Ranked #151

Elfen Lied

Elfen Lied: Infamous for its bloody mess of gore, cruelty and nudity. A combination that could make many a person turn away. Yet, a huge number of people watch this, knowing (to some extent) what they're going into, and it's one of the more popular and well-rated series here on MAL. Some people call it a 'masterpiece', people some call it 'perverted', some people don't know what to say, and some call it 'horrible'. The first is true, the second is an exaggeration, the third is understandable, and the fourth is so wrong.

The first episode starts off with what is the bloodiest and nuditiest 10 minutes of any show I've ever watched, and I'll tell you this: If you live through that, you'll live through the series. And vice versa. Lucy, a naked girl of the Diclonius race, a species of mutant humans with invisible 'arms' called Vectors, is escaping from a facility (more like assaulting her way out), killing countless guards and whatnot on her way out (all in the nude). When she's finally outside, she's sniped, but she doesn't die. Instead, two teenage cousins (the two other main characters), Kouta and Yuka, discovers her on a beach. She has lost her memories, and is only capable of saying "Nyu", which is what Kouta and Yuka names her. They also decide to take her home, and

The story suddenly drops severely in its gore level there, and slowly builds up again throughout the remaining twelve episodes. Along with the gore come cruel events upon cruel events, as more Diclonii and their sad pasts are revealed. Nyuu 'awakens' as Lucy more frequently as the story progresses, in the end completely reverting to her old self. However, there might be an obstacle preventing her from going completely psychotic...

The characters are all okay, though they do act really stupid at times (if you find a girl with horns lying drenched in blood on the beach, you don't just take her home and decide to keep here there, do you?). They've all got some back stories, which contents are mostly those of cruelty, blood and relationships. Especially note the latter; relationships. It's an important aspect of the series, as they are the main factor as to why the Diclonius are so "cruel" as they are. "Cruel" because they aren't the real cruel ones; that dubious honor goes to the humans. Treating the Diclonius as mere research subjects, being shunned by the very people who should take care of them, and being killed off for stupid reasons. Among the main characters, their love (there is a love triangle between Kouta, Yuka and Nyu/Lucy), broken promises, lies and "lies" have all had their effect on how they are in the present, and what happened some years ago is connected to their development in the present day.

The series is only 13 episodes long, and in that short time quite a lot happens, which may make it seem rushed at times; it does move forward at a too high pace. The end result however, is actually extremely good, and a really tragic, enjoyable and gory experience.

The artwork is extremely good, yet very average. While backgrounds and scenic details are very meticulous and a real pleasure to the eyes, the character designs are way below what you'd expect after seeing the backgrounds. There is too little detail on them, the coloring is too bland, and they don’t fit in with the detailed surroundings in any way. The camerawork is very good at times though; at the rare occasion it reminded me more of the camerawork used in anime movies rather than anime series. The artwork during the opening theme is pretty interesting too; I think it's based an Austrian painter (Gustav Klimt)'s works.

The soundtrack is decent, with a marvelous Latin opening theme named Lilium that fits right into the series' overall tone, and an ending theme that, while a bit more cheerful, fits in with the love triangle between the main characters. The background music during the series is very repetitive at first; just a bunch of instrumental variations of Lilium. It gets better a few episodes into the series though, but overall I feel they used the variations of Lilium too much.

All in all Elfen Lied is a anime that does a very audacious thing by having so much cruelty, gore and nudity in one series, but the end result is a masterpiece anime that wouldn't have been good without. Just remember that it doesn't have the R+ rating for no reason - events ranging from a man watching his naked daughter to a dog being bludgeoned to death with a vase and live dismemberment takes place.

To 'Not Helpful' voters (and you 'Helpful' voters too): Feedback greatly appreciated =)
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Elfen Lied is something else. Just watching the first 10 minutes of the first episode and one can understand that this is not your typical anime. A series modeled, in many ways, after the tragedies of Shakespeare and Ancient Greece, Elfen Lied is not something that you want to enjoy a sunny day with. The seemingly grotuetist violence and nudity may put some people off of this series, but I have to say that the story would not have the same impact without it.

Story: 10 - Elfen Lied boasts one of the most intense and intriguing plot lines that I have ever experienced in anime. It must be known that the central themes to Elfen Lied are hate, anger, and inhumanity. Every darkness of the human soul is represented in this 13 episode series.

Animation: 8 - Not much to say here. The animation is very good, but nothing really stands out. I do really like the opening that shows a style adapted from the famous Austrian painter Gustav Klimt

Sound: 10 - The music really sets the tone for the series. I love the opening song "Lilium" by Kumiko Noma.

Character: 9 - Elfen Lied has the best in depth characters i've seen since Neon Genesis Evangelion. The characters are real, with both light and darkness in their souls. Unlike most anime, the distinction between good and evil is not so clear. Can Lucy/Nyu be considered a good character when she has the capacity to harm so many?

Enjoyment: 10 - This rating is the most subjective of all. I enjoyed the series, especially because I enjoy both dark and lighter anime series.

Overall: 10 - You just can't find many anime series that took the risk that Elfen Lied did. Sure you can watch Tenchi, Love Hina, or even Ranma 1/2 and get the same decently good anime over and over again. Elfen Lied, is something that just doesn't come around that often. read more

I think the review has no spoilers/plot summary as long as you don't click the spoiler-tagged section, though it is long. EDIT: spoiler tags don't work anymore so watch out or read after you give up or whtaever.

The easiest way to attract attention to any piece of media nowadays is to add sex and violence, it seems. While there's nothing wrong with either, it's a sad fact they are most often used only to cover up the lack of substance, not to enhance the work. Elfen Lied is no exception. In all respects I find this anime distasteful and a clichéd approach to anime. Most non-anime people think of anime as "kiddie porn" or hentai. This particular anime falls into that category and give other quality anime a bad name. It's embarrassingly violent and full of over-the-top situations, but it sometimes has a level of poignancy that is hard to deny.

It was the previous internet-mega-hype anime, a 'must see' 'masterpiece' that would reportedly 'change the lives of its viewers forever' (I'm not exaggerating here). Elfen Lied is no longer half as popular as it was just a few years ago because the people have matured and have seen through the manipulative melodrama of the series as illogical as most of it is and noticed how shallow the series is.

Elfen Lied is hard to categorize. The story of Elfen Lied can either be interpreted as a tale of two faces, a rather campy horror film, or a gory display of senseless violence, bad characters, and downright atrocious events designed to milk sentiments. I'm somewhere between all three. The story does have some variant potential like the entertaining premise. However it is so horribly wasted by nudity, poor character development, unrealistic behavior, useless fan-service manipulation and gore without purpose other than to elicit a response from the viewer. They are rather distracting seeing as that they don't fit well. The gore fits though gratuitous, but feels like it's there to fulfill someone's sadistic pleasure than for a genuine purpose like symbolism of the savage nature of Diclonius. I can't shake the feeling that they went overboard like the producers were getting a kick out of it, which sickens me.
But the gore itselfdidn't make me as sick or captivate my attention as they just annoyed me and quickly become old (I got desensitized by ep 2). If you are able to stand the first 10-15 minutes then you are most probably fine with the gore. But by all means some of the parts when people died in the show were sorta satisfying cause those people werel idiots or annoying. Not that I'm sadistic.

The horror part of this is guaranteed by endless graphic violence which at times seems to just be "there" with no purpose at all except to shock. It feels like there were pools of blood simply for the sake of them being there. Because this is all that Elfen Lied tries to do: shock you and set a few not-so-clever traps which make the anime seem like it has a deep meaning and a complex storyline. Well, it does do a rather good job of being emotionally manipulative, which is probably why Elfen Lied regarded so highly by many people. This anime, without a doubt, is the cruelest I've ever seen. It has an unceasing and quite often shocking brutality level. Here, that cruelty works in keeping the viewer interested in the anime.

This anime was meant to be horror, but the pr0n element was almost as strong, if not stronger. No-seriously, why was there a character whose only concern was having a bath? Beats me... Take out the blood and nudity, and it becomes obvious that it's set in a stupid little fantasy setting. 'Fantasy' in how irrationally the world of Elfen Lied functions. I won't cry for lack of realism (this is anime, after all), but the outright stupidity of the characters is used as a melodramatic plot device so often that it outweighs the brilliance of the original concept. The brilliance of Elfen Lied is in its concept, not in its content. What you get are a dozen plus episodes of angst and oh so tragic flashbacks. With some totally confused and downright ridiculous characters, and an unambitious story that seems extremely forced with unnatural progression, the attempt of a plot that this series has is very unsatisfying. It leaves a lot of questions unanswered, and is full of inconsistencies. Subjective qualities do not create or bring objective quality.

