Gleipnir (manga)

Gleipnir is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by. It was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine ' from October 2015 to April 2021, and later transferred to ', where it ran from May 2021 to April 2023. Its chapters were collected in fourteen volumes. The manga was licensed by Kodansha USA in North America. A 13-episode anime television series adaptation by Pine Jam aired from April to June 2020.

WWW magazine.yanmaga.jp/c/gle...𝕏 gleipnir_anime

Plot

High school student Shuichi Kagaya receives the ability to transform into a giant monstrous dog. It resembles a mascot costume with a zipper on the back and a big smile on the front. He meets a normal girl from the same class, Claire Aoki, whose sister, Elena, was responsible for killing their parents.

Characters

;Shuichi Kagaya
;Claire Aoki
;Elena Aoki
;Alien
;Nana Mifune
;Abukawa
;Hikawa
;Tadanori Sanbe
;Chihiro Yoshioka
;Ikeuchi
;Subaru

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by, Gleipnir was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine ' from October 6, 2015, to April 6, 2021. It was transferred to ', where it ran from May 20, 2021, to April 20, 2023. Kodansha collected its chapters in fourteen volumes, released from March 18, 2016, to July 20, 2023.
In North America, Kodansha USA announced it had licensed the manga for English release in July 2018. The fourteen volumes were released from March 19, 2019, to March 19, 2024.

Anime

An anime television series adaptation was announced in March 2019. The series is animated by Pine Jam and directed by Kazuhiro Yoneda, with Shinichi Inotsume handling series composition, and Takahiro Kishida designing the characters. Ryōhei Sataka composes the series' music. It aired from April 5 to June 28, 2020, on Tokyo MX and other channels. Hikaru performed the series' opening theme song "Altern-ate-", while international music group Mili performed its ending theme song "Ame to Taieki to Nioi".
Funimation has acquired the series globally, excluding Asia and streams the series on FunimationNow, AnimeLab and Wakanim. In Southeast Asia and South Asia, the series is licensed by Medialink, which streams it on the Ani-One YouTube channel in South Asia and select Southeast Asian countries, and on the streaming service Dimsum in Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei. On December 12, 2020, Funimation announced the series would receive a dub with a two-episode premiere the next day. The Gleipnir DVD and Blu-Ray set were released in North America on July 6, 2021.

Reception

Previews

Anime News Network had three editors review the first episode of the anime: James Beckett praised the premiere for creating "an aesthetic and a tone worth caring" and the "thoughtful approach to otherwise seedy material", highlighting the weighty and purposeful animation, the editing providing high tension in its scenes, and Shuichi being an interestingly "flawed and messy character" that's neither "boring or outright despicable," Nick Creamer praised the series' presentation of "uncomfortably hormonal adolescence" through its "terrific layouts and character designs, strong sense of oppressive summer atmosphere, and general quasi-horror tone" but was critical of Claire Aoki being used as a "source of pure fanservice" and "an idol of beauty and terror than a human being", concluding that: "Gleipnir is both visually enthralling and dramatically fascinating in its hormonal grindhouse way, and probably deserves at least a glance from any adventurous anime fans." The third reviewer, Theron Martin, praised the writing for keeping the series' concept from going over the top and highlighted the "dark and moody ambiance" and "strong musical score", but was unimpressed by the "character design aesthetic" and animation, concluding that: "On the whole, I can't seeing Gleipnir blowing people away with what it does, but it puts together just enough appeal that I can give it a mild recommendation."

Series

Fellow ANN editor Steve Jones placed Gleipnir at number five on his top 5 best anime list of 2020, saying while not the "tightest-written story, and isn't a gold star adaptation or anything," he called it "gross, uncomfortable, subversive, and sexually-charged in the best way possible", concluding that: "Although the adaptation concludes without any kind of finality, it left me eager to see how these two broken kids would continue to enable their mutual downward spiral, and I hope I'll be able to sing its praises again in the future." Allen Moody, writing for THEM Anime Reviews, said: "I'm still not sure how I feel about this. Despite Claire's callousness, Claire's and Shuichi's actions are at least ostensibly motivated by necessity, and a strong bond begins to develop between them There are numerous things left unexplained just yet, but I found it all surreal, perverse, and yet weirdly fascinating."