Unlike last year, I planned this month to be filled with spooky reviews. The kind of stuff that are perfect for this month. To start things off......I’ve got a tough one. I’ve known about this series for over a decade (Around 2005, if I remember correctly), but have never really had the courage to watch it until now. I probably won’t be watching this show again for a long time, simply because of how disturbing it was. In any case, grab an umbrella & your nearest teddy bear, prepare your happy place, and let’s take a look at the cult series Elfen Lied. Enjoy?
Story/Setup
Taken from Wikipedia:
“Elfen Lied takes place in Kamakura, Japan, and focuses on the "Diclonius", a newly mutated species. Their appearance is similar to humans, but with several differences, namely horn-like protrusions on the forehead and the presence of telekinetic invisible arms called "Vectors". One such Diclonius, Lucy, is the main character of the series: Initially held in a facility built for experimentation, located off the coast of Kamakura, she manages to escape and wreak havoc, but is injured in the process, an event which causes her to develop a secondary, childlike personality known as Nyu.
Lucy is found by two locals, Kohta, who studies at the local university, and his cousin Yuka. They take her in, and become involved with the numerous, often brutal, attempts to recapture her by a Special Assault Team and a number of other Diclonius, who shift frequently from oblivious to murderous.”
Alright, before I talk about the other things involved, I should point out two things that Elfen Lied seems to focus on. Frequently, might I add. These two things......are violence....and abuse. I’ll be talking about abuse first.
With perhaps the exception of some of the bad guys, and maybe one or two of the nicer characters (More on this in the “Characters” section later on), practically everyone in some form or another have been abused. In some circumstance it’s as simple as getting shoved around or teased a little, and at worse......well, let’s just say one of the female characters has to wear a diaper to school because of how much trauma she’s suffered (Although this is elaborated much more in the manga). As the show goes on, rarely a moment goes by without some form of abuse is seen. It’s downright horrific to see what so many of these characters have gone through. Speaking of horrific....
Next up is violence. This is perhaps the second component that make watching & reviewing this show so difficult. It seems that nobody is safe from getting killed, often in the most unimaginable ways. Men get killed, Women are mutilated, and even children aren’t safe from suffering from some ungodly form of execution. Even if no-one is falling off their mortal coil, characters can still suffer through some form of excruciating pain. Hence, why this aspect blends in with the theme of abuse that flows through Elfen Lied. The violence & abuse that the children in this show go through......yeah, I’m not gonna talk about it further.
With all of this story going around, you’d think things would be fleshed out & developed, and you’d be.....partially right. Elfen Lied sticks it’s blood-covered toes into some interesting ideas, but it really doesn’t dive into the pool. It seems to want to talk about it’s themes & message, but only seems to touch on them in doses. The “Humanity has a natural predator” theme does have an interesting ring to it, but it’s not written well, and comes across as more hokey than anything. There’s other plot points that don’t make much sense as well, or they weren’t really necessary (The beating of the puppy.....I’ll leave it at that). It’s frustrating, as I was watching Elfen Lied, I could see something glimmer under the water. It just wasn’t afraid to surface. Even the abuse elements in the anime seemed to be scaled back in comparison to it’s manga counterpart.
Animation
Elfen Lied’s animation looks surprisingly well for it’s time. By the time the show came out way back in 2004, it was apparent that computer animation for anime was taking hold. The way it all looks edited comes across as if computers were in control....for the most part. There’s a hand-drawn ascetic that can be found in plenty of the scenes. Especially in the less sci-fi areas of the show’s world, there’s just something nostalgic about seeing more natural drawn aspects, especially our main characters’s house. In a way it complements the black & white nature of the story, for good or for ill.
Voice Acting
The voice acting in Elfen Lied is a mix between meh, and good. Many of the more “Meh” voices are typically among the secondary characters, although Kohta has his moments of “Okay” as far as voice acting is concerned. Apart from this, Elfen Lied’s voice acting isn’t that bad. It’s definitely not one of ADV Films’s better examples of voice work, but I wouldn’t call it criminally awful. Chances are, if you have a preference for dubs, it’s not horrific.
Characters
Okay, um wow.....where to begin.
If there is anytime where I approve of the wanton abuse & violence, it would be when the bad people suffer. Half of the time in Elfen Lied, the people that get slaughtered & mutilated are some of the most wicked individuals ever to populate an anime. While I enjoy the scum of this show getting barbarically slain, too many of them seem over-the-top in their vile nature. Case in point: in a flashback, 3 grade-school boys are picking on Lucy when she’s younger. After picking on her, they bludgeon a puppy she loves, and then Lucy snaps, killing the boys. This over-the-top evil only serves to make Lucy more sympathetic as she goes on a killing spree, and this happens constantly with the various scumbag of the day showing up.
This is tragic, as there are legitimately kindhearted characters in Elfen Lied. Problem is, many of them don’t have much time to shine, as they’re often the target of violence as well. In their case, it’s often because of a mistake, or they had the unfortunate circumstance of meeting one of the’s show’s various pricks. This is ultimately what makes me angry when watching Elfen Lied: this is a show that revels in cruelty, wallows in abuse & horrific violence.......and in the process, constantly dangles the hope carrot inches from your face. In something mindlessly violent like Violence Jack (Trust me. That show will get covered.......eventually.), where everybody’s getting gutted left & right, it’s not necessarily offensive, as it’s not trying to put a message in your head. With this? This overwhelming cruelty vs motes of good motif has always been preachy, and Elfen Lied is attempting to be a moral as possible.
Availability & Pricing
For the longest time, Elfen Lied was difficult to come by. It was an ADV Films title from the mid-2000s, and if you know anything about that company, you’ll know it’s had to find their stuff from this time. I somehow managed to snag a copy from a used video game store for close to 40 dollars. It was in shockingly good condition for it’s age, and that’s always a surprise. However.....
As recently as September 3rd of 2013, Elfen Lied has been re-released on Blu-Ray/DVD, with the ADV Films tag curiously on the front (Sentai Filmworks is the new laber owner). Pricing is actually pretty fair, costing only a little over 27 dollars for starting price. It may be redundant to buy a copy if you already have an original ADV Films version, but considering many of these older copies are probably rather worn, a second & newer copy might be a smart idea.
Overall Impression & Rating
Elfen Lied is.....is certainly something. There is potential in this show, most definitely. There is character, there is story, and hell, there’s even a message that tries to come through! However, thanks to some confusing writing, and some half-assed implementation of it’s message, the potential of Elfen Lied never truly shines. This definitely isn’t the be all & end all the cult following says it is, but it’s not quite the monster it’s detractors describe it. At best, it’s a mildly entertaining show with untapped potential, and a mildly meh to above average series at it’s worse.
On a good day, I’ll give Elfen Lied a 7 out of 10. Bad day? Probably a 5.5 to 6 out of 10.
So this was Elfen Lied. Definitely one of the harder anime to watch & review, but a strangely good challenge at the same time. Luckily, the show coming next week won’t be so painful to watch & review. I’ll see you all then!
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If you can stomach it, here’s a playlist of the show. Enjoy?
Elfen Lied (Series)
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