Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: 「Altern-ate」 by H-el-ical
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「僕の中には」 (Boku no Naka ni wa)
“Something Inside of Me”
For a series like Gleipnir that is trying to build a mythology around the mysterious powers that have manifested in Kagaya, the first episode presents an ideal balance of presenting rudimentary information and introducing our main protagonists. It’s also a premiere that draws a line in the sand on whether you would be interested in continuing the anime by bringing in the good ol’ fashioned mainstays of simple yet self-indulgent supernatural teen thriller anime.
Currently, one of the show’s larger hurdles is Kagaya as our leading man. He falls under the umbrella of protagonists who have little to no backbone outside of their creepy urges. He’s uncomfortable with standing out (half due to his powers, half due to being afraid of scrutiny), so he refused a college recommendation. He spaces out directly in front of a girl’s exposed thighs, allowing himself to get on the receiving end of a signature “BAKA ECCHI!!!!” thwack. He spends a bulk of the episode afraid of everything around him, and even if there’s time for him to shape up, it can be difficult to gauge if he won’t just buckle in the face of adversity.
When he does have any sort of call-to-action, there are also ulterior motives that are less than noble. One variation to Kagaya’s character is how quick he is to make the worst out of a rash decision. His powers motivate him to save Clair from a burning building, but his first impulse after leaving her is to smell her and pull off her panties in preparation for assault. This doesn’t seem far off from his own Mr. Kimura-inspired code of conduct either as he plans to sneak into the girl’s locker room to steal his phone back from Clair, taking a break in between his search to take a nice whiff of her sweaty clothes. It definitely has the vibe of something like Tsukihime where the author takes breaks from the plot to write up uncomfortably horny scenarios for their characters to wind up in.
A show like this is incomplete without a mischievous or sociopathic girl who acts as the foil to our otherwise whipped leading man. And Gleipnir would feel incomplete without the presence of Aoki Clair, a freckled girl with a Cheshire grin and a penchant for playing Kagaya like a fiddle. After she’s saved by him, Clair spends the second half of the episode wrapping Kagaya around her finger as she plans to use his powers to achieve her goals. Your mileage will vary on whether she’s a fun, cool character or obnoxiously mischievous, but because she’s the one catalyst that forces Kagaya to make any kind of decision about his destiny or future, Clair is easily a stand-out character from this episode.
To Gleipnir’s credit, they make the smart decision for Clair to acknowledge that having Kagaya’s powers revealed to the world would definitely result in Kagaya getting captured and experimented on to discover scientific breakthroughs or have him be a guinea pig for a number of exploratory studies. You don’t often get that with any series about superpowers or the supernatural, so it’s a pleasant surprise to see that being one of the blackmail ideas that Clair has in mind.
This leads into what makes a Gleipnir worthwhile watch, and that’s how much of the details regarding Kagaya’s powers are trickled in. There are vague ideas or concepts added in, but not enough to overload viewers with a full encyclopedia of the story’s lore. They give you just enough to provide intrigue on what his powers entail, how other people have been able to manifest the same abilities, and why they have a bone to pick with people like Kagaya and Clair. It was never meant to be anything too serious or thought-provoking, but it is wonderful comfort food for those looking for an anime with a rude tude that’s a little lewd.
ED Sequence
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ED: 「”Ame to Taieki to Nioi” (Rain, Bodily Fluids, and Smell)」 by Mili
I’ve read a good portion of the manga and I’m surprised by how much hype this series is receiving. The manga feels like it’s missing something that makes it stand out from a tradition shonen/seinen thriller. Hopefully the anime improves on the manga’s story.
Fair warning. I read the manga for this and the plot is nonsensical. I am hoping the anime would be better.
Gliepner’s manga was visually interesting with neat characters, but the plot became overly complex. I’m hoping that, as is the case with some other anime, the animated version and limited run time will allow it to capture the manga’s strengths without succumbing to its weakness. So far I’m reasonably optimistic.
I get the impression the main character’s problematic actions with regard to Clair are the result of his transformation into a dog-monster and his subliminal reactions to smells.
spineless yet perverted male lead? check
manipulative and dominant, and overtly abusive female lead? check
thanks, I’ll pass
How about making a character more dimensional?
This. I was already annoyed by: Weak ass high schooler TURNING DOWN a recommendation for college wtf!
Said weak ass gets balls and saves a life. only to go all weinstein mode DOUBLE wtf!
Then said person kicks him off a fucking roof.. . .THis is when I dropped it. Im glad I came here and realized I wasnt missing anything.
I share those concerns about the protagonist and they’re compounded for me by some of his other roles: Kaneki, Sieg, Mitsuboshi and especially Ikuto in the recent Waratte (which I couldn’t finish). While he does have some good performances under his belt: Inaho, Kiyotaka, and Tanjirou, those were different character types than Kagaya.
Claire’s seiyuu is good so if the show is handled well, she’ll be fine.
This could be an interesting show if it isn’t driven into a ditch. We’ll see how it goes.
I wanted an action-thriller this season I could keep up with. This first episode, as you said, sets the tone for whether or not I choose to continue, and I think I not.
This was hard to watch for me. The storytelling was awkward and clunky at best, and the “characters” if you want to call them that, are completely shallow.
I just wanted to punch the main guy in the gut and tell him to get over himself.
The girl, I wanted to punch in the face repeatedly. Man she annoys me as a character.
I also saw them focusing on the side characters, especially the other girl, and just kept thinking, OK, who dies first?
The premise is somewhat intriguing and I’m sticking around for that, but there are serious flaws here in both character development, and storytelling that need to be addressed for this to be even remotely watchable.
Its not watchable, and I dont have the patience you do, all of those reasons make me drop shows like this immediately.
It seems like this season is the total reverse of last season.
