Kentaro Miura’s Berserk (which is currently being continued by Kouji Mori following Miura’s untimely passing) is often hailed as the greatest manga of all time. The 1997 anime has a strong fan base, but many agree that no anime has come close to adapting the brutal fantasy world that Guts inhabits. Berserk fans are constantly on the search for the next best thing: a dark fantasy series that doesn’t hold back on the blood and gore, while telling a character-driven story about humanity. Well, we’re happy to announce that the search is finally over, because Crunchyroll recently dropped the perfect successor to Berserk.
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What makes Berserk, Berserk? Is it the gorgeous artwork? The character-driven story about revenge and humanity? The terrifying monster designs? Or the dark fantasy world? Maybe it’s all of the above and more. Finding a new series that contains all of the aforementioned elements has been a touch challenge for fans, but Clevatess, Crunchyroll’s new dark fantasy anime, is exactly what we’ve been looking for.
Berserk Fans Need to Watch This Brutal Fantasy Anime
Beneath the major shonen and seinen releases, and the new Demon Slayer movie, the Summer 2025 anime season contained a dark horse of a fantasy anime that is being seriously slept on by fans of the genre. Based on the manga by Yuji Iwahara, Clevatess wastes no time in dialing the gore and brutality to 11.
Unlike most fantasy anime, which use the isekai trope to expand upon the worldbuilding, Clevatess is a pure fantasy story, set in a world divided into five kingdoms, which are all surrounded by unknown lands ruled by four deadly beasts. When Alicia and her party venture south to destroy one of the monsters and claim the land for humanoids, they are quickly wiped out, causing the monster (the eponymous Clevatess) to discover why humans are so hell-bent on killing it.
Clevatess Is an Introspective Dark Fantasy Anime
Underneath the brutality of Kentaro Miura’s Berserk is Guts’ search for inner strength and meaning. That character-driven story is also the focus of Clevatess. The core story focuses on the titular beast pretending to be human and trying to raise a baby. When the baby grows into an adult, it will use it to judge whether humanity should be kept alive or destroyed completely.
It might be a bit cliché to say that the series explores what it means to be human. But, by telling to story from the perspective of Clevatess, the series literally explores that theme. If that wasn’t enough to sell you on the series, the opening episode kicks off with a brutal and bloody fight that uses beautiful animation to showcase Clevatess’ powers.
Seven episodes of Clevatess are currently streaming on Crunchyroll. New episodes will be released weekly.
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Image courtesy of Netflix
