Elfen Lied Review

story 7/10

Violence and nudity lovers unite -- Elfen Lied has been created just for you! Really though, although there is somewhat of a plot to speak of, the main focus of Elfen Lied is the shock value, plain and simple. The somewhat thin plot revolves around the fact that a certain type of people exist that have horns (dubbed Diclonius). These creatures become terribly violent and homocidal, causing those who sit in power to worry. Lucy is one of these creatures who escapes from a maximum security facility (leaving much carnage in her path), and washes up (naked and bloody, no less) on a beach where the young Kouta and Yuka find her. Lucy, however, has somehow lost her homocidal tendencies and has reverted to Chii-like dumbness, acting like a 3 year old who doesn't even know how to walk. And thus, the story begins...

Again, the plot itself is pretty weak, as far as I'm concerned. There are a few minor twists and the obligatory "people can't remember things from their past that were really damn important, which come back later in the series", but as a whole, the plot was definitely back burner for the violence and nudity (and I don't think anyone could argue with me on that). The violence? Really messed up. Honestly, I think this was the most disturbing thing I've seen as far as blood goes. I've seen quite a few really gory things in my time, most of which were really cheesy (Baoh, for one). Berserk is a good example of a series that isn't cheesy as far as the violence, but still is really up there on the violence scale. Elfen Lied leaves them all in the dust, giving us not only extreme violence, but very disturbing violence (Narutaru style) that is very graphic. For example, people often get their heads or limbs twisted off. This would be gruesome enough, but in EL, they are very careful that you see the bone sticking out of the limb that's left. Or, people sometimes explode and their organs fly out. Really nasty stuff, and really, really graphic. And like Narutaru, there are a few scenes that are just so wrong that you cringe. In general, I found it to be SO violent that I was laughing near the end when each messed up thing happened. Honestly, I think each episode tries to outdo itself, because as the series went on, each episode seemed to have something even more bizarrely grotesque than the previous one, and near the end it was no-holds-barred.

The other facet was the nudity, which I really didn't enjoy and felt was extremely overdone. Violence I can understand because the plot revolves around these creatures being super violent... but nudity? Is there really a point to flaunting the character's naked (and sometimes underage) body? It even is plastered all over the intro and outro, including the very first shot of the outro that you always inevitably see when the episode ends. Come on guys, is this really necessary? I feel like the creators of the show must have accidentally ate 5 bottles of viagra and took it out on the female characters they were drawing, since I swear 60% of the time the diclonius girls are naked, many times unnecessarily. Unlike the violence, this was not effective as far as I'm concerned, except helping Anime Nerd #43243909 have an easier jack off session that evening.

All in all, a somewhat thin but still interesting and unique plot that was enhanced by the brutality and lessened by the ridiculous amount of nudity.

animation 7.5/10

The animation of Elfen Lied seemed good most of the time, but faltered at others. The backgrounds were definitely the most beautiful of the lot, and were detailed and interesting. As previously mentioned, the violence was excessive and effective as far as how it looked on the screen. Though it might not have looked completely real, it was creepily done and looked real enough to be disturbing, especially with the bone fragments sticking out and such.

I think the only part I didn't enjoy so much was the character designs. At first I was impressed, but as the show went on I started to feel like they were a bit generic. They almost reminded me of Kanon, with the huge dating-sim eyes and the bright colors. All of the Diclonius girls had bright pink hair (which is never really explained), while everyone else tended to have normal colors. In general, the colors used were very vibrant and rich.

sound 7.5/10

The audio was probably the highlight of the series, and reminded me a great deal of Tsukihime. Beautiful orchestral singing dominated the series, with a woman at the helm most of the time. It fit the tone of the series, though just as easily could have had a techy/techno feel once in awhile, which it didn't. Voice acting was decent for everyone involved, though Nyuu's voice was fairly irritating and reminded me of Chii. In any event, her character seemed to be thrown in just for the fanboys, so I guess it needed a cutesy voice to match.

characters 7/10

There was a decent amount of character development to speak of, but I don't necessarily think I was happy with a lot of it, hence the somewhat lower score. The crux of the development was definitely with Lucy/Nyuu, and Kouta. Like many stories, Kouta has a dark and hidden past that he has to discover, and Nyuu has two completely different sides that she ends up exploring in a strange way. The secondary characters have their own situations as well, such as the other Diclonius girls (developed weakly), Yuka, the cousin who has a crush on Kouta (wtf is up with the incest thing in so many anime series?), and various side characters as well. Again, the character development really is in the background as opposed to the violence and nudity, just like the plot, so you can't expect this to be another Infinite Ryvius or FMA. It was decent and enjoyable in part (hence the 7), but weak in other parts.

overall 8/10

You may be wondering why I scored Elfen Lied at an 8, even though my other scores are all lower. Well, I really did enjoy this series, even though I felt it was pretty weak as a whole. If it hadn't been for the extreme almost laughable violence, this would have fallen flat on its ass from the thin plot, beautiful but still generic animation, and somewhat weak characters. Elfen Lied is a fanboy anime, plain and simple... it appeals to people who want the super violence and nudity, and that's why it succeeded as much as it did. I agree that the violence helped the series be more enjoyable, hence the high score of 8... but if you are looking for something really deep and complex, without being flaunty, I don't think this is for you. For all others out there, don't be scared of watching this just because of the hype it got. Go into it knowing what type of show it is, and enjoy!