is a Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series written and illustrated by Lynn Okamoto. It was serialized in

Shueisha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Shueisha is the largest publishing company in Japan. It was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The ...

's manga magazine ''

Weekly Young Jump is a Japanese manga magazine published by Shueisha. Launched in 1979, it is published under Shueisha's '' Jump'' line of magazines. The chapters of series that run in ''Weekly Young Jump'' are collected and published in volumes under the "Y ...

'' from June 2002 to August 2005, with its 107 chapters collected into twelve volumes. ''Elfen Lied'' revolves around the interactions, views, emotions, and differences between human beings and the Diclonii, a

mutant In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It i ...

species similar to humans in build but distinguishable by two horns on their heads and "vectors", transparent telekinetically controlled arms that have the power to manipulate and cut objects within their reach. The series is centered on the teenage Diclonius girl "Lucy" who was rejected by human beings and subsequently wants revenge. The series takes its name from the poem "

Elfenlied "Elfenlied" (, "fairy song") is the conventional title of a 1780 poem by Goethe, and of a later (c. 1830) poem by Eduard Mörike (and of their various respective adaptations to music). Goethe's poem was written in 1780, in a letter sent to Charl ...

", German for "song of the fairies", which is featured in the story. ''Elfen Lied'' involves themes of

discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...

social alienation Social alienation is a person's feeling of disconnection from a group whether friends, family, or wider society with which the individual has an affiliation. Such alienation has been described as "a condition in social relationships reflected b ...

identity Identity may refer to: * Identity document * Identity (philosophy) * Identity (social science) * Identity (mathematics) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film * ''Identity'' (2003 film), an ...

prejudice Prejudice can be an affect (psychology), affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived In-group and out-group, social group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classifi ...

revenge Revenge is defined as committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Vengeful forms of justice, such as primitive justice or retributive justice, are often differentiated from more fo ...

abuse Abuse is the act of improper usage or treatment of a person or thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, ...

jealousy Jealousy generally refers to the thoughts or feelings of Emotional insecurity, insecurity, fear, and concern over a relative lack of possessions or safety. Jealousy can consist of one or more emotions such as anger, resentment, inadequacy, he ...

regret Regret is the emotion of wishing one had made a different decision in the past, because the consequences of the decision one did make were unfavorable. Regret is related to perceived opportunity. Its intensity varies over time after the decisi ...

, and the value of humanity. It is also noted for the graphic violence, emotional themes of how the characters change through, and the overall

transgressive Transgressive may mean: *Transgressive art, a name given to art forms that violate perceived boundaries *Transgressive fiction, a modern style in literature *Transgressive Records, a United Kingdom-based independent record label *Transgressive (l ...

subject matter of the whole story. A 13-episode

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

television series adaptation was produced by the studio

Arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

and broadcast on AT-X from July to October 2004. The anime finished airing before the manga was complete; as a result, the plot differed between the two, especially the ending. The manga is licensed in North America by

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, manga and Artist's book, art book publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon, by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, O ...

. The anime series has been licensed in North America by

ADV Films A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. (known simply as ADV and also referred to as ADV Films) was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt Gr ...

and in Australia by

Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, stylized as MADMAN, is an Australian film and television production, distribution, entertainment, and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising ...

Plot and characters

''Elfen Lied'' takes place in

Kamakura , officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...

and

Kanagawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

, and focuses on the "Diclonius", a newly mutated species. Their appearance is similar to humans, but with several differences, namely horn-like protrusions on the forehead, the presence of telekinetic invisible arms called "vectors" and unconventional hair colour. One such Diclonius,

Lucy Lucy is an English language, English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings ar ...

, is the main character of the series: Initially held in a facility built for experimentation, located off the coast of Kamakura, she manages to escape and wreak havoc, but is injured in the process, an event which causes her to develop a secondary, childlike personality known as Nyu. Lucy is found by two locals, Kouta and his cousin Yuka, who study at the local university. They take her in and become involved with the numerous, often brutal, attempts to recapture her by a Special Assault Team and a number of other Diclonius, who shift frequently from oblivious to murderous.

Diclonius

Much of the plot of ''Elfen Lied'' revolves around the Diclonii species, which strongly resemble humans; the only obvious difference is the two horn-like protrusions extending from the

temporal bone The temporal bone is a paired bone situated at the sides and base of the skull, lateral to the temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex. The temporal bones are overlaid by the sides of the head known as the temples where four of the cranial bone ...

and

parietal bone The parietal bones ( ) are two bones in the skull which, when joined at a fibrous joint known as a cranial suture, form the sides and roof of the neurocranium. In humans, each bone is roughly quadrilateral in form, and has two surfaces, four bord ...

regions of the skull. Diclonii powers involve the use of invisible arms, known as "vectors", that can grasp and impact things as if they are solid, but also become insubstantial and pass through objects. They can slice objects as well, which is how Diclonii usually kill their victims. Vectors usually have a limited range of a few meters, but the length varies among each Diclonius. Diclonii also demonstrate the ability to sense one another. A key point of debate throughout the series is the Diclonius propensity towards violence. Many have a vendetta against humans, and have ambitions to wipe out the human race and populate the world with their own species. It is disputed and contradicted during the series as to how Diclonii develop their violent behavior, whether it is part of their genetic code or whether it stems from abuse by humans. If a Diclonius vector penetrates or even so much as touches a human male body, the "vector virus" is transferred to the human, causing their children to be born as Diclonii (when born from infected humans, they are called "Silpelits"). An incident involving the escape of a child Diclonius during Kurama's early years, where the Diclonius' vectors penetrated him without causing him pain, resulted in Mariko being born a Diclonius and Kurama taking precautions against a recurrence by urging Bando to be sterilized. All Silpelits are sterile, female and age rapidly. There's only one Diclonius that is actually capable of reproducing: Lucy, the "queen".

