Elfen Lied

--The review contains spoilers--


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 =)

An anime can be critically successful for many reasons, it could be due to a well written and engaging plot, innovative ideas that are perfectly handled or even have a deep plot revolving around thought-provoking themes. More so, "depth" has been a cause for the critical success of many anime over the course of time for example "The Tatami Galaxy", but for a show to have a level of depth is not an easy task for any writer. However, superficial depth can be achieved easily and even more easily confused for genuine depth. Such superficial depth ranges from cheap shock factor to random philosophical questions that ... have no relations to the core plot or characters and Elfen Lied is a prime example of such superficial depth.

The harem genre has never been an interesting or innovative genre in terms of plot and character since the beginning of time. Most harem shows consist of a bland protagonist surrounded by fetish fulfilling bimbos, who are head over heels for the bland protagonist for the most stupid reasons. Pandering, useless fan service, and sometimes being an insult to one's intellect; most harem shows lose all entertainment value to a mature audience. The mass production of such shows led to the belief that "anime" is only meant for kids and adolescent teens and have nothing of value to offer for someone more mature. However, this notion surprisingly changed after the release of the infamous, Elfen Lied an original story written by Okamoto Lynn which got a one cour anime adaptation, produced by studio ARMS who are also famous for producing other works like Ikkitousen, a ton of hentai titles and Genshiken.

At first glance, Elfen Lied is anything but a harem. The show starts with 10 minutes of outright nudity and gore which leaves the viewer in a state of utter shock and terror. These 10 minutes were enough to drive away the weak-hearted. However, after these ten minutes, the story is just a hackneyed amalgamation of cliche, plot devices, plot conveniences, plot holes, and last but not the least some "smart" and fetish pandering wrapped up into a harem. Plot conveniences and cliche are in abundance, for example, Lucy, loses her memory (amnesia cliche) when shot with a bullet in the head with a magnum sniper and floats down to a beach. One would expect the military to be present there, anticipating her arrival on several shores as she is indeed a top secret project and above that a threat to the human race, but she conveniently meets up with her one and only friend she ever had, Kouta. The author tries to handle pandering with different tricks such as using "horns" for cat ears(Kemenomimi). The whole amnesia cliche is further used as a plot device and conveniently too which involves Lucy, regaining her memories and her other personality whenever the plot asks for it and reverting back to her childlike personality whenever the plot asks for it. As the story progresses the writer cleverly turns what could have been a genuinely mature story about racism and discrimination into a cunning little harem. Every female character introduced is forced upon with some miserable past. It almost seems like the writer is a misogynistic sadist who creates female characters just to torture them. One would expect the writer to use these angst-filled backstories to weave up an emotional tale but fails at doing so as how forced these backstories come off and the overall lack of any development of the character doesn't help either. The story also tries to be dark but only fails as it's an edgy mess due to the abundant amount of unnecessary fan service and the whole over the top nature of the show.

Many claim this certain title, Elfen Lied, to be "deep", though I fail to understand why. It touches upon the concepts of racism and discrimination in the most superficial way possible. Lucy and other diclonius were born to kill humans, just like the wolf is born to prey on the sheep. It's in their genes, it's a natural instinct. Now if a man were to cage a wolf and let his sheep roam free, it wouldn't be discrimination, but an act of defense. The same logic is for elfen lied, where most diclonius are caged up and kept in miserable states so that they don't end up wiping out the human race. This is not racisms, neither is this discrimination, it's just simple self defense. This is not depth, this is just ridiculous and superficial handling of a theme that could have been done well.

The plot progression in Elfen Lied can be only described as utterly stupid. As mentioned before, a "TOP SECRET PROJECT" washes through the sea only to land upon some beach where there are no military personnel to take care of such an important event. Then the couple who encounter Lucy, a naked girl with random horns, takes her home, because yeah, when you meet naked a creature with horns, you take her home and give her a nickname as if it were a stray dog, instead of going to the police to report the event. The military sends the worst soldier to find Lucy. Seriously, what kind of a soldier goes ahead and beats up his own comrade when going up against a man killing diclonius. Then the secret military group sends another diclonius to capture Lucy. It is to be noted that Lucy is the queen of diclonius species, and as a queen, she has the ability to order other diclonius to do her bidding. What kind of a "secret" organization sends an inferior being of the same species to take out its queen, specially when the queen has the ability to order the other around at her bidding through telekinesis? After this attempt fails they send in another diclonius because, yes, when "plan A" fails, you repeat "plan A" again. This organization must be run by a bunch of retards. And when one thinks of it, it's even more stupid as the second diclonius has been known for its sheer hate for humanity to the point of killing any human at sight. What kind of a secret organization sends in such a creature to an inhabited area with the ulterior motive of "saving humans"? Is this some sort of joke? Kouta later finds out that it was Lucy who had killed his entire family and ends up forgiving her in the blink of an eye. Completely logical.

The show is comprised of two clear phases. One phase where Lucy regains her memory where the anime becomes edgy and over the top. The other phase is when Lucy is in her amnesia mode where the anime becomes a Harem/SOL. The writers tried hard to make her cute but she is nothing more than pathetic. Roaming around naked for fanservice to the point where she needs help to even change her panties.The changes between these two phases depend absolutely on the convenience of the plot and we yet don't know when she decides to be a pokemon and when a mindless yandere.

The characters are the blandest bunch of characters to be ever written and this might not even be an exaggeration. One would expect to have sympathetic feelings towards Lucy due to her tragic past, but everything is so "plot convenient" that the tragedies seem fake and lose any impact if possible and come out extremely forced. Other than Lucy, every character is just a bland stereotype. Kouta is your generic harem lead and Yuka is the "imouto in love with her brother" archetype. Oh! you thought the bullshit ended with random gore and nudity ? You're wrong, the writers also decide to introduce an incest romance subplot that goes nowhere and just add to the convoluted mess. Other than Lucy and Yuka every other female in the show is a stupid loli as if the "clever fan service" wasn't enough already. There's no development to any of the characters. To sum it up all, the characters are just a bunch of retards and lolis who lack development and any core personality.

The opening sequence is probably the best part of the whole show. With the beautiful soundtrack "Lilium" there are some artistic scenes which have no damn relation to the convoluted mess of a plot. The ost is nothing special either and a bunch of them are reused and rehashed constantly but yet fail to be anything memorable. The art and animation is rather average and have nothing special about it. The show lacks aesthetics and any sort of artistic detail. The only details that are probably put in, is during the gore scenes where the disturbing images of the bones of the characters can be seen. The character designs are repetitive to the point where three characters have the same hair color. At least give them some more distinguishable features ffs?

Despite trying to be deep, Elfen Lied fails horribly by only touching on its themes very superficially hence lacking any message at the end of the day. It transforms itself into a generic harem with its seemingly "clever" tricks to fool the audience that it's something mature, but at the end of the day, it's just another mindless harem. Also, a useless incest romance subplot that goes nowhere (why is this such a big thing in Japan?) The characters lack personality or development and the art and music is nothing particularly special either. It tries to make up for its flaws with the help of conveniences, cliches, mindless gore and nudity which only worsen the show and makes it "edgy" as all hell. This show might appeal to a gore fan, an imouto incest fanatic, a lolicon, a misogynist or a mindless harem lover. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them.

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.

