she's considered, when not drunk, to be one of the squads most capable members.


Maybe it's splitting hairs here, but while Finral and Noelle have similar issues with their families, Noelle's magic is not weak. Rather, she has problems controlling and aiming it.

It IS a recurring trait among Black Bulls members, though, in that none of them are truly weak, but are rendered incompetent through some other trait (just like how Noelle has problems controlling her magic, Luck and Asta are both Leeroy Jenkins types, Magna gets much too focused on a single target, Gray has major self-confidence issues, Vanessa is too drunk to pay much attention to anything, Charmy and Gauche have skewed priorities, Yami doesn't care about anything, and Gordon just plain does nothing and cannot communicate with other people).

Also, in a later arc, it's shown that Finral's magic is definitely NOT weak. spoiler[His magic, specifically, is referred to as Spatial Magic, meaning his portals are him distorting the fabric of space. He is just considered weak by his family because he is its only member to specialize in non-attack spells; they are too short-sighted to realize that he not only makes incredibly good support, but he can fight alone on even terms with them through indirect means.]

Princess_Irene wrote:
I don't think Black Clover is ever going to fully stand on its own, but it does get better - but if you're looking for something more original, I think it will likely keep annoying you.


There is also the fact that Black Clover is, simply put, not aimed at anyone savvy enough to even be on this site. It's meant for people not familiar or vaguely familiar with shonen series and their tropes, as it is, if you ask me, the most accessible series in the magazine at the moment.

I'd recommend this series to someone who's just gotten started with manga (not sure about the anime due to Asta's voice), because in order to understand the tropes that series like One Piece, Hunter X Hunter, and The Promised Neverland play with, you first have to see it played straight, and Black Clover plays everything straight. It makes a great starting point to build off from, but I'd imagine people will often eventually outgrow Black Clover.
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Niello



Joined: 22 Dec 2013
Posts: 302
PostPosted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 10:32 am Reply with quote
leafy sea dragon wrote:

I'd recommend this series to someone who's just gotten started with manga (not sure about the anime due to Asta's voice), because in order to understand the tropes that series like One Piece, Hunter X Hunter, and The Promised Neverland play with, you first have to see it played straight, and Black Clover plays everything straight. It makes a great starting point to build off from, but I'd imagine people will often eventually outgrow Black Clover.


I don't see the reason why someone need to see something "played it straight" before jumping into other series. Many people got started with FMA and that's hardly playing it straight in the typical shounen sense. There wasn't any problem with that. Similarly, people have been jumping into other shounen series that are better without having any problem either. You don't get used to thinking, this is a staple or popular tropes within this genre/demographic, without going through multiple series and finding the parallels between them. So that's a silly reason to defend the series as a should read. TPN is very accessible and quite arguably a better story. Why should someone new need to go through BC before they could read that? There is no reason to enforce someone to get into the "yay friendship! super power! Goku-type MC!" kind of shounen as if it's a must, no more than other kinds of shounen or seinen. And if they want to try it out, the older series that have proven themselves and are pioneers of the tropes serve as much better starting point. At this point, BC is 13 volumes long, that's already comparable in length to Chrno Crusade, Psyren, Deadman Wonderland, Boku no Hero Academia, Mob Psycho 100 etc.
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