Gleipnir (2020)

[グレイプニル]

Director: Kazuhiro Yoneda
Studio: Pine Jam
Starring: Natsuki Hanae, Nao Toyama, Kana Hanazawa
Episodes: 13

Synopsis:
A boy who transforms into a superpowered mascot costume teams up with a classmate hunting for her sister who has powers of her own.

Impressions:
After seeing a clip of this, I had to see more. There's a Cronenbergian body horror aspect to the main character's transformation and there's some interesting psychological work with how these superpowers warp those who have them. While Natsuki Hanae's performance as Shuichi is pretty close to the sort of nice guy characters he's best known for, the borderline psychotic Clair is a stark contrast from Nao Toyama's usual roles. As we're looking at the darker side of human nature most of this time, this can be a fairly unpleasant watch and the gratuitous fanservice may repel some viewers further. That's not to say that I think this is bad, but I wouldn't say it's for everyone. I was particularly intrigued as Shuichi's backstory starts to unravel near the end, but we don't get to explore it too deeply due to the episode count. Going back to my earlier Cronenberg reference, if you're a fan of Cronenberg films, you'll probably like this. I'd say it's worth a watch, but be prepared for what you're going to be in for.

Rating:
Watch It