"Elfen Lied" has been nothing short of a phenomenon. There were no big budget promotions (like "Full Metal Alchemist" had), the manga wasn't exactly red hot property (like "Death Note" was), but it was suddenly catapulted to fame in an incredibly short time in 2004. It's the kind of overnight success story that films and anime have been made from. But does it deserve all this hype?

The short answer is no. The long answer is nooooooo.

Only kidding - this review is the long answer, obviously!

When I first noticed "Elfen Lied" on an anime site, it was listed as horror. But the picture shown ... on the site (not the picture from the MAL page) was this typically cute, giant eyed anime girl with pink hair. First thing that came to my head was: WTF? Cute, seemingly innocent little girl with a dark side going around killing everyone? Little did I realise how close I'd struck to the actual premise of "Elfen Lied". What I didn't anticipate was how far below its hype it turned out to be.

To be fair, my initial impressions of "Elfen Lied" were actually pretty good. From the haunting melodies of its opening song "Lilium" and the combined gothic-anime style artwork in the opening credits, the atmosphere was compelling from the outset. The opening episode throws us straight into a blood bath, with heads and limbs flying in all directions curtesy of Lucy, a diclonius (a kind of mutant human) who is one of the central characters of the story. It was hard not pay attention. "Wow! This is going to be awesome!" I remember thinking. But five minutes of bloody massacre later, an extremely stereotypical ditzy secretary character waltzes in and trips over into the path of Lucy. I blinked as I struggled to get to grips with this juxtaposition, and a small voice piped up in the back of my head: "What the hell is this?! A horror or a goofy comedy?!"

Turned out "Elfen Lied" is both, and it was all downhill from there on. Having been infected by the hype beforehand, I was so convinced that this was going to be one of the greatest anime ever that I'd persuaded a friend of mine to watch this "masterpiece" with me, having sold it to her as this "really highly rated, brutal horror" ... and we both watched with synchronised, slack jawed amazement as "Elfen Lied" descended from that potentially great horror themed show down to a, well, a bizarre horror of a show. (Ok, it's not THAT bad, but I had to use that line :P)

This anime is meant to be horror, and though the horror elements are there, the pr0n elements are almost as strong, if not stronger. I'd heard about the violence, but I wasn't expecting all the fanservice. If people get hit, their clothing magically rips off their bodies; if a person falls over, you can bet the scene will feature the best angle for a pantyshot. On top of that, the female characters all seem to be looking for any excuse to start stripping. It's so over the top that, given any situation, I'd be wondering how they're gonna squeeze fanservice out of it. For example, when the characters got caught in the rain, I was like: Here we go again … I can feel a wet t-shirt scene approaching; they might even start throwing their clothes off once they find shelter! Lo and behold, my wild guesses will hit the mark more often than not. Incredibly, even after the anime had conditioned me to anticipate fanservice at every turn, they still managed to somehow surprise me with it. The prime talent of the creators of "Elfen Lied" appear to be the ability to convert any situation into pr0n.

Now let's look at the horror aspect - it's impossible to talk about "Elfen Lied" without mentioning it. There's an incredible amount of blood and gore in here, but just how effective and appropriate are they? On one hand, the violence does serve its purpose to a certain extent. Its sheer brutality and the fact that, like the fanservice, it can occur at any (and often unexpected) moment gives "Elfen Lied" a heightened sense of tension and dread. When all is said and done, the credentials of "Elfen Lied" as a horror is solidly cemented by all the violence. On the other hand, the violence of "Elfen Lied" is plasticky both in a visual and in a deeper sense. Visually, the series is a bit of a one trick pony when it comes to violence - it's very direct, involves a lot of blood (often too much), and the bodies being ripped apart looked a bit like Barbie dolls being dismembered. It all feels a little fake, and there's nothing as vivid and as disturbing as some of the violence portrayed in the likes of "Berserk" and "Narutaru". Beneath the surface, the show's violence is mainly deployed as shock tactics with very little actual meaning beyond that. Furthermore, "Elfen Lied" goes waaaay overboard with it, and the overuse of this often less-than-meaningful violence inevitably led to diminishing returns on its effectiveness. After constantly being bombarded by the downpour of blood and severed limbs, I found myself numbing to them by the end.

To its credit, I think "Elfen Lied" has got some intriguing concepts to build on. Mutants with invisible, deadly vectors hands? Sounds interesting! Involvement of a secret research facility that has a sinister purpose behind it? Tell me more! But unfortunately, they don't appear to be particularly interested in telling me this story. Unlike the fanservice, the plot points are difficult to come by. In the end, all I'm left with are some half developed concepts, some giant question marks, and a hollow lasting impression. Instead of expanding on its interesting sci-fi premises, it chose to divert a significant portion of its attention to something that vaguely resembles a teen drama (but an ultra-violent one, remember!) Does that mean it poured blood, sweat and tears into developing astoundingly good characters and dialogue then? If only. While the sci-fi aspect of the story can be described as wasted potential, the drama aspect never had any potential to begin with - because it's of the dreaded harem variety. People can try and kid themselves all they want but we all know it's rare to get anything of value originating from that particular genre.

Unless you value lame humour, cliched romance and laughably unrealistic characters, that is.

Speaking of the characters, the marriage of violence to the harem genre has resulted in what would normally be plainly bad characters becoming atrociously bad. If someone tries to strangle you for no reason, would you simply sit up afterwards and ask in a conversational tone: "what did you do that for?" I don't know about you, but I'd be trying to get the hell away from that person! If someone suddenly attacks your friend on sight for no apparent reason, and then tell you they did it because they were hungry, would you believe such a lame ass excuse? My friend and I actually burst out laughing when we heard the excuse... then our mirth turned to astonishment as the dumbass in question not only accepted this sorry excuse of an excuse... but then proceeded to let the attacker into his house. (This extraordinary turn of events only make sense on a meta level when you realise you're watching a harem anime, and the attacker who is a girl was joining a house that was already occupied by about five other girls by then. When looked at it in this light, it's hard not to be impressed by how much effort went into twisting the story and the character interactions in service of the anime's credentials as a harem.) I know that some level of suspension of disbelief is required for a show like "Elfen Lied", but did the makers even read the script to see if it made sense on any level? The portrayal of scientists is mostly a joke, the mercenary/security are practically useless... even the dog that featured briefly was nothing but a plot device, abandoning its owner for no good reason other than so that it could interact with another character and garner sympathy from the viewers for the said character. I've heard of dogs being abandoned by its owners before, but rarely the other way round!

Kurama is one of the few bright spots of amongst the characters. His dilemma is choosing the right thing to do between the contradictory feelings that arise from his roles as a rational scientist, a normal human being, and a father whose child is caught up in the thick of things. This is arguably the only aspect in "Elfen Lied" that doesn't feel a) forced and manipulative, b) inconsistent with the character and the situation, and c) shallow and black and white. Aside from Kurama, most of the characters in "Elfen Lied" are ridiculous to the point of being hilarious. A pity the same cannot be said for the bits that are genuinely meant to be funny (the harem comedy bits).

