Arcane Reviews: Elfen Lied

Elfen Lied

Hello ladies, peoples, and animals it is I, the Arcane Reviewer here to bring you a review. I'm going to start doing anime reviews here and I think it would be cool to start off my first review with one of my personal favorites.

Story:

The story of Elfen Lied centers around a young woman named Lucy who escapes from a research facility but not before taking a nasty bullet to the head. We then meet two college students, Kouta and Yuka. As they end up meeting Lucy who now has developed a split personality called Nyu. They decide to take her in only to end up in the middle of an crazy and emotional filled ride that involves a new species of human, the possible end of mankind, death, sorrow, and a whole lot of fan service. The plot of Elfen Lied, without giving away any spoilers, is a very interesting one that explores all of mankind's darkest sides. Though one might say the story could be a bit dull at points I feel as though it does keep you wanting to know what else is in stored for the characters as more secretes are revealed as the show goes a long so I will say that is it's biggest strength.

Animation:

On the technical side Elfen Lied looks very good. Characters are drawn very nice and no one is very stiff, everyone moves fluently and the quality of the anime is very good with almost no drops happening through out all 13 episodes. So I think that this is also a another strong point for the show.

Music: 

The music in the show doesn't have a lot of variety and that is one of the weakest points. The one track "Lililum" is a beautiful song and has many different interpretations of it that mainly rounds up Elfen Lied's soundtrack. There are other tracks but not a lot and they aren't to important seeing as how the show mainly showcases "Lililum". 

Characters:

Elfen Lied's characters can be hit or miss sometimes. Lucy the main character is a very interesting character so anytime the show focuses on her it's very good. But sadly the characters of Yuka and Kouta aren't. You can forgive Kouta at points but Yuka is an awful fucking character. She never shuts up about anything and pretty much just comes off as an annoying bitch. Other side characters go from okay to being very one note and pretty much add nothing to the overall story. Thankfully the show doesn't focus on them to much so more of the focus is on Lucy or another interesting character to I can forgive the show for that.

Nitpicks: 

Well here is the part that I point out all the little parts the I didn't really like in the show. First off is the nudity. Elfen Lied shows off a lot of nudity and I mean A LOT. So much so the it gets really damn silly as to how they find ways to get the characters naked almost to the point of comical. Another thing is the overuse of blood and gore, though I never really got sick of it I will admit the level of violence in the show did get a little crazy. It seemed like everyone drank Kool-Aid before they where killed.

Overall:

Well overall with all the good and bad I have said about the show I still find myself highly recommending this anime to you. Though I feel that it's not the best anime out there I still find myself loving every second of this show and I always look forward to re-watching from time to time. It is my personal favorite anime and I feel that even if you don't love, you'll find something here to talk about. So go and check this anime out because it really is something different from the normal anime you'll see.

Arcane Reviewer gives Elfen Lied a 9 out of 10.