Reviews for Clevatess

Clevatess is a hidden gem that could easily be a top anime of 2025, despite its lower popularity. As an original story, it shines with a unique premise that feels fresh and unpredictable. I went in expecting to drop it after one episode, but its grounded take on real-life situations hooked me , making it my favorite anime this year so far—only Kingdom S6 might top it, but that’s a sequel, and this is an original (based on manga ofc). The characters are well-rounded, each with clear strengths and flaws. They’re neither overly perfect nor inexplicably foolish—their decisions and reactions to events feel authentic, making theirgrowth compelling. Naie Chiffonlits best girl (perfect VA choice).

Others might enjoy Clevatess for its originality and character-driven plot, even if they’re not into the genre.

For me, it’s a 10/10, and I’m hoping for a Season 2!

For as long as I can remember, I've been a fan of fantasy stories. It's definitely my favorite genre, and practically all of my favorite stories fit into it in some way. Even works that aren't very good overall but feature some interesting fantasy element end up finding their way to me. However, it's true that after reading so many fantasy stories, my critical sense of them has considerably improved, so these days I can't stand any of the generic crap that's released every anime season. So, when I first heard about Clevatess, I was surprised by its positive critical reception, coming from people who didn'ttalk much about anime but recommended it to everyone. And recently, a major anime website declared the anime one of the best fantasy series released in recent years, which further increased my desire to watch it so I could finally experience a fantasy story that breaks free from clichés and features a truly good narrative and captivating characters. However, before even reaching the halfway point of the season, I managed to sum up Clevatess in a single word: disappointing.

In *Clevatess*, humanity faces dark beasts until the 13 heroes sent to combat are defeated by Lord Clevatess. Seeking revenge, he devastates the Kingdom of Hiden, but revives the heroine Alicia Glenfall to help him raise Luna, a child whose destiny could save or destroy the world. Disguised as a human, Clevatess travels with Alicia in search of a wet nurse, while neighboring kingdoms prepare to exploit Hiden's fragility and claim his borrowed forge.

First and foremost, Clevatess is truly a bit different from other fantasy works, as at least here there's an attempt to create an original world with its own fantastical elements. But make no mistake: every cliché found in any other story of the genre is there, but glossed over with different names—and sometimes not so glossed over at all. There are mysteries related to the distant past of the races that have repercussions on the future of the world, which is interesting in creating a sense that everything happening on screen is "alive" and not simply created to be shown to the viewer.

But all my praise ends there, as Clevatess managed to waste all its potential due to a basic narrative error that occurs in many fantasy fictions: excessive exposition through dialogue. It's clear that the original author of the story lacks the ability to present the story's events to the audience in an interesting way, falling into the trap of simply having the characters explain everything—and I repeat, absolutely everything—that just happened, what happened in the past, what might happen in the future, and what is happening now. There simply comes a point where I felt like I was being treated like an idiot by the story, as everything was explained as if it had been nothing more than a neuron in my head.

Because of this extremely exaggerated exposition, much of the screen time that could have been devoted to character development, world-building, and building anticipation for future plot developments was simply replaced by small talk about mostly completely insignificant events. For this reason, by the final episodes, I felt like the story hadn't progressed at all and little had actually happened, contrary to what the anime intended.

As a result, all the elements that had potential for depth were reduced to dust. The worldbuilding becomes a blur, the political plots lack weight because we don't care about the characters involved, and the mysteries are poorly developed, culminating in meaningless resolutions simply thrown at us without any impact. After a few clever episodes, it almost seems like the writer no longer wants to tell the story, as everything is resolved in such simplistic and idiotic ways that leave the viewer questioning.

In short, Clevatess had relative potential and doesn't even compare to other generic fantasy anime. While these at least know how to tell a story to their target audience, Clevatess still manages to present its plot in a way that makes sense. In the end, it seems like the author had a lot of cool ideas in mind but didn't know how to distill them into an interesting narrative along with the characters we care about. The result of all this is a work that promised to be a renewal among generic releases, but which ends up losing out to its own representatives and leaves the feeling that it had some potential, but lacked someone captivating.

This one honestly surprised me. Even after the protagonist changes form, the anime sticks to its dark fantasy tone. I expected it to shift into a more typical cute or ecchi direction like many others—but to my surprise, it didn’t, and that’s a big plus. The story is progressing well so far. Some parts feel a bit illogical, but nothing too distracting—no show is perfect. The art style fits the tone nicely: dark, gritty, and refreshing in a world where most anime lean into the kawaii aesthetic. Animation-wise, it’s nothing exceptional, but it gets the job done and doesn’t feel cheap. Overall, with the current pacing andworld-building, Clevatess could turn into a really interesting watch if it keeps this up.

Clevatess, in a nutshell, is an extremely ambitious show. Clevatess is like one of those stories that has some good ideas and initially starts out great, but it's drastically hindered by the format of the medium and the lack of structure in the show. It would have been better if the anime had learned to cut out some story elements in favor of more development in the main narrative, because it felt like the anime was trying to build too many things at once without proper planning. The good is that the anime had a strong start and good production, thanks to the anime's first episodebeing a 45-minute foundation that built interesting narration and good characters to boot, with some nice dialogue. The production and direction helped cement the show as another sleeper hit of this Summer, which I honestly didn't expect to be, but it was a nice surprise nonetheless. Clevatess was the main highlight of the show because he has a lot of interesting things going for him, caring for a human baby, reviving a human hero, watching the human world through the lens of a protectless maiden, etc. After all, I wanted to see how Clevatess can gradually learn to acknowledge humanity through the action of taking care of a baby. Albeit stereotypes are present to drive the story, such as making Clevatess portrayed as a conceited nihilistic being or creating douchebags as stepping stones, as the norm for some shows nowadays. Still, part of me was amused by the action and drama the anime introduced in its first episode. With little time to progress, the first half of the story is solid, as it introduces a couple of interesting characters like Neruru and Dorel while providing quite nerve-racking action for Alicia during her climaxes (I don't mean it in a kinky way). As for Dorel, I'd say the story does a decent job at fleshing out this character, showing him as a fearsome general along with some notable fight scenes, which help him stand out as the series' antagonist for the time being. Now with all that being said...