I've heard many claims about how "Elfen Lied" is a deep anime that explores the ugly side of human nature and societies. Somehow, I am unconvinced of the ability of an anime so chock full of gratuitous fanservice and harem drama to deliver much of substance, but let's examine a concrete example in detail. One of the girls in "Elfen Lied" got given a tragic past that you'd think would have some lasting impact on her ... but looking at her you'd NEVER be able to guess it if it wasn't for the flashback that showed that event. It was like the creators wanted to design this cheerful, upbeat little girl, and then, as an afterthought, tried to give her some depth by shoving in a tragic backstory by way of a flashback ... and then just left it like that. All traces of the effects of her tragic past on her character magically vanish after the flashback, to the extent that I'd totally forgotten about it by the end of the series. Is this really exploring the so called social issue? No. It just smells suspiciously like a shortcut to gain viewer sympathy and a heavy handed approach to character development. What exactly are the profound messages this supposedly deep anime is trying to convey? That children can be cruel? Love conquers all? Don't piss off mutants that have dangerous powers? Shit happens? I don't really know and I'm not sure the anime does either. Like the genre of this show, the messages - assuming it's trying to communicate anything - are all mixed up. Apart from Kurama's dilemma, almost everything monotonously boils down to an excuse for more cruelty and abuse. Worse, the countless abuse that happen in this anime feels quite sadistic, as though someone is getting a kick out of making this, which I find disturbing.

And this is why I can't see for the life of me why this show is so popular. It's blatantly just a shallow ecchi/harem flick, and it's rare to see ecchi harems considered good, let alone being touted as the greatest ever. The only thing that makes "Elfen Lied" stand out against its brethren is its violence, and so I am forced to conclude that showering an anime with blood will fool people into think it's "hard hitting" and "profound". Given the atrocious and manipulative handling of the story and characters, this anime has no chance of ever becoming deep, but with a bit more effort applied in the right direction, it could have at least become a really good atmospheric horror/sci-fi show. It's a crying shame that, instead of focusing on those more intriguing aspects, the makers were apparently more interested in coming up innovative ways to apply fanservice.

Personal rating: -0.5 (mediocre)

Let me start off by saying that this is an anime I have avoided for a long time. Though the show has many fans, I'd essentially kicked it under the rug because I felt that it was too “mature” for me. (Mind you, this was when I was in middle school, and a mere panty shot made me feel uncomfortable.) HOWEVER, last week, I sat down and watched all thirteen episodes over a period of four days, and I have quite a bit to say about the series. Some of my commentary might stray dangerously close to /butthurt rant/ territory, so bear with me. ...

Let's discuss the technicalities of the show. Order of business numero uno: dub/sub. For this particular show, I suggest you stick to the original Japanese. Because the dub is ear-gratingly bad. The Japanese is a little lack-luster from what I can tell, but the English dub is comprised of extremely wooden acting and irritating voices all around, so the choice isn't exactly hard to make. Second: Elfen Lied has a lovely musical score, one that highlights the bloody scenes of the series very well. Most notable is the haunting OP song, “Lilium”, around which many a (melo)dramatic moment in the series is based. Third: the animation is bright and fluid, though it lags a little here and there. Visually and musically, the series is mostly solid. Peel back the first few layers of the onion, however, and you'll see that Elfen Lied has several gaping problems.

First of all, the story is dark, yes. It contains themes of betrayal, child abuse, bullying, rape, torture, abandonment, and other such cheerful plot points. The producers claim that it is meant to criticize the dark side of human nature. As I see it, however, it doesn't do this very well at all. In fact, the only thing Elfen Lied does do very well is /divert your attention/. The waterfalls of blood, severed limbs, and naked girls that the series is notorious for are so occupying to most viewers that they forget to examine the “big picture”. The show basically thrusts tear-rending scenes of cruelty in your face and expects that you'll ignore its many deeper flaws. Because if you think for a bit and brush away the gore-fest that is the surface of Elfen Lied, you'll realize that there is nothing there. The series was most likely intended to manipulate you into overlooking its utter lack of a point.

The plot, which supposedly focuses on the Diclonii and their attempts to wipe out the human race, goes nowhere at all. Instead, the plotline is unevenly divided, with a large chunk of the series revolving around the “mystery” behind Lucy's relationship with the ever-clueless Kouta, another prominent chunk--of course--focusing on the sad backstories of all the wonderful girls that eventually gravitate towards the loser (It should be pretty evident by now that I strongly dislike Kouta and the entire concept of his character), and a smaller chunk attempting to shed light on how the Diclonii came to be and the Institute's affiliation with the murderous beings. Instead of developing this meager third chunk, the writers chose to exploit the moe aspect of the show, giving it a completely unremarkable main plot. Think about it. How many times have we seen the “Lame-looking guy generously adopts several virtuous girls into his house and protects them from danger, soon discovering that they all have tragic pasts and are each falling madly in love with him” scenario? This scenario only works well with a fantastic setting, unusual characters, or masterful storytelling; none of which Elfen Lied has.

Because the writers halfway-introduced the Institute and its evil plans for the Diclonii, and then left this idea hanging like a dog's tongue on a summer day, the ending of the series feels incomplete and pointless. Not much of anything happens at the end, actually, except for the bloody deaths of many bystanders (nothing new), and a /sad romantic moment/.

In summation, Elfen Lied is a series that is best to watch with your brain turned off. It's the one way you'll get any sort of satisfaction from a show that, really, only has aesthetic value. It has numerous plot holes and is entirely generic in terms of its storyline: take any average moe title, pepper it with a smattering of gore and nudity, and you'll have Elfen Lied. If you truly want to depress yourself with a well-done portrayal of the darkness of humanity, I suggest you pick up something along the lines of “Now and Then, Here and There”.

Elfen Lied is not, in my opinion, the masterpiece that a chunk of viewers perceive it to be. In fact, I found it to be a shallow bundle of harem tropes and plot devices. In summation: It was pure bullcrap. Now, I don't mean to imply that Elfen Lied will seem this banal to everyone. As long as you don't start the anime expecting to find within it deep and controversial messages, then you will probably be a happy camper.

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.

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)

Last week I was fortunate enough to watch one of the most highly regarded and critically praised anime series, called Elfen Lied. Why this series has garnered so much popularity over the years is surely no surprise to anyone: ask anybody who watches anime on a regular basis about the bloodiest, most disturbing series and you’ll often get Elfen Lied as the answer. This series is far from a simple no-brainer gorefest, though, and those who dare give it a shot (it’s certainly not for those who can’t stomach this type of thing) may find themselves completely overwhelmed by its beautifully unique story and memorable ... characters. I should know, as I am one of them.

First thing’s first: let me give you a little insight on the plot of the series. Elfen Lied primarily focuses on the relationship between humans and the so-called Diclonius (humans with horns attached to their heads and equipped with invisible telekinetic arms). One of our main characters, Lucy, is a Diclonius girl who escapes from a research facility where those of her kind are held captive and experimented upon in violent ways. Make no mistake, these strange, yet intriguing beings are far from innocent – most of them do not back away from violence and getting on their bad side can often result in a bloodbath. After forcing her way out (and by that I mean violently dismembering and ripping the heads off of everyone that stands in the way), Lucy is shot in the very last moment by a sniper. The shot doesn’t entirely hit, but it does damage her head enough to cause a deep amnesia and split her personality in two parts. Not much time passes and Lucy is found on a nearby beach by Kohta and his cousin Yuka, but Lucy’s second personality, Nyu, has taken over and this results in her acting like a child and unable to remember anything that happened up to that point.