Wait! What about all the social commentary Elfen Lied was so famous for? It tackles such difficult topics as bullying and racism, doesn't it? Well, no, it doesn't really. Barely mentioning social problems and the dark side of human nature is not social commentary, and taking the easiest, most melodramatic way out of every controversial situation is pretty much the same as avoiding those topics altogether - if not worse.

I must say it left me with a bitter taste; not because of the human relations shown within and the portraying of human misery. Neither plot nor characters were properly developed or explored. It could be a series with some quality, but as it is, it's just average or below depending on your tolerance of its pr0niness/violence/nudity/etc. Not that I mind violence and nudity, but here, it is at the detriment of story and character development.

Elfen Lied should be enjoyed as nothing more than a visceral experience, a shameless indulgence of the id. Those trying to depict Elfen Lied as a thoughtful and deep work are missing the point entirely. The sad thing is - this anime could have been so good. A crying shame the producer was more interested in thinking up porno situations rather than ways to develop the storyline.

STORY - I think even just what's written above is enough to give the gist, what's below is more for people who've already seen the show since all the spoilers are specific examples. But there's still lots of stuff you can read even excluding the spoiler tags.

While I was watching it, I got a bit interested in the beginning, later I was more and more disillusioned and disappointed, and annoyed by the stupidity of characters, not to mention their irrational behavior, which served only to help cover the holes in the story and keep the plot from falling apart.

Elfen Lied has two stories. The first is the mystery of the diclonious. The second is your typical 'guy with plenty of girls together' situation. A certain sense of shallowness becomes apparent with the aspects of this anime clashing with each other – the violence and the loving homey atmosphere. Despite the intriguing premise, violence and cuteness seem to get in the way of effective plot progression, evident by the underwhelming unfulfilled conclusion to the show.

The story, to be honest, was poorly executed. Many parts of the plot showed this colossal level of ignorance and far-fetched attitude and it just ended up disappointing me. Not to mention the cliche elements HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER hello there's split personality and memory loss
and the series use them shamelessly give the viewer a reason to keep watching the series but in truth the viewers are in it for violence and fanservice because the story is pretty much left alone to rot when it shouldn't be.
Well the story manages to be mediocre at best because of a lot of gaps in the plot-line and a lot of things left unexplained. I cannot accept the idea of the HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER Diclonius just being there, I cannot accept the fact that the male version of the diclonius is not explained. Male diclon? Explain. Are diclon innately homicidal or forced to be that way, or do we truly not know? How did the diclonius come to be at the beginning ? Third generation diclonius? A little more history of their discovery would have been good. Why didn't the story explore this fascinating aspect further instead of poking around a bit?
I cannot accept the stupid turns in the story such as Kouta's reactions at certain points, I cannot accept the fact that the producers leave a lot of holes to be filled by the viewers imagination. That is just a sign of shabby anime-making and an easy way for the producers to squirm their way out of explaining a lot of things that they threw into the anime with no reason. I find it cheap of the producers to resort to such trivial ways of begging for success.

I appreciated the shorter flashes which were used to build suspense for the viewer, but I had already guessed the truth by the middle of the first episode so emotionally I did not feel the suspense. The story is delivered in a mediocre fashion. Everything is just ahead-hinted enough as not to be a surprise anymore, and the events themselves are so trite not to be worth that much attention. You'll discover that things are more closely related than what they had initially taken at face value; though it is clever what they do with the plot, it almost feels TOO coincidental. A very linear and abused cliché-galore.

DEEP AS THE OCEANNNNNNNNNNNNNNN?
Supposedly there are "deep" and "symbolical" aspects of this anime, but no -- In the end, both the story and the symbolism are drowned in the gore and nudity, and it wasn't all that good to begin with. Perhaps the reason why some people prize the story, is that it's surprising it's even decent considering the s***load of gore and fan-service.

Sadness, memories, and family. They're about the only deeper themes that are followed though in this series, and not much more than the shallow spectrum of those themes. What Elfen Lied does really well is introduce several serious and powerful themes and ideas, but that's all it does. What it ends up doing later on is either completely forget about them or, even worse, contradict them. Though this can be rather hard to see though all of that blood, gore, and nudity.

Though I must say I think the episode previews sounded sorta deep. lol.

the pr0n gore galore
this anime actually does offer something... blood, gore and tits! This is almost like a parody of how many people think anime and manga looks; nudity and blood in abundance. The gore and extreme fan-service does NOT contribute to anything.

The context of the anime seems mature, and so these sort of plot routes just seem unconvincing. It doesn't go as a horror/SF story but instead the story progresses mostly as a harem anime. The plot itself doesn't seem to be supporting such scenes enough, instead, it seems to be something 'randomly' assembled just to provide some insubstantial justification for them. Sometimes the visual gags go a bit far and are more cringe-inducing than anything else, and it can feel like you're watching the wrong show for a moment before a flying limb brings things back into perspective. This show is touting itself as horror and yet finds room to throw in worthless ecchi crap? The constant boobery should have been eschewed, just to keep the anime's maturity level consistent. The pace of the story is rather bad like some things happen too fast... HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER You have a new character arriving at Kouta's door every two episodes. They just come and start living with him... very unlikely. The way he accepted other characters into the house left me blinking in disbelief.
A great deal of time is spent developing your typical, cliché “guy surrounding by a bunch of love sick girls” show which obviously isn't "developed" really not that I care... uh "harem" much?

The amount of UNECESSARY distasteful scene was simply ludicrous. If people are hit, their clothes magically rip off their bodies rendering them sometimes completely naked. All the characters in here just loved getting naked... Any excuse, and off the clothes will go, or just some parts... just enough to reveal the most pr0n parts of their bodies, if nothing else. If a person falls over, they just had to pick the most pr0n angle to view the fall such that you can see up their skirts as they fall over. There are countless more examples, but it would take me all day to list them. It got to the point where it was so bad that in any situation I started wondering how they're going to make a pr0n out of it. For example, if it was raining, I'd be thinking... oh dear, now they're probably gonna show wet t-shirt scenes and maybe getting their clothes off when they find shelter or something like that. And sure enough, most of them time that would happen. It would be happening even when I'm not expecting it. The producer's prime talent appeared to be able to: take any situation and turn it into pr0n.

COMEDY/ t3h m3lodrama
It can be disturbing and it can be beautiful. There were scenes where I told myself that I should be crying but I wasn’t. Actually, sometimes it can be hilarious (not because of it's "intended comedy" but because I cannot take it seriously at all sometimes. The melodrama was just bad). It's hit-or-miss. The dramatic moments fail more times than they succeed and the same can be said for the comedy moments. Rather than focusing on the "make me cry" scenes, it should have focused more closely on the great assets it had, Lucy was unquestionably one of them, so was the Kurama’s relationship with his wife. Honestly, the only other anime I've seen that has worse melodrama than this is like ef~ tale of memories, i mean for that i couldn't even laugh at the melodrama, it was just bad...

The comedy part and the horror show part don't get along, because Elfen Lied is not a parody. I'd say the greatest downfall of the series is that the humor often comes in the wrong places, and can bring things to a screeching halt. But the comedy can be summed up as some perverted, ecchi-natured type of situation kind of joke so to me it's the tasteless kind... Needlessly to say I only cringed, never laughed... from that anyways...

ENDING - 13th ep.
When the series is over, you don’t really feel much has happened, since a lot of time was spent explaining a corny back story.

When more questions arise even with the ending which is actually an open end, then things are really bad. So in the end it didn’t even deliver a decent enough climax to make up for the shoddy plot. Which is just depressing for someone like me who was just waiting for the "moment" where it finds its stride.

The ending HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER doesn't fit AT ALL with the mood of the anime.
Moreover, the ending is anticlimactic, and does a really half-assed job of putting an end to 13 episodes of wannabe-intense wannabe-drama. Instead, along with nudity and splatter, it only proves that everything is the anime is meant to be food for the teenage fandom.

It couldn't be more disappointing and, even worse, it leaves a lot of ends loose (not the kind of untied ends that are left up to the audience to guess, but the kind that doesn't get a proper explanation).

