Elfen Lied

This is by all accounts my favourite manga of all time. I warn you however that I am partial to dark, twisted animes/mangas and a little bit of gore never bothered me so this may have aided my love for Elfen Lied.

*Possible spoilers ahead*

Story - A brief summary for those who don't know. These are Dicloniuses in the world which are distinguishable by the horns on their heads and they tend to have exceedingly murderous tendacies. They usually kill using their invisable hands called "Vectors".I don't want to give too much away but I adored the plotline to pieces. I've never really read anything quite like it that could make me sort of dislike but also love Lucy at the same time.

Art - I really enjoyed the art. I haven't really go much to say about it, except that Nyuu was very adorable.

Character - Lucy is one of the most well development characters I have seen in the mangas I've read so far. She is troubled, she is angry and she is out for revenge on humankind! It is interesting how she also recognises her other alterego (Nyuu) and often refers to Nyuu every now and again before changing back. Nyuu's character is so different to Lucy's character but somehow it works so well. For me, Yuki was unbelievably annoying but I will let this slide for how awesome Lucy/Nyuu is.

Enjoyment - I enjoyed this manga throughly. I watched the anime first but I was happy to continue the story from where the anime stops and I think that the second half is actually the better half of the plotline with some wonderful twists and what I think is a very fitting ending.

Overall - If you like a bit of gore, good deep characters and a decent plotline then this anime is for you!

(just for the record, this is a slight alteration of my anime review)

This used to be the series most recommended to newcomers as means to show them a amanga which was not some silly cartoony characters with spiky hair. There were already many violent manga around but this seemed to be the most broadly advertised and most didn’t know the rest so it’s like it was the only one. It also mixed lots of favorable elements such as nude and gore, along with interesting story ideas.

It also starts with a bang since in the first chapter we see a massacre of the highest possible gore and splatter you could ever dream of witnessing back then, backed up by a scary naked woman wearing a demonic metal mask and horns. You even see a person who acts all silly assuming to be the main comic relief character throughout the series to be eventually brutally murdered in seconds. WOW, HOLLY SMOKES, WHAT IS THIS??? Instant hook! And here starts the rave of the series. Sex and violence always sell and EL happened to have an extremely amount of both.

That was so political incorrect that drew people in by the thousands; especially after the anime version came along. Because after all, the more political incorrect something is, the more attractive it appears to young people. Everyone was either crazy or evil; there were no clear good guys and bad guys. No sir, here the humans are sadistic little bastards who like tormenting little girls and are being slaughtered like pigs as revenge. Even children and women were not spared! When was the last time they showed even women and children being killed? Heck, even kicking puppies was quite cruel and rare back then.

Now let me make it clear that in the following years all the elements of EL were copied in following series. Mainstream manga nowadays are far more sexual and violent, something that EL helped visualizing thanks to its gargantuan fandom. People wanted sex and violence and that is what they got. Open any recent manga and there is little to no chance to not see nude, splatter, lolis and all the sick stuff successful series like EL helped to establish.

So far so good, sounds like the best manga in existence, right? … Not by a longshot really. It does feel shocking and different and special if you are a newbie in the field without any previous exposure to this sort of manga but otherwise it feels quite ridiculous by itself if you are already a veteran reader. I was already exposed to far more sinister stuff way before EL and guess what, it didn’t seem worth not even half of what everyone was raving about. Because the shock value was low. And here is where this series most aims at in order to impress. Shock value. The more it shocks you, the better it appears to be. Because without it, it feels as silly as watching Goku eating a mountain of food without gaining a single pound.

Let’s get now to more conventional analysis, starting with the artwork. It starts off with very crude visuals, stiff motions, simplistic caricatures, and silly splatter. Along the way it improves a lot and after midway it looks like a well drawn harem show of multicolored hair bimbos doing silly stuff all over the place. The characters remain cute, with huge eyes and silly clothes, which I guess contributes to the shock of seeing them taking part in gore. It helps to hook you by the extreme amounts of fan service it has. There are panty shots and boobs almost every 5 minutes, while underage girls are most of the time shown being tortured. Yeah, great eye catcher stuff for sadists.

The story is essentially about humans being sick bastards who like tormenting little girls in an attempt to not be exterminated by a new race of horny (literally) red haired lolis which are genetically created and programmed to kill everything that moves. So, the story gets more complicated when the female ringleader of those lolis has convenient memory loses and turns from a heartless killer to a playful pussycat every time the scriptwriter wants to prevent the story from ending. Also, the characters keep behaving in the most ludicrous way possible as means to not end the whole mess in 10 seconds by implementing common sense. And if you don’t believe me, think of this:

“Hey, mister police officer, I found a naked girl on the beach. Better take care of her because I am a male teenager living alone and can’t just take her home where anything can happen.”

