Clevatess II Interview With Katie Wetch and Morgan Berry

By Justin D Williams

Clevatess is entering a new chapter, and with Season 2 shifting Alicia and Klen into an academy environment, the change of scenery gives both characters new challenges that go beyond surviving another battle. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Katie Wetch, the voice of Alicia, and Morgan Berry, the voice of Klen, about how the academy changes their characters, Alicia's evolving definition of heroism, Klen's growing understanding of humanity, the complicated relationship forming between the two, and what goes into recording the anime's physically demanding action sequences. We also settled one very important question: If Alicia and Klen were simply regular students at the academy, which one would actually be better at school? This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Imaginative Visions: Season 2 completely changes the environment for Alicia and Klen by putting them into the new academy. How did the new setting change the way you approach their dynamic compared with Season 1, where it was more of a journey?

Morgan Berry: Klen is forced to talk to more people, probably more than he wants to, but it is helping him learn more about humanoid society and about a race of beings who aren't like him. He is this all-powerful beast who now has to navigate more of those interactions, and I feel like he will continue to grow, maybe even faster, in that character development. He's learning more about other people and possibly growing in empathy. And who knows? We might see some more really cool tricks from him because he's got some cool powers, and there always seem to be new abilities popping up that pique my interest.

Katie Wetch: I feel like we get to see more of Alicia's personality bloom a little bit, and that's really exciting. I think we know her as tough, strong, battle-ready and a warrior, but I love that we get to see her be a little more cheeky and a little more joyful. We've seen the back-and-forth with Klen and Alicia, but now we get to see her hold her own in more social situations, and that's probably not something she's adjusted to either. It might be nervous and exciting for her because there are so many new human aspects that she gets to experience, which I think makes it very exciting.

Imaginative Visions: Speaking of that humanity aspect, that's something I loved about the first season. Alicia went from being this warrior whose arc was heavily connected to her father, but now it feels like she's really coming into what it means to be a hero. Is that transition something you've been able to play with and explore more?

Katie Wetch: I love that you mentioned that before she was kind of doing this for her father, and now this has become her dream. I think that's really cool because before, she was essentially saying, "This is what a hero is, and I'm going to fit into this box. I'm going to do it for my dad." Then the thing that was supposed to be the completion of that box shattered it, so she got to put it back together. Now we see this whole new perspective of her learning what it is to be her own sort of hero. Like we've mentioned before, there's strength in who you are, and that's something she's learning throughout this. Once again, it's this relationship with the person she least expected that's showing her that. I think a lot of things can be found in unexpected places, and this show very much embodies that in the best way. There is a lot of room to play with her idea of a hero, what that means and how that influences her, which is awesome.

Imaginative Visions: Morgan, you're playing a character who doesn't really have a sense of humanity, especially when we first meet him. How did you approach Klen, who can appear to show very little emotion? How did you find the voice and energy to convey that to viewers?

Morgan Berry: I like to focus on Klen's attitude and confidence in himself. He may seem apathetic and cold, but he's also very strategic, very smart, and sometimes he seems amused. There are moments that we get to play around with beyond his all-powerful, foreboding demeanor, and that definitely grows as time goes on and they continue this journey. We get to see softer sides of him, and there are sides to Klen that you wouldn't expect if you didn't go on this journey with him and Alicia, Luna, Nellie and Rue. It's a fun discovery with each new side that we see from him. He might come off very cold at first, very apathetic and bloodthirsty, but there are also some nice little moments where you get to see him show pride for someone else. There are moments where I see that he's so proud of Luna, and he also shows an appreciation for Alicia and what she can do. Even as a weak humanoid, he sees the potential and sees that she's very determined. I think he holds some form of respect for that.

Imaginative Visions: How do you each view the relationship between Alicia and Klen at this point? Do you see a friendship eventually forming, a partnership, or is it still more of a means to an end?

Morgan Berry: I like to label it as "found family." I love the idea of them growing as a group and growing closer to each other because that would just be so wonderful. I already see them growing closer, and I'm hoping for more of that in the future because I love those slice-of-life moments mixed among the action-packed scenes of the series.

Katie Wetch: I love that their relationship isn't so straightforward because there is a level of Alicia being completely beholden to Klen. He's her lifeline, but as you mentioned before, Morgan, I feel like for Alicia that fear has melted away into respect. At the beginning of the first season, he's this beast. He's the enemy, he's the problem, and for as angry, loud and brave as she is, he's still scary and dangerous. I think she initially sees him more as Clevatess, but as we've gone on, it almost feels to me like she sees him more as Klen while still acknowledging Clevatess. It's like, "Yes, he's really big and scary, and you're going to talk to him that way? Holy moly!" But it's like when you get to know someone. There's that familiarity, and I feel like that familiarity in her language becomes respect. She does have an obligation to him, but I also feel like she's decided she has this duty to protect her found family. That's the fluidity of their relationship, and I like that it's complicated.

Imaginative Visions: Let's talk about the action. When I'm watching these scenes and hearing the performances, there's so much energy behind them. Can you pull back the curtain a little bit and explain how you approach those sequences, especially when you know they're going to require a lot from you vocally?

Katie Wetch: It's a lot of technical work and preparation, especially for Alicia. She can push the boundary a little bit more because when she's put into a space where a normal human would pass away, she doesn't. Not only does she survive, but she feels everything as she's being reconstructed. She doesn't stop feeling pain; she can just be put back together. Getting to really push those boundaries requires a lot of preparation, and singing technique has really come in handy. We make sure we're super, super warm before we go into the booth. In general, it's about taking care of ourselves, our bodies and our instruments so we can do this safely and consistently while still bringing the power that it needs. Thankfully, we have an incredible team, and our directors are wonderful. They're very aware of the energy and the occasional toll that it can take on your body, so there are rests built in and there's communication, which is so important. Singing has also helped a lot in terms of breath work, being aware of my body, adjusting pitch and having that general body awareness. The technique allows you to really invest and commit while staying safe.

Morgan Berry: Physicality is a huge part of what we do, even though people don't see it because we're behind a microphone. We do move around to get that essence of physicality; we just have to make sure we don't hit the mic. That, along with staying hydrated and warming up our vocals beforehand, are some of the tips and tricks we use to protect our voices and be able to do what we do without hurting ourselves.

Imaginative Visions: Final question, and this is the fun one. If Alicia and Klen attended the academy without any secret missions or hidden agendas and were just regular students, who would be the better student overall socially and academically?

Morgan Berry: I feel like that's a very easy answer. Alicia would thrive socially because she understands how humanoids work and understands how to communicate with them. Even in her moments of nervousness, she still understands humanoids more than Klen does. Academically, though, I think Klen would thrive. He's skilled in so many areas, and he's confident. Sometimes confidence really is the key to achieving your goals. He has that confidence, he has a lot of skill sets, and he's so smart. He's seemingly a timeless being. I know Alicia would do her dang best and would put forth the effort, but if the question is who would fail and who would pass, I think Klen would definitely thrive academically.

Katie Wetch: Anything where Alicia has to sit still is a no-go. Maybe if she's tired or something like that she can hang around, but if it's not interesting, she's gone. She'll try and she'll do her best, but I truly feel like she's the one in the back doing jumping jacks during math or something. I could see her thriving socially, too, but in a way where she's not even aware of it. Everybody would be like, "Yeah, she's cool," and she'd be like, "I didn't even know that I knew you." So I think the balance is definitely there between the two of them.

VIDEO INTERVIEW

https://youtu.be/-Fym6lQq89c?si=fi3-uuyUvsZT9KAl