I made the decision to watch this series as far back as when it was announced, if only out of spite for someone I know from another message board who vocally refused to watch it because of the “transforming into a fursuit” aspect. Through some mild apprehension regarding the fact that it would assuredly (and eventually did) get a sub-7 score on MAL – not the most reconcerting of details – I sat down and watched the first one yesterday.
Truth be told, I enjoyed it. The average-sized mountain town setting, the direction associated with the oppressive summer atmosphere, and Takahiro Kishida’s distinct design style were the main factors, for sure, but I have to give credit to the interesting hooks provided by the plot, especially considering the mystery behind the source of these “monsters” like Shuichi and tomboy kickboxer girl and their connection to those gold star coins – something I had no idea was even in this story – Clair claims that they’re after.
It’s no surprise that Shuichi’s the type of character those of you who are sick and tired of the “spineless wimp” types hate, but I actually like him. Partly because it’s in my nature to like the main character of whatever media I consume no matter how detestable they are, but also in that he reminds me of a character that I wrote for… let’s call it a novelization of a fictitious anime of my own creation. Much like the deuteroganist of that story, Shuichi has black hair, a lithe body, a worrisome personality, a lack of friends outside school grounds, and Natsuki Hanae as his seiyuu. Unlike Shuichi, my OC didn’t have glasses or horny teenager impulses that occasionally bubble to the surface (after all, it is the nature of the fursuiter to be a sexual deviant :P), but there are enough similarities for me to take one look at him and be all, “oh hey, it’s Shin Kizuka but he’s actually anime!” The fact that Clair’s dirty blonde hair, freckles, and haughty-aggressive-dominant attitude made me draw comparisons to a certain character by Jam-Orbital (whose illustrations inspired my faux-anime novelization) don’t really help my case.
The only downside I can think of is one that didn’t really bother me when I watched it, and that was when Shuichi saw the warehouse fire, portrayed as being super far away, and reacting in an “oh hey, that’s close enough for me to get there in time!” way. I’d be breaking my back trying to fill THAT plothole… And, as is true with all anime, I’m finding myself more bothered by the negative reactions of other people watching the show than I am anything directly within the show, even here. Especially the guy who said “it’s not watchable” with the same confidence everyone has when they call water wet. I know I shouldn’t care about your comments, much like you already don’t care about mine, but that’s kinda hard to do when you’re so easily perturbed by people saying “I don’t like thing” and your mind interpreting it as “I don’t like thing and neither should you” because there’s nothing in their thoughts saying that I’m allowed to have a different opinion from them. But that’s best left elsewhere.
Point is, I liked this first episode, I’m definitely gonna keep watching, and for those of you who think it’s shit, thank god you’re shutting up after this.
You didn’t post a single good thing about the show. All you said was that you wanted to like it, so you did, then proceeded to rant about people who actually pointed out objective issues with the story and characters.
Look, if you want to like it, fine. Everyone can like whatever they want. I’ll state as objective fact, that Dragonball Evolution is utter garbage as a film, and can actually back that up very easily, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still like it.
I’ll state right now that Arifureta is complete hot garbage. It’s poorly written, poorly animated, poorly paced, everything. Having said that, I enjoyed it quite a bit, because things don’t have to be objectively good for subjective enjoyment.
It’s really ironic that you take all this time to defend “your right to like the show” when no one ever said you couldn’t, and then basically lay out how wrong everyone is for NOT liking the show. Basically, you’re a hypocrite, pure and simple. you want to like the show, knock yourself out, but complaining when other people have their own “opinions” just because they differ from your own, and implying that they said you couldn’t have them, when you actually do that, it is about as straight forward being a hypocrite as there is.
It’s times like this that I wish this site allowed us commenters to edit and delete comments, because posting my thoughts as a reply to the guy that pissed me off into writing it was clearly a huge mistake.
Fine, I’ll admit that I was very brash in ad hominem-ing others instead of attempting to defend myself. I have problems when it comes to people not liking things I genuinely enjoy, and it’s something that I’m honestly trying to overcome. And I’ll confess that there’s no way I can feasibly claim there’s objective goodness to what’s in the show. Quality is subjective as far as I’m concerned, and terrible writing is hardly a concern unless it goes against MY personal logic. Point is, I’m sorry I went to the lengths that I did with my “stop hating things that I don’t hate” rant, I’ll try to refrain from being so assholish in the future.
It’s no problem. We all get heated from time to time. I’ll admit I get in a bad mood myself sometimes and end up coming off like a jerk.
As I said, you’re free to like whatever you want. Haven’t decided yet if I’ll follow this, but if you do, I hope you’ll enjoy it.
@thank god you’re shutting up after this.
You should refrain from comments like this in the future. It comes across like you’re a defensive fanboy who wants to cause arguments with people. It’s bait pure and simple.
That was not my intention – I tried to avoid making the whole of my post as reactionary as possible – but I understand where you’re coming from. I’ll refrain from those sorts of comments in the future, no matter how much my reactionary hypocritical self so desperately wants to make them. Maybe one day that temptation will pass, and now’s a good time to start working towards that day.
You all do realise that this is just the first episode right? I mean the character have potential to grow more complex and less shallow later on. I hope.
First episode offered a decent mix of suspense and fanservice in a nicely animated package. From reading the comments of the manga readers I’m not expecting anything outstanding, so hopefully it’ll at least serve as brainless entertainment that looks fairly good.
whatever the history it is, it must be credible.
this was created by a random algorithmic bot and some monkeys,
the art and visual design seems decent, so I’ll give it one more ep…
The CGI usage in this show was not done well. The rotating 3d pans did not look right and the sound/music timing was off in many areas. It also seems like a very disjointed plot sort of smells like Darwin’s game but somehow is far less coherent.