How far will you go for ambition?
Is the pain never enough?
Is living truly worth it?
Are humans the real enemy...?

Foreword:

For the past three days I have been reading Elfen Lied. Firstly, I am kind of a fan of the anime. I've watched it about 3 times...in 3 different dubbed languages. Although, after rewatching it again recently, I just discovered that I only like it out of nostalgia since it was one of my first anime, and one of my first exposures to horror.

From recent knowledge I know that 12 episode anime are most of the time not that great if their source has more than 50 chapters. I figured that perhaps the manga to Elfen Lied is way better than whatever the anime was.

and damn...I was right. The anime simply does not compare.

Firstly, most of the plot is organized completely different. The first 20 chapters are, almost the same as the anime, but they are organized much SO much better. Most of the big plot points are revealed towards the beginning rather than the end. E.g Lucy killing Kouta's family is revealed WAY earlier, around chapter 12 while the anime didn't even introduce this until the last few episodes.

SO basically what I am saying, is if you didn;'t enjoy the anime, but still liked the idea of Elfen Lied...I highly recommend you give the manga a try. If gore, rape, snuff, torture, and human experimentation are too much for you I implore you to just not read this manga or digest any of Elfen Lied's content.

For this review, I will be structuring this completely different. I want to analyze how unique this piece truly is.

Quick individual ratings:
Plot 9/10: I think there is a lot of thought put into this plot, and everything finally makes sense at the end. It's a wild ride, and I highly suggest.
Characters 6/10: The only good character is Lucy I am not gonna lie. The characters are really either rapists, girls with psychological trauma or Kouta. Im not sure how i feel about him, still.
Art 10/10: The horror and gruesome bits are done quite well, other wise it looks great for a 2002-2005 manga.

Overall, I think this is a great introductory horror manga really. Below this I will be analyzing the plot, characters and art more in depth. __Spoilers all ahead.
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Problems with Elfen Lied

Now, you might think I want to talk about problems with the themes, and I am not. I actually love this fucked up shit, but less so in a "oh im edgy I love blood and guts" way, but from an investigative and curious way. This manga shows you how far people are willing to go for ambition, for science, and how humans truly have no care for the pain they cause, as long as they get something in return.

My biggest problem is the power scale in this manga. I will use chapters 84 and 85 for this example. (why does chapter 85 have 100 pages...?)

This scene was so fucking great, because Lucy had an insane powerup, but what is so dumb is that the reason she got captured is because someone came and shot one of her horns off?? I don't understand how she becomes so powerful and she doesn't realize someone is coming to shoot her, and doesn't even block it as well. Remember when she could fly as well during her first fight with Nana? She never flies ever again in this manga, and it's really strange. I am not sure if I missed something, but for real the power scale in this manga makes absolutely no sense. The only explanation of this is that the author wanted her to be captured so she could meet Anna. Even then, it just doesn't make much sense.

This problem is all across this manga, especially with how humans suddenly become so powerful they can harm even Lucy. In most of her fights she just slowly walks towards the opponents, most of the Diclonius do. Why do they just not run if their opponent is just beyond their reach? She just kinda stood around and took all the damage when she knows she isn't immune to being hurt.

The romance is definitely the next biggest problem. It fuckin sucks. I've seen romance in horror manga done way better than this and they have less than 30 chapters.

First off, I genuinely hate Yuka. She's the only character in this that is COMPLETELY useless. The ONLY thing she contributed to the plot, was giving Nyuu clothes and teaching her how to use the bathroom. In the ENTIRE plot she has NO contribution to anything, I just don't understand. At least with the other girls they have important roles. Mayu and Nozomi have backstories, and have some type of character development. The only reason why the author has Yuka still in this plot, is so that Lucy would have someone to enact jealousy within her. Essentially, this jealously is what made Lucy into a serial killer, and made this happen: As for the main plot, the reason why she is there still with Kouta, is firstly because she really likes him. YES, they are cousins I think we should point this out. And the second reason, is for this scene below. Literally no other reason why she is present in the plot. And then towards the end, the MC still rejects Lucy's love. So what she killed your family? She has protect Kouta all this time, and has shown that she can change. Also in the ending bit, Nana's "Papa" shoots Lucy and she reflects it back into him. Kouta comes down and thinks she just shot the professor, and that she broke their promise. Kouta, this girl is literally a serial killer, AND there are people trying to kill her. Is she not able to defend herself? Kouta's self righteousness is really toxic as well, but it's an aspect that is not as important. famzoned

Overall, I genuinely think the powerscaling and the romance are just fucking shitty, and I think these are really the biggest criticisms for this work.

The Good

Thankfully, there is a lot of good in this manga as well. I would go so far to call this manga a textbook on psychological horror. It even goes to institution based psychological horror, which is really just something wild and crazy.

First off, I want to applaud some of the heart touching moments of this manga. I also want to applaud the use of psychological disorders.

The writer is definitely concerned about domestic abuse, and is quite literally all over this manga. Starting from Lucy's backstory, to Nozomi's backstory, and especially to Mayu's backstory. Nozomi has physical issues because she is so scared of everything due to her father's harassment, so she has to wear diapers (lol). Mayu has extremely bad PTSD from her stepfather, who would sexually and physically abuse her as a child. Anytime she becomes naked in this manga, she gets PTSD flashbacks and it's pretty rough. Kouta himself has amenesia, he thinks his sister is in a hospital. But It is revealed towards the end of the manga Lucy killed his sister and father, which gave him trauma and eventually amnesia to protect his sanity. Lucy herself is obsessed with killing people because she believes the human race is truly terrible, although this is a diclonius's natural mental state. Nana was given conditioning to make herself able to endure torture. Many side characters have issues with narcissism and (Lucy) bites them back eventually. Anna believed her father to be great, so she endured physical modification to make herself into some weird eldritch monster. god i love shit like this, Lucy's personality disorder is something else.

The way this manga is concerned about domestic abuse, mistreatment of experimental patients, redemption, the meaning of humanity, and terrible parenting is just so fucking interesting. This manga has so much to offer in all aspects of horror.

Here are a few funny little panels that get thrown in the manga:

Happiness isn't forever, we are never safe, humans are the real monsters are the main points of this manga. I think this is the message that Okamoto sensei is trying to tell us with this manga, and showing us to the extents how humans are worse than we could ever think. The "enemy" may just be nicer than we may think.

At the end it shows those twins, and here's my theory. I think those twins are the reincarnation of Lucy. They are most likely her two personalities, Myuu and Lucy and have been born into the world as two different diclonius. You can see the horns on their head in the very last panel, and the note on Lucy's dog's burial spot. I don't think kouta married yuka, I have a hard time imagining it but it's definitely possible.

I genuinely feel so terrible for Lucy, she's such a great character, but is constantly undermined in the plot.

Thanks for reading my little analysis, this is just my interpretation of this manga. I hope more people will like it, I think it's definite a "like" or "hate" type of manga.