Anime Black Clover Movie Thread

[Tavore]

The movie is out on Netflix.

Watched it gave it a 8/10

 

[Phaizzy]

The movie was a 9/10. This movie felt more like black clover than the current manga.

-Yami mentioning his sister
- Asta using partial of a form we only see in the manga

I love those moments.

My favorite characters in black clover is Zora (the moment I saw him he became my favorite. I love his Personality). Mereoleona (i would put her first since we seen more of her. I Stan her so much), and Nacht.

When Mereoleona was down on the ground and she started smirking and kicked her, and she said she got stronger. I almost pooped myself. They showed us her Hell Fire mode that’s currently only in the manga. The fact that Mereoleona also fought ARGUBAlly the strongest wizard king in terms of strength herself…. How JJK fans feel about Gojo is how I feel about goddess Mereoleona.. Zora being the ace up black bulls sleeve lowkey was amazing. Zoro legit broke NO SWEAT! but when I saw Nacht, I almost passed out.

Gray damn near using her magic how her magic is supposed to be used (because sadly we don’t see it in the manga) was

its weird because a lot of us thought the previous wizard kings were tied to the vermillion family and Silva family but there was no relation whatsoever.

Fuegoleon and Nozel and even Leo doing nothing is annoying.

also shoutout to Julius who likely used his time magic on the sword. I truly liked the movie though

 

[NegaiFreak]

That movie was amazing, not gonna lie. It felt a little fast, but it perfectly gave the characters a lot of moments to shine, including the villains. I watched the dub version of this film, and I'm glad that they kept the original cast, because they were awesome.

Big shoutout to Chris Niosi as Conrad, who really emphasized the character's struggles with trying to create a new world that was just for all, but needed to destroy the current one. His performance was probably the best of the bunch, with Asta and Noelle's being close seconds.

Loved all of the action and animation, especially. We're in a really exciting month where animation's become so good in so many different forms, from anime to 3D to cartoons, the list goes on. I'm glad we got this movie, because I think it shows just how big Black Clover can be for people. Now I need to get some merch for it!

I really don't have anything to complain about, at least not much. Surprised there were little comedic moments for the movie, but that's to be expected when there's such a serious threat. I'm giving this a solid 9/10, mainly due to pacing. This movie did feel really fast with its action sequences. Though we did end up slowing down at the end of the first act, I felt as if we went from first gear to fifth gear in a millisecond once the action got back on track. Again, it's a minor complaint.

Regardless, the movie's awesome. I'd check it out if you have access to it.

 

[Lqd1]

Honestly the movie was okay.....but would have been better if it took place between the spade kingdom & final arc. I know how people feel about the last arc, but it had character & power development that felt natural. I cannot personally believe, with the exception of Mereoleona, that any of them could defeat a wizard king during this time.....I truly hope this is not cannon witch is horrible because that would have been a great new power for him to have & personally I feel it was wasted.

 

[Franz]

The movie was a 9/10. This movie felt more like black clover than the current manga.

Instead I have seen many similarities with the current arc.

 

[FetherMan]

Never read the manga nor followed the anime, but the movie was pretty good.

 

[HereNThere]

The movie was alright. Had a lot of good things going for it, especially towards the back half, but at the same time, I feel it missed the mark on quite a few places. That being said, the concept of the film was sound and, had this been a manga arc, it could've potentially been one of the stronger arcs in the series. It really could've slotted neatly into the series and given us some decent world building and character moments.

The weakest part of the film, to me, was the first half. Just really rushed and had a lot of moments that felt a bit contrived to get us where we needed to be. A lot of that could've been smoothed out to make things flow into the main plot a bit better. For example, we didn't necessarily need to start out in the Coliseum. It could've been everyone who was training in Heart just visiting Clover because they missed their friends and family and they snuck Asta in. Then stuff goes down and everyone just heads to the Coliseum because Conrad is making a fuss and drawing attention.

When we actually started to get into the nitty gritty of why the Wizard Kings were doing what they were doing, that's when the movie started picking up for me. They were the strongest part of the film. I feel that their stories alone would've necessitated this film being a whole arc as there was a lot about them we could've explored. One thing I liked was that all of them were motivated by the same goal of rooting out the inequalities in Clover. There wasn't one who was doing it just for hell of it. And I loved the implications that they were all betrayed and killed because they were Wizard Kings who were openly for equality and they were labeled as "traitors" and killed. Which, unfortunately, does bring me to my next issue.

