The story: The "Diclonius" a mutated form of human with extra powers, is dangerous to humans but growing in number. Can they, should they, be contained and eradicated? Elfen Lied flinches at absolutely nothing. Some have written on IMDb that it is entirely predictable, but I disagree. One thing that cannot be predicted is what character lives and which dies. In most movies in general (not just anime) you can tell right from the start who will finish the movie.
For example, right in the opening minutes the play develops typical clumsy and cute secretary, who always spills the tea and takes pratfalls. Most often in anime a character that has that much attention paid to her would bumble her way through the whole story, often in danger but never getting hurt. Not so here. She has her head torn off right after a typical pratfall as quickly as you got to know her.
This happens often. To innocents, good guys and bad guys. One young girl a central character no less -- has all four arms and legs torn off.
So what else gets served up? It just gets started with the decapitation and dismemberment of anonymous soldiers and office workers. Once the storyline gets going you get to watch child torture, child rape, child murder, an innocent puppy bludgeoned to death, and many additional casual abuses of both humans and non-humans. One of the more disturbing scenes is a young nude Diclonius (to appearances a 9 year old girl) is chained to a wall where shells are fired at her head. It is up to her to deflect them with her powers, but she is scared and pleads for them to stop. They don't, and instead increase the power until one gets through and kills her. "270 joules," says one of the scientists. "I guess that's the limit." So back to the original question, is there a point to all this? The answer is a tentative yes, although the point could have and perhaps should have been made less forcefully and you really have to question whether it was worth it.
All the gore, violence, and cruelty is jarringly contrasted against all the elements of a typical anime romance/comedy. Yuka, a pretty and inoffensive cousin of Khota, has a thing for him and inclined to jealousy and hurt from the fact that he can't remember a childhood promise he had made to her. She doesn't know the whole backstory, and her romance with Khota is sidetracked with his penchant for taking in young stray girls in need of refuge.
The first such is Lucy, who unbeknownst to Khota and Yuki is a dangerous (but not the most dangerous) Diclonius creature who had escaped from the shop of horrors described above. She has reverted to an intermittently infantile state, and they take her in and care for her. However the shop of horrors wants her back and shows no restraint in what they will do in pursuit of that, including using other Diclonius as weapons. Much mayhem abounds.
The messages are all pretty blunt if not clear: There are no good guys, or they are worse than the bad guys. Innocence is surrounded by evil. Evil is often beautiful (this last point is most vividly seen in the truly interesting artwork in the opening credits and the music score) but is still evil. It will be up to the viewer to say whether it is all worth it.
For example, right in the opening minutes the play develops typical clumsy and cute secretary, who always spills the tea and takes pratfalls. Most often in anime a character that has that much attention paid to her would bumble her way through the whole story, often in danger but never getting hurt. Not so here. She has her head torn off right after a typical pratfall as quickly as you got to know her.
This happens often. To innocents, good guys and bad guys. One young girl a central character no less -- has all four arms and legs torn off.
So what else gets served up? It just gets started with the decapitation and dismemberment of anonymous soldiers and office workers. Once the storyline gets going you get to watch child torture, child rape, child murder, an innocent puppy bludgeoned to death, and many additional casual abuses of both humans and non-humans. One of the more disturbing scenes is a young nude Diclonius (to appearances a 9 year old girl) is chained to a wall where shells are fired at her head. It is up to her to deflect them with her powers, but she is scared and pleads for them to stop. They don't, and instead increase the power until one gets through and kills her. "270 joules," says one of the scientists. "I guess that's the limit." So back to the original question, is there a point to all this? The answer is a tentative yes, although the point could have and perhaps should have been made less forcefully and you really have to question whether it was worth it.
All the gore, violence, and cruelty is jarringly contrasted against all the elements of a typical anime romance/comedy. Yuka, a pretty and inoffensive cousin of Khota, has a thing for him and inclined to jealousy and hurt from the fact that he can't remember a childhood promise he had made to her. She doesn't know the whole backstory, and her romance with Khota is sidetracked with his penchant for taking in young stray girls in need of refuge.
The first such is Lucy, who unbeknownst to Khota and Yuki is a dangerous (but not the most dangerous) Diclonius creature who had escaped from the shop of horrors described above. She has reverted to an intermittently infantile state, and they take her in and care for her. However the shop of horrors wants her back and shows no restraint in what they will do in pursuit of that, including using other Diclonius as weapons. Much mayhem abounds.
The messages are all pretty blunt if not clear: There are no good guys, or they are worse than the bad guys. Innocence is surrounded by evil. Evil is often beautiful (this last point is most vividly seen in the truly interesting artwork in the opening credits and the music score) but is still evil. It will be up to the viewer to say whether it is all worth it.