[Spoilers] Elfen Lied Ending - Read for Clarification

Aurao said:
Nice Clarification, I thought about it in the same way.

Anyone knows if the manga goes further then the anime?

RiceMuncher said:


Yes but its different comapred to the anime. Anime diverges at last 2-3 episodes from what I heard. O and someone told me the ending is worst than the anime + alot sadder so I didn't read.
xD

maaiiccoo said:
I've just finished this anime today.
I really love it now. The clarification was nice to read and I agree with it.
Does anyone know if there will be a second season?

RiceMuncher said:
Hi everyone, just joined AnimeList because I wanted to discuss Elfen Lied, specifically the ending.
First of all, I hope to clarify the ending for some people (yes, I am 5 years late but me and my sisters fully loved it). I'm not going to argue that this "definitely" happen but will put forward strong inferences we can all make, regardless if your an optimist or a pessimist =p
Bear in mind, that it still is - an open-ended interpretation ending much like Inception, Children of Men (all very very good movies)

[P.S Can someone tell me how to use the advance functions of the forum e.g "quotes", "add pictures etc?" Thanks]

[SPOILERS BELOW]


1. Who does Kouta like?
I think there's a stark contrast with the ways he treats Yuka and Lucy/Nyu. With Yuka, Kouta does not actually initiate any actions, only Yuka does. This kind of suggests he doesn't like her much(in that way) and only kisses her towards the middle episodes to reciprocate back and/or his a "first-timer" at relationships (but boy is he pimp lol)
With Lucy/Nyu, the relationship seems more passionate and natural. Even when he was young, feelings were strongly inclined to Lucy - as indicated by his preference to invite Lucy if he hadn't promised Yuka the date.
Now towards the end, we see Kouta do two things that he hasn't done before
a) tell someone i.e Lucy that he loved/loves her
b) initiate a romantic action i.e he hugged Lucy
Now especially towards the final minute, we see Kouta reminiscing over Nyu/Lucy and Yuka sort of looking at him jealously - this implies Kouta does indeed like/love Lucy

2.What did the clock ringing and music box mean?
IMO, the music box symbolises the past, including the seashell. It also symbolizes the sadness and pain Kouta experienced in his life. Note that the seashell symbolizes pain and the past BUT reminds him of Nyu.
When he puts the seashell back into the music box, I guess it kind of meant he wants to move on with happier memories.
IMPORTANT BIT
Now many people suggest music box=Lucy, Clock=Nyu. I don't believe this is the case.
What I mean is Kouta never,ever called Nyu/Lucy, Lucy. He only refers to her as Nyu at all stages of the anime.However, with that in mind, the music box does prbably symbolise the aggro/crazier/psychopath version of Nyu/Lucy, and the clock symoblises the innocent,extermely kind Nyu. To Kouta however, he always saw a good person as shown by 100% "Nyu" references in the end.

So when the clock rings and the music stops, it implies that there is a fresh new start without the sadness and pain of the past.

3. Then whos at the door?
Look, I strongly believe its "Nyu" . Who else would visit his house. In addition, if you look at the shape of the shadow, it is DEFINITELY A GIRL- with hair resembling Nyu. Also the dog barks at the visitor like he barked at Lucy towards the early episodes.
IMPORTANT BIT
- It is strongly implied that its the mature version i.e Lucy/Nyu at the final romantic scene with Kouta, that is at the door. This is because if it was 100% Nyu, she would be saying "Nyuuu" all the time. She also would probably not be able to find her way back. The more mature version of "Nyu" also is more quite and seems to only talk at important bits and to Kouta most of the time. It is very unlikely she would knock on the door and say stuff without seeing Kouta first.

4. Did Lucy/Nyu die?
Probably not. Bullets dont seem to affect Diclonius, and even after a hit, they seem to regenerate back their health. Nana did this when she was shot by Bando. Lucy did this when she was shot in the head.
Also note that the bullets continue to fly, Lucys vectors are flying up (meaning shes defending herself) and that even after her horn fell, bullets are still flying - implying she is not dead.

Side Note
People sometimes go "Nana would've sensed Lucy"
She cant, both her horns are gone

And finally,how did the clock get fixed?
Wel it started working just when Kouta walked outside and not before. Im not really sure, could just be pure chance that it fixed itself or Nyu fixed it or even the Nyu at the door using .. her improved vectors? Lol idk. Not really important as it is more symbolic than such

Conclusion
I hope this clarified abit for you, so you can go home and sleep that Elfen Lied had a happy ending =]
At the very least "Theres so many wonderful things..so many"

Thanks for reading

Aheesh said:
1. Who does Kouta like?

If you believe kouta ‘loves’ Nyu part of Lucy.... you are wrong. Absolutely wrong. He only likes her as a child or as her sister (I’m saying this because her character is childish). Nobody loves absolute innocent and childish character. Love is more complicated than that, and ‘Nyu’ doesn’t display any of the traits as a lover. All he displays for her is her caring heart. (Though Yuka jumped into conclusion that he loves her, later she realised herself).

If you believe he loves Lucy herself... He has to accept each every aspect of her including that she killed so many people including her father and sister. He said he won’t forgive her himself in the end. If it’s about the character...in the past she displayed only 1 trait, she was innocent and she wanted to play with him. You tell me what else did kouta see in her? The rest is just kouta being kind to her. Or do you want to tell me that he loves her because she killed his father and sister just because he lied? So no he doesn’t love Lucy. If you are wondering about the end scene between kouta and Lucy, he looked her like that because he realised she cannot live anymore. That was a display of sadness not love. As far as the kiss, it was Lucy who initiated that, not kouta.

If you believe he loves yuka... well you are correct. That was what manga displayed and what the author wanted. If you ‘think’ he doesn’t love yuka because he is always reluctant and yuka is the one who initiates and ‘kinda’ forces him to...well that’s because he doesn’t know what happened in the past. As that always concerned him. But when he rememberes the past...he also remembers about Yuka. That’ll just mortify his feeling even more.

But what I hate is that the anime didn’t show how they end up leaving so many viewers with a different opinion. I know that would defeat the purpose of the ending they provided in the anime but I hate the ending as well, because if she was Lucy, alive and well...then she just killed sat team to be there. Which is no good. She didn’t even resist when they were shooting her. So if it’s her...then the ending has no meaning to it. She’ll just have to keep killing to stay with them. If it’s not her alive but as her soul or something as ‘ghost’ as the kids call it, because she is the queen bee...she might have the power to do that (who knows) then ending is weird and unexplained and incomplete if that’s the case. Then this ending is wierd. An ending can be sad or happy but not wierd. So immediately after watching this idiotic ending...I read the manga which is a lot more satisfying. It is said to be ‘sad’ because Lucy dies..but that’s what should have happened in the anime as well. And they also display that Lucy killed all those humans because she cannot control herself from not doing so. Therefore she died. Read the manga urself. You will understand.

Whether the person standing there is Lucy or not..is the open interpretation... but who he loves..I don’t believe that is an open interpretation. He loves yuka, period. If you think I’m wrong, let me know how, Thank you.

RiceMuncher said:


Yes but its different comapred to the anime. Anime diverges at last 2-3 episodes from what I heard. O and someone told me the ending is worst than the anime + alot sadder so I didn't read.
xD