The bad starts mainly because of its pacing, and by that I don't mean it's sluggish; it's too choppy and rushed. Part of that came from the show's attempt to explore its multiple story ideas, but it does so quite clumsily. It's an example of what scope creep is to a show. I'm not saying that the show didn't make any notable progress. It was able to deliver good character development when the story took it slow, primarily looking at Alicia, for example. Her backstory and scenario were already interesting, a revenge story coupled with the disgraced hero narrative, besides even Neruru was also interesting, but instead of trying to solely focus on that, the story wanted to include more lore and exposition, hence churning the story into a rushed war climax that later stopped delivering character development during that arc. This, unfortunately, results in the following action sequences lacking emotional impact, and some characters start to feel more like plot tools (like Dorel, who starts to act more like a backstory dump during crucial action sequences) than actual characters as it later progresses. Another issue I had with the story is the baby, since he's nothing more than a plot device in the entire anime and lacks plenty of baby personality despite the anime desperately trying to show you a lot of crying scenes, and I mean A LOT. I'm confident that if the baby didn't exist and somehow were to be replaced by a secret key, it wouldn't change a damn thing about the story at all. Long story short, many of its story aspects needed more time to flesh out, but due to the show's format of only allowing 21 minutes of storytelling and exposition, it feels oddly rushed in the end. I think the story could've worked if it had lowered its scope, which would have helped create more breathing room for the more interesting story aspects it managed to flesh out, like Neruru, who got sidetracked for the sake of the story.

But wait, there's more! We need to talk about the ugly, too! It stems directly from Clevatess. Yeah, it turns out they actually don't know how to write Clevatess in his own damn story. He's directly the main source of my complaints, because Clevatess has reached the maximum level of wasted potential; it's like watching the boss when you play him as a playable character. The story's decision to make sure to turn Clevatess into a useless character in the later chapters was utter garbage for a direction, because it cuts Clevatess away from more unique and interesting interactions, thus he's far inferior as a character compared to others since the story desperately wants to build him as its own surrogate. If you need a reminder, Clevatess nuked a kingdom because its domain was attacked by its heroes, then later shown to be extremely fragile and useless in human form in the SAME EPISODE! Whenever Clevatess (as Clen) tries to apprehend an issue through action, he ends up getting thrown around like a ragdoll, even though it's shown he has shadow powers! I really did not like what they did to Clevatess, especially looking at how rushed and straightforward Clevatess starts acting more 'human' without any needed development. It's pretty obvious that the story wanted to make sure Alicia gets all the screentime for action, but all it did was make me wonder why make Clevatess the main character, if he's not going to do anything in the first place? Might as well turn the title into The Adventures of Alicia.

Long story short, the anime fails at trying to keep itself grounded, since it wanted to be a narrative masterpiece for some reason, despite lacking the creativity or writing to pace the series, so it ends up being a disjointed mess that tried too hard to go beyond the scope it's supposed to go for. So it's not going to feel satisfying for any ongoing watchers. Although I have to give credit for the way they handled the first half. Alicia and Clen were interesting at that time since the anime had a valid reason to keep up the human facade that terribly backfired at the end of the series. However, I am pretty drained after the show, even knowing the show will get a Season 2, I don't think I can continue watching when the show did a flimsy job at delivering a war arc when it mattered most.

Thank you for reading.

I'm not gonna lie, this anime is not for the faint of heart. It’s filled with pain, loss, and suffering. But even in the darkest moments, there are brief flashes of warmth that catch you off guard. The story mainly follows three key characters: the "wolf ", the hero, and the baby. Each of them feels distinct and fully realized, with unique personalities that leave a strong impression. The real strength of this anime isn’t in the weapons, the magic, or even the battles. What truly hits home is the emotional depth behind each character and their past. That’s where the story shines. Episode 4 stands out asthe best so far. It's incredibly dark, but at the same time, it offers a glimpse of hope. The girl in that episode reminds you that, despite everything, there are still good people in this broken world. It makes you feel something you might have forgotten a sense of humanity.

Great watch, not for the weak, but still worth enduring it because it is a masterpiece.

Okay, I usually don’t write reviews, but this anime made me break that streak cause it's that good. It’s seriously slept on. It’s been ages since a great dark lore anime like Berserk or claymore have aired and this anime falls right into that bracket. The story feels fresh, even when some parts hint at the usual tropes. Somehow it keeps you on your toes and never drags. The art style is perfect dark, gritty, and just the right amount of chaos. The characters are actually people, not just overpowered anime cliches. They have flaws, strengths, and react like real humans (well, as real as anime humansget). The main character is OP, but it doesn’t feel generic or boring, which is honestly rare.

I've had my doubts getting into this anime as it involved an overpowered main character but it takes a unique approach to get around that and man!.. as heartbreaking as Nelluru's backstory was it was presented beautifully which made me empathize for her which a lot of animes try nowadays by giving a tragic backstory to a character but this really left an impression, the voice acting for Nelluru in both Sub and Dub was especially great before her transformation. The main characters Clevatess and Alicia are also great, Alicia wanting to explore the land beyond and Clevatess who is curious about humans and what drives them.

I don’t know why this anime isn’t getting more clout while some other trash anime are getting more hype than this Peak!. The pacing, characters, and story are all on point. If you like dark fantasy, lore heavy worlds, or just want something that hits differently, check this out. Hope it gets a season 2 and not get axed.

One of the most refreshing AND very fun new fantasy anime in a while See that i specify fun as well, since while I have seen a LOT of refreshing fantasy anime with interesting gimmick, world, or characters, this one also perfectly incorporate the fun into it as well. With a very well written world, characters, and if not for today gold anime standard, would be neigh S tier production quality. Recommend for: World building, characters, story & suspense, production quality. FULL REVIEW: First of all, let me glaze the gimmick of the story. While its not the most out there gimmick of fantasy amines when you first sawit, when you think about it and see how the show play it out, its quite intuiting and fun to follow along. The concept of having a demon lord and the hero as the "same side" in their traveling journey, seem like never been done before ever, or at least not to this degree of perfection.

This gimmick, of course, heavily dependent on the characters themselves. The 2 main protagonist is VERY well written and intrigue to follow along. They perfectly encapsulate the 2 side of the same coin kind of story. One have a radical old idea, yet powerful, so as he try to under stand the world, we will for sure see him grow into something else. While another one have a different view from a different side, while sticking around with one, can change her view and their world destiny. The perfect clash of hate and agenda in the blend.

