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?
