Gleipnir

Shuuichi Kagaya is what one would consider an average high school student, but sometimes, he turns into a monster. He doesn't know how or why he got his abilities, only that he would prefer no one knows about them. One night, he finds a building ablaze with a girl trapped inside. Deciding to save her, he transforms and carries her to safety, but accidentally drops his phone.

The next day, the girl he saved—Claire Aoki—finds him and confronts him about his monster identity. She even goes so far as to push him off the school roof to prove her theory after Shuuichi denies her allegations. Desperate to save himself, he transforms, and Claire snaps a picture in order to blackmail him into telling her everything he knows about monsters, which, ironically, isn't much.

As it turns out, Claire has a secret of her own: she has been searching for her sister, who also became a monster. She enlists Shuuichi's help to track her down, but they aren't the only ones searching for answers.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Aoki, Clair Main

Touyama, Nao Japanese

Kagaya, Shuuichi Main

Hanae, Natsuki Japanese

Yoshioka, Chihiro Supporting

Ichinose, Kana Japanese

Aoki, Elena Supporting

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Alien Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro Japanese

Mifune, Nana Supporting

Itou, Miku Japanese

Sanbe, Tadanori Supporting

Yasumoto, Hiroki Japanese

Hikawa Supporting

Ishigami, Shizuka Japanese

Kaito Supporting

Uchiyama, Kouki Japanese

Subaru Supporting

Taichi, You Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Ogura, Mitsutoshi Producer

Furukawa, Shin Producer

Ibira, Takaya Producer

Reviews

Jun 28, 2020

cigare

Recommended

Are you ready?

I'm going inside. You're so sticky and wet. I'm going all the way in. It's so warm and fits just nicely. Does it hurt? We're one now.

I'm just a mere being wandering on the hellhole that is earth and as such, I don't deserve anything worthy of praise. But when Gleipnir knocked out my doorstep I straight away knew that this was the present I've always wanted. Yes, because Gleipnir is more than an anime - it's a new experience to be witnessed at least once in our dismal life. Something that would make our hearts go full uwu.

Gleipnir isn't the usual story. ... It's far deeper than you may initially think. In fact, I'd consider this on par with Monster. Just imagine Johan as Shuuichi and his sister, Anna as Clair. An indissoluble bond. In this case, however, they're not really brother and sister. Neither a couple nor friends. They're life--fighting for the freedom that some despicable beings have extracted from them. It's a harsh truth and yet, they don't surrender. They never will and with that only they'll make new friends. With that only, they'll have an adventure that's both fun and sad.

Gleipnir was a pleasant surprise. Because I thought to see something where the protagonist just gets some powers and with that only he'll get out of anything fairly unharmed. While I admit there's a bit of friendship power in here I would be lying if I said that the whole thing is to build on that only. Shuuichi never wanted to be in such a situation, yet he's there fighting all kinds of monsters. Without Clair, he'd be dead by now. She was an inspiration--no she was the will Shuuichi never had. Without her, he would have not done anything he has done. Isn't Clair great though? I'd say that she was the highlight of the anime. Indeed she's the best character with also the saddest backstory in the whole anime. Not only that--she won't let anyone down. If she starts caring about someone/something you bet your ass that she won't surrender until it gets that shit done. Some may consider that selfish I'd say it leads more to dedication. The dedication she has had is nothing short of a miracle.

The other characters are significantly meaningful as well. Everyone in a pretty cool fashion do what they're told to do in the first place. Some are edgy and some are not. Some are cute and some are not. Some are strong and some are not. It's a near-perfect cast of characters that exist to give our favorite duo a run for their money, which is necessary for their growth in the repugnant world they live in.

For you to understand Gleipnir you have to look beyond the obvious. Once you do that, you may come to appreciate its greatness.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jun 28, 2020

fastghosthunter

Mixed Feelings

Imagine being a kid and one day you wake up to huge paws, an enhanced sense of smell, and a sudden hunger for freckled, crazy, blonde panties. For most people we call that puberty, for Shuichi it is literally a nightmare as he finds himself blackmailed and joined at the hip to a crazy freckled blonde named Claire who quickly entagles him and a brutal and violent death game.

Gleipnir's setup and its first initial episodes have the subtlety of a brick. From the get go you know what this is about. Shuichi turns into a big giant fursuit, and when Claire steps inside of him, ... his eyes widen and with a shocked expression says " she is inside me"... It's about sex. Or more specifically its about puberty and an adoloscent burgeoning for, well sex. The characters and furthermore the characterzation in this show isn't why you are watching this show, and the mangaka Sun Takeda knows this. The characters here are derivative. The dynamic of a meek, but good natured male protagonist with a fiery, more ambitious women has been done to death. What sets Gleipnir apart from being another generic show. Well three things. It's edginess, its imagery, and its utterly dry deadpan sense of humor.

