10 best anime to watch if you like Clevatess

Clevatess took anime fans by storm when it premiered in 2025, crafting a dark medieval fantasy world plagued by destructive Dark Beast Lords, yet anchoring the violence and trauma with the unlikely paternal bond formed between the fearsome Clevatess and the human baby Luna.

This emotional core helped set Clevatess apart from other mature, gory anime.If you were captivated by Clevatess’ contrast between brutality and gentleness, its themes of redemption and identity, and its war-torn world filled with monsters yet lit with glimmers of hope, other anime titles explore similar elements.

We’ve compiled 10 of the best anime series to watch next if you were a fan of Clevatess and its genre-defining blend.

10 must-watch anime for fans of Clevatess

1) Berserk

Berserk unfolds in a brutal medieval realm ravaged by war and demons born of sacrificial pacts and human depravity. After his comrade Griffith betrays their mercenary group to become the demonic Femto, the warrior Guts seeks revenge while protecting his traumatized lover, Casca.

Now cursed with the Brand of Sacrifice that attracts malefic spirits and apostles at any hour—though nights are the most dangerous—Guts relentlessly battles apostles, evil spirits, and horrors spawned from human darkness armed with his massive Dragonslayer sword.

But underneath his death-dealing exterior, Guts struggles inwardly with trauma and questions of morality, striving to retain his humanity and keep Casca safe. Like Clevatess, Berserk is grim and gory, yet its heart is Guts’ fight to stay human while protecting the broken Casca.

2) Goblin Slayer

In the dark medieval fantasy realm plagued by goblin hordes, a young priestess joins her first adventuring party only to see her teammates slaughtered by sadistic goblins, until the ruthless Goblin Slayer rescues her. Moved by her trauma, Goblin Slayer lets her join him in his crusade to annihilate goblin nests.

Through their adventures, glimpses into Goblin Slayer’s buried humanity reveal a man forever changed into a living weapon by the goblin raid on his childhood village. Pitiless toward goblins, yet quietly protective toward the novice priestess, Goblin Slayer mirrors Clevatess’ ruthless yet emotionally complex Beast Lord.

Brutal goblin battles contrast with the priestess’ attempts to retain innocence and pull Goblin Slayer from his dark obsession.

3) The Rising of the Shield Hero

The Rising of the Shield Hero (Image via Kinema Citrus)

When Naofumi Iwatani joins three other heroes summoned to save a parallel fantasy realm from cataclysmic monster “Waves”, he discovers only scorn as the unwanted “Shield Hero”. Framed as a criminal, Naofumi faces the Waves alone after being ostracized and betrayed.

Armed with only a shield, he must rise as a true hero against all odds. Naofumi buys the demi-human raccoon girl Raphtalia, who fights alongside him as his sword, after initially losing all capacity to trust.

Through their emotional bond and hardships surmounted together, Naofumi slowly recovers his empathy and courage in the face of continuous waves of catastrophe, much like Clevatess’ care for Luna.

4) Claymore

In Claymore’s dark medieval world, an order of silver-eyed warrior women whose bodies are infused with Yoma tissue wield huge swords against the shape-shifting demons called “Yoma” that disguise themselves as humans while gruesomely feasting on human innards.

The plot centers on the stoic Claymore warrior Clare as she discovers unsettling truths about the nature of her kind. While feared by humans, they protect, the Claymores struggle inwardly with their own emerging demonic powers threatening to consume their humanity.

In the Claymore anime, Clare forms a bond with a young boy to retain her own dwindling humanity.

5) Somali and the Forest Spirit

Somali and the Forest Spirit (Image via Satelight)

At first glance, brighter than other entries here, it follows a guardian golem who discovers and appoints himself protector of a human girl, Somali, as they journey through a fantasy landscape dominated by non-human races and reclaimed by nature, roamed by mythical beasts.

But like the central relationship in Clevatess' anime, the emotional weight of Somali and the Forest Spirit stems from the father/daughter bond between two opposite beings forced together. Somali’s infectious optimism offers an uplifting contrast to the unforgiving world.

