Elfen Lied takes no strides in its attempt to tone down violence.  In fact, Elfen Lied is one of the most violent shows I have ever seen.  However, what sets this series out from many other shows is that the violence and nudity never truly feels excessively over-the-top or irrelevant.

It takes a certain skill to allow so much violence to touch every age level for both male and female and still be watchable.  That certain skill was put to good use in Elfen Lied, and it accomplishes violence with gusto.  Not everyday does a show come out where a murderous girl can be so horrifying one second and admiring an elephant’s size the next.

Elfen Lied tells the story about a girl – named both Lucy and Nyuu – well; the story is actually somewhat irrelevant to its greatness.  Facts be known, she is a creature called a Diclonius, a sort of mutated human.  Not only has she lost her memory, but also she has yet unexplained powers and horns growing atop her head.  Her abnormality is exemplified best as the Lucy slices and dices her way through a dozen guards; brutally killing each one with her special ability dubbed “vectors.”

But, the show’s greatness comes not from exactly its plot line or its characters.  Nor its episodes or its telling, but Elfen Lied is great because it never divulges too much and respects the audience’s intelligence.  Lucy escapes from her straightjacket and cell by using her power.  She can brutally murder people with her power, but instead of having a guard explain exactly where her powers come from or how they work, the series has Lucy walk slowly naked down the facilities corridors while still wearing a metal mask.  She most likely cannot see out of this mask, but she does not need to.  Her powers can do the seeing and it’s up to the audience to notice that.  In addition, we know these powers come from her body.  She has nowhere else to hide a weapon, being stark naked in an empty corridor.  The series allows the audience to deduce this.  Additionally, the audience should be tipping its hat to the series for accomplishing a hard task.  Her walking around naked, brutally killing, is certainly fan service, but it does not seem like fan service and it serves a purpose to the show.

I believe Elfen Lied is great not because of its direction or cinematography.  In fact, I believe the show could have been better if done by another studio.  The series does run competently enough and is in no regards terribly done.  Elfen Lied’s greatness comes from the questions it asks.  The Diclonius are never fully explained.  Each character gives a sort of example as to what the Diclouius are, but you cannot take their opinion completely.  Other questions also arise.  Questions like: Why does the facility only seem to have females?  Why did Diclonius #3 want to thank one of the directors?  What are the horns atop their head exactly for?  These questions the audience will need to fill in for themselves.  The series uses this information and later plot points to provoke the audience into thinking.  A task rarely accomplished by other shows.

In fact, when watching Elfen Lied, I was reminded of Neon Genesis Evangelion and why I love anime so much.  Elfen Lied’s greatness comes from the way characters and plot points setup its statements on humanity, disease, bullying, the disabled, and motivation behind murderous acts.  I could tell you what I believe the series says about them, but that would only come from my own opinions and experiences.  I just offer some starter questions.

The Diclonius are referred to as sick and infected.  Humanity brutally destroys sickness.  So is this a parallel to the Diclonius’s testing?  Several Diclonius are disabled, fighting with prosthetic limbs.  Is this a parallel to how we treat the disabled?  The Diclonius are to destroy humanity, but they rely on humanity to propagate their species.  However, they are chosen by God, so what right do we have to judge them?  Is Lucy truly responsible for her actions, or is the bully that drove her to murder responsible?

Elfen Lied touches that same realm that made Evangelion so great.  Elfen Lied characters act on logical psychology.  Their actions, although horrendous, never seem illogical.  The characters come across as incredibly believable as to why they act the way they act and why they do the things they do.  We sympathize with the characters, even though they kill children in cold-blood.  That sympathy is rarely earned, and Elfen Lied earns it.  I knew each character had a scarred past, and I wanted to know the details.

And these characters push the plot line, although in the end somewhat uninspired, into a plot that has veteran anime viewers guessing as to what happens next, how the characters will be after the climax, and who will actually die.  I cared about the characters by the end and I cared about what happened to them.  I also was afraid as to who was going to die.  When a series can kill off a kind, but quirky secretary within the first ten minutes, I have serious concern for all character, major or otherwise for the rest of the show.  I was pulled head first into this series, and the series transcended its exploitation feel to a series that had statements.

And like all great anime, the series does not wrap up everything into a tight, neat finale.  No anime, movie, or even book should.  Complete closure allows the story to fall too easily out of mind and memory.  Elfen Lied fails to wrap up everything, thus the series stays in your mind as you try to wrap it up yourself.  The show keeps asking its questions even after the last DVD comes out of the player.  The show, at its very core, has a void that must be filled by the audience, but this very core is never fully visible and the void never fully filled.  This show did what so many post-Evangelion shows trying to be deep could not.  It wanted to be deep, but did not force it onto the audience.  The show respected the audience and accomplished its goal.

Although flawed (with plot points seemingly too convenient) and with a weaker first half than many great shows, Elfen Lied is still a great series.  It surely is the best super-violent show out there.  Its characters are believable, complex, and intriguing.  Its plot line is transcended by the show’s other qualities into a story that is deep, compelling, and genuinely powerful.  The series allowed naked girls to brutally kill, but never seem irrelevant or stupid, and never once had me considering it fan service.  And most importantly, the series had something to say, and will have audiences considering its questions after its run.