Even given this pretext, Elfen Lied is a masterpiece for reasons you could never have suspected. When I first watched it, there was something very enjoyable and soothing (weird, I know) about this anime that made me question why it felt so right. Probably as soon as I finished watching, I somehow found myself starting up the first episode again.
One last thing, this anime helped me when I was terribly depressed and I thought that nothing would make me feel any emotion except for drained sadness.
Story - 10 = The story of Elfen Lied is not meant for shock value.
Elfen Lied starts out with loads of gore, but it is boring to watch despite being disgusting and tragic. Then, it transitions into providing a home away from tragedy as the male lead and his cousin accept the mysterious girl who has lost her memories after her tragic escape.
Most people say that the horror is derailed and this change of pace is horrendously wrong. But it is completely natural to be able to escape a treacherous world when you have lost your memories and escaped from your past.
The story becomes very subdued from this point on, but it is entirely focused on being subtly meaningful. If you are not keeping track of minor details, things will apparently happen at random. The pacing is generally too fast to catch everything in one sitting. The build up is a lot more obvious when you already know what happens and that makes rewatching the show more enjoyable.
The drama of the plot is considered flat or cliche, but it just leaves a lot of room for emotion, consideration and interpretation. If you keep in mind what happens to each character, then the dangerous moments become more horrifying and the peaceful moments are much more enjoyable and soothing to watch. The harem introduced in this story is not typical as everyone suggests. Everyone introduced is escaping from a sad past and has nowhere else to go and they are not focused on being funny or ecchi. Instead, this is one of the very few shows that gives us positive, constructive role models for the harem archetype. Everyone here is helping each other live the best that they can and they are all trying to accept each other, unlike the outside world.
In complete honesty, the fanservice is kept low and arrives in perfectly small amounts to heal the plot from being too depressing and help things feel more like a slice of life while not using much screen time at all. But, normalcy is just another thing to add to the horror. When we are introduced to characters and the horror elements they bring, each feels refreshingly disruptive and shocking for properly empathetic viewers.
Coming full circle, the gore and combat becomes more enjoyable in later episodes than at the first, but the first scene can serve to tinge us with a disgust for violence and wrap our minds around how the inevitable combat should just stop. It is painful to see how these supernatural women can not coexist with humanity. Lucy's backstory serves to flesh out this idea the most, but the more empahasized the theme is, the stronger it feels.
By the way, the flashbacks of Lucy and Kouta are among the most successful flashbacks I have ever seen (Berserk still blows this out of the park). We are exposed here to some truly genuine, yet innocent interactions between the two after witnessing the terrifying (and highly relatable) situations Lucy has already gone through in an orphanage. Without going into any more detail, if you read the manga, the best thing it has got going for it (after what is shown in the anime, the manga feels very rushed) is the flashbacks, which feel highly realistic and deep.
Another overrarching theme is the theme of parenthood. This is pretty represented in perfection by the harem being led by Kouta and Yuka and the dysfunctional side through the characters of Nana and Mayu, and then, somewhat subverted in an interesting way with Mariko later on. The director also seems to imply this theme with most people.
And perhaps the most powerful theme of all - redemption of the unforgiveable. I have never seen this theme attempted in any story before. Bandoh is one of the harshest, least likable characters I have ever known, yet we still find him likable later on. This is a very, very daring transformation to perform within a storyline without making it seem shoehorned, but Bandoh is properly written in this way, without argument.
Despite everything, the anime ends on a bad cliffhanger, which should have required me to give the story a 10. However, Lynn Okamoto (such a secretive person that the picture confirming them to be male is of questionable sources) did not provide a point of any finality within the manga for the anime to end upon by the time it was being finished. While I am not the biggest fan of the ending, the fact that the anime production group chose to omit certain things that Okamoto wrote (all with increasingly out of tone science fiction and diclonius emphasis) and leave yet another area on which your emotions can explore was a very wise decision. Additionally, the conclusion with Mariko did not happen in the manga the same way. The anime version is better here and created enough finality to leave most of the audience satisfied despite an open ending with plot holes everywhere.
Art - 9 = The art in the opening, in my opinion, is actually my least favorite part of the show. I just don't feel very connected to the opening sequence, but the colors at least expound the warmth, love and familiarity accumulated in each episode. However, the nudity lends to the idea that this anime is meant for shock value and sex appeal, which is wrong. This could be the major flaw of Elfen Lied, including fooling people into thinking that references to Klimt and nudity make the show high art.
Lynn Okamoto is a great artist and if you look at the manga chapters that are featured in the anime, they miraculously are the same exact quality of the anime.
The simple character designs do not really break the art style unless you like to nitpick. The hot colors of each character are very exciting and enticing and the very normal appearances of each character make sure that things can not feel too stereotypically "anime". Additionally, the personality of the characters is what stands out most and the color mixed with the very average appearances of the characters lend to each other very well to not make us favor a character because of unrealistically cool design. Even further, Bandoh is made to look the least attractive despite representing the stereotypical anime badass. This gives us a hint that the tough guy archetype should be broken.
The background environments may be much more detailed, but are humans really as detailed as nature in the first place? Why exaggerate just for to match? The ability of Okamoto to draw nature and environmental scenes really, really adds a lot to the depth of walking in each character's shoes. Arriving in the empty inn felt awesome, despite not having it appear with a bunch of dust and debris like it might in an anime movie. In fact, the stability of the art always felt more welcome than an overly animated, high budget anime movie (which are rarely very good anyway). Whether it rains or shines, the plant life and few environs are always very natural and can evoke your childhood self. The quiet backdrop of a quietly architected, small rural town in Japan makes the mood very one-on-one.