If a guy monstrously transforming into a fursuit with a girl climbing into his back to control him doesn't scream "this show is edgy!" the there are a million other things that will. The fanservice and the action are almost all in this anime to sell the shows edginess. Pretty much every episode(not exagerrating) has to have an obligatory panty shot/crotch shot. The action is even better. I was sold on this show, after two characters got done punching and kicking the living daylights out of each other, the fightscene was tailended by a smith & wesson, oversived revolver stuck in someone's back, while the trigger is slowly squeezed, brutal execution incoming.

If i have you excited. Let me quickly quell that excitement. This show isn't really edgy. I mean it tries to be, but this show doesn't really have the fictional fursuit balls and gutso to truly be dark. All of that stuff is really window dressing to entice the viewer to tell an otherwise more conventional battle-royale, death game story. This show throws curveballs at you, sure! My favorite being when Shuichi and Claire finally run into somebody who is clearly stronger then them. They ask him for his motivation is, and he with a straight face pretty much admits to being an masochist and just looking for somebody who has the strength to kill him. I say that to not only highlight the shows deadpan dry humor but to also highlight the fact that character motivations are a huge backbone of this show. Except Shuichi. The protagonist, Shuichi, is pretty much blackmailed into this whole thing. Shuichi spends the better part of four episodes sniveling, and crying that Claire is manipulating him. Which she is.

The character dynamic of this show of a clearly emotionally disturbed girl manipulating a meek, booksmart nerd have people comparing this show to one of my favorites Aku No Hana. Although the initial plot construction of this show is very interesting it grinds to a fast halt because Shuichi has the personality of a wet blanket and outside of his whole "I just want to fit in schtick" he doesnt really get anymore character development for a large swath of the shows runtime. Another thing about Shuichi's unconfident, dark moody nerd character troupe is that this show doesn't really put it to use at all. Aku No Hana, NGE, shows that both have these character archetypes, both delve into the psychological reasons.

Something that I look for in shows that isn't really discussed a lot is continuity. Continuity in characters and themes is very important for shows to feel like they have some sort of intentionality behind it and not just a mishmash at various unrelated ideas. Gleipnir suffers hugely from this problem because in a scene to scene sense the show can be very entertaining and even funny at times. The big problem I had with the show is that it fails to combine the things that make it entertaining in any meaningful way. It wants to be this heavy, middle-finger to the world story, but the show doesn't really have anything to offer for it. Perfect example is these monstrous transformations are supposed to be external displays of these characters inner personas. Which is why it is very fitting that Shuichi's transformation is a harmless hollow teddy bear that needs somebody to crawl inside for it to gain its full power. However, it doesn't help that a lot of the characters transformation besides shuichi's or his side characters don't have any thought put into them at all, and are usually just grotesque ugly big tooth monsters/insects and sometimes just amorphous shadow blobs. Another example, is that the audience is aware that these characters are in a death game anime. Death is literally in the genre name, and these characters always seem suprised or are caught unaware when they are subject or are subjected to brutal violence. Its bizzare. Like me or you, if caught in this situation would constantly have our head on the swivel if we realized that other literal ghouls and goblins are out for our head, yet Shuichi and his gang are constantly caught off guard, pretty much every time. There is no continuity to these characters actions or words which makes everything else in the story seem loose and unfocused.

Gleipnir had its moments. Even the overt sexiness never ceased to amaze me. I mean this show is downright revolutionary with the way it sneaks in its fanservice. The scene where Claire grabs her crotch while saying "did she go inside you" is legendary. I just wish everything else in the show felt that fresh and inspired.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jun 28, 2020

Stark700

Not Recommended

Gleipnir, what could we ever do in a world without you? A whole lot actually. For instance, I don’t have to suffer every week watching some kid in a creepy mascot animal outfit running around. Watching Gleinpir was not a pleasant experience and by unpleasant, I mean the type of unpleasant that makes you want to turn the television off.

