Elfen Lied

Genre: Action/Drama
Age Appropriate: Older teens+/Adults
Emotional Response: Wow, look at all that blood.
Notable Features: Blood, psychic killer, clueless teens
Language: English
Length: 1 season, 12 epoisodes
Overall Recommendation: WTF

"Nyu?" - Nyu/Lucy

Elfen Lied opens with a mysterious woman in a serial killer/Silence of the Lambs situation. She's naked with a creepy helmet, somehow supposedly protection for others. When guards enter, as she telepathically begins bending the bars on her prison, she begins telepathically ripping them apart. Blood everywhere, bones visibile, head popping off and hearst exploding out of chests is pretty common as she makes her escape out whatever facility she's been held in. Guards attempt to stop her, and fail miserable (hence the telepathic dismemberment) and she gets out of the prison with a little mysterious help with last door. At some point she removes her helmet and we see a young woman with pink hair, and pink, discerning eyes. As she leaves she's shot in the head by a sniper, but apparently misses the vital shot, and she jumps into the sea.

Next, we see Kohta and Yuka - young college Freshman - meeting up at a station and walking together to what will be Kohta's house, a former traditional Japanese restaurant owned by Yuka's family. This ends up being the home-base of sorts for the easier storylines. When Yuka and Kohta visit the beach they happen upon a mysterious girl, who says nothing but "Nyu," and bright eyes, and pink hair. The take pity on her situation and bring her home. At this point, we realize she's the deadly girl from the beginning and drama ensues, and it seems that she's lost her memory.

There is a mad scientist or two, a mercenary/military bad guy, a young homeless girl, another young girl like "Nyu" (a "diclonius") and an adorable dog!  Between certain characters' bizarre memory loss, a strange romantic obsession between the mains and breaking through brainwashing with the girls, this series has a lot of complicated situations, if not a complicated storyline.
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First off, let me say that while there are some nude girl scenes, they are in general not in any sexual nature - usually during a bad situation or a comedic situation. My primary focus on the Older Teen/Adult rating was the high level of outrageously bloody, disturbing violence and dismemberment in scenes where Nyu becomes her other self. I, personally, prefer implied beheadings than looking at a head psychically popped off and floating around with bright red blood pouring out of the bottom. Maybe that's just me?

At some points I felt that the story was going kind of slow, and with the two storylines taking so long to converge, it seems somewhat disjointed. While I certainly see the appeal to some audiences, this series was not for me. Unlike HOTD, this didn't pull me in at the end, making me see the anime series light, as it were. The ridiculous grotesque bodies really give it the WTF rating, but it is a whole different type of messed up from Rin. I personally wouldn't recommend it to mini-geek girls like me, and definitely don't recommend it for anytime after the sun goes down. In the end, the best part of the series (and it is a seriously awesome part) is the opening theme "Lilium."
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Next time on....: Ouran High School Host Club