The world building though is also very immaculate. You know a fantasy anime is good when there's world map represented, and when the story actually follow through. The more surprising side is that the geopolitics in the world is also quite fascinating, and play very well into the world building as well.

The pacing and story telling is also quite good. Although on the slower end, which I think is the only possible caveat of this show. The show present some grand themes, politics, world, and I'm afraid it might not have the time to let it flourish. Unless of course this get 10 season which I would be very happy, but one can hope. So for now it seems like will be a more down to earth story without any grand story yet, at least probably not until the mid point and finale of the season.

Lastly, the production animation is insanely solid. I wouldn't say god tier by today anime standards, but if this were released pre covid with enough of the hype, it probably could've been the big fantasy anime. It's still quite good though, and definitely give out the emotion across really well in many scenes, while also represent the world, journey, and action perfectly.

In conclusion overall this anime is perfect. The world building is perfect, and the main selling point I would say is the main 2 protagonist of this story journeying through this world. The production quality is insanely solid, and the only caveat possible is more slower on the pacing side, and the world they build up probably won't marinate in time by just one season.

My rating as a Fantasy action adventure: 9.9/10

My rating as an overall anime: 9.31/10

Clevatess: Majuu no Ou to Akago to Shikabane no Yuusha is a true gem of animation and story, and I find its average rating of 7.4 /10 to be far too lackluster for what it truly offers. The only reasoning I can come up with for this, is simply the occurrence of gore and lines of nudity if I recall? Not exactly the type of anime to go mainstream, despite its initial appearance as a kids' showtime before bedtime feel. Even then, for me, the first episode may or may not be a bit difficult to get roped into as it has that sort ofold-school anime gradient feel to it, but I can attest that it is one of the most well-crafted series of this year, 2025. It already beats 95% of preexisting fantasy-genre anime till this point, and I have watched a boatload of anime. So, read the synopsis, and try to push through episode 1 to see by the end of it if it it's to your liking. Though, I have a feeling most of you anime enthusiasts will very much enjoy this one. It has been a while since an anime got me hooked.

Art: 9.2 /10

Story: 8.2 /10

Music: okay? /10

Potential: 10 /10

Very similar so far to claymore (manga esthetic is very similar as well) and berserk. Gore is mostly there, story had some tear jerking moments eps 2-4, small cast which makes it much easier to learn the characters. Main two characters are likeable enough, the side cast is really what is good so far. Magic isnt over the top OP, main character is very similar to ainz in overlord, they are hiding who they really are in order to learn about the human world. Art is nice and simple but effective at what it needs to do. Fights aren't over the top flashy but very heavyand guttural.

Honestly. A surprise. Story and characters: 7 The story's progression with it's characters, is what truly makes this show honestly. As if the tone of it all, episode by episode, makes you want to know whats happening next. In a much different spin on the usual carbon copy heros tale. Like I honestly feel like I'm watching a survival anime, rather than anything of the sort, as it feels like the switch can be flipped at any point, which only makes it more worth the watch. The characters give off such a weird vibe. Not the bad kind, but normally with these, you have someone to rootfor, or least one you hope does well. Besides the baby course. But in this, it really can come off as if we're cheering for an evil, an evil that will stay such till further notice. As if it's leaving us on the perfect level of edge, that'll keep us gripped on the edge of our seats. Sure, we can root for Alica, and hope she survives. But it makes you question long term. What it truly means to be a hero, to be a damn human in this sort of world. Well written there for sure.

Art and sound: 8

What this series does really well, is the gritty look of things. Even scenes later on, that seem wholesome and true, can look not so later on, as if while it is a happy moment, a happy memory. There is still an ugly tone on it, as if it's done on purpose, to reflect the very nature of the show itself. It's as if yeah, we seeing possible hope, but we don't know where this could lead, as it could lead to nothing but depression and disappointment. Well done all round to capture the tone of it all in perfect detail. Matched with some good sounding quality all throughout, will make this one to remember.

Clevatess has been quite the surprise enjoyment, long as it continues it's momentum, it'll be worth the watch and more so. Great stuff. Watch now!

WOW! This anime is everything a gore anime should be! It’s brutal, and the storytelling in just 3 episodes broke my heart, and some was hard to watch but in a good way. I really love the character design of Nell. I think they did an amazing job trying to portray the type of life that she has lived being with the bandits since she was born. Her story is compelling for the start of an anime. Even though it’s gore, they added a small bit of comedic relief which is nice. Very subtle to not take away from the genre. I cannot wait tocontinue the journey of watching Luna, Klen, Alicia, and Nell. It’s been awhile since I’ve come across an anime that got me instantly, so I would say as of now, it’s a must watch! If you’re sensitive to r*pe and abuse scenes, I probably wouldn’t watch it.

Clevatess — Modern fantasy, written the traditional way, reminiscent of the classical era of the 80s/90s, and it's a BANG. I miss the days when anime WAS anime, not like the mainstream slop that is now seeing all of the divisiveness that comes out of the modern era, where hype is king, regardless of quality, that can even "sanitize" brainrot into the masses that see the medium being so hated as it is now. That said, when anime gets a time to represent itself by going back to its roots, there are works like that which give the medium its rightful name, and it doesn't needthe hype to back it up, which one such person can prove to be true: mangaka Yuji Iwahara, with his latest series of Clevatess: The King of Magical Beasts, the Baby, and the Corpse Hero, coming forth as his third anime series adaptation since Studio Sunrise's May 2010 feature film of Ibara no Ou a.k.a The King's Thorn, as well as Winter 2016's Dimension W.

To understand Clevatess is to understand the author's origins, and Yuji Iwahara has quite the impressive resume of his careers: a graphic artist for Hudson Soft's games back in the 80s and 90s, then shifting to manga work with Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon magazine in 1994, before branching out to some series that you might've heard around the grapevine: 2000 to 2002's Chikyu Misaki, 2006 to 2008's Gakuen Sōsei Nekoten! a.k.a Cat Paradise, and 2009 to 2011's spin-off of Darker than Black: Shikkoku no Hana. So clearly, the author knows much about the sci-fi, supernatural action world...to create a dark fantasy series during COVID times? Talk about quite the gamble for a still-flourishing manga series that just continues to be unapologetically bold and uncensored with its narrative themes, and the more you watch, the better its world expands with lore so deep into the rabbit hole that it's easy to get in but even harder to come out of. I'm a testament here, and that's a fact after watching so many dark fantasy series throughout the years, that no other dark fantasy-esque show has gripped me harder than what Clevatess has done to us over the Summer season alone.

