(L) Elfen Lied

[Forbin]

Well I liked Rahxephon the Movie more than the series.
Saikano was a bit drawn out.
Lain was too creepy for me.

Elfen lied was a good balance of Horror / Harem / Comedy / Drama.

That's why it's good.

BTW By the End of Evangelion I wanted to STRANGLE Shiki. He was just such a wuss.

[USCPharmacist]

NO NO NO!
SHIKI is the pimp that scored with the ultimate Shinso, immortal "nun", his thiefling sister, and the sex healer maids. Not to mention Satsuki the "Drying" apostle, and Sion the "hat"

Shiki is THE PIMP!!!!!! HE CAN ERASE YOUR EXISTENT WITH HIS FINGER!!!

Shinji on the other hand, only scored with his left hand!!!

[dreamless]

Originally Posted by USCPharmacist

NO NO NO!
SHIKI is the pimp that scored with the ultimate Shinso, immortal "nun", his thiefling sister, and the sex healer maids. Not to mention Satsuki the "Drying" apostle, and Sion the "hat"

Shiki is THE PIMP!!!!!! HE CAN ERASE YOUR EXISTENT WITH HIS FINGER!!!

Shinji on the other hand, only scored with his left hand!!!

LOL so true so true. Shiki is on my top "to hate" list, Shinji is far behind

the anime Kouta is chasing right behind (and may have surpassed) Shinji now... the manga Kouta so far still unclear, but he may be on my "to like" list...

[IntrepidAKP]

Alternate universe Shinji was cool as shit.

[Thelastguardian]

Originally Posted by USCPharmacist

NO NO NO!
SHIKI is the pimp that scored with the ultimate Shinso, immortal "nun", his thiefling sister, and the sex healer maids. Not to mention Satsuki the "Drying" apostle, and Sion the "hat"

Shiki is THE PIMP!!!!!! HE CAN ERASE YOUR EXISTENT WITH HIS FINGER!!!

Shinji on the other hand, only scored with his left hand!!!

What had you been smoking, buddy. And why aren't you sharing then



I finally have time to finish the last two eps., and I must say I am happy for the ending (even though from a literary PoV this kind of ending is the worst kind...) .

Anyhow when I watched the series I remembered a few references I read long time ago

1. The last line of the op "Oh Lily of Purity". Lily is a "semi-fictional" person. She appeared in the bible once. For more information goes to this link

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mlilith.html

However if you are too lazy to read the whole thing, I can summerize the report for you.

Basiclly Lily (or Lilith), according to a (actually three) legend, is the first woman ever existed. She was created using the same material as Adams (you do know who he is, right?) and act as a companion to Adams. However, as she is created from the same material (dust) as Adams, she refuses to be lower class to Adams and becomes rebelious towards him. She left the garden with God's angels in pursuit. She then swore to never never to fall in love with a man. She turns into a demon, and starts to appear in man's dream to cause wet dream (and collect the seman as they are supposingly symbolize life " seman = white = life while blood = red = death"). God then creates another woman for the fussy Adams. However, God used one of Adams' rib bone to create Eve, so that she can't claim she is Adams' equal. :|


As Lily, being the first woman, yet never been touched by man before. She is supposingly the only "pure woman".

2. As for the name, like someone had said, it was a metaphor to a old German folk song.





Also here is my highly speculative hypothesis.

The vectors comes from the "smaller brain". Yet they need the horns to function. Thats why when the horn was broken the first time, Nyuu becomes unconscious. It would also explains why later when she was surrounded by SATs, she only used two vectors. She lost the other two when one of her horn broke.
Also the horn may behaves as some sort of fail-safe device. Nyuu should had died from Mariko's attack. But one of her horn broke off when she was almost dead. The first horn gave her back her life. The same thing happened when she was surronded by SAT. Her second horn broke, and she gets her last freebie.

[Forbin]

Doh I mean Shinji.

I was watching Tsukihime while typing this, and replace Shinji with Shiki. I liked Shiki in Tsukihime....damn.

And yeah Shinji couldn't score even if Asuka got naked and said 'Take me now!' Hehe.

That's what makes Elfen Lied so good. Good Script, VA,s and of course Hot Naked Psychic Girls.

[TerryMathews]

Just finished watching the anime - here's my thoughts on the ending...

Spoiler:

I may be crazy, but it seemed to me like the Kakazaua (head guy with horns) wanted the Dicloniuses (Diclonii?) to become homicidal maniacs, so that they could kill off the 'old' humanity.

The way I interpreted it, from the pieces that are given during the show, they are just normal girls - there's nothing inherently evil about them. Lucy goes into that homicidal rage after the dog is beaten to death, but I think most children at that age would kill if they were capable of it. Their sense of cause and effect isn't fully developed yet - it's the reason we don't let 8yr olds play with real pistols.