There, see, he just took her home and didn’t do anything to her, despite being defenseless and amnesiac, all excused by the fact that he was very pure in heart … and missing a dick. Then follows a long line of enemy waves who want to capture Lucy, the ringleader. But are all so damn stupid, they can’t even breathe without chocking to death. Imagine sending in a sadistic military dude to capture Lucy. He will be talking for half an hour about what a bastard he is instead of just capturing her, until Lucy conveniently gains back her memory, cuts him to pieces and then conveniently forgets everything again. Then imagine a girl who was being molested by her father and another horny girl who was almost killed by Lucy, to be accepted in Kouta, the dickless boy, in his house. Supposed, they are safer in the house where Lucy kills someone every now and then than just going to the police. Or the police themselves being so autistic they never do anything about the dozens of people who are being found in pieces right outside of that house. Wait, that could be because they are in league with the villains, right? … Sure, and that is the only reason the dickless boy and his harem of lolis don’t leave that house despite being targeted by manslaghtering sadists every two days.

Add to this the way they throw in incest and even more amnesia for other characters just as extra shock value that has nothing to do with the story, how everyone meets (or meats lol) someone, remembers and forgets, finds and loses, in the most far-fetched ways possible and always in the most convenient times and… well… the story is written with the mentality of a 5 year old. But as I said it is all about shock value rather that realism. The plot is quite fast for its duration and shocking every 5 minutes, while there are many social messages to leave you something to think about. Still, as I said, it only works if you are a newbie in the field who never thought of such things up to that moment. The logic of the drama is paper thin to fall apart while the ending is basically not any different that a silly date sim, proving that it was essentially made to please otakus and not other people. Yes, it was a series by otakus, for otakus after all.

In all, if it got to shock you the first time, it is bound to become your fav for many years and even open a portal to you, leading to the darker regions of the otaku realm. It has done so a million times already. All I can say is that it is much harder for someone to be impressed today by it because most modern manga are far more violent and sexual. Heck, even cartoons are. In fact I know many who admit that they have no idea why they liked that series so much. Simple, the shock value faded away and left behind only ashes and bones. So while I give it a high Value for its very important contribution in mainstreaming anime (for good or bad; I kinda hate the way most modern anime are all full of fan service) I must still give it a very low mark in Enjoyment because it doesn’t work if you are not a newbie and in no chance in hell it feels good if you are a veteran reader. I got the same messages the series has in Akira, the same type of gore in Choujin Locke and those felt far more realistic and credible, without fan service and ridiculous behaviors fooling you to consider “idiotic” as “brilliant”.

"Her name was Lucy. She was gifted with tremendous power, and cursed with it as well. She was a dangerous enemy, and a good friend."

Ok, so that quote is not from Elfen Lied, and her name was Terra, not Lucy. But then again, Lucy's name wasn't Lucy or Nyu, either--but I digress.

How do you have sympathy for, let alone like, someone who does the things she so often and so casually does? I think its because not only do we get to see how she got that way, but how this isn't always an excuse. She can be an utter asshole in both her main personas, and to be fair, her childhood method for trying to avoid becoming openly angry was neither healthy nor practical. Humankind may have started young Lucy off, but she followed through with some spectacular errors that mark her off as being all too Human. She is so badly alienated from Humanity she may as well be an alien, but quoth the Possum, We Have Met The Enemy And He Is Us.

Only in the sheltered universe of a run-down former restaurant do we find Humanity at its best. Flawed, but caring. The male lead is dense about feelings. The secondary female lead knows why the male lead is dense, and that he has a damned good reason to be so, but she still chastises him for it. The tortured innocent they take in spends a lot of time being wrongly suspicious of her new host while seeking the affections of the one man who may be as violent as Lucy herself. A girl with horns like Lucy pines for the makeshift father who permitted her to spend her life as a lab rat. Another girl is crushed spiritually and made weak by her father's efforts to save her from a danger he doesn't tell her of till she stands up to him - an act which so enraged him years before this, it started the whole cycle.

Then there is our anti-heroine. Before the first half of the series is done, we have seen her murder many, as Angelus said to Buffy, with a song in her heart and a smile on her face. Two of those permanently ensure that the one she loves will be out of reach. What she does to a complete innocent in the first chapter is wrong on so many levels, it can't be counted.

Yet the dense one gave both the murderer and the tsundere the best memories of their childhoods, and is a genuinely nice guy who always tries his best. The tsundere gives all she has as well, and treasures all those who live with her, even her bloody rival. The tortured innocent not only gets past her suspicions, but is successful in reaching the violent man's better nature. The other girl with horns redeems her fallen 'Papa' and is a joy to read. The crushed girl refuses to stay so, despite more than one setback--including a squicky assault by the hero/villain's good side.

Our hero/villain had the option to make better choices : she simply didn't have a lot of them, and she lacked any social tools to make them with. One small betrayal - really done to protect her fragile feelings - reads the same as a much larger, more deliberately hurtful one, and suddenly, her hopes of easy redemption are lost to her own fury and instability. She becomes a monster because we told her to be one, but then she herself runs with the ball, this Lucy becoming her own Charlie Brown, making the same bad choices over and over again, despite knowing better.

So that is why I see Elfen Lied as a masterpiece, its not-so-hot art aside. It is a warts-and-all kind of story, and nobody has any business being perfect. The moral are flawed, the amoral are forced to care, and the master villains make logistically dicey choices that bite back hard on them. And as an aside for EL-Anime viewers : Almost every WTF? moment will be filled in if you read through. There are one or two dropped storylines at the very end, and not all characters are given true final fates. But then again, if Elfen Lied is a masterpiece, no masterpiece is ever truly perfect.