The story of a group of heroes ordained by a kingdom to slay devilish beasts and claim their rightful places in history — that's what you get with the 13 Heroes dealing with the Lords of Dark Beasts, with the strongest of them all being the dragon demon king of Clevatess, whom one such Lord can annihilate kingdoms far beyond its reach that it needs 13 people to get the job done, as the remaining survivor of Alicia Glenfall can attest to the truth in a future where the legend remains true to this day. However, as history cites many claims that need to be proven true or false, the Kingdom of Hiden, where the origin of the 13 Heroes legend stems from, is itself annihilated to the point of no return, with all of its citizens dead from the massacre of Clevatess that seemingly has no interest in conquest but will defend its lands if attacked. All but one survived, and it's a baby that has lost its mother, and seeing no other option, it's Alicia's responsibility to take care of the infant while going off the deep end to understand her role in the story of legend, as well as the state of humanity posthumously from Clevatess's wave of destruction.

And this story truly goes ham, as one truth leads to another in what seems to be an endless spiral of lore that has not just Alicia but also her coming to know Clevatess and being reborn thanks to him saving her from a near-death situation, accompanied by the same baby that has the Dark Beast convert himself into the likeness of humans and study both humanity and the baby, whom he dubs Luna to keep his sanity from turning into the demon lord tyrant. Together with the troll slave child of Nell (whom Clevatess, Klen in his human form, calls Nelluru), who provides the much-needed nutrition as do developing babies needing their breastmilk, the trio set forth, journeying around the region to understand not just humanity and its course, but who Luna is and what she'll bring to the course of action when it comes to the crunch.

Honestly enough, on the topic of badass women, you can call Alicia one tough nut to crack, as she embodies the "sticks and stones may break my bones, but not my spirit" fire within her that proves her loyalty and discourse to whatever and wherever Klen goes, knowing that a part of him resides within her for an exchange in power between life and death. The no-nonsense hero makes her presence known to everyone that she's a force to be reckoned with, set aside for the enemies that provide a challenge to her, as the legends that surround her get more nuanced on their true narrative that surprises even the Dark Beast Klen himself that the way he sees humanity is a barrage of information with regards to violence and betrayal, so he soon chuckles at how different humans are from the dark beasts themselves. Such an irony that humans are no more different than tyrant beasts, who, bestowed with power and control, seem excessive to the point of domination? This is definitely Klen's perspective from a talking/standing point. Even Nelluru, who's used to human abuse and torture, can be a tool in the right hands, though Klen doesn't care about anyone else other than himself and making sure that the pawns themselves do not die out on him until their roles have been met according to his satisfaction. It's a wild, wild world out there, and it is only humorous to the one who sees fit.

The only elephant in the room I can consider to be a fault is on the production side of things, as above-average as it looks coming from a studio that has seen its fair share of action-oriented shows within the last decade, but it still looks amateurish as it looks. It's only by the weight of debut director Kiyotaka Taguchi, whose expertise as a film and TV director is most famously known for his Ultra tokusatsu series, that the show even holds weight to begin with, delivering an insane work that seemed like it took years to get to this point. Whatever it is, Lay-duce got it right being their newest Magnum Opus representative.

Furthermore, the director himself is playing another role as sound director alongside music composer Nobuaki Nobusawa, and the music is also a high point for the series as a whole. It's bombastic, to say the least, and it does have an insane effect. Even better are both of the theme songs themselves, from Mayu Maeshima's OP filled with hype to English singer Ellie Goulding's debut English Anisong serving as the ED, with the notion of a book that's just as illusive but that plays a part in the narrative of the series as a whole.

Really, what can I say? Clevatess is everything I wanted of a dark fantasy series that stayed true to its roots and held nothing back, especially when it comes to its story elements and the emotions that it embodies. This is truly a show for the ages and a lesson to show that sometimes, tradition beats modernity in more ways than one.

What an amazing show to behold; this is a series that DESERVES and breathes hype in all the correct ways possible. Bring us more, because this is only the tip of the iceberg for what Clevatess has to show.

I’ve become pretty good at picking out anime of the season from the first episode and Clevatess is the latest entry in my book. From the premiere, which is a masterclass in establishing a dark fantasy world and ticked every box I look for in a first episode, I knew this was going to be special. Three months later, I’m happy to say it not only stayed as my Anime of the season, but consistently improved as the show went on. I had so much fun watching this every week, the pacing was perfect, the characters are great, the combat/magical system is well thought out,the story gives you just enough every week while leaving you thirsting for more and it doesn’t shy away from brutality. I enjoyed the unpredictability of this story a lot and the only issue I have with this is that it’s not a two cour show! If you can only watch a few hours of anime a week, Clevatess is one of those shows that needs to be in your list.

We’ve seen the whole demon lord as the main character premise before. What we usually don’t get, though is a demon lord having to genuinely rely on the supporting characters to get things done. For example, there’s Maou Gakuin where we have Anos bulldozing everyone he fights or Demon Lord Retry. While technically not a “demon lord” in the traditional sense, Clevatess/Klen more or less fits this role and because of plot reasons, he has to walk among and work with humans. He can’t simply overpower everyone and instead works in tandem with his party members to overcome obstacles. This makes every conflict in this story much more interesting because it usually involves Klen using strategy and being the brains while Alicia is the brawn. There’s not a ton of fights in this 12 episode run, however the ones we do get feel very tense and often involve twists. Things just never felt dull in this show which is great.

