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Elfen Lied (エルフェンリート, Erufen Rīto?) is a Japanese manga series created by author Lynn Okamoto. A thirteen-episode anime television series adaptation based on the manga was produced by the studio ARMS, and broadcast on TV Tokyo from July to October 2004; the anime was later licensed in North America on DVD by ADV Films. The anime started before the manga was complete; as a result, the plot differed between the two, especially towards the ending of the story. In 2005, a aparte autentic video animation, written to occur between the tenth and eleventh episodes of the series, was released. The title is literally German for "Elfin Song", and takes its name from the poem Elfenlied and the German lied, a classical-romantic poem or musical work.

Strongly influenced by themes of humanity and philosophy, Elfen Lied revolves around the race of diclonii, a mutant human species identified by two cat-ear like horns and străveziu "vectors", and the ways in which the humans abuse and reject them as part of society, instead seizing them for storage and experimentation in an offshore laboratory. The series is centered around the teenage diclonius girl "Lucy", said to be the first diclonius, becoming sadistic as a result of her vengeance and delivering it on the humans who rejected her.

Elfen Lied is known to be one of the most radical and socially challenging anime series of the 2000s, and is based around elements of social alienation, identity, revenge and the value of humanity. The series is notorious for strong amounts of graphic violence and nudity, especially an extremely bold and graphic opening seven minutes of the first episode, and has gained controversy over these elements among critics. So far, only the thirteen-episode anime series has been licensed in the United States, by ADV Films. ADV Films said the series was one of their bestselling and "most notorious" releases of 2005

Diclonius
Main article: Diclonius (Elfen Lied)
Diclonius, according to the anime, are said to be the result of experimentation, and, as Lucy points out to Nana in episode four, the vectors of the diclonius are "experimental equipment". Their bodies are very similar to humans, however they posess two cat-ear like "horns" on the side of their head, which are said to relate to their telekinetic powers. Their powers involve the usage of invisible arms, known as "vectors", which the dicolnius can use with great skill and manipulation, such as to dodge bullets and manipulate the movement of objects. Diclonii also have the ability to detect the location of each other, such as when Kurama releases Nana from the offshore laboratory to search for and retrieve Lucy.

[edit] Manga
Originally serialized in Weekly Young Jump magazine, the complete manga series runs for 107 chapters spanning twelve volumes.

[edit] Volumes
The Elfen Lied manga has not been licensed by any company for official translation into English. In Mexico the Spanish translation is currently being published by Vid. The original Japanese collected volume releases are listed below.

Side stories
The manga also features several side stories from previous works done by Lynn Okamoto. These stories came included with the release of certain volumes of the manga as bonus material (not related to Elfen Lied) for fans of the manga to collect.

MOL - featured in volume one
Digitopolis - featured in volume two
Memoria - featured in volume three
Carrera - featured in volume five
In addition, volume eight includes two other stories that form part of the Elfen Lied universe.

NOZOMI is the first side story featured, and explains Nozomi's past and why she chooses to move into the Kaede Inn. This tale is in canon with the continuity of the main storyline.
The second side story that follows after NOZOMI involves the whole residents at the Kaede Inn throwing a party and indulging themselves in excessive drinking. Nana and Mayu fall asleep, allowing both Yuka and Nyu to release their inhibitions and deliver an intimate fan service to Kohta. Unfortunately, their fun is suddenly brought to an end when Nyu without warning switches back to Lucy who seems rather upset, ending the story with a cliffhanger. This tale is not canon for Elfen Lied's overall plot

[edit] Format
The television series, directed by Mamoru Kanbe, animated by ARMS and produced by GENCO and VAP, ran for 13 episodes and adapted approximately the first 60 out of 107 chapters of the manga. Episodes one to eleven of the anime are in canon with the continuity of the storyline for volumes one to six of the manga, faithfully adapting most of the events happening in the latter. The last two TV episodes strayed from the manga's continuity and gave an original conclusion to the anime. The series' author, Lynn Okamoto, has a brief cameo appearance as a special guest in episode twelve.

