Alien shape-shifter is stranded in a vast ice/snow desert. When wolf appears, the life form takes its shape, imitating wolf's body functions. Soon after, it meets a human (from native tribe) and assumes his form. Being incompetent at acting human, alien is immediately recognised as "monster" at first encounter with other humans.
Bear with me, I'm not describing classic 1982 horror film "The Thing", really! ;)
In this show "the thing" is not predatory and it takes the shape of creatures that have died, reproducing even wounds and (on one instance) the arrow that caused the wound.
An innocent child meets that shape-shifting life form and treats him as sibling for his human appearance. Not creepy at all...
Being completely and utterly inhuman, the thing (referred to as "the orb" in the show, later getting a name) slowly learns to speak and mimic emotions, although one can probably say that none of that behaviour is anything more than imitation. Narrator refers to evolution that "the thing" experiences from human tragedy as "stimulation".
In episode 11 narrator says: "... life as a human being is a repetition of mundane events lacking enough stimulation." (2:34)
Emotionally manipulative show starts as high-intensity drama, trying to hurt viewers' feelings from the very beginning with a tragedy of a young man dying alone, then a situation with innocent adorable child who is about to be sacrificed by its tribe. "The thing" hangs around making dramatic story of saving the child more interesting. The show tells adventure story of "the thing" learning to understand humans better (like if it cares for anything more than thrill of "stimulation" it experiences) and obtaining an individuality of its own...
The show is emotionally merciless to viewers for no good reason. You might enjoy the show for (cheap) drama if you consider medium emotional torture as a good way to pass time. Having said that, the show have some good story telling, pleasant graphics and quality audio that compliments the show and makes it watchable. After several episodes intensity of the show declines but so is the quality of story telling.
https://myanimelist.net/anime/41025/Fumetsu_no_Anata_e
https://anidb.net/anime/15351