The other component of the show not feeling dull is this story! I am such a sucker for a good dark fantasy. I’m not sure if it makes sense, but I love “metal”stories that feel like a heavy metal track brought to life and that’s what Clevatess is. It’s a gory, brutal, twisted and cruel, but damn it it’s amazing. The show does a good job of being dark, but not edgy. Some shows try to be dark fantasies and just end up being cringe edge feats where horrible things happen for shock value, but in Clevatess everything feels purposeful and contributes to the narrative. Simply put, the messed up stuff in this series fits in with the established parameters of the story and mechanics of the world. The exploration and mystery aspects were also a big part of my enjoyment. I really like how rich and thought out this world feels. Humans having to fight for survival and not being the dominant species in this world is great. As human beings, we are naturally curious and driven to explore. In the world of Clevatess, that curiosity and drive leads humanity to conflict with the dark beast lords, seemingly impossible hurdles for humanity to overcome with their current level of technology and strength.. until the events of the show. It’s hard to talk about it too much without spoiling, but the way both sides of the conflict begin to realize they’ve been misled and become stuck in their narrow way of thinking is great. We see this on a micro scale in the relationship between Clevatess and Alicia who in many ways are the embodiment of this eternal conflict between humans and the dark beasts. Once the story gets going on and their relationship develops, they see the other side for who they really are and form this really cool bond. I liken this to Ragna Crimson with the two leads there and these worlds have a lot in common actually so if you enjoyed that sort of story, you’ll enjoy Clevatess.

So the story’s great, what about the production quality? Animation isn’t crazy, but it’s passable. The art style and direction of the show are great though. The sound design in this show is some of the best I’ve ever seen. Reminds me a lot of fire force and sengoku youko. Every single blow and action in this series resonates with you thanks to the scintillating audio. It adds weight and dynamism in the fights and makes for a much more engaging experience. Again, there’s not a ton of big fight scenes in Clevatess, it’s very much a world-building, lore and mystery driven series as we work to find out the truth about the conflict between humans and dark beasts and humans and beasts coming to understand each other, but still, it’s nice that the few action scenes we have are well done and weighty.

I could go on and on about Clevatess, but it’s really hard to describe why this story is so good without spoiling things. The first episode needs to be gone into blind so you can appreciate the WTF moments there and it’s just up from there. If you like dark fantasy stuff or just mature storytelling, give this a watch.

Clevatess gets 9, out of 10.

There are lots of ways for an anime to be bad, and to its credit Clevetess is the most interesting flavour of ass. Most failure is absence, a lack of qualities that hold attention, and a show is simply forgotten. With fantasy the trend is to be ass-by-committee, boiler plate slop created cynically to profit from a trend. But Clevetass is no isekai. No, from the very beginning it made that clear. This is serious, gritty dark fantasy. It introduces you to it's very own setting and uniquely named fantasy races that are delineated more like ethnicities rather than the typical elf-dwarf-human affair. Human life ischeap and the narrative stakes, which revolve around our omnipotent MC deciding assessing humanity for worthiness to exist, is well defined and tightly written. But then the second half of the first episode sets in and oh boy.

What is 'edge or 'dark-fantasy' anyway? All fantasy has violence. Most would say something like 'a pursuit of realism by displaying the depravity of mankind'. Clevatess' answer is typical of its ilk: "Violence, women." (You have to say the comma out loud). A frankly absurd proportion of screen time is dedicated to men talking down to, leering at, grouping, beating, raping or enslaving women. Our female lead (Alicia) is killed and enslaved by our male lead in the first episode.

The obvious defense is that depiction is not endorsement, and that the grim realities of history are evocative and provide conflict. My counter thesis is to cut the bullshit. Clevatess is prone to wild tonal whiplash, transitioning from a brutal massacre to a blushing heroine forced to expose her lovingly rendered breasts within the span of 10 minutes, and is played for laughs.

When the next 3 episodes are dedicated to non-stop rape threats and beatings against the female lead and others, I am not inclined to believe that the goal is a tasteful and grounded statement on abuse.

Enter 'Nell', an overweight, toothless slave girl rendered disabled from constant beatings (and then having her limbs chewed off) whose introductory arc concludes with our male lead rebuilding her mangled body into a spotless anime babe with a 10 inch waist voiced by Aoi Yuki whose tattered dress was artfully ripped into a tube top and miniskirt.

Thankfully the arcane liposuction preserved her large breasts which are, the heros and villains both assert multiple times, her only redeeming feature.

I'm being a little uncharitable, but the fact that I was able to predict Nell's conclusion minutes after her introduction is a symptom was what kept me for 4 episodes; the so-bad-its-good element which is part of the reason I call Clevatess an interesting flavor of ass. The action isn't bad, the concept is vaguely interesting. Alicia is generic but deceptively likeable and rooting for her has been enough to keep be engaged so far, even when she's played as hysterical or stupid when the plot or Clevatess' aura farming demands it. Nell herself is again, a decent and sympathetic character, but I struggle to have faith she won't go the way of her senpai and be relegated to an accessory.

By the way, the unique fantasy ethnicities I mentioned earlier boil down to 'here's dark skinned forest people, here's the barbarian people of the wastelands (an actual quote ep 1), here's the pointy eared magic ones that live in castles' level of world building, fit with its own miracle mineral called 'arcanacite' which the 'dark beasts' guard. It's a good trick; If you have no ideas, just use synonyms for your version of 'unobtainium' and 'monsters', gullible people will be tricked into watching this crap on a second monitor and giving it an 8/10 because its technically not an isekai.

Overall, Clevatess is just the embarrassing fantasy of a teenage boy. The central purpose is to revel in male power, and despite the writing being fundamentally solid it contains very little originality, and is constantly hamstrung the writer's adoration for his self-insert gary sue protagonist. It's anomalous popularity is a grim indicator of how low our standards are in general, but for women in media particularly. What does it say about me, that I'll probably watch the rest of it despite holding of these opinions? Apparently I cared enough to write this, so maybe its doing something right that I can't put into words.

The poor devils who don’t recommend this anime couldn’t tell a good anime from a bad one even if their mediocre lives depended on it. You could shove a well-crafted anime like *Clevatess* in their faces, and they still wouldn’t like it. This anime has everything a good dark fantasy should have: great storytelling, balanced power dynamics, compelling characters, and well-crafted conflicts—two particularly excellent ones. I recommend this anime 100%. If I recall correctly, it comes from a webtoon, and if so, it would be the first good work to come from that format. I like how Clevatess is immensely powerful but stays restrained because he alreadyhas a goal, and it’s not about using his strength to achieve it; instead, he wants to accomplish it within the parameters of those he aims to govern through Luna. Alicia is a very well-crafted character, and the fact that her goal isn’t revenge removes that cliché that many animes tend to have.

