First of all, let me point something out, Elfen Lied is among my favorite anime or just works of fiction in general. I love this show. However, that is not to say that this show is without its flaws, its just that they don't matter to much for me personally, but that doesn't mean that they aren't there. Nonetheless, it is quite a show.
Story - 9 - The story is an excellent tragedy, and does an excellent job of making you fell for the characters while at the same time turning concepts like morality and forgiveness on head. The plot is really quite excellent in
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my opinion. Many of the scenes are very powerful and emotionally breaking at times. Many of the things that occur in the plot are actually far more disturbing than the show's famous violence. Mostly this stems from how horribly the humans treat the diclonius race, who have horns on their heads as well as telekinetic powers, which the main character Lucy, uses to brutally dismember people. However, given the way most of the humans behave, her actions are understandable, which is largely what makes it so tragic, but I won't go into too much here, you should watch it if you haven't already.
Now the problems with the story are not so much with the story itself and rather how it is told. Given that the show is only 13 episodes, the story can feel rather rushed, and making it worse, there are many moments where it fells like scenes are unnecessary and are just taking up time.
Art and Animation - 7 - A bit of an oddity here, the art is both excellent and average at the same time. While the backgrounds and environments often look absolutely amazing, the character designs are mediocre with little detail and don't fit in very well with the amazing environments.
Sound - 8 - The music is pretty damn good. The opening theme is an absolutely beautiful song called "Lilium", which is set to modified works of the painter Gustav Klimt for a unique and amazing opening that fits the somber tone of the show itself. The rest of the soundtrack is actually pretty good as well, with some great tracks like "Shinkai".
The voice acting is well...not too good, at least in the English dub where the voices are pretty flat and I can't very well speak foe the Japanese dub because I don't speak Japanese but I haven't heard very good things about it either.
Character - 8 - The characters are good for the most part, Lucy herself is an immensely tragic and interesting character, never have you felt so much sympathy for a mass murderer. Kouta starts out pretty simple but gets better once you explore his backstory and his role in the plot becomes clearer. Yuka gets similar treatment but feels a bit overplayed since she spends much of the time forming a very forced love triangle between herself and Lucy/Nyu with Kouta. Kurama is actually one of the most interesting and conflicted characters on the show, but i can't say much without spoilers. Nana does a good job of showing how the diclonius can be peaceful. Mayu fells slightly unnecessary but is a decent character nonetheless.
The characters have some common problems in that they sometimes behave very stupidly or illogically, usually though this is for the sake of the plot actually working.
The relationships between the characters are also very interesting as they are much of the driving force behind the characters' actions. Largely it is the way the humans treat the diclonius, as no matter how horrible the diclonius can be, the cruelest will always be the humans. The most significant (and emotional) relationships in the show can't really be explained without venturing into spoiler territory, so I'll leave you with that.
Enjoyment -10- As I previously stated, I love this show. For me the flaws in the story and characters simply don't match up to how emotional and excellent many of the other parts are, however, this may not be the case for everyone. This show had an immensely profound affect on me and in the end seriously damaged me on an emotional level. As for how much I like it personally, I'll always give it a 10/10, but it isn't perfect.
I feel like I should address the two things about this show that seem to be its most well-known traits. Gore and nudity. As for gore, this show is not for the faint of heart, there is a lot of bloodshed, but I think it does a good job of adding a shock value that enhances the plot without relying too heavily on it. And the thing is that the gore isn't the most disturbing part, not by a long shot. The show does a great job of displaying to you a terrible side of humanity you don't even want to imagine we have, which is far more horrid than any level of dismemberment.
As for the nudity, if you're mature enough to be subjecting yourself to how disturbing many of the other things that happen in Elfen Lied are, nudity shouldn't be a problem for you.
In the end, I feel like I just have to call this show a masterpiece, at least for me, though it does have flaws that I think will turn off many people to it as a whole, but that doesn't stop it from being one of my favorites, and a favorite for many others as well.
P.S. this is my first review so please go easy on me, but critiques are welcome.
Nov 3, 2013
Elfen Lied
(Anime)
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First of all, let me point something out, Elfen Lied is among my favorite anime or just works of fiction in general. I love this show. However, that is not to say that this show is without its flaws, its just that they don't matter to much for me personally, but that doesn't mean that they aren't there. Nonetheless, it is quite a show.
Story - 9 - The story is an excellent tragedy, and does an excellent job of making you fell for the characters while at the same time turning concepts like morality and forgiveness on head. The plot is really quite excellent in ... |
