Elfen Lied - Review

"Aren't we all monsters inside? - Lucy"

Synopsis:

A humanoid test subject known as a Diclonius escapes from a lab somewhere, protected by some sort of supernatural powers. She literally paves her way through a sea of blood of her own making and falls into a sea after a failed attempt of stopping her permanently with a sniper.

Lucy is a special breed of human referred to as "Diclonius," born with a short pair of horns and invisible telekinetic hands that lands her as a victim of inhumane scientific experimentation by the government. 

However, once circumstances present her an opportunity to escape, 

Lucy, corrupted by the confinement and torture, unleashes a torrent of bloodshed as she escapes her captors.

History:

Elfen Lied is based on Lynn Okamoto's seinen manga series of the same name and premiered while the manga was still in publication. The anime follows the source material through the first 7 volumes, with several alterations to the story, and concludes with an exclusive ending. 

In an interview, director Mamoru Kanbe expressed his disappointment in having to 'condense' to story into 13 episodes and felt that more were needed to include significant plot details that would have made the series more emotive.

Review:

The story itself was okay, but not really anything special. For the most part it was somewhat compromised to favor action scenes. The only part of the story that really interested me was Lucy's past which did not disappoint, other than that the story wasn't that great. 

Before I started watching Elfen Lied I was informed by many that the series was amazing and groundbreaking because of all the blood and gore. 

Well they got the blood part right, but gore was not evident. Let me clarify, gore is not getting decapitated or losing limbs, gore is being cut in half and having your innards strewn across a lengthy flight of stairs exposing your ribs and spinal cord for all to see.

To sum up, it was average. Nothing to really hate about it, just didn't live up to the hype. The idea was great, the follow through was terrible.

Overall:

It's over-hyped, over-rated and most definitely NOT a classic. 

While it wasn't exactly bad, it wasn't the amazing show that people had me believing it was.

Rating:  3 / 10

Sorry folks, only three for this Anime!