Production

Anime

When ''Elfen Lied'' was being adapted into an anime series, director Mamoru Kanbe was recommended to work on the series by the series composer,

Takao Yoshioka is a Japanese anime screenwriter. After leaving Shin-Ei Animation, he debuted as a screenwriter with '' Happy Lesson''. Since ''Happy Lesson'', he has been in charge of screenwriting for many series, some of which are ''Elfen Lied'', '' Your Lie ...

. Yoshioka believed that Kanbe's general drawing style and composition would be ideal to adapt the manga, still in publication at the time, into an anime series. Kanbe himself, originally reluctant about joining the production, gained interest in it upon reading the manga. While the manga was still ongoing at the time, Kanbe and the production team were forced to condense the plot of the series into thirteen episodes, even though they felt it was necessary to make more as several significant plot details in the manga which Kanbe felt he could have used to make the series more emotive were left out.Exclusive Mamoru Kanbe interview, DVD Extra – Elfen Lied DVD 1 (Vector One). Released by

and

. According to Kanbe, he considered ''Elfen Lied'' as a "love story," and he wanted to "bring viewers to tears." Thus, he made attempts throughout the series to provide a contrast of emotions, commenting that he could make the violence exemplify this throughout the series. The production team were originally surprised by Okamoto's choice of Kamakura as a setting for the series; however, after several visits to the area, Kanbe commented that the setting in Kamakura was, according to the production team, ideal for the poignant and reflective drama in the series to unfold, as its general tranquility and geography made for a reflective and yet eerie, deep-meaning backdrop to the series. This can be seen in several examples, such as on top of a set of steps overlooking the coastline, where many of the interactions between characters take place. This is used as an important device in conveying the ideas of memory and emotional association, such as the contrast between Kohta and Lucy's conversation when they were ten years old in comparison with their conversation in the final episode.

Style and themes

In comments made by director Mamoru Kanbe on the ''Elfen Lied'' website, he stated that he intended for the anime to question and discuss values relating to 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 Kohta. Many of the themes are mentioned in the teasers at the ends of episodes. Themes such as

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

and the attempts to "purify" the earth from each other also appear in the anime. Both Diclonius and the human species feel the need to populate the earth with their own and wipe the other out. Kanbe quoted this in relation to the desire of humans to cast each other out and segregate one another. Throughout the series, there is a great deal of blood and gore,

graphic violence Graphic violence refers to the depiction of especially explicit or detailed acts of violence in mass media. It may be real, simulated live action, or animated. Intended for viewing by mature audiences, ''graphic'' in this context is a synonym ...

as well as

psychological Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

violence Violence is characterized as the use of physical force by humans to cause harm to other living beings, or property, such as pain, injury, disablement, death, damage and destruction. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence a ...

. 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." Throughout the series, there are various incidences of casual beatings, cruel experimentation, and outright killing. Also,

animal cruelty Cruelty to animals, also called animal abuse, animal neglect or animal cruelty, is the infliction of suffering or Injury, harm by humans upon animals, either by omission (neglect) or by commission. More narrowly, it can be the causing of harm ...

is present when three young boys mercilessly beat Lucy's puppy until it dies; though the act is off-screen, a copious amount of blood is shown; which drives Lucy to murder the bullies out of revenge and insanity. Most of the episodes contain graphic violence, including instances of torture and at one point the series addresses the consequences of the rape of a child. The series also includes scenes that present female nudity and strong language (specifically in the English dub). The series juxtaposes many different tones and genres and was described by Bamboo Dong of

Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and ot ...

as "mixing insane amounts of violence with a heavy dose of ultracuteness." The series balances its darker themes with romantic

sub-plot In fiction, a subplot or side story is a strand of the Plot (narrative), plot that is a supporting side story for any story or for the main plot. Subplots may connect to main plots, in either time and place or thematic significance. Subplots often ...

s as well as many comic moments. ''Elfen Lied'' has been described as similar to, or borrowing elements from ''

Chobits is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by the Japanese manga collective Clamp. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Young Magazine'' from September 2000 to October 2002, with its chapters collected ...

'', '' 3×3 Eyes'' and ''

Gunslinger Girl ''Gunslinger Girl'' (stylized in small caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yu Aida. It was serialized in '' Dengeki Daioh'' magazine from May 2002 to September 2012. Its chapters were collected in 15 ''tankōbon'' v ...

''.

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 Gustav Klimt (14 July 1862 – 6 February 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and a founding member of the Vienna Secession movement. His work helped define the Art Nouveau style in Europe. Klimt is known for his paintings, murals, sket ...

's paintings, including ''The Kiss'', ''Adele Bloch-Bauer I'', and others with similar imitating poses, colors, and patterns. In promotional art as well as in the series itself, characters make use of a famous

El Greco Doménikos Theotokópoulos (, ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco (; "