Black Clover: Most Boring Shonen Anime?

[ShineCero]

I honestly thought Fairy Tail was one of the most boring Shonen Anime, then Black Clover came along. The voice direction of these series is low quality, if not downright trash. The story is so predictable that you can tell what's going to happen before it can even occur. Astra is literally Luffy, Naruto, Ichigo, and Natsu turned up to 11. The fact that this anime is based on the manga, with only 137 chapters, shows me that this show is being pushed hardcore. What do you guys think of the show, your overall thoughts about Shonen Battle Genre?

 

[Grey Star]

I took one look at a Google Image search result page and fainted from how been there, done that it seemed.

 

[scriptweaver]

I've seen the first couple eps and I concur, it's quite low brow quality, even in shonen terms. Its essentially a mixed bag of unoriginal tropes being presented with lines and dialogue that are so stereotypical, its the equivalent of "How do you do fellow kids?"

 

[LoopyPanda]

It's a watered-down mix of Fairy Tail and generic shonen anime, but even worse. I can't be bothered to tolerate the main character for longer than 3 sentences due to how annoying he is.

I wouldn't mind the generic tropes if they were subverted in an interesting way, but unfortunately, it isn't. I'm somewhat disappointed that it got a dubbing this quickly, I don't see how this is popular. Maybe it's the perfect thing for people new to anime, but idk. It's so generic.

I'd much rather watch Fairy Tail. XD 


Another Shonen with a protagonist that doesn't have the story's "defining trait that makes u speshul" lately... I hope this doesn't become a trend. Lol

 

[scriptweaver]

It's a watered-down mix of Fairy Tail and generic shonen anime, but even worse. I can't be bothered to tolerate the main character for longer than 3 sentences due to how annoying he is.

I wouldn't mind the generic tropes if they were subverted in an interesting way, but unfortunately, it isn't. I'm somewhat disappointed that it got a dubbing this quickly, I don't see how this is popular. Maybe it's the perfect thing for people new to anime, but idk. It's so generic.

I'd much rather watch Fairy Tail. XD 


Another Shonen with a protagonist that doesn't have the story's "defining trait that makes u speshul" lately... I hope this doesn't become a trend. Lol

Agreed, its one of the worst examples of a shonen to my knowledge considering how bland and check-listed it is. 

have our hotheaded passionate protagonist who at first ain't shit, but ends up being super duper special? check.

have a side character who grew up with the protagonists and is seen as a cool, hip, edgy, natural protege whose talent is recognized from the get go? check.

Not to mention this idea of "I have a power to cancel out everyone elses power" being seen in more and more anime. Sadly this once novel idea is becoming a dead trope (I'm glad you picked up on this as well, Loopy)

I also found it surprising how annoying the voice of the protag was in both eng and jap dubs. 

p.s.  their humor translates worse than bleachs when you compare bleachs' humor to its manga counterpart. I.e. bleachs humor is pretty good in the manga, but I find it hard to enjoy the humor when watching the eng dub, but with black clover, the humor comes off flat in both versions. The humor isn't a defining factor, but I thought it was worth pointing out.

*possible spoilers for seven deadly sins*
The thing is when watching Seven Deadly Sins right after Black Clover, I noticed an almost immediate difference in general quality. Don't get me wrong, SDS is essentially a remixed bag of FMA characters and characteristics with a dash of stereotypical fantasy references and shonen tropes, but because they repurpose these ideas and tropes in a slightly fresh way, it comes off alluring and interesting. Its like, yeah,  the main female character is essentially Winry from FMA with all her crying and shit like that, but at the same time, they try to make her a more contributing character towards the end versus the original (Winry) just being a side character who mainly contributes with emotional fluff.

 

[ShineCero]

Yeah, I can definitely contest of how incredibly annoying Astra is in both English and Japanese dub. Don't know if the voice actor in the Japanese dub is some newbie or given bad direction, it's downright off-putting and unpleasant to hear. 

I wouldn't even mind the generic shonen tropes if it wasn't so damn bland to the highest degree. As script pointed, it's so on the nose about every generic trope that you can practically predict what it's going to do next. And in the end, Astra is going to become the Next Hokage King of the Pirates.

"World of *insert supernatural property here*" is one of the things I often considered rather lazy too and definitely a common one among shonen animes. "Wow, why can they do xyz? Oh because the entire planet knows how to do it and if, for some reason you don't, you're fucked!"

 

[Appelsider]

I hated the anime as well and dropped it after like 5 or 10 episodes in.. but I really had high hopes for it because I liked the character designs. 

So I recently picked up the manga in the hopes it would be better than the anime and lo behold.. it actually is! I'm really enjoying the manga and dareisay might pick up the anime again because of it!
It's your typical shonen and theres nothing wrong with that because sometimes you just wanna watch a normal shonen series. XD

It also has a really big cast and everyone gets a moment to shine so yeah I'm binge reading it currently and I have to say my initial view of the series was wrong. But the anime adaptation is to blame for that. XD


And really Asta is actually a really nice protagonist when you dont have to constantly hear him scream haha.

 

[JamesYTP]

The later episodes of the anime are quite watchable, I think anyway. Not mind-blowing or anything but after it drops Asta' screaming (I hear his Japanese VA is horrible for that throughout though) it actually finds a decent sense of humor for itself. I also kinda like what they did with Asta's abilities, giving him something from the get-go that's versatile enough to last him the whole series so they don't need to resort to the typical shonen deus ex machina new ability/transformation every big fight. Though I will say, the story is still kinda...bland 40 some odd episodes in. Plus Noelle and that guy who obsesses over his sister never cease to be annoying.

 

[Appelsider]

Yeah I think the biggest fault lies with the anime adaptation and its pacing.
After reading the manga I saw how much unnecessary stuff they added in thr beginning which made the series drag. The manga feels quite compact and quick to the point. 
 But I will give the anime a chance again.

I'd compare it to My Hero Academia eventhough the vibe is different.. both have small heavy action packed  arcs with competitions etc. 
And the action in Black Clover is pretty well thought out compared to other shonen series.

And Asta seems like a genuine strong willed character instead of those token MCs who never give up. I can't help but root for him. XD