A really good take on a classic formula.

Black Clover

When i think of a "normal" shonen manga, one that most people would think of when they think of shonen manga, i usually jump to Dragon Ball, and more recently, Kinnikuman. A typical "action battle shonen" manga usually encompasses something that has plenty of battles to solve problems, a lot of comradery, and an ever rising scale. Another thing these kind of manga have is a huge cast of characters. The variability for how well the characters are written is usually a selling point for these manga. One of these manga with a bad cast but good fights is nowhere near as fun to read as one of these with a great cast but bad fights. A story lives and dies on not only how well executed its premise and themes are but how well written the important characters are. Black Clover is one of these typical battle shonen. It hits every note. Tons of fights, a massive cast, and you can bet the enemies get stronger, too. It does all of these usual tropes and formulas and instead of fighting them or just going through the motions, it uses them to the greatest extent it can. For that It is one of the best examples of these types of manga.

Black Clover is a world of magic. Magic is everything. Magic is so important, in fact, that the hierarchical structure is surrounded by how much innate magic somebody has. The higher your natural capacity for magic, the higher up on the totem pole you are. This is engraved in every person in this world. The Wizard King has the strongest magic and the most political power. Royals have extremely strong magic and look down on commoners and especially peasants. They look down on them so much so that they truly believe a commoner or peasant could never match up to them in terms of magical ability. Asta, our main character, is a peasant and has zero magic. Asta is a very simple character. He's been in the dregs of this society for all of his life, so he knows that the royals aren't all talk. However, Asta has something they don't. A drive to constantly improve and never give up. This is a very simple yet distinct difference that Asta has that most other characters do not. This simple distinction is one that Asta spreads to other people as well. Anybody Asta meets and watches fight learns that Asta biggest strength is his constant inward improvement. Not done yet. Spoken like a mantra anytime he or his friends are backed into a corner. Guts and grit are not the purpose of this phrase alone. For me, it reads like the characters are always saying it to themselves instead of the enemy in front of them. Improvements are constant, and realizing the way you can improve and not giving up is the best way to improve. To surpass your limits, you are never done. Not done yet.

I said previously that the cast of characters in one of these manga is important. As in every single character we meet, having some semblance of importance and purpose no matter how little they actually show up. Black Clover does this fairly well. Generally, you can tell how important a character will be pretty quickly. Every relevant character will get a moment to shine, somehow eventually. A lot of these manga follow a lot of tropes. Some of the characters are based on tropes. This isn't a bad thing as there are few bad tropes inherently. You can have a story that follows tropes very closely, and it can still be a great story. Another aspect of this is the world building. How rich and alive a world feels and how it functions under stress and potential change. Whether the rules of the world are followed as described and whether it is used at its fullest extent to what is relevant. Black Clover does this part, well enough...? It's fine. The world of Black Clover is pretty normal, all things considered for a fantasy story. Some of the more interesting aspects are how different the magic is in neighboring nations as well as some of the underbelly. When reading through the manga, it felt to me as if some of the aspects weren't fully thought through. This is true for other minor aspects as well. Nothing that would make the manga bad by itself or even when added up together, but it does give me a sense that some of the aspects execution were a little clumsy.

Black Clover is a great manga. One of the best of the typical battle shonen. It can be difficult for somebody like me who reads a lot to continue finding the motivation to read more and more manga as i keep going further and further down rabbit holes to find good manga. So it is refreshing to see a manga be not only extremely solid and fun to read, but also in the limelight. Recently, i set myself a long-term goal that I'm hoping to achieve mostly for fun. I want to have read 1000 manga total in 6 years' time. It's a lot, and i know it's possible for me. I don't want this goal of mine to color how i go about reading manga. I don't want these amazing stories to be just another uptick on the counter. So I'm not going to be hunkering down and reading all day every day. As time goes on, and that 6-year limit creeps ever closer, I'll think back to this manga. I'll remember Asta and how he never gave up no matter what. If I'm close to the goal and i see it truly possible to achieve, I'll push forward and say to myself, Not Done Yet.