Time to get really controversial. *Rubs hands together* Lets go.

Since Elfen Lied is a very popular anime with a bit of a cult following to back it up, I found myself very interested in giving it a shot. Not to mention, it had some things that I really appreciate in my anime, like cute pink haired killer girls, gore, and an amazing theme song. Seriously though, I love the Elfen Lied opening, I listened to it even before I learned about the show. Go check it out, its very beautiful.

Now, most Elfen Lied fans suggest the manga above the anime. Since the manga has over 100 chapters compared to a 12 episode show, I figured that the manga might truly be the superior one of the two, considering it would have more depth, character study, etc etc. So I downloaded the story and read most of it at school within a week or so.

I really wanted to enjoy this story. But I will go in to detail now as to why I could not stand so many important aspects of this manga, much to my dismay. I will try to be as specific as possible.


Story-
My score: 3

Elfen Lied has a very generic story that could have been developed into an interesting one. For the two people that have not heard of it, the story focuses on Lucy, (who I will be delving into shortly) a young woman who was born from test experiments to be a killer. She is referred to as a Diclonius, a breed of dangerous humans with cat like horns coming out of their heads. But what is so dangerous about Diclonius girls like Lucy, you ask? Well, they can use their anger towards others to produce invisible ligaments that can tear apart men. Lucy went through intense torture as a child, so she used her dangerous powers to leave the lab at an early age and hid from the government, killing those who she needed to kill as she was on the run. However, Lucy got a concussion during her escape, meaning that her killer tendencies are bipolar. She can be an innocent, kind girl at times, and then resort back to a stone-cold killer with little knowledge of the switch.

Elfen Lied focuses on Lucy and a few other Diclonius girls, such as Nana and Mariko, seeking refuge out of fear of further violation from the government. One by one, each of the girls cross paths with one another, and end up all confiding in Kouka, a young boy that is the son of an inn keeper. I think you know where this is going.

Now, I would like to explain that I do not hate harems. And Elfen Lied did actually have a decent set up for one. I mean, a boy taking care of wounded monster girls, teaching them social skills? That actually sounds kind of cute! But even with the occasional fluffy or endearing moment, this harem was absolutely ridiculous.

For starters, the girls in Elfen Lied just got naked a lot. For literally no reason either. The fanservice in this manga feels so unearned and cheap. I just wanted the plot to progress, not to see a bunch of girls getting groped.

Everything about the scientists trying to find Lucy was ridiculous and almost felt comical. They would assault and harm children for literally no reason, and had no motives. The story never delved in to why the diclonius existed, either. So I was confused almost the entire time reading it, curious as to why these scientists had even made Lucy in the first place.

The gore in this story was literally only there for shock. I did not want to see children get their bodies scissored and see a dog get beaten to death. This gore made no sense to the narrative and felt so childish to watch. I enjoy gore if it fits the story to have it, but this story's shock scenes were only there to scare the viewer. They felt so unnecessary.

Every single woman in this story was sexualized, and every single man was an evil douche with no personality. This story had themes of "the world is cruel" in every corner, but it was so exaggerated that I could not take one bit of its message seriously. None of the characters felt relatable, so the message did not fit this story one bit.

Elfen Lied also felt so flimsy and choppy. Sometimes the story would focus too long on boring aspects, and sometimes it moved far too fast. The ending was too rushed and by the final volume, I was scratching my head and wondering what the hell was even going on.

The story was edgy, full of unearned gore and fanservice, and had a jumbled, dumb plot and message. I almost chuckled at times over how ridiculous it could get.


Art-
My score: 6

Decent backgrounds, especially the lab shots. Lucy's kill scenes were well drawn too.

However, for a seinen manga, the characters looked too shoujo. Big eyed pink haired girls makes no sense for a story like this, and it almost felt laughable.

Nana, Mayu and Lucy have nice designs though. Still, they looked completely out of place in a violent manga like this one.

The scientists had some of the least unique character designs I've ever seen. I could not even tell them apart.


Characters-
My score: 3

Lets start with the elephant in the room, Lucy.
Lucy's killer form was badass and actually pretty cool to watch it action. I found the best parts of Elfen Lied to be when Lucy was a stone cold killer.
However, Lucy's "cute" (if you can even call it that)'s form was UNBEARABLE. I get that the "nyu" thing was for moe appeal but good lord it was annoying. And Lucy's cute form would often molest and strip the other girls at the inn, but she got away with it because she "did not know any better." A little character development towards the end did make her soft side a little better, but I personally found the bipolar thing with her really wishy-washy and dumb. Her killer side was too brutal and her sweet side was too saccharine and cheesy. This is not even mentioning that she has absolutely no character development. She just went on killing people the entire story with no progression or morals whatsoever. What a shame. Lucy had the potential to be a cool character, she even has a great design. But she felt so unrelatable, unrealistic and unlikable.

Nana and Mayu were fine. While not developed nearly enough, they were both sweet and were by far the most likeable of this bunch. I felt legitimate sympathy for both of them, such as Nana's terror in Lucy and Mayu's cliche, but still sad backstory. A little more development would have made them so much better.

