Contrary to many people, I am very sparse with my 10's, and I don't think Elfen Lied is worthy of any. But an 8 or even 7 is still good in my book. The enjoyment is all that matters, really, and this was one of the animes that I enjoyed the most.
Animation
Overall well done. The characters are very nicely designed (except for Kouta and Yuka, but they are supposed to be average joes on the other hand). There isn't very much actual combat, most of it is visualised as squirting blood and flying bodyparts. The actual severing looks great, though.
A big plus for the graphics during the intro theme. If there only was an anime that actually looked that way all the way...
Sound
The voice acting is not the best; Kouta and Yuka in particular are a bit dull, but it kind of fits their roles as the only "common people" in this anime. The other voice talents do a good job.
The intro tune is wonderful, and it's cool that it's also used in the plot. The latin "gothic" feel of it might not fit the theme entirelly, since there are no connections to christianity or heaven/hell. But what the heck, it's a good song regardless.
The ending song is something like "Avril Lavigne goes J-pop". It's nothing special but I like the way it fits with Nuy's personality. Happy and careless.
Story
There are lots of things going on simultaneously in Elfen Lied. Every character has their own agenda and mini-story, in addition to the larger metaplot. This is nice, I like advanced and intertwining storylines, but sadly there are many loose ends in the end.
The whole feel of the drama is one of an unavoidable doom, which makes the happy and innocent parts, like Nyu, seem very tragic. I think this is beautifully done.
My main complaint on the story is that it relies too much on unlikely randomnes. I had preferred it to be more waterproof.
There are a lot of things that are not explained in this anime. What are the dioclonus really? What happened to this and that character? And so on.
Character
Kouta, the main guy, has a rather complicated background that could excuse many kinds of behaviour. But I feel many of his actions are just a little bit too wierd. He just doesn't feel as human as I would like him to be. I would prefer him to be more like Seiji from SaiKano in some ways.
Yuka is a stereotype found in all animes. She can be a bit childish, but is likeable.
Nyu/Lucy has a split personality, but both sides of her is cool. I like how the innocent cuteness (yeah, well, sexyness too) contrasts against Lucy's cold, almost psychopathic facade. I would like the Lucy side to be even more cynical.
God, there are just too many characters.. let's just say that most of them are great, but a bit illogically acting. Sometimes it feels like the creators made the characters first, and then tried to make a story out of it.
Don't get me wrong, this is a great anime; I'm just trying to find things to pick on. =)
Value
This one really has it all; splatter, boobies, cool characters, complicated plot and nice visuals and sound. None of it is perfect, but still way above average. I'll definitely watch it again.
Hm, I might even have missed one episode. Everyone says there are 14, but I have only seen 13. If only the DVD was released in this cr!p country...
