Jan 16, 2026
Awful shock schlock. Gratuitous, completely unnecessary nudity and exploitative suffering -- basically all by women or children. Deeper themes are left entirely up to the viewer's own projections. The only idea explored here is, "is it ethical for this... company? government? ...to experiment on these psychic beings?" But that isn't a compelling question; you already know the answer and the show doesn't even try to subvert what you'd immediately assume that answer to be.
There are characters and situations presented that give rise to the possibility that Elfen Lied will explore themes like parenthood, abandonment, trust and manipulation, the cycle of abuse, but it never actually
...
does. It depicts some of these things, but it has absolutely nothing to say about any of it. Characters betray each other, but it serves purely as an excuse to make one of the women/girls suffer.
The relationships between the male protagonist and all the other characters make no sense, in large part because this is a harem. The protagonist is a blank slate who responds to nearly every situation he finds himself in nonsensically. The women and girls throw themselves at him for literally no reason.
At the end of what is arguably the most emotional scene in the entire season, the studio could not pass up an opportunity for an unnecessary upskirt, completely voiding the scene's impact and leaving me dumbfounded at the show's trashiness.
The studio said they had to cut plot lines that are present in the manga due to only having 13 episodes to work with, and yet nothing happens for at least half the episodes in the season. I'd argue that one could watch only the first and last episodes and they wouldn't be missing anything. Despite that, and in spite of the show's lasting notoriety, the season ends unsatisfyingly with many loose ends and a second season was never produced.
The music doesn't stand out at all as something worth returning to outside of the show and may as well not have been present at all. The sound effects are repetitive and distractingly cartoonish.
The art is pretty average for the time. The animation quickly nosedives after the first episode, especially outside of action sequences.
This show is a waste of time. You aren't missing anything. You can easily predict exactly where the show will go after the first episode, because it makes no attempt to subvert your expectations; it simply goes there and then ends.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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