What happened was the writers walked themselves into a corner and couldn't find a good way out. That way included HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER the moral that they tried to tie into this show, which was forgiveness, therefore settling on something outrageous. It was just a clear gift to the fan-service...

Kouta's decision is truly astonishing in the final episode, it makes him a character one finds hard to believe in. QUOTE "It's true that you massacred my family in front my eyes when I was a kid, and I will never forgive you for that. But I love you". The "no matter what happened in the past, what hardships you caused, how tragic one's past have you made", all you have to say is "I am sorry, I love you" and he/she will forgive you and fight for you to the death and longer. The fact that one sentence will make past go away is just... ugh.

I couldn't comprehend Kouta's feelings AT ALL. The romance is complete crap to me. Hell, didn't even notice till ep 13 when they shoved in some blush thing and I was like for reals? Just bad...


==========================
I can’t say that I enjoyed it, but I can’t honestly say that I didn’t enjoy it either. Perhaps enjoyment is the wrong term to use since a lot of negative emotions are evoked. Yet it’s not the negative emotions that put me off this anime, it’s the fact that there was an abundance of holes in the story, the characters are not believable and many of the dark themes introduced are never fully played out. The whole thing just seemed to be an excuse for gratuitous violence and naked young girls - too sick for my liking.

CHARACTERS
I can't even say the characters were the saving grace of this anime, because they just weren't REAL. Characters are incredibly unreal, and incredibly shallow so I couldn't feel sorry for them, or feel happy with them. Not to mention most of the characters in the series seemed to have the maturity of someone ten years old or younger. Many other character reactions, especially Kouta's, make no sense. Details like this make me wonder about the true aim the series creators had and who was their target audience. Most the characters emoted the same kind of cookie-cutter cuteness seen in many other shows. Just as the plot, characters also are pretty stereotyped, bringing forth a nice collection of seen-already/done-before types, mixed together to make Elfen Lied even more shocking, but poorly succeeding in such intent. It's like they made them from a character-building kit. The characters as a whole in this series were forgettable and clichéd,
repetitively dull and lacking character development.

Our protagonist, Kouta, is just as generic acting as his outer appearance would suggest. Really, how hard IS it to make a half-decent male main character? He's nearly empty. What does he do? Nothing! He just throws some random words or shouts in scary situations. He's as good as brick wall. No wait, he knows one thing, how to be nice. Whether you bite him or pat his head - he will be nice. Kouta, your typical all-around-nice guy & another disturbed character with a troubled past.
Kouta who finds it easy to HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER continue housing new girls that just pop up at his door with absolutely no reason at all except for his big, humongass heart. Which by the way, I don't think they ever explain why Kouta & Yuka lived in that huge house by themselves well I do remember them mentioning something but maybe not....


Plus the fact the he proves that stupidity can reach up to the stars when he HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER last ep: forgives an act as heinous as the term implies. "To make mistakes is human, to keep making mistakes is demonic"...an old Latin saying...
and this guy is as retarded as one can be.
Kouta, apparently HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER I think last Episodehas a really bad memory. He supposedly forgets some truly unmistakable details. It's unmistakable because these are the only two moments in his life that these blatant details appear, and if he had any brain at all he would have noticed instantly. That could have saved him a lot of trouble. The main character suddenly 'remembering' important plot aspects in the penultimate episode? Not good. But then again if that happen to be I'd be pretty traumatized so eh...
He's got to be one of the dumbest lead characters I've ever come across. He cannot connect the dots to the simplest things. It's almost as if he refuses to see what is in front of him. HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER ep 2
He didn't want to cooperate with authorities even though he had no reason NOT to trust them. Look, all they wanted to do was stop a homicidal psychopath from killing you and everyone you love. 笑笑笑笑笑笑笑 lmao?　
Save for the cliché bimbos to ruin it all...
who have trouble keeping their pants on.

Nyuu... Oh man. Nyuu was the worst character; she was absolutely pathetic, although strangely cute, sometimes. She was mostly out of contest, nor she developed, nor she did something important to the series. Waste of time. I don't get these "cutesy" anime characters that have zero vocabulary, and as a consequence have zero personality as well, and whose only purpose is to act stupid and innocent while flashing the audience on occasion. I don't know about you, but I don't get turned on by checking out retarded people, sweet and lovable as they might be...

Most scenes with the Nyuu character were so contrived it was eyeroll after eyeroll as they tried to find new ways to get her naked. This anime was such a forced approach toward sexuality that it just never clicks and the viewer never believes the relationships are valid. Nyuu is a useless, nothing more than comic-relief, to up the fan-service even more, be super cute,

HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER and a way for the viewer to gain sympathy for Lucy. It constantly tries to elicit sympathy for Lucy, when in fact she doesn't deserve it.

What a deep character, cuteness and fan-service together. How lovely.

Yuka is pretty uninteresting and boring and rather colorless in comparison to the others. I think if she was replaced with the dog, there would be no difference at all. Actually, that might've been better. Yeah it would, the dog is so darn cute. She just doesn't do anything. She's a 'filler' character, and she is shallow with her blaring jealousy and whining. This fact helped me to remember her name, yuka means floor- 床, not that her name means floor. No, seriously if I didn't know yuka meant floor I would've NEVER remembered her name. Plus that line in ep 1 I think about floors was awesome... Though the series tries to place her into a motherly role somewhere in the series, it just hard to buy that.

I would have thought that being the only HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER character with a relatively normal childhood, Yuka would help ground them a little, but she just ends up being an accessory.

Mayu and Nana are way too stereotypically and obviously played out. They've had HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER hard and harsh lives, but that doesn’t mean they have to have the voices and behavior of innocent 5 year olds.
By all means, Nana and Mayu’s deep emotional HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER scars should have affected their behavior. If all they’re going to do is act like normal young girls, why bother giving them traumatized pasts at all? So Mayu is a bright cheerful, cute, happy STARVING HOMELESS girl...


Mayu is the most perverse trap in anime. It shows you a dreadful HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER past and then a present as if it the past never happened...How can a child who passed through the 9 Levels of Hell, starving, alone, cold and homeless be so happy is beyond my ability to process. Her tragic past is obliterated by her present attitude and nothing goes back to show us that this past actually did happen.
Mayu's personality is just typically passive. The character just makes you concentrate on the past and makes you forget the present so the producers may slack off some more. She did do some pivotal things but she could have been replaced easily. Mayu's story was for more shock value. Honestly, I don't think she was necessary for the story.

The only saving grace is Lucy, who seems like a genuinely cool and disturbed character, and is played exceptionally well and maturely.

But I still gots problems with her character...
HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
I never got convinced about the motivation that Lucy had for killing people. I wasn't convinced that she was good with just one human. I think that, in general, motivations were too segregated, Lucy has had bad experiences, but she also knows nice people, so is difficult for me to understand her actions. Just because of being bullied? The dog's death? Lucy loses her innocence as a child when she is forced by circumstances to become a murderous beast? Oh please...There are plenty of animes out there which demonstrates how one is able change for the better using their determination and belief to overcome their obstacles. Lucy's case is rather foolish.

I'm sure I should have felt pity for those girls at some point, but I just couldn't bring myself to feel anything for them.

Kurama's story. He has this aura of past tragedy, up till his story was unfolded. You see - suddenly he HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER stopped being intelligent, mature, caring but rather made error after error, and he did not even make the most basic association everyone with a brain would have made. Thus - that led to tragedy and I could not sympathize with him anymore. How could he make such grave error. I couldn't empathize, it was just ridiculous. Just stunned. Gawd 35... HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER last ep well she barely gets anything other than psycho sadistic whatever and then by the next ep she's a cute, poor little girl which is so unconvincing... just HELL no. No sympathy from me.
The silly villain.
Basically a waste of a character, no wait his entire purpose is shock value. Well... he's crazy and ... he's blonde. He's got a gun! And... he's a soldier. What a magnificent character. I think that describes him in every detail. Name? Why should you need it? Is that detailed description not enough? The truth is I don't remember his name, so sorry.
BTW. How long do you think can a psycho crazy guy last ?
Answer: as long as weak scenario needs him there :(
He's supposedly a special forces soldier, but he is too horrible as a soldier to be believable. I guess any psycho can join the Special Forces... no previous experience necessary! He would've surely HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER lastepmade it as general in a few years if not for Lucy. (seriously, what's with this army guy who can't seem to die? why is he such a nut job?) I forgot what happened to him at the end anyway.
He was just boring, tedious...

