All 14 Gleipnir Manga Volumes: 88 Chapters, One Complete Story
Good news if you hate waiting between releases: Gleipnir is done. All 14 Gleipnir manga volumes — containing 88 chapters total — are available in English right now. No cliffhangers with no resolution, no indefinite pause in publication — just a full story from start to finish.
Created by Sun Takeda (武田すん), Gleipnir ran in Japan from October 2015 to July 2023, published by Kodansha. The English edition is published by Kodansha Comics. The series originally ran chapter by chapter in the Japanese magazine Young Magazine the 3rd before moving to Monthly Young Magazine — a common publishing model in manga, where individual chapters appear in magazines first and are later collected into the book-format volumes you buy off the shelf.
The premise hooks you fast: Shuichi Kagaya is a high schooler who can transform into a grotesque, oversized monster — one that looks disturbingly like a mascot costume. When a girl named Claire discovers his secret, the two form an uneasy partnership and get pulled into a violent, high-stakes conflict involving mysterious coins, an alien entity, and other people with their own terrifying transformations.
If you’re into body horror — a style of horror focused on disturbing, unnatural changes to the human body — along with psychological tension and supernatural mystery, Gleipnir delivers all three. And at 14 volumes, it’s a very manageable collection — short enough that you can buy and shelf the whole thing without reorganizing your bookcase, but long enough that the story has room to breathe.
How the Story Is Structured Across 14 Volumes
Gleipnir doesn’t follow a neat structure with officially named story segments, but the series moves through distinct phases that you can feel as you read. Here’s a rough breakdown without spoiling anything major.
Early Volumes (Roughly Vols. 1–3)
This is where the horror tone hits hardest and fastest. Shuichi’s transformation is genuinely unsettling — he doesn’t become a cool monster; he becomes something that looks wrong on a primal level. His dynamic with Claire is immediately tense and complicated. She’s not a damsel, and their “partnership” has a disturbing intimacy baked into the transformation mechanic itself.
These volumes establish the coin-gathering premise: scattered coins grant wishes through an alien entity, and various people are hunting them down, often violently. The mystery of why these coins exist and what the alien actually wants drives everything forward.
Middle Stretch (Roughly Vols. 4–8)
The cast expands significantly here. Rival groups emerge — organized factions of people with their own transformations and their own reasons for collecting coins. The body horror escalates as new abilities get introduced, and the moral complexity deepens. Characters make choices that are hard to judge cleanly, which keeps the tension high.
The pacing in this stretch reflects the series’ publishing history. Gleipnir moved from Young Magazine the 3rd to Monthly Young Magazine during its run, and the monthly schedule gave Sun Takeda room to build atmosphere and let scenes breathe rather than rushing through plot beats.
Final Stretch (Roughly Vols. 9–14)
The last third of the series pulls back the curtain on the alien entity’s true purpose and the real history behind the coins. This is where long-running mysteries get their answers, and the story builds toward climactic confrontations that bring the full cast into play.
Volume 14 provides a definitive conclusion — the kind where major plot threads actually resolve rather than trailing off. Whether you find the ending satisfying is subjective, but it’s a real ending, and that counts for a lot in manga.
Key Volumes at a Glance
Not every volume in a 14-book series carries equal weight. Here are the ones that serve as useful landmarks, whether you’re pacing your purchases or trying to figure out where the anime left off.
Vol. 1 (Japan: March 2016)
The series debut. Shuichi’s transformation and his encounter with Claire happen immediately — no slow burn. The horror tone is established within the first few chapters, and you’ll know very quickly whether this series is for you. If the body horror and the uncomfortable dynamics hook you, the rest of the series builds on exactly that foundation.
Vol. 5 (Japan: June 2018)
By this point, the faction conflicts are in full swing. The series has moved well past the initial two-person dynamic and into a larger, messier conflict with multiple sides. This is a good gut-check volume — if you’re still invested here, you’ll want to finish.
Vol. 8 (Japan: April 2020)
This volume released right around the window when the anime adaptation aired in 2020, making it a useful reference point for anime-first readers. If you watched the anime and want to continue in the manga, the material around this point in the series is where you’ll want to pay attention to what the anime covered versus what it skipped or condensed.
Vol. 10 (Japan: May 2021)
The story pivots toward its endgame here. Revelations start landing, and the tone shifts from “expanding mystery” to “answers are coming.” The pacing tightens noticeably.
Vol. 13 (Japan: January 2023)
The second-to-last volume. Major plot threads converge, and you can feel the series racing toward its conclusion. If you’ve been reading the mystery for the mystery’s sake, this is where the payoffs start stacking up.
Vol. 14 (Japan: July 2023)
The final volume. The coin mystery, the alien entity, and the character storylines all reach their conclusion. Sun Takeda wraps the story rather than leaving it open-ended, which is exactly what you want from a completed series.
| Volume | Japan Release | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Vol. 1 | March 2016 | Series debut, horror tone established |
| Vol. 5 | June 2018 | Faction conflicts intensify |
| Vol. 8 | April 2020 | Anime adaptation reference point |
| Vol. 10 | May 2021 | Endgame revelations begin |
| Vol. 13 | January 2023 | Second-to-last volume, threads converge |
| Vol. 14 | July 2023 | Final volume, complete conclusion |
Which Edition Should You Buy?
