WARNING: The following contains spoilers for GLEIPNIR Episode 1 "Something Inside of Me," now streaming on Funimation.

Weird anime is nothing new. There are plenty of bizarre and bewildering anime out there that offer horrific body transformations and grotesque monsters. However, few feature people shifting into gigantic stuffed animal beasts. This actually happens in the new Spring 2020 anime GLEIPNIR, a series focused on an otherwise normal teenage boy who one day realizes he can transform into a colossal stuffed animal monster.

Part werewolf story and part romantic comedy, GLEIPNIR is not quite like anything seen before. In order to fully absorb the bizarre horror nature of this series, it's vital to break down the first episode's revelations and how it presents anime's strangest shapeshifter ever.

Teenagers Undergo Changes

The protagonist is Shuichi Kagaya. He was a normal, gifted high schooler who still wants to conform to society's perspectives on what a normal high schooler is. However, he has a dark secret he keeps closeted up. An undetermined time before the series started, Shuichi started transforming into a giant stuffed dog monster. In this form, he's fuzzy, stitched together and has a holstered gun at his hip that may or may not be a toy... though he hasn't tried using it yet.

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His senses, even when not transformed, are incredibly heightened. He no longer needs his glasses and can smell the scent of people around him. He also has a far stronger sense of sexual attraction to those around him, which can sometimes overwhelm his senses, as seen when he leers on a girl he rescues. Speaking of which, due to his heightened senses, it is incredibly difficult for him to ignore those in need, from a dead animal in need of burying to a girl stuck helplessly inside a burning building.

More to the Lore

That rescue attempt turns out to be a bad idea, as the girl he saves, Claire Aoki, seems to be aware of these monsters. She had apparently tried to convince people that monsters existed, but no one believed her. If she is to be believed, she was going to burn up inside a building because she wanted to die and set the building on fire. Shuichi interrupted her suicide attempt, then left his phone at the scene.

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Claire uses this knowledge as blackmail to force Shuichi to help her to her own enigmatic ends. If the world found out about Shuichi, he'd either become a national celebrity or a lab experiment (probably the latter). She appears to know more about how Shuichi became a monster, since she has in her possession a coin that is somehow tied up with how these transformations begin.

When Shuichi and Claire are alone, a new stranger crashes into the apartment, seeking the coin. While at first this stranger appears to be in pursuit of Claire, once Shuichi reveals himself to be a monster, she transforms herself into a monster -- a far more feral, half-human looking monster.

Is This Body Horror?

Body horror is a genre of horror focused on the body's uncontrollable changes and transformations throughout. While many body horror anime, like Akira, Parasyte or GenoCyber, focus on how gory and brutal the transformations appear, GLEIPNIR substitutes grotesqueness with cuteness. Gone are bones snapping and flesh pealing; instead there's fuzzy cotton and claws. It's a werewolf story, but not necessarily a traditional horror story.

As of now, Shuichi is out of his element. These transformations make him stand out, going against his desire to conform. Will Shuichi ome to understand that he will never fit in and should embrace what makes him special, or will fight to remain normal, being forever in conflict with his newfound transformation abilities?

New episodes of GLEIPNIR arrive Sundays on FUNimation.

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