Elfen Lied first aired on TV Tokyo's AT-X satellite channel from July 25, 2004 to October 17, 2004 and was broadcast again in 2005. The anime was licensed by ADV Films in the United States in 2004 and was released on DVD in 2005. A single twenty-four-minute original video animation episode was also released. It takes place between episodes ten and eleven of the original TV series, and for that reason, some refer to it as episode 10.5, OVA special, or even as episode fourteen. The special itself takes on a lighter tone and answers some questions of the early episodes rather than advancing the plot. During the Anime Boston 2006[6] (May 26—28) convention, ADV Films acquired the distribution rights of the OVA for release in the United States.

The series is currently airing in the United Kingdom on Propeller TV (Sky Digital) as part of Anime Network's launch in the UK. So far the series has aired uncut with the exception of one of Mayu's flashbacks in episode five as a result of it being related to child rape at the hands of a stepfather. While it has yet to appear on US television other than on Anime Network's "On Demand" Channel, the DVD box set confirms that the series has a rating of TV-MAVS; the Canadian rating is 18A. The OVA episode was not released with the box set that became available in November 2006.

In a posting on the official Adult Swim message board, Adult Swim programming director Kim Manning revealed that Adult Swim inquired into possibly airing the series, as she was an avid fan herself and watched the entire series in one sitting. However, the censorship board revealed that the series would have to be so heavily edited ("it would have been cut to shreds") in order to air that it would have been unintelligible, and it does not appear that it will air on the channel at any time in the future.[7]

[edit] Plot deviations
Compared to its manga original, the approach and depth of information presented by the anime involving the diclonius race differs greatly. The diclonius virus is explained in less detail with scenes such as Professor Kakuzawa's explanation of the half-diclonius status and ancestry of his family to Lucy being omitted. The diclonius characters in general are shown to have distinct limits on their vectors' quantity and range, which is not true in the manga which states that Lucy's are still growing.

Characters were introduced in the manga that were otherwise completely omitted from the anime series. An example of this early on in the manga is an acquaintance of Yuka's, referred to as "Nozomi-chan." Similarly, the music box playing the "Lilium" melody that is featured in the anime never appears in the manga.
[edit] Style and themes
In the comments made by director Mamoru Kanbe on the Elfen Lied website, he intended for the anime to question and discuss values based on the way in which humans divide each other by difference, as well as the belief that atrocities such as those committed by Lucy in the series are strongly influenced by the way in which people are treated by their fellow beings. The series frequently discusses the events and treatment which define the human character in such a way, and the problems which arise from discrimination, as well as the wild contrasts between compassion and vengeance between fellow humans, through the strong vengeance of Lucy compared with her past memory of Kouta. Themes such as genocide and the attempts to "purify" the earth also appear in the anime between diclonii and humans.[21]

Throughout the series, there is a great deal of nudity, blood and gore, extreme graphic violence as well as psychological violence. One of the most prevalent motifs of the series is the humanity of the diclonius, especially contrasted against the inhumanity of ordinary people. One reviewer described the series as "devoted to quite a few of the darker, more callous factors of human nature".[19] Throughout the series there are various incidences of human sadism, casual beatings, cruel experimentation, and outright killing.

Unlike other anime which distinctively fall into a specific subcategory, Elfen Lied does not fall under any specific genre, containing elements of horror, comedy, drama, romance, action, science-fiction, and suspense. A majority of the episodes contain graphic amounts of violence and gruesome deaths. There is also a lot of female nudity and serious thematic material such as child rape and torture. The series also sometimes has strong language; the word "fuck" is used several times throughout in the English localization.

The series juxtaposes many different tones and genres and was described by a reviewer as "mixing insane amounts of violence with a heavy dose of "ultra-cuteness."[22] The series balances its darker themes with romantic sub-plots as well as many comic moments. Elfen Lied has been described as similar to, or borrowing elements from Chobits, 3x3 Eyes[12] and Gunslinger Girl.[22]

[edit] Theme songs
Opening theme
"Lilium" by Kumiko Noma
Ending theme
"Be your girl" by Chieko Kawabe

[edit] Cultural references
The opening and ending sequences feature artistic drawings of the principal characters. These characters are drawn in a style based on Gustav Klimt's paintings, imitating poses, colors, and patterns.[12] The German song Elfenlied ("Elf Song") appears in the manga[23] and is credited to the composer Hugo Wolf. A poem by Eduard Mörike is the basis for Wolf’s version. The song does not appear in the anime as it is taught to Nyu by the manga-only character Nozomi.