I have passed over Elfen Lied for years on Netflix, Hulu, Crunchyroll, etc. as I didn't think it fit my taste. I don't think I have been more disappointed in misjudging an anime by a short description.There are many reviews that have dissected the story, so I won't go there. I will just say the complexity of this story, and the very complex interrelationships in the anime alone merit a view. It is quite gory, so children should not be allowed to view.

Personal opinion and facts. 13 episode show dubbed and subbed the dub is well not great I hear the sub is better huh. Characters are Lucy,Kouta, Yuka, Mayu, Nana, Kurama, Bando, Mariko. Story girl escapes secret facility loses memory of who she is and how to speak finds Kouta he hides and protects her from whoever is looking for her regains memories protects him from harm leaves and disappears without trace.Aired in 2004. Story was amazing but the voice for the characters didn't do well. Honestly this is like school days but dubbed. Don't get me wrong the story is great but the dub it was awful. This show is not all bad compared to School Days.Overall this is a tremendous show it doesn't lack anything but a good dub. The first episode the first few minutes is amazing, except if you hate blood

I decided to set 5 hours out of my day to watch this show, and I was not disappointed. Rarely do I ever give a 10, but this movie brought happiness, action... It brought tears. The plot line was great, and each character had their own back story. If you want to feel involved, and be touched by a show, I recommend this one. Best Anime I've seen to date.Each episode brings a new bit of useful information, a new connection, or an interesting and wild fight scene. With 4 prominent characters 13 episodes and OVA you will not be let down!What are you waiting for, go watch this show as soon as you get your hands on it

Elfen lied is a 13 episode anime featuring a sadistic pink haired girl who happens to be equipped with 4 invisible arms that shoot out of her back, enabling her to kill at a far range, and at a ridiculous speed. Throughout the series, we learn that this girl, Lucy, is part of a different race of human, known as the diclonious (die-chlo-knee-ous). Diclonious are incredibly sadistic, and aside from those special arms (they're called vectors), they also posses two horns on their heads which resemble that of a cat's ear immensely. Anyway, this one diclonious, Lucy, has been kept in a facility for most of her life, and then one day, all hell breaks loose, as she manages to escape ( this is basically where the story begins), and somehow she develops an alter ego, in which, when she is treated with kindness, is the cutest creature on the planet, but when treated like crap becomes a yandere serial killer. After she escapes, she is found on the beach by two college students/cousins who decide to take her in, but soon learn the government's after her. Throughout the series, we learn about the characters' backgrounds and histories...I have to say, this is quite the story. I've never seen anything like it before and it was nice to watch something a little different for once. When I first heard about Elfen Lied, I was very eager to watch it. I was disappointed. It's not that the show sucks, actually not in the least ( aside from the English voice acting), it's just that I thought everything would play out differently throughout the show, in my mind... It was interesting, but I've seen much better anime before. For example, Soul Eater, now that was amazing and wasn't even as violent! Anyways, perhaps if I had watched Elfen Lied with the subtitles, it might of been better, for I found the dubbed voices incredibly irritating, but what else is new? The show wasn't that well animated either, and the art wasn't that amazing, so I think the only real reason I'm giving it a seven is because of the story, and around the end of the anime is when I felt like the story really got interesting. As a matter of fact I was glued to my iPod screen around the last few episodes but I found the ending quite confusing.Overall I found this anime a little overrated, my advice to you is that you read the manga before watching the show, it may help you understand better. Also if you haven't seen it yet, don't get overly excited about it...