Elfen Lied: question

[ice reaper]

i know there is a thread below about Elfen Lied, but it has spoilers in it so i refrained from looking.

as some of you may know i live in the U.K and the first volume of Elfen Lied is going to be released on the 20th of February. i've seen a trailer for it and am very compelled to watch untill my eyes bleed from satisfaction (no sexual refences please......unless you reallly want).

so, the question:

is Elfen Lied worth watching and what do people that have already seen it think (without spoilers obviously)?

p.s please don't delete this ; _ ;

- Ice Reaper

[Heidroch]

I totally reccommend it! What I'll do for you is take Digitalalex's original review post in the Elfen Lied thread and edit the spoilers out. After that is when the thread goes into discussions:

DAMN!!! I absolutely LOVED it! Now I know what the hoopla was all about. I love the way they told the story and tied everything back. It was so gripping. I couldn't get enough of it. The violence was definitely graphic but I think it worked well for this type of story so I didn't see any problem with it.

I really felt for all the characters. Each one definitely had a sad story. ...Each character definitely had a background that moved me.

It's funny to think that the core of this anime is a love story. That is, love from a romantic and familial perspective. I must say that I've been happy that there are anime out there like this. As with Eva and Gunslinger Girls, Elfen Lied made my all-time favorite lists.

Of course the anime did have it's flaws like (*an out of control character*) The series definitely had a little bit of comedy to temper the angst and drama though. It was used sparingly and it did add a nice little contrast to the constant dark atmosphere.

As for the music, that gets a 10. I love the melancholic piano pieces. I also love the way it added to the mood. I could feel the sadness throughout the episodes.

As for the ending it was very touching that (*yoink!*)

Oh...if someone ever asks for any recommended harem anime, I will have to put this on top of the list. :twisted:

[ice reaper]

thanks! i'm counting down the days to its release. sure my 16 birthday comes in 8 days, but who gives a toss when this bad boy hits the shelves 5 days later

oh...........heart attack.

[Mr. Tines]

There is some generally spoiler-safe talk about Elfen Lied in the recommendations thread

http://evageeks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1139

Think Scanners in a train-wreck with Chobits, in the Hinata Inn.

[The Eva Monkey]

I still think my review of the series hits the nail on the head, I recommend giving it a read if you're interested in the show.

http://evageeks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=34573#34573

I don't generally buy anime anymore, but I'm thinking of compromising and taking it up the ass from ADV by buying the DVDs.

[Ryo]

Elfen Lied? Awesome.

ADV? Not so awesome.

*watches anime.fin fansubs*

[The Eva Monkey]

ADV? Not so awesome.

I think from now on, I'll make my own DVDs of shows I like from fansubs, raws, sub files, whatever, including thinpak DVD cases, cover art... the works. Then I'll give a donation directly to the company that produced it equal to what I would have paid to ADV. That way, I get what I want, and the people who made it get direct cash flow.

[Timesplitter 01]

ADV? Not so awesome.

I think from now on, I'll make my own DVDs of shows I like from fansubs, raws, sub files, whatever, including thinpak DVD cases, cover art... the works. Then I'll give a donation directly to the company that produced it equal to what I would have paid to ADV. That way, I get what I want, and the people who made it get direct cash flow.

I am actually cutting back on buying dvd's.

I am reading a lot of reviews and cutting a lot of dvd's out so that I only get what I want and no bad anime series

[ice reaper]

like the review

i'm..........'aquiring' the series over the next few days before its official release.

is it really only 13 episodes long!?

[ThroneofDravaris]

Elfen Lied? Awesome.

ADV? Not so awesome.

*watches anime.fin fansubs*

Elfen Lied isn't exactly a deep, complex show, so in this case sub-title accuracy isn't really a priority one. I bought the DVD’s over downloading the fan sub simply because of the 5.1 audio…

Oh, and the collectors box.

[Mr. Tines]

is it really only 13 episodes long!?

There is an episode 10.5 (making a total of 14), that can also be acquired while you're waiting for the DVDs to become available. The extra episode is not part of the DVD set.

But you do get enough blood, violence and loli for more than 13 episodes.

[ice reaper]

nice.

in a couple of days i'll see what exactly Elfen-Lied-via-the-internet has to offer.

and i heard about the '14th' episode thing. another 'must get'.

[NAveryW]

After rewatching the Elfen Lied anime and reloving it, I decided to read the manga from around where the anime started to differ. I started reading scans of the manga at about chapter 50 or so, and have just finished chapter 75.

Anyway, this thing is weird and I'm not quite sure I understand what the author's intentions are. The anime's tone was clearly dark and brooding, using violence in ways intended to shock and disturb the viewer. However, this isn't so clear in the manga. The music set a lot of the tone for the show, which isn't present here. It's also more sexually explicit; despite the nudity, sexual content was minimal in the anime but in the manga rape is often taken further... Seriously, I can't imagine the anime having two characters place a bet in which, if the female loses, she'll be the male's pleasure slave, and if the man loses, he'll have to "chop [his] dick off".