Kouka was absolutely generic with no personality outside of his interactions with the girls. By the end of the story, I knew nothing about him. It never showed him on his own, never showed his motivations, never showed his hobbies, nothing. Such a bland plot device. He seemed to only be in the story so that Lucy would have someone showing sympathy for her. While his sister's death was sad and he did have the occasional moment that made me feel for him, he was really only there for Lucy's development. He could not have been any other character archetype besides a bland harem MC.

Yuka was very annoying. At least Kouka was generic but still a nice guy. Yuka was honestly just a generic, mean girl with a brother complex. She served no purpose other than fanservice and to be Lucy's competition in the harem, even though her and Kouka are related. Seriously, if you had taken her out of Elfen Lied the story would have had no changes.

All of the scientists were stereotypical, "evil" villains that just wanted to hurt Lucy with no reason to root for them. God, they were so annoying. None of them had any personality or backstory, and they were so damn interchangeable. Why even bother with them. Horrible, one dimensional villains that had nothing interesting about them.

Arakawa, the only female scientist, was okay but had no development outside of fanservice. She just walked around with panties on in a lab that did human testing. Because, you know, that's realistic. Could have been cool, but just a boring fanservice device.

Overall, Elfen Lied had a boring cast of characters, with all of them besides Lucy and Nana feeling like plot devices.


Enjoyment-
My score: 5

Here is where it gets weird.

Why such a high score if I had so many issues with this story?

Honestly, as dumb, over-the-top, and down-right aggravating that Elfen Lied was in almost every category, it was so damn entertaining.

Reading this manga was pretty fun, and I'll admit, the story was investing. That could likely be because I just wanted the story to finally get good, but it was a quick binge for me. I had fun reading it, as groan worthy as it was. Straight up horribly written pop-corn entertainment, like a Micheal Bay movie.


Overall-
My score: 3.5

Elfen Lied could have been better. So much better.

It was super generic and over the top with its story and gore. The characters were mostly cheesy and annoying with little development. And while the art was decent, the character designs looked so out of place. The story felt so flimsy and rushed, especially towards the end.

Still, give Elfen Lied a shot. I can understand why some would like it, pink haired girls killing people violently is pretty cool. Reading it was a ride, for sure.

When I first heard of Elfen Lied I knew two things about: 'Nudity and Gore' and that was before I even started watching the anime. After I watched the 12-episode anime, I continued with the manga.

The 'story' is special because it goes about a new species, except for that they are using an already existing species/kind of people like ninja's, pirates, demons, etc. The Diclonius and their powers are unique. Something that I haven't seen in another anime/manga before. The story of the manga shocked me, made me emotional and took my interest all the way until the end.

The 'art' of Elfen Lied is nothing special. It has its own drawing style, but that style wasn't really that special for me. I don't say that the art is bad, but it's not really that detailed or has any special thing to mention. I will not remember the manga for its art, but for its good story.

The 'characters' of Elfen Lied are very different for each other, what I like. But for a series that is famous for its gore, you can expect that some (favourite) characters can die. That isn't really my problem, but the nudity -part of it and the characters around that. I mean with this the 'pairings' that come and go in Elfen Lied. For example Elfen Lied has pairings, or certain situations, that include incest or pedophilia. Not sex but kissing and intimite moments that made me feel uncomfortable. Every character has good development during the manga and gets good closure.

After finishing the manga I had no regret of reading it. I became emotional for the ending and even more when I heard the ending of the anime on my smartphone. I have some questions about how some characters could return at the end and the 'happy ending'. It is a combination between a sad and happy ending, but I liked it!

The manga maybe have its flaws like the art, the disturbing pairings, but overall I like the story!

The first thing I thought when reading the first few pages was 'good God, that art though'.
It didn't get much better from there.
Elfen Lied is a series that could've really gone somewhere. It has an interesting basis as a story, but it just doesn't really deliver on it well. The serious, gory moments go back and forth with the impromptu fanservice scenes, which tend to be more awkward than anything.
The characters are typically of the exceptionally bland variety, with the exception of a few here and there (most noticeably the head guy with the glasses; I can't even remember any of their names).
The art is - for a lack of a better word - extremely ugly. Most characters who have smaller, detailed eyes tend to have them drawn rather wall-eyed, and the ones with the big moeblob eyes constantly take on this expression where their eyebrows are turned upwards, their mouths hang open at the lowest part of their face possible, and you can practically hear the 'duhhhhhh' escaping from said mouths. Also - what's with the artist and drawing the characters heads jutting out (excuse me for using this phrase again) as far as possible from their necks?
Even the gore isn't that spectacular. I tried to find a way of saying this without sounding like an edgy teenager but - I couldn't help but laugh at the dramatic, bloody scenes. I'm not usually the type of person to do that, but all of the intense moments involving massive bodily damage are just so over the top and so melodramatic I couldn't help but find it humorous.

Looking back, it really is disappointing. The story could've gone somewhere really cool, but unfortunately was ruined by lackluster characters, over the top dramatic scenes, uncomfortable fanservice, and cringe-worthy art.

"Elfen Lied," or in english, "Elf's Song," is a manga series inspired by a German poem written by Eduard Morike. The poem tells the story of an Elf who unknowingly wanders into a small village and is ostracized by the humans there. The poem ends with the Elf being clobbered over the head by a man.

