Elfen Lied: Well developed story but for mature viewers ONLY

Written by Little_Wolf-18 on February 10, 2012 at 4:07 PM

Warning first: Contains GRAPHIC gore/blood and violence. FAR beyond the usual level of violence and blood in TV and anime, even of mature rating. Not for the faint of heart. Definitely NOT FOR KIDS. If you’re under 18, you should back out NOW – and if you don’t, don’t blame me.

Now that that’s out of the way:

The story of “Elfen Lied” is complex but well worth your time if you’re a mature viewer. The plot’s based on a unique concept, with an interesting background and some enthralling twists, deep, dark, and mysterious. The pace is steady and well to follow. However, the end is open and leaves quite a number of plot holes, leaving you either craving for more or feeling disappointed you even made the effort to watch. The manga still seems to go on, but I didn’t read it, so I wouldn’t know. What can help fill up some of the plot holes though is the OVA. Count out the end, the series is something to behold and can’t be replicated easily.

Despite its supernatural aspect, the whole story touches on real problems throughout the world. Also, there’s the underlying theme of beliefs and religion. If you don’t like to be drawn into conflicting stuff, you most probably won’t like this one, period.

The characters are individual, and their dynamics and development are definitely well-done for such a short series. Character backgrounds are well done too – I find myself drawn to the idea of one childhood mistake haunting the person forever. It’s easy to feel with the characters, and there’s an unusually wide spectrum of emotions for a series of this length. Some of the characters are horrifyingly crazy – instant changes from a cute, innocent, and quite clueless girl to a strong, cruel, and utterly emotionless woman. Takes some getting used to it, but in a cruel sense it’s captivating.

Genre-wise, there’s as wide a spectrum as with the emotions. First off, “Elfen Lied” could be famous for its content of horror and gore. It’s a definitely hardcore psychological thriller, with drama, suspense, mystery, action, its supernatural aspect, friendship, and a touch of romance, the latter two adding to more light-hearted moments. I am quite sure some people would count in ecchi since you’ll get some eyefuls of women in the nude, but believe me, it’s completely non-sexual – not like “important body parts” were stressed oh-so-much. Actually, I’d find real ecchi in this atmosphere rather disturbing. :P As “Elfen Lied” is rather dark and evil, it misses a comedy aspect – or rather, there are tries at humour, but the humour turns out sick due to the general content. No more comment.

The dialogue in itself is fine; it has its corny moments, but it’s easy to get over those. The voice acting, however, varies a lot. Whilst some seiyuu, such as Sanae Kobayashi-san (Nyu/Lucy’s voice actor) are strong in getting their character’s emotion across, some of the other seiyuu may fail in portraying their respective character’s emotion, sadly disturbing the flow of the anime.

In terms of artwork and animation, I’ll admit I’m not sure what to make of this. The background scenery is definitely something to behold. However, otherwise, most of the artwork is red and black (or in English: dark and gorey), though it can be gripping in a cruel sense. The animation doesn’t go beyond fine. There’s horrific details shown that can be quite hard to stomach, as if the anime was trying to be horrifying just for the sake of it. The amount of blood is quite uncommon as well. For those wondering; if you can get past the first episode, you’ll be able to stomach the whole series, but quite frankly, the amount of gore left me with an uneasy feeling, and IMO not all of the horror shown was necessary. For sound effects, some of the gory scenes, though not even always explicitly shown, are matched with sounds that make you cringe. Talk about a cruel form of art. Honestly, I’d switch off my loudspeakers during the battles. If you love gore however… you’ve been missing out on an absolute fantasy. *shakes*

One question… it might just be that I missed something or whatever; but it seems like Diclonius bleed like humans on a normal cut but don’t bleed all that much when a whole limb’s missing O.o Anyone got an explanation? It might not distract you that much, but alas, I’m one to notice such tiny animation failures.

The music itself is excellent, both the opening and ending song fitting perfectly and giving the whole story a deeper meaning. Also, the opening’s in Latin for a change. ^^

For the entertainment factor, there’s no real humour in here. However, once you get over the amount of gore, the story is fascinating in a somehow cruel way.

Overall, “Elfen Lied” is a fantasy for any horror/gore lover, and it could easily be a classic for its emotions, philosophy, characters and storyline (though, from all I heard, the manga covers the story far better). The music is enjoyable as well. However, plot holes in the anime, so-so voice acting, and exaggeration of its horror/gore content wear it down for me.

It might be good for you if you’re looking for a short anime with well-done music, a wide spectrum of emotions, individual characters and character development, and an anime that touches real problems throughout the world in a philosophic approach. It might be utterly excellent if, in addition to that, you love blood. However, anybody who doesn’t like to be drawn into conflicting issues, or anyone sensitive to violence and/or blood definitely should not watch. In any case: MATURE VIEWERS ONLY.