TreasonWall says:

(WARNING HUGE SPOILERS)

Wow, ok, I would never have been as nice with this show as you were. It’s not that I’m offended by it or anything (I’m pretty hard to offend when I think about it…). For that matter, most of the gore/fanservice moments in Elfen Lied are so goofy they don’t do much of a job. The real problem with Elfen Lied is that it just… sucks, plain and simple.

The art style is the epitome of stereotypical. The themes they tried to develop have been dealt with billions of times in other works, and with much more efficiency more often than not. The plot barely has any construction to speak of. As for the characters… they simply DON’T WORK.

The writers tried to bring up the idea that the Diclonius could be lesser monsters than the humans, but who exactly in the real world has a personality akin to Bando’s!? Why would all the children in the school automatically want nothing more than to actively exert psychological torture on Lucy and go to such extreme means in order to do that !? Wether Lucy is considered a complex character or not, why would Kenta want her after witnessing her slaughter his own family in front of him on a whim!? Just… give me a break. This entire thing is plain ridiculous.

I know this series is extremely popular, but honestly, I would never recommend it to anyone. You want moral and philosphical reflexions ? The show promises them, but they’re not there. You want psychological drama ? The show promises it, but it’s not there. You want creepy stuff ? Meh, about two scenes in this series disturbed me at all, and not necessarily on an enjoyable level. You want brutal entertainment ? There is easily much more intense than Elfen Lied out there.

This series just doesn’t have much to offer unless you come in with VERY low expectations…