Welcome to the first recap of this series! OMG I LOVE IT SO MUCH CAN I HAVE IT ALL NOW?

More specifically I love Master Yami. And Noelle. And Yuno. And Asta. ok look this book was so much fun ok? I got a little teary-eyed in the beginning, cause gosh Asta and Yuno had rough lives, but then they got to the Magic Knight's academy and SO MUCH FUN.

Art work is eh at times (typical shonenjump fantasy) and there's some humor I didn't care for, but overall a lot of fun. Also I think it proves that persistence gets you everything. Work hard. train hard. be positive and help your friends. ( )

Black Clover is a fantasy story following a boy named Asta. In his world, almost everyone has magic in them, but Asta has none. His friend, Yuno, however, is a magic prodigy. Despite Asta's setback, he doesn't falter in his dream to become the Wizard King. Though Asta has no magic, he still receives a grimoire, a book people get that has magical spells for them. He then sets out with Yuno to the capital. There, he takes the Magical Knights entrance exam to join a Magic Knight brigade. Though all the odds were against him, Asta is accepted into a Magic Knight brigade, which starts his journey in becoming the Wizard King.

Personally, this isn't the best story I've seen. Still, I enjoy it. The characters are likable and well-built. The story itself is unique as well. The world is also well-built and very creative. I really did sympathize with the main character. Since he was an outcast, and his friend was very skilled. I've read through most of this series, and I think Black Clover handles its action and battle scenes very well. ( )

Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Black Clover shonen manga series. There are 20 volumes in this series right now and I received this as a Christmas gift.

Story (4/5): This is about teen named Asta who desperately wants to become the Wizard King but has no magic of his own. His best friend, Yuno, is much more successful than Asta and an awesome magic user. When the village goes to be granted their grimoires, Asta doesn’t receive one but Yuno gets a rare four leaf clover grimoire. Then strange things start happening and Asta finally gets a grimoire of his own that is very unusual.

Characters (4/5): Asta reminded me of a million other manga characters; he’s short, blond, and spunky...reminded me both of Naruto and Ed from Fullmetal Alchemist. Yuno is a bit different, much more tall, sleek and handsome. The side characters were okay but not well enough developed yet for me to comment on. I feel like strong female characters were lacking (my son and I both disliked the lingerie wearing, constantly drinking member of the group Asta joins). I did really enjoy the strange relationship Asta and Yuno have; it’s very complicated and intriguing.

Setting (4/5): The world here shows promise. It looks like an interesting fantasy world where most people have some magic and everyone is ruled over by the Wizard King. Pretty typical fantasy setting, but we didn’t really learn enough about it in this one volume to form a lot of opinions on it.

Writing/Drawing Style (4/5): The story and drawings are easy to follow. While the illustration isn’t absolutely amazing, it is well done and I had no trouble figuring out what was going on. This is definitely a higher quality manga.

My Summary (4/5): Overall this was a promising start to this manga series. Both me and my 13 year old son enjoyed this (it’s definitely aimed more at his age group). I would recommend it to those who enjoy shonen manga similar to Naruto, Fullmetal Alchemist, ones like that. I plan on continuing with the next couple volumes in the series to see where it goes. ( )

3.5 out of 5 stars

Lately I’ve been trying to read all of the manga that have been sitting on my shelves unread for months (or longer). Shonen Jump titles come first as it doesn’t make sense to only be reading half a magazine every Monday. So, today we’re taking a look at Black Clover Volume 1 by Yuki Tabata.

Black Clover is a fantasy shonen series that follows Asta, a fifteen year old orphan who is determined to be the wizard king. Of course, that’ll be difficult seeing as he can’t actually use magic. Along with his childhood friend, Yuno, he embarks on a journey to become a knight and, eventually, the Wizard King. This is the classic story of the underdog, the story of a boy who is apparently powerless in world where everyone has magical ability and power is everything. It is a story of friends, rivals, with the same goal who will inevitably clash at some point on their parallel journeys to become king.

One of Black Clover’s biggest positives is its pacing. The first volume moves, covering what would normally be multiple volumes in many other cases. What I assumed was going to be set up as a sort of miniature tournament arc was over within a chapter. The story never felt rushed, either, merely to the point and never straying from the plot.

Despite enjoying this manga and continuing with the series, I must say that it is very derivative. Character’s appearances and personalities fall well within common shonen tropes. The plot, events, characters, everything are extremely trope filled and stereotypical to the genre. It feels like many things that have come before, and, to be honest, many manga to come.

So why am I continuing with the series?

Honestly, while the entire manga does revolve around shonen stereotypes, it plays them off well.

Black Clover knows what it is. It knows it’s a shonen series. It knows its audience, and caters to their expectations without drawing things out. If the pacing was slower or if the story lost focus with, for example, multiple subplots, I probably wouldn’t have gone out of my way to continue with the story if I wasn’t already a subscriber to Weekly Shonen Jump.

But as it stands, this was enjoyable. Yes, it’s fairly apparent what direction the story will take. And yes, we’ve seen extremely similar characters before. Black Clover embraces that, though, and plunges full steam ahead, plowing through what would usually be at least two volumes in many other similar titles, especially older ones.

So, yes. If you like shonen manga and don’t mind the plethora of tropes I’d suggest picking up at least the first volume of Black Clover. It might not be my favorite Shonen Jump title, but it’s certainly enjoyable. I’m interested to see if this series continues on the same path or breaks from the typical shonen mold at some point. Only time and a significant amount of catching up on previously released volumes will tell.

This review originally found on Looking Glass Reads. ( )