Black Clover

Synopsis

I'll do everything I want even if I have to crush fate myself.

Black Clover follows the story of Asta and Yuno were abandoned at the same church on the same day. Raised together as children, they came to know of the "Wizard King"—a title given to the strongest mage in the kingdom—and promised that they would compete against each other for the position of the next Wizard King. However, as they grew up, the stark difference between them became evident. While Yuno is able to wield magic with amazing power and control, Asta cannot use magic at all and desperately tries to awaken his powers by training physically.

When they reach the age of 15, Yuno is bestowed a spectacular Grimoire with a four-leaf clover, while Asta receives nothing. However, soon after, Yuno is attacked by a person named Lebuty, whose main purpose is to obtain Yuno's Grimoire. Asta tries to fight Lebuty, but he is outmatched. Though without hope and on the brink of defeat, he finds the strength to continue when he hears Yuno's voice. Unleashing his inner emotions in a rage, Asta receives a five-leaf clover Grimoire, a "Black Clover" giving him enough power to defeat Lebuty. A few days later, the two friends head out into the world, both seeking the same goal—to become the Wizard King!

Summary

CloverWorks (A-1 Pictures rebrand of Kōenji Studio) has come out swinging with having 3 hit animes since its founding in Oct 2018 (Darling in the Franxx, Fairy Tail and now The Promised Neverland). And scored another home run with this beautiful masterpiece. Its very rare for an anime to get such hype without some major plot holes or discrepancies within in continuity, however the neverland delivers on all these fronts.

Without giving to much away Kaiu Shirai has created a elaborate yet satisfying dark world which is bursting with great characters, chilling atmosphere and plot twist that leave you feeling hollow and satisfied at the same time. What is remarkable about the show is the perspective in which information is delivered to the audience. Following a group of kids ranging from 3 to 12 year olds delivers a sense of childlike innocence to the dark twisted world. This in itself creates at atmosphere quite new to the anime world.

This combined with the outstanding soundtrack and accomping openings of Uverworld (used in OP's for Blue Exorcist and My Hero Acadamia) and you have a masterpiece in the works. The pacing of the show could annoy a few however this centres around building the tension to the epic season finale which sets the show up to so much possibilities and after conferring with our manga readers (no spoilers), this is the set to up multiple 'brilliant' storylines and action sequences.

Black Clover is a relatively new anime to hit the our screens, airing in 2017 and the manga only starting in 2015 arrive a new contender to stand before and challange the 'Big 3' (Naruto, Bleach and One Piece). Black Clover

Conclusion

We at Phoenix Soul try to take every anime with a pinch a salt. Anime hype trains can lead to vast levels of disappointment. This will become more apparent as the anime industry grows internationally with other cultures playing influence to settings and tropes within our shows. Sometimes this works like we saw with Vinland Saga, which stays relatively truthful to the culture surrounding medieval nordic civilization. However The Promised Neverland creates its on culture with its superb characters and premise. Unfortunately there is not much more that can be said without risking possible spoilers however, if there is ever a show to trust our recommendation on it would this.

The Promised Neverland being a early contender to the 2019 anime year smashes all contenders and take the top spot with ourselves on our 'Anime of the Year'!