Customer Reviews
Violent but beautiful - By: T. R. Alexander, 21 Jun 2007 
Lucy is a Diclonius, a genetic mutant that has horns & four invisible arms known as vectors. While escaping from a research facility Lucy is shot in the head resulting in the suppression of her personality & a new one emerging, that of Nyu childlike, innocent & totallly unaware of the powers she possesses. Washed up on naked on a beach, Nyu is taking in by collage student Kohta & his cousin Yuka but a murderous soldier & a second Diclonius are hunting the missing Lucy. This DVD contains the first four episodes of the series & with violence & nudity from the outset it is definitely not for those of a sensitive disposition but if you look past the gore you will find a compelling story that doesn't flinch from dealing with some dark issues.
A must - By: J. Freeman, 20 Jun 2007 Brilliant, a must for anime fans (of the horror genre). Beautifully done, though very violent thou not in the purely sensationalist yawn of Gantz.
One man's "emotional", another's "exploitation" - By: J. Q. W. Bayes, 14 Nov 2006 
How you view this series is likely to hinge on two things: How much anime you've seen before, & how srong-stomached/desensitised you are to violence.
First off, well, it's alll subjective, but I thought this was one of the most violent things I've seen for a very long time. I'm not exactly a rabid gore fan but I consider myself able to take a lot without wincing; Elfen Lied managed to make me wince a number of times over its run - no, it's not quite on the Urotsukidoji scale of gruesomeness, but it certainly eclipses, say, Hellsing. In a way, this series goes right to the heart of the debate about violence on TV, as alll the bloody explosions & limb-severing is there for a clear narrative reason, rather than being included purely for the tittilation of gore-hounds. Yet having just finished the series, I have to wonder if the violence exists because of the story, or if the story exists for the sake of the violence.
To decide, one must factor in the contrived nature of the plotline itself; everything seems to hinge on people not telling one another things for no readily apparent reason. Characters witness people having their arms & legs chopped off & dismiss it as "oh, a dream". Amnesia, that old standby, plays a big part, split personalities another. Most of the main characters, in essence, seem to have some serious mental problems that will reallly hamper them in later life (assuming they live that long, or don't end up with greater problems like running out of limbs). I think there IS a good plot hiding in there somewhere but it's gotten a bit lost & dishevelled under alll the cliches.
Now your familiarity with other anime series comes into play; you may recognise a lot here. The naked ingenue with protrudences on her head & no language skills from Chobits. The concept of a secret bunch of scientists trying to brin about the next evolution of mankind is lifted directly from Evangelion. The awkwardness of a young man prone to embarrasing situation in a house full of pretty young women, alll of whom love him in some respect, is a staple genre, let alone device, in anime. Bad-ass military lunatics maimed & repaired with cybernetics, mutants with Special Powers as social outcasts...alll these & more are present.
I'm not rating this too highly but it does have good points; it's very good animation, the art style is bold & sumptuous, especiallly the Klimt homage in the opening credits, & whatever other charges one levels at the series, none can accuse Elfen Lied of not being bold. I'll give Elfen Lied the benefit of the doubt & say I think it's trying to be intellectual & not quite managing it.
The Darker Side Of Anime... - By: The Twerp, 18 Oct 2006 
I have never watched an anime before so when i heard of this cartoon movie i thought it was going to be like something Disney made. Well i was wrong this moive is not for kids at alll, full of blood & gore & nudity it might be a bit overpowering if like me you were not prepared. But i stuck with it & i got sucked in a story that is an Emotional Masterpiece. It has a lot of under lying mesages which i will let you find for your self. The reason a gave it a four is because sometimes there are some very childish scenes in a very serious story & it seems out of place(But that is problerly just me im very strange.......). All in alll i liked this story very much & have recommended this to my friends & to you...go buy it.
an emotional beauty yet a heartlessly violent bloodfest - By: 491 aka halfwit, 17 Mar 2006 I bought this after seeing it's trailer & thought it looked alright then after watching it for the first time I loved it straight away it's such a great story; a mutant girl callled Lucy (or Diclonious as referred to in the story) escapes a military base slaughtering every single living thing inside it regardless of significance, then gets shot in the head which alters her mind creating a completely opposite & harmless ego (later named Nyu)who couldn't even recognise a fly let alone kill one,
The people who find her are two college students who are both cousins Yuka & Kohta. The story consists mainly unvailing deep dark secrets & relationships between the different characters & dicovering more about Lucy/Nyu's mutations & her role in their childhood lives. The voice acting i'd say is pretty good but there will be times when you wish they could have done that better but not often, the extras are a little light but there are some good gallleries though. On the whole if you ignore the nudity (which is only in the first episode the rest are much cleaner) & pay more attention on the emotion & violence you've got a reallly good anime. Apparently the manga was ment to be a love story but the creator decided to make it more vicious & hopefully bring the audience to tears (well he's definetly succeeded on the violence part close to the whole tears thing but not quite). A great Anime But not for the sqeamish