WTF - N O WAY
Every few minutes I kept thinking, "that would never happen". (Of course, I’m not referring to the whole Diclonius stuff.)

OMG the characters were so bad. They don't talk or react like normal human beings... Okay I know anime characters aren't generally "normal" but you gotta have some degree of realism in them. Watching the character interaction in this anime was so bad it was actually funny (got some enjoyment out of that, you know making the best of it, but still that ain't good~).

very specific examples.
HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
ep 1
A boy and a girl teenager finding a naked girl with horns, and what do they do? - take her home and hide her. They don't even consider the hospital. Only anime-characters desperate to get from point A to point B in the plot would do this. What on earth would make them think THAT was the best course of action? Maybe if he wanted to do something perverted to her that would be plausible and that would explain why he didn't want to take her to the nearest hospital. But uh I don't wanna see that.

the sniper team which was supposed to kill her and even when they had a good opportunity, they missed (lol?). And just to quote the director of that mission from the 1st episode "It's not the kind of enemy that will let you have a second chance". What idiots.

If you're fighting a being that can repel projectiles, such as bullets, and are moreover doing so in a confined space, you DON'T keep shooting at her like an imbecile, you GAS her. Anyone incapable of grasping such an obvious tactic would have little business heading a secret military complex, unless they happen to be a character in an anime that regards eyeglasses as the ultimate sign of intelligence. Well, maybe this is too nit-picky... ?
----- END

Their behavior is then later contradicted when they even consider taking someone to the hospital since that someone got a cold...

Who in their right minds would take home a naked bleeding girl with horns; lie to the authorities and then hand her over to someone with a dubious claim? I find it hard to believe that if a police comes to your house and says we are looking for a missing girl you will lie to them without any reason. And his behavior to the professor totally contradicts his behavior to the police (to the police he lies, to the professor he says the truth - without any real reason to do so).

If someone suddenly attacks your friend... would you then believe it if that someone tells you that they just did it cause they're feeling hungry?! What's hunger got to do with attacking your friend on sight?! That's the worst excuse ever.

If someone tried to strangle you for no reason, would you simply sit up afterwards and ask IN A CONVERSATIONAL WAY: "what did you do that for?" I doubt it. I'd be trying to get the hell away that person.

A little girl finds a bleeding man with an arm cut off.
Hell, I'd be shocked and disgusted, scream 'Oh my God' and maybe throw up (but obviously that's just me), the girl just stood there normally asking 'What happened'

That girl had a little puppy she took care of. One day the real owner popped up and took the dog away... just two eps later that dog was back without any reason (did I miss an ep?), as if nothing ever happened.

In the last episode (I think), as we all remember Nana is surrounded by the special forces people. She's like bleeding, injured, etc. No wait, she's naked too. But amidst all this Kouta just walks up to her as if she's not naked, bleeding, injured, surrounded by special forces. But then when he gets up to her, he has the "audacity" (?) to ask her Did something happen? It's like...


Kouta and Yuka make some decisions that make me question whether they’ve lost all logic and reason.

There are too many logical problems and few characters' actions make you go "huh?" if you try to make sense of them; just soak in the visceral violence and the general moods. That's what I did...

To be quite honest I didn't really notice most of this while watching so I wasn't bothered by this but looking back on it it's pretty apparent but the stuff I did notice was enough to be like WTF. Perhaps I was distracted by all that unnecessary crap and I was just like yep stuff is happening, etc, not giving much thought, and not really digesting and realizing how unbelievable/hilarious some of the stuff is. Even if you ignore just how ridiculous some of the stuff they did to move the "plot" it's still not very good...

ANIMATION
They could have put some more effort into animation, especially since this anime features only 13 episodes. The artwork is good but the animation is deceivingly simple.

It has the "huge eyes" drawing style, but that's normal anime style. However, childish character designs take away the edge from violence - robbing it of meaning. I was put down by overly cute designs of characters. Such childish looking characters and bloodbath does not suit together, and I suppose it was done in an attempt to be more shocking but still, it fell flat on it's face. The exception is Lucy who is the only character I could take seriously from her looks alone. The character designs were rather generic. Kouta is incredibly familiar-looking, and you'll have sworn that you've seen him in another anime before. The same goes for Yuka.

The adults were for the most part, extremely ugly. The adults in this show were all portrayed as ugly which made me feel a bit depressed. Is this the creators way of indicating once you get to a certain age, you automatically become ugly? Like Kurama... The world is full of beautiful people, and they're not just young girls with big boobs.

The themes dealt with don't really cooperate with the 'lightheartedness' of most of the visuals. The dark mood the creators (I hope) were aiming at was watered down due to the bright colors. A much more mature-looking animation style would have fit so much better with this anime. As for backgrounds, they're pretty unmemorable, ordinary but pretty decent.

The action scenes do have merit despite their forced graphic nature. It lacks the fluid animation which I would expect from a modern anime series. I do not mind blood and gore at all, but sometimes Elfen Lied shows it so that it looks like ketchup sprayed over the screen. Consequently, it looks tacky. I don't know, it should've been shinier? Also the Latin "gothic" feel of the opening might not fit the theme entirely, since there are no connections to Christianity or heaven/hell. But a good song regardless. All these factors make the visuals average for that time's standard - you’ve seen worse, but definitely better.

It's just the blatant pornographic nature of this anime clouds most of its possible merits. The creators use nudity and horror as a means to trigger sexual impulses in the human brain and that’s about all the contents of this animation.

SOUND
The gothic sounding music was rather good and wonderful. The opening theme excellently matched what I thought the anime was going to be like, the anime that it TRIED to be, and the anime that it SHOULD have been.

Everything about the opening is thought out very well and the music and images go together extremely well. The OP theme is brilliant, and sets the tone perfectly. Purity of the Lilies is the single music score that makes Elfen Lied OST worth keeping.

Unfortunately it's dragged down by being used too often. No seriously, they hum it, there's a music box version, some different instrumental version, different singers sing it, like seriously I don't care how they tweak it it's still the same song. Although the music box version and this other version with other people singing it was rather pretty though :) They wanted to play it at every moment by the end of the series which was grating. It’s a damn fine song but enough is enough, let it die already.

The ending theme is the sugar-coated pop song. It's a cute ending theme, playful, maybe a parallel in the way that HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER Lucy/Nyuu's identities are: the former is more tragic sounding, while the other is playful and carefree. The ending song is nothing special but it fits with Nyuu's personality. Happy and careless.
It was catchy but it didn’t really seem to fit and it didn’t evoke the same feelings as the opening song.

Most of the other main characters have a whiny, bland, pathetic, mourning tone, obviously trying to show innocence. These voices constantly reminded me how contrived these characters were. Also, the voices of soldiers didn't sound so convincing. However, the tone of Lucy voice was great.... Overall, the acting was weak or maybe the characters are themselves are just bleh so...

FIN
The overall value of Elfen Lied is mediocre at best. When I finished watching it, nothing at all crossed my mind. Neither positive nor negative. Just emptiness. Which well reflects the real content of the anime. The audience, being 'distracted' by the visually strong contents, can't really focus on whatever the anime tries to say (which, mind you, ain't much).

So the series didn't take any of my emotions. No suspense and smartness for thinking about actions nor funny situations, and not even terror. In summary, nothing special for me, except for the music. Um... classic? masterpiece? Best of 2004? uh... I don't think this series is a deep, detailed series in the least.

If you like plenty of fake blood, flying body parts and boob shots, and/or fan-service/harem shows then should enjoy this, otherwise, not recommended.

BTW I stopped watching the OVA as soon as knife -->pikachu-peekachu. (no, not the yellow pokemon from pokemon)

I guess if you something violent but with class BACCANO! The violence in BACCANO is way better too. read more

Title: Elfen Lied

Manga, Anime: Elfen Lied was originally a manga created by Lynn Okamoto, and it ran in Weekly Young Jump from June of 2002 to November of 2005. Twelve compiled volumes were released, with a total of 107 chapters. The Elfen Lied manga has not been licensed Stateside, and no one is making any moves to do so anytime soon. More on this later.