I don't really feel like the film had our protagonists actually challenged the grievances presented by the 4. For a large part of the film, it felt like the Asta and the crew weren't really taking to heart the reasons for why Conrad and his crew were doing this. It was only until the very end they started to actually acknowledge their reasonings. Even then, it felt like it was only Noelle who paid a bit of lip service to the fact that the Wizard Kings were right in wanting to change the world, but just going about it the wrong way. And that may just me giving her the benefit of the doubt with her dialogue. I really wish the film would've had them at least agree that things sucked in Clover while disagreeing with Conrad's methods earlier on. It feels especially out of character for Asta given that he was giving the Elves and Patolli all sorts of leeway in understanding their rage.

While the fights at the start were a bit weak, they really improved at the end. It's understandable as to why. It's a film, we need to build up tension and yada yada, but it was odd not going all out here when they usually jump to full power in most of their tougher fights in the manga, lol. I do like how the 4 Wizard Kings were presented, power wise. The threat they presented was consistent and their "loses" were believable, for the most part.

Mereoleona and Princia, I feel, got the best portrayal. Yet another example in a slew of examples proving that Leona is on the level of a Wizard King, so the two of them being on even ground made the most sense. Also, nice surprise appearance from Hellfire Incarnate. Only issue I had was Princia's armor was rather boring, design wise.

Jester was fine for the most part. I think the film could've given us a better reason for why Yuno was keeping up as well as he was. I thought it was going to pull from his ability to use wind to consolidate the surrounding special mana, like he did against Zagred, and have him benefit from the Fortress' boost as well, but that wasn't the case. At least Yami, Fuego's, and Nozel's combo magic proved to be the more effective attack against him. Even then, he was still roaring to fight, so that was cool.

Edward was a bit wonky. While I like that he was basically majorly holding back and he was pretty much left untouched by the end, it felt like the Black Bulls were doing much better than they had any right too. I also don't buy the fact that they were able to move in his Ice Church technique.

Finally, Conrad versus Asta. Surprisingly, this was the least interesting fight in the film, to me. It also didn't really do anything interesting to justify Asta's performance. The Imperial Sword was an expected boon, but I had hoped it would've been combined with Asta's Anti Magic to produce a new and unique effect. Also, feels like a missed opportunity for them to have Asta use the Imperial Sword with his Demon Arm. Give it the unique affect to have Anti-Magic "feed" off of Wizard King's magic within the blade and give Asta a crazy boost in power, maybe giving Asta a pseudo Devil Union form.

Conrad's final moment with the other 3 Kings was pretty cool. Wish we got more of them all together speaking and getting along, but it still worked. The ending itself was fine, if a bit abrupt. I didn't care for how Julius tossed in Conrad's motivations at the end and it wasn't spoken on by anyone. Again, feels like Asta should've sympathized a bit here.

All in all, it was a decent watch. As I mentioned, I would've really enjoyed this more as a full arc in the manga, if only to get more screen time from the 4 Wizard Kings and bit more character work from everyone else.

 

[Tavore]

Once again Mereoleona is shown to be above the other captains.

 

[Franz]

But only I noticed a lot of similarities with the current arc ?

In short, the villain is an evil wizard king with the aim of destroying Clover and rebuilding it at his pleasure, complete with a flying fortress and the dead brought back to life as subordinates.

 

[Undina]

-Yami mentioning his sister

Wait, when was this? The most memorable things I got from Yami were his "jokes" about his damsel in distress situation and his "cutesy girly macho type", I think? Made me cringe a little.

And that may just me giving her the benefit of the doubt with her dialogue. I really wish the film would've had them at least agree that things sucked in Clover while disagreeing with Conrad's methods earlier on.

The reason I think their reactions were left so empty and subdued(and the friend I watched it with won't shut up about it cause it put her off most of the thing) is because "they're all knock off versions of current villains or supporting secondaries, with slight design alterations and stealing magic from MKs and dead mommies as opposed to devils"...so, Asta and co are likely saving the more constructive criticism for Lucius, the "OG Conrad, who's not parroting Asta"

Once again Mereoleona is shown to be above the other captains.

