monsterrelic said:Karharot said:
Aside from being gory, edgy and full of nudity which made it controversial (for many ppl controversial automatically equals excellent) it was (and still is) one of the rare shows with protagonist (Lucy) being ruthless, murderous, villainous and Ax Crazy. This is something really fresh in mainstream animation where main heroes are almost always restricted with lines they ultimately won't cross (the same lines in almost every show), for this reasons titles like Death Note and Mirai Nikki became great hits despite many flaws they had, and for majority of western audience Elfen Lied was the first show of that kind they ever watched.
It's worth mentioning here that title popularity (any title, not just EL) is often greatly affected by something like a "critical point" in viewer first impression. If that point is passed and viewer satisfaction is big enough then all the shortcomings are automatically overlooked or justified and the viewer goes out of his/her way to look for additional depth that will enrich the experience (depending on interpretation depth can be found in almost anything as long as someone spends enough time thinking about it) and thanks to that will only like the show more and more. On the other hand if the "critical point" isn't crossed then it works in reverse - the viewer sees all the flaws and can't be bothered to justify them or look for anything deeper than what is shown on the surface (even when there really are things worth thinking about hidden somewhere deeper).
In other words - if you like Elfen Lied then you can by yourself find a lot of fun stuff hidden under the surface (some of it is just over-interpretation and finding depth where there was not supposed to be one but it is irrelevant as long as there is fun in it), if you don't like it enough to find something on your own then you will just see a lot of holes and won't be able to understand why others could rate it so differently ;)
This "critical point" you speak off does seem to be a very good justification and explanation of a person's perception of an anime's quality. For me this happen recently while watching Gurren Laggan, even though the show had many flaws i was able to overlook them due to the sheer enjoyment i was able to get out of it. Thank you for the reply Karharot, it really helped me understand people's views on certain anime a little better now.