Most of the show focuses on Lucy’s stay with Kohta and Yuka and the hunt by those whom she evaded to recapture her. Calling Elfen Lied the bloodiest and goriest anime series ever made is more an opinion rather than a fact, but it is certainly up there. You can tell from the first ten minutes that it definitely lives up to its reputation: Lucy’s escape from the research facility is one of the most powerful and downright disturbing scenes I have ever since in any anime series and it contained more blood and violence than I was prepared for – and believe me, I was pretty prepared.

One of the first things which caught my attention when I started watching the series was its opening song, called Lilium, which is sung in Latin. I was immediately fascinated by its truly wonderful tone and the atmosphere which it evoked. The opening couldn’t have been more fitting, if you ask me. It really captures the essence of what this anime is about.

Elfen Lied may sport a brutal attitude and at times it seems as though there is little to stop it from going way over the edge with its graphic depictions of violence and gore, but beyond its hardened exterior lies a soft and sensible core. The relationships between characters are surprisingly genuine and feel really natural. Over the course of its running time we come to care for each and every character in a special way. No one is innocent here, but it’s the imperfections and the little things that each character says or the does that shapes them into perfectly developed characters. I wish I could say that Elfen Lied does all these things to perfection, but there are some noticeable flaws among these beautifully executed aspects. Some characters react in an odd way to a few things, which sometimes leads to confusion among the audience and incapability to connect with the particular scene when it happens. For example, a young girl discovers a brutally dismembered man on the beach and her reaction suggests that she thinks little of it. Such things really lead to confusion and sometimes ruin the moment. I don’t wanna spoil anything, so I’ll just say that Kohta goes through some extremely emotional situations during the last episodes and his reactions are underwhelming, to say the least.

With only thirteen episodes and one special original video animation, Elfen Lied is a relatively short anime series. The manga it is based on is said to continue beyond the series’ ending and offer a lot more backstory and information about some characters, though I have not read it and am therefore unable to comment on the matter. I will say this, though: as far as the anime is concerned, it does a great job at developing the characters and advancing the story in a satisfying manner for the audience.

Elfen Lied is most definitely not for the faint of heart. There are lots of scenes which depict violence against animals, incest and even sexual abuse. Even though the series is filled with controversy and gore, it does manage to deliver a really beautiful and emotional story filled with interesting, well-developed characters. I was a little bit disappointed with the open ending and the final episode overall, but it did little to make me forget about the rest of this spectacular anime series. If you feel like you’ve got the stomach for it, be sure to check it out as it will definitely leave a lasting mark on you. It certainly did so in my case.

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]

Overview:

Despite having obvious flaws, Elfen Lied is actually my favorite anime of all time. I am aware that this anime is quite divisive and giving it a high rating is the equivalent of blasphemy for many, but first hear me out on why I actually like this series. Many critics say it is only popular from the gore and nudity alone, but that isn't exactly accurate. Gantz came out the same year with even more gore and nudity and failed to achieve 1/10th Elfen Lied's fanbase. Certainly this series whether you personally love or hate it has something else it does that makes so ... many like it.

Story: 9/10

One thing I will admit is that due to time constraints, some of the back story is only in the manga. To make things more confusing the anime seems to have a few key differences in the timeline and in regards to the infamous mutants. This lack of information may confuse or flat out piss off some viewers. However, if you put on your thinking cap it actually isn't too bad in terms of being confusing and can be pieced together without too much difficulty. After all, this isn't a David Lynch film where the whole point is to sexually assault your brain. The following paragraph provides some backstory that may clear up some confusion regarding the mutants. Even ADV erroneously said they were created in a lab, which is completely wrong, so I think this may be warranted.

The story of Elfen Lied is that there is a rare mutation that grants powerful psychic abilities. However, this rather pleiotropic gene also curses the inheritor with red eyes and horns. Due to the horns, these mutants are called "Diclonius", which is Latin for 2 sprouts. Most born with this mutation over the centuries have died in infancy, but now a few called "queen Diclonius" have not only survived, but learned how to use their psychic powers to mutate human DNA and make them give birth to sterile mutants called "Silpelits". A government agency was created to study these mutants and isolate them for fear that the mutants could pose a threat to Mankind. The odd appearance of the mutants causes normal humans to treat them as monsters and most are abandoned by their parents the moment they are born and shipped off to orphanages. This rampant discrimination and hate often leads the mutants to become psychologically damaged and furious at humans. The mutants lash out and as you would expect from angry children given powerful weapons, they sometimes kill people in large numbers. This led the government to believe the mutants are simply evil and a threat that must be neutralized at all costs.

Another HUGE problem with Elfen Lied's otherwise quite decent story is that the first 2 episodes...kind of suck. It starts out with nothing but violence and an unnecessarily long jail break, when it is actually the psychological drama and dark romance that won over most of its fans. This kind of explains why unlike Gantz, Elfen Lied actually has female fans. The anime clearly should have started with the flashback episodes, but I digress. Allow me to summarize the first 2 episodes, so you can skip them if you quit this anime after hating the first episode. Honestly, this was a problem with Baccano and Monster as well. A number of good anime start surprisingly weak.

Our story is about a queen diclonius named Lucy, who spends most of episode 1 on a ridiculous prison break that leaves no less than 23 guards dead! She even kills 2 people by using telekinesis to hurl a pencil through their skulls! Lucy nearly escapes without a scratch, but ends up eventually being shot in the head with an anti-tank rifle. However, as a complete badass this isn't enough to kill Lucy, because she used her powers to greatly slow the bullet and change its trajectory at the last second. Lucy falls off a cliff and washes up on a beach in scenic Kamakura, where she is discovered naked and bleeding by 2 cousins named Kouta and Yuka. Kouta has an odd reaction to seeing Lucy and a brief image is flashed on the screen that heavily implies that Kouta has actually met Lucy before. Lucy seems to have brain damage from the bullet wound and is now only capable of saying the phrase Nyuu, which is a baby word and similar to the Japanese gyunyuu meaning milk. Kouta suggests taking this mysterious girl to the hospital, but Yuka suggests taking her home in order to get her cleaned up and dressed, likely in order to spare this girl's family from unnecessary shame. The cousins take this unusual girl home and later that night the girl now simply called "nyuu" angers Kouta by breaking a seashell that was a momento of his long dead little sister. Nyuu runs out of the house and towards the beach in order to find a new shell for Kouta. Meanwhile, the government research organization dispatches a group of elite soldiers to recapture Lucy. This includes a sadistic, loose cannon soldier named Bando that largely serves as the comic relief villain of this series.

Episode 2 begins when Kouta finds Nyuu at the beach and is moved that she is wading through freezing water in order to find a new shell. However, before Kouta can forgive the brain damaged Nyuu for unjustly yelling at her, he is attacked by Bando and knocked out. Bando could easily kill or capture Nyuu, but he decides to destroy his radio com rather than calling for backup and have some "fun" with her, much to the dismay of his strictly by the book partner, Satoh. Bando doesn't sexually assault her however, he simply tries to goad her into giving him a good duel and seems to have the energy and playful cruelty of child. Unfortunately for Bando, he hits Nyuu on the head and she reverts back to her normal self. Lucy brutally murders Satoh and using superior strategy makes quick work of Bando. She decides to taunt him and slowly torture him in revenge for the way he treated her a few moments earlier. However, before she can kill him she reverts back to Nyuu and leaves Bando bleeding on the beach with 1 arm cut off, one arm broken in multiple pieces and both his eyes gouged out! Nyuu returns home to find Kouta and he attempts rather awkwardly to dress Nyuu in dry clothes, causing anger and jealousy from his often psychotic cousin Yuka, who has a HUGE crush on him. Meanwhile, at the government lab we see a young girl chained to the wall in cruciform position with blood trickling from her temples. This anime Jesus wannabe is named #7 or Nana by the facility (George Costanza would be pleased that someone is named 7). That is the end of episode 2.