I just finished watching season 1, and truly, t's been a while since old-school dark fantasy fans have gotten fare this good. Clevatess gives us good art and character design, a dark, warring world, strange mysteries, magic that's rare and not well understood, and some well-animated and truly gory fights. (Warning before you watch: There's some impressive gore, as well as adult themes and depicted abuse. If that's not your thing ...) But what stands out for me the most are our main characters. Alicia, Clevatess/Klen, Nellaru all are great characters, with their own motivations and failings, and what's more, they're all very likeable. The show evengives the baby, Luna, reactions to the goings-on and (literal, baby milestones) development.

It's fun that Alicia can be driven, kind, and clever, and also be absolutely sword-obsessed. It's great that Klen has an understated (sometimes overt) menace that nonetheless gives you the impression that he kind of wants Alicia and Luna to prove him wrong, and he's actually kind to Nellaru. Even Nellaru, whose character arc is gentle like her, gets room to grow.

Plus, the forces driving everyone aren't just "find that McGuffin" or "I want to be the strongest." There's a lot going on in this world at large, between our main characters, and within them. If you're the kind of person who likes both action and characters with some depth, give it a try!

What an absolute banger of an anime. I loved the mystery. A cohesive story that's simultaneously full of mystery and things you're yet to understand always makes for some of the best anime. I find many anime have trouble with said cohesion, and make it too complicated to follow, or too far-fetched, with plot holes. This does not, though; this does everything perfectly and looks to be set up for amazing foreseeable seasons to come, I absolutely cannot wait for more. Every ep felt like it has more lore to share ....clevatees is terrific, I felt sad for the Nelluru during the backstory ...AndI love Alicia cz she's a perfect example of how to make a really likeable, strong female MC that isn't an insufferable girl boss without implying wokke shiytt . Hollywood and some other anime studios should take notes.

it deserves a solid 10/10

TLDR: Incredibly well done world/story building. Very good fantasy/adventure anime. Great character exploration. Full Review (No spoilers): This is a unique anime, the world-building and story-building is done incredibly well despite overall being one of the more "generic" fantasy settings. The environment itself is written well enough for a level of immersion. The show manages to keep itself well paced and provide a great environment. This anime focuses on the main character Alicia and her story; however some of the side characters are given some attention as well. I am watching this one live so I cannot give a complete review. But so far it seems to beone of my favorites of 2025. I'm not familiar with the manga and the season is still being streamed live so I cannot realistically tell whether follow-up seasons are a possibility but regardless I think this one is worth checking out.

When the season finishes if my review is drastically different I will update this review, otherwise I do recommend checking this out.

“Clevatess” is what happens when an interesting idea is paired with absolute garbage world building and idiot characters… so yeah… nothing really new. I’m not gonna sugar coat it. If You have experience in writing or You watched a lot of anime, You can predict a good 80% of what will happen in this show from episode 1. Plus, if You have the former You will be absolutely disgusted with the amount of bullshit that is presented in the plot. It is a shame because the story has a lot of potential. The problem is that the logic behind the catalyst of the story is totalgarbage (yes I am bitter and insult this show’s writing because I truly believe that given proper care and a skilled writer it could have been one of the greats).

Before we start I would like to explain something. I will be talking about “plot” and “story”. Many people use those terms interchangeably. I’m not one of those people, so to make sure everyone is on the same page…

I use the definitions for “plot” and “story” as Lisa Cron describes them:

“What happens in the story is the PLOT, the surface events.”

“STORY is about how the things that happen affect someone in pursuit of a difficult goal, and how that person changes internally as a result”.

Ever heard the expression “Less is more”? The writer didn’t. Especially when it comes to exposition dumps given in the most nonsensical way possible. I consider myself someone who can suspend his disbelief pretty well but even I have limits. This show tested them a lot. The way the viewer, yes, the viewer, those dumps are useless to the characters, they are purely for the viewers sake. There is nothing organic in 90% of them. The info given in them could be given in a more organic and logical way but that would require more writing skills that the writer of this show has.

It’s not only the problem with info-dumps given by other characters, it’s the same with info-dumping scenes of other characters in other places. It’s like the writer wants to put us in a position of an all knowing entity. As a rule it’s not a bad idea but You need a very specific plot and POV characters to make good use of it. For starters it works best if we have two MCs on different sides of a conflict and we witness their inevitable crash. Like two trains on the same track heading for each other. The important thing is to know a lot about both. Their motivations, morality, skills, friends and how they act in different situations. That builds suspense and drama. This show just shows us some characters and that’s it. I couldn’t give a rat's ass about a warmonger with a murder boner if that’s all I get. He’s just a glorified villain of the week at the end of the day. Even if You show me how they kill each other that means nothing given as none of them is the MC. It’s just watching worthless mobs having a squabble. There is no real sense of build up or power since we don’t get a proper contrast to the MCs powers. Everything they do could have been just another info dump in some town by the means of an overheard conversation. But someone decided to waste time by showing meaningless scenes. Usually I’m all for “Show don’t tell” but those scenes have to mean something to the story. What we are given in this show is mostly background noise. They don’t do anything worthwhile until they encounter the MCs anyway. Needless to say that the pacing of the whole show suffers for this.

Speaking of the MCs — Alicia and Clevatess. Clevatess is a nice idea when it comes to a story but absolute moron in the first episode, but a lot of characters are morons in the first episode, Alicia included, so I won’t hold that against him too much. That said, it is stated by Clevatess himself that he hasn’t seen a humanoid creature in about a thousand years. He is curious about why they would come and attack him and… does jack shit to find out. The mofo can resurrect them, ask them questions, thanks to his power they can’t lie to him, he could have answers to a lot of things in less than an hour probably. But that would be too logical, instead he just goes on a rampage in a city and learns jack shit. Yeah… and he has the gall to call others idiots. On top of that, he states that he gives zero effs about humanoid races and yet he stops to listen to a dying humanoid and even takes one of them into his care because of that. Now, if the show would position Clevatess as someone who is bored out of his mind and is longing for stimulation I would probably accept that. It wouldn’t be the best motivation to adopt a kid but it would be far better then the shit we get. It is painfully clear that the writer had no idea how to make a powerful, almost omnipotent, creature to adopt a child whose lifespan is too low to even matter to him, so he did… whatever You call this garbage. As it stands there is no real logical reason for him to take the kid. He only did it because the plot demanded it.

