Forum - View topicGleipnir (TV).
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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Gleipnir (TV) Genres: Action, Mystery, Supernatural, Ecchi, Seinen Plot Summary:
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2936 |
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#1
Not sure what to think of this. Perfectly normal final-year high school student is able to transform into a dog mascot, doesn't know why he can do this but is careful to live a normal life with his secret intact. By chance he discovers a fire, decides to play the Good Samaritan. Secret gets blown by the person he saved, and he ends up being blackmailed into helping her find out more about coin-collecting monsters. The battle scenes should be interesting since Shuuichi is not the only one who can transform. The girl at the end has a monster form of her own and she's more comfortable using it. Kurea (Claire) looks like the worst person as far as Shuuichi is concerned to hold a secret, to top if off she's used to playing with high school males and wrapping them around her little finger. Fanservice and action is usually a decent sell, so no shortage of potential viewers who hanker for either of the two tropes. First impression is I'm watching something like High School of the Dead, only without zombies and not as sexualised. Depending on how the series goes from here, it can be either be pleasantly entertaining or a chore to watch depending on what Kurea plans to do for the rest of the season. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4133 |
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Is this one of those shows that see no difference in fan service and sexual assault? When I see an unconscious woman in in an exposed state in the center of an isolated burning building, I'm not thinking suicide attempt, I'm thinking "... must destroy the evidence."
That woman wakes up outside the of the same only now her panties are fully pulled down, accused the main character the next day with "Hey... you interrupted my suicide." I have to ask: Is there something wrong with me or is it this scenario? The show is weird and I don't really like the premise but I have to praise those transformation scenes. Also, it's Kampfer, only weirder. Did I fully express how weird this show is? That's really the only thing is has going for it and once it starts explaining things, it will be less weird and then it could be nothing. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15545 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Am curious, but would rather no more sexual assault.
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2936 |
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#2
I thought it was the action and the sexuality that were to be the main draws for this series, turns out it has a unique selling point of its own. How it will turn out, I have no idea. Shuuichi is a nice guy, so his instinct when threatened is to run. Fair enough, but Claire reminds him he can't run forever and it's time to take on the assailant. This is where Claire comes in and the most surreal tag team I've ever seen is enacted. Bottom line: The suit is creepy, but strong and durable. The gun she mocked last week is real, no idea where the bullets come from. I still don't like Claire as a character, but she's a realist and like it or not Shuuichi is stuck with her since she's on a quest to find her killer older sister, who happens to be a monster like he is. Elena has a keychain in the shape of the mascot character Shuuichi transforms into, so she's responsible for his everyday routine going up in smoke. Despite her willingness to kill others (self defence or not, that takes some doing) and the delight she has at manipulating Shuuichi around her little finger, she wasn't joking when she said she'd die together with him. He has the worst "partner" there is in this quest, but he needs to get used to it soon, or die sooner. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15545 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Subtextually, Clair just raped Shuuichi. She coerced him into let her inside him for her own needs, took away his agency, and the violated his morals. After which she expected him to just let her do so again, disregarded his feelings of remorse by just saying it was her decision, and played on his emotions up to and including threatening suicide to have him stay with her.
If their partnership is romanticised, and treated as an ultimately positive thing, I won't be too happy, because I think that the whole thing stinks of an abusive relationship. Where she is preying on his insecurities by convincing him that he needs her, and acting like the simple fact that he does not want her to die is evidence that they should be together. I am sure response of many would be that I am just looking too hard at something that should be silly nonsense, but it really is not too hard to see these things in a way that could be applied in a very negative way in real life. As I said about last season's Interspecies Reviewers, an ecchi show that has healthy sexualization is good, but this is the exact opposite, in that it is kind of glorifying some pretty awful things. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4133 |
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They're explaining things and it's getting less weird. They still haven't gotten to the "Why?" yet which is what killed Kampfer so there's hope yet for it not totally falling apart. A guy pushing vending machines that dishes out super powers puts this series in the "technology does a thing" category though. It's such a manga thing to do.
