Clevatess – Episode 1

Content Warning: Onscreen death, gore

What’s it about? For as long as she can remember, Alicia has wanted to be a brave, courageous hero; thankfully, she is chosen as one of thirteen to go on a quest. Wielding legendary weaponry fit to tear the sky apart, she and her band of heroes set out to defeat Clevatess, Lord of the Magical Beasts. However, things aren’t quite as they seem and instead of defeating Clevatess, they may need to work with her.

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So, I’ve been really into Dungeon Crawler Carl lately. It scratches a specific itch I have, which is fantasy that goes down as easy as a bucket of popcorn at a movie. It’s the snack food of books and, some out-of-their-era jokes aside, is actually really good reading that feels fun and got me out of my reading slump.

Perhaps that’s what driven me to randomly select Clevatess: it had that fantasy vibe that I’ve been hungering for, all heroes on quests with a twist, unwitting or otherwise. Question is, will this show cleave-atess my dreams, or will my pun be the only bad part of this review?

Our premiere introduces Alicia, a blonde haired, bright (blue) eyed child who dreams of joining the ranks of the heroes of yore. In a world that feels isolated, she dreams of finding out what exists in the dangerous dark eastern realms first out of childhood curiosity and, eventually, a duty to her homeland. Fed on a diet of legends and stories, it only makes sense that Alicia would want to run headlong into her dreams.

Flash-forward to the future and Alicia is on her way to making her world bigger through exploring the darkest realms as a knighted hero. Aboard a carriage, she looks to face down one of the dark realm’s greatest foes: the magical beast lord Clevatess, who quickly makes mincemeat of her comrades-in-bequeathed-arms. One by one, her comrades fall, red-bladed weapons failing them in their hour of need. Then, even with her skill, even with her awareness of how to be a hero, Alicia fails too, breathing her last breath as the world falls apart around her.

Or…does she?

Gonna be real: the dub carried this show for me, but also, let’s be real, the show carried itself. It’s well done, with fantastic acting and action alike that makes this feel less like yet another manga adaptation (though it is) and more like a TTRPG adaptation. While characteristically dark in both color palette and tone, I actually found myself enjoying this premiere more than expected—even if I could kind of predict what would happen once Alicia got a real taste of going up against the dark forces of the world beyond her borders.

Still, even that predictability didn’t necessarily sour things, though I’ll simultaneously admit that the overall package is just pretty okay. I’m invested, but not sold—at least not yet. I’m fascinated enough by the king of this realm being a beast-like man instead of your typical human ruler over demibeasts, and I find it interesting that heroes are a fairly routine thing the king sends out against the dark forces standing in the realm’s way. I like Clevatess as a concept as well: he’s a towering monster that goes on a very calculated study in slaughter against Alicia and her people. But like I said, I’m invested–deeply so–but not sold. I think the tone isn’t right yet for me. There’s too much back and forth between just how serious this story is going to be and how comedic it’s going to lean. But I want to be sold on this series, and I think that counts for a lot.

Something to also note is that this is a double-length premiere, something I rarely think is warranted. However, Clevatess’s forty-five minute runtime does give viewers a chance to really sink their teeth into the foundational rules of this world, and honestly, it does pay off by giving you enough of the story to actually maintain your attention as a viewer. I won’t necessarily say there’s shocking twists, but I do think when the larger aspect of the plot kicks in there’s enough meat on the bone for you to gnaw on and potentially stick with.

This first episode is something of a testament to the challenge of balancing dark fantasy with comedy, which is something I didn’t expect to see during my watch. I try my best to go in with as little information I can to give a genuine first reaction, and here, I think that paid off. 

While the worldbuilding mirrors a lot of fantasy, I found Clevatess’s shift from generic humans to multiple ethnic races that have unique traits and feel more drawn from D&D set this premiere apart from the usual overwhelming waves of middling dark fantasy and generic isekai series we get each season. In a world where isekai adaptation after adaptation seems to be coming from dang near all studios, it’s nice to have an adaptation that’s looks like an isekai but ultimately is a dark fantasy set in its own world, without any unnecessary longing for Japan and our world’s rules. Instead, this series seems to be carving its own path to being a hero as well as its own way of doing things, including when it comes to the dissonance between demon and human.

In an ocean of fantasy series, Clevatess may have what it takes to be a bit more fascinating, especially in a season jam packed with premieres and sequels. I ultimately really liked my time with Clevatess, and while I’m not necessarily sure I’ll continue watching weekly over in batches of episodes, I’ll definitely be sure to chime in in a few weeks when we look towards the autumnal anime season.