Another problem with him is his story. His story is supposed to be about a powerful monster learning about humanoid races. There is very, very little of that in all 12 episodes. After his encounter with the slavers that part of the story I abandoned. I do like the fact that his first official learning encounter is with characters that are villainous. I was afraid that we would get the repeat of “To Your Eternity” bullshit that everyone who takes on a role of the teacher will be a good, almost pure person. I seriously dreaded that. That said, Clevatess has barely any meaningful interactions with the child (he named Luna). Apart from keeping it relatively safe he does jack shit. Despite the lack of interactions and any sign of connection the show wants me to believe that he cares enough for the child to change his mind about abandoning everything and going back home. Eff. Off. Just how bad the writers are? The only interactions Clevatess had with the kid was carrying him, once using beetles to clean him and… that’s it. Everything else is connected to Alicia or the wet nurse they recruit. He doesn’t play with it, doesn’t observe it during the interactions with his servants. Nothing. And I am to believe that he gives a damn enough to have an emotional scene in the last episode? Just go fuck yourself You skill-less hack.

Now for the worst part of him as a character. In the very first episode we see him as a powerhouse that is able to kill 13 people that are positioned as elite. Yet, after he changes his form into a humanoid, he becomes almost powerless and useless. He gets knocked out by one hit in the head and thrown like a rag doll by a creature far below him. The excuse? He isn’t used to his new form and it’s too light. He even allows negative things to happen to him and his companion because… he’s just an observer? He wants to learn about humanoid races and keep the child safe… while acting like a slave. Yeah… great plan. The worst part? He has plot armor so strong that star wars characters could get jealous. Despite being a slave he’s never treated as badly as others. He’s just there and everyone just treats him almost decently. Apart from the knocking out part at the very start we don’t see him really mistreated. It’s like the writer knew what he did was moronic so he’s just minimizing the losses at this point.

Alicia is a bit better as a character in both story and plot. Not by much I take what I can get at this point. Despite the fact that I think she has a better story and plot point, I still think that her character idea is trash. Let me explain.

She starts out pretty solid but the more I knew about her, the more I wanted her dead permanently. She's a hero who died trying to slay Clevatess… because she was told to do it by someone. From what is shown and told about the world Clevatess and other Lords of Dark Beasts have their own territory and mostly stick to it. We don’t get any sort of evidence that they are trying to kill everyone, conquer new territories, they just chill on their assess. The only reason the heroes are dispatched to kill them is that the humanoid races want more territory. Not very heroic behavior. Still, very human so I’m not mad about it. At least it’s set in stone that the title of “hero” is more political than anything else (until we get a really shitty reveal later on). Yet, despite that, she really thinks she is doing something heroic and morally good. I liked that. It did give me hope that maybe humanoid races are indoctrinated to view themselves as superior to other creatures. But at the end of the day all heroes die. Including Alicia. She only gets resurrected because Clevatess wanted to feed the kid. Why she is alive when it’s revealed that she is useless for that is beyond me. She’s positioned as a guide to the humanoid recess realm but… she does jack shit in that regard. Her whole worth is relegated to an info dump for Clevatess and the viewer. In the case of Clevatess he could just force her to reveal her knowledge and get rid of her. So yeah… another plot armor bullshit and a testament to the writer's ineptness. Also why is she lacking an eye? She lost the leg in the fight (more like a one sided slaughter) against

Clevatess. Yet she is resurrected with the leg. Clevatess took her body, fetched her leg and only then resurrected her. Why not her eye? He couldn’t regenerate the eye? No problem, there are 12 more corpses in close vicinity, so why didn’t he take one of theirs? If her function was supposed to be feeding the child then having both legs wasn’t necessary. Her whole existence is just plot driven and not story driven.

Despite that she is the only character that shows actual growth. Granted it’s a bit rushed but it’s still there so… small wins. Personally I would have given her a bigger arc about existential crisis. She’s just a walking corpse right now. Her very existence is dependent on Clevatess whims. This should give her some thought about the meaning of life, life itself, soul and all that good stuff for a thinking person. But she gets almost none of that. She does have a career crisis. Questioning her role as a hero but that is resolved with a quick talk with her master. Wasted potential. I also enjoyed when the show highlighted her hypocrisy. There is a moment where she tells Clevatess that he should kill all the slavers to achieve his goal. The hero tells a monster to kill humanoids. Humanoids that are clearly evil, some of them comically evil. But the moment she is told to do it, she is shocked and is trying to avoid that order. So there is no problem telling others to kill but then she has to, it's a no go? Now, if the writer gave more thought about that internal conflict it could have been a mini arc itself, but because there are no competent writers in the room it’s just waved off and she kills everyone, turning her into another anime protagonist that says one thing and does another. Something I will always have a problem unless it’s clearly done to make that character unreliable, but not many writers do this. Is there some sort of rule to make anime heroes hypocrites?

So let’s talk about the world. Oh boy… It hurts. For starters, the king sends 13 people to kill the Lord of the Dark Beast. 13. Even equipped with special weapons sending 13 people to kill a creature that hasn’t been defeated in at least a thousand years? Yeah… good plan. Later it is revealed that it was a set up but it’s never revealed what was it’s end game. Honestly that feels like a cheap retcon. Despite not expecting the heroes to win, the ruler did nothing to prepare for the beast counter attack. Why? Heroes are one thing, but if Clevatess was more ruthless he would destroy what controlled the king. It’s just so stupid. But, because the plot is more important than story and logic everything turns out the right way to make the last two episodes possible.

Another thing is the king's death itself. A king of a whole nation kicked the bucket but nothing seems to come of it. No one takes his place in a way that would feel meaningful. Even people at a random inn don’t talk about it so it leads me to believe that the whole “king’s death” stick was only for shock value. Pretty cheap. There should be someone who takes command, reorganizes military forces in that region and prepares for potential war. You could make an argument that some of those things take place but it feels more like that it takes place because the show needs background noise and not because it’s a logical conclusion of the events. None even sends any sort of spies to Clevatess domain to make sure he doesn’t plan to go on another rampage. Yes, the spy would probably die but that’s why You use a whole net of spies and not just one. It’s said that magic works on Dark Beast senses, there probably is someone who can use it to spy undetected (at least while keeping distance) on a Dark Beast Lord (since magic worked on Clevatess in his human form, there is no reason to think he would be 100% immune to it in his beast form).

