In 2002, Manga company Weekly Young Jump published a manga titled, “Elfen Lied.” The Story centers around a girl born with horns and suffers from a split personality disorder named, Lucy. She escapes from a facility and meets a university student and his cousin. Names are Kouta & Yuka. They let the girl stay with them. Unaware Lucy’s a mass murderer, all heck breaks loose. The manga ran from 2002-2005 spanning a total of twelve volumes. Elfen Lied was adapted into an anime mini-series. Due to its controversial content featuring excessive amount of violence and nudity, it didn’t air on cable. Instead, all thirteen episodes were released on DVD in 2004.
Elfen Lied later influenced the Duffer Brothers to create “Stranger Things.” That was the first time I’ve heard of Elfen Lied. Chris Stuckmann owns a Blu-Ray copy from his anime DVD/Blu-Ray collection. Anyway, I’m reviewing a few Horror films. Keep in mind, I won’t be covering Horror TV shows spanning several seasons. I’m only choosing a mini-series. Gotta conserve time. Someday, I’ll post Horror anime in the future. So, bear with me.
This review contains SPOILERS. If you’re somewhat interested in this thirteen-part anime mini-series, read at your own risk. What anime series should I review next? Please leave a comment and I’ll reply back.
Healthy & Unhealthy Aspects
Healthy: Voice Actors all did an excellent job for their respective performances.
Action Sequences never shy away displaying blood and gore. The Opening Scene from the first episode immediately establishes it’s gonna be a bloody mess. Every episode’s not for the faint of heart.
Lucy has a special power called, “Vectors.” The hands can rip anything apart. She’s like a “Mortal Kombat” character. She’s not alone, Nana & Mariko are deadly.
Lucy’s childhood is effed up. There’s a shocking moment that made her powers manifest. Three bullies beat a puppy to death. Then, Lucy immediately explodes their bodies to smithereens.
Primary Themes are Identity, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Abuse, Loneliness & Genocide.
The anime’s title means “Elves’ Song.” Ironic, Elfen Lied has nothing to do with elves.
Unhealthy: The Story is told in a jumbled mess. Lucy’s reason for going hellbent on humanity didn’t feel right. As each episode moves forward, I lost my respect to Lucy. She’s not a tragic villain like Gollum from “The Lord of the Rings Trilogy” suffering from a split personality disorder. This anime mini-series lacks a cohesive narrative and sympathetic characters. This is all just for shock value.
Before Bando’s arm and eyes. were replaced with new ones, he somehow manages to survive when Lucy tore his arm and gorge his eyes. Countless people killed by Lucy didn’t make it. They ended up like Kool-Aid scattered all over the floor.
When they were kids, Kouta never told Lucy the definition of cousin and sister. He lied to her that his cousin Yuka’s a boy. To add salt in the wound, Lucy mistook Kouta’s sister Kanei as his girlfriend. Technically, Kouta’s an a-hole. One of the major causes of Lucy’s hatred against humanity. Gonna have to Double Down Points for insulting my intelligence.
A Plot Twist reveals Lucy is the one who killed Kanei in cold blood. I know Kouta lost a loved one, but that doesn’t excuse the face he inadvertently caused Lucy to murder Kanei in front of him. Making Kanei still unsympathetic. Before Kanei died, Kouta slaps her.
I swear to god I’m not making this up. Yuka has the hots for Kouta. The former kisses him on the lips. The latter didn’t freak out.
One year before the manga ended in 2005, the anime wrapped things up immediately. Game of Thrones had the same problem. Why? Because George R.R. Martin is working on “The Winds of Winter” & “A Dream of Spring.” Elfen Lied’s final episode abruptly ends with a cliffhanger.
The Final Verdict: F, FOR FAKER!
So far, Elfen Lied is the worst anime I have ever seen. I’m utterly appalled by its disgusting, wrong, immoral, nasty, atrocious, foul, unsympathetic, vile, sickening, revolting, repugnant and repulsive content. In other words. It’s just plain F***IN’ OFFENSIVE in all caps. Do not, I repeat, do not let your kids watch it. If Elfen Lied comes back with a follow-up, I have zero interest.
Nickthemoviecritic.com 