English Dub Review: Gleipnir “Something Inside Me”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Shuichi Kagaya is a high school student living a normal life with good grades and nice friends. However, things have changed for him like his body with his eyesight and sense of smell. One night he smells a fire with someone inside and using a strange power he transforms into a dog cartoon mascot and rescues the girl out of the fire. The next day he’s nervous as he’s unable to find his phone when the girl from the fire approaches him telling him that she found his phone and calls him a monster. Shuichi tries to steal it back but is unable to find it.

He meets her on the rooftop and tries to convince her that what she saw wasn’t real. She leaves his phone on the edge of the building and when he goes to retrieve it she pushes him off the edge. He transforms and jumps back up as the girl applauds his boldness. She threatens to reveal his secret but Shuichi admits that he doesn’t know how he got this strange power. The girl later introduces herself as Clair Aoki and as a first-year. Later at her apartment, another girl shows up demanding the coin and when they subdue her she transforms as well.

Our Take:

Gleipnr kicks off with a mysterious beginning as a person is seen waking up and finding a gold star coin. The way it’s framed with television static at the edge of the screen was an interesting way of showing the person’s perspective and how it set up the parallel to Shuichi’s perspective in his monster form when he uses it.

After the opening, we see Shuichi in a meeting with his teacher and living a seemingly normal high school blending in without being able to reveal himself. His dialogue shows that he knows that he’s unlikely to get rid of his strange power and instead uses it to save Clair. We get a bit more of his intellect when confronting Clair as he considers his answers and the effect it’ll have on his life showing that his good grades aren’t just there to make him the best. Additionally, there’s the fact that he isn’t used to the form as his thoughts and movements project this. The animation on him punching the wall to escape with Clair was good with how the camera rotated. He also has a kind heart with the grave he made for the animal and his goal of saving Clair from the fire.

Then there’s Clair who searches for monsters like Shuichi to prove that they exist. It appears that she’s gone through a lot with trying to uncover monsters with her lines on no one believing her, and her suicide attempt which Shuichi foils. She’s comfortable in her own skin which is in stark contrast to Shuichi who keeps his instincts under control. However, her motive does bring up the question of her first encounter and why it makes her so fixated on this unknown part of the world.

Overall the first episode was good with the mystery surrounding the gold star coin and how it can grant special transformation powers. That cliffhanger on the unknown girl transforming her arms and legs to break free from Shuichi’s hold definitely has a fight in the next episode. Furthermore, her words on the coin granting the user power but in exchange for losing everything shows the unfortunate consequence of that power.