The anime itself was produced by Studio ARMS (who also did the production for Genkishen 2 and Ikkitousen: Dragon Destiny), and directed by Mamoru Kanabe (who also directed the OAVs Demon Prince Enma and I”s Pure, both of which you probably won’t know). It ran on Japanese TV from July 25th, 2004 to October 17th, 2004. ADV licensed it Stateside, and the fourth and final volume was released on November 14th, 2005.

Story: So, the episode kicks off with a ten-minute killing spree in an underground research facility (cause why would they be anywhere else?) with plenty of blood and gore by a naked chick in a helmet, as she attempts to escape. Yum. Eventually, someone ends up sniping her in the back of the head, and she falls off a cliff into the ocean.

Cut to a random, unnamed seaside city. A girl (Yuka) gets off the train and ends up looking around town for her cousin (Kouta), who she's going to be going to college with. After finding him, she drags him down to the beach, where they reminisce about his little sister.

And then they look up and notice that there's a naked chick with horns standing in the middle of the water. Though you have to wonder how oblivious they were not to notice it...

Thus begins the saga of Elfen Lied, which centers on the naked chick with horns (also known as Lucy/Nyuu, depending on which personality she is on the moment.

This is one of the more fucked-up, depressing offerings that anime has.

Take a look at our three main characters, to get a good picture of this: the cousins are in love with each other, the boy can’t remember a good chunk of his past, and the chick with horns has two personalities: a sweet amnesiac named “Nyuu” by the cousins, and a homicidal maniac side known as “Lucy”. And that’s not even to mention all the side characters, all of whom are messed up in their own psychotic, special ways.

As for the depressing stuff, there’s bodies flying left and right, puppies getting killed, child molestation, suicide, and a whole lot of other stuff that I can’t go into without spoilers.

The anime itself is an amazing juxtaposition of horror, slice of life, sci-fi, and romance, and even more amazingly, it works. And it’s good. Normally, all of the above would be incentive for me to drop a series like a hot potato. But all that stuff only ends up being a part of why you love the series so much. You care for all of these fucked-up nutjobs, and you watch to see if things will get any better for them, and to find out just what the hell’s going on.

I don’t know how this pans out, with regards to faithfulness to the manga source. All that I know is that the manga was still running when this started and finished airing.

There are two main issues I have with this series, though. One is the ending, which is an anticlimax and a big letdown after everything that’s happened; you don’t know what happens, and it’s kind of a cliffhanger. The other is the rampant fanservice. At least once every episode, you are going to be treated to a nude female character, or some kind of sexually suggestive scene. The series didn’t need all that fanservice; it could’ve gotten on just fine without it. And really, did they have to have kiddy nudity?!

WARNING: There is gore galore, there is blood by the bucketful, there is rampant nudity, there are sexually suggestive scenes, there are puppies getting killed violently, there’s very graphic violence period, there is child molestation, and really, if you’ve read this far and aren’t turned off, you’ll be fine with this series, even though there’s far more than this. If any of this makes you uncomfortable, run away from this series screaming. And definitely stay away from the manga if this is the case, because it’s supposed to take all of the above to a whole other level. Thus, why it has yet to be licensed Stateside.

Art: The art for this series is absolutely beautiful. The studio apparently had the budget to include outfit changes for all of the characters once every two episodes at the least, and it’s a nice touch. The backgrounds are exquisite, too. The OP is absolutely amazing, especially when you consider it’s basically animated versions of Klimt art (if you don’t know who he is, go Google his art, and you’ll see why I’m amazed). The CG stands out a bit, but its main function was to portray an otherworldly aspect of the chick with horns’ powers, so it works well. And, as much as I hated all the nudity, it was lovingly detailed.

Music: This is one of the few soundtracks that I’ve actually actively noticed since Gankutsou’s OST. There are several variations on the opening theme (which is awesome in and of itself, as it’s in Latin, and is something you’d probably heard sung in a Catholic Mass), and they’re absolutely beautiful, and end up producing the desired effect of the scene that they’re playing in. Also, they use the cello and traditional instruments to great effect. The ending is a fairly stereotypical JPop number, and kind of a disappointment, really.

Seiyuu: Joji Nakata’s in a smaller role, but still, it’s Joji freaking Nakata.. And Lucy/Nyuu’s seiyuu is the same girl who played Eleanor from Victorian Romance Emma, so that’s a nice touch. Ooh, and Daisuke Ono shows up briefly! And there are a lot of other seiyuu that show up here that I like, and I’m not going to list them all, because that’ll take up too much space. xD

Length: Just right. The pacing doesn’t go too fast, or too slow; the series finishes at just the right time (though how it ended is a bit of a sore point with me, as I mentioned earlier).

Overall: If you can get past the violence, the letdown of an ending, and gratuitous fanservice, this is a great show.

Story: 8/10
Art: 8/10
Music: 9/10
Seiyuu: 9/10
Length: 8/10

Overall: 42/50; 84% (B) read more

I'll just say before I start this that I am sorry that I have given such a well-received anime such a negative review. But I can't in my right mind praise something like this.

Story
After what I would consider a fairly disturbing opening scene, I expected this series to be fairly interesting. We have a young woman who has just escaped from a high security government facility, where she was apparently held against her will. And it is quite obvious from the brutal massacre that ensues that she is a very troubled individual with plenty of hate for the human race, and perhaps deservedly so. Then after she is essentially shot off of a cliff by a sniper under the direction the director of the facility, she ends up on the shore of the beach where she runs into Kohta and Yuka. Still naked. And this is where the story starts to disappoint me. The writers of this show then decided, after creating such an interesting character, they needed to turn her, through the ever-so-convenient plot device of memory loss, into some sort of mentally challenged child with the body of a young adult who can only utter the phrase "Nyu." And she has horns that suspiciously look like cat ears. Soon after, more girls come to join Kohta's new "family," and yes, you get to see most of them naked.
Besides what's going on in front of the viewer's eyes, there is an ongoing plot in the background about the Diclonius race. I actually found this plot pretty intriguing as well, but it unfortunately takes a back seat to the character drama, which was... somewhat lacking. But I'll get into that later.
The main reason why I rated the story so low is because it's so contrived. Nearly everything feels like it's essentially forced to happen, and even in the rare instance that the story doesn't feel really forced, I still find it hard to take a show that still holds onto the harem and fanservice cliches seriously.

Art/Animation
I had no problem with the visuals. They were competently done. Although the only noteworthy artwork, in my opinion, is the opening, which is just beautiful.

Sound
I actually thought the music was really good. Lillium, in its various incarnations, is quite the haunting tune. It worked especially well as background music to help set the mood during the show's somewhat frequent depictions of human cruelty. My main problem, though, is that this is one of only a few tracks used throughout the whole show. So you can imagine that it would get a bit repetitive.

Character
This is where I had my biggest bone to pick with this series. Most of the characters came off as either unrealistic caricatures of who they were meant to represent, weren't fully realized or came off as pathetic excuses for fanservice. For more specific examples, read on.
Kohta is pretty much your typical harem anime protagonist, a total pushover whose shoes any pervert can fit into. However, I actually blame this more on the original manga creator than on anyone else. He does offer some depth, but he is also very unrealistic. I don't expect fictional characters to act completely like real people, but they need to have a certain amount of believability. Any sane, real human being would gladly turn in a lost, naked girl to the police and give a homeless girl pants if she is obviously lacking some. A normal person would definitely not want to turn their home into some bizarre sort of orphanage. And anybody with a brain would definitely be able to notice that their cousin wanted them, especially when she was making such obvious advances on you.
Yuka is... well, Yuka is the kind of cousin who wants you. Really badly. Where most girls her age have most likely outgrown any crushes they once had on relatives, she is content with longing for her wimpy, pushover of a cousin. I'm sorry, but why was this needed in the story, especially when there was already a love interest for Kohta?
Nyu is pretty much worthless. As a split personality, her only purpose was to limit the carnage caused by Lucy and serve as a rather pathetic excuse for fanservice.
Mayu and her back story were fairly interesting ideas, but it just seemed as if it was for shock value and an excuse to get her to walk around without pants. The writers of the show could have done a lot more with her, but they just chose not to.
Nana and Kurama were also good characters, and they brought up some interesting questions. But did we really need to see her naked?
Lucy, on the other hand, was the meat of the story and, at least in my eyes, was much more of a main character than Kohta could ever be. I thought the flashback to her past was really well done and I admit I did feel sorry for her, even if half the time she was a sadistic murderer and the other half what amounted to a naked child.
So to summarize the character section, Lucy is what boosts character up to a five. The other people involved in her story is what keeps it a five.

