Elfen Lied

Elfen Lied is a cross genre anime presenting the story of a race of mutants called Diclonius and their troubled relationship with humans.

The first character we meet is Lucy, a mutant powerhouse who is held in captivity. The very first scenes in the series are of Lucy's brutal escape from a detention facility.

Most of the story from this point is driven by the facility's attempts to recover Lucy using any means necessary led by Kurama, the chief of the facility.

Lucy meanwhile due to trauma has lost her memory, and adopts an adorable but childlike persona that comes to be called Nyu, since that's the only thing she says. The transformation is complete, since while she is Nyu she does not register as a Diclonius at all.

She ends up in the care of seemlingly normal Kohta and his cousin Yuka who believe her to an innocent girl somehow caught up in some kind of trouble, even lying to protect her from the police.

Lied tries to be several things at once, and the combination breaks down what could otherwise have been a strong compelling character driven story. It includes elements of the harem, cat-girl, action, drama and high school romance anime genres, and loses focus with its shifting between them. There is excessive and gratuitous fan-service, which while amusing or not notable in something like Tenchi, is a distraction in Lied's attempt to be a serious show.

Overall the plot is decent, the characters interesting, the premise involving, but the show breaks down because of its lack of focus.

Lucy/Nyu is an interesting split personality character that drives the action in the story. Initially presented as the heartless and brutal murderer Lucy, we are then juxtaposed with sweet, childlike Nyu. As more of her history is revealed, we get a better understanding for both aspects of her personality and the reasons they act like they do.

Kohta is a university student sent to house sit his cousin's family's japanese style restaurant in exchange from maintaining it. He seems normal and an innocent bystander in the plot, but as the story unravels, his history becomes more and more relevant.

Yuka is Kohta's cousin, and had not seen Kohta in several years when he returned to take care of the family restaurant. She stays with him there, and had a childhood crush on him which graduated into love interest.

Other super powered and human characters make their impact on the story as it progresses.

Lied is well realised visually, using a combination of 2D and 3D effects to create excellent effects and action sequences. It is EXTREMELY bloody, to the point of wanting to remind its creators that a) humans only hold so much blood and b) they are not pressurized like aerosol cans and do not explode when punctured.

The frequent gratuitous nudity was distracting and unnecessary. At points it was as bad as "Agh, I've been hit, and all my clothes have magically been shredded!"

The subbed version has consistently good voice acting, a notable feat considering the extreme emotion several characters go through. The show has a heavy emphasis on the characters and their experiences and the voice acting manages to draw you into these events convincingly.