This is the review I submitted to Amazon.com for the anime series Elfen Lied



Elfen Lied is without a doubt, one of the best anime to come out in 2004. The animation is top-notch. Character development is unparalleled. Each individual is distinctly unique and has well-established history, goals and morals. The soundtrack never fails to set the mood and the intro as well as the credits are impressive as well. However, what tops off this masterpiece is how the story keeps you on the edge of your seat down to the last second of episode 13. There is never a dull moment and the plot keeps rolling strongly without ever slowing down.

The basic premise for driving the plot is a race of highly-evolved, psychic humans called diclonius. The distinctive feature of these people are two, small, bony growths protruding from above the ears (the nature of the word “diclonius” comes from a dinosaur, which possessed two horns, hence, the “di” prefix). Their hidden power is the manipulation of matter with invisible arms.

The story starts off in a remote, island research facility where the most powerful diclonus, Lucy is being held captive. Mysteriously loosened from her bonds, she fights her way out of the building and succeeds in killing most of the security force (with extremely bloody results). Because the scientists experimenting with her race don’t consider her to be a human, she is not clothed during this rampage. Unscathed, Lucy is nearing escape when she is not quite successful in deflecting a headshot from a .50 caliber rifle.

Senseless, lost and naked she wanders to a beach quite a distance away. It turns out that the wound from the bullet has activated a second personality within Lucy, which is devoid of anger and full of innocence. “Nyu,” is the name of her alter ego. She is noticed a short time later by two cousins, Kouta and Yuka. While Yuka attempts to find this strange girl some clothes, Kouta is having terrible flashbacks from his childhood. Memories of a girl he once knew; possessing horns on her head.

While the plot does not escape from a weak male lead, which has been overused in the anime genre, there are more than enough strong points to make up for this. The most revolutionary part of Elfen Lied is the way it uses what would normally be called questionable or offensive material and then makes the characters and storyline stronger (as opposed to making the viewer look away or sickened). I’ve seen other anime, which can simply be described as soft-porn and devoid of story. Others promote random violence, once again, without any story to back it up. Elfen Lied does well where these have failed.

The major opponents of Elfen Lied cannot see or understand Lynn Okamoto’s (the author) vision from beneath the gore and skin. Such people are too superficial to look deeper into her creation and appreciate the underlying gems, which all great stories possess.

I must also admit that this anime is not for the faint of heart. The blood and nudity makes for a strong R type rating, so children should be kept away. However, I’ll stress again that these aspects of the plot do not detract, but instead add to the storyline. If you can handle these crucial moments, then this anime is definitely for anyone who wants to be touched by a story I can simply describe as spectacular.

The dynamic personality struggle between Lucy and Nyu is something which I will never forget. Her disposition constantly transforms from a temperamental psychopath to a cute and loveable child at just the right time to make you love her just barely more than you hate her. It is such perfection which makes me wish I could give Elfen Lied ten of five stars.

Wow..... must've taken quite a while to write that. I've seen one episode of Elfen Lied. I have the rest on my computer. But like alot of anime I have on my computer, I don't get the time to watch it much.... I suppose I'll catch up on my anime during the summer.

Yeah. It took a little while to write.

I'm hurting right now because I can't torrent as fast with dial-up. But that's not a problem anymore with a lot of stuff coming out on DVD, though. B)

EDIT:

So now, in honor of Elfen Lied coming out in America and me getting it in the coming days (hopefully), I've updated my avatar and signature. Any comments? :}

I like the new avatar and signatar. It's diferent. B)

Just different? Okay. I guess that's good. I was going for that, of course. '-_-

Suicune. I wanted to hear more on your comments concerning Elfen Lied.

I think they look neat ^_^ Cool, cute, mixed!

It's just different. A bit bloody, but not too bloody. Just different. Maybe I should start to make a new Roc's Nest Signature... (which reminds me...what happened to it?)

Anyways, how can I see this "Elfen Lied?"

Well, ADV is selling it on amazon.com right now for only $20. That's the first four episodes (a good price for a brand new DVD if you ask me). You could torrent it, from Baka-Updates.com or animeyume.org but all of the seeds are pretty much gone. I think it's going to be on the "all-anime" network on cable. I can't remember the name of the channel. :sad: I'll look it up later.

