Anime Impressions: Gleipnir

<p>I have a lot of conflicting feelings towards Gleipnir as&comma; for me&comma; it starts in the least appealing way possible&period; The first thing that occurred to me while watching this <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;anime-impressions-tower-of-god&sol;">anime<&sol;a> is how hard it tries to be &&num;8220&semi;edgy&&num;8221&semi; for the lack of a better term&period; We are met with a confusing opening that involves the series McGuffin golden coin being used in a vending machine that seemingly grants powers to its user&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The vending machine doesn&&num;8217&semi;t grant powers&comma; of course&comma; that&&num;8217&semi;d be weird&period; What does is the mysterious blond man that comes out of the vending machine and grants powers as thanks for finding his precious coins&period; Yes&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s quite a confusing opening&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-157439 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;04&sol;25184439&sol;Gleipnir&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Gleipnir Shuichi Bear" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Quite An Introduction<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>We then meet the protagonist Shuichi Kagaya&comma; a highschooler who seemingly enjoys his mundane and uneventful life&comma; yet there seems more to his character&period; To put it in plain terms&comma; Shuichi is a loser&period; One who forces himself to be happy to maintain the status quo&period; This seems rather confusing a first until we discover why&period; What Shuichi tries desperately to hide is his ability to transform into a monster&comma; &lpar;that looks like a bear costume&rpar; seemingly at will&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>We are first introduced to Shuichi&&num;8217&semi;s furry alter ego when he discovers a girl in an abandoned building on fire&period; After careful consideration&comma; Shuichi proceeds to rescue this girl as he believes that is the right thing to do&period; When he successfully saves her&comma; we then see Shuichi&&num;8217&semi;s primary weakness&comma; his unquestionable teenage hormones&period; Coupled with his beast-like transformation&comma; he finds it hard to control himself as he pulls her panties down her unconscious body&comma; and almost does something unspeakable to the girl&period; Quite an introduction eh&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-157441 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;04&sol;25184544&sol;Gleipnir-2&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"Gleipnir Shuichi &amp&semi; Clair" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Shuichi &amp&semi; Clair<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Luckily he&&num;8217&semi;s able to stop himself&comma; however&comma; and leaves the scene plagued with shame&period; The next morning&comma; he realizes he&&num;8217&semi;s lost his phone back where he left the girl&period; This is where both Shuichi and the viewers are first properly introduced to Clair&comma; the girl he saved the night before&period; Clair has his phone&comma; and she uses this as an opportunity to blackmail him into doing what she wants&comma; or she&&num;8217&semi;ll expose what she saw the previous night&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>See&comma; while Shuichi is a timid loser type who likes to do the right thing at all times&comma; Clair seems to be the complete opposite&period; She&&num;8217&semi;s a sociopath who only seems to enjoy tormenting others and has no qualms in using people&period; And with how easily submissive Shuichi is&comma; that isn&&num;8217&semi;t hard to do&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The relationship between these two is further explored in episode 2 when they are chased down by a similar monster type girl and their inevitable battle for survival&period; The superb level of animation and choreography the series showcases so far cannot be ignored&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The motions are expertly made without limiting the frames of animation&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m especially a sucker for short yet high impact fighting scenes that don&&num;8217&semi;t shy away from gore or intense moments&comma; and Gleipnir provides it in spades in just a single episode&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-157443 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;04&sol;25184600&sol;Gleipnir-3&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Gleipnir Clair" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Final Thoughts<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>The whole show is reminiscent of <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;every-major-anime-manga-and-event-delayed-due-to-covid-19-so-far&sol;">anime<&sol;a> like the previous season&&num;8217&semi;s Darwin&&num;8217&semi;s Game&comma; or even Mirai Nikki&comma; where a bunch of powered individuals &lpar;especially teenagers&rpar; battle one another for a prize or just plain survival&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While this may be in its favor at times&comma; it also isn&&num;8217&semi;t as Gleipnir tries way too hard to be an edgy&comma; horny&comma; teenage angst-filled anime&period; The fact that the anime frequently slaps you in the face with a lot of its fan service doesn&&num;8217&semi;t help much either&period; Granted&comma; it isn&&num;8217&semi;t on the same level as your regular Ecchi anime&comma; but it&&num;8217&semi;s still enough to be quite noticeable&comma; which I&&num;8217&semi;m sure will turn a lot of people away from it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Be that as it may&comma; Gleipnir is quite a fun anime to watch while still woefully plagued with a lot of flaws&period; Viewers should be aware of what they&&num;8217&semi;re getting into with this one before watching&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>You can stream Gleipnir on <strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;funimation&period;com&sol;shows&sol;gleipnir&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">Funimation<&sol;a><&sol;strong> right now&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Have You seen Gleipnir&quest; If so&comma; what do you think of it&quest; Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;