I think what really spoke to me the most about this was at the end of ep 12 when Kota was talking to Nana on the bridge and the civilian in operational control of the special forces is like "WTF? She's not killing him". It goes against everything she knows, Kota has no leverage against Nana like implanted bombs so she should be killing Kota but instead they're talking normally.

I know if I were locked in a cage and tortured for 5+ years, I'd have a not so sunny disposition too.

[Guido]

Regarding all issues discussed and criticized on Elfen Lied, three days ago I sought the opinion of experienced anime gurus. During my search, the name John Oppliger came to my mind.

He's the only anime guru that I'm awared and known of and in charge of the "Ask John Archives" section for Animenation.

The following is an objective evaluation regarding the contents of the show.

This was the question who he replied me back:
What are Johns' thoughts about Elfen Lied, and if it was a good bet for ADV to license this title?

Spoiler:

Originally Posted by Ask John

"It's not without regret that I call the Elfin Lied anime television series
good, or even very good, but not outstanding. It's necessary that stress
that my evaluation of the show is only my own, and my reactions to it unique
to me. But Elfin Lied doesn't seem to have been a breakthrough success in
Japan either, judging from the lack of coverage it received by the major
Japanese anime magazines, which are probably a good representation of the
tastes of the average Japanese fan. Although it may seem difficult to do,
it's vital to critique Elfin Lied on an objective scale in order to come to
a fair conclusion. This is a show that encourages immediate, visceral
reactions, so I have to make a conscious effort to disregard those responses
in order to objectively examine the series.

With the exception of the merely adequate animation quality of episode 10,
the show does an admirable job of upholding a consistently attractive
animation quality and art design throughout its 13 episodes. Far too easy
to overlook, Elfin Lied's background art is especially impressive for a late
night series with a limited audience. The music, especially the evocative
opening song and its theme, used throughout the series, are effective and
haunting, and frequently used very effectively to heighten the emotional
tension of particular scenes. And therein lies the show's biggest problem.

Unlike anime series such as Fushigi Yuugi and Berserk and SaiKano, which
have amazingly powerful character development and pack a devastating
emotional punch as the culmination of cultivated character growth and
development, Elfin Lied never seems as though it's prepared to begin
allowing immersive characterization until its final episode. The major
characters all internalize their conflicts, and the story intentionally
withholds exposition in order to create mystery. Both tactics are effective
in creating a feeling of suspense and uncertainty, but at the same time both
tactics prevent viewers from really empathizing with the characters. We see
their struggles, but we never feel them ourselves. The show keeps its
viewers at an arms' distance away for no good reason. If the goal of the
show had been to illustrate an existential atmosphere of loneliness and
separation, its tone would have succeeded. But it's admirable isolated
focus on a single family within a much larger context is contrary to the use
of an objective, aloof atmosphere. The distant feel of the show would also
have been appropriate and effective if it had been used to illustrate the
isolation felt by the Diclonius, but once again, since we're never put into
the minds of Lucy or Nana, this strategy doesn't work either. Lucy and Nana
tell us what they feel, but we never get to feel it for ourselves. We see
emotion and character personalities through action and dialogue, but we
never feel them or empathize with them as anything more than a distant,
passive observer. It isn't until the final episode that characters finally,
honestly express their emotions without restraint, but by that time it's too
little too late to draw viewers into the show beyond a superficial level.
And even during the show's most intensely emotional scenes, the music cues
and editing are a bit too obviously manipulative in their effort to create a
sense of emotional depth that isn't really there and hasn't been earned by
the preceding episodes' character development. In simple terms, the show
looks great, and frequently gets a shocked response out of the viewer, but
our involvement in the show is passive and external, visual and
intellectual, never immersive and emotionally overwhelming.

I've gotten a strong impression that there's a fear within the American fan
community that the show is too intense and too graphically violent to see
American release unedited. I think these fears are totally without cause.
The Elfin Lied anime is unabashedly gory, bordering on gratuitously violent.
The show is also refreshingly unashamed to depict nudity in a very
naturalistic, and therefore off-putting way. Since we've become so
accustomed to contemporary anime, I think it's unexpected to see a current
anime depict nudity so matter-of-factly, without the sly wink and nudge
we're used to from contemporary anime. But this very naturalism, free of the
slightest hint of erotica, is why the nudity in the show shouldn't cause any
significant controversy. And as for the violence, America is already home to
uncut DVD releases of anime titles like Kakugo no Susume and Ima Soku ni Iru
Boku which have far more crudely revolting violence and more brutally
physical and psychological violence respectively than does Elfin Lied.

As a representative of a competing licensing company, I have to say with a
bit of jealousy that AD Vision is a virtually ideal American distributor for
the series. In fact, the show seems like it was virtually designed with AD
Vision in mind considering that it's a lush and beautifully violent show
about killer women, intended for mature viewers. That definition also
applies to the initial titles that AD Vision built their reputation on:
Mamono Hunter Yohko, Gunnm, and Sol Bianca. I don't see any reason to
inflict edits on the show for American release, and I don't think that the
show itself demands any concessions. While I think that virtually any
domestic distributor would be grateful to have such a strong title in its
catalog, even inclusive of Elfin Lied's flaws, speaking now as an anime fan
with the best interests of the show in mind, I think that AD Vision is an
ideal distributor for the show because the backing of AD Vision's name and
influence will undoubtedly enhance the anticipation and word of mouth over
the domestic release of the show, and ensure that it's seen and appreciated
by the widest possible domestic audience."