Enjoyment
Now, did I enjoy this series? On occasion. But it was very hard to watch, and I only kept watching because everyone else seemed to think this was some sort of masterpiece. I will admit, I did enjoy the blood and gore, as well as Lucy's back story. But I couldn't help noticing all of the flaws that this show had. And the fanservice was so over-the-top that it was gross. I really don't need to see naked fourteen-year-olds, and even when the fanservice involved older characters, it wasn't very tastefully done and was way too .

Overall
Elfen Lied could have been a good horror series, with plenty of violence and nudity. But instead it tried to be something more, and fell flat on its face. read more

This is kind of tough for me to do. It really is, mainly because most of the people who love this series are also fans of many of my favorite anime. Maybe I just don't see something that everyone else does?.. and I feel the need to explain myself...

I have to say, I have been very confused as to why this anime is so widely known and loved. Awhile ago I tried to start watching the series and got about 2 episodes into it before deciding it was a waste of time. My initial impression was that sure, the show had a great opening score/artwork, but as soon as the real action began, there was nothing to be impressed with. Of all the anime I have seen thus far, this one has some of the blandest animation and character design. Nothing horrible, but definitely nothing noteworthy. Nyu may have some kind of sexual appeal to the audience [not me], but other than her supposed "cuteness" it is hard to feel any kind of attachment to her. I was immediately turned off by not only her persona, but those of two other main characters introduced early on. Kouta and Yuka are very diluted and weak characters, and there is nothing particularly interesting about them. The initial premise of the story was interesting, and the first episode provided plenty of gore for those who are easily entertained by exploding heads and flying limbs.

Several months after losing interest, I was again exposed to plenty of support and praise of this series and thought I'd give it another chance. I guess it was just pure stubbornness that led me to actually watch the entire series through-I had to find out if there was some truth to all the hype. But uh-yea, again I have to be honest. I was sorely disappointed. I can see where the series may lure people in with its light vs. dark or the struggle of humanity or some such thing. I guess there are some interesting questions that could be raised by the series, but I felt no connection or empathy with the characters at all here and therefore was unable to feel that the moral questions raised were of concern to me. The relationships between characters and their development are what usually interest me more than anything-and even a weak storyline can be somewhat salvaged by strong characters. However, Elfen Lied is full of half-assed character development, which to me is more frustrating than anything. Not only am I annoyed by the actual character design [we are never fully aware as to why these creatures have horns that look like cat ears which supposedly make them cute.. lame.. and the gigantic eyes are a bit much] but I am stupefied by the way things are left between these characters. I won't leave any spoilers here-but I have to say that the ending was at the very least unsettling. For one, I didn't even like Nyu's character, so I can't say exactly how the ending made me feel. I was unhappy though, that's for sure. The relationships are never sorted out even a little-Kouta and Yuka have some kind of connection [we have no way of understanding why Yuka is so obsessed with her uh, cousin.. especially since they hadn't seen each other since they were very young and have no interactions in the series that seem significant.. other than a little undies/kissing show the audience is witness to at one point].. the whole thing frustrates me-and then the relationship between Kouta and Nyu/Lucy.. it seems to be the only possibility for saving this weak series.. but no.. we are yet again left with absolutely no answers-Kouta is indecisive and has no strong points in his character that stand out or are interesting.. sure he is a "good" guy-but hell, I have never witnessed a more boring good guy in all of the anime I have seen.. Yuka might as well not even be in the anime.. and even though Nana's appearance creates more action, she also seems unimportant to the story and is equally as diluted as the other characters.. also.. Nyu's voice is like nails on a chalkboard if you ask me, though I understand that all of her "nyu nyu" crap is adorable to some people.. her real personality [Lucy] is the only one that interested me at all-and we didn't see much of it [aside from the back-story and the scenes with ultra-graphic violence].. I think the anime could have been better if a few characters had been eliminated, and the series had perhaps focused more on the relationship between Kouta and Lucy [not the unbelievably stupid amnesia-induced Nyu].. their back-story was the only part of the series I actually liked.. it's tough for me to enjoy watching an anime if I can't relate to any of the characters.. on top of that, if I don't like the character design or the animation or the storyline, it's bound to be a HUGE flop..

going back to the storyline-I can't say that it's a terrible one, but then again it was boring enough for me to forget almost immediately.. of course we aren't meant to see the plot as realistic per se, but a few things just don't sit right with me.. for one-is it in any way conceivable that these 'demons' or freaks [or whatever they really are-it is never fully explained] would be treated so cruelly?.. especially ones like Nana who showed no real violence in them.. i mean come on-hurdling heavy objects at them while they're chained up naked??.. i just don't get it-unless the producers of the series felt that the audience would enjoy seeing a lot of unnecessary nudity and violence that doesn't add to the plot [which i suppose is the case..heh].. then we have the underdeveloped explanation as to how this mutation happened in the first place and why it would happen the way it did [so uh-random?-extra limbs that are invisible].. if this is about survival of the fittest or some shit like that, we could have made it a bit more believable or interesting.. and as for the villains in the story.. again.. weak.. Kurama was alright, but his touching back-story wasn't enough to save the series.. it seems that the internal struggle of Nyu/Lucy is the main focal point here.. and it gets old.. after finishing the series, i was left feeling empty-and not in the awed sense, where the significance hits you later on.. i didn't get anything out of watching the series.. it seems that everyone else finds some kind of deep and powerful message, something that really stuck with them-but i see nothing special at all.. even at surface/entertainment value.. i really feel guilty in saying this, but.. there are very few anime that I hold in such low regard as this one.. I hope you will all be understanding.. I really wish there were someone out there to agree with me on this one..

heh.

[and i just realized that it's nearly impossible for me to punctuate sentences correctly.. i reverted to my usual format halfway through.. ah well] read more

STORY:
The story for Elfen Lied is supposedly an emotional journey that revealed all the deepest, darkest pieces of humanity and was supposed to give some poignant commentary on human nature and all that jazz. And although those are things that have certainly been done many times before, it can still be nice to see when done well. And yet, Elfen Lied really didn't do all that great of job of doing even that. All they really did was just kept showing you people being mistreated, and then it just stopped there. I mean, there were a few instances when something that might of been of substance began to develop but they were either cut off and the story shifted off into something else or it was just too shallow to ever really materialize into something. Honestly, they only thing I gathered from all this was that some people are big meanies, but there might be a nice kid in a bed and breakfast who makes out with his cousin that might take care of you. Other than that there was nothing really very tangible to take away from this. And with that being the good part, that left the rest/ majority of the series as just pulp, which consisted of soap-opera drama, Hollywood twists and sooper kool meat head action.

Despite all that, I still had hope because this was supposed to be an emotional anime, and human emotion is a beautiful thing even if the message behind it all is pretty shallow, but yet again, I was disappointed. I should have been moved after seeing a few of the scenes I saw, but I just wasn't because after seeing so many loved ones get their heads cut off and seeing so many people cry, watching those scenes was just like watching someone sneeze. They definitely needed to reel back in and remind us what real life looked like every once in a while for the sake of dynamic.

And lastly, I want to discuss one of the more talked about subjects regarding Elfen Lied’s story, and that’s the subject of the violence/nudity. I cast my vote in this area for it being more perversion than anything else. I was actually pretty disgusted at it at times. I can sort of understand the point of view of it being necessary, but I think it crossed a few lines. What was necessary (to a plot that is superficial by itself) was the fact that people were being killed, and that alone is an ugly enough thing to get a point across. What wasn’t necessary was the whole, maiming, disemboweling, eye gouging, and exploding. All that was there for one obvious reason, and that was shock value. As for the sexual part, I had a hard time justifying that. Actually depicting very young girls, or older girls who were just acting like little girls, naked and for the most part covered in blood in suggestive situations is pretty unnecessary. I mean, did every girl that had breasts HAVE to get their clothes ripped off when they fought? Did they HAVE to depict a little girl taking her clothes off for her step-dad? I didn’t really think so. There have been better stories that did a better job of making a character look sub-human without showing even a fraction of what Elfen Lied showed.

ANIMATION:
This isn't really something that generally holds much weight unless it's the focal point of a series. It's nothing to scorn, but it's really just the same recycled style/quality you see in so many series.

