FIF#261-Clevatees

The Four Beast Kings: Monsters of unfathomable power, borderline invincible foes.  Alicia Glenfall learned this the hard way when she fell in battle along with other brave souls at the hands of Clevatees.  Alicia did not expect to be resurrected to assist the Demon with an unexpected task: raising a baby named Luna.  Neither know of the childs true destiny and where the path of this experiment in human understanding leads, even Clevatees himself does not know.

 
I’ve never been one for Dark Fantasy.  Between growing up hearing just how nightmare inducing the final of the original Berserk was to how unsettling the first episode of Goblin Slayer surprised everyone, I’m cool with letting others enjoy them, even if they are beloved tales (a la Berserk).  I’m not sure what about Clevatees gravitated me to it but go figure, it might have something to offer thanks to the titular beast himself. 
 
Yeah probably the one thing that kept me intrigued in this 45 minute intro episode was just listening to Clevatees pontificate.  He’s a ruthless creature but sounds very intelligent and dare I say cultured?  I don’t know something about a being this scary and this powerful sounding like he does, it’s like you could sit down and chat with him despite the danger surrounding him.  It’s also rare that Clevatees’ tone never rises above a normal tone.  Even when he’s decimating entire armies single handidly, there’s a calm fury about him that’s even scarier than him ripping Alicia’s comrades to pieces Berserk style.  Factor in the hilarity of Clevatees trying to tend to little Luna and not knowing the first thing about raising a baby, and you’ve got one of the most fascinating lead characters in an Anime in recent years.
 
I’m not sure how I feel about the humor injected into the back half of the premiere.  Most of this comes from the resurrected Alicia, stictched together like she’s the Bride of Frankenstien from Creature Commandos (but a bit more intact and not comprised of parts from various humans, you get the idea).  Her trying to wrap her head around Clevatees’ sudden wish to partake in this little extended experiment would make anyones head explode but it’s still played mostly for laughs.  IDK feel like there’s a bit of tonal whiplash after watching an entire kingdom get slaughtered by an unstoppable Kaiju demon dog.  Not that I don’t think humor could make its way into a show like this but maybe make it gradual as Klen, Alicia and Luna begin their journey.
 
Not sure why the Clevatees premiere had to be 45 minutes instead of just two episodes but overall, it was a decent opening to a Dark Fantasy Anime that could feed the hunger of those still waiting for that proper Berserk Anime continuation.  Will I stick with this one?  Eh, maybe for another episode or two.  Ngl, once Clevatees becomes Klen he looses me a little cause he sounds so much cooler in his normal form.  Kind of a nitpick I know.  Who knows, maybe he’ll have to go full Kaiju to lay down the law and protect Luna.  Wait…is this just a darker version of The Mandalorian?