Character: 10/10

The main character is Lucy, who is a serial killer that we are actually meant to feel for. She has done horrible deeds, but feels tremendous guilt and wishes to repent for these misdeeds, which makes her sympathetic. Unlike Dexter or the Punisher, she isn't an incarnation of Texan justice that only kills bad guys. She is less Dexter and more Rodion Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment. Well...a watered down anime version, but still an excellent character for an anime! Lucy also develops a split personality named Nyuu that starts out like a small child and gives Lucy the opportunity of rebirth. I think the great writer Salman Rushdie said it best in Midnight's Children when explaining why writers keep resorting to rebirth via amnesia. Besides Christian rebirth and reincarnation, it is really all we writers have! Kouta seems like a generic harem lead at first, but we learn that there is more to him than meets the eye. He has a rather dark past and tries to protect all women he comes across after the tragic death of his little sister. He may not act rationally at times, but his extremely accepting and kindhearted nature represents the most positive portrayal of humanity in this entire series. Kouta acts as a foil for Lucy and eventually a romantic interest. This romance is in my opinion one of the most tear jerking and moving in all of anime. Kouta's kindness is actually able to get through all the anger and hatred that have built up in Lucy's heart. They are similar to The Phantom and Christine from Phantom of the Opera or as previously mentioned, Rodion and Sonya from Crime and Punishment. Nana is another interesting character who grew up isolated from the world, so she is very naive and appears quite foolish. However, she has unnatural kindness and her own kind of wisdom. She is tempted 3 times in the series to submit to anger and kill an opponent, but all times she refuses. She is a rare anime example of a character achetype that in literature is called a "yurodivy", much like Myshkin in The Idiot. There are lots of other characters, but this review is long enough already.

Sound: 10/10

The opening theme Lillium ranks as one of the greatest in all of anime. The background music is often creepy, disturbing, tense, and as I mentioned in my Gokukoku review reminds me somewhat of Arnold Schoenberg in its atonal style. Although Lillium is played a bit too often since it serves as Lucy's Leitmotif, the soundtrack is solid all around and I highly recommend it.

Art: 8/10

The art is quite good for 2004 and although it looks a tad dated now, the early use of CG for the vectors was quite impressive at the time. This was the beginning of the great migration of animation studios to South Korea where animators do quality work for dirt cheap, so it looked a SHIT load better than many 90s and 80s anime that were created in Japan with very strained budgets. Yes, I'm aware Studio ARMS made this anime. This is probably the best looking thing those schlockmeisters have ever produced.

Enjoyment: 10/10

The first episode will probably throw a lot of viewers off that this series is going to be nothing but gore and nudity. However, if you can make it past the tedious first couple episodes you will find an anime that goes all out and has a lot of heart. It is certainly not for everyone, but I really enjoyed it.

Overall: 10/10

"How Could this be considered good literature? EVERY CHARACTER IS INSANE!" - Vladimir Nabokov on the novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky.

There are plenty of things Elfen Lied could be criticized for. The characters don't always behave in a realistic fashion and the plot often has coincidences and moments of fate that are unrealistic. Elfen Lied is heavy on the 19th century style melodrama. The gore is overdone and some of the nudity is completely pointless, especially when used for comedy scenes. The series is emotionally exploitative and tries to make you cry. The ending is also controversial because it is left somewhat open ended for viewer interpretation. All of those are entirely true! Does this make the series bad? I would actually argue... no. Some of the gore IS totally excessive, but it's trying to tell a rather dark tale with often disturbing scenes. Some of the nudity WAS pointless yes, but the mutants are actually kept naked in the facility to dehumanize them and make horrendous experimentation easier. This isn't exactly what I would call "fanservice". Furthermore, none of the nudity is actually pornographic, so if it offends you than that is your call, but please don't call it a porn. That's just not accurate. Some of the plot points aren't realistic and characters aren't always rational, but if that meant a work instantly "sucks" then most major writers prior to the early 1900s "sucked". Now let's look at some things Elfen Lied actually did well in my opinion. Elfen Lied has interesting themes of love, hatred, the nature of good and evil, discrimination, redemption, forgiveness, and even touches on social issues like child abuse and poor treatment of the homeless. Elfen Lied doesn't always offer answers to these questions and doesn't always hold the viewer's hand, but it does tend to lean one way if you analyze it. For example, Elfen Lied brings up the nature vs. nurture debate in terms of the mutants' violence, but doesn't give a definitive answer. It heavily implies nurture, but this is left to the viewer to decide. The series also strongly hints that any deeds no matter how evil can be repented for if the sinner truly feels remorse and wishes for redemption. Not exactly a message that we see very often in modern pop culture. The bad guys who do bad things must pay for them and die. Unfortunately, my home country of America is a highly pro death penalty country that emphasizes punishment over rehabilitation. That is one reason Americans often can't embrace a novel like Crime and Punishment or an anime like Elfen Lied. It is completely against our established viewpoints. Elfen Lied also scores points for having an interesting plot, great characters, a great soundtrack, and is to date the only anime to ever make me cry. I have seen over 800 anime! I cry like a bitch during that Kouta/Lucy scene in episode 13 every damn time! I like to think of it as the bizarre love child of Stan Lee's X-men with Gaston Lerioux's Phantom of the Opera and Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment.

PS. I recommend watching the Japanese audio because the English dub is a very mixed bag. Some of the voice actors in English are great like Kira Vincent Davis and Jason Douglas, but others are so bad that it ruins dramatic scenes. Nana's English voice sounds like nails on a black board! Seriously, she has some of the worst acting I've seen in a major anime.

To be frank this series was a massive disappointment on every level. I heard great things about from many people and anime sites. Basically this show is a glorified harem horror train wreck with fancy music.

To start none of the character reactions seem natural. Everything seems awkward and stupid. The characters themselves are all either insane or incredibly stupid (some are both). It's hard to get into depth without ruining anything so I will make an example. Imagine if the characters in Excel Saga's actions were all taken in a serious light. That is how stupid these characters are. Then there is this convoluted ... storyline that goes in so many different directions that it makes no sense. Then there is the stupid romance element of the thing. It's as if they try to make the most illogical couple possible. Overall this show seems like it was created by a person with no actual goal in sight. He just throws out boobs and blood and expects it to be good. Which it most definitely isn't. If all you want in your anime is blood and boobs this is the anime for you...just whatever you do don;t listen to a word these people have to say.

Basically this is a piece of garbage covered in blood. But hey at least the music is good. I gotta admit that much.

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.

It's tough writing negative reviews, because for some reason people who've already seen the anime want to come along and rate it as useless because they disagree. But this review is for people who haven't seen this anime yet.

Let's be clear on this one. One of the reasons I dislike this anime may be because it made me face the horrible realisation that I might just be too old for it (I'm 26, so maybe 14 years too old).

Elfen Lied is a harem anime featuring a collection of bulging-eyed stereotypes (including pathetic bitches) crossed with extreme violence to the point of perversion. If this sounds ... like it may appeal to you then you certainly aren't alone.

