The story of Elfen Lied is one... well... you basically start with a girl who murders everyone using her seemingly psychic powers then she gets shot in the head and has amnesia and gets found by two people. At least that's what MAL says? Then would you expect, based on that description and the fact that there is no ecchi tag to turn into random bursts of ecchi that occasionally breaks into edgy action because please... yes...? I mean, you saw the mature filter for mild nudity, nudity so mild that breaks out in basically every episode, but that's besides the point. I mean in the first episode 10 minutes a nude girl is killing people and in the others she needs help to change her clothes by a guy and he gets flustered because his cousin thinks they're trying to fuck or something and then she runs around naked and... I'll just stop.
You could've expected some realistic action series, so... does what I said so far sound anything like that? Perhaps the cast of characters will change your mind. Maybe you like Kouta, your generic male protagonist who has to explain every action he does around a girl that looks sexual. Yuka, his cousin, who wants to fuck him. His cousin. I mean, I suppose depending on where you live that might not bother you. Japan is ok with cousing marrying, but I'm noting this for the people that will. And then there's Nyu, Lucy's alter ego, of who's apparently lets call amnesia despite her basically having the mind of a toddler and barely being able to mutter words or comprehend them. Otherwise Lucy's personality is murder is kill.
I'd go into more detail but most of the other characters don't say enough or aren't nearly important/ interesting enough. I mean, there's also this guy who likes killing people a lot and... that defines his character. And to be fair, he does pose the most logical question of the show which is: "Why are my balls important for the future of the world?" Yeah... that's the most logical one... There's also one more character that I've enjoyed a bit which I didn't really expect to, because the show didn't try too hard on. However I'd rather not give details on because perhaps you'd like to not know much about her. Since I didn't say anything positive about anyone else so here, but not that this might be a bit spoilery so if you'd rather not learn anything about her, skip to the next paragraph. Did you decide to continue? Ok then. Ok so this girl is another girl just like Lucy who is also a mutated homosapien who's been experimented on a lot and in order to cope with all the suffering she's been through and not lose her mind, she has decided to consider a guy from the staff her father. She is sent to go after Lucy and pretty much her execution so far was the only one which wasn't that bad. I can't give you more details because I'd spoil that happens but the dynamic of this relationship was nice, I'll acknowledge that.
However that character doesn't make the general pace of the show better. This is how the show works: The show starts with a lot of brutal kills in its 10 minutes, which don't look that bad but without much context, it only takes so long before it feels edgy, then after that the girl escapes and has amnesia, in other words basically becomes a toddler and with the two new characters the show creates awkward situation where the cousin catches her cousin dressing the girl up and him being like "oh no this isn't what it looks like" and the amnesiac usually being like "I'm totally into this.". Then something extremely convenient happens that puts the Lucy character into her non-amnesiac state and then she goes murdering. Then back to ecchi moments. And repeat the last two steps as much as possible. That's the show. Do you like the sound of that?
Besides that, the artstyle looks generic but the gorey parts are animated well and they have a decent amount of detail put into detail which I do actually appreciate. So I suppose you might like the show if you're looking for gore. I mean, it's animated well, it may not be incredible. The circumstances through which it's delivered makes it feel incredibly edgy. I mean if half the show you're gonna see constant tits and a person with the mentally of a toddler switch into killing with an often blank, otherwise sadistic look on her face without knowing much about the character other than the fact she's a mutant. As for the sound of the show, what's somewhat memorable is that the intro sounds like a psalm or something. Like have you ever heard someone sing biblical songs in a choir or something? Actual biblical songs? That's this intro. Other than that, nothing at all that noticeable or memorable.
The only people I could suggest this show to is people who enjoy unnecesary gore because otherwise and can also bear or enjoy ecchi scenes which were constant through all the episodes I've seen. If you like these, you will most likely like the show, but otherwise, you don't have a lot of reasons to watch this show. I mean, cruelty against something that isn't human and them being mistreated has been portrayed in plenty of different media, better or at the very least, not without so much unnecesary scenes outside of its intended theme. The gore as I've said, it's nice looking, but due to the overall way the show is, it only looks edgy. But maybe edginess is your thing. Another thing I'd like to add is that most of the character details of most characters are kept in the past and the plot might tie in later conveniently between characters so you would basically try to create some deep drama solely because the entire story you withheld all the information from the viewer and the show needs, desperately, to have some way to keep you invested in the story. By having some missing pieces conveniently through its entirety, they can be tied together by the end and be like deep story 5/7. It totally seems like the kind of show that would try to make everything flow with every element for dramatic effect lazily. So if you find that cheap, this is what I think the show promises. Anyway, I don't know that for a fact. What I know for a fact is expect edginess and tits. You want edginess and tits? Go forth and watch this.