In this manga, our 'Elf,' is a mutant named Lucy and our 'village,' is Kamakura, Japan. Herein lies a tale of racism, prejudice, misanthropy and incestous relations between cousins. I came into Elfen Lied with high hopes after hearing how it was supposedly, "sad," and "beautiful," it is. Sadly, the manga was nothing like the Germanic poem I read in preparation for this. What I read was a mess, a very poorly written mess.

The story, as I mentioned earlier, revolves around a Diclonius mutant named Lucy. The Diclonius bear striking resemblance to humans, except for the two horns that protrude from their foreheads and the fact that they have telepathic hands that allow them to rip anything apart. It begins with Lucy breaking out of a top secret facility, after massacring about 20 people. She then gets shot in the head, falls into the ocean, and wakes up with amnesia so bad she can only utter one word, "Nyuu."

Firstly, I would like to point out how cliche that amnesia is as a plot device. I have seen a million and one shows and books using the same thing. But, I am not as close-minded as to judge an entire manga based on a plot device. So, I continued to read on, hoping that the story would pick up. 107 chapters later, I was left disappointed. There are so many problems with Elfen Lied, one of them is the fact that not every character gets developed.

At one point we are introduced to a 13 year old girl who was sexually abused by her stepfather. And that is it, the author never expands upon this other than mentioning the fact that she was raped. Another character has to wear a diaper at all times because she has panic attacks were she ends up urinating on herself. The only characters who get any development are Lucy, Kouta(the male protagonist) and his cousin/love Yuka(the equivalent of Shirley Fenette in Code Geass). Even those characters are not compelling or relatively well written.

Lucy, is plays the role of the "moe," helpless amnesiac girl who, when threatened, turns into a killing machine. She is the star of manga, and anytime there is a female lead, nudity ensues. She spends 1/3 of the manga naked, to me this seems like overt fanservice to get people to by the manga. Next, we have Kouta the man who obviously has romantic feelings towards Lucy, but any attempt to romance her is thwarted by his cousin Yuka. Now Yuka is the absolute worst character in this manga. I despised her with every fiber of my being. First off, Kouta is her cousin/childhood friend yet she still wants to marry him. Why does she want to marry him? Because of some stupid childhood promise they made when they were five years old. Her love was complete artificial not to mention the childhood promise has been done a million and one times.

Another issue I had was how it dealt with its themes. The entire manga focuses on the contrast between the Diclonus and humans; how they differ from one another and how they are the same. I felt there wasn't enough differences to truly differentiate one from the other, unless that was the author's intent. Next, we have the other prominent theme of misanthropy. We people committing vile acts one after another, kids murdering animals with vases and scientists performing inhumane experiments on the Diclonus.

First off, at what elementary school do you find groups of kids brutally torturing and killing animals? I know that is a work of fiction, but the implausibility of the situation makes the drama seem blatantly forced. And the "evil," scientists performing insane experiments on living creatures has been a common trope in the science fiction genre. Everything seemed so sloppily put together, any supposed emotional scene left me feeling apathetic.

I would say the only entertaining parts of Elfen Lied would be Lucy turning into a badass, and killing lots and lots of people. You see her telepathic hands rip people limb from limb. It is a truly glorious sight to behold.

Overall, Elfen Lied gets a 6/10 from me. It isn't well-written nor all that intelligent. The only way I could enjoy Elfen Lied was by turning my brain off, and simply taking it all in. There is nothing wrong with a manga that does not require a lot of thinking but when this show is touted as something of an intellectual masterpiece, I can't help but be disappointed.

Elfen lied is the single most impactful manga that i've had the pleasure to read, it shows how a person can destroy many lives without noticing it, it shows how the innocence of a side can clash with the violence of the other, it shows that life is a fragile thing that if you don't care enough for it it can easily go out of your hands and dissapear into thin air.

The story of Elfen Lied is one characterized by the sheer violence, blood, pain, suffering, problematic, ilness that represents many people's lives out there and how if time isn't cherished enough it evaporates like glass and never comes back. It is also characterized by the company, compasion, love, unconcern and harmony of having a family, one special thing in our lives that if taken the sufficient care can be the main reason of our waking up and living our lives to the absolute fullest making the most out of every moment.

In the story is present a clash between one factor and another, the Diclonius are superior beings and are powerful enough to cut the heads of
People using invisible hands that form part of their bodies. They are beings that were born to dominate the world and present a real threat to humanity and any living being. They are more intelligent, bigger, stronger, good looking and more physically prepared to hold the key to a united kingdom that consist of the entire world.

The characters are well represented in the story, Kouta a boy that meets a friend when he was in childhood and don't seem to remember important events of his life, Lucy a Diclonius who has a double personality the first one being an innocent girl that isn't capable of having any kind of extended conversation and whose real name being Nyu Kaede and the other one being basically a monster that holds hatred towards humanity because of the treatment she had when she was a child and how the other kids behaved worse than animals bullying her psychologically and thus causing her to give in to her inner personality that wanted her to take all of their heads off. There are also Nana who is a diclonius and who cherishes her papa like there's no tomorrow, Mayu a little girl that was welcomed in Kouta's house and Yuka who is family of Kouta and admires him with all her forces.

