Genre: Action, Horror, Psychological, Supernatural, Drama, Romance, Seinen
Elfen Lied was one of the first Animes that I actually watched when I was like 12-years-old and I can tell you that this Anime is really fucked up. Elfen Lied is a pretty famous Anime in the Anime community just because of its uniqueness. Elfen Lied is Infamous for its bloody mess of gore, cruelty, and nudity. This actually makes some people quit after watching the first episode, but I can tell you that the Anime is worth it. The first episode starts off with what is the bloodiest and nudest 10 minutes of any show I've ever watched, and I'll tell you this: If you live through that, you'll live through the series.
Fun Fact: Elfen Lied is actually german and means something like an elven song.
Story:
Lucy is a special breed of human referred to as "Diclonius," born with a short pair of horns and invisible telekinetic hands that land her as a victim of inhumane scientific experimentation by the government. However, once circumstances present her an opportunity to escape, Lucy, corrupted by the confinement and torture, unleashes a torrent of bloodshed as she escapes her captors.
During her breakout, she receives a crippling head injury that leaves her with a split personality: someone with the mentality of a harmless child possessing limited speech capacity. In this state of instability, she stumbles upon two college students, Kouta and his cousin Yuka, who unknowingly take an injured fugitive into their care, unaware of her murderous tendencies. This act of kindness will change their lives, as they soon find themselves dragged into the shadowy world of government secrecy and conspiracy.
Characters:
The Anime really did a great job in developing the Characters. Elfen lied really has the best characters I've ever seen after Neon Genesis Evangelion. The Characters just feel so real, they have both light and darkness within them which make them really seem like proper humans. Unlike most anime, the distinction between good and evil is not so clear. The Anime will make you fall in love with the characters so that you will feel the pain that they feel when something bad happens to them. This is really unique for this Anime and doesn't happen too often in this kind of quality and depth. Relationships are a really important factor in the Anime and are the pillars that make this Anime so fantastic. All the relationships and actions within those relationships affect the Characters greatly and develop them until the end of the series.
Animation and Art:
The Anime was first released in the summer of 2004, which makes the quality not really as good as the newer Anime. BUT the Animations in the Anime are really great, yet really average. The Backgrounds and Details are fantastic, but the Characters really lack in design. They don't really fit the detailed background and surroundings very well which makes it feel a little bit off, but that is nothing that will make the Anime any less good. The Animations are amazing and feel so smooth and good that I couldn't believe that they are from 2004.
Overall:
There not a lot of Animes out there that take the risk as much as Elfen Lied did. Elfen Lied is a unique Anime which you don't see very often. It really did a pretty crazy stunt including so much nudity, gore, and violence, but the end result is amazing. Elfen Lied would be nothing more than an average Anime without all the nudity and such things. Just remember that it doesn't have the R+ rating for no reason - events ranging from a man watching his naked daughter to a dog being bludgeoned to death with a vase and live dismemberment takes place.
All in All Elfen Lied is a masterpiece. A pretty unique Masterpiece, but a masterpiece nonetheless. I would recommend you to watch the Anime if you can take a really R+ rated Anime full of fucked up shit.