This is old news, even the girl knows it, and I really enjoyed her thinking of her peers and their reactions, she's apparently aware of how much they admire and respect her.

I gotta say that what I enjoyed most were the artsy animations for footwork(yea, some people are into feet, I'm into fighting choreography, as always) and some bits of swordplay(I didn't imagine Jester as a dual wielding swordsman and that was a good surprise), the prettyness of VD Noelle going One Woman Army on evil!Father Orfay, courtesy of Gauche, and basically doing acrobatics with her clones, though impractical; but my husband and the friend call it The Swan Lake...and then there was Anegoleon catching the ship in one hand, Superman style. ‍
It still feels more amazing than her and the other non-trapped captains and aides' dramatic entrance or her and Princia's fight, which was cool, save for their mimicry of DBZ/Jojo stuff. Maybe the little( shippy?) exchange between Asta and Noelle at the start of the film was a bit more endearing than Asta and Yuno's whole dynamic these past few arcs, plus movie, but that's a fangirl with an echo speaking.

Other than that, I didn't enjoy much, as I can't help but agree with those who say they put too many hints, allusions and copies of what happens later in the manga for the movie to have a bigger impact and the pace on steroids took away from the experience.
Btw, someone pls remind me, who's Anego's "rival"( she mentioned something about it ), Acier or Fuego?

 

[HereNThere]

The reason I think their reactions were left so empty and subdued(and the friend I watched it with won't shut up about it cause it put her off most of the thing) is because "they're all knock off versions of current villains or supporting secondaries, with slight design alterations and stealing magic from MKs and dead mommies as opposed to devils"...so, Asta and co are likely saving the more constructive criticism for Lucius, the "OG Conrad, who's not parroting Asta"

Their reactions were left empty and subdued because the writing just didn't address it properly.

While their end goal was basically Lucius' plan one to one, their motivations are a hell of a lot stronger than his (at least given what we know at the moment) and their goals mean a whole lot more coming from them because it relates directly to the themes of the series. Unless Lucius reveals his own experiences with inequalities and relates to Asta on a similar level like Conrad did, it's not going to mean much for Asta and the gang to "debate" Lucius on his methods of going about World Peace. Doesn't help that Lucius is also as deep as a puddle.

For Black Clover, Conrad was the perfect antagonist for Asta. Someone who has not only achieved the goal Asta wanted, but also is a man who sought to accomplish the same things Asta wants to in that role, yet became the antithesis of what that role stood for. This was the easiest lay up writing wise in terms of giving Asta some development and challenge him on all fronts; physically, mentally, and, most importantly, morally. But they literally had Asta ignore everything Conrad was saying just to keep the show going when, in reality, Asta should have really had a lot to say in response to Conrad's position.

 

[Phaizzy]

Wait, when was this? The most memorable things I got from Yami were his "jokes" about his damsel in distress situation and his "cutesy girly macho type", I think? Made me cringe a little.

The reason I think their reactions were left so empty and subdued(and the friend I watched it with won't shut up about it cause it put her off most of the thing) is because "they're all knock off versions of current villains or supporting secondaries, with slight design alterations and stealing magic from MKs and dead mommies as opposed to devils"...so, Asta and co are likely saving the more constructive criticism for Lucius, the "OG Conrad, who's not parroting Asta"

This is old news, even the girl knows it, and I really enjoyed her thinking of her peers and their reactions, she's apparently aware of how much they admire and respect her.

I gotta say that what I enjoyed most were the artsy animations for footwork(yea, some people are into feet, I'm into fighting choreography, as always) and some bits of swordplay(I didn't imagine Jester as a dual wielding swordsman and that was a good surprise), the prettyness of VD Noelle going One Woman Army on evil!Father Orfay, courtesy of Gauche, and basically doing acrobatics with her clones, though impractical; but my husband and the friend call it The Swan Lake...and then there was Anegoleon catching the ship in one hand, Superman style. ‍
It still feels more amazing than her and the other non-trapped captains and aides' dramatic entrance or her and Princia's fight, which was cool, save for their mimicry of DBZ/Jojo stuff. Maybe the little( shippy?) exchange between Asta and Noelle at the start of the film was a bit more endearing than Asta and Yuno's whole dynamic these past few arcs, plus movie, but that's a fangirl with an echo speaking.

