This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Strikesvl (talk | contribs) at 13:15, 2 June 2005 (rv vandal). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 13:15, 2 June 2005 by Strikesvl (talk | contribs) (rv vandal)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Elfen Lied (エルフェンリート) is a manga and anime series by author Lynn Okamoto (岡本倫 Okamoto Lynn). The manga is published in Japan by Shueisha. The story contains some nudity and a great deal of blood and gore, as well as psychological violence.
Story
The story involves human mutants called "dicloniuses", who grow horns on their heads and possess telekinetic powers. The mutants exclusively kill humans with "vectors" (invisible "arms" of telekinetic force) that can stretch and easily slice through bodies, and their tendency for violence varies amongst characters. Scientists contain them in cells where they are subject to inhumane experiments to test their abilities or they await to be executed for being too dangerous. An infectious virus is also associated with the mutation. The main non-mutant character in the story, Kouta, ends up becoming more involved with these dicloniuses, as they seek refuge from the scientists.
Characters
Kouta: Kouta is the main character of both the anime and manga. Kouta enters the story when he inherited an inn and comes to live there. Kouta has traumatic memories of his father and sister's death that he has repressed.
Nyu/Lucy: Lucy is a diclonius girl 18+ years of age. She has four vectors, with a limited range of 2-3 meters, but she can be swiftly lethal within that range, and will additionally use inanimate objects as high velocity projectiles to kill at a greater distance. She is also capable of stopping or deflecting most standard ammunition. Lucy hates humans mainly because of how she was treated by her human peers as a child; she lacks empathy and kills with no concern, and is occasionally portrayed as sadistic. Nyu is a split personality of Lucy, possibly created from brain damage caused by an armor piercing bullet ricocheting off her head. Nyu has a child-like personality and infantile knowledge of the world, and even lacks spoken language skills. Nyu is lovable, innocent and incapable of violent acts, a antithesis to Lucy. When Nyu is attacked violently, she will regress into Lucy; likewise, when Lucy is treated with love and kindness, she will uncontrollably switch back into Nyu, showing a Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde complex. Lucy and Nyu are both in love with Kouta.
Yuka: Cousin of Kouta and lives with him at the inn he inherited. She is also in love with Kouta and apparently she has little taboo of incest. She is also somewhat jealous of Kouta's attention to Nyu.
Mayu: A young girl 13-14 years of age, abandoned by her mother and abused sexually by her step father she has run away. She is usually accompained by a small puppy she found. She later ends up in the care of Kouta. She also befriends Nana and Nyu.
Nana: A young diclonius girl 13-14 years of age. Unlike other dicloniuses she is not homicidal or sadistic. Although her telekinetic powers are slightly superior to Lucy's, her empathy for humans and others does not allow her to fight as vigorously and she loses her arms and legs when she is dismembered by Lucy. With her telekinetic powers she is able to manipulate her prosthetic arms and legs with the dexterity of the real appendages, she is also able to pop off her prosthetic arms and use them as projectiles. Nana was test subject number 7 in the diclonius containment complex (note that nana means "seven" in Japanese).
Bando: Military special forces soldier. Though he is fully human, he is as homicidal and un-empathetic to other people as dicloniuses are. After being maimed by a diclonius and repaired with bionic, cybernetic and prosthetic implants he escapes on a quest for revenge, he becomes sidetracked by the complicity of the story.
Kurama: Director over research of the diclonius children in the containment center. He is also the supposed father of Nana. His wife died from complications of uterine cancer and childbirth, the child was a diclonius. Instead of having his only child killed he has arranged to have it imprisoned instead as a test subject.
Mariko: Mariko is a young diclonius girl 5-7 years of age, she possesses tremendous telekinetic powers and has 26+ vectors with a range of at least 11 meters. Mariko was imprisoned as an infant and raised inside a steel container with human contact consisting of nothing more than speakers and monitors. Despite the environment, she was raised in she is relatively well developed psychologically, and the only obvious physical impairment from her conditioning is an inability to walk. She is extremely homicidal and sadistic, and enjoys torturing and dismembering her victims. Her personality is not blatantly evil and she is relatively child-like in manner and thought process. She seems unaware of the wrongfulness of her homicidal acts, and the pleasure she gets from it is equivalent to a child playing with toys. Explosives have been placed inside her body as a means of controlling her.
Artwork in the anime series
The opening sequence shows shots of characters in the anime. The settings these characters are in are based off of Gustav Klimt's works.
The title probably comes from the German song Elfenlied ("Elf Song") by Eduard Mörike.
The opening theme song, Lilium, is based on several psalms and hymns in Latin (and a couple of words in Greek). The lyric and melody are authored by Kayo Konishi and Yukio Kondou, after being requested to make the song like a Gregorian chant. The lyric as appearing in the booklet of the anime's original soundtrack CD album are as given below:
- Os iusti meditabitur sapientiam
- Et lingua eius loquetur iudicium
- Beatus vir qui suffert tentationem
- Quoniam cum probatus fuerit accipiet coronam vitae
- Kyrie, Ignis Divine, Eleison
- O quam sancta, quam serena, quam benigna
- Quam amoena O castitatis lilium
Translation:
- The Just shall meditate wisdom
- And his tongue shall speak judgement (Psalm 37:30)
- Blessed is he who resists temptation
- For at trial he shall receive the crown of life (James 1:12)
- Lord, Divine Fire, have mercy
- O how holy, how calm, how benevolent
- How comforting, O lily of purity
Sub-topics
Elfen Lied deals with human evolution. The main drive of the dicloniuses is the propagation of their superior traits through the destruction of the human race. This homicidal drive manifests around the 3rd year of the diclonius's life. It seems that dicloniuses do not consider normal homo sapiens "human", and most of the time they show a complete lack of empathy towards non-mutants.
The story also deals with the issues of psychological trauma and repressed memories. The main diclonius character, Lucy, has a split personality, one of them infantile (Nyuu), and the other (Lucy) adult, full of painful memories and murderous hatred towards normal humans. Kouta, the other main character, completely blocked out a section of his childhood due to the trauma of seeing his little sister torn apart by young Lucy's vectors (invisible force "arms").
External links
- エルフェンリート— Official site (in Japanese)
- Interlaced - Elfen Lied Review