Gleipnir, Episode 4: Put Another Dime in the Jukebox, Baby

Elena gravely injures Shuuichi but directs him and Clair to a mysterious boy and his vending machine for healing and answers.

Episode 4 – “I Wish I Was Someone Else”

Hmm.

Gleipnir finally answered some questions. Here’s where Giorgio A. Tsoukalos from Ancient Aliens on the History Channel looks at you and says, “I’m not saying it was aliens, but it was aliens!”

Beautiful Blonde Boy has a vending machine full of hopes, dreams, and nanomachines. His ship full of Star Coins, which are the compressed stasis forms of his people, crash landed on Earth. Because he read a pile of garbage manga magazines, he’s granting nanomachine powers to anyone willing to collect those scattered Star Coins for him. We’re this far into the season, and there is no hint of Norse mythology. I think it’s time to lie back, read old magazines, leer at Clair in her underwear, and just enjoy the alien ride of Gleipnir.

This episode proved me wrong about Clair and Elena’s situation in Gleipnir. Elena is 100 percent homicidal yandere. Everyone she killed was on purpose, including her parents. Clair was totally innocent and legitimately driven suicidal by her sudden orphan status and that her sister, an unspeakable monster, was responsible. Thankfully for Clair, she met pure, pure boy Shuuichi and she’s doing much better now. Unfortunately, Gleipnir did not reveal that Clair probably met Shuuichi at cram school That’s fine.

I like the direction Gleipnir is taking Shuuichi’s character development. He has an edgy neck tattoo, stopped wearing glasses, scares bullies, and harbors a secret plan to save the world from BBB and his Star Coin people. Having a near death experience changed him for the better and gave him a shot of self-confidence. It’s too bad that Nana liked the mousy version because it looks like Shuuichi is staying with this new personality for the time being.

Heh.

We rejoin our regularly scheduled Gleipnir broadcast and OH MY LORD! Elena ripped Shuuichi’s head clean off! Elena makes the usual yandere noises, “I didn’t mean to do this! Why did you make me rip your head off? Why did you make me put your head in my school bag? Why did you make me put you in a shrine with my other rotting corpses?” You know, normal yandere stuff. Clair has lost it, understandably, but there’s no way those bullets are going to hurt Elena the Miasma Monster. Shuuichi’s handgun looks like a short barrel .357 Magnum Revolver. Are we going to find out the yuru-chara is a deputy sheriff of some kind?

Elena is strong. Whether it’s because she’s effective against Shuuichi’s costume, or that’s how she is in any situation remains for Gleipnir to explain. Elena doesn’t even seem surprised it’s her sister in there, but she also doesn’t seem to care one way or the other. Wow. Elena says she killed the Aoki parents because they deserved it. Maybe Elena killed them in a fit of rage like she tore Shuuichi’s head off and only justifies her actions after the fact. It’s hard to tell from Elena’s detached, fragile voice either way, but it’s clear that she boarded the Cuckoo Train to Crazy Town a long time ago. And what is up with that tragic Spanish guitar music in the background? Gleipnir’s tonal shifts are funny.

Eh? Elena has Star Coins to spare? Oh. Clair’s going to need it to pay the Beautiful Blonde Boy to fix Shuuichi’s costume. Hikawa the Hoodie Girl could have told them where to go for the vending machine, if Clair hadn’t shot her in the back. Ooh, a mysterious caller for Elena. I can feel the world of Gleipnir beginning to expand. Well, Shuuichi the severed head is going to stop Clair from killing herself again. Eh!? That is freaky! This is a good scene, though. Clair’s feelings for Shuuichi changed into something deeper.

Ah. Beautiful Blonde Boy is reading ecchi manga. That’s the right reaction to a severed head! “That looks like it hurts!” Uh, yeah! Hand over a Star Coin for a bottle of nanomachine energy drink. Delicious! Oh shoot! BBB explained it was a good thing Shuuichi didn’t revert to normal or he really would have died! People die when they are killed in Gleipnir. Nanomachine superglue. Hold it for at least one minute.

Wow. We went through almost half a Gleipnir episode without Clair showing her trim body and underwear. Let’s make up for that, shall we? Oh ho! BBB likes sexy bodies! He really has been reading the wrong kinds of manga. And he got a knee to the groin. It was Clair’s reflex! He was going to learn this lesson sooner or later. BBB talks like he’s an alien trying to blend in with the natives. And he can change forms by taking in DNA. Gleipnir has an awesome way to explain boring stuff! All this intimate talk of eating pubic hair and BBB still hasn’t given his name? How rude! Aw, crap. If this story is about aliens and a spaceship crashing, how the heck does Norse mythology fit in? This isn’t going to be like Bleach, is it?

Shuuichi and Clair are totally at the beginning of this visual novel. Nobody told them anything! Nothing about aliens, collecting Star Coins, nanomachines, and other coin collectors. What happened to Gleipnir, Fenrir, dwarfs, and Ragnarok? Is somebody going to try to kill Odin? What am I watching here? Oh, right. I’m watching Clair in her underwear. Gotcha.

BBB says Shuuichi’s wolf costume is his ideal form. This is news to Shuuichi! It’s going to be a while before Gleipnir shows Elena admitting she did this to him. Yay! BBB’s nanomachines fixed Shuuichi’s head. Aw. Clair is happy he’s okay. More than happy.

Boo. BBB went back to his, er, beautiful blonde boy form to explain his alien origin story. It doesn’t sound like he’s one of the leaders from the spaceship. Blargh. Gleipnir even has a flying saucer. BBB is trying to bribe these “gatherers” with becoming manga superheroes. I’m shaking my head and laughing. BBB is truly naïve!

Clair isn’t suicidal anymore. She has Shuuichi! No pressure there, bub. Is the musical score schmaltzy or ironically schmaltzy? Does it even matter? I’m entertained by this sudden tonal shift to lovey-dovey hope after BBB told them “it was aliens!” It’s also a recap of the first four episodes, so Gleipnir tells us the story is changing after this.

Look at Shuuichi playing Peter Parker after the radioactive spider bit him. No glasses, strong like a bull, not letting bullies have their way. Nana doesn’t like this confident Shuuichi one bit. Gleipnir is making Nana Shuuichi’s touchstone to normalcy. Save the world from abused alien powers for Nana! Har. Unfortunately for Shuuichi, he is the man character.

Next time on Gleipnir, Shuuichi goes alien-hunting with Clair. Or a nice private hike in the woods with his crazy nudist girlfriend? I think I just repeated myself.

Gleipnir streams weekly in North America on Funimation.