ELFEN LIED: JUST HOW DID THE YOUNG GIRL ARRIVE AT THOSE FEELINGS?

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ANIME ActionElfen Lied

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  TheRealKyuubey

  60/100
  Did you know Elfen Lied has a bonus episode? It's actually a pretty good episode.

  So, Elfen Lied is an anime that needs no introduction… Or does it? I’m getting old, I genuinely don’t know anymore. Back in my day, it was one of the most infamous and well known anime in existence… Everyone knew about it, everyone had seen it, and everyone had a different hot take over whether it was the coolest thing ever or the cringiest edgelord thing ever(even though the words cringe and edgelord weren’t in style at the time). Nowadays, I’ve heard people actually calling it an underground hidden gem.

  It was one of the first anime I ever reviewed, it was part of the horror themed October reviews for my very first year writing these things, and my opinion honestly hasn’t change much from there, except maybe I’m a little more positive on it? The best word I can think of to describe Elfen Lied is inconsistent. It’s on both ends of the spectrum in almost every possible respect. The animation can be beautiful, but it can also be stiff and stilted. The direction can be ominous and unsettling, but it can also be really lazy. Some of the voice acting is top tier, some of it is barely competent.

  The content is mature, but the presentation of said content is embarrassingly immature. Characters who seem really cool and important at first get sidelined and forgotten, just like several plot points. The only thing that stays consistently good throughout is the audio, with a general sound design that is immersive and can bury itself deep within your skin, and a soundtrack that’s so good it transcends the material completely.

  Elfen Lied is the definition of a mixed bag. I believe in my previous review, I said it was too good to be a bad show, but it was also too bad to be a good show, and I do hold to that to some extent, but I also think it’s way more important than I used to think. This show does everything an M rating could imply. Gore, hardcore violence, constant nudity, and, you know, a few other things I don’t want to mention. As viscerally tasteless as this show can be, it’s kind of the perfect anime to show anybody who thinks anime is exclusively for kids. It’s also a great place for noob otaku to start if they’re tired of safe anime and want to see something more explicit.

  One big flaw with the series was its ending, which… While not impossible to understand, is still frustratingly obtuse and unsatisfying, especially once you learn how much content from the manga didn’t get featured. So, when I tell you that the series has its own extra OVA episode, your first instinct might be to cheer, because yay, they gave the series a proper ending! Nope, that’s not what this is.

  You know how when Disney was releasing those straight-to-DVD movies, they did both prequels and sequels, as well as a few mid-quels that took place in the middle of a familiar story? Like how the Fox and the Hound took a break from facing the realities of race relations to join a band with Reba McInterrier? The stories that nobody asked for and nobody needed? Yeah, this episode is kind of like that.

  To its credit, this episode stars Nana, who is the most likeable character in the cast, and the only likeable Diclonius. She’s also probably the most well-performed character in the dub, with Sasha Paysinger putting on a career-best performance, and she does return here. Two of the characters were apparently recast though, although I don’t kno why. Jason Douglas was replaced with David Wald, who I do personally like better as an actor, but unfortunately for him, Douglas did fit the role better. Adam Conlon has also been replaced by Blake Shepherd, who is better, but he barely gets any lines to prove it.

  This is because, thankfully, Kouta and Yuka do not play big roles here. I’ve never liked them, and not just because they’re cousin fuckers. I hate Yuka because she’s defined entirely by simping for her childhood crush, and I hate that trope. I hate Kouta because, well, there’s not enough room in this paragraph, he just sucks. But again, this story stars Nana, which, good. And Nyuu, but whatever, I’ll take it.

  The story is about her living in Kouta’s house, trying to fit in and find something she can contribute, while dealing with her fear and hatred towards Lucy. It’s basically Nana’s Everyday Life, except in this version she doesn’t get abused by Pedobear and the cast of Gunslinger Girl. I checked by the way, that web comic still exists, you’re welcome. She meets Bandoh on the beach, and promises to bring Lucy/Nyuu to him so he can kill her.

  I’m going to try and not spoil too much, but to put it mildly, this is not an important episode. If you watch the series without knowing it exists, as most people do, you don’t really lose anything for it. The only question it really answers is why Lucy won’t kill Chief Kurama, but I don’t think anyone was asking that.

  It’s by no means an important episode, but you know what? A story element doesn’t have to be important for you to like it. For example, Sally was easily the least important character in The Nightmare Before Christmas. She contributes nothing to the plot, removing her would only make the movie shorter, hell, they gave her a throwaway song just for the sake of her having a song(which I’m assuming is why it had the oh so clever title ‘Sally’s Song.’) In spite of all that, Sally’s my favorite character in the movie.

  Much like Sally, this episode has no good reason to exist, but I still like it. When Nana is trying to do chores, there are quite a few sight gags that I found incredibly funny, and was actually laughing out loud at. It’s fun stuff. Her argument with Kouta and Yuka was obnoxious, sure, but it’s over quickly, and the conflict within Nana regarding whether or not to betray Lucy is engaging.

  More importantly, we get a flashback to Lucy’s childhood that I won’t spoil, but it is intense, and it is chilling. It actually made me gasp at one point.

  Again, this is by no means an important episode, and it doesn’t add much to the experience of watching the series. It is the kind of material that film school would teach you to cut out of your manuscript for pacing’s sake, but in its defense, there’s a ton of other material in the series that could be cut out with it.

  And honestly, if it were included in the series, it would be one of the better episodes in my opinion. I enjoyed revisiting it for this review, and I think you should give it another chance too.

  I give Elfen Lied: OVA a 6/10

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