Not to mention anime does a lot of padding and doesn't do the art justice — if you read manga and don't watch anime strictly, 100% recommend manga instead especially now that the anime has been off air for 2 years...
So Diana now that you've made good leeway into the story who're some of your favorites?
The anime does have really good animation, but it only saves those for the big fights (generally anything with Asta, Yuno, Yami, and Julius) while everyone else generally gets the scraps.
Its pretty noticeable during the Spade arc as while by this point the show has gained a bigger animation bumps so Asta's fights gets these luscious sequences of sakuga, everyone else's fights looks nowhere close as good.
So the manga does look more consistently good for each fight.
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."Well, I've mentioned before that Asta is one of my favorite protags in any battle shonen I've read. Dude just radiates good boy energy and I love how he's developing over the series.
Noelle is great too. I was kind of disappointed early on because it felt like she was overshadowed by everyone else, but then her character arc got more focus and buildup and...well, once she totally crushed Solid, I absolutely loved her.
I could go on a ramble about some of the rest. Like, there's some characters I'm very "meh" about (still don't feel much for Yuno beyond his rivalry moments with Asta and I don't really care much for Leo) and some I only kinda like (Mimosa is slowly growing on me), but I'd say most of the Black Bulls are pretty fun and I love their dynamic as a group. Yami is also pretty great.
...also I've mentioned Mereoleona already, but GODDAMN. Just...GODDAMN.
I am still salty about how the anime handled Mereoleona vs five elves at once. One of my all-time favorite Black Clover moments in the manga but since Asta and Yuno's big fight was right afterwards it had to be sacrificed so they could get (admittedly very) good animation.
Edited by Moth13 on May 9th 2023 at 9:08:19 AM
And now I've gotten through Volume 16. Elves are reincarnated, Julius got stabbed with a sword right through his body, and, uh, the Black Bulls' hideout got turned into a friggin' giant robo thing.
...god, I love this fucking manga.
Legit, the sheer terror of the elf reincarnation is fucking great. That creeping dread building up, good shit.
Y'know it's so weird hearing Asta's voice in the anime cuz like...I'd been reading him as having a voice more like Naruto or Luffy? The same way a lot of battle shonen protags get voiced by women and stuff. But then in the anime he's got a deeper voice and it just...god, it takes me out. I know it's kind of unfair and stupid to complain about it but it just does not fit him in my opinion
I love the elf reincarnation twist from a structural standpoint. You have a big tournament arc which is really good for quickly getting to know a lot of characters, only problem is now you run the risk of character bloat. So flipping that large cast on its head and making half the characters your enemies for the next arc is such an inspired way to avoid bloat while taking advantage of the investment you've already built up.
About my main issue with the elves is that most of them are kind of the same. They all just have the same general personality of "Rageful and hates humans"
So a lot of the elf opponents just wind up being interchangeable and not particularly memorable in personality barring a couple.
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."To be fair, I think that's a feature (of the curse that brought them back, along with the way they died) as opposed to a bug.
They're one track minded and full of hate towards humans due to being revived by a particularly nasty curse, while full of hate.
I should avoid saying more, since I'm not clear how far along Diana is yet.
One Strip! One Strip!Right now I *just* got to Magna and Vanessa fighting the elf that's possessing Luck and Asta is about to show up there.
I'll need to read more to really come up with my opinion on the elves, so far I'm more interested in them fighting than I am their personalities (most of them don't have much going for them). But damn if it ain't fun reading this.
Sidenote but I loved seeing Asta and Yuno going back to save their home village and then immediately being like "Can't stay, gotta save the whole fucking country, y'all" like...wow, these boys really have been growing up a lot.
Latest arc spoilers:
The idea of good characters forced to fight for the bad guys due to magical influence is revisited with the Paladins. YMMV, but the Paladins are a better execution of the concept. The issue with the Elves (however justified) was that they were indeed mostly one-note. The Paladins otoh are all still the same people they were before being transformed — the only change is that they're utterly loyal to the Big Bad.
Disgusted, but not surprisedLove the Valkyrie Armor fight. Everything from the armor design, to her finally feeling free and enjoying the magical potential she had all along, to that despite the elegance of the armor and her movements she's still had to and continues to desperately struggle forward. The Elf Luck fight I like for the teamwork and emotional closure for Luck at the end with his mother.
The arc is a long one with lots of twists, developments, and fights left.
she/herDone with Volume 20. Only a few volumes to go before I finish this arc, and after that I'll take a pause.
So...Charmy's half-Dwarf and can make herself taller and more terrifying, huh? Well...that came right the fuck out of left field but she's already one of my faves of the Black Bulls so I don't mind.
Legit though, this arc is so fucking good. So many good fights, so much crazy shit. Henry turning the Black Bull mansion into a damn bull mecha with artillery and shit. Loved it. I might just wrap this arc up today finally.
Oh, also...so Mereoleona and Fuegoleon had a big epic sparring match when they were younger that caused a LOT of destruction, huh? Fucking hell. Love those two.

Yeah honestly I didn't have a whole lot to say beyond being progressively more captivated by how the cast got fleshed out. Once Vanessa and Finral's backstories started getting revealed, it REALLY grabbed me and wouldn't let go. Which is kind of weird cuz up to then, I wasn't as big into the other backstories outside of Asta and Noelle. I think Luck is a fun character but I didn't really care much for his backstory, and Gauche is thoroughly unlikeable and creepy no matter the tragedy he experienced in his past (I only *kinda* began tolerating him in the most recent chapters I'd read, when the Black Bulls HQ got attacked). But goddamn, when it's shit like Finral's brother going psycho and the Black Bulls all intervening to protect their boy? Good shit. GREAT shit.