Gleipnir
a review by DmitriFearthian
a review by DmitriFearthian
After hearing about Gleipnir in early April, its summary and poster art really caught my eye. I love stories that that make you think and that put characters into morally questionable scenarios. I eat this stuff up.
Gleipnir, though... well, hmm.
It had potential, but didn't always live up to it.
If you don't like that, just run. If you do, stick around.
There were moments where I caught myself getting real deep into thought about where Gleipnir was going to go next, but an equal amount of time also feeling like I watched an episode that did nothing and went nowhere. It ended up being less of a rewarding puzzle and more like a boring scavenger hunt.
While I did get really interested in where it was going by the end, and was definitely interested the whole way through, I can't get behind this show's reasoning for dumping exposition on us for an entire 23 minutes in the second last episode, just for the final episode to leave us on a cliffhanger and drop just as many plot threads as it tied up. The ending is the strongest part of this anime, but that's not saying much. It's like an ice cream cone at the end of a rocky date: makes you feel better, but doesn't make what you went through any less frustrating.
(and I know how this feels first hand)
All this being said, I can't restate how much I loved the premise of this plot and how it could have been executed. By the end, I was starving for information but had no way to properly digest all of it, and the mental gymnastics I had to do to fill in all those plot holes didn't help.
The plot, as a whole, was average, but really aches for some more love.
I know Gleipnir is supposed to have a dark, mysterious, uncertain tone, but this show needs to stop taking itself so seriously sometimes. It's 13 episodes of dark all the way through, and they decided to spend all their MP on "comic relief" within the first episode. Otherwise, maybe any jokes that did exist elsewhere didn't land for me.
Gleipnir also has a problem of saying so little and expecting so much of you at the same time. I found myself just groaning at overly pretentious dialogue and at how our cast never really showed any emotions other than these few:
A lot of the conversations our characters have with each other don't feel natural or human. They feel very, well, off-kilter and unpolished. It rips you out of any sense of immersion and landed me squarely into the "sorry, I gotta go back and listen to that again" territory.
The exposition dump further highlights the inconsistent stream of exposition that prefaced it. I got frustrated trying to put together the few threads the writers gave me, and felt worse when all of it just got shoved in my face at the last second.
Gleipnir is good at building tension, don't get me wrong, but is horrible at giving satisfying payoffs. They either fall flat on their face, or build tension between episodes that gets cut off by a shift in timeline or narrative pacing.
Gleipnir sucks at subtlety.
Gleipnir's characters do have depth if you're looking for it, but not a lot of it. Much of the cast is quite one-note until something forces them to change on a dime to fit a plot point. Much of the cast that is crucial understanding to the overarching story isn't expanded (hell, mentioned really) upon until the exposition dump, which really sours the mood. I can't get invested in characters that I've only heard about once, and much too late at that. I want to chew on their character profiles and use those to predict what's going to happen, even if they don't get much screen time.
Another issue that Gleipnir has is that it too often gives you a character and takes them away just as fast. This happens more in the first half and within the first couple arcs, but it's not any less annoying. The two characters I'm thinking of also have no real apparent weight to the plot: they're filler and treated poorly because they are treated as filler. It's unfortunate, because I think they could be pretty cool to see more of.
Our reappearing main and supporting cast gets developed okay, I guess, but they still stay pretty flat until the end. The supporting cast that you'll spend quite a bit of time with does function well as good vectors for the plot, and show off the writer's potential for storytelling.
By the end, though, it's almost too late for me to care, even though I still do care. Confused? Yeah, that's how I feel.
There are some beautiful shots and scenes in Gleipnir.
There definitely are. One of them comes in about midway through Episode 12, and I paused the episode to admire it.
It was drawn, composed, and coloured so well. I just couldn't get enough of it. The monster designs were also really unique and pretty damn cool. The opening and ending really show off the talent of the visual artists at PINE JAM too.
Again, and this is kind of a theme with Gleipnir, is inconsistency.
In my opinion, the majority of the fight scenes are bland. A couple are really sick, but most of them are slow, dull, poorly choreographed, and sometimes choppily animated. All this really takes me out of the mood. They're peppered with dialogue that stops the combat outright, and impacts often have very little weight.
