The Elfen Lied anime is one of those early 2000s shows that relied on a ton of edge and shock to impress. For me, who was around 13 or 14 when I first watched it, it was the best thing ever. However, I’m well aware of the nostalgia factor, so now I’m on a path of introspection, watching all those old edgy shows again to see if they hold up today. They don’t.
©️Arms
©️Studio Guts
Elfen Lied Really Loves To Show Unnecessary Violence
Now, don’t get me wrong, these edgy shows thrive off violence. That’s all fine and dandy until we get into sexual violence territory. You know what I’m talking about. Japan has always had issues with an overabundant amount of sexual violence in anime and manga, but I can look past it if it affects the story or its characters. And if the characters getting assaulted are grown adults. The Elfen Lied anime, however, mostly has a lot of underage characters.
I’m sure you can already imagine the disgust I felt while rewatching this anime. From gratuitous panty shots of the characters, cringe-inducing scenes with the girls and the main character, and so on. These are all things you don’t notice when you’re a kid. You just see edgy stuff, and it gets your adrenaline pumping. As someone that’s 27 in a few months, it was pretty fucking cringe. None of these dark and heavy scenes had any purpose or meaning behind them other than showing that this show really loves the shock factor. This is also its downfall, as so much of that shit happens that your tolerance shoots up real soon. Then, when the next disgusting scene comes, you think: “Ah, another one,” and that’s it.
Elfen Lied Has Characters, I Think?
The MCs in these old shows are such a gem. Imagine the densest, low-IQ, complete fucking idiot. Now give him a harem of mentally ill or traumatized women, where some have superpowers. That’s Kouta, a college student who owns a huge house. I don’t have much to say about this man, as he’s barely human. He acts like a complete dumbass 24/7; he can’t understand human emotions, can’t read the room, and doesn’t do anything useful the entire duration of the Elfen Lied anime. You can replace him with any generic MC, and nothing will change.
On the other side of the spectrum, we have Lucy, our badass, edgy psychopath, who’s also our main love interest. She has a split personality, one that emerges to comfort Kouta by mimicking his dead sister. Let me repeat: Lucy has a split personality that was modeled after Kouta’s dead sister. This personality, called Nyu, also really wants Kouta to touch her, uhhh, sexually. I won’t elaborate further. These two have some history, but I will let you open that Pandora’s Box on your own if you wish to watch the anime yourself.
Other than these, we have Yuka, the cousin that’s always getting cockblocked by Lucy; Mayu, a homeless girl that got abused by her family; Nana, a semi-normal Diclonius that also becomes a part of the gang after getting curb stomped by Lucy; Kurama, a scientist that just didn’t want to do any of this shit, and Bando, a dude that just loves killing people for the Hell of it.
©️Arms
©️Studio Guts
No Redeeming Qualities, Except The Opening
The opening is one of the most haunting, eerie compositions that I’ve heard in my life. It absolutely sends shivers down your spine when you first listen to it. It’s like the opening act for a profoundly traumatic, heavy, and heartbreaking story that’s meant to shake your very soul. You can see tidbits of that potential in this anime, from the tragedy that Kurama went through in the organization that researches the Diclonius (evolved species that have psychokinetic abilities) and his relationship with Nana, a young girl he considered his daughter and actually cared for her.
Kouta’s backstory and relationship with Lucy also had a ton of ways to show how the connections you make as a child can stay with you forever, even after many years pass. The entire storyline regarding Diclonius has such an excellent foundation to tackle human evolution and how the current human race must die for the new one to arrive, and so forth. As a friend of mine would say, this is just a lot of wasted potential, nothing else.
Conclusion
I honestly have 0 nice things to say about this absolute shitshow, except the otherworldly opening. It’s full of edge, nonsense, and cringe-inducing scenes. The characters are bland, the action is subpar, the writing is on the level of a high schooler who just started listening to Slipknot, and the plot barely exists. Go watch Delicious in Dungeon instead.
Where to watch Elfen Lied? Well, you could have watched the show on Crunchyroll before, but now you can’t for some reason. It’s available on Amazon, though.