The fight scene was well animated, using dropped frames to show heightened speed and blurring to showcase power and then combining them for the final flurry of furious furry flailing. That leap was particularly dumb though because unless Clair was made of glass, that fall would not have killed her, maybe she would have been fine even if she dove headfirst. That new girl was also particularly dumb as she was already inhumanly faster than the other girls when she pushed herself to go faster which caused her to transform. And later on, during the leaps while she hunted, she didn't transform. She didn't realize that she would have been fine if she used some restraint and control while simply sprinting? And that insert song was a total ripoff of "Believe". But while the girl in the bear costume couldn't be more of a sexual metaphor, I don't see it as rape. I do see it as S+M interplay that went out of hand however. I'm guessing he could have forced her hand if he wanted to but she had control because she was in control. The weaker will bowed down to the greater one. The show was waiting to go the rape route with his open backside being... I'll just say it... 100% a vagina but she asked and he said yes. What is more in the realm of rape is how he got his powers in the first place. Yeah... that shouldn't be a thing. And the bear mascot form/powers and abilities as female... that makes more sense now. But was her wish to give him powers or give him herself as.. the bear... and a vagina... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Please just let it be the power, please just let it be the powers, please just let it be the powers... |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2936 |
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#3
This week viewers find out more about Claire's fixation with Shuuichi and his ability to transform. Her older sister turned into a monster and was found next to the corpses of their parents in the destroyed family home. Shuuichi initially thinks she must be jumping to conclusions regarding the murder, but it appears smell conveys a lot more than just a person's presence. Shuuichi is convinced the sister Elena was responsible and is now driven to find out why he's been given the ability to transform and how it's connected to a mass murderer. The series does not fail to surprise viewers. The stakeout and build-up to the target is conventional enough, but Erena's reaction to Shuuichi in his monster form is completely unexpected. It appears she has a crush on Shuuichi, who has never met her before. Her monster form is powerful as that last shot testifies to, but why the one-sided fixation and a readiness to kill once it's discovered someone else is inside Shuuichi? The first half of the episode explained a little bit about the relationship between Claire and Shuuichi when they are "working " together, so the last scene will have to explain what happens when the mascot is dealt damage that would be instantly fatal to humans. Curiously enough, when the "head" was ripped off there was nothing inside. Shuuichi will die if he transforms back into a human, so does Claire have time to put him back together again like Humpty Dumpty? Assuming Elena doesn't find and kill her as well? |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4133 |
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Oh good, I was worried that Shuichi's stalker went for the more obvious wish of becoming one with her target. Still doesn't explain how Elena knew he was a mascot costume and not just a mascot character like the ones from Agami Brilliant Park. It must been a very specific wish then.
I wasn't shocked by the ending as Elena knew it was a costume with a girl inside it so she took off its head to see who it was. We don't know the rules so the last thing I would do is assume it means something. In fact, I was more irritated by the meeting than any other part of the series up to this point. "I can talk to her!" Shuichi thinks to himself as he misses the opportunity to talk to her. Elena could clearly hear Claire but Claire didn't have anything to say anymore I guess. Nope, they shot at her and then decided on their own to do nothing so the "cliffhanger" could happen. I wouldn't be surprised if the next episode Elena just puts the head back herself trying to figure out how the disappearing girl trick worked. What I found to be... I was going to say "more interesting" but to be honest it's the only interesting part... interesting was that those tokens can't be seen through smart phones, an inverse Augmented Reality. I can't say "all technology" myself but it definitely reminds me.... ah yes, Heaven's Lost Property. The anime never reached the heights/reach of the manga but it got complicated as real objects and people were integrated into a virtual reality program. As used here, I'd say the Token would be "realer than real"... and suddenly the glitches make sense. |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2936 |
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#4
Elena's treatment of Shuichi and her younger sister is so different one might be forgiven for thinking she didn't have multiple personality disorder. As it stands, Claire and Shuichi have no chance against her if she's really out to kill them. She's got other fish to fry, so she let the two of them off for now. As for the headless Shuichi, turns out losing his head literally doesn't kill him provided he doesn't transform. Getting his head reattached was an easy narrative way to engineer the first meeting between the Alien responsible for all of this and the pair of protagonists. Most coin "collectors" get a reward from the Alien if they return with them, there's some sort of prize for the first person to return with a 100 of them. Shuichi seems mortified that the coins could be traded in return for powers which if misused would easily destroy the city, if not the world. Claire on the other hand seems happy enough to go along for the ride since her revenge is still incomplete. Shuichi now has the same look as Dies Irae's Marie, what with his guillotine scar. Strange how his classmates make no comment about it even though they mention his lack of glasses and his change in demeanour. His classmate Mifune has a crush on him which he's oblivious to, but he's happy to take her encouragement to resolve his internal dilemma. Pacing for this series is quite fast, so I'm not sure what kind of an endgame is in store for viewers. Assuming the virus doesn't stop production, it looks like there's more twists and turns yet to come. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4133 |
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Episode 4: Wow, it even used the old "cliffhanger" trick of inserting a new scene in the old footage, in this case Clair's head poking out of the costume.
