200 Word Anime: Black Clover Episode 3

Black Clover - Asta

The third week of the Autumn anime season and  Weekend Otaku and I are sharing our thoughts on the third episode of Black Clover. If you missed it last week, here is our post on episode 2.

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Karandi’s Review:

I really don’t want to harp on about Asta’s voice and yet as I reflect on this episode the one thing that stands out to me is just how annoying it is. Over and over again he shrieks out repetitive dialogue for no apparent purpose and the inflection he puts on so many words is at best described as ear grating. This wouldn’t be a problem in a minor character, but Asta’s continuous screen presence with barely a minute between lines means that the audience suffers an ongoing assault by that voice.

Otherwise this is pretty standard train and prepare for the upcoming exam. Meanwhile everyone is still pretty much tearing Asta’s chances down (logical maybe, except this is shounen so there is really no way that he won’t eventually succeed even if he did fail the exam there would be some weird event after and he’ll get to move forward). This show has now had three episodes and while it is passable, it is really not going out of its way to impress.

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Weekend Otaku’s Review:

When I saw the intro to this episode I thought the show was getting into something epic until I realized it was a sort-of flashback. If that’s what Asta imagined the Wizard King to be like, I can’t blame him for being enthusiastic. In any case, that sort of sequence might have served better for the series intro rather than the protracted start of a journey that this episode offered. While not a whole lot is actually happening, that’s not necessarily making the series bad. It’s kind of similar to how Hunter X Hunter started, but where that series had some charming characters to start off with (and some actual motivation for Gon), this one has a protagonist that really challenges viewer enjoyment.
I don’t know if Gakuto Kajiwara is to blame for the assault we’re getting on our ears each week or the directors for having him deliver that same annoying scream over and over, but just like Karandi (and I’m sure all of you as well) I’m having a really hard time putting Asta’s yelling aside and trying to focus on the rest of the episode. As for his character, I can see what they’re trying to do through his conversations about how someone’s station in life shouldn’t limit them. It’s a nice sentiment, but it’s been a bit on the nose so far and there’s little else to garner any investment in him.
Thanks Weekend and just a reminder, if you missed our review of The Ancient Magus’ Bride episode 2 you should hop on over to WeekendOtaku’s site and check it out.

Thanks for reading.

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Thanks,

Karandi James.

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10 thoughts on “200 Word Anime: Black Clover Episode 3

  1. For some reason I missed this post, so I am glad Weekend Otaku reblogged it 😀 But man, I so agree with everything that has been said here. I commented over on another blog that Asta has now become my nr1 most annoying anime character ever. His voice is just so incredibly irritating. It grounds on my nerves, and just as you say if he were not the main character it would not have been so bad maybe. As for the opening, that is what went through my mind as well. Why did they not use this scene in the beginning of the anime? That would have made much more sense. All in all I keep thinking there might be a good series hidden in it somewhere. I stil am keeping my fingers crossed for that.

    1. I’m also still hoping for a good series but the more episodes it takes to get moving the more I start to be concerned that we’re all just in wishful thinking land. We’ll see.

  2. Still on my Top 10 watch list this season despite of being a second hand copy cat of Naruto + Fairy Tail. Nonetheless, the animation and visuals are great, though the story is so so cliche. Definitely a good shounen, if it wasn’t for that annoying voice acting of the main character.

    1. The story hasn’t been bad (pretty standard) but it also hasn’t done much to really get me excited yet. I’m just thinking in Fairy Tail we had Natsu rescue Lucy early on and that was pretty entertaining. Bleach saw Ichigo run through with a sword and then defeat the Hollow. While Asta pulled a sword out of book and killed the guy attacking Yuno in one strike, it just didn’t quite have the same impact and very little else has happened other than a flashback to show us any kind of real action in this yet. That isn’t to say it won’t get there, but it has been a pretty slow start and while I appreciate that they are laying groundwork, I think something big will need to happen fairly soon.

    1. Honestly, not yet. It certainly might be good but it is very average at the moment (though it has set up everything it needs for a good story to come out of it and a lot of these kinds of stories have a slow start). So, not loving it, but still holding out hope.

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