The art is really special, the panels are well depicted and truly describe the atmosphere felt throughout the story, the character's have unique designs and the use of light and shadows is well managed in the different parts of the story. The form of all the pieces together makes it work and take life as a piece of art.

This series is truly legendary, everything felt specially well constructed with a meaning and a purpose, the story alongside with the characters are something to behold making it one of the most accomplished work in the entire history of the medium and giving us the real meaning of what a legend is. This is amazing and legendary in every possible immaginable way and the enjoyement i felt while reading it's pages was something that can't be really described and the only form to say that it's real is to experience it.

Oh how the times have changed. At a point earlier in my life, before I reached what was probably the half-way point of Elfen Lied, I would have given this an overall better score, but I'm afraid things did not allow that. If anything, elfen lied is a testament to having to finish a series before you have a good idea of how you're going to address it, and for that reason before I go on I want to bring something up. Elfen Lied might tempt you with scenes of gorn, but it takes a lot more than that before a series can be called mature. Yes, you'd be right to say that it's not for the screamish, but the only thing that keeps it from being a shonen is the aforementioned trope. That aside, let us begin.

Story:
On the very cliche side of things, Elfen Lied follows an amnesiac protagonist, as the story progresses and they slowly regain their memories. What makes Elfen Lied stand out, is just how they lost their memory and what led to this eventual loss. For anti-spoiler reasons, a lot can not be said about what you'd see in the story, but what can be said is that it manages to stay to the end. Even though there are some very glaring issues that take away from the enjoyment, Elfen Lied remembers what its about to the very end, and if you can ignore it's other faults you will not be let down, the problem however, is that these faults can't go ignored.

Art:
Character design is very generic. It is of the variety where ever character that shares a gender has the same face with varying sizes, hair and eye color. What stands out in this series is how the mangaka draws the surroundings, and the military equipment that you'll see a lot. While I can't call myself a military nut, and it'd be wrong to say that they aren't generic, Okamoto puts enough detail into the weapon, but that's not really saying much. Of all of its traits, Elfen Lied's art is the second best, but that's not a hard accomplishment in the presence of its other scores.

Characters:
There are a lot of problems I had with Elfen Lied when I originally read it, but ultimately they could be ignored when there was actually a good character about. Elfen Lied is done pretty well in the moral ambiguity department early on, so much so that at points I could be rooting for one character one moment, then completely root for their opponent the next. This excelled best with the character Lucy, who's split personalities provided a perfect parallel that made you like them both. Unfortunately however, this is completely thrown away. There are a lot of despicable bastards in Elfen lied, and at the half way point the more likable ones join them. This gets every bit worse, when the characterization is thrown out by the series end.

Enjoyment:
When I first started Elfen Lied, I did like it a lot. It was the first seinen manga I read, that actually made me care about the characters. There are a lot of issues however, that you'll see in a lot of seinen, namely the fact that people often don't know the meaning of mature. A lot of the "mature" content in this series could have been left out, and had it been, it would be been a much easier read. Another thing that would have made it easier would have been better handling of its end. If it didn't try so desperately to prove that it was a seinen, and it didn't suffer the fault that a lot of anime and manga fall for, Elfen Lied could have been great but sadly that's not the case.

Overall:
I'd like to say "if you want a good sci-fi story, then Elfen Lied could easily be this for you." but such words can not be spoken in truth. While the story isn't trash, the art is unimpressive, the characters start overall good but quickly join the heap of other bad characters, and you'd have to be a very apathetic or depraved person, to say that your enjoyment of elfen lied is high. This very raunchy series has a lot of potential, but I do not judge on potential so thusly give it a 3 out of 10.

Elfen Lied is the ultimate man's manga; including all fundamental aspects one has come to expect from a male oriented manga with no exception of blood, nudity, sexual references and imagery, brutal violence, science fiction and even cat girls. As a girl, I won't complain, having a natural affinity to the more male oriented themes, however this is no manga for the faint of heart; the story often making you cringe as you witness limbs fly in every direction. Strangely enough, the brutality is probably one of the manga's most redeeming qualities, the way death and pain is delivered is intriguing at the least which brings us to the science fiction component of the manga.

The manga, if I recall correctly begins with an epiloguesque scene with Lucy escaping from a research facility, brutally murdering the people around her without a stitch on her. Already you can see what I'm talking about what with the immediate distinction of its targeted audience. Smut and blood aside, I found the beginning to have been much more well thought through than it might have seemed as, on a closer look, already the manga has established its three themes; science fiction, ecchi and action/gore as well as introducing the main character and a major plot point.

I found this manga to be an interesting one and is an instant recommendation, the manga a thrilling ride, though not so much intellectual, it is a wild and incredible ride to be on nonetheless. Much like a roller coaster, it is more adrenaline than thought and who doesn't want to ride a roller coaster?

Though short, I hope this review will convince you to some extent.

At first sight Elfen Lied is terrible. First of all, the artwork is mediocre at best. Second, It's seems like It isn't more than an ecchi/harem with some unnecessary gore, and I am not a particular fan of any of these. And if that is not enough some characters like Bandou are just badly constructed and many of the organization's security plan seems too stupid to be true.
However, you can't judge a book by It's cover. What looks like plain and shallow are, actually, just the first steps of an amazing story.

