Popular shonen series Black Clover is set in a make-believe world where everyone has magical abilities. Their social standing is indicated by how much mana they possess. Commoners have the least power, while royalty and nobility have the most. Due to the division caused by the difference in magic power, society is extremely stratified. The nobles openly despise those who possess less magical skill and hold the commoners in low regard because they possess less mana. But if a commoner ever became more powerful than a noble, they would be treated with even greater contempt.
The mere fact that they were born abroad makes foreigners even more deserving of cruel treatment than common people. It is common for anime to make reference to social issues like racism and discrimination. The core of Black Clover, however, is about nobles and commoners, and how the protagonists overcome prejudice to succeed in such a world. The show centers on the life of a young commoner boy who was born without any magical abilities. He wants to become the Wizard King, a position that can only be attained by the most powerful mage in the Clover Kingdom. As a result, the series' depictions of bias and inequality serve as the backdrop for its narrative.
Asta, Yuno, Yami, and Zara Have All Experienced Discrimination Due to Their Status
Asta is an orphan who was raised in the Clover Kingdom's periphery as a commoner. He was born without any mana, which makes him even worse than the average commoner, but he persisted anyway, gaining physical strength and acquiring an unusual grimoire. Asta swore he would become a magic knight and defend his ideals. But because of the prejudice he faced in the capital, Asta was constantly denigrated, and even his achievements received little attention. He was fortunate to join the Black Bulls, where he was welcomed with open arms despite his past.
With Asta, he shared a childhood and a dream. As opposed to Asta, Yuno is Asta's greatest foe and possesses exceptional talent in wind magic. He joined the Golden Dawn, the most elite group of magic knights in the realm. But the squad was made up only of nobles and kings. Most people were used to having a commoner in their squad and didn't welcome him. They either treated him with disdain or they were just uninterested. But as the days passed, they gradually recognized his talent and welcomed him into their team.
Yami still hears a few sarcastic remarks about his ancestry despite being the squad captain. At a very young age, he was drawn by an unusual grimoire to the Clover Kingdom. People became even more resentful of him as a result. He was severely bullied by others when he was a child. He was able to defeat anyone who challenged him once he had his grimoire and was stronger. But that doesn't imply that he was content. Yami was by herself in an unfamiliar country with no one to turn to. Fortunately, Julius recognized his potential and extended an invitation for him to join the magic knight's team.
The first non-magic knight to ever join was Zara, who was also Zora's father. His distinctive ash magic made him well-known in the Purple Orcus, where he belonged. Julius was fascinated by his magic and held him in the highest regard. A commoner being in their squad, however, did not sit well with the purple Orcus members. It was thought that Zara's death occurred accidentally while she was on a mission. However, Zora overheard some of the Purple Orcus knights confessing to killing him only because he was an eyesore to them while he was at his grave, which is when Zora first learned of this.
The Way Social Stratification Has Influenced the Clover Kingdom and Aids in Plot Twist
The Clover Kingdom's entire structure is constructed in accordance with the social standing of its inhabitants. Since the majority of them also work for the kingdom as magic knights, the royals and nobles reside in the capital. People of higher standing hardly ever visit the common realm where the commoners reside. Additionally, Asta and Yuno were raised in a realm that has been abandoned. People in this realm are said to possess a meager number of useless magic abilities.
The series' plot is structured so that the nobles are born with more power than the commoners, leaving no opportunity for the latter to rebel against their lot. The current wizard king, Julius Novachrono, detested the notion of classifying people according to their social standing and level of magic, though. The magic knights underwent significant change as a result of him, and he even appointed a foreigner as squad captain. Since he became the wizard king, more commoners have been chosen to serve as magic knights, provided that they can defend themselves in combat. However, since implicit bias was just the start, that by itself wasn't sufficient to alter the system. As a result, those who were oppressed because of their "low birth" began to engage in criminal activity and treason.
These individuals are those who make up the Eye of the Midnight Sun terrorist group. They were coerced into committing these crimes because they thought that by working for Licht, they would be reborn and would be able to live with dignity. They committed a number of crimes, but they did so because they wanted to be treated on a par with nobles.
Another instance of this was the vigilante group that claimed to be bedevil banishers but later came to be known as devil worshipers. People from the abandoned realm made up the group, and the meager magic they possessed couldn't even aid them in their daily activities. In order to forge an alliance, they took advantage of the chaos caused by the conflict with the Midnight Sun. To seize the power of the devil for themselves, their main goal was to attack Asta and Secre. The leaders of the group were ultimately expelled from the kingdom, which caused the nobles to doubt how the kingdom had been run all these years.