If you have a gigantic E-mail account, or fast internet you could have someone send it to you via IM or E-mail. If my website was bigger I'd set up a secret account for you to download it, because anyone who isn't overly offended by blood and nudity should really watch this anime. It's so awesome that even the conservative Marlin likes it! :} ;)

That channel is the Anime Network. And I could send it to him over IM, if he thinks that would work. Do you think that'd be ok, suicune?

i read a artical on it in newtype and saw a add on it from the DVD and i have to say......it looks like a typical evil cat/robot bloody killing show. not that interestid buuut tell me how it is u_u

Here's a retelling of an interview with the director of Elfen Lied: Mamoru Kanbe (I hope I'm not violating copyrights in retyping this '-_- ).

"What I thought, while reading through the script, was that this was a love story, and I could make it so that it would bring viewers to tears. Evoking feelings is what I want to do, and as for portraying violence, as long as I don't hesitate, I can do it. I want to make it so that each episode makes people think, "It ends like this?" I was very determined to let myself get carried away with it."



As you can see, even the director wants this to be a masterpiece. I'm devoting myself to making the world realize that Elfen Lied belongs up there with the greats! This is quite possibly the best anime ever made. I've just finished watching the English dubs from ADV and it's spectacular. A must have for anime fans 16+. B)

That's kind of the response I was looking for. '-_- However, if you were to send it to me, it would be in Japanese with English subtitles, right? I'm not sure I want to hear English voices. I fear that quality will be diminished. And it might be against the law.

EDIT: One more thing: I just noticed in the first post, Marlin's post, that Nyu's hand is red. Now, I thought it was a glove or something. But then I saw it was dripping. Is her whole hand covered in blood?

Yes. Her hand is covered in blood, but that picture was "updated" I guess you could say by ADV. Originally it didn't have any blood on it in the Japanese version. If you didn't already know that Elfen Lied is very bloody, you should know now. However, I want to stress that I hate violent gorey anime, with the sole exeption of Elfen Lied because the story is that good. The violence and blood and nudity actually contribute to the story instead of detracting from it. B)

Where do you get bittorrent? Do you have to pay for it?
Edit: I think I have found it.

If anybody could send me this over IM, I would appreciate it (Afgior is my SN)
I would like to watch some anime for once. Lousy, no cable-having house....grumble.....

Here:

http://www.bittorrent.com/

That'll get you what you want. B)

Coolies, I got it. Thanks Marlin.
Now maybe I can see some anime other than the occasional movie. :}

But lets stick to the topic:

Elfen Lied is one of my new passions (well, has been since last September, but that's beside the point). I won't make it one of the themes of Aerie of the Roc because it's not PG-13. :cry: However, that doesn't mean I can't support it in other ways! :}

Marlin, what do you mean?
And that page you gave was just a link to the bittorrent site. Not an Elfen Lied torrent.

Oh, Elfen Lied torrents can be found at baka-updates.com and animeyume.org

When I said "other ways," I meant that I'm just going to talk it up wherever I go. The story is obviously better than Escaflowne but I can't say that I liked the fight scenes in Elfen Lied as much as in Escaflowne.

There's a battle within me right now as I'm rewatching both anime to decide which one I like more. It might come down to the quality of the English dubs. Escaflowne has English voice acting that can compete with Cowboy Bebop, after all. So far, Elfen Lied as just been "satisfying" in the area of dubs.

Awl right, Im getting episode one now. I'll tell you what I think of it once i'm done B)
Ummm...does this normally take 9 hours for one episode? >.<

If you have a slow internet and the torrent is as old as Elfen Lied I'm surprised it isn't taking 36 hours. XP

well, my internet is dsl now so it just finished with downloading episode 1, But my POS computer did what it always does: it goes "error downloading codec" and only plays the sound. I hate my computer. that was like, 7 hours wasted. Stupid piece of crap.
Is there soemthing I need to change so that it will work?
AAAAURGH this is torture! I can hear it but I can't see it :C :cry: :C :cry:

Do a search for Divx, Xvid, or Matroska Pack. You should be able to watch it then. They're all free. B) Or at least, they should be. Let me know if you can't find them and I'll upload the installers to marlingaming.net

Shhh! You didn't hear that. >.<

Why not just post the links here? Quick 'n ez

Because I don't want to do the search myself. They shouldn't be hard to find. :...:

first result I found it. Shweet! Thanks Marlin, I'm watching it now ^_^


Wow. That was really good. Definitely worth the long download times. Im going to get the second one now B)

These episodes keep leaving me wanting more! You're right, this does have amazing character development. Like Bando- after the first episode, I really wanted him to get killed, yet after the second, I somehow feel kind of bad for him. Halfway done downloading episode 3 ^_^

Did you like the goofy cliffhanger at the end of episode two between Kohta, Nyu, and Yuka? That's the inspiration I had to download the entire series while it was still just coming out in weekly syndication. I really wanted to see what would happen after that. B)

Anyway, you haven't really seen the true plot just yet. As long as you haven't been grossed out I suggest to keep watching.

I watched up to 4, I got 5 and I'm downloading 6 now. That part was pretty funny. I like how the humor doesn't seem thrown in there, but it actually fits without detracting from the quality of the show. A lot of animes turned me off with excessive bad jokes just thrown in at random moments, which I hate.
The end of ... I think it was episode 3, though...what yuka says kind of wierded me out a little. Thats just not something girls say...at least not to me :cry:

Yeah. That was kind of on the same "theme" :} as the situation at the end of episode 2. But if you've watched through episode 4, then you know that she was testing Kohta. ;)

There really aren't many more situations like that in the series.

yeah, I figured it would turn out like that. The end of episode 4 was really sad, though :( I still haven't got around to watching 5 or 6 yet. Oh, and "I'm not not licking toads" by homer simpson has some competition for my favorite quote ever:"my balls and the end of mankind, how are they related?" o_O That one made me laugh.

Heh :D Yeah, that was pretty good. It's one of my favorite quotes as well. However, there's a few other quotes from Elfen Lied that I like a little bit more. I can't think of them off the top of my head, but I'll try to remember and get back to you on that. B)

I finally got around to watching 5,6 and 7. 8 is 86.4% done downloading...aaaaannd the download speed drops to 0 :C

Wow, I couldn't believe that SPOILERS

Nana escaped. I thought they had killed her a few episodes back. And one thing I don't get, do the females only have vectors, because that teacher didn't seem to have them...and its kind of wierd that a hairpiece could conceal his horns like that.

I don't understand what you meant by SPOILERS.

But yes, only the females have vectors. The males just have horns and red irises. However, as far as his wig concealing the adornments on his head, if you look at it, the wig makes his head look flat on top, and then if he takes it off, his head looks really round all of a sudden. B)

But I'm aware you finished ep 8 finally, huh? ^_^

I meant spoilers for anyone who hadnt watched it yet. I just watched episode 9, which is probably my favorite one so far. It cleared up a lot of things I didn't understand so far, and it explained finally why Lucy became a killer. I'm starting to download episode 10 now, so I should be able to watch it sometime tomorrow.

edit: whao! it was downloading really fast, so maybe I will be able to see it tonight! Why is it that some of the episodes take a third as much time as others...

I recently purchased DVD 2. Does anyone want to hear me tell how great this anime, is? B)

*whistles* I'll, pass, Marlin. I'm sure it's good.

Sure. Unfortunately, I never actually finished watching all the episodes. I watched up to the one that ends with them showing some crazy 30-vector diclonius thats locked up, the reason being that while watching that episode, my media player started lagging every 20 seconds or so, and the sound would desynch from the video, and I would have to pause it and try to move the bar back to what I missed, and it ended up taking me like an hour or more to watch, and I really don't want to have to do that again.

I just finished watching the last 3 episodes. Holy crap it was awesome. How good are the english dubs? I may consider buying this if they are good.

The English dubs for Elfen Lied are quite good. It's ADV who licensed it, so you can imagine that it's not terrible. However, it's not incredible, either. B)

I saw it at the mall today, but it was just one disc, and I didn't have enough for it along with the other things I wanted.