Anyway, let's consider the plot before we start ranting about how shit it is.

There exist certain people on Earth that have conspicuous horns growing from their heads. The female versions of these people have a varying number of invisible arms that can be used as weapons. These people are also usually very angry about something, and unsympathetic to any concept of compassion. Like an evil Tachikoma... maybe.

Anyway one day one of these bad girls washes up on a beach where she is picked up by some guy who takes her home with him. Said guy has just been placed in charge of an old ryoukan with ten rooms, which he then goes about blandly and cluelessly populating with other stigmatised young women. Sexually embarrassing situations arise, and so do disturbing yet poorly animated scenes of bodily mutilation and relentless, unapologetic killing.


Story 5/10.

The series doesn't start very well. A young, horned girl breaks out of a secure facility by killing everyone. She is also completely naked. She then runs away and turns up on the beach to be picked up by this guy. Only now she has spazzed-out into some pathetic little shit who can't say anything except the grating-cute "nyuuuuuu!". She also doesn't know anything about anything and ends up sat in a puddle of her own piss. But it's all very cute and erotic and lalala. Then the girls take off their clothes and have a bath. Then the guy gets in compromising situations with the annoying exhibitionist in front of his cousin (who incidentally fancies him) and its all so very charming and stereotypical hahahaha.....

Then people get brutally murdered again and chicks get naked again. Repeat, repeat.

I think the horned-people want to rule the world, or something. They hate humans because they pick on them and kick their puppies and shit. So if humans won't accept them, then they must "make a world for [them]selves". What that means isn't explained, but I guess it has something to do with removing humans from the picture. The rest of the plot is nonsense filler about the characters and their history, including a totally implausible "we knew each other as kids" backstory, and a "revelation" which I want so badly to shout about because it is so stupid, but don't want to 'spoil' for anyone out there who can't work it out from the heavy-handed hints throughout the short series.

The idea of the soft-hearted girl with the hidden harsh personality is certainly not new. The first thing to come to mind is the vastly superior initial OVA series of 3x3 Eyes. Except in 3x3 Eyes the calm version of Pai actually has some charisma.

One of my major issues with this anime is the liberal use of nudity. Worse, child nudity. Warning: this series contains many, many shots of 13 year old girls in the buff. In fact, it shows just about as graphic scenes of child porn as is (for some reason) allowed by the censors. We're talking full pussy shots on all fours. That shit is fucked up. What's more fucked up is that that is the most sexual of all the nudity in the series. Every episode (and the entirity of the opening and closing credits) bulges with breast and pussy shots, but they are so badly drawn as to not have any effect on anyone over 12. However, when the young-guns come out, the poses and situations get more and more perverse. I know 13 is technically the age of consent in Japan, but come on.

The violence is way over the top throughout, and the style often reminds me more of Ikkitousen than any attempt at being vaguely serious. The less bloody ecchi moments, too, defy all logic. One girl allowed herself to be groped by another girl for a full two minutes while doing nothing but blushing and weakly saying "I said no". This kind of pathetic clown is one of the worst traits of Japanese media.

Towards the end the series is plagued by bawling sentimentalism. It manages to convey at least some feeling, and does feel like it picks itself up a little. But it is ultimately too little, too late. It was interesting, however, and the only time when you are actually asked to consider the characters as the children they are instead of just hard-ass emotional wrecks.


Animation 6/10.

Considering the hype there always was around this series, it is strange to see how low the animation quality is. The framerate is not good at all, the designs are sloppy, and the locations are severly limited/similar (though often nicely detailed).


Sound 4/10.

Rubbish. Only one or two different songs performed in a variety of ways. Boring. "Nyuuuuuu"!


Characters 5/10.

Tired stereotypes by the bundle. Huge, plump eyes even grace the dopey male lead; shit hairstyles in stupid colours too. All very nice and cute, and clearly intended to be in juxtaposition with the bloody violence. However, rather than working to make it all the more powerful, it just looks wrong. It doesn't work. The violence is more like a sexual perversion in this setting.

And just when you thought all the characters were present and accounted for, there's the guy with the spiky black hair and the very reflective glasses. Oh, and what's he doing? He's pushing those glasses up his nose with his middle finger while giving the camera a slightly sideways smirk. Holy shit. I promised that I would kill a man if I watched another anime featuring him, but when it comes down to it all I want to do is kill myself.

The only good character, literally, is the bad-ass soldier guy. He punches women in the face in a way that makes me think he is angry to be in the show at all. Winner.

The harem is an often-referenced bad point of the show, and I won't disagree. As if two sworn enemies would live together. One has her arms and legs cut off by the other, then agrees to live with her. Whatever. The harem-hotel is where the series abandon's all sense of seriousness and becomes more like a gorey Tenchi Muyo.

I guess the main theme is stigma, but I'm confused. The pathetic "nyuuu" chick is some kind of anti-hero by all accounts. It seems like we are supposed to feel sympathy for this girl who indescriminately kills people. Hell, the cast seems to manage it. At one point a very young "Nyu" gets bullied, so she kills all the kids bullying her (otaku revenge anyone?) and then goes on a rampage killing families for a place to stay. There is little about that that says "poor victim". Nothing really makes me feel anything for this character. Certainly nothing balances how damn annoying she is in every scene. I suppose we should believe that she cannot control her power, but without something likable is it almost impossible to feel any balance. It's interesting that you are ostensibly 'supposed' to feel sympathy for a child who wants to be human but cannot embrace any element of morality or compassion. Look at Tetsuo in Akira; he ruthlessly murders people and barges through Tokyo on a wave of destruction. But throughout the whole movie he somehow retains sympathy for his problems. Nothing like that applies to Elfen Lied.

Also, why the hell don't the girls in the series kill each other? They have an inexplicable tendency to push each other about and/or give each other a slap. You want them dead, so use your silly arms and kill them like you kill everyone else!


Overall 5/10.

Some anime forces you to look beyond the stereotypes and tired themes for the real story. I tried that with Elfen Lied and all I got was this lousy review.

"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.

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?

Elfen Lied is an anime that many consider controversial. It's bloody, gory, perverted and just plain fucked up. Now I've seen some messed up animations in the past and I'm usually not against the stuff when it's in good taste. That is the biggest flaw Elfen Lied has: it's never in good taste. I'm sure someone at some point has implored you to watch this work. If that is the case, and you have not yet watched it then I beg you: DON'T.

Story: 1/10 (If I could give this a 0, I would)
What good can be said of Elfen Lied's story? It's a story. That's ... it. It's overtly complicated, totally unbelievable, and tries way too hard. Two people find a girl with horns and take her in. She can only say her name and gets naked too often. Then she goes nuts and kills people. All because it's her nature. And it's full of plot holes that once you realize, you can't forget. I'd point them out, but they could be spoilers.

Art: 3/10
The art is just mediocre as all hell. Everyone has the same face unless they're an adult apparently. The animation is also pretty bad and that's not a good combination. The "vectors" are the dumbest looking power I've ever seen in an animation. I laughed every time I saw them used. Maybe it's just the way they were drawn.

Sound: 6/10
The composer did his job. The opening is great, and probably the only good thing about the animated work. The score is nice and consistent. The voice acting on the other hand, japanese or english, is just bad.

