Since Elfen Lied is a very popular anime with a bit of a cult following to back it up, I found myself very interested in giving it a shot. Not to mention, it had some things that I really appreciate in my anime, like cute pink haired killer girls, gore, and an amazing theme song. Seriously though, I love the Elfen Lied opening, I listened to it even before I learned about the show. Go check it out, its very beautiful.
Now, most Elfen Lied fans suggest the manga above the anime. Since the manga has over 100 chapters compared to a 12 episode show, I figured that the manga might truly be the superior one of the two, considering it would have more depth, character study, etc etc. So I downloaded the story and read most of it at school within a week or so.
I really wanted to enjoy this story. But I will go in to detail now as to why I could not stand so many important aspects of this manga, much to my dismay. I will try to be as specific as possible.
Story-
My score: 3
Elfen Lied has a very generic story that could have been developed into an interesting one. For the two people that have not heard of it, the story focuses on Lucy, (who I will be delving into shortly) a young woman who was born from test experiments to be a killer. She is referred to as a Diclonius, a breed of dangerous humans with cat like horns coming out of their heads. But what is so dangerous about Diclonius girls like Lucy, you ask? Well, they can use their anger towards others to produce invisible ligaments that can tear apart men. Lucy went through intense torture as a child, so she used her dangerous powers to leave the lab at an early age and hid from the government, killing those who she needed to kill as she was on the run. However, Lucy got a concussion during her escape, meaning that her killer tendencies are bipolar. She can be an innocent, kind girl at times, and then resort back to a stone-cold killer with little knowledge of the switch.
Elfen Lied focuses on Lucy and a few other Diclonius girls, such as Nana and Mariko, seeking refuge out of fear of further violation from the government. One by one, each of the girls cross paths with one another, and end up all confiding in Kouka, a young boy that is the son of an inn keeper. I think you know where this is going.
Now, I would like to explain that I do not hate harems. And Elfen Lied did actually have a decent set up for one. I mean, a boy taking care of wounded monster girls, teaching them social skills? That actually sounds kind of cute! But even with the occasional fluffy or endearing moment, this harem was absolutely ridiculous.
For starters, the girls in Elfen Lied just got naked a lot. For literally no reason either. The fanservice in this manga feels so unearned and cheap. I just wanted the plot to progress, not to see a bunch of girls getting groped.
Everything about the scientists trying to find Lucy was ridiculous and almost felt comical. They would assault and harm children for literally no reason, and had no motives. The story never delved in to why the diclonius existed, either. So I was confused almost the entire time reading it, curious as to why these scientists had even made Lucy in the first place.
The gore in this story was literally only there for shock. I did not want to see children get their bodies scissored and see a dog get beaten to death. This gore made no sense to the narrative and felt so childish to watch. I enjoy gore if it fits the story to have it, but this story's shock scenes were only there to scare the viewer. They felt so unnecessary.
Every single woman in this story was sexualized, and every single man was an evil douche with no personality. This story had themes of "the world is cruel" in every corner, but it was so exaggerated that I could not take one bit of its message seriously. None of the characters felt relatable, so the message did not fit this story one bit.
Elfen Lied also felt so flimsy and choppy. Sometimes the story would focus too long on boring aspects, and sometimes it moved far too fast. The ending was too rushed and by the final volume, I was scratching my head and wondering what the hell was even going on.
The story was edgy, full of unearned gore and fanservice, and had a jumbled, dumb plot and message. I almost chuckled at times over how ridiculous it could get.
Art-
My score: 6
Decent backgrounds, especially the lab shots. Lucy's kill scenes were well drawn too.
However, for a seinen manga, the characters looked too shoujo. Big eyed pink haired girls makes no sense for a story like this, and it almost felt laughable.
Nana, Mayu and Lucy have nice designs though. Still, they looked completely out of place in a violent manga like this one.
The scientists had some of the least unique character designs I've ever seen. I could not even tell them apart.
Characters-
My score: 3
Lets start with the elephant in the room, Lucy.
Lucy's killer form was badass and actually pretty cool to watch it action. I found the best parts of Elfen Lied to be when Lucy was a stone cold killer.
However, Lucy's "cute" (if you can even call it that)'s form was UNBEARABLE. I get that the "nyu" thing was for moe appeal but good lord it was annoying. And Lucy's cute form would often molest and strip the other girls at the inn, but she got away with it because she "did not know any better." A little character development towards the end did make her soft side a little better, but I personally found the bipolar thing with her really wishy-washy and dumb. Her killer side was too brutal and her sweet side was too saccharine and cheesy. This is not even mentioning that she has absolutely no character development. She just went on killing people the entire story with no progression or morals whatsoever. What a shame. Lucy had the potential to be a cool character, she even has a great design. But she felt so unrelatable, unrealistic and unlikable.
Nana and Mayu were fine. While not developed nearly enough, they were both sweet and were by far the most likeable of this bunch. I felt legitimate sympathy for both of them, such as Nana's terror in Lucy and Mayu's cliche, but still sad backstory. A little more development would have made them so much better.
Kouka was absolutely generic with no personality outside of his interactions with the girls. By the end of the story, I knew nothing about him. It never showed him on his own, never showed his motivations, never showed his hobbies, nothing. Such a bland plot device. He seemed to only be in the story so that Lucy would have someone showing sympathy for her. While his sister's death was sad and he did have the occasional moment that made me feel for him, he was really only there for Lucy's development. He could not have been any other character archetype besides a bland harem MC.
Yuka was very annoying. At least Kouka was generic but still a nice guy. Yuka was honestly just a generic, mean girl with a brother complex. She served no purpose other than fanservice and to be Lucy's competition in the harem, even though her and Kouka are related. Seriously, if you had taken her out of Elfen Lied the story would have had no changes.
All of the scientists were stereotypical, "evil" villains that just wanted to hurt Lucy with no reason to root for them. God, they were so annoying. None of them had any personality or backstory, and they were so damn interchangeable. Why even bother with them. Horrible, one dimensional villains that had nothing interesting about them.
Arakawa, the only female scientist, was okay but had no development outside of fanservice. She just walked around with panties on in a lab that did human testing. Because, you know, that's realistic. Could have been cool, but just a boring fanservice device.
Overall, Elfen Lied had a boring cast of characters, with all of them besides Lucy and Nana feeling like plot devices.
Enjoyment-
My score: 5
Here is where it gets weird.
Why such a high score if I had so many issues with this story?
Honestly, as dumb, over-the-top, and down-right aggravating that Elfen Lied was in almost every category, it was so damn entertaining.
Reading this manga was pretty fun, and I'll admit, the story was investing. That could likely be because I just wanted the story to finally get good, but it was a quick binge for me. I had fun reading it, as groan worthy as it was. Straight up horribly written pop-corn entertainment, like a Micheal Bay movie.
Overall-
My score: 3.5
Elfen Lied could have been better. So much better.
It was super generic and over the top with its story and gore. The characters were mostly cheesy and annoying with little development. And while the art was decent, the character designs looked so out of place. The story felt so flimsy and rushed, especially towards the end.
Still, give Elfen Lied a shot. I can understand why some would like it, pink haired girls killing people violently is pretty cool. Reading it was a ride, for sure.
