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So my theory as to why this show has a lower rating relative to the fact that every review recommends it so much is purely from missed expectations. One of which that the show is a slice of life surrounding everyone in the Astro Lodge. Every resident has something decently well written going on, which makes the main romance plot a little bit of a slow burn. Not too slow, but some people may have been going into it expecting to only see plot points that entirely revolve around the main couple's development. Luckily, it does progress fairly decently considering it's juggling so many different ... characters. The second mixed expectation comes from something that I think some people had stronger reactions too. Can't be sure how many reacted negatively compared to positively, but basically an elementary school boy ends up having an interest in wearing dresses. His father is supportive of the hobby at home but doesn't want him to get bullied so he doesn't allow it at school. You had to be there in the comment sections of whatever streaming service you use see how many people were upset at this. My verdict: if you unironically use the word "woke" to describe media, then you don't deserve this show and it doesn't deserve your rating. If you are a normal person that doesn't get mad when they see a child that doesn't want to conform to gender norms (in a cartoon literally about an apartment building full of weirdos), plus you like slice of life rom-coms, this show is for you! Hand's down the best part of Astro Note is the character dialogue. There are a lot of super wholesome moments that really make you care for characters. Even if their role is kind of small, they're all likeable in some way.

Update: Aight so I wrote this after ep3 came out, but now that ep 4 is out I'm entirely convinced this show is completely self aware of it's own tropes and is even trying to take advantage of it. Not by deconstructing what's bad or funny about them, but by actually justifying them. The tropes were just a hook so at first they may have seemed shallow, but the more episodes come out the more the tropes pay off in very clever and most of the time realistic ways for the characters. This includes the fanservice. I think the current low rating is probably gonna ... go up by a lot by the time the show is over.

This review is gonna be a little longer than I'd typically write because I'm also going to be countering some points already made by other reviews. Because of this there are some spoilers of the first couple episodes, but I don't think they're enough to take away from the experience. Tbh, this show is one of the most objectively high quality of this season, and I'd hate to see it get a lower rating than it deserves just because people like to think edgy=bad. This the wrong timeline if Darwin's game has the same rating or higher.

Story

For the sake of simplicity I'll separate story and characters by the who vs what's happening. The story, or the what, is a seinen death game setup. Death games have been done time and time again, so what makes Gleipnir different? Nothing except for the fact that it doesn't want to waste your time explaining what's obvious. For instance, the rules the gantz ball explains, the know-it-all yandare in Mirai Nikki and Darwin's Game that won't shut up, or the crazed billionaire/game-dev and his powerpoint presentation on a cargo plane in Kablooey!!!! Those shows are interesting, sure, but don't you ever get a little tired of characters explaining what literally just happened, or what was obvious from the first scene? In Gleipnir, we see the main character actively trying to hide his ability to shapeshift into a murderous furry suit from his high school friends. We also see him fight another shapeshifting monster (with the same weird plus symbol on her eye) as she tries to steal a coin from him. Both of these happen in the first episode, and the most anybody does to explain it in words is a hot blonde guy that spawns out of a weird vending machine (the character turns around and the camera looks away the moment he does this) asking you to find more star coins in exchange for some "power". That's it, and that's all it needs to be at the start to stay interesting. If I started questioning my life choices because a dude that came out of a vending machine and told me to find some more coins, I wouldn't be deep, I'd be schizophrenic. Wouldn't you be way more interested in how he came out of a vending machine, or how to stop magically turning into a creepy furry suit? I would be. And I get to be because that's what the show focuses on. Tell the story through the character's emotions, show the story through the character's actions. Not every anime's story has to follow that exact philosophy like a rule, but it's ideal for a death game not to get too overly ambitious in world building over the characters themselves. Although technically speaking, the vending machine guy and incredibly weird and disturbing magical power he bestows on people count as a mystery of world building. A mystery that I'm all in for watching the characters find out cause I want to know wtf that guy is about as much as they do. It'd be boring if somebody just explained it in the first episode. If not for the smooth pacing and wacky mysteries, it would be a 5-6 at most. But this story isn't bad, and it isn't great. It's a good 7/10

