Clair and Shuuichi practice their teamwork. Later, they search for clues to find Clair’s sister Elena.
Episode 3 – “Elena”
Hmm.
Gleipnir mixed rom-com slice of life with supernatural thriller and dropped a fatal attraction yandere on us at the end. I liked it! Clair’s a funny girl. Shuuichi is a neat freak and wants to nurture her. Nana is still getting NTR’ed. And just as these two kooky kids are planning a date — sniff, sniff. That was a good change-up to keep the audience focused on what we’re here for. Yes, that’s watching Clair in her underwear wrapped up in a meat suit. Now, if Elena looks better in there than Clair, we might get a real catfight on our hands. Kitties fighting over a puppy! Gleipnir is embracing an irreverent tone.
That irreverent tone helps Gleipnir when it switches up that romantic comedy vibe by showing all the love interests as yandere types. We’ve seen Clair in action already, but she’s only slightly yandere. She’s in the crazy girlfriend category, not necessarily full yandere. However, her sister Elena, oh yeah. Homicidally possessive! I just need to see what Nana can do, and I think Gleipnir is ready to mix in all the other monsters Clair and Shuuichi will meet.
Heh.
Beautiful Blonde Boy needs to get all those Star Coins back, but only people can find them for him. Using technologically advanced metal detectors is no good for those things, whatever they are. For that matter, whoever BBB is. Okay, he confirmed he’s naïve about the people of Earth. We are not all good people, as Hikawa the Hoodie Girl already proved. Well, Gleipnir still has other mysteries to reveal. But first, Clair needs to satisfy her revenge plot against her sister, Elena.
Just clean her apartment already, Shuuichi. You’ve got to scratch that itch. Gleipnir has Clair surviving on cup ramen and Calorie Mate blocks. Okay, where is she hiding her gaming PC rig? Or does she have a closet full of manga magazines and figurine boxes? These eating habits point to the otaku lifestyle instead of just the lazy, messy girl one.
Ah. These two are “practicing” on a lazy Sunday. Getting sweaty with a crazy hot girl is living the life. Or is she a hot, crazy girl? Word order and commas are important. This dialog is great. Gleipnir maintains the sexual innuendo context for our main pair “becoming one.” Har. She’s calling his mascot costume his “doggy” form. Clair is practical. Why mess up her clothes and underwear with Shuuichi’s gooey innards? Haha! No nudity, but a school swimsuit is okay. Clair claims Shuuichi has a fetish. Best not to argue any more, Shuuichi.
Shuuichi should pack more calories in during the day. That kind of scrawniness looks like malnourishment. Gleipnir gives good exposition here. These two can feel each other’s sensations, like nervousness and heartrate, but can’t read each other’s thoughts. I wonder if there’s an intimacy scale to how this works. Interesting. The suit can move on its own, obviously, but the wearer has precedence over its actions. Hahaha. Clair is cute. She’s tickling Shuuichi. Gleipnir has chosen them as OTP (One True Pair). Sorry, Nana. Sorry, Elena.
Nice. Shuuichi scratched his itch. In return for satisfying his pegging, school swimsuit, and tickling fetishes, Clair let Shuuichi clean her apartment. Equivalent exchange, it appears to me. Clair calls his freaky neatness another fetish. Gleipnir keeps rolling them out. Clair is totally a bachelor. Only bottled water and Calorie Mate blocks in her refrigerator.
Ah. Enough of the girlfriend experience. Gleipnir shifts back to searching for Clair’s sister, Elena. Shuuichi’s sensitive sniffer will recognize all the different people Elena has killed while wearing her school uniform. We need to accept that Elena caused a lot of mayhem before she disappeared. There’s still some doubt about how much responsibility she bears, like whether she was in control of her new monster self, but there were so many different people’s blood on her clothes.
Gleipnir is going to make the OTP play detective. They need to stock up for a stakeout! This store clerk has a lot of flare going on. Braids and a big, colorful hairclip? Maybe we’ll see her again. Aw. Nana saw Shuuichi sitting with Clair. NTR again. The stakeout location is an abandoned building near the train station students from Elena’s school would use. Shuuichi just needs to get a whiff of one of the scents on Elena’s clothes.
Eh? Clair called her sister a slut. She’s not actually a slut, right? Oh. Clair is just calling her a bad name. Barely related, Clair is a virgin. She’s giving hints, Shuuichi! Clair claims she’s not good with scary movies… See, Gleipnir? You can do it if you try. Build up our hopes that these two are continuing this rom-com slice of life by going on a movie date, and BAM! Here comes the miasma monster herself, Elena.
It looks like Shuuichi transformed like a reflex when he smelled Elena. Gleipnir piled on another clue about how Elena and Shuuichi relate to each other. Ooh. Clair recognized her sister. Clair is always ready to jump Shuuchi, er, jump inside Shuuichi. Clair literally wants to shoot first and ask questions later. Sounds like a good plan against a “murderous demon.”
I realize Gleipnir uses Shuuichi’s wimpy waffling to add doubtful suspense about Clair’s decisive actions, but it makes me grind my teeth in annoyance. Clair’s plan isn’t just to exact vengeful pain on Elena. It’s also for the safety of all the people at the train station. Shuuichi is not impressive here. Aargh. Baka Shuuichi. He almost made Clair shoot Elena in the head. He’s lucky Elena has other plans.
The background horror music and how she still has human hands holding onto the wolf costume is good stuff. Gleipnir introduced Elena effectively! I suspect already that Elena is supposed to be the other half of Shuuichi’s power, but I want to hear all the sordid details. Elena sounds so cute! It’s like she accidentally fell into her chance to make a love confession. She’s a shy girl who can’t talk to guys.
Gleipnir’s change in tone is hilarious. She knows she’s talking to Shuuichi. Eh, Shuuichi has a type too. He likes awkward, shy girls. Nana is still in the running. Too bad, Clair. Sisters fighting over a guy is a “mania” too. Clair receives shocks from what her sister says. Poor communication skills on Elena’s part is an understatement. Here’s the confirmation from that flashback in Gleipnir’s last episode, but we’ll have to wait for the next episode to hear how Elena knows Shuuichi.
Oh no. Here comes the yandere! Another woman took Elena’s place inside Shuuichi? Unforgivable! OUCH! She’s ripped his head off! He’s going to feel that in the morning. Shuuichi can walk that off, right? Right? Gleipnir gave us a good cliffhanger. Well done.
Gleipnir is currently streaming weekly in North America on Funimation.
