Now, there is a very obvious reason why Elfen Lied is popular. I mean, in case you are blind let me clear it up for you by saying the show has a naked sadistic chick killing everybody. However, there is more to the show then meets the eye, since the show constantly brings up several themes such as genocide, revenge, identity crisis, social alienation, and physical and mental abuse,etc.
And sometimes it seems as if the show uses the gore to somehow properly convey such messages to the audience so that they will be burned into their minds for good. And it seems they succeeded because even after a decade hardly anyone seems to get Elfen Lied out of their system. Well, in my opinion gore in anime or in TV or movies should be used wisely and not just for entertainment purposes. Yeah, sure there is the question to why we normal and sane people enjoy watching people’s limbs getting severed or them getting decapitated or their eyes getting popped. One of the many reasons why shows like Game of Thrones is so beloved and famous, I guess.
But, truth be told I don’t know why I enjoy gory anime. Yes, it does open up my eyes to the fact that the world and the humans inhabiting it are very cruel, and yes there is the thrill, anxiety and anticipation of it all, but I guess gore is there to satisfy the sadistic being secretly hiding deep within all of us. Because let’s be honest we have thought up going Elfen Lied on some one ass once in our life time, haven’t we?
The first nine minutes of the show alone creates tonnes of controversy and gives rise to a tonne of debate within the anime community, but truth be told nowadays there is much more worse stuff compared to that. And honestly the first nine minutes are one of my favourite moments in anime period. Again, I properly don’t know why.
However, if people can look past the gore, Elfen Lied has a wonderful story to tell. Yes, it might not be the most original because the idea of a hot alien like chick killing everybody has been used countless times, even recently in the movie Under The Skin. The show however succeeds in impressing me by developing its two main leads Lucy and Kohta that too simultaneously. The flashbacks of their past are truly touching and also down right heart breaking.
You get an understanding to why our main female protagonist is like this in the present time. She was judged as a kid for being different that too very harshly. She had no family, she didn’t have anyone who loved her and that’s what drove her to insanity. She was treated so badly, all her bottled up emotions exploded violently.
Now, Elfen Lied needed to be partly a romance anime in order to make Lucy more likeable, and also to develop her character. They gave an inhuman being human characteristics by making her fall in the love with the first boy who actually wanted to be her friend and didn’t see her as a freak. Lucy laughed for the first time, enjoyed living life as long as Kohta was around. However, Lucy also had some negative qualities of a human such as being hot headed and also constantly jealous.
The split personality in my opinion of Nyu was basically a way for the two to coincidentally reunite one day. However, the things that I do like about Nyu is that she acts as a comic relief character in this show, however she does contribute to some major fan service.
Also, the thing I find the most irritating in the show is not the gore but the amount of fan service. I mean, this is supposed to be a dark, thought provoking and serious anime so having naked girls taking showers with another made me go, 'are you fucking kidding me?'. Also, was it necessary to turn this show into somewhat of an harem, introducing new female characters that Kohta quote unquote ends up adopting. I mean sure they had some relevance to the plot, but making it into a thinly disguised harem to attract viewers is very low. I mean, mainly because you don’t need to do that in order to get my attention. The eye popping, finger chopping, head ripping, puppy beating horror of it all is enough! Thank you very much!
Instead of trying to do that, the show should have focused more on telling the story and clearing up most of the confusion in the air.
Now the animation is good considering it was made ten or so years back, but it’s not like it stands out or is worth mentioning. Both the dub and sub is below average, so I suggest you suck it up and watch the show in one of them. The show is most fondly remembered for its opening theme. The song Lilium, on a first listen already gives us the idea of what type of show Elfen Lied is beyond all the horror. The song also plays a significant role in creating the bond between Lucy and Kohta, which I rarely see the opening theme of a show do!
However, the romance was sweet but I felt like it could have gotten more development. I mean, don’t get me wrong I ship Lucy and Kohta over Kohta and Yuki any day, but I felt the show lacked a little in romance.
The ending of the show was something I didn’t enjoy mainly because it was ambiguous. I mean, seriously if they were going to end a fantastic show they could have done it a little better. I mean when I was done with this show I remember scratching my head wondering what exactly happened, which is pathetic if you make fans of the anime go onto the internet to get a better answer to what the fuck actually happened.
Elfen Lied is flawed but yet it somehow makes you love this show because it is unique in its own way. Opinions on this show have been divided for quite some time, and I am one of those people who actually adore this show but I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece. I will recommend this show to fans of horror anime, but not to those people who can’t stand nudity or doesn’t have the stomachs to watch gory uncensored stuff.
This show is definitely not for those who are a little narrow minded as they can’t obviously see that there is something more than meets the eye. It is thirteen episodes long and so definitely something you can binge watch and trust me when I say that this show will have you hooked from the get go. This is in my opinion the gateway horror anime, and it will prepare you for shows like Higurashi, Mirai Nikki and Deadman Wonderland, which I think you should also watch!
With all that in mind I award this show a 7 out of 10, and that this anime is worth is giving a try!
