Hey everyone welcome to another edition of the Otaku Corner. This month we’re talking about a manga and not just any manga the newest manga to appear in Shonen Jump, Black Clover. Making its debut this past February as the newest manga to replace Naruto, Black Clover has made quite a stir on the internet and not in a good way. Everyone seems to be talking negative about the series saying how it’s a copy of Naruto or other mangas. Only two months old and you guys already destroy the series before it even starts. You guys are cruel. But enough about you guys let’s take a look at Black Clover and see if it’s really a rip off.
Story
Let’s start by looking at the story. The story of Black Clover centers around a kid named Aster a 15-year old orphan who wants to become the Sorcerous Emperor the greatest title anyone in the world can have. Aster along with his best friend and rival Yuno both make a promise to one day become the Sorcerous Emperor. Now the two characters are the complete opposite of each other. Yuno is quiet and has been gifted with amazing magic skills while Aster on the other hand has zero magic skills and is quite the misfit. On the day when it’s time to get their grimoire Yuno receives the four-leaf clover grimoire a rare book that brings great fortune to its holder while Aster received nothing. However later on when Yuno’s life is threatened by a rogue knight Aster stands up to defend him and receives his grimoire a five-leaf black clover which specializes in anti-magic. Aster defeats the knight and the two go to the knight exams which is a tryout to become a knight of the kingdom which is the first step to becoming the Sorcerous Emperor. Yuno gets into the best knighthood in the kingdom while Aster gets put in the worst knighthood in the kingdom where he meets a ton of crazy people and the knighthood is run by psycho. That’s the story so far.
Problems People have with this manga
Now let’s take a look at the problems everyone has with this manga. For starters the main character Aster. Everyone calls Aster a Naruto rip-off. The misfit who everyone hates, underestimates, and calls an idiot because he has dreams that society says are unreachable for him because of where he comes from and where he was born. Guys I hate to break it to you but that’s every male character in a shonen series. Naruto didn’t make this character archetype a hit nor did they start it this has been going on since the dawn of shonen. Luffy, Natsu, Ichigo, Yusuke, Goku and many more shonen characters fall into the same category as Aster. Misfits characters who are looked down on by the world but continue to rise up and fight never giving up. The rest of the side characters are pretty much archetypes you see in shonen manga as well however I do like them quite a bit so far. Yuno is the gifted child who grew up with Aster and was blessed with unbelievable skills. Normally you would expect this character to be the high and mighty character who looks down on others and calls Aster an idiot right? Wrong. Despite his quiet demeanor and character archetype Yuno respects the hell out of Aster. He honestly believes that Aster can become the Sorcerous Emperor. He’s also very protective of Aster. There’s this one scene in the manga where one of the knight candidates tries to attack Aster in the bathroom because Aster defeated him in a fight and humiliated him in front of everyone. Yuno is there to stop him and tells him to leave saying he’s nowhere near Aster’s league. Man, that’s a true friend right there. Much better than that other manga where the main character’s best friend decides to go all emo on us for no apparent reason and tries to kill everyone for no apparent reason. Another character I like in this manga is Noelle. Even though she’s only been in two chapters so far with one chapter mainly focusing on her we already get an idea of who she is and what she strives for. Much like Aster she’s a new recruit to the knights but unlike Aster who comes from the country Noelle comes from high society and looks down on everyone around her. She’s a noble of great heritage and her brother is the leader of one of the knighthoods in the kingdom however she’s considered the black sheep of her family because she can’t control her magic which is why she got sent to the worst knighthood in the kingdom. Noelle now wants to rise to the top and make her family pay for abandoning her. Again only two chapters of this character and already I find her way more interesting than that female from that other manga.
The second problem everyone has with this manga is the world the manga is set in. A world ruled by magic. Pretty much the world of Fairy Tail in my eyes and the eyes of other. However, there are a few differences. In Fairy Tail you’re either born with magic or you’re not born magic and in Fairy Tail’s world everyone is treated as an equal no matter what their status is in society. Black Clover’s world is a little different. Here, society is split into two the rich and noble and the poor and peasant. If you’re born in the country and don’t come from a noble family than you are considered as nothing more than a foot soldier. We see this happen in the manga with Aster and Yuno. Despite Yuno having a four-leaf clover grimoire which is considered rare in their world everyone still looks down on him and mocks him because he’s from the country. However, if you’re from a noble family you’re considered the best candidate for the Sorcerous Emperor. Once again the ideas and separation of society due to social standings is nothing new to manga it’s been done a number of times. One Piece does it amazingly well with the world nobles as they look down on everyone in the world and with the Merman which gives us a good social commentary on racism.
