Elfen Lied Review

30Jul08

Elfen Lied has become known as one of the most goriest horror animes to be published to this date. Many audiences turn away as body parts are severed and anatomy is revealed. Yes, this anime should only be viewed by mature audiences; however, there is more to Elfen Lied than just blood & gore.

Some say Elfen Lied is “a disgrace and should not be considered as anime.” However, these people are ignorant fools who can not see a universal theme when it stands before them.

Elfen Lied demonstrates how society today treats citizens whom are different. Citizens in todays society tend to seperate themselves of whom have a disability, different social status, different econic income, different hair color, different skin color, and different eye color. This is a sad truth as even though it has been stated that all people are created equal, society yet still refuses to recognize this.

This theme is demonstrated in Elfen Lied as both the human race and the diclonious* act against one another. The diclonious continue to harm the human race as the human race continues to harm the diclonious. This is because to humans, the dicloncious are different(see *), and are considered violent trash. To the diclonious, humans are worthless and are too considered worthless trash.  This can be compared to who humans view other humans by outward appearences such as hair, skin, and eye color.

Some say that this theme is true; however, Elfen Lied takes it to an extreme by severing human body parts. I must disagree to this and point out that it is yet another sad truth that violence is among us. Everyday, people get shot. Everyday, people loose limbs. As a matter of fact, an episode of America’s Most Wanted once aired a show on three torso that were randomly found. This is to say that three human bodies were found, all distatched from their limbs & heads. Therefore, acts of violence occur everyday, along with the other thems demonstrated in Elfen Lied such as rape, child abuse & animal abuse.

Then viewers of Elfen Lied may ask, “then what is the deal with that women exploding when *Nyu denies her mother?” This, I must admit, is a bit drastic; yet too develops another theme. This demomonstrates that everyone is going to die eventually and life is but a ticking time bomb. There was a bomb inside the women(representing her time living) and it just so happend that Nyu’s statement “My mother? … Isn’t you” killed the women and so her time was up and the time bomb inside her exploded. Drastic & Dramatic? Yes. Represents an great theme? Yes.

Due to the points and facts I have provided, Elfen Lied is way more than a bunch of violence & gore. Elfen Lied provides many universal themes and demonstrates the way humans think of one another.

Thank You for Listening. -Cassie <3

*Diclonious = “super humans/monsters?” that are kept up in cages in a labratory and a most often fed through tubes. The difference between diclonious is they have small horns on thier heads and posses telepathic powers. The main character, Lucy/Nyu is of the diclonious race.
*Nyu/Lucy = the main character. She is about the age of 18 and is shot in the head as she makes an escape to get away from the labratory. She has a split personality in which are very different. Lucy is kind, and sweet hearted and violent, Nyu is ignorant, and childish. Lucy is seen with redish/orange hair/pink, Nyu is seen as purpleish/ viloet/auburn hair.  (The hair color depends on which version you are viewing) She holds a past with another character, Kouta’s, family.

 

Some pictures taken from Elfen Lied:

Lucy holding a gun

Lucy tied up & bleeding

Severed body parts

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Tags: anime, blood, Elfen Lied, Elfin Lied, gore, horror, manga