CHARACTERS:
The worst part of Elfen Lied. The characters are garbage. They are so cliche and so overboard, they almost insult the intelligence of the viewer, as if we couldn't tell that Bando was short tempered and callous without either threatening the life or punching the faces of every single person he comes in contact with. All the characters are extremely unrealistic and act in ways no real person in today's society would ever act. Like a four year old girl who talks like a James Bond villain? Or elementary school boys who bully their classmates by smashing their puppies faces in with bottles? Teenagers who find naked women lying on beaches and takes them home to live with them without exchanging hardly any words? Besides all that, there weren't many cliches that weren't used in the daily dialogue from the characters. It was actually pretty painful.

ENJOYMENT: Eh.This is subjective. I know there are things that people enjoy purely because of their niche, which isn't a bad thing. That could easily be the case for this one. If you appreciate and enjoy innovation and artistic integrity, I'd suggest skipping this one.

There really is a lot more to be said about this series, but I think I'm going to stop here. I'm really baffled at how many people gush about this anime. One good thing, is that it confirmed that I should never take heed to an animetard's suggestions. read more

Before reading any of my reviews, please keep in mind that I am a VERY harsh critic. I do not hand out 10's easily and anything I rate 7 or higher I consider recommendation worthy.

Before I even start defending my opinion I just have to say that anyone who thinks this was amazing because of the amount of "gore" probably hasn't read 3x3 Eyes (also, Elfen Lied appears to be influenced by 3x3 Eyes, I'm not the only one to come to this conclusion). In short, this series is severely over-hyped and over-rated. If you want the long then keep reading. . .

Story: 5/10
The story itself was okay, but not really anything special. For the most part it was somewhat compromised to favor action scenes. The only part of the story that really interested me was Lucy's past which did not disappoint (9/10), other than that the story wasn't that great. Before I started watching Elfen Lied I was informed by many that the series was "amazing" and "groundbreaking" because of all the blood and gore. Well they got the blood part right, but gore was not evident. Let me clarify, gore is not getting decapitated or losing limbs, gore is being cut in half and having your innards strewn across a lengthy flight of stairs exposing your ribs and spinal cord for all to see(3x3 Eyes manga 5, it was actually one of the most ROMANTIC moments of the series, they did something very similar again in volume 29). I was thoroughly amused in episode 1, though. I don't want to ruin it for those who haven't seen, because it was as unexpected as it was amusing. Anyone who has seen will know what I'm talking about. The ending was butchered, for lack of a better word. They could easily make a 2nd season as the plot was very much left unresolved. That was probably the biggest drawback of the series. So if you're expecting something epic, then forget about it, it ain't a happenin'! You'll get a lot of blood and 0 conclusion, leaving you wanting to read the manga to find out what REALLY happened. The whole idea that Lucy is this psycho mass murderer and everyone wants her for their own means (either to kill her to enhance their reputation or capture her to make her the leader of a new race) is not really that original. It's been done before. The resulting bloodbaths that follow are completely expected and unentertaining. Nyu was entertaining at times, annoying at other times. The story about the shell was very nice, changing her clothes was priceless. The endless molestation was very unnecessary. . . To sum up, it was average. Nothing to really hate about it, just didn't live up to the hype. The idea was great, the follow through was terrible.

Art: 8/10
The art was pretty good. The CG was done moderately well and the backgrounds were all nice and all, especially the beach, but I'm a sucker for beautiful beaches. Lol. The cels were all crisp and clear, which was good. The character designs were good as well. I particularly liked the eyes and hair of the characters. The blood and "gore" scenes didn't look very realistic though. It's blood. Blood is red. Very artistic. Must have been fun to animate though, so I have to give credit for good cinematography.

Sound: 7/10
I wasn't too fond of the opening song, but I loved the ending song. The BGM fit fairly well, none really stood out as being particularly bad. The voice acting was okay. I liked how Lucy's voice was done. Nana and Nyu were annoying at times, everything else was good. Nothing special, but it was done well. I had no real complaints about the sound in Elfen Lied.

Character: 6/10
Lucy was good, Kurama was good. Yuka, Nyu, Nana and Mayu I didn't really like that much. They annoyed me at times, especially Nyu, her act got old in a hurry. Everyone else was okay. The biggest issue I had with the characters was Lucy/Nyu. . . Where have I seen something like that before? Ah, yes. 3x3 Eyes. The airheaded yet sweet Pai and the dangerous and powerful Sanjiyan. It's kind of hard to dispute where Okamoto-sensei got her inspiration from. I saw Kurama as an interesting tragic character, but he wasn't really built up quite as much as I'd have liked. All the characters seemed rather stereotypical to me. Nothing to write home about.

Enjoyment: 4/10
Aside from Lucy's story and a few select scenes early on I didn't really get much enjoyment out of this series. The ending annoyed me and left me saying; "That's it? Where's the rest of it?" Because of that I ended up starting to read the manga, which to my dismay wasn't any better. Not only did it stray from the original plot after the incident which concluded the animé, it also seemed to concentrate on molestation, rape and sex more than I would have liked. I ended up dropping the manga in disgust in volume 8. The animé actually is better, despite the open ending. So aside from the first few ep's and the story of Lucy's past I really didn't enjoy this series very much.

Overall: 5
I meant what I said, it's over-hyped, over-rated and most definitely NOT a classic. While it wasn't exactly bad, it wasn't the amazing show that people had me believing it was. Anyone who wants to see something "gory" should look elsewhere. Might I suggest the 3x3 Eyes manga? read more

Elfen Lied could, quite easily, be called one of the most graphic anime series out there. If you find excessive blood and gore (as in numerous body parts being cut off), nudity, and to a lesser degree, suicide, animal cruelty, and scenes of child molestation (it is just alluded to, of course the actual act is not shown), to be highly offensive and not to your taste, then don't watch Elfen Lied. Of course, no sane person would find any of these particularly desirable, but if you can get past these characteristics that make Elfen Lied one of the most controversial (in terms of getting it to air on TV) anime series out there, you'll find yourself treated to a deliciously deep and dark story that will leave you wanting more.

Overview:
The basic outline of the story involves the diclonius race, a mutation of humans that have evolved to eliminate the human race and pave the path for a stronger version of them (Darwinism). The diclonius have many traits that make them superior to humans, the most notable being two horns on their head that give them control of vectors, invisible "hands" that have extended range and superior strength (can easily cut through stone and even stop bullets to some extent with no visible effort), not to mention the fact that they move at the speed of light. The existence of this race is kept heavily under wraps, and a certain organization carefully regulates the diclonius whenever a human happens to give birth to one.

On this note, the series starts when one of the diclonius, named Lucy, breaks free from the cell that the organization held her in and, after ten minutes or so of massive amounts of gore and dismembered body parts, escapes to the ocean, but note before being hit by a bullet on the restrictive helmet she was wearing, breaking it and also resulting in her personality being split, one side being her true self, and the other a completely clueless and innocent side with the mentality of a young child (yes, I will mention now that this aspect is very similar to Chii in Chobits or Ren in DearS). It is from this point that the innocent version of her washes up where two cousins, Kohta and Yuka, happen to be walking along the beach. And although none of them are aware of it, their pasts are all intricately entwined in a tragic way.

Story: 9
Elfen Lied starts with one of the bloodiest beginnings that an anime can have. Although such a brutal start may be a deterrent to many viewers, what lies beyond this dark intro is a amazing series. An odd combination of science fiction, slice of life, psychological, romance, and horror, what's really unusual about it is that, well, they mix really well in the stylings of Elfen Lied. One moment, an episode will be calm and cute, and in an instant shift to dark and tense; this transition is repeatedly executed in an outstanding fashion throughout the series, and is greatly reflective of Lucy's split personalities, as well as her inner turmoil.

In terms of the series as a whole, the story along the way is gripping, such that I was compelled to watch all the episodes in one sitting (although it took me three). The only issues I had with it was the anticlimactic, ambiguous ending that will most likely leave many viewers unsatisfied with the series concluding so abruptly, and the few loose strands that are left behind, as well as the background surrounding the organization and how it came to be. In addition, the resolution to the main issue of the plot was somewhat unrealistic, although I was satisfied enough with it. (Sidenote: Apparently, all of these issues are taken care of in the manga, as it goes into more detail on past events as well as having a different resolution than the anime, including how the main character dealt with his recollection of past events.) I feel as though the series could have used a 14th episode or an OVA (not the current one, although it does answer some questions) to clear up all of the loose ends, but it is hard to imagine how some things would be resolved, and perhaps is just better left to the viewer to decide.

