Naruto fandom faces backlash for accusing Black Clover of copying Kurama

Ever since Black Clover was first released, the anime has faced several criticisms, with most of them claiming that it was a Naruto rip-off. While the comparisons themselves were too vague or just based on tropes, the sheer number of Naruto fans worldwide helped push the agenda that Black Clover was a Naruto copy.

Following that, the number of elements that were compared between the two series increased. With this, most anime fans were convinced that Black Clover mangaka Yuki Tabata was inspired by Masashi Kishimoto's work. However, as revealed by the mangaka himself, the series is actually inspired by Tite Kubo's Bleach.

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Naruto fandom gets berated for wrongly accusing Black Clover of copying Kurama

Following the several comparisons made by Naruto fans between Kishimoto's series and Black Clover, fans claimed that Yuki Tabata stole the idea of Liebe from Kurama. According to them, Asta having an anti-magic devil sealed inside his grimoire was a replica of Naruto having Kurama sealed within him.

However, as stated by Twitter user @Rolando48933604, Black Clover's Liebe is not inspired by Kurama. In fact, Liebe is inspired by Bleach's Zangetsu. Zangetsu is a Zanpakuto spirit that resides within Ichigo's sword.

Similarly to that, Liebe has resided within Asta's five-leaf grimoire for the longest time. During this period, he accumulated anti-magic powers and happened to channel the same energy into the swords left by Licht within his grimoire. The same later ended up in Asta's possession. Thus, considering that Asta was using Liebe's powers through Licht's swords, it was very evident that Liebe was inspired by Zangetsu.

However, they too have differences between them. While Zangetsu was actively trying to save Ichigo for his own sake, Liebe is quite literally Asta's adoptive brother. Liebe was adopted by Asta's mother Lichita, and as fate would have it, he ended up getting teamed up with her biological son.

The best part about the situation is how, despite the numerous similarities between Black Clover and Bleach, fans of Tite Kubo's work never try to attack Tabata for the inspiration he has drawn. Moreover, if Bleach fans were to accuse Yuki Tabata of having borrowed elements from their favorite anime, Black Clover fans would gladly accept that fact, considering it is true and even declared by the mangaka.

Even a decent group of Naruto fans supported Black Clover as they themselves knew that the similarities were common shounen anime tropes. The protagonist aiming for a prestigious title, a talented deuteragonist, a sealed hidden power, etc., were all very common anime tropes. So just because the two anime happened to have similar themes, it did not directly mean that one of them copied the other.

Even Bleach fans felt confused why the majority of Naruto fans were even upset about any similarities between their series and another new series. Considering Kishimoto's series was released over a decade ago, it is bound to have influenced the shounen anime industry.

Thus, if some anime were to take inspiration from it, it would be a moment to be proud of. However, for some reason, fans of Kishimoto's series take the opportunity to slander newer series to try and establish their dominance.