Other than that, I didn't enjoy much, as I can't help but agree with those who say they put too many hints, allusions and copies of what happens later in the manga for the movie to have a bigger impact and the pace on steroids took away from the experience.
Btw, someone pls remind me, who's Anego's "rival"( she mentioned something about it ), Acier or Fuego?

The very first few minutes of the movie when he’s fighting. He mentions his sister

 

[Undina]

their motivations are a hell of a lot stronger than his (at least given what we know at the moment)

I fear that they even ruined that in their going too hard on making Conrad some sort of an expy to Lucius, because both in the beginning, when they attacked the Colosseum and Conrad mocked Julius for magicless Asta making it into the MKs and, for some reason, proving the institution "had fallen very low", and towards the end( I hope I'm remembering right which battle, the movie looked like one long battle barely changing sceneries), when Conrad overpowered Asta and was kicking him around, mocking him for being a "commoner" and "magicless", yet daring to hold a dream to be WK... these moments made his particular "motivations" less believable than the nastiness he manifested with his plan, and when his flashbacks and reveal about the wife came on, everything became even more confusing. Because there was no proper context to the trauma that made him rage and rebel. Was he a commoner who made it not only into the MKs but up to the WK position, yet was disparaged for his magic like Zara Ideale or Rades Spirito's? Or even more ironically, like someone who basically had to live outside society with a similar magic/curse, like Licita or Henry? Was it his wife who'd been the commoner and whose connection to Conrad persuaded the royalists to turn on the new WK, finding her a catalyst to his desire for reform? Guess we'll never know and we can't even be sure if he has more in common with Asta other than the shoehorned catchphrase, or dream to become WK and reform society, unless we go look for materials outside the movie itself.

For Black Clover, Conrad was the perfect antagonist for Asta. Someone who has not only achieved the goal Asta wanted, but also is a man who sought to accomplish the same things Asta wants to in that role, yet became the antithesis of what that role stood for.

I disagree with this, Lucius is lacking in some ways, but he encompasses many of the issues Asta and his peers have to deal with throughout the story, without being forcefully some retroactive copy of the MC himself. Nope, he at least has the decency to be the evil twin/counterpart of the man whose position Asta wants to inherit more than any other's.
-Lucius and Julius are technically foreigners, in a way even worse than commoners in the eyes of Clover aristocracy( Yami still gets slack for being a foreigner, even if his fellow captains treat that moniker more like an inside joke at this point);
-Lucius is a devil host, so by default he'd get the same negative reactions the Agrippas, Nacht, Asta would get, whether they use their connections to/knowledge of devils for good or bad. It's true that the vast majority of devil hosts do warrant the negative reactions, when they very often align with the nefarious plans of the powerful devils they enter contracts with, but this still makes for a more serious commonality with Asta. And it was explored more in depth than the movie's main antagonist's views and issues. Btw, I've seen some backlash for Conrad being written as a fairly recent WK, yet also as completely ignorant of this particular thing with Asta...or other members of their society...I'm a bit embarrassed that others had to point out to me that the dude seemed to have lived in so much of a bubble, yet was a former WK, that he had no idea devil hosts/contractors exist, and he simply wanted to take Liebe's, not Asta's, power, when it's not even actual magic and it should be more complicated than vacuuming it in, given how even Lucius hasn't tried to strip Asta of his contract with Liebe and tricky little imp Liebe of his power. But numbnuts Conrad wanted it for a hot minute.
But back to the topic, this devil host thing is another commonality Asta and Lucius share, even as they go about it differently and devils are only a means to an end for Lucius. The major issues for Asta are inequity between commoners and royals/the poor and magic weak vs the rich and magic abundant, some even born into positions of power while others, with or without power, struggling to earn theirs, AND the bias against devil hosts or weg touched people, without trying to discern whether those hosts and "cursed" people are dangerous or still functional, decent human(e) beings. Lucius might've started out with the good intentions, but he fully became the antithesis to what Asta is, and this is already established, we didn't need one more villain with almost the same traits but with whose mere awareness of devils and devil contracts was awkwardly deleted/never written in for the sake of making him even the slightest bit different from Lucius
-He wants to reform society/mankind at least on their continent and establish equality, again, going about it the extremely wrong way. He did go for the WK position, just like Conrad did, just like Asta aims, because that's the best angle from which to work on such a plan...though it's a bit contrived that he went exactly for Clover( yes, I know, for plot's sake), when the Zogratis already got Spade under thumb and the other 2 countries were just as valid, while Clover was messier than ever, with nobody yet in Lumiere's range and his only troublesome prediction is seemingly centered on the Spade CP...as the Spade CP, not a CK MK from the boonies.

