Black Clover, Vol. 1

This was feeling very stereotypical shounen to me and I'm not going to lie, I was considering dropping it for a minute, but this actually ended up having a unique take on the genre? It's pretty bold to, instead of giving the weak MC some incredible power suddenly and have them eventually surpass everyone, to not only keep him powerless but go a step further and essentially make him an anti-mage that can negate magic? Which is a powerful ability in and of itself, to be fair, and technically doesn't make him powerless, but he still has to rely on his own physical strength and ability to swing the sword and make the power work. If he hadn't put effort into getting stronger in his own way without magic then he never would've been capable of what he can do now.

Also I like that it seems like this is breaking the shounen curse of having the main rival/possible past best friend STAY friendly with the MC? Like there doesn't seem to be any animosity between them at all, unlike other standout pairs like Sasuke and Naruto, Izuku and Katsuki, etc... Again, very refreshing. Not only are they friends but they're downright defensive of each other. They're rivals, but they also stand up and protect each other if the other needs it, and I really like that!

I'm definitely going to continue this!