Review: Clevatess “Memories of a Friend”
Overview
Ray challenges Klen and questions where he got his face…
Our Take
Picking up from the previous episode, Clevatess delivers one of its strongest episodes yet, balancing several emotional character moments with some impressive action. Naie once again proves how much she has grown, putting herself in danger to protect Mary and showcasing some creative uses of her magic. Mary’s backstory adds more context to her character, while the episode also introduces a surprisingly emotional connection between Ray and Shiro, the identity of the person Klen is technically wearing the face of to blend in with humanity. Their established friendship and history give Ray’s anger toward Klen much more weight, especially as he struggles with the revelation that the person responsible for his friend’s death is walking around in Shiro’s former body.
The episode’s standout, however, is the confrontation between Ray and Klen. Ray’s lightning-based abilities make for some fantastic action, and the animation goes all-out during their battle, easily making this some of the best-looking material the series has produced so far. At the same time, Klen’s increasingly imposing presence reminds us that there is far more to his identity than initially meets the eye. The episode also does a good job keeping its characters morally complicated rather than reducing anyone to a straightforward villain, while Vordin’s machinations add another layer to the conflict.
Overall, this was easily one of the season’s strongest episodes, combining emotional backstories, character development, and spectacular animation without losing sight of the larger mystery. The revelations surrounding Klen and Shiro add an entirely new perspective to the story, while the episode’s final twist leaves the situation more uncertain than ever. With the balance of power shifting and several characters now being pulled toward the same conflict, Clevatess is clearly setting the stage for something much bigger, and I’m more than ready to see where it goes next.
