Fantasy anime these days needs hooks for readers to sink their appetites into. Sometimes this is literal, as in the case of Delicious in Dungeon (complete with NSFW parodies from JList). In the case of Clevatess, airing this season, I offer three hooks. Survival and hunger in a dark world. The appeal of horned monsters. And finally, characters that are hungry for knowledge.
Each of these “hungers” has more potential than you might guess. Let’s dive into Clevatess.
Clevatess, King of the Monsters
Demon, dark beast, monster, Clevatess (the creature) is all these things. He’s also intelligent and wickedly dangerous, so when our heroic protagonist Alicia heads off to kill him, it’s easy to understand why. The dark beasts of Alicia’s world keep humanity penned in, restricted to roughly one continent of land, while the demonic creatures roam and rule the rest of the world. Nobody knows how much more world there is.
We’re told humans don’t stand a chance against dark beasts, but there is an exception. Magical weapons forged by one of the kingdoms have the strength to harm Clevatess’ kin. Alicia, as one of thirteen heroes, takes her magic sword and seeks out Clevatess… and is killed.
Understandably irked by upstart little nothings (humans) trying to kill him, Clevatess heads out to find the kingdom that sent its heroes and, without really trying, wipes it out. A desperate soul buried in rubble begs the demonic king to save a baby as Clevatess passes by. Realizing he’s become ignorant of humans, Clevatess decides that raising one will give him a chance to learn, so he takes the infant. Except he has zero knowledge about child rearing, and can’t even feed baby Luna. What’s a monster to do? He resurrects Alicia, the only woman among the heroes he killed, and orders her to bare her breasts. He doesn’t understand that women can’t lactate on command.
Hungry for Survival
Luna’s hunger kickstarts the plot. Although he’s pretty alien, Clevatess decides to take on human form, take Alicia (no, not like that), and take Luna out into the human world to get a wet nurse. In his human guise of Clen, it’s revealed that Clevatess doesn’t seem as powerful as he was as a dark beast. He’s vulnerable to meager bandits. Why is he vulnerable now? We’ll find out. But what I want to see is how he’ll react to this weakness. If he has to give up his plans to learn about humans to live, will he reveal himself and slaughter again?
Horny Monster Design
Clevatess is a literal horned, fox-ish, tentacle-equipped, shadow monster. I don’t think Yuji Iwahara could have made a more potentially fetish-ready monster character if he tried. Broody shadow-magic protagonists have made a name for themselves in romantasy recently. Coincidence? You decide.
His design is imposing and reveals hints of other story elements. For instance, a pattern lights up around Clevatess’ eye when he forces Alicia to do his bidding. In the first episode, that’s one of the only signs of magic, which is otherwise not too flashy. Is control the only ability he has, or could he see through Alicia’s eyes, or possess her? It’s also interesting how he transforms from a large, dark beast into a smallish young man, but retains his horn. Is the horn the source of his magic? I think Clevatess’ design is meant to provide hints of lore that will be revealed later. Will we get answers once we meet other dark beast kings?
Curiosity Is a Kind of Hunger
Alicia’s motivation for becoming a hero was to expand the human world. As a little girl, she listened to her father tell stories about the unknown parts of the world and the heroes who would free humans from being penned in. To an extent, the land restriction reminded me of Attack on Titan, but the human kingdoms are a lot more open, and the dark beasts only seem to attack around the very edges of the land, so the threat is superficial. What matters is Alicia’s curiosity, which drove her to her death.
Meanwhile, Clevatess wants to know more about humans. When he figures out Luna is an heir to the kingdom he destroyed, he starts sketching out a plan to raise a useful king. That’s how he’ll learn about humans and exert control as well.
Only it’s not royalty that represents regular people, is it? Alicia’s common birth and hard work to become a hero are far more representative of humanity. The bandits who beat Clevatess over the head and abduct him are also more representative of common people. I think it’s only a matter of time before Clevatess realizes that Alicia is who he should learn from. Similarly, before Alicia realizes that to discover what lies beyond the human realms, she needs Clevatess. Alicia is a headstrong and confident woman, and Clevatess is a rude and oppressive tyrant, so I can’t wait to see what kind of fight they get into over the knowledge they both crave.
Hooked on Clevatess
Clevatess is a character-driven anime, starring three powerful personalities, and that’s true even though one of them is a baby. Want to see three misfits make their way through a dangerous world? Clevatess is for you.
Thanks for joining us for our exploration of the initial hooks of Clevatess. If you were intrigued by some other aspect of this anime — like the world-building — let us know in the comments.
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