Black Clover: chapters 1 – 4
genre: manga. shōnen. fantasy.
The Review
I picked this manga up at the library the other day because I was absolutely in love with the anime. I was a little disappointed in reading the first volume of the manga and not really getting the same feeling as the anime, but that’s what I get for watching the anime first. That being said I still plan on reading the rest of the series.
Characters:
In comparison to the anime, I think the characters are undeveloped in this first volume. That’s one of the main reasons I didn’t care for this volume. Asta and Yuno just feel like basic shōnen MCs. Which, of course, nothing wrong with that. But you’ve got to have a little more to keep your audience interested. It’s very easy to see the comparison a lot of people make between Black Clover and Naruto. Asta/Naruto. Yuno/Sasuke. Even Noelle gives off some Sakura vibes in the beginning. But, honestly, this doesn’t really bother me. Naruto is a great series. Why mess with something that isn’t broken?
Set-Up:
Black Clover has a lot going for itself. The art (both in the manga and anime) is usually quite nice.
I think the reason I didn’t feel the connection with the manga was because the action scenes were so hard to follow. I thought the paneling and sound effects were kind of confusing and specific actions/movements weren’t emphasized enough so that I think if I hadn’t watched the show beforehand, I would have been really confused. Even some of the regular dialogue scenes can be really busy and overcrowded.
Anime: Even though I wasn’t impressed with the first manga volume, the anime is phenomenal and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys action-packed anime. I’ve seen the entirety of Season 1 (episodes 1 – 51)
approx read time: 1 to 2 hours
Rating: 2 out of 5 Screems™
Ownership: I borrowed this from my local library