Characters

Aight so first you got your vending machine blonde guy. Not sure if I can associate him with that "unknown battle/death god that likes fucking with humanity" trope because I legitimately have no clue wtf this guy is. Done. That's all you need to know for now. That's all the show tells you. I'm intrigued, but the main character's body and the people trying to kill him are more pressing matters than the audiences curiosity (for now). Second, we got the "weak-minded" protagonist trope. Or so people are calling him after he saved a girl from a fire and spent half the first episode trying to live a normal life without letting a single hint of his powers slip. Is that weak-minded? Idk, I'd call that courageous and socially intelligent. On top of worrying more about whether someone's watching than whether he's in danger going into a burning building to save a girl, he also actually succeeds in acting like he still needs glasses for months. If you have glasses, take them off. If you don't, put on a friend's. Now go about your daily life for one day without squinting, feeling headaches or acting differently in any way. He's a complainer, for sure. But you'd be crazy not to feel like shit all the time. I mean cmon, man. I shouldn't have to explain this. Literally all of this applies to Peter Parker. This guy is just Peter Parker except with a way more humiliating and creepy power. Third, you got the yandere-chan. Except she isn't in love with the main character, she doesn't ever feel like killing people for his sake as opposed to her own desire to find out wtf is going on, and the most she'll ever do for the main character is die with him, not kill for him. The reason being that she was already trying to kill herself in that fire before he got in the way, so why not just end it there. Makes logical sense. Also, she seems to act pretty conflicted about her relationship with him. Makes emotional sense. Will that grow into love? Disdain? Maybe. Will she trust him with her life after saving her? Idk about that one. He barely stopped himself from pulling off her panties while she was still "unconscious" after he saved her. At first glance, that extra detail might be shameful fanservice/scummy, toxic masculinity in a main character, but in this case it was used as a tool to make both characters more interesting. Now we know our adolescent boy of a main character has the courage to jump into a fire to save a girl, as well as the restraint to not take advantage of her in any way after leaving her somewhere safe and calling an ambulance. Except because he's stressed af about his situation and is still a teen, he has difficulty doing both of these things. That makes sense, and now it also makes sense why this girl doesn't trust him that easily. And in the process, it also shows how little this girl cares about herself considering she pretended to be unconscious while he lifted her skirt. Tiny details, but if these details weren't added their relationship would be pretty damn boring. As far as characters go, those are probably the only ones to analyze. The show does a pretty good job giving their motivations, back stories and inner thoughts the right balance of screen time, but it also doesn't waste your time on characters if they arent as interesting as the main ones. There's a very clear difference in pacing between background-kuns, side characters, one off villains and the two mc. Characters aren't perfect, but pretty well thought-out. 8/10

Art

Time for my favorite category. This show... looks fucking beautiful. Take it from a professional animator, it's badass. I almost feel spoiled this season since literally every show I've watched so far has had really good visuals, even the isekai this season. Among those "good visuals" are about 3 I'd describe with "amazing animation". Then there's Gleipnir. Yup, Gleipnir has better animation than Brand New Animal and that was directed by Yoh Yoshinari (Animation director for Neon Genesis). That's not to say it's that much of a landslide difference. In fact, most people would disagree that one is better than the other. But in situations like that, being able to stay just as expressive as a show with cartoony visuals except with more realism or detail wins in my book. The designs are clean and sharp af with an artstyle reminiscent of of the late 2000s, so on top of being really good looking it's also super refreshing to see that style pop up again this well animated. And by well animated I mean best of the season. The fight scenes get to the same level of quality as the good episodes of naruto shippuden, and it really doesn't get much higher than that in this industry unless we're talking ghost in the shell or cowboy bebop the movie. I try not to use one punch man as a comparison in this case since that entire show had a different goal in mind for the action, but I'd believe Gleipnir has the same level of talent working on it as that. And while the storyboards and shot composition aren't in as iconic a style as the promised neverland or beastars, they can be just as cool-looking during the action and just as smooth during the acting. Easy-peasy very high key 10/10.

Sound

Unfortunately, the soundtrack hasn't stood out that much so far. That's not really a bad thing for a show like this. Definitely could be better, but aside from standing out it does match the tone of the scene pretty well. And while I don't remember too much of the soundtrack, the op is pretty cool and the ed is lit af imo. A solid 6, but mind you, I'm writing this two episodes in tho. Ofc, I'll keep up with Gleipnir and edit it later if I need too, but there hasn't been many huge game-changing moments in the story that has a super well placed soundtrack. And there also hasn't been a moment where I was put off by a weird sound that doesn't make much sense for what's going on. At the moment though, this category falls a little short compared to others. 6/10

Enjoyment/Overall

Honestly, enjoyment is so vague I'd almost call it pointless. Separating it from overall may be a good way to set bias aside from objectivity, but they're still final thoughts. So for starters, subjectively speaking I love this show and don't really want to talk about its flaws because what it does right is extremely well done. I'd easily give it a 9/10 in terms of my personal gut feeling on it. I like it a lot, and I'm gonna have a ton of fun watching it. Overall though, I can't ignore the soundtrack not being memorable or the opening being as skippable as it is. Therefore I give it a 7.5/10. Except that isn't possible so I'm rounding it up to 8. The artstyle compliments the characters really well and although flawed, the story doesn't actually detract from any of this. If it was a 7, I feel like it wouldn't properly imply the level of production value in this show, especially considering it actually got better in the second episode. I'm going to keep up with the episodes and change the review if need-be, but I have a good feeling this will apply to the rest of the show as well.