But they literally had Asta ignore everything Conrad was saying just to keep the show going when, in reality, Asta should have really had a lot to say in response to Conrad's position.

To me it didn't feel like written as ignoring, it felt like, yet again, turning Asta into a broken record with minimal, repetitive comebacks, or portraying him as far less eloquent when in the midst of a battle( he did give a cool speech back in the emergency shelter)...for that matter, so is Yuno a broken record, with that "Not a chance"...Father Orsi, did you drop them one too many times on their heads when they were babies?
They did let a chance go, and again, I think it's because they were trying to hold back from trampling all over future discussions(at least between the mains), and failing big time, with that silent exchange at the very end between Asta and Yuno, where Yuno once again replied with "Not a chance"...yeah, I get what Asta was silently wondering: if, the way he is, with the desperate reliance on a devil's power(this is supposedly before their ritual confrontation where Asta really got to see Liebe and start figuring out, or got any minimal confirmation of his suspicions about the goof) to make up for magic he lacks, as setting him up on a similarly twisted path as Conrad, if he fails to make others see the worth in his work and person.

Forgot to mention, but my conclusion was that, while I would've liked to see the plot of the movie properly developed into a manga arc, it would also take some serious reworking of Conrad for him to be more than some forced hybrid of Lucius and Asta, with the only glaring difference that outs the serious effort of pushing Conrad for an "our evil boss WKs are different" as silly ignorance of devil hosts being a thing. Or I wouldn't mind if he was completely replaced. The other 3 managed to be more safely distanced from the characters, from BC or other franchises, they were more or less a nod to.

 

[Tavore]

Wait, when was this? The most memorable things I got from Yami were his "jokes" about his damsel in distress situation and his "cutesy girly macho type", I think? Made me cringe a little.

The reason I think their reactions were left so empty and subdued(and the friend I watched it with won't shut up about it cause it put her off most of the thing) is because "they're all knock off versions of current villains or supporting secondaries, with slight design alterations and stealing magic from MKs and dead mommies as opposed to devils"...so, Asta and co are likely saving the more constructive criticism for Lucius, the "OG Conrad, who's not parroting Asta"

This is old news, even the girl knows it, and I really enjoyed her thinking of her peers and their reactions, she's apparently aware of how much they admire and respect her.

I gotta say that what I enjoyed most were the artsy animations for footwork(yea, some people are into feet, I'm into fighting choreography, as always) and some bits of swordplay(I didn't imagine Jester as a dual wielding swordsman and that was a good surprise), the prettyness of VD Noelle going One Woman Army on evil!Father Orfay, courtesy of Gauche, and basically doing acrobatics with her clones, though impractical; but my husband and the friend call it The Swan Lake...and then there was Anegoleon catching the ship in one hand, Superman style. ‍
It still feels more amazing than her and the other non-trapped captains and aides' dramatic entrance or her and Princia's fight, which was cool, save for their mimicry of DBZ/Jojo stuff. Maybe the little( shippy?) exchange between Asta and Noelle at the start of the film was a bit more endearing than Asta and Yuno's whole dynamic these past few arcs, plus movie, but that's a fangirl with an echo speaking.

Other than that, I didn't enjoy much, as I can't help but agree with those who say they put too many hints, allusions and copies of what happens later in the manga for the movie to have a bigger impact and the pace on steroids took away from the experience.
Btw, someone pls remind me, who's Anego's "rival"( she mentioned something about it ), Acier or Fuego?

Yeah but Yami fans think he's stronger than her. While Tataba goes out of his way to highlight her as WK level.

 

[Undina]

Yeah but Yami fans think he's stronger than her. While Tataba goes out of his way to highlight her as WK level.

Yami is extremely tricky, and has potential, but Tabata portrays both, as well as Yuno and Noelle, courtesy of Asta's support and influence, as having that potential. The difference is that Mereo simply wants more and more different stuff than the WK position. She's technically the Gandalf of this story, travelling around, pursuing a more or less ascetic path where her ultimate goal is beyond trivial, mortal norms and needs.