Let’s save you some searching: as of 2026, Gleipnir is available in English as individual single volumes from Kodansha USA. That’s the standard format, and it’s the format you’ll find at retailers.
No Omnibus or Deluxe Editions
If you’ve been hunting for an omnibus (a collected edition that bundles multiple volumes into one larger book), a box set, or a deluxe hardcover edition — none of those exist in English for Gleipnir as of 2026. Some manga series get collected editions after the single volumes are all out, but Gleipnir hasn’t received that treatment. Rather than keep searching, the single volumes are the way to go.
Digital vs. Physical
With only 14 volumes, Gleipnir is friendly to both formats. Physical collectors will appreciate that the full set takes up a modest amount of shelf space — roughly one shelf-width depending on your bookcase. Digital readers get the advantage of instant access and no storage concerns.
The artwork in Gleipnir is detailed, especially during transformation sequences, so if you’re a reader who wants to appreciate the drawn detail up close, physical volumes have a slight edge. But the digital versions are perfectly readable and convenient.
The Bottom Line on Editions
Single volumes are the standard and currently only English format. Fourteen books, one format, no decision paralysis. Grab them individually or pick them up over time — either approach works fine for a completed series. At standard manga retail pricing, the full 14-volume set is a realistic purchase even on a modest budget.
Where to Buy All 14 Gleipnir Manga Volumes
All 14 English volumes are published and available right now. Since the series is complete, there’s no waiting for future releases — you can read the whole thing from start to finish whenever you’re ready.
Amazon carries the full run of Gleipnir in both physical and digital formats. For a completed 14-volume series, it’s easy to pick up volumes individually or grab several at once.
Gleipnir
Beyond Amazon, you’ll find Gleipnir at major bookstores and manga specialty retailers — both online and in brick-and-mortar shops. If you prefer supporting local comic shops, Gleipnir’s Kodansha USA publishing makes it widely available through standard distribution channels.
For digital readers, the series is available on e-reading platforms. If you prefer reading on a tablet or phone, digital storefronts offer instant access without waiting for shipping.
A few practical notes on collecting the full set:
- 14 volumes is a modest and completist-friendly size. Compared to long-running series that span 30, 40, or 70+ volumes, completing Gleipnir is a realistic goal even on a tight budget.
- Completed series rarely go out of print quickly, but popular manga volumes can occasionally become temporarily hard to find in physical format. If you spot a volume you need, it’s generally worth picking up rather than waiting.
- Mixing physical and digital is totally fine. Some readers buy physical copies for volumes they love and go digital for the rest. No rules here — whatever gets you reading.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many volumes of Gleipnir are there?
14 volumes in both Japanese and English. The series contains 88 chapters total, and the entire run is complete and available. No more volumes are coming — this is the full story.
Is Gleipnir manga finished?
Yes, completely finished. The final volume (Vol. 14) released in July 2023 in Japan, and the full English run is also available. You can read the entire series from beginning to end right now without waiting for anything.
This is one of Gleipnir’s biggest selling points for new readers. There’s nothing worse than getting invested in a manga only to find out it’s been put on an extended, indefinite pause — or is years from finishing. That’s not a concern here.
Does Gleipnir have an anime adaptation?
Yes — a 13-episode TV anime adaptation (animated television series based on the manga) aired in 2020. The anime covers a portion of the manga’s story, so readers who watched the anime first will find plenty of new material in the later volumes. If you’re coming from the anime and want to continue in the manga, the volumes around the Vol. 7–8 range roughly correspond to where the anime’s 13 episodes leave off, though the anime condensed and rearranged some material — so reading from the beginning is worthwhile if you want the full picture.
Is Gleipnir a horror manga?
Absolutely. Gleipnir features body horror transformations — scenes centered on disturbing, unnatural changes to the human body — along with psychological manipulation and a supernatural mystery that gets darker as the series progresses. The transformation mechanic itself is designed to be unsettling — Shuichi doesn’t become something cool or powerful-looking. He becomes something deeply weird, and the series leans into that discomfort deliberately.
That said, Gleipnir isn’t purely horror. It blends supernatural mystery, action, and character drama throughout. The horror elements are most prominent in the transformation sequences and the violence surrounding the coin conflicts, but the series has enough variety to appeal to readers who enjoy dark manga broadly, not just strict horror fans.
The series does contain mature themes including violence, disturbing imagery, and sexual content — some of which is tied to the unsettling intimacy of the transformation mechanic mentioned above, and some of which is more straightforwardly gratuitous in the way that seinen manga (manga published in magazines aimed at adult male readers) sometimes is. This is not a series for younger readers, and readers sensitive to that type of content should be aware going in.
What order should I read Gleipnir in?
Straightforward: Vol. 1 through Vol. 14, in order. There are no companion series, prequel stories, side chapters, or alternate reading orders to worry about. One series, fourteen volumes, start to finish. That simplicity is genuinely refreshing.