Art: 10
The art in Elfen Lied is nothing short of beautiful, vibrant and filled with rich colors. The animation is very nice and smooth, and doesn't appear to suffer from any budgetary limits. In fact, the overall production quality of Elfen Lied surpasses a great number of anime. This could, of course, be since many of the more violent and faster-paced moments usually involve a diclonius calmly standing in place while everyone in the immediate vicinity is ripped to shreds. However, the over-exaggerated blood and gore is definitely something to note as well executed. I can't say that I'm particularly into gore and excessive nudity in anime, but I'll admit that what they do, they do well. Not to mention the numerous costume changes many of the characters go through (and they're all cute). Perhaps most impressive is the art in the OP, which is based upon the work of Gustav Klimt, including the layouts, colors, and even poses that he often deployed. It's a spectacle that has to be viewed in person.

One note regarding the rampant nude scenes throughout Elfen Lied, although I initially found myself somewhat refreshed by the honesty of them (i.e., a test subject in a lab would be naked), as the series progressed, I felt that much of the nudity was unnecessary and just there for fan service (also contributing to the difficulties in getting this show to be approved for airing on TV).

Sound: 10
Most notable in the music category would be the series' opening, Lilium, a beautiful song written in Latin and sung in Gregorian chant. The various musical pieces that complement the events taking place throughout the series are almost all instrumental variations of Lilium, and they fit into the atmosphere of Elfen Lied perfectly, providing a perfect compliment to whatever scene they are integrated into. The ending is a pop-rock song that can be fit to the series, however, it often breaks the mood since nearly every episode ends on a darker note or as a cliffhanger.

Overall, the music is very enjoyable, and Lilium is a very memorable song that many people will no doubt find themselves downloading after they have seen the series.

Regarding the voice acting, the Japanese voicing is well performed and the voices fit the characters quite well. Although I cannot confirm the following since I have not listened to the English dub, I have heard many complaints that the English voicing is merely sub-par.

Character: 8
I'm torn when it comes to characters, as I feel that Elfen Lied both succeeds and fails here. The series falls short in leaving many characters underdeveloped. We are given brief insight to many characters' dark pasts, yet receive no further information once they are touched upon - it is hard to come to care for every unfortunate soul that the series introduces merely due to the fact that we do not have enough contact with them. However, the development present for certain characters almost outweighs this drawback, especially considering that the series was only 13 episodes long. The two main characters are developed sufficiently, and I'll accept the reasoning that the whole series revolves around the interactions of these two in the past; the psychological conflict affecting Kohta and Lucy is integral to the plot, although most of this development is done in the very last few episodes and feels a little rushed and almost forced.

Don't get me wrong though, despite what I believe could have been slightly better, I thought the characters in the series were brilliant, and the fashion in which they interacted and were related to one another is part of what makes this series so great. One particularly notable feature the majority of the main characters possess is that is almost impossible to side with one or another entirely. Each has equally valid reasons for their actions, and, when their pasts conflict with one another, deeming one person to be right over the other is just not possible. The butterfly effect, a major theme involved in the way that the characters developed and came to be what they were during the story, particularly for Lucy - her experiences growing up, her encounters with people who kept her sane, or drove her to near insanity - all come together in a manner that is a real treat to watch, leading up to the climax of the series.

Enjoyment: 10
Elfen Lied, as a whole, was one of the most interesting and compelling series I have seen in quite some time. The few drawbacks it had were easily overlooked by the positive qualities it possessed, and was well worth the experience and time. Only the ending was a bit of a letdown, but the ride along the way was wild.

Overall: 9
Simply put, this series pushes boundaries, and isn't afraid to do so. More importantly, it does so well. This adult series is definitely not for everyone, but even if you are averse to the more unpleasant parts of Elfen Lied, I would still recommend watching it, as it is truly a great anime.

Score: 47/50; A (94%) read more

"A good attempt in bringing a wonderful manga live to the TV."

This review will cover Elfen Lied (anime) and the OVA which takes place within the storyline of the TV series. Please note that there will be occasional references to the manga but they will be spoiler tagged where needed and also a small part of this review will be taken from my manga Elfen Lied review due to some of their similarities.

Elfen Lied is well known for being one of the cruelest, goriest, and a highly perverted, piece of work ever. If you cannot stand watching blood, gore, and/or child nudity, please drop this show immediately. On the other hand, if you like twisted anime with plenty of cruelty (even at a higher level than Elfen Lied), I can recommend some more to you (just send me a PM). In short, one is expected to have a strong stomach and a mind of steel to survive these 13 episodes (plus the OVA). Consider yourself warned!

While it is rare to see "kawaii" horned girls brutally tearing bodies apart (or get their bodies shred apart), quite frankly Elfen Lied is infamous for that. The reason for these mass murders, while mostly a psychological issue with the killer, were not very well explained in the anime. Also, one could say the story ending in the anime was rather anticlimactic as I am sure many of you would have expected a more complete closure to the story.

The overall plot of Elfen Lied (manga) is truly amazing. It covers a wide variety of themes in great details, ranging from simple triangle love relationship, to the ever more common child abuse, to the horrid reality of non-ethical scientific research, to the threat of global terrorism, and lastly on human origin and our mutation/evolution. However a large portion of it were not included in the anime. For instance, there were suppose to be a

1. Global catastrophe leading to a rapid decline in human population for years to come due to a certain virus being spread in the atmosphere.

2. Another more "powerful" research institute was omitted from the anime thus interesting stuff like "vector machine" and "vector canceller" were not introduced.

3. Chief Kakuzawa's evil plan was barely touched upon in the anime -which constitute a large part to the interesting story plot-. Without this, we would not know why all Diclonius are females. Without this, we would not know why Lucy is the "queen" of all Diclonius. Without this, we would not know how Lucy was born different from everyone else. Without this, Elfen Lied is not Elfen Lied.


In terms of real actual story coverage, the anime covered ~60% of the manga in a highly compressed way. If I were to rate the anime solely based on its adaptation to the manga, the rating would be a lot worse (for the story and character at least).

However, I am not ignorant. I am well aware that the anime was aired prior to the completion of the manga. Thus it will not be fair to flame the production crew for such a diverge, inconsistent, mysterious ending. On the contrary, I would like to praise the animation crew for following the manga quite closely for the most part. In particular, I find the OVA a nice addition to the background story for Lucy as it explains why Lucy allowed herself to be captured as seen from episode 1 (all from the manga of course, so it is not something the production crew just made up). There is nothing more satisfying to the manga fans than watching Elfen Lied in high quality animation (because the manga artwork was really not that good). In addition to the good, consistent, high quality animation, Elfen Lied is also superb in the sound department.

First thing worth mentioning is the unique, beautifully sung, OP in Latin. This is not something you hear very often in the Japanese anime industry. It should also be brought to your attention that there are actually a few different variations to the OP. Unfortunately the ED is nothing spectacular like it. Secondly, Elfen Lied has a great list of seiyu. Many of whom you have probably heard their voices before in other anime. For instance, Yuka is voiced by Noto Mamiko (Kotomi in Clannad). Nana is voiced by Yuki Matsuoka (Inoue in Bleach). Most CV turned out great for their particular role for the respective characters.

I was glad to see that most characters were identical to their manga counterpart as far as their personality is concerned. There are certain characters where we can easily identify as black or white (as in those we should love vs those we should hate), but many actually belong somewhere in the gray region. Throughout the story you will find yourself rooting for a character in one instant and surprisingly find yourself wanting to have that same character killed in the next instant. It is precisely these types of character building techniques that make Elfen Lied loved and hated by many. However, what I did not like is the 180 degree change in character for the director general (aka Chief Kakuzawa). In the last episode he wanted Lucy killed, and that alone is enough to completely RUIN the whole point to the story.

Finally I would like to once again remind fellow MAL viewers that this anime is not meant for young children (nor those who dislike blood, gore, and/or nudity) and hopefully it will give you enjoyment rather than weeks of nightmare. I know I certainly enjoyed it to its fullest. Also, I would like to apologize to those who think I over emphasized on the manga (I know I did, but I couldn't help it). I was just sad to see a story with great potential gone down the drain just because it finished animating before the true glory of the story sets in.

Please send me a feedback whether you find the review helpful or not. Thanks. read more