The final problem everyone has with the manga so far is how a lot of the events are similar to past mangas. For example, the entrance exam to become a knight and Aster’s goal to become the Sorcerous Emperor is quite similar to Naruto’s chunin exam arc and Naruto’s goal to become hokage. The whole entrance exam can also be compared to the martial arts tournament from DBZ, the dark tournament from Yu Yu Hakusho, and martial arts tournament from Hunter x Hunter. And I’m sure this manga will have more magic tournaments in the chapters to come. So I’m a little confused on why people are getting mad at the entrance exam. Again this idea is nothing new it’s been done by every shonen manga out there so why is everyone getting mad at this manga for doing something that’s been done by at least a dozen mangas already? The only difference is this one decided not to waste too much time on the entrance exam arc because I’m assuming the author has other big plans for the manga and didn’t want to waste or drop something this big early in the manga. The chunin exam was basically a setup for the third hokage’s death which led to the finding of the 4th hokage. Black Clover’s entrance arc was just basically showing off the knights and introducing new side characters to the story.
What I think of Black Clover
Personally I like the manga so far. I do like the character of Aster. He’s a misfit but he’s the good misfit. Everyone is constantly beating this guy down saying how he’ll never achieve his dream but Aster doesn’t listen to them. Every time when someone talks down to him or underestimates him he stares them directly in the face and says screw you, I will achieve my dream. He even stands up to his psycho leader. That takes balls. I like how Yuno is very caring and respectful of Aster. Not once does this guy mock Aster if anything he looks up to Aster like a little brother looks up to his big brother. I also like how Aster doesn’t have typical light/holy magic power. He has no magic so he uses anti-magic which is perfect for him because the guy is physically strong as the manga shows us he trains his body on a daily basis. I like how they’re giving him the dark magic which really makes him seem like a rogue hero which is my favorite type of hero. The crazy knighthood Aster is in has many funny characters that will make us laugh and even though we haven’t explored too much of the world yet the author is doing a good job setting up the world and showing us how it works. The story is a little basic but you don’t need a complicated story to get people’s attention you just need to tell the story in a good way and have great characters to carry the story. It’s sort of like Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo. The stories of each anime are pretty basic but it’s the characters and their adventures that makes us keep talking about these animes.
Conclusion
So is Black Clover a rip off of Naruto? No, it has nothing to do with ninjas, emo friends gone evil, or a confusing convoluted plot that has a lot of plotholes. Is it a rip off of other shonen mangas I mentioned or failed to mention? No, it just borrows concepts and ideas from those mangas to form its own story. Do you guys know what a rip off is? A rip off is something totally identical to something you already have only it’s of lesser value. Take for example Fruit Loops and the Meijer brand version of Fruit Loops. Which one are you gonna buy? Me, I’m gonna buy the original Fruit Loops because it taste better and isn’t a cheap knock off that taste like cardboard. What I’m trying to say is Black Clover isn’t a rip-off of Naruto or any other shonen manga out there it just borrows ideas and concepts from them to create its own story which isn’t new considering that every shonen manga out there in some way borrows ideas and concepts from the mangas before them. One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach were all inspired by DBZ, Fairy Tail was inspired by One Piece, Magi was inspired by FMA and 1001 Nights and Black Clover was obviously inspired by Fairy Tail and Naruto. My light novel that I’m working on in secret is inspired by and borrows ideas and concepts from both One Piece and Fairy Tail. Yes, its true Black Clover is using ideas and concepts that we’ve seen a number of times in different mangas and animes but it’s what you do with those concepts and ideas that separates your work from the work of others and that’s what Black Clover is trying to do. So go ahead and complain about its ideas and concepts that you’ve seen a number times but don’t ever call this manga a rip off of another manga because in my opinion each manga is one of a kind and nobody no matter how hard they try can rip it off. Thanks for reading, let me know what you’re thoughts are on the manga, and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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