Manga Reviews (2010-2019): Gleipnir vol. 1 by Takeda Sun (a Neo-Tokyo 2099 Manga Review)

While this is just the first volume, I do enjoy the series and miman’s artwork. And while it’s too early to judge, I will say I enjoyed what I read and can’t wait to read more volumes of “Yuri Is My Job!”!

MANGA TITLE: Gleipnir vol. 1

BY: Takeda Sun

FIRST PUBLISHED IN JAPAN: Kodansha

PUBLISHED IN USA BY: Kodansha Comics

RELEASE DATE: March 19, 2019

Shuichi Kagaya an ordinary high school kid in a boring little town. But when a beautiful classmate is caught in a warehouse fire, he discovers a mysterious power: He can transform into a furry dog with an oversized revolver and a zipper down his back. He saves the girl’s life, sharing his secret with her. But she’s searching for the sister who killed her family, and she doesn’t care how degrading it gets: She will use Shuichi to accomplish her mission…

Since 2015, “Gleipnir”, a manga series created by Takeda Sun has been featured on Kodansha’s “Young Magazine”.

With a total of six tankobon volumes printed, the manga series was released in North America courtesy of Kodansha and a new anime series adaptation was announced by Pine Jam.

The first volume of the manga series begins with a bright student named Kagaya who refused the Principal’s Recommendation.

The reason being is because Kagaya has been transforming into a monster and he doesn’t know why.

One day, while walking home, his ability has allowed him to smell from very far away and detect someone in a burning building. While his first inclination is not to help and not risk people discovering what he truly is, Kagaya transforms into a monster.

Literally, some type of wolf with a wolf mask wearing shorts, a mascot suit with suspenders and has a gun right next to his right hip.

Kagaya in monster form ends up saving the girl and glad no one saw him. But he is not aware that the girl he saves is awake.

Kagaya puts her outside and his impulses after seeing her bra exposed and panties, makes him want to pull it off but he manages to stop and question what he was doing and turning back to human.

As the burning building is the big talk around the school, Kagaya realizes he left his phone near the scene of the burning building and worries someone will know he was there.

And at school, the girl he saves (her name is Claire Aoki) ends up showing him his smartphone and tells him that she is interested in monsters like him and does all she can to rile him up and trying to make him turn into a monster.

And now she feels she can control Kagaya and has him under her control or she will reveal his secret in public?

Kagaya realizing that the girl he saved, may not be a nice girl at all. But what will happen the more he spends time with her?

Overall, “Gleipnir” is a interesting manga series and in some way, it does remind me a little of Shuzo Oshimi’s “The Flowers of Evil” and how a not-so-nice girl ends up trying to control the protagonist and berates him and treats him like crap, while the protagonist does nothing but let himself be emotionally tortured.

In the case of “Gleipnir”, Kagaya doesn’t want anyone to know he is a monster, while Claire likes the fact that now that she has a monster she can control and manipulate via blackmail.

We do see that other monsters exist and that someone is responsible of turning them to monsters. And when these monsters go to attack Kagaya, he realizes that having Claire by his side, may be his way of surviving. But at the same time, having someone as cold and calculating like her, could be the death of him.

The manga series for the most part is drawn well and Takeda Sun does include a bit of perverted fan service, so this is not a manga to have young children reading. And there is violence involved as well.

But for the older readers who like action-based manga series with an interesting plot, may find “Gleipnir” to be a manga series that they will definitely enjoy.

Overall, for the first volume, I do recommend “Gleipnir” but I’m curious to see where the manga series goes from here!

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