This manga has a really complex background, and talk about prejudice, instincts, human nature and more. What used to seem like just an excuse to show violence and female nudity, shows to be way more intellectually challenging than we thought. And It all is told to us in a clear, simple and direct (You won't find fillers) way.
There are many flashbacks and speeches, however none of them seems too expository or forced. They flow well, despite dealing with such heavy themes and situations.
Plus, there are surprises in every corner. During many moments you won't believe that actually happened. It is really difficult to say what will happen next and the results rarely disappoint.
Some characters evolves in a incredible way (while some of them are really just disposable and useless). Lucy, Nana and Kurama specially. Even the art turns into something more acceptable, even beautiful at time to time.
So, the deeper you go into Elfen Lied the deeper you will get hooked in, and you probably won't even noticed It. When It grabs you, It doesn't let you go until the very ending. And what a ending. Although there are some things in the last chapter that I didn't like, It was probably the best I remember. I am still amazed by It.

Too bad I can't give Elfen Lied a 10 cause It has some serious flaws. The author is so cruel since the beginning, that at some point It starts to be funny. It takes part of the feels away. But the major problem in Elfen Lied is that the author stop killing people and start to pretend that they are dead. Most of them just don't make any sense. They just survive miraculously and since It is all so violent, you can clearly know when somebody died for real or not. If you haven't seems their heads flying off, the odds are that they are still alive. And It is obviously not good for the reader.

In the bottom line, Elfen Lied is a piece of art. Cruel and beautiful at the same time. I can't promise that you will like It, but I can tell you this: You probably won't see anything alike so soon.

Elfen Lied has done the imposable when it comes to manga and me- grab my heart and force me to cry. Anime can do this easily, but up until I read this gem of a manga I never even shed a real tear to print media.

Art (5/10)- I understand that this was (and most certainly is) suppose to be a bloody, gorey, nudity fest that usually appeals to guys and girls who are fans of guro. I wouldn't say I'm not a fan of guro, but I would say I'm not a fan of pointless guro which the first few volumes of the series seemed to be. The artist draws very awkwardly character wise during the first 6 or so volumes of the series, but when the art does improve it is a great time because the story kicks it up a notch as well.
Characters (8/10)- Some of the characters were really awkward in my opinion. Especially this one girl who has a habit of peeing when she gets nervous. Some of the other characters were a bit too one sided for me to even remotely want to give them a fair chance at capturing my heart; there was one in particular that had a redeeming moment too late. Overall the characters were well rounded, even some side characters who were only part of the story for less than a volume were able to make me feel for them.
Story (10/10)- What Elfen Lied lacks for in art, it makes up for 10x fold in story. The anime felt just like a gore fest while the first half of the manga felt the same, then the plot really kicked in during the second half and started to make me shed real tears. Then that last volume. Ugh, how can an artist/writer DO THIS TO ME! I've never ever read a manga that made me cry real tears. It is so well written...

I'm horrible at writing reviews but here I go. Elfen lied is an manga that delly brings out a humans true nature in my opinion. When a person finds something different they want to destroy it right? I'm sure many other reviews say something similar. It brings up many issues that make me choke up. Bullying, devices that stop a races murderous intentions, using sentient beings as your science projects, etc.. This is a cruel creation light hearted at times but it takes dramatic turns frequently and keeps you on edge. I highly suggest this to those who are a fan of more hardcore dramatic things. Also the anime adaptation leaves so much out. The manga is much better. That is all.

As noted within its genre, Elfen Lied is a tragedy. In my eyes, it's the most beautiful tragedy to have been created. This is not to say the content of Elfen Lied is beautiful in the way that it should be in reality as well. I mean it is beautiful as being a work of art that draws out powerful emotions of sadness and horror at the acts that go on within in.

It's unfortunate that many people claim it to be only about gore and nudity thus completely ignoring the plot. True, the first glimpses of Elfen Lied show both nudity and gore, but it's not meant to be taken as only that.

The nudity is obvious when Lucy is bound in her confinement in chapter one. Why give someone like that clothes? They view her as a monster not a human. There's no reason to clothe her form their eyes.

The gore is also obvious. Lucy doesn't care for the lives of the humans, thus in chapter one when she cuts down the humans in her way, it's understandable form her viewpoint.

Now, later on in the series there ARE times with ecchi in it with it being more of a typical ecchi. Also there ARE time with blood and gore with it being aligned with a seinen work. People watch/read ecchis and seinens all the time, and I think it's unfair to find Elfen Lied to be "disgusting" based off seeing someone naked and seeing someone die.

I'm assuming the "disgusting" aspect comes from these factors taking place with "little girls". This is where it should be noted that this is a tragedy. An innocent child being forced into this horrible world is something that pulls the hearts of the readers/watchers rather than an adult. Girls are also seen as more emotional (though there can be debate for that) which also plays into this tragedy role.

I unfortunately haven't finished watching the anime of Elfen Lied because of what I've heard of how it ended. I recommend to anyone who has only watched the anime, and/or hasn't seen the manga to read it. It seems to have a fuller story behind it than the anime from my understanding.

