Clevatess First Impressions

Written by Ross Locksley on 14 Jul 2025

I found myself rather inundated with marketing material for Yūji Iwahara's Clevatess - clearly Crunchyroll thinks it has a winner with this new simulcast series from studio Lay-duce. 

Set in a world populated by five humanoid races, the King of Haiden sends a group of thirteen heroes armed with magical weapons to destroy the Dark Lord Clevatess. The attack is an abject failure, and in retribution Clevatess destroys the entire Haiden nation, save one royal baby who a dying woman convinces him to take and study, in a bid to prove humanity's worth. Full credit to director Kiyotaka Taguchi, he knows how to make blows land hard and sudden in his battle scenes.

Four of the fabled thirteen heroes before their battle. 

The Dark Lord reluctantly agrees to take the infant, but soon discovers he is unsuited for rearing a human, and so resurrects the single female hero he had slain in the hopes of using her breast milk to fill the infants belly. Unfortunately she's unable to do so as a virgin, and subsequently the two depart to find a wet nurse for the child.

Two episodes are currently available but I'll stick to the first as I like to judge an opening on its own merits and not start reviewing the longer narrative. The opening is deftly handled, an introduction made for all of the heroes as they chat on their way to their destined battle, with just enough revealed about each to establish a character before they're all wiped out in short order. Clearly the lone female hero Alicia gets the most backstory for a reason, and sure enough we see her again, even after the battle's end. The fight itself is very well handled, with the initial heroic charge ending abruptly as the most powerful of them falls almost instantly. From there it's a series of impressive, albeit ultimately futile, attacks on the King of Magical Beasts who takes them out with a bored expression. Though Alicia gets a hit in, it's also her last failed gambit and the battle is over in mere minutes.

Clevatess in human form with Luna decides to begin a Demon Infant Raising Project

There's an element of 90's "shock and gore" about the series, though I must say I didn't find it as impactful as, say, the original Berserk or something like Fist of the North Star - that level of gruesome body-horror seems a lost art, but Clevatess is as good a modern example as I've seen of late, the visceral nature of the show easily trumping the likes of Übel Blatt, and the outfits are less embarrassing too. 

If you read my review of Übel Blatt, you'll also know I don't care much for gore as a whole - as a rule anime characters are quite young, so seeing them get maimed makes me squeamish. Seasoned warriors going at it is one thing, people who are barely adults is another. Still, while the series has shown little mercy for heroes or civilians, the premise has enough about it that I was genuinely interested as to where it's going. The idea of a Demon King raising a baby that will surely inherent the unique ability to forge magical weapons has some merit, and the larger issue of the world map being restricted by the Demon Beasts surrounding it also offers intrigue - are they keeping humanity penned in for good or ill? What lies beyond the edges of the map is anyone's guess, but I'm eager to find out.

The Demon King Clevatess in his true form

The episodes ends with Clevatess taking Haiden form, which proves costly as he is abducted, along with Alicia and the baby they name Luna, into custody. This raises further questions about just how vulnerable the Demon Beast is as a human, while Alicia is similarly confused about how she can be knocked out when she's basically a zombie. Therefore the opening episode is successful in both explaining the world at large and creating a hook to get you watching the next episode, which I'll certainly be doing once I finish this article.

My hopes are high that the bloody nature of the show will be accompanied by some fresh ideas and intelligent writing, but only time will tell there. Kowloon Generic Romance had a terrific opening hook but sadly fizzled out by its ending - hopefully Clevatess will show it has more to it than fangs and blood.

Clevatess is simulcast dubbed and subbed on Crunchyroll.