Character: 1/10 (again, 0)
By far the largest offense of Elfen Lied is character development. It's either not there or it's much too forced. And what bothered me most is just the overall mood of the characters. To put it simply, if you are a bit character, YOU ARE A HORRIBLE PERSON. NO EXCEPTIONS. One example is a group of elementary school kids beating the ever-loving hell out of a dog with no remorse whatsoever. I went to elementary school and I don't remember that many serial killers in training. They acted like supervillians. Am I just supposed to believe these kids are all just pure evil at that early an age?

Enjoyment: 1/10 (AGAIN, 0)
None. I just felt awkward the whole time. I don't know why I finished it, probably because once I've started an anime I don't like to drop it. Regardless, the series is full of awkward moments that only made me uncomfortable. As much as this was supposed to make me care, all it did was isolate me further. Not because it shocked me, trust me I've seen worse. It was just... awkward.

Overall: 1
The worst and most overrated anime I have ever seen. I don't understand how anyone could enjoy this piece of crap show. I apologize if I'm offending anyone, but you'd have to be a complete moron to actually like this irredeemable load of garbage.

No. You know what? I DON'T apologize. If you liked Elfen Lied, you have no taste and you need to be institutionalized.

(Spoilers below!)

The main focus of the series seems to be the main character's harem (with more focus on 2 of them) consisting of his cousin, a similarly-aged mentally deficient girl who is secretly not mentally deficient, and 2 underaged girls. If I recall.

The series focuses a lot on the underage girls being sexually/emotionally abused, the weird incestuous relationship between the main character and his cousin (which they portray doing things that I might think warrant an M rating), the youngest girl in the bunch running away from home due to being sexually abused by her step father, and the other underage girl being mercilessly butchered ... and having her limbs cut off over and over as if it was some kind of running slap stick gag throughout the entire series.

The series repeatedly uses children to pull at your heart strings and make you feel a connection with characters that are about as well polished as driftwood. These characters exist only as props to be thrown under a bus to make you feel sympathetic and sad. They do not themselves possess any kind of personality beyond some kind of quirk or weird infatuation. There's "the raped girl," the "emotionally deficient girl with stockholm syndrome," the "brooding girl who only wants to be loved." You know, the classics!

I'd say the grossest aspect of this series is the use of gore for shock value. Small children are mutilating each other left and right. Though there is an in-universe explanation for why they are so violent, you're left wondering if you care if there is an in-universe explanation. To me, the gore exists because someone wanted to make a really edgy series full of gore and violence for sake of gore and violence.

Think of Gantz, but with 10 year old girls. And instead of killing aliens, they're killing other 10 year old girls. By ripping their heads off.

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%)

Ever since mankind perfected the art of starting fires, we’ve been at the top of the food chain. We’ve used weapons to make up for our lack of claws, and we’ve built houses to make up for our lack of immunity to the elements. We’ve invented food processing, as well as other techniques to ensure that we’re not pumping our bodies full of disease and parasites, and we’ve even invented supermarkets so we could stop hunting and sit on our asses all day while marathoning Gossip Girls. We’ve held dominion over the rest of God’s creatures for so long that we’ve never ... really had to worry about another species knocking us off of our seat at the throne.

While the practice of humans killing humans is about as common as the practice of making more humans to replace them, we never expected a threat to our population to evolve right from our own ranks... Until the Diclonious arose. They’re the new breed of human, characterized by a pair of bony horns on their head, a set of invisible arms growing out of their back, and no genitalia (which must have been a huge relief to the people in charge of censoring the show). While the way they breed remains a mystery, their mission in life is simple... Wipe out the human race, and then repopulate the earth. And their queen bee just escaped out into the public.

Now, that queen bee... Lucy... is on the run, ready to gruesomely murder any pitiful human who gets in her way. How will she deal with having to live with the one person she can’t kill?

Elfen Lied was produced and released by Studio Arms, an animation company that makes it’s entire living off of crap. I’m not kidding. Their library consists mainly of pornos, loathsome battle vixen shows, and obscure OVAs that nobody cares about. Their most ambitious projects aside from Elfen Lied are Genshiken, which I admit I haven’t seen, and last year’s incompetent snoozefest, Mao Yu. This is not a company you want as your alma mater, and visually, Elfen Lied is no exception.

Well, that’s not completely fair... To it’s credit, the background artwork is actually really good, beautiful stuff. It’s highly detailed, perfectly lit, and shaded with nothing short of a master’s touch. The character designs, on the other hand, aren’t nearly as easy to look at. They look fairly normal in most shots, with nothing really special or noteworthy. Then there are the facial expressions that look like they were designed by the troll face guy, and far off shots where everything looks distorted and off model.

The animation is also some of the worst I’ve seen, at least when you actually see it. You spend most of the series staring at key frames that feature barely any movement outside of the lip flaps. The very few full-shot walk cycles that you get to see are embarrassingly bad, as the characters in them barely seem to exist in the same universe as the backgrounds they’re running against. I said earlier that the backgrounds look really beautiful, but even when you clearly hear the presence of strong wind, you’ll never see a single leaf moving. That is, except that there will occasionally be a shot of cherry blossom petals falling down, and this appears a lot in the outdoor scenes... It looks fluid and graceful in motion, at least until you realize that they’re just playing the same bit of animation over and over again... Even in the freaking rain! The animation does clean up and present itself in a few select fight scenes, but they still look mediocre by any other show’s standards. For the most part, a huge chunk of the budget was clearly wasted on the goofy looking CG arms that all the Diclonius...es... have.

The characters look like garbage, which is fitting, because most of them ARE garbage. Lucy herself is a really good, complex character, but after suffering a concussion during her escape from the research facility, she develops a split personality. That other side of herself, who emerges whenever she’s hit on the head or has a bad memory, is called Nyu, and... Well, I hate to use this word so lightly, but she’s retarded. Like, literally retarded. I know I shouldn’t use that word, because it’s a very mean and insensitive word, but I don’t think you’ll ever see an anime character who fits it more than she does. I’m not talking ‘makes bad decisions and does stupid things’ retarded, oh no, I mean ‘pisses all over the floor for no good reason’; retarded. She’s basically a walking infant with boobs, which she will happily squeeze into somebody’s hand. Nyuu’s existence does to Lucy what Jar Jar Binks did to the original Star Wars trilogy.

And the couple that takes her in? Kohta and Yuka, both of whom are first year college students? They are insufferable. They’re one of the worst couples in anime history, and I’m not just talking about the fact that they’re cousins. I could forgive that. What I can’t forgive is a will-they-won’t-they dynamic that, for me, was more like will-she-won’t-she-kill them already? Kohta experienced a traumatic event when he was a kid, which resulted in the tragic loss of his personality. Oh, and his family, I think. She hasn’t seen him since then, but has somehow stayed in love with him all this time, even turning down her top choice colleges just to go to his. He’s basically a less interesting version of Shiryou Emiya... and I so mean that... And she’s an obsessed hose beast who takes every possible opportunity to be jealous of the other girls in the house.

There are a few characters that were good... Like Bandoh, the sadistic army guy, and Nana, the well behaved Diclonius... But both of them overstayed their welcome after somehow surviving injuries that should have killed them. Yeah, they somehow survived losing entire limbs, when another character a few episodes later almost bleeds out and dies from one bullet wound. Seeing them come back to life wouldn’t bother me if their presence beyond that point contributed anything to the plot, which they don’t. But unlike little orphan Mayu, at least they DO contribute something to the plot at some point.