One more thing: composing your shots to show butts gets aggravating after the 20th time.
This show rides the line of hentai territory a couple times, and it weirds me out a bit because I think it has no reason to. There's nothing wrong with ecchi elements in shows, but Gleipnir handles them weirdly in my opinion. I have a note on my phone that I made while watching that says this:
"chill out broski, we need some breaks from the dark that aren't just softcore porn or what is just a hop skip and a jump to hentai"
Maybe that's too gutteral a reaction, but take it for what you will. I like boobies and butts, but not when I'm trying to focus on a serious moment or a character that, because of boobies and butts, now only has 30% of the frame to stand in.
Just respect the boobs and the butts better, and we'll be good, okay?
My pride and joy, and hey, what I think is the best part of Gleipnir.
There is a lot of love put into this soundtrack. Songs are usually episode-specific, and often do a good job of helping out the weight of the scene they're paired with. Not always, but often.
I also love how the composer in charge of Gleipnir's score was willing to be creative and experimental while maintaining a dark, powerful aesthetic. The OST bounces through many different tones, usually staying under the umbrella what I'd describe as electro-orchestral, isn't afraid to change up the instrumentation, and is pretty fun to listen to.
Why though is the opening so close to being a literal banger? I think this comes from sparse orchestration at the climax of the short version used for the opening, which really kills off what could be a powerful payoff for all the tension that was built up. It feels unfinished, and not in a finished way. That doesn't mean it isn't good, cause it is, but it could be amazing. It did grow on me over time.
My favourite track is Gleipnir's ending track. It really captures the mood of the show, but also falls victim to the issues of the opening.
After listening to these two tracks' full versions, these issues are ironed out, but how they're edited for the Gleipnir's opening and ending hurts them. H-el-ical and Mili do great jobs performing the opening and ending (respectively), can't forget about them.
Honestly, I didn't sit down and watch this for the music, so I didn't pick up on things like leitmotifs and more specific musical elements that could assist the show narratively (great technique by the way, try to tell your story or foreshadow not with words, but with music - trust your composer and fill us in! ?), but I enjoyed it regardless.
Some moments, like I mentioned, are ruined by poor musical choices, but I don't recall this being the norm.
Hey, nothing's perfect!
Maybe I was too harsh, but I still think the music was good. Don't kill me.
By the end, I wanted to really like this, but I couldn't, and that made me sad. I enjoyed Gleipnir's premise and held out for its potential, but didn't like its execution. PINE JAM's ability to weave a good narrative does come through, but in a manner so inconsistent that it just becomes frustrating, and much too late for many watchers to probably care. This inconsistency bleeds into every aspect of the show and does such a disservice to what could have been a mighty fine anime.
Is this utter trash? No.
Did I personally enjoy it? Well, no, but not as hard of a no as the one above.
Do I think there are people that will be able to look past its flaws? Definitely.
I think PINE JAM should have waited for the manga to finish before working on this show, because I think the anime adaptation could have been so much better had they had complete source material.
Personally, I cannot say "go watch Gleipnir right now!", but I can't stop you, reader of this review, nor do I want to. I'll just tell you to proceed with caution, and go in with as few expectations as possible. If you enjoy it, I'm glad to hear it. If you don't, that's okay too.
And, hey, if you're someone who already watched Gleipnir and is reading this to see how someone else felt about it, the same applies. It's your opinion, after all! ?
Hey, thanks for sticking it through till the end! I hope you enjoyed what will be the first of hopefully many more reviews of the anime I watch!
If you liked my review and want to hear what I think about other anime, why don't you drop me a follow here on Anilist? Since my completion of Toradora!, I leave notes on my experiences for the anime I complete on my list, so you can kind of get a feel for the review before it's even complete!
I'd also love to see what you have to say about the shows you've watched and make some more anime/manga-loving friends by dropping you a follow too!
(I also make music, poetry, and other stuff, so maybe hit ya boi up and drop a follow on Instagram too?(@vladcmcreates)).
Alright, shameless plug over. Dmitri, the anime noob, signing off. Be nice out there, friends.
kweh.
(sorry I love chocobos)
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