Basically what I'm saying is, I can't tell if, in the manga, this explicit sexual and violent content is supposed to be unsettling and disturbing, or if the writer is a semi-sadist who likes writing guro-type stuff. You can tell certain things were definitely meant to be emotional, but, for example,

SPOILER: Show

when Arakawa is being molested by Kakuzawa and is ashamed at being aroused even though he's her enemy

, I couldn't tell if the author wanted me to feel like I should cry or masturbate. Or both simultaneously. I'm unable to tell what the intended reaction was, or what the intended audience was. I still just find it unsettling and disturbing.

Also, things are getting kind of... weird. For anyone who's read it, was Anna introduced earlier in the manga and just left out of the anime?

[V]

er....most people generally think this is one of those cases were the anime adaptation was all-around superior to the manga.

Oh, the first few chapters are pretty much the same as the series so they're good and the basic story ain't too bad, but the anime did a lot better of a job.

The only problem is that the anime was INTENDED to have 2 seasons, but when they realized halfway through there wasn't enough budget, they quickly rewrote episodes 11 to 13 to serve as a series finale.

So they only adapted like half of the manga....but the second half most people say really stinks.

Thus, a potential "Elfen Lied season 2" would really have its own divergent, new storyverse...which is for the best.

Reading the manga is really only good for a few extra details they explain that the anime cut for time; i.e. explaining exactly what a Silpelit is (they're "worker bees" that age 3X faster than humans) and that the source of Diclonius powers is their enlarged pituitary gland).

Otherwise....yeah, it was like the downhill move Eva made in the second half, but this time darker AND poorly written.....keep in mind the manga was written by essentially a hikkikomori shut-in.

[NAveryW]

Yeah, since I started with chapter 50, I wasn't sure if this "lower quality" of the manga was just the fact that the manga can't use music, colors, etc., which were a huge part of made the anime so great, or if the story just started to get worse from this point on. I'm guessing it's both.

hikkikomori shut-in.

Lol redundant.

EDIT: And I think that the anime had a really good conclusion, regardless of how quickly they had to come up with it. It did also seem like it was setting itself up for another season by revealing new information that started to ask more questions and stating that [SPOILER]diclonius will soon outnumber humans[/SPOILER], but the anime was so satisfying as it was that I'd prefer if another season isn't made.

[V]

normally endings hastily rewritten to conclude a series stink....

Elfen Lied's ending was a really rare occasion where...

well, 1 - it served as an actually good "ending": the story could have concluded there, while SIMULTANEOUSLY 2- you are left hungry for more. Not just "haha I like the violence" I mean there were major plot threads left hanging....but not blatantly hanging in an offensive manner. I mean Kakuzawa still runs the Diclonius research base, they haven't really addressed the problem of what to do about the Diclonii, but the characters we all met came to a good stopping point.

I'm still hoping for a "sequel" (or OVA remake) as opposed to just a new "season", obviously.

[NAveryW]

I doubt remaking the series would do anything but make an inferior copy. If there is ever a sequel, it had better be the most bestest sequel ever.

EDIT: Hey, remember that other series that's basically the defining example of a series with a hastily written ending? You know the one.

[V]

Yeah well the great thing about Elfen Lied is that it "shattered conventions" while presenting morally grey characters that the audience nonetheless sympathizes with.

I think it's great like Evangelion like that. I wouldn't pronounce it "the next Evangelion" due to their vastly different genres but it comes close (then again i think they are the same subgenres, "psychological".

That is, Evangelion shattered conventions about "Giant Robot" anime....of course, it became so popular in the process that it BECAME the NEW convention, but that's another story :) ...

still, the whole thing that Shinji really ISN'T a rags to riches hero, Asuka is not just the "bitchy girl" but ultimately sympathetic once you find out her REASONS for being that way, Eva-01 isn't INSTANTLY super-powerful but falls flat on its face the first time they try to move it, etc.

Similarly, Elfen Lied shatters the stereotypes of the "Harem" and "Magical Girlfriend" anime (like Tenchi) with utterly disturbing realism. Why would Mayu live in their "harem" house? Because she's a sexually abused runaway with no where to go who they picked up. THAT is why she was homeless.

Or like Lucy, she's actually deeply psychologically disturbed and not just "Nyu" all the time....but then they gradually reveal that even the "Evil Mr. Hyde" personality Lucy isn't really an inherently bad person but lots of bad things have happened to her resulting in her having a lot of psychological issues ("all that little tree needs is a little love, Charlie Brown" -- Linus)

So basically it turned the subgenre on its head and shattered cliches again.

I run into a lot of Evangelion fans who are also Elfen Lied fans ("Eva Lied"), so I think its a small story style that is turning into a subgenre in its own right: "Psychological".

[NAveryW]

The similarities with NGE don't stop there. They're both about people trying to artificially advance the evolution of humanity in an apocalyptic manner and becoming gods. And, at least in the anime, there's intentional Christian symbolism.

[Mr. Tines]

One could say as much about Serial Experiments Lain, and probably other titles that don't immediately spring to mind at the moment.

There's a lot of millennial memes floating around the last couple of decades, after all.