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Plot Synopsis

The Diclonius, a mutated homo sapien that is said to be selected by God and will eventually become the destruction of mankind, possesses two horns in their heads, and has a "sixth sense" which gives it telekinetic abilities. Due to this dangerous power, they have been captured and isolated in laboratories by the government. Lucy, a young and psychotic Diclonius, manages to break free of her confines and brutally murder most of the guards in the laboratory, only to get shot in the head as she makes her escape. She survives and manages to drift along to a beach, where two teenagers named Kouta and Yuka discovers her. Having lost her memories, she was named after the only thing that she can now say, "Nyuu," and the two allow her to stay at Kouta's home. However, it appears that the evil "Lucy" is not dead just yet...

Story & Characters

Ah, at first it seems kind of cliche at the beginning, as well as elements of cliche 'revenge' & 'family killing', but there is a deep side to these cliche's that develops with the story & draws you into it, so its fair to say that these cliche's are actually well implemented for the most part. The story develops a very insidious plot, full of murderous killing & deception, but also laced with sugary love, the contrast works really well to set you into the story, it'll make you cry, it'll make you laugh, great stuff. It's a bit annoying that the romance didn't develop any further than it did though/or last long enough, but ah what do you expect from a short series.

Throughout the story you discover new characters, each developing some interesting story behind them, sadly in the case of a short series, you can't get a story large enough behind every character or importance, but they got the important stuff down for the main ones. Overall it's quite a good storyline, & it'd be even greater if it could've been expanded on in a slightly larger series, but all of this aside it's done a great job for the length that the series was. Now, i don't want to spoil too much, so go & watch the anime & learn about the characters & such yourself.

Rating

8 (good)

Art

The art in Elfen Lied makes it stand out amongst the crowd with its beautifully crafted visuals in just about all aspects; great background art, excellent effects (explosions, gore, etc. - these definitely stand out, this anime is packed with explosions/gore which makes them being done well even more important, which it is) & some great animation, there is even great still art noticeable on the intro & outro which is quite nice. The only thing that got on my nerve was that sometimes the mouth animations of sideways speaking characters was kind of odd, the mouth parts moved, but the lips didn't that was slightly budget in my opinion, luckily this is not a frequently noticeable thing, although it does lower my rating of its art down to 9.

Rating

9 (very good)

Sound

If I'm reviewing the English dub I\'d give it a 4 or 5 (maybe less...), if I'm reviewing the Japanese dub I'd give it a 7 or 8. So ill give this a 6, just to make it even. The English dub is out of time & crippled with slightly cheesy voices (in my opinion), the sound effects where alright but on the slight side of 'budget', i did however love the OST (universal for both dubs) which added an excellent theatrical & dramatic sense to the anime, luckily the English dub left this unchanged. The Japanese dub is much better, the voices have a lot more character to them (again, in my opinion) & the sound effects also fit nicely, & unlike the English dub, the Japanese dub is actually in proper sequence/timing with the animations.

Rating

6 (average)

Presentation

This anime was very enjoyable actually, despite any of its weaknesses; all the blood pumping action & gore really got you soaked into the atmosphere & mood of the anime, while also containing some flirtatious scenes which where a nice addition (although it doesn\'t develop any further ), the overall anime just really got you into the mood\'s it wanted to get you into which was really great, whether it was a very sad/depressing theme, flirting scene or incredibly cute scene, it got you into that atmosphere. It\'s hard choosing between 9/10, because nothing is ever perfect, so i never really give a 10, but it\'s so close, & to make up for the weaknesses in the anime i think it\'s fair to give this a 10 here, because it really is a great anime.

Rating

10 (excellent)

Final Verdict

8.50 (very good)

Reviewed by j4m3sb0nd, 1y 39wk ago