Anime TV Online - Elfen Lied Review

^{Elfen Lied} is a thirteen-episode ecchi anime produced by ARMS studio in 2004. Its name is german for "The Song of the Elves". But I tell you, unlike the common folk tales, this elves must be quite sadistic ones, because Elfen Lied is the bloodiest anime I have ever seen... curiously, it also depicts very cute and sentimental scenes as well... it's a bipolar anime in much senses... even diclonius, the species name of the main character Lucy, is a testament to the ambiguity presented in Elfen Lied.

The story of Elfen Lied is very well presented. A horned-girl with spectacular powers escapes from a top-secret lab where she was confined, leaving a blood trail in her wake. She later meets Kohta (ou Kouta) and his cousin Yuka in Kanagawa town, but her killer instinct is gone due to a head trauma, and she appears to be an innocent and fragile girl that only says Nyu. They start to live together... but the ones that imprisoned Lucy want her back, and her bloodthirsty side takes control from time to time, endangering everyone around her...

Elfen Lied presents us with all that humanity has worse... violence, social alienation, identity crisis, jealousy, lust for revenge, animal cruelty, child abuse... all these issues go around one central theme though... discrimination to everything that goes against the norm and the fear and aggression related to it... a ever-growing problem of our society. In fact, Elfen Lied can be seen as a possible near future of our world. And that is scary!

The animation of Elfen Lied is quite good. Just a note: it depicts scenes of graphical violence and gore extremely well... I mean when a arm is ripped it even shows the tendons and bones inside of it. It's not an anime to the easily impressed people. The music is quite fine as well... the opening features Lilium, a beautiful latin-spoken song, a tune you'll encounter a lot through Elfen Lied. It also features some hair-raising ambiance sounds in the most tense scenes.

Elfen Lied is an anime that will surprise you constantly. A lot of cruel things will happen, but never in the way you expect. But it's not senseless violence. Everything has a motive to happen, and you'll appreciate learning the background and the deeper relationships that exists between the different characters.

Highly recommended. This anime made me turn around my head a couple of time, but also made me cry. The feelings that it brings to the viewer alone makes it worth watching.

This anime displays scenes of extreme violence and gore.The first 7 minutes of the show are considered the bloodiest in all of anime history. I've added them in the video on the right, because viewing it turns out to be a good filter to separate the people that will enjoy Elfen Lied from the ones that will not. Watch it at your own discretion.