6) Made in Abyss

Made in Abyss chronicles a 12-year-old orphan girl named Riko living by a colossal pit—the Abyss—filled with remnants of an ancient civilization and lethal environments and creatures.

When Riko befriends Reg—an amnesiac robot boy who saved her from a monster—she decides to slip away from her orphanage and descend into the Abyss with Reg both to explore its fascinating yet deadly depths and, above all, to search for her legendary mother Lyza, believed to be waiting at the bottom.

But the Abyss contains unspeakable terrors that push Riko and Reg to the brink of death and madness. The deeper they go, the more nightmarish the threats they face. Their bond drives them onward despite trauma, mirroring Clevatess and baby Luna’s lone spark of light.

7) Castlevania

Castlevania (Image via Powerhouse Animation Studios)

This dark medieval fantasy series on Netflix adapts the classic vampire-hunting lore of the Castlevania video game franchise.

When Dracula wages genocidal war against humanity for executing his wife—falsely accused of witchcraft—for her scientific practices, monster hunter Trevor Belmont takes up the fight alongside magician Sypha and Dracula’s son Alucard.

Castlevania echoes Clevatess by pitting themes of redemption and sacrifice against those of grief, vengeance, and annihilation, brought to life through stellar production values and morally complex characters dealing with tragic trauma.

8) Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song

Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song (Image via Wit Studio)

This original sci-fi anime centers on an advanced artificial intelligence named Vivy, who was created to make people happy through her singing.

When an AI from the future named Matsumoto travels back in time to enlist Vivy’s aid in preventing an AI apocalypse 100 years hence, Vivy embarks on a century-spanning mission to alter history by intervening at key “singularity points,” steering the course of AI–human relations away from a catastrophic war.

Like Clevatess, Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song delivers an emotionally hard-hitting story focused on identity, purpose, and preserving the future instead of destroying it. Vivy’s devotion to her mission is poignantly balanced by musical sequences and skillful world-building.

9) Attack on Titan

Attack on Titan (Image via Wit Studio, MAPPA)

Attack on Titan opens on humanity’s remnants cowering behind massive walls to escape man-eating giants called Titans that appeared over a century ago to push civilization to the brink. The Colossal Titan breaches the outer gate of Shiganshina District.

Moments later, the Armored Titan crashes through the inner gate, and their monstrous kin surge inward to slaughter humans. As the Titans inexorably advance, the plot centers around three young humans—Eren, Mikasa, and Armin—who join the desperate fight to turn the tide after traumatic losses.

Attack on Titan begins as a desperate fight against seemingly unstoppable monsters, then evolves into a far-reaching tale of politics, racism, and global warfare as the truth behind the Titans is unveiled—always demanding terrible sacrifices.

10) Elfen Lied

The 2004 anime Elfen Lied revolves around mutated horned girls called Diclonii, secretly confined and experimented on by the government due to their dangerous psychic powers.

But when the cousins take in Nyuu—an amnesic, childlike split personality of the deadly Diclonius girl Lucy—a small ray of hope emerges. Elfen Lied channels Clevatess through shockingly merciless bloodshed paired with genuine empathy between monsters and humans.

Lucy’s desire for family and belonging offsets the carnage, making for a provocative exploration of human prejudices and the monsters they create.

Conclusion

Clevatess carved out a compelling niche with its signature contrast between gentleness and destruction, emotional bonds and apocalyptic doom.

Any of these 10 brilliant dark fantasy anime will appeal to Clevatess fans thanks to similar elements like unlikely father/child relationships, heavy themes of redemption and trauma, ruthless worlds filled with monsters, and glimmers of hope and sacrifice prevailing against grim odds.

So give some of these acclaimed titles a watch if you relished Clevatess. You’re bound to discover memorable characters, high-stakes adventures, dazzling animation and musical scores, and profound reflections on what it means to retain humanity in inhumane environments.