INTRODUCTION

As someone who started watching anime somewhere around 2010s, Elfen Lied was a show I was always aware of, but never quite got around to watching. That changed few weeks ago when I was recommended it, and I must say that the experience was rather memorable, albeit too short.
Before I start, I'd like to note that I haven't read the manga, so if I complain somewhere down the line that something is poorly explained, keep in mind I am specifically referring to the anime. This isn't a review of the manga, although I will probably review it as well after I read it.

HIGHLY IMPORTANT
-There will be spoilers but I will mark them as such so don't worry.

STORY
If you've read my previous 2 reviews, you know the drill. I dislike story summaries so we're hoping straight in. If you want to know the premise before reading this, please refer to the wiki.
So let's start of by talking about the good in Elfen Lied's story, namely the pacing. While it does occasionally feel rushed, the pacing remains consistent and introduces new characters at a masterful pace, making it easy to keep up with the show. The world building is decent given that this is a 13 episode show, and the dynamics of power between various Diclonii remain interesting through-out. The only thing that wasn't explained power-system wise was how:

Spoiler, click to view

Mariko was so much more powerful than all other Diclonii

But I didn't mind it very much because it shrouded this character with a keen sense of mystery and genuine terror. I thought it was a good touch, albeit it was likely made with the brief runtime in mind. I should also note that manga likely explains the information hidden in the spoiler tag, but I wouldn't know.

(The spoilers bellow are in reference to the ending, don't open unless you know how the anime ends)

Spoiler, click to view

The anime also ends while failing to conclude Bando's character arc... at all. Which was really dumb. It's like they forget this character exists, although I didn't mind how the rest of the ending was open-ended. Given the fact that they had to wrap up so many arcs in the final episode, I think they did the best with the time given to them, and I find that commendable.

The anime also has a profound issue of taking emotional cheapshots at you, the worst offender being:

Spoiler, click to view

Murder of Lucy's dog.

As for the themes of Elfen Lied, there are 2 of importance that I can make out. The first is how people act when alienated, and consequences thereof. And the second theme is family. In regards to the first one, and more prominent one, Elfen Lied does something I absolutely despise in fiction. It uses cartoonish villains to prove a point. This, along with villain-of-the-week format are my 2 absolutely biggest gripes in media. Difference being that villain-of-the-week format does no harm, whereas using cartoonish villains to prove a point is actively harmful to society. It teaches the viewer (especially ones more keen on extremism) that people who disagree with you are evil monstrosities with no redeemable qualities. Persona 5 does something similar, it has a point on society, obviously pinning all its evils on the villains, and then makes those very villains extremely cartoonish to make a point about how society is bad. This isn't how real life works, humans are extremely complex, and therefore including cartoonish villains anywhere outside kid's cartoons is an insult to that complexity, and fully worthy of condemnation. In Lucy's case, this manifests in the form of abuse suffered at the hands of almost every person she met, as you can imagine, none of them have any redeeming features and are there purely so we can feel for Lucy more. This is cheap and I don't like it at all. It would've been significantly better for the show if Kurama was its villain, as he seems to be the only person on the anti-Diclonii side that feels for them. This complexity of thought would have made Lucy's actions less justifiable, but make the show better as a whole. As for it's theme of family, it's executed significantly better, although this anime will use family members just as cheaply to crush your emotions. __ CHARACTERS__ Characters are a mixed bag, some written quite decently and some written in a way that would leave the show better off without them. -Kota One of the worst protagonists I've had the displeasure of watching. He is all sorts of bland. Even your worst spiky-brown-haired idiot has nothing on Kota in terms of how dull he is. He does almost nothing for the plot, and is there purely so we could have an actual protagonist. Really tells you how proud of him the writers were, given that he appears in non of the promotional material for the show. However, there was a strangely controversial thing that he does near the end:

Spoiler, click to view

Somewhere near the end, Kota learns that Lucy murdered his family when he was young. His reaction was this weird semi-forgiveness which many people in the community criticized. While I know that it's not realistic at all, that someone would forgive the murder of their family, in specific regards to Kota, I found it true to his archetype of a pure-hearted shonen-esque main character. Overall, it is far from the worst thing that happened on this show.

-Lucy The titular character and show's actual protagonist. Probably best written of them all, it's just a shame that much of her development came as a result of cartoonishly evil kids and adults. She embodies both themes of the show to the core, being an alienated individual, but also someone who craves for a place to belong to; for a family. Lucy is a rather memorable character and I like the eerie feeling the show surrounds her with.

-Kurama
By far most complex, and the person that should've been the series' villain. He had a perfect motive too:

Spoiler, click to view

With Lucy crippling Nana and all that jazz.

He permeates the limbo between Diclonii and humans, and is probably my favorite character on the show. I like how he remains decisive between all the tumultuous happenstance he is shrouded by. The potential his character had is immense, but poorly realized as the show will use him yet again to deliver you cheap hits in the feels:

Spoiler, click to view

Especially given what happens to his family.

-Bando A weird character. He comes of as needlessly antagonistic initially but you discover he has few peculiar qualities to him. Namely he likes to repay debts. There was also a hilarious scene where I thought he was cleaning the beach because he was a secret environmentalist, only for it to turn out he was doing it because he didn't want Lucy to have any weapons against him. I laughed out loud during this scene, but I am unsure if it was intentional. The show also:

Spoiler, click to view

Completely fails to finish his character arc, making him unworthy of further praise. I hope manga handles him differently.

ANIMATION AND ART STYLE:
Animation is a hit or miss. Characters are mostly stationary, and in most of its scenes, it completely fails to impress. However, when there are fights, the clean brutal cuts and sprays of blood do really well in conveying the power of the vectors. The fact that they're kept mostly invisible also gives them an additional oppressive tint, because you never know how far they're from their target, biding their time and waiting to slaughter their prey. That was a really good decision on the part of the animators. Aside from the way the animation handles gore and vectors, it isn't particularly notable.
Art style, I actually liked much more. Especially the background art in Kaede household. Seriously, one of my favorite aspects of Elfen Lied is looking at the stunning, highly detailed art in the background, although considering that the show happens in a small seaside town, it rarely changes. There's also a lot of NSFW, which may sour the experience.

OST AND SOUND DESIGN
So, Elfen Lied has one of the most notable tracks ever written, Lilium. This song is used as both, the opening, and an actual OST you can hear in the show. It's also canonically in the show, as Kota has a music box with the inscription of Lilium, which is one of Lucy's favorite tracks. Lucy also hums it near the end. There are a few versions of Lilium in the show. The music box version, Lucy's humming, Saint's Chant, violin, and the actual op. This clearly communicates that the producers knew they struck gold with this opening, and milked this cash cow for all it was worth. I love the actual OST but dislike the fact it plays during basically every important moment of the show. Other OSTs are also nice, but not particularly varied.
Sound design is much more of a mixed bag. I noticed a lot of the time that there were subtitles while characters weren't talking. Makes me think the voice acting dips during some points, and it's really weird. However, the sounds of vectors cutting and slashing are awesome. They have this windy SFX when emerging and I really liked them.
Voice acting is pretty decent but nothing spectacular. My favorite performances are Kurama, Nana and Lucy. I liked the hoarse tint in Lucy's voice especially, although it sounded a tad edgy.

SUMMARY
Elfen Lied is a mixed bag of successes and failures, but it's one I am sure to remember for a long time. I'd recommend this show purely on its value as a classic, and because it can open you up to newer themes, heretofore unseen.