That's the level we're playing at now? So we're not to trust anything seen or anything that happens? Those lack of rules don't help to progress the plot though. For example... I don't even know where to being with Mr Alien's story. Is it weird that I find the idea of digitized beings easier accept than each identity was its own separate object? Why wouldn't there be a centralized storage unit? It's data, you only need extra USB drives for copies or unless the main unit is full. So that's a lie. And if you collect a hundred of those things, you get more power over whatever power you already have been given to you. Why is that we have a better idea of the how... organic nanobots, neat.... than the why of a hundred coins collected or why have a prize at all? "The story ideas are from mangas because Mr Alien reads mangas" TRUE.... if also not a little early to pull "I'm not derivative" card. But then why are all the rest lies? It's pretty funny that Mr Alien is the first character in this series that I can clearly say is evil... and Elena states outright she killed her parents. Lying is more evil than outright murder? And we're back to cliffhanger plotting again. And... if the organic robots work off of human will then Shuichi has the scar around his neck because he imagined he should have a scar around his neck? Yeah, I really don't trust any of that. The head was talking so we're well past the need of physical explanations. |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2936 |
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#5
Here's an interesting twist: There are so many monsters looking for coins that some of them have formed clans and are claiming turf in the mountains where the alien spaceship crashed. Anyone who wanders into their territory is given the choice of servitude or death. Of course, Shuichi and Clair don't know any of this and are probably badly outgunned in the power department. Fortunately for them, the first monster they meet is quite the freak both in his monster form and his mental state. Sanbe is one of those who seeks strength for its own sake and is no longer constrained by human morals now that he's a monster himself. Getting him as an ally is MASSIVELY helpful for the pair of protagonists, he wants a good fight which those two together won't provide him and helping them on their coin search more or less guarantees him plenty of opportunities to test out his monster form on opponents more his size. The question is: Is Sanbe one of the strongest monsters in the mountain now? Or is the mountain populated by those similar to Erena in terms of power? If it's the latter, then they might be lured into a false sense of security defeating one of the scouts for one of the monster clans. |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2936 |
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#6
More allies for the pair of protagonists, but help (and people to manipulate) comes at a price. In Claire's case, betrayal of the group she has just joined will instantly kill her. Shuichi on the other hand gets to experience what it's like having a different "pilot". Being an altruistic softie might well be lead to his undoing, since Elena's group has picked up the wallet they're looking for. The collector with the camera head might well turn on the two new joiners if his jealousy gets the better of him. Considering how he was blackmailed by the monster killed last week, it's an indicator that the group Claire is about to join isn't top of the hierarchy. Even if Claire can somehow convince Sanbe into killing him to save their skins, there's only so much information Claire can get out of a weaker group. On top of it, she cannot leave the group as it would be a betrayal and her instant execution. Halfway mark, looks like the pacing is still going strong and no indication of the series getting delayed or cancelled. |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2936 |
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#7
Erena's group is as terrifying as Shuuichi expected them to be. After all, Claire's sister is capable of ripping off Shuuichi's mascot head off his shoulders so it makes sense her friends include a boy who has incorporated his own parents into a monster form which is strong enough to pulverise humans into chunks of meat. Shuuichi's mascot form has more mysteries the more he exposes himself into mortal danger. Viewers know he can survive without a head while he stays transformed, but he needs to get it reattached or he can never change back into a human. This week we learn even if he's pulverised into minced meat with an occupant inside of him, he still won't die. If anything, the two of them somehow changed into a third form which has surprising combat ability whilst enraged. Subaru's giant form is indeed imposing, but the core is just a human boy which needs a pair of monster arms to cocoon him from danger. Get past that, and he can be killed just like every other human. Had Erena not intervened him, both sides would have killed each other. No idea what Claire's bodyguard is capable of, but the weakling group she's joined has proclaimed he's the only one in their number who can actually fight to some extent. Claire doesn't think he's a match for Senbe or Erena, but it's better than her going out on her own to find Shuuichi. They've found the unconscious pair, so there will be some explaining to do once they retrieve them and return to the hideout in one piece. |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2936 |
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#8
One of the questions posed several weeks ago is partially answered; why is Elena so fixated with Shuuichi that she will bestow upon him the gift of transformation, yet Shuuichi himself cannot remember who Elena is. With the team introductions complete, it appears Shuuichi has been the subject of memory manipulation, in particular selective amnesia. Yoshioka's brief sojourn with Shuuichi has more significance than it first appeared. An unexpected bridge has formed between the two groups, but whether or not Elena will keep that link alive or will stub it out the next time they meet is the big question. Regardless, Shuuichi can no longer claim to be the innocent bystander caught up in events beyond his control. If the person who manipulated his memories is also involved in the coin hunt, he's destined to get involved no matter how hard he tries to hold on to his mundane lifestyle. Claire rightly suspected Yoshioka was holding out on her, but it will be so infuriating for her to learn that she never realised Shuuichi was subject to memory manipulation. Yoshioka has good grounds for her dismissive statement; Claire is using Shuuichi for her own ends like a tool and does not really care for his well being. It will be some feat if Claire can get past her jealousy and figure out Shuuichi's secret on her own, it will go some way towards resolving her own motives in this quest. The fanservice elements of this series are still present, but I'm sticking to this show more for its plot and action than anything else. Not sure how it's going to finish, or if there will be a continuation. |
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