The world as whole feels more like just a backdrop than a proper, living, breathing thing.

Now the main story should be Clevatess learning about humanoids but there is very little of that. In most cases he isn’t present for things that would be perfect as a learning experience. I get that the writers might not want to have him fight others, he would just obliterate everyone. It’s a good idea to have him on the sidelines but he should still get something out of it. When a dude commanding bugs attacked a town, have Clevatess standing somewhere in the shadows and observe how people react. What are their priorities during a crisis, let him see how they treat an ex-hero. He was supposed to learn about humanoids but after the slavers arc, he doesn’t even get a chance for that because the plot sends him on some sort of boring side quest and forgets that he should be more of an observer than an actor. Despite positioning itself in the beginning as more ideology and morality based plot, the longer the show goes on, the more it relies on its fights to push the plot. And because Clevatess and Alicia are almost immortal and one of them omnipotent there are no real stakes. He can protect anyone he deems worthy. The fact that he doesn’t deem many worthy of that is a good idea but he doesn’t learn anything. He should have at least a little bit of a different approach to humanoids in the end of the series. Maybe not even humanoids as a whole, maybe just to his servants. Anything that would make me believe that those 12 episodes were worth something for the characters.

After all that, one might think that I hate this anime. Not at all. The writing is more miss than hit but has some really good ideas and at least tries to use story to push things forward. Not very successfully unfortunately, but after the shit I’ve seen in the last 5 years it’s at least something. Despite amateurish writing, the execution of it isn’t a total waste of time, there is production value here, I do think it’s wasted on writing this poorly but it’s enough to be entertaining and I totally understand why someone would like this show.

It’s a wasted potential but not a total travesty.

Clevatess has been touted as one of the best anime in Summer 2025, yet I cannot help but feel it's meh and overrated. § Overview Humanity has long dreamt of knowing what's beyond the territories controlled by the Lords of Dark Beats, chief of whom is the titular Clevatess. An expedition of 13 heroes, including Alicia Glenfall, tried to subdue Clevatess but failed. In retaliation, Clevatess vowed to destroy humanity. In the ensuing chaos, a woman pleaded for Clevatess to spare a certain baby. For some reason, Clevatess decides to spare him and decides from there, wants to understand humans, whether there is something in them thatis redeemable, so that he will no longer destroy humanity.

To help him in this task, he resurrects Alicia Glenfall, who now serves as his servant.

§ Studio and Staff

⚫ Its studio is Lay-duce. It's over a decade old, and most of their works are obscure, except for Magi: The Adventure of Sinbad TV, which I haven't seen.

⚫ The director is Taguchi Kiyotaka, who also worked as its sound director. This is his directorial debut, and Clevatess is actually his third entry in MAL. He worked as an episode director for Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 and in special effects for the first season of Panty & Stocking. It is interesting that he didn't seem to be involved in the anime industry, at least judging from the lack of MAL entries, from 2011 to 2024. As the director of Clevatess, the anime is not bad; some even believe it to be a masterpiece.

⚫ There are three chief animation directors here, along with dozens of animation directors. It's understandable as it requires more sakuga moments than the average anime.

§ Let's talk about other stuff

1. Clevatess is evil, and the direction of this anime is that he would show mercy to humans. How his heart softens is, I reckon, one of its appeals. As someone I know said, it's like being on the side of the antagonist of The Lord of the Rings.

2. Clevatess may or may not be relatable, but Alicia definitely is. She has some sense of being a complex character, and her motivation for originally attempting to kill Clevatess will be revealed in the latter part of the season.

One way to view her is that she is the conscience of Clevatess, the person who reminds Clevatess of why he gave humanity the chance in the first place.

3. Speaking of which, do you remember the story of Lot in the Bible? He is Abraham's nephew, and he lives in the lands of Sodom and Gomorrah. When the angel of the LORD is about to visit these degenerate lands, Abraham pleaded that these be spared if ever he finds a few righteous men there. You know what actually happened in the biblical story.

I can sense some parallelism here. If not for the baby and Alicia, Clevatess would have destroyed humanity, if not for them.

4. Speaking of which, the show does not have a flattering view of humanity. Sure, there are humans like Alicia, Nelluru, Rhode, among others, who are good. Yet, with how most humans are portrayed — evil, merciless, petty — one cannot help but feel that humans deserve to die. If you're a Christian, it is easy to attribute this to the fallen nature of man. But if you believe in natural selection, selfishness and being evil, being out of our uncivilised nature, is just our natural propensity that would lead to survival and replication. Regardless of the explanation, the conclusion is that man is below beasts. Clevatess and other beasts are too damn powerful in this story. Not only are they more powerful, but by implication, it seems that they are even more moral than man here.

This is an aspect that part of me is not comfortable with. I believe civilised man is and ought to be above beasts.

5. Let's move away from this implication. The story ticks many of the things you would like from fantasy. There is some lore behind this story, and more will be revealed in a hypothetical second season.

That said, I can't help but feel that something is missing. Sometimes it feels dull and uninspiring. Part of it is perhaps that Alicia is not a fully autonomous being. She lives under the whims and mercy of Clevatess. That, on my part, is why I couldn't be that invested in her, even if she is a decent or even a great heroine.

6. If there's going to be a second season, I might watch it, but I won't be pissed off if we only get this first season.

§ Conclusion

Clevatess is decent, but it's overrated as to how good it is. It feels dull, yet at the same time, it's better than the usual fantasy anime. I have my reservations because the first half isn't as compelling. It starts to be promising in the latter part of the season, but it seems that it's only the beginning of either something great or just some dullness.

NOTA BENE: A grade of 6 out of 10 means that I find this anime slightly above average, and I enjoyed watching it.

A 6 means a decent score and one notch above average. If you're the kind of viewer who treats anything below a 7 as irredeemable, I'd encourage a broader, more nuanced approach to rating.

My enjoyment spectrum lies from 4 to 10. If I have scored an anime below 4, I actively dislike it.