elfen lied primer

Sick of the typical sugar-coated bishoujo shows like Da Capo, Wind, and DearS?

Wanted Konomini to actually go somewhere plotwise?

Have a secret, uh, affinity for chix0rs in bandages?

Much happier than they should be

If you answer “yes” to all-of-the-above, maybe Elfen Lied is for you. The world of Elfen Lied revolves around a military experiement “Lucy” who escapes from her mililtary confinement and finds a home with the stereotypical loser boy, Kouta, who has just moved back in town to be re-united with his childhood friend, Yuka.

This crosses a lot of genres… it runs the gamut from horror to bishoujo harem to mystery to ecchi to action/adventure to monster-of-the-week. All that’s lacking is a giant robot. The Swiss army knife of anime!

Production values run high, with good animation and excellent seiyuu work (most of the cast and crew worked on Yami to Boushi). Elfen Lied has thirteen episodes planned and is already “pre-licensed” by ADV, so hopefully it won’t take the three years that ADV usually takes (Louise the Rune Soldier, for example) to bring it over to R1. There’s an official site packed with lotsa wallpapers too.

Elfen Lied is not for the faint of heart. The show depicts dismemberment, death, and torture in extremely gruesome detail. There’s also extreme nakkidness, but somehow I don’t think this bothers the core audience of my blog.

Page 2 for character guide (with spoilers).

14 Responses to “elfen lied primer”

  1. Well, that’s it — I’m sold! And to think I completely overlooked this series… I find the whole cute + ecchi + psycho violence combination really spiffy. And that beautiful opening! Many thanks for piquing my interest in this series.

  2. I just love the series, at first i thought it was just a stupidly violent + ecchi series with people dying for the heck of it, but as it moved along, it became more >.o
    evangelion + kanon + love hina + (bloody anime) = Elfen Lied ^^;;

  3. This series seems good, its like if you let American comic writer Garth Ennis take a shot at anime.

  4. This is easily the best anime I’ve seen in a while…since Kimi ga Nozomu Eien. Plot is good and thick..and keeps the viewers intrest in check. The Clifhangers rock, and, just as everyone has said, it’s a great mix of gorry anime (such as Naruto) and a warm and heartfelt anime (like Kanon) and that “good boy that ends up living a ton of girls that all fall in love with him” anime (like Ai Yori or Onegai Twins)
    Mayu reminded me more of Ayu from Kanon rather then Makoto, damn near to a “T”
    Can’t wait to see how this will finish up. Haven’t been this excited about the ended of an anime since R.O.D -The TV-
    (Also can’t wait for this anime to really get rollin in the market of wallpaper, collector items and such! Would love a wallscroll of Nana and Nyuu! :)!)

  5. This series rocks, its easily one of the best I have ever seen, falling short of my other two favourites Evangelion and Full Metal Alchemist but only by a whisker. This anime is perfect for those all nighters, only thirteen episodes, this however is a double edged sword as there are only a mere thirteen episodes of enjoyment :(

  6. I have been attending several animes and Elfen Lied it is among the best ones than I already saw.

    I hope Elfen Lied’s creators think about doing a continuation, the author it deserves many applauses of all of us for your simplicity and singularity.

    The pure horror mixture, drama, ecchi and a history completely “real” makes to think me the as Japanese are tuned in with the real world. Congratulations Lucy, will never forget you… and… sayonara:7 (

  7. I think that i´m gonna start reading are watch at this story.. it sound like its good.. is it?? I´m from sweden sorry about my bad english.. now if i have tipe it wrong :)
    bye (everybody shuold read or see inu-yasha or fruits basker or akira they are really graet!!)

  8. I LOoooooooove this anime ^^ !

    you must seeeeeeee it !

  9. This anime have all the things i love in an anime!!! Blood, GORE, violence, drama, comedy, cute and sexy girls heheh ^_^x By the way wimps are not allowed to watch.. kinda gory and makes me feel such bloodlust… Nyu… so kawaii!!! Lucy.. such a demon…

  10. I would like to watch it, because I saw the trailer and it rocks!!!!!!!!!!! But there is just one problem:I`m from Croatia

  11. omg

  12. I watched Elfen Lied after Excel Saga. Nana just reminded me of Ropponmatsu in Excel Saga. I wonder if that actually was a real reference.

  13. Ahh, ive seen 14 episodes of it. o.O
    Might be that they wanted a more happy ending to it.

  14. i hope tht they will have a continuation and i hope it to have a happy ending.the last episode 13 has cliffhanger ending..damn!and episode 14 which i anticipated so much turns out to be the missing jigsaw puzzle pieces for the whole series.

    pls let there be episode 15( i want to see lucy/nyuu to be kohta).. wishing hard now!

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