As much as it kills me to say this, as a die hard ADV fan, I can’t really recommend this english dub. I don’t have a problem with the dialogue, or anything... The adaptive script is actually quite good... But as far as the performances go, it’s a mixed bag. Kira Vincent Davis does an outstanding job playing all three sides of her character... She plays Lucy, Nyuu, and the child version of Lucy, even though the original Japanese had a different Saiyuu for each. She plays Lucy as a jaded loner with a serious chip on her shoulder, and you have to give her props for pulling it off without ever sounding emo about it. There’s a little more hope in her squeakier child version of the voice, and more growth as well. Her performance as Nyuu is ungodly annoying, but then again, it’s an ungodly annoying character, so I don’t hold it against her.

She probably performs her best as the child version of Lucy, which might have something to do with the fact that she’s playing off of such wonderful actors as Christine Auten, Chris Patton, and Monica Rial. As an adult/woman child, she’s hanging with a certified C squad that plays our main couple, Kohta and Yuka. They’re played by Adam Conlon, who doesn’t seem to understand what acting even is, and Nancy Novotny, who doesn’t have any talent for it whatsoever. There are some pretty good performances by Jay Hickman Jason douglas and Sasha Paysinger, but in this case, a few bad apples DO spoil the bunch.

The only time I’d recommend turning the English track on is when little Mariko sets foot... Er, wheel... Onscreen. She’s played by Her Highness Luci Christian, who I believe I’ve gushed about in the past. I hold her in an extremely high regard, as one of the best emoters in the business, and as somebody who’s able to absolutely own every single role she’s presented with. Keep that in mind when I tell you that her role as Mariko is one of her best performances period. She hasn’t jerked tears this hard since Air. I won’t spoil the reasons why, but if there’s a reason to turn on the dub, it’s her.

As for the story itself, it’s not necessarily a bad one. The plot is one of a kind, is very imaginative, and always manages to take itself seriously without ever becoming preachy or pretentious. The pacing is actually really good as well, as the story never moves slowly enough to start dragging, or too quickly for the viewer to understand what’s going on. That’s not to say you’d necessarily WANT to understand what’s going on, but good pacing doesn’t always mean good content.

Where it fails it’s hardest is in the execution of the story. There are so many plot holes that I honestly could have made an entire Inconvenient Questions list out of it, if not for the fact that several characters go out of their way to ask about said plot holes... To no avail, of course, as Elfen Lied would much rather question itself than explain itself. Much like Fate Stay Night, Elfen Lied is a story that spends way too much time on it’s main cast playing house and dumping exposition to fully explore it’s own exciting concept. In fact, if you really want me to take my gloves off, this is a 13 episode series with so much pointless material in it that it could have easily been told in the space of only six episodes.

All you’d have to do is remove the characters who don’t add anything to the plot (Mayu, Bandoh, Arakawa, both of the Kakuzawas), cut the flashbacks down to only the bare essentials, combine Nana and Mariko into one character, and erase all traces of Yuka after she’s filled her role in the first episode. In addition to cutting back on time, having Kohta take more of an active role in the story with only Nyuu/Lucy in the house would have given him a much more complete personality.

As a matter of fact, I would have loved this show a lot more if little Lucy had killed Yuka, instead of just Kohta’s father and little sister... Oops, i’m sorry, was that a spoiler? I’d apologize, but if you couldn’t figure out that little plot twist by the end of episode 1, then there’s no hope for you.

There’s a lot you can say about this show, and not all of it is very nice. What you can’t say, however, is that it fails as a horror title. As bad as the animation may be, the framing and camera angles are absolutely brilliant, working right alongside the hauntingly beautiful soundtrack and perfect instrumental motif to make the show consistently unsettling and suspenseful, even in the more goofy and ridiculous moments. Right from the start, you have no idea who will live and who will die, and aside from Kohta’s family, you’ll never be able to predict what gruesome fates will await these polished, shiny moe models. Whether you love or hate seeing them torn limb from limb, you’ll never feel bored or indifferent about it, which is the reason that it never becomes gratuitous enough to qualify as mindless torture or gore porn.

Elfen Lied was once available from ADV Films, in a very beautiful thinpack box set. Following the collapse of ADV, it was picked up and redistributed by Funimation, who’ve released a few box sets of their own... They’re not as striking visually, but they’re cheaper, and it’s pretty much the only way to get it on Blu-ray. The original manga has never been released in English, and since I’m not familiar with the practice of streaming manga, I don’t really know where you can find a translated version. What I can find, however, is a fan-made web comic called Nana’s Everyday Life, which concluded several years ago. It’s actually a very interesting read, particular in the latter stages, when they dropped the comedy and went for a more serious, tragic story. You can find that at http://manga.clone-army.org/nana.php.

In conclusion... What do you want me to say? Do you want me to call this show the most awesome thing ever, like so many people do? Well, I can’t, because that’s not true. Do you want me to say that it‘s one of the worst pieces of crap I’ve ever seen, like so many people do? Well, I can’t, because that’s not true either. My opinion of Elfen Lied is much more in the middle... It’s too good to be a bad show, but at the same time, it’s way too bad to be a good show. I really like it, and it will always have a spot on my DVD shelf, but from an objective stand point, i’ll never be able to see it as anything other than average, which is why I wind up giving it an average score... I give Elfen Lied a 5/10, and a strong recommendation to check it out for yourselves so you can form your own opinion on it.

I love the story, but I have to say - the nudity was a bit too much. I find it hard to watch this anime in public (I watch it online in an interet cafe near school since the connection at home is slow). Seeing naked children and preteens were kind of bothersome. It's even worse getting caught watching an anime who shows Lucy/Nyuu naked 50% of the time. I am still not sure why she had to be naked, and the same goes for the rest of the diclonius (It's not like they can use their clothes for weapons).

I didn't really mind the gore, ... decapitated humans aren't new to me, but sometimes it can be a bit surprising. I do feel sorry for the children who get murdered throughout the story. This is definitely not a Disney animated film. There's something about the gore that made it acceptable for me.

As I've said, I love the story. I love all the elements mixed in it - Kouta's repressed memory, the psychotic diclonius and the virus, everything. I loved how these things were put together and out came Elfen Lied. If it wasn't for the great story, and the adorable Nyuu, I probably wouldn't have liked it as much.

Other than Nyuu, the characters were all very likeable. They all were so different with great backgrounds that it makes you think how such a diverse cast were brought together. There's Kouta, who seemed like a normal teenage boy in the beginning, or so we thought, Lucy/Nyuu, who are one and the same person but with different personalities, Mayu who is a stong little girl, Kurama who seems cold hearted but in the end you see his true self and more.

The music had a great variety of genres. The opening was a bit creepy at first, but after a while I got used to it, then by the end I got to appreciate the beauty of it. I liked the many versions of it. You can see its variations - there's the operatic version, the gregorian chant version, the music box version, etc. which were all used as background music. You don't see too many anime music with latin lyrics. The ending song was also great. I love the lyrics, I love the sound - although I thought the beginning sounded a bit Avril Lavigne - ish.

I don't think this anime is for everyone though. At first I didn't think it was for me - hearing about the nudity and the gore I was about to back off from watching it forever, but the story really got to me so I decided to watch it. I have to warn everyone who wants this though. A few days after watching Elfen Lied I started to become a bit paranoid and I would hear the opening song in my head almost non - stop. Because of that I couldn't get to sleep for a while.