First of all, let’s ask ourselves, just what the hell is Gleipnir? It’s not a real word but a creation made by Sun Takeda. With that out of the way, you may probably want to take a closer glance at the synopsis because it’s full of ... bizarreness. Even our main protagonist Shuuichi Kaguya has a strange characteristic – the ability to transform into a monster. And after encountering a mysterious girl named Claire Aoki, his life gets even stranger. As with supernatural mystery stories, I tend to think Gleipnir as the type that tries to be as mysterious as possible. In this base form, we see our main characters trying to find answers but it’s obvious that something darker and sinister lurks behind the scenes. Does Gleipnir takes its opportunity to capitalize on its premise to make this into a pleasant experience? Hell no.

There’s actually nothing wrong with a show being edgy or even use shock value to be appealing. The main problem lies on how Gleipnir executes its ideas. The mystery seems intriguing on paper until you see how thin the storytelling really is. From the first episodes, I got the impression of a ridiculous show without a clear target audience. Let’s face it, this isn’t an easy anime to recommend to anyone. At its core, we do have the relationship between Shuuichi and Claire, two characters that are practically polar opposite of each other. It doesn’t help that Shuuichi is a reserved individual with little social experience. Take away his ability of monster transformation and there’s literally nothing special about him. On the other hand, Claire is a clever girl who managed to blackmail Shuuichi and can be deceptively hard to read. Even though her goal is to find the truth about the monsters and her older sister, it seems no one can really understand her. Despite her age, she doesn’t seem to retain a moral sense for humanity. What I mean is that she actually kills others without hesitation and isn’t afraid to take daring risks. After gaining control of Shuuichi’s body, she literally becomes a killing machine although not mindlessly but with a purpose. Throughout the series, she shows no mercy towards her enemies and it’s shown to be taken lightly. Gleipnir seems to force body horror and fan service at numerous amounts, sometimes perhaps way too much for its own good. Shuuichi and Claire’s relationship is built on trust although with more episodes progresses, they seem to grow more intimate. Don’t expect true love blooming between the pair though. The author didn’t want to pull the trigger because this is obviously not some fairy tale romance.

While Shuuichi and Claire has to carry this show on their backs, there are a few individuals worth mentioning. First, there’s Elena, Claire’s older sister who possesses a twisted obsession towards Shuuichi. Perhaps one of the most mentally unstable characters in the show, she represents the dark side of humanity and is willing to do anything to get what she wants. If you’re familiar with the term ‘yandere’, that’s basically what she is. Then, there’s the mysterious ‘Alien’, a character who is looking for other aliens on their planet. Truth to be told, he is a big question mark as no one knows exactly what he is. Taking the form of a young man, we do know that he will grant a wish to anyone who can help him achieve his own goal. Unfortunately, the show doesn’t devote enough time to explore his own story as we are constantly fed with Shuuichi and Claire’s relationship. Being a show about monsters, this came to me as no surprise although I do wish the show made more time on characterizing Alien. He seems to be much more than just a mystery. For what’s worth, most of the other characters this season are less appealing despite some having important roles. Kaito, Honoka, and Sayaka are a few examples as it’s hard to get invested into their characters. It seems the anime wants to evoke emotions for the viewers but with such limited storytelling, these characters aren’t worth to watch for. Even in the case of our main leads, they don’t strike to me as anything special. Shuuichi and Claire’s relationship is saturated by lazy writing that anyone could easily come up with. That’s also to say, the overall direction of the plot is mediocre at best and couldn’t be salvaged even if it’s twice episode count length. Thank goodness it isn’t.

I sincerely hope you don’t plan to watch Gleipnir with your family or kids around. This isn’t a show suited for the faint of heart. Gleipnir seems to be in love with itself, being that it loves fan service. It uses it in the form of nudity, body horror, and gruesome action scenes. It isn’t ashamed to pull the trigger with violence in ways with heads being tore off or body ligaments being blown to pieces. Claire is also a walking billboard of fan service as she’s half naked nearly half the show. And let’s not forget, she literally climbs into Shuuichi to control his body. That’s like some twisted form of metaphoric union. Of course, let’s not forget the appearances of the monsters themselves. I don’t know if it’s just me but somehow, Shuuichi’s monster form looks unintentionally comical. It looks like a creepy oversized toy that came to life. Here I am sitting wondering what made the author create a monster to look such way. Is how they see stuffed animals from nightmares?

No, I can’t recommend Gleipnir to you and it’s more than just because it’s “edgy”. Even without the shockingly amount of grotesque elements stuffed into this show, it still remains mediocre by the contents of its plot and characters. It’s barely watchable at best and sometimes, I wish I didn’t jump into the manga either. Because for me, watching Gleipnir is kind of like eating junk food and you feel too guilty to know the mistake until it’s too damn late.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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