This review will cover Elfen Lied (anime) and the OVA which takes place within the storyline of the TV series. Please note that there will be occasional references to the manga but they will be spoiler tagged where needed and also a small part of this review will be taken from my manga Elfen Lied review due to some of their similarities.
Elfen Lied is well known for being one of the cruelest, goriest, and a highly perverted, piece of work ever. If you cannot stand watching blood, gore, and/or child nudity, please drop this show immediately. On the other hand, if you like twisted anime with plenty of cruelty (even at a higher level than Elfen Lied), I can recommend some more to you (just send me a PM). In short, one is expected to have a strong stomach and a mind of steel to survive these 13 episodes (plus the OVA). Consider yourself warned!
While it is rare to see "kawaii" horned girls brutally tearing bodies apart (or get their bodies shred apart), quite frankly Elfen Lied is infamous for that. The reason for these mass murders, while mostly a psychological issue with the killer, were not very well explained in the anime. Also, one could say the story ending in the anime was rather anticlimactic as I am sure many of you would have expected a more complete closure to the story.
The overall plot of Elfen Lied (manga) is truly amazing. It covers a wide variety of themes in great details, ranging from simple triangle love relationship, to the ever more common child abuse, to the horrid reality of non-ethical scientific research, to the threat of global terrorism, and lastly on human origin and our mutation/evolution. However a large portion of it were not included in the anime. For instance, there were suppose to be a
1. Global catastrophe leading to a rapid decline in human population for years to come due to a certain virus being spread in the atmosphere.
2. Another more "powerful" research institute was omitted from the anime thus interesting stuff like "vector machine" and "vector canceller" were not introduced.
3. Chief Kakuzawa's evil plan was barely touched upon in the anime -which constitute a large part to the interesting story plot-. Without this, we would not know why all Diclonius are females. Without this, we would not know why Lucy is the "queen" of all Diclonius. Without this, we would not know how Lucy was born different from everyone else. Without this, Elfen Lied is not Elfen Lied.
In of real actual story coverage, the anime covered ~60% of the manga in a highly compressed way. If I were to rate the anime solely based on its adaptation to the manga, the rating would be a lot worse (for the story and character at least).
However, I am not ignorant. I am well aware that the anime was aired prior to the completion of the manga. Thus it will not be fair to flame the production crew for such a diverge, inconsistent, mysterious ending. On the contrary, I would like to praise the animation crew for following the manga quite closely for the most part. In particular, I find the OVA a nice addition to the background story for Lucy as it explains why Lucy allowed herself to be captured as seen from episode 1 (all from the manga of course, so it is not something the production crew just made up). There is nothing more satisfying to the manga fans than watching Elfen Lied in high quality animation (because the manga artwork was really not that good). In addition to the good, consistent, high quality animation, Elfen Lied is also superb in the sound department.
First thing worth mentioning is the unique, beautifully sung, OP in Latin. This is not something you hear very often in the Japanese anime industry. It should also be brought to your attention that there are actually a few different variations to the OP. Unfortunately the ED is nothing spectacular like it. Secondly, Elfen Lied has a great list of seiyu. Many of whom you have probably heard their voices before in other anime. For instance, Yuka is voiced by Noto Mamiko (Kotomi in Clannad). Nana is voiced by Yuki Matsuoka (Inoue in Bleach). Most CV turned out great for their particular role for the respective characters.
I was glad to see that most characters were identical to their manga counterpart as far as their personality is concerned. There are certain characters where we can easily identify as black or white (as in those we should love vs those we should hate), but many actually belong somewhere in the gray region. Throughout the story you will find yourself rooting for a character in one instant and surprisingly find yourself wanting to have that same character killed in the next instant. It is precisely these types of character building techniques that make Elfen Lied loved and hated by many. However, what I did not like is the 180 degree change in character for the director general (aka Chief Kakuzawa). In the last episode he wanted Lucy killed, and that alone is enough to completely RUIN the whole point to the story.
Finally I would like to once again remind fellow MAL viewers that this anime is not meant for young children (nor those who dislike blood, gore, and/or nudity) and hopefully it will give you enjoyment rather than weeks of nightmare. I know I certainly enjoyed it to its fullest. Also, I would like to apologize to those who think I over emphasized on the manga (I know I did, but I couldn't help it). I was just sad to see a story with great potential gone down the drain just because it finished animating before the true glory of the story sets in.
Please send me a whether you find the review helpful or not. Thanks.