Source: Ask John Archives

[Forbin]

Sounds like John read the Manga and was disappointed that the Anime didn't follow it exactly.

[Thelastguardian]

However he is pretty much right on the money. EL is very good for every department except character sketch.

Instead of understanding and comparing the characters' internal reaction when encounter an obstacle, we see how the characters react physically to a situation.

Yes this is inevitable when you only have 13 eps, but still; for a highly polish story, you just can't mess up like that. EL doesn't gives the viewer a sense of realisticity.
We can't compare our reaction to EL's characters' reaction. If we can't do that, there is no way we would believe the story is real (as real as it could allow).

Shame. The story has potential.

[AnimeFangirl]

John's article would have been plausible if only he'd taken out the "Fushigi Yuugi" bit. Character development in FY? What planet is he living on? Result: credibility of article shot to pieces. In fact, Saikano doesn't have that much character development either. I do have to give a tip of the hat to Berserk though (the manga anyway) for an excellent job on Guts and Griffith.

EDIT: No, Mr. Neutral-Rep-dude, it doesn't have much character development, except a little in the last episode. The only character I could really feel for was Mayu, and even that on a rather distant level. Even in those few cases where you would call it development, it was strange, bizarre and made no sense at all. E.g. ep 13

Spoiler:

Kouta discovers that Lucy killed his sister and dad and messed up his mind. What does he do? He KISSES her. "Oh no, I can't forgive you *smooooch*" WTF?? And when it's all said and done, he never mentions Kanae or his dad again.

Stuff like that dragged Elfen Lied down. Character development? PAH!

[Colonel-]

Kouta is no where near that forgiving in the manga... He possesses a glare of death of his own

[dreamless]

Originally Posted by Forbin

Sounds like John read the Manga and was disappointed that the Anime didn't follow it exactly.

nah, I'm not John. I'm the who one has read the manga and is hugely disappointed that the Anime didn't follow it exactly I'd say this John person doesn't sound like he has read the manga, else he should be disappointed with the plot development instead of just the character development. This John sounds too positive in his thoughts about the anime, even in the character development part, to have read the manga

[philupthetank86]

ok,

after reading in this topic for a while. i've found out that the hard core fans of this series state that they enjoyed the manga better.

so im downloading the manga right now, the japanese version.

and i shall translate it as my little project.

if i ever see it at a convention i shall buy it.

[100demons]

You people have worked me into a frenzy. i have to see this now.

[AnimeFangirl]

Ummm... the thought is appreciated, but it's already being scanslated by two different groups. Maybe you could do something else by the same author? I tried to get into the manga right after finishing the anime, but the spark just wasn't there. I'll just let a little time pass, let a few more volumes come out and then maybe it will be fresh again.

Originally Posted by philupthetank86

ok,

after reading in this topic for a while. i've found out that the hard core fans of this series state that they enjoyed the manga better.

so im downloading the manga right now, the japanese version.

and i shall translate it as my little project.

if i ever see it at a convention i shall buy it.

[MiT]

Can anyone tell me where to get the translated manga scans? I managed to get Vol 1 to 7 off Anime.fin, but was wondering if anyone got further.

[Guido]

In response to MiT, just click on the following link below:

http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost...6&postcount=24

[IntrepidAKP]

Originally Posted by dreamless

nah, I'm not John. I'm the who one has read the manga and is hugely disappointed that the Anime didn't follow it exactly I'd say this John person doesn't sound like he has read the manga, else he should be disappointed with the plot development instead of just the character development. This John sounds too positive in his thoughts about the anime, even in the character development part, to have read the manga

Didn't you read the manga after you watched the anime?

Anyways, I didn't find the ending all that unusual. I mean, I'd like to think I could forgive someone I loved of anything. It was touching. Don't think about it too much.

[dreamless]

Originally Posted by IntrepidAKP

Didn't you read the manga after you watched the anime?

Anyways, I didn't find the ending all that unusual. I mean, I'd like to think I could forgive someone I loved of anything. It was touching. Don't think about it too much.

I started to read the manga after watching the first couple episodes of the anime.

I actually kinda agree with that John guy, but the problem here is that it seems I actually think of the manga the same way as he think of the anime I think the manga is quite great, however I find it's still a bit lacking in that it's hard to really relate or feel for any of the characters, just as what that John guy thinks about the anime.

For the anime, well, IMO it doesn't fix anything in the manga, but breaks some more. Still not a bad anime I'd say, but I'd just love it a lot more if it can follow the manga plot development