Elfen Lied

Imagine that from birth, you had horns growing out from your head and invisible hands sticking out of you. Most people would see the horns and make fun of you, and before you realize it, you've gone insane and killed those people with those invisible hands. What would you do then? This is an anime I've been wanting to watch for I can't even remember how long, but somehow, after being asked by someone I'd like to consider a friend if I'd watched it, my desire to watch it grew even stronger; you can see where that led me. All I can say is that you know that an anime is going to be bad on the gore level when the first thing you see when watching it (well, after the opening) is a bloody, detached arm, but that does not mean it is bad on the enjoyment level; in fact, I found myself really loving this series.

Ladies and gentlemen, here is my review of the popular horror anime, Elfen Lied.

In the world of Elfen Lied, there are diclonius, who not only have horns sticking out of their heads, but they have invisible arms alongside their two visible ones; these arms were meant for killing. At the beginning of the series, one diclonius, Lucy, escapes the laboratory where she was being held captive by the government, but she gets shot and falls off of a cliff into the ocean. Eventually, two university students, Kohta and Yuka, discover her on the beach, but she has lost her memories and can only say the word "Nyu". Lucy, who is now "Nyu" to the two, is taken in to live with them; however, there is the problem with the government being out to kill Lucy. Also, just because Nyu has taken Lucy's place doesn't mean Lucy's gone for good....

The story in Elfen Lied was perhaps its strongest quality; there's a few slice-of-life elements if you pay close enough attention, but the true story of Elfen Lied is very dark, as you can probably tell from my comment about gore earlier. The story also provides a lot of character development, especially for Lucy.

Lucy is fascinating from the start, making you wonder why she is the way she is, and once you find out, you'll find yourself feeling sorry for her! I like the other side of her, Nyu, too; she just makes me smile whenever she shows up on screen! Besides her, there are a lot of likable characters, along with characters I absolutely despise. I'm a bit torn about Yuka, though. Her love for Kohta, who is her cousin, kind of disgusted me, but at the same time, it's obvious that she cares about him, Nyu, and other characters who are introduced in the anime.

I really liked the animation; it really sets the tone of the anime. However, sometimes, it felt a little bit outdated; it really is kind of obvious that it came out over ten years ago. As for the voice acting, I switched between watching it Japanese (with English subs, of course) and English every episode, and the voice actors for both versions really nailed their roles. The background music also did a good job setting the tone of the anime, and the ending song, "Be Your Girl" by Chieko Kawabe, was quite catchy. However, you CAN'T talk about the music without talking about the opening, "Lilium" by Kumiko Noma; not only is it a depressing song with a nice melody that really fits the anime, this is the only anime song I know of that was entirely sung in Latin. Well done!

Overall, Elfen Lied is a solid anime. If you don't have a problem with blood and gore, I recommend you give it a try if you haven't already. Oh, and you'd better not have a problem with nudity, either, as I forgot to mention that this anime is FULL of it!