This manga is a mix of comedy, cuteness, gore and drama, and if it doesn't have one of the best stories I've ever got involved in, it's characters would make up for it.

Story-
Is a evangelical sci fi twist. Read it long enough and you'll be caught up in it. This is Definately a seinen manga with alot of nudity and many sex references, despite that it doesn't get in the way of the main story, and you won't think that it's just about girls being nude. There are a lot of flashback chapters, but they don't dissapoint like in other mangas, as they dive into the past of the main characters, they make you want to read the manga even more.

Characters-
In this manga it's hard to say that there is a "good" side or "bad" side, but there undoubtedly is. The characters in general don't take up that definate role,like Bandou who comes in the second chapter, he'll start off as a villian but there will be sometimes you're rooting for him, then right after that times you'll hate his guts.
Overall there is no character greater than Lucy/Nyuu her bckstory, her now, all of it but a complicated romance drama, that you may never expect her character to have.

Art-
For this manga the art seemingly doesn't work, but is somehow fitting. The mangaka has a great ability to turn the most cutest things into something that'd make you want to throw up. Limbs will be torn off, and bodies ripped in half. In other words if you don't have a strong stomach don't read.

Overall-
If you're looking for a manga that will touch your heart, have you on the edge of your seat, have you rooting for the character you hated a moment ago, or just have you saying "I'm glad this is fictional." This is a manga for you...

This is my first review...and I didn't think would ever have made a review for a manga/anime! I am a person that prefers anime over manga every time; however, Elfen Lied changed that. After watching the anime, I felt that the anime was in my top 10. It was awesome. Soon, I found out that the manga has a different ending than the anime and was more complete. Feeling uneasy to start reading, I just read the first few pages to see how it was. I was hooked. I started to burn right through the pages...I ended up completing the whole manga in a few days. I felt soo attached to the characters, and the ending chapter gave me a feeling of enlightenment and a tear to my eye. I feel empty, yet fulfilled reading this manga.

For anybody who watched the anime of Elfen Lied, I highly recommend you to also read the manga. I believe the whole delivery of the manga was a lot better than the anime.

Thanks!

This review will contain spoilers. Elfen Lied is an manga that tries to be deep, but in the end, because of the horrible storyline, it fails to. Elfen Lied is a mangq merely composed of blood, pointless ecchi, and annoying characters.

Storyline:

Now, the storyline is dark, however it isn't deep like people say it is. Lucy and other dicloni were abused in some psycho ward place. So what? Lucy got bullied by some kids and they even killed her puppy. That's so not sad. You know why? She killed innocent people who did nothing to her. Why couldn't she just kill the bullies? It's because this storyline's true purpose is to just add blood everywhere. "Well, it's Elfen Lied! What did you expect?" I expected it to get deep, not to see some poor excuses to kill everyone on sight. That's not all, the excuses are useless anyway since she is a dinclonus, an alien species that kills humans instinctively. You call those people in those laboratories bad, but is the Dicloni any better? Seeing them chop off heads, arms, and pulling hearts from peoples' chest, I think not. This storyline uses these excuses to make it look deep, but I'm no fool. All this manga really is is some bloody manga you saw right at the beginning. It's also full of ecchi, for the teenage pervs that watch this crap. The romance is pointless, because in reality, nobody could love someone who's killed their family. Why add romance in the first place anyway. You guessed it! For the pervs and that self insert dude who can't live a real life. This storyline is disgusting.

Characters:

Kouta:

He's a bland, self insert character. There's not much to say about him. I will say that he is very annoying for some reason.

Lucy/Nyuu:

Lucy is an diclonius. She is the true main character of this series, not (Wait. What's his name again? Kouta! That's right!) Kouta. Her background is pointless. No, her background is only there to make the story look deep. Her puppy getting killed has nothing to do with killing someone just because they bumped into you on accident. If your grandmother died in your childhood, does that give you an excuse to run around killing people like a loser playing Grand Theft Auto? No! Lucy is an alien that kills humans anyway, making anything in her background pointless. Nyuu is Lucy's other form that makes her innocent like a baby. Literally! She can't even change her own clothes. Her only purpose is to satisfy the pervy dudes watching the show, which is very sad because she is innocent. Maybe that's why she's killing people. Certainly makes more sense then her true reasons.




Yuka:

She is Kouta's cousin who is also in love with him. She is below pointless. She's one of those useless crybabies who should be completely removed from the show. She doesn't even have a known background. That's all there is to say about her.





Art:

Whoever drew horns so badly, that they made them look visually identical to cat ears should go back to art school. A first grader could draw better. Then again, it could've been to make them look better for those pervy otaku.


Enjoyment:

I had a hard time watching reading this manga for two reasons. 1. I couldn't stay hooked on and had to force myself to watch it. 2. I couldn't just read this anywhere because people could peer at the pages and think I'm some pedophile reading pervy, bloody comics. I did not enjoy this at all.

Conclusion: This manga is horrible. I said it. HORRIBLE! I suggest you don't watch this if A. You are intelligent enough to notice these errors B. You don't like a pointless anime that only shows blood and nude girls. If you like what you saw at the beginning, enjoy! Just know that it isn't deep, and definitely away from being a masterpiece.

*[I rewrote this review because I feel it wasn't detailed enough.]