Thanks to this anime, I now have a whole new reason to be afraid of any human-looking creature with horns coming out of their head. Created by Lynn Okamoto, this is definitely a show you’d want to check out if you’re looking for something completely out-of-the-ordinary from whatever you’ve been watching previously. The show opens with a strange sight by itself: a naked girl with a helmet covering her face who escapes from a laboratory cell. As security guards start to swarm, the otherwise damsel-in-distress suddenly tears her captors to shreds (literally—this show is quite graphic) without even so much as having to TOUCH them. She makes it to the edge of the island where the lab stands, but is then shot by a sniper; the bullet breaks her helmet off and the girl falls into the water and disappears. Pretty badass for a prologue, huh? I certainly thought so.
The story of Elfen Lied revolves around two main characters. The first is Lucy, the girl previously mentioned, who is the “queen bee” (insert Mean Girls reference here) of a new breed of humans called the Diclonius, with invisible tentaclelike vectors that are capable of destroying anything in their path. However, these monstrous creatures are only differentiated by two horns that protrude from their skulls (they also all have pink hair, but then again, this IS anime). The second character is Kohta, a young man who has just recently moved into the area, prompted by his cousin Yuka to stay in her parents’ closed restaurant until he finds someplace else. As he and Yuka are walking alongside the beach, they find an unusual scene—a naked, unconscious girl with horns on her head. Once she wakes, however, she’s not the murderous, vengeful Lucy, but a sweet, childlike version of her who has no idea who or where she is. Feeling a familiar aura from her, Kohta takes her in, renaming her Nyu, after the sound she makes. Unfortunately, taking in a murderer winds up being inconvenient, to say the least. Lucy still resides in the back of “Nyu’s” mind, and occasionally shows herself, attracting the attention of lab doctors, assassins, and Diclonius alike. Some are good, some are bad, and some are neither, but many of them wind up being taken in by the overly generous Kohta, much to Yuka’s annoyance (a homeless girl named Mayu and a cute Diclonius named Nana, to name a couple). As the series progresses, we get a glimpse into Kohta’s past and how it entwines with Lucy’s, as well as seeing Lucy’s sadistic motivations to dispose of the human race.
As mentioned before, this is a good show for the people who are desperate to watch something different, and boy is it DIFFERENT! The main problem with Elfen Lied is that it’s a show that doesn’t know what it’s trying to be. In any given episode, you could go through a horror movie, a drama about child abuse, an ecchi comedy, a catty, jealousy-filled romance, and a psychological thriller all in one. It’s like that multiple-personality creep you know who makes you curious about what he’ll do next (kinda like Lucy!). Keeping that in perspective, it makes it a bit easier to see the intrigue of the show, which is addicting and may be the final thing that keeps you watching; despite what you think about the characters, you really wanna know if Lucy wins out in the end—or perhaps…Nyu?
On the technical side, the animation is just as bipolar as the plot. The girls are all drawn quite adorably, but then you see a few glimpses of crazy-looking eyes and limbs being torn off, and you start to wonder if you hit the channel button on the remote by accident. Don’t worry, it’s all part of the fun(?). The music and sound are surprisingly very good, able to lead you confidently through every twist of this wild ride (especially the show’s main theme Lilium, which still haunts me to this day). The anime itself is a very condensed version of the manga, but in the end, it’s your choice if you want the long or short version of this tale.
Now for the voice work. Mmm… Okay, the last thing to make this crazy story believable is the work of very convincing voice actors. Well apparently they were all busy working on Air, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Princess Tutu, because the guys ADV Films picked up DO NOT accomplish this. Adam Conlon proves to be a very boring Kohta, and Nancy Novotny, Cynthia Martinez, and Sasha Paysinger (as Yuka, Mayu, and Nana respectively) make me want to go Diclonius myself on their pathetic asses. The only characters I can say I’m completely satisfied with are Lucy/Nyu (both personalities pulled off flawlessly by Kira Vincent-Davis), Kurama (voiced by Jay Hickman), and Mariko (played by Luci Christian), even though the latter is only present in THE LAST THREE EPISODES. This is not to say that the English dub is worse than the Japanese track, though. From what I’ve heard, even the original seiyuu can’t work properly with this material. These be dangerous waters—ENTER IF YOU DARE!!!
As for an age limit, keep it pretty high. As if you can’t already tell, this show is loaded with adult themes, nudity, language, and graphic violence. If the antics of a certain beloved throat-slitting barber make you queasy, odds are that watching a bunch of adorable-looking girls get ripped from the seams won’t be your cup of tea either.
The 12-volume manga is not licensed, but is still readable online. The 13-episode anime IS available, though, from ADV Films (Okay, Funimation rescued it—my hero?), as well as the OVA, which supposedly takes place between episodes ten and eleven of the anime.
Musing Stars: 3 out of 5.
