‘My Hero Academia’ Creator Sketches ‘Black Clover’ Leads

There are few animes hotter than My Hero Academia, and the manga’s creator decided to show some love to one of the genre’s other popular newcomers.

My Hero Academia was created by Kohei Horikoshi, launching a successful manga series and more recently the incredibly popular anime. Neither shows signs of stopping anytime soon, but Horikoshi took some time out to illustrate a cover for Black Clover, a series from Yuki Tabata.

As you can see in the image below, Horikoshi’s visual style can be easily spotted in Black Clover’s lead characters, but especially in his rendition of Asta, who has a passing resemblance to Katsuki Bakugo from My Hero Academia.

Luckily Asta doesn’t have to worry about dealing with Katsuki, but honestly, Yuno isn’t exactly a walk in the park, so maybe that’s not necessarily an improvement. Come to think of it, maybe Izuku and Asta should form some sort of support group for powerless characters.

As for Black Clover, the series was created by Yuki Tabata, who launched it in the issues of Shonen Jump in 2015. It was then picked up by Studio Pierrot, the same studio responsible for Naruto, and launched as an anime earlier this year.

Black Clover revolves around two orphans named Asta and Yuno, both discovered at an abandoned church on the same day. In this world, everyone has access to some sort of magic, and while Yuno holds immense magical powers, Asta mysteriously has no magic to call his own. Both receive grimoires at the age of 15, and it is then that Asta gains the powerful Anti Magic that has the ability to destroy other magic.

While the show is doing well with fans so far, there is one constant criticism of the first episodes. That would be the show’s voice acting…actually, scratch that. Sorry Asta, but the bus is here and you’re going under it. The lead character’s voice is being described as an annoying shriek, and it is one that is grating people’s nerves.

Hopefully, voice actor Shun Horie finds a middle ground for the character soon, because, despite Asta’s nails on a chalkboard sound, fans are liking what the show has to offer.

Black Clover is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.