THIS IS MY FIRST REVIEW, SO APOLOGIES IF I CONTRADICT MYSELF OR MAKE LITTLE SENSE, ALSO SPOILERS

Elfen Lied Depends on your taste, the show has tons of nudity, gore, blood, death, plenty of Ecchi scenes are a few bits I'd considered yikes, its a relic of its time when anime was not as big and the main audience was not as sensitive as modern audiences are. I personally found it interesting, enough for me to binge it in a single day, most of it without headphones. I think the show is good personally, but not a masterpiece as some ancient reviews on IMDB claim it is.

I had came across this show completely by accident, I saw the opening, Lilium and fell in love with it, decided i've watched enough cutesy things, maybe I should see something more dark. The story revolves around these monster people named Diclonius, they are born with a mission to wipe out humanity and replace humanity with they're own, I don't know how to explain em other then they are monster girls but boys and be em too.

The opening for the show is amazing, it doesn't try to trick you like Madoka but its not bland J-pop girls singing or "edgy look at this girl with a gun". I thought I should mention my love for the opening cause I really liked it.
I really liked Kurama as a character, I cannot understand why I became attached with his character, my guess has to be that he was someone who's in a pinch, he wants to do the right thing but his order say otherwise, I think they way he goes about things, the actions he takes are relatable as I would do the same in his situation, and (Spoiler) near the end there was a scene I felt was extremely powerful with Kurama

Spoiler, click to view

He's holding Mariko, who we just found out was his daughter not long ago, the way he deals with it is pretty sad, I can't considered what specifically made me think of it as such a powerful moment, the fact that he choices to let her live despite knowing what she is capable and what she has done, despite having killed many Diclonius who haven't even done so, the fact he has became so attached to Nana as to treat her as a daughter despite what she is capable of doing, and he ultimately pays the price for not completing the mission, dying with her in his arms as the bomb planted inside her goes off

I obviously feel deep sympathy for most the characters, Mayu, Yuka and a little bit for Kouta. The Animation is fine, obviously its nothing great, I really liked the concept of the Diclonius,

Spoiler, click to view

Or rather I like the fact they are more then just mindless killing machines, they do in fact have feelings and as seen with Lucy when she's Nyu and Nana and when Mariko see's he father Kurama they're urges to kill go away. They are not just monsters for the sake of monsters, they are written complex

What I disliked is Ecchi stuff, like the fact that Kouta and Yuka

Spoiler, click to view

yet they are in whats pretty much a romantic relationship, kissing each other and doing the most lewd thing ever, holding hands

and the parts where Lucy and Kouta accidentally do something lewd, but that's my fault for watching a Ecchi show, so I guess its not a valid criticism. Lucy as a character was not that great, sure her story is sad but its just that, sad. Something being sad in my opinion isn't enough, many shows makes me really sad, however unlike this show it doesn't stick around for me, most sad events besides what i mentioned in my first spoiler isn't really sad, I think it has to do with the fact I'm not given much of a reason to care, unlike Kurama who I became attached, so his backstory and his

Spoiler, click to view

last moments with Mariko before they're death. Lucy starts off as a unredeemable killer, and remains one in my opinion, the only difference is that she doesn't want to kill those close to her. I think Lucy's character needs to be worked on a lot more.

I disliked Lucy and Kouta's back story, ~!having them met each other in the pass and having Lucy be responsible for the deaths of his Sister and Father to me was a mistake in my opinion

I felt Lucy is a wasted opportunity, more could've have been done her as a character. So I am a bit disappointed with how she turned out.