Elven lied is not for the faint hearted.
There will be innocent puppies bludgeoned to death. There will be bodies exploding left and right. There will be naked girls chained to walls, their limbs dismembered one by one.
Despite this initial appearance, the goal of Elven Lied is not to revel in it own nudity and gore. Rather, the director exploits these scenes to paint a powerful story of a world twisted by enough racism, prejudices and hatred to make George Bush look like Jesus.
The main premise of Elven Lied poses the question, what are the terrible consequences when the world abandons a young girl because she is different, and what that very difference allows the girl to ability to inflict the pain she has experienced back onto the world tenfold?
In this.. Elven Lied generally successful, though not without its flaws. The music is effective (The OP is quite amazing), the animations smooth, and the character designs bot cute and chilling as required. The final episodes of the anime feature some truly remarkable revelations, that elevates the story into true classic.
The only weakness, and a significant weakness, is that certain characters experience so much physical violence with relatively little emotional trauma that the violence loses its ability to shock. The mediocre voice acting is partly to blame. It takes a special someone to effectively speak out their lines as their limbs are torn off one by one... and unfortunately that special someone is not in Elven Lied.
Add this to the fact that people just don't seem very bother losing all their legs and arms. A character who suffered this traumatic experience would be back a couple of episodes later, all happy and without a care. This has the undesired effect of reducing the edge of some scenes designed to shock the viewer, as they appear almost comical.
The anime is not everyone. Open the first episode, and watch the first 10 minutes. Consider the dismembered arm and the decapitated waitress as a test for the darkness of your soul. If the scenes trouble you, then you're better off watching Chobits. Otherwise, you'll be rewarded with one of the most unique and controversial anime's ever released, that despite its flaws, is guaranteed to leave a lasting impression.
Whatever the case, leave Elven Lied on your desktop, so that when someone tells you animes are for kids, you can boot up the first episode and shock them into a stupor.
