TL;DR: a must watch, but not good.
Synopsis: hot woman with invisible killing hands escapes from a research facility and kills all of the guards. She is wounded and now resides with two college students who found her on the beach.
Elfen Lied became one of the most controversial anime when it aired in 2003 due to its absurd amounts of gore and sexual content. If it was released in this age it wouldn’t be particularly notable, now even mainstream stuff like Cyberpunk Edgerunners is very gory and sexual.
The overarching theme of the series delves into whether nature and nurture are the ultimate cause of violence, and whether it can be triggered by discrimination or social rejection. The anime doesn’t seem to take a definitive stance on the issue (though it seems to be leaning in the direction of nurture), which is refreshing in comparison to the preachy media you see these days.
Beyond this, there are a few glaring problems with this anime in terms of quality. The dialogue is atrocious, particularly the interactions between the two cousins. It doesn’t seem like it was written by a person who has knowledge of the real world. Second, the main character is very bland. If they gave him a strong personality and influence on the story, then this would be a much better anime.
Now to address the elephant in the room: whether Elfen Lied is just a shock factor series. It definitely wouldn’t be as entertaining without the nudity and gore, but it does have some legitimate content in it — the romantic drama between the main three characters is good trash entertainment, and there is the thematic exploration that I elaborated on earlier. Beyond that… yes, most of the appeal of this series is the shock factor.
Design (7/15):
Distinguishment: (3/5)
Animation: (1/2)
Sound: (1/2)
OST: (1/2) - instrumentals are fantastic, vocals are kind of off though
Character designs: (0/2) they look bad
Backgrounds: (1/2)
Script (35/50):
Character Investment: (7/10)
Character Realism: (2/2)
Character Complexity: (1/3)
Plot solidness: (5/5)
Plot complexity: (4/10) - simple, but not badly written
Ending: (4/5)
Pacing: (4/5)
Stakes: (7/10)
Value (12/15):
Thematic elements: (5/5)
Skill: (3/5)
Originality: (4/5)
Enjoyment (11/20):
Did I like it: (11/20)
Personally, I got drawn by the OST. I would give it a 3/10 or 4/10 if not for Lilium.