Gleipnir, Episode 5: With a Little Help from My Friends

Shuuichi and Clair look for answers in the mountains and meet some of the strange “Gatherers.”

Episode 5 – “Crazy Enemies”

Hmm.

Gleipnir gave Shuuichi some trustworthy help. If you ever have voice actor Hiroki Yasumoto call you a man, you better believe you’re a man. His deep voice animates Elfman from Fairy Tail and Kinjou from Yowamushi Pedal. Elfman calls everyone a man, even women, if they do something good and Kinjou is the kind of man boys want to be. Yasumoto’s voice is just about the manliest thing in anime today, so if one of his characters says something is manly, just take it. If a main character doesn’t believe it, he’ll work to make it true. Shuuichi is truly on the path to confident strength if Sanbe, his new alien-powered friend, says so.

I have mixed feelings about this part of Gleipnir’s story because it feels too much like the chuunin exams in the forest from Naruto. Enemies could be anywhere, they’re all looking for the same thing, but there’s still a chance our heroes can make temporary alliances. Because the story elements feel so familiar, it’s easy to look forward to what the creators invent in the form of nanomachine superheroes. At the same time, it’s disappointing. Since Gleipnir’s main hero and heroine have novel appearances and circumstances, I hoped that novelty would carry over into the main plot. For a few episodes, it did, but now we have the stale narrative of competing forces searching for the same MacGuffin. What isn’t growing stale is Clair’s underwear patterns. I love how they’re different every time she takes off her clothes!

Heh.

Ooh. Gleipnir has a cutie glasses-wearing Gatherer. Not all the Gatherers are going to be cute. There’s going to be a variety of freaks and geeks. This is a nice intro for what Clair and Shuuichi are going to face. New rules, new players.

Pfft. I hate these flash forward plot devices. We just had a scene between two Gatherers about to throw down. Gleipnir didn’t need to show Clair and Shuuichi getting into a fight to heighten the tension. Repetitive.

Here we go. Let’s start at the beginning of Shuuichi and Clair’s date in the woods. Ugh. Shuuichi is still being wishy-washy about protecting himself against other monsters. Clair doesn’t want to preemptively attack everyone either, because they need information, so ask questions first, shoot later is where they both agree. Uh, did Gleipnir skip over the part where Clair explains what the red X’s on her map mean? I suspect all these shadowy “monsters” will correspond to actual characters we’ll meet.

Clair explains they need to act like masked superheroes so bad guys don’t uncover their real identities and bring their acquaintances and family into this alien trouble. I take it Shuuichi doesn’t read American hero comics.

Oh good. Shuuichi’s sensitive nose will be helpful in this situation. Yup. Time for Clair to get naked. Gleipnir is still doing this part right. Clair has had a different set of underwear every time! Well. That guy looks like a monster. He seems polite. And we’re caught up to the useless flash forward.

This is good character development. Each Gatherer is going to have their own motivation and this guy just wants to see if he can beat other monsters. It would be nice to see Gleipnir explain how the nanomachines settle on the monster’s final form. I can still hope for exposition.

Ha! Clair didn’t expect Shuuichi to rush in! Ah. Gleipnir made Shuuichi a Shouty McShouterson type of fighter. Very annoying. Also, blade-fists took his punch. Let Clair handle this stuff. Blam! Clair showed Shuuichi how to punch somebody. Eep. This monster guy is a tank. Oh! This guy is respectful and nice. He was telling the truth about gauging his strength against other Gatherers. Still, these two sides need to bridge a distance to overcome their mistrust. Ouch. That guy took the bullet from Shuuichi’s gun, but it didn’t kill him.

Wow! Look at Gleipnir’s manly man with his manly voice. He looks like a stone Buddha. He talks like Sado from Bleach. And he has honor. I think Shuuichi and Clair just made an ally in this whole alien business. Tadanori Sanbe is a university student. Oh, oops. He needs to try to kill them back in fair trade. That’s more like chivalry. Interesting. Sanbe wants to create a martial art for his monster form. Clair and Shuuichi can help, but do they want to? Sanbe’s coiled spring stance looks dangerous. A real enemy wouldn’t let him take so long to charge up. “Would you like to see it?” Hell no!

Ach. Gleipnir gives us an extended fight scene. Shuuichi rushed in again. Get in close to be inside those blade-fists. But Sanbe knows other martial arts for this situation. Oh ho! Two against one! This is good too, since these kinds of fights always mean one side needs to figure out how the other side fights. This is just like those shounen titles Bleach, Naruto, Fairy Tail, or One Piece. Man, that’s a big gun in Clair’s hand. Can she fire it safely? See? Sanbe is an honorable man. He worries the gun’s recoil will hurt Clair. He won’t let a normal girl die in his test of monster strength. Shuuichi and Clair’s conviction to win was stronger than his.

Um, uh oh. There’s another Gatherer out there watching, and he likes Clair. Who wouldn’t? Clair’s divine punishment on Sanbe is to be his LINE buddy. Hahaha! Sanbe doesn’t have a smartphone because it isn’t manly! Hearing Sanbe’s voice actor talk about manliness is just too perfect. Gleipnir has good gag reaction shots and comedic timing! Aw. Sanbe is just like Shuuichi in telling Clair to put her clothes back on.

There’s that other Gatherer. Ugh. That dude looks just like a green Titan. Cut the nape of his neck! I didn’t think Levi would make a cameo in Gleipnir. Oh, that’s a nice touch. Shuuichi didn’t smell that guy coming because he was downwind. He’ll have to hone his hunter-prey skills in the forest. We saw these painted symbols on the trees in the prologue. Gatherer groups mark their territory with gang tags. Sanbe had enough of this guy’s crap. People die when they are killed in Gleipnir…

Oh boy. That is not a sane laugh, Clair. It’s rare for Gleipnir to show anyone as sane. Oh, she’s just relieved that Sanbe is an outlier when it comes to Gatherers’ offensive and defensive capabilities. Clair has decided. Sanbe is in her group. Shuuichi knows the futility in arguing with her. Sanbe appreciates the idea that this crazy chick is going to attract a lot of violence to test his powers. Look at Clair blush at Shuuichi being so protective of her. Sanbe’s deep voice pronounced Shuuichi a real man! Become a man, Shuuichi! I like this Sanbe guy.

Gleipnir streams weekly on Funimation.