Sound - 10 = Lilium is the main reason why the opening and this anime is considered high art by those who do not understand Elfen Lied. Lillium is a perfect song and it was even added into the plot of the anime whereas the actual Elfen Lied was a song in the manga (which did not even get introduced into the story [the introdcution to it was terrible] before the anime concluded). People who complain about the various remixes inside of the show's soundtrack confuse me because I easily forget that I am hearing the same song in the saints version and the other songs containing Lillium don't sound like they have it.
The problem lies with the fact that the soundtrack is often masked by how much the rest of the environmental sound involves you except when Lillium, Neji Heji or Shinkai plays. But, if you did not buy the soundtrack, then it would be worth watching the anime again to experience how powerful the music is. Elfen Lied has the best anime soundtrack I have ever heard. Most other anime soundtracks are terribly unbalanced in quality unless they are Soul Eater or Ruroni Kenshin or YuYu Hakusho. Elfen Lied has simple yet strong music that you may not want to listen to all at the same time, but they all suit their moods perfectly.
The rain is a very nice sound effect in this anime. When there is not rain, music is used conservatively and this is generally better for any media that focuses on drama or horror, but it is rarely this way in anime or video games, so this is a nice change. Some of the songs are meant to add little more than dissonance and use very few notes. The instrumentation is very unique with some songs (even if the instruments are usually rather direct). It would be hard to pick a best song, but my favorite is probably Katsubou.
I'll admit, the sound effects are extremely limited. But there is nothing wrong with them at all. The most enjoyable sound is when people fly though the air or jump high. It's an entertaining sound that works every time.
Character - 9 = Most people think Lucy is the best character by far, but I thought that Kouta and Yuka really were great characters as well. Yuka is the most hated and she is indeed pretty stereotypical. However, what people hate about her most is that she is Kouta's cousin, but his destined love interest. This is something that is legal and highly accepted in Japan. The author did not even release his manga in America, so you can expect that he did not care about American tastes on this issue.
Anyway, Yuka is a fun character because she starts out as the annoying type that is supposed to get upset at all the implied perverted situations going on, but she is only doing this falsely. The interesting chemistry is that Kouta is just your average kindhearted country boy. While this makes him seem unrealistically naive to most people watching this show, he is completely believable compared to people I know in real life. However, Yuka is exaggerating things that happen with Kouta and Nyu because she feels like Kouta is pretending not to remember her. Later, she still treats him harshly because she is in denial that fate would be so cruel to her. Also, she runs a strict household and puts Kouta to work cleaning it, as per the rental agreement, but surprisingly does not show propensity to cleaning at all. She is secretly distressed throughout the story and hides her feelings due to how oblivious and reflective Kouta's reception to them is.
Kouta takes each of the girls in without any perverted intentions. He does not define the usual harem male protagonist (which usually does not act perverted or DOES act very perverted) as much as people say, though. In addition to his formality, Kouta's most important trait is that he will take charge when situations start getting out of hand. He will try to protect people even when he is powerless to do so, or would not seem important yet or in his best interests. He makes for a perfect father figure who is also gentle and kind at most times. He always finds ways to keep the family from getting too deep into a depression and keep hope alive. While it may seem like he socially manages to say and do the right things 100% of the time, it seems like a pretty easy feat given the situation of each girl. Not only that, but Nana and Kouta do not get along much at all, which seems pretty atypical for a guy who is supposed to be scandalously exposed to more and more women. Mayu and Nana share a special bond and pretty much avoid Kouta completely despite living in the same home. Unfortunately, the most important relationship - between Kouta and Lucy - is never properly elucidated in the anime. This is a very defining area in Kouta within the manga, but it does not really make Kouta a weak enough character to be hated without it.
Lucy and Nana are the most transparent characters and are obviously the center of interest within the plot. However, Bandoh is a very good character who gets little attention. While he is pretty much like a serial killer in mentality, he is surprisingly not left out of the story. Most people would expect him to die because of how unlikable he was and that makes a perfect character because we do not need any suspension of disbelief for his place in the plot. Bandoh just happens to keep trying to get back and do what he wants to do. He is an inconvenient character, as is Yuka or Mayu.
Mayu seems to be a very superficial character. She is introduced in an interesting way, but hardly developed afterward. But the fact of the character is that she is meant show how healing a strong family unit is even in the face of such an intense, earthly trauma. And, with Kouta and the others' kindness, she gives life, in turn, to Nana, who had lost everything and essentially ended up in Mayu's old situation. Before and after joining with Nana, Mayu is able to make the home feel a lot more glowing than before. Her dog, Wanta, is very cute and shows another full circle element in the story if you pay attention. Leaving Wanta outside increases tension and the vulnerability of Mayu's wellbeing even after entering the safety and comfort of the home.
And, the organization which had been holding onto Lucy is full of characters who are hardly explained deeply, but there is a perfect sense of mystery with them that could have made them into great characters if they were able to come into play. Kurama is the one character we get to learn about. He may be the start of a weird tradition where Okamoto makes an ambiguous villain that looks like the main character (Kouta in this case). Outside of the organization, we meet a crazy scientist, who was a very important character in that he gave us enough background to what people in the organization might be thinking about within their research of diclonius.
Enjoyment - 10 = As I said, all of these small details really add up to make this show enjoyable before I even understand any of it. Hopefully, you will be able to get that carnal sense of enjoyment as well or at least the sensation of remembering serene nature and childhood experiences. Of course, the feelings of pain and loss are here and the test of emotions can be important for people like me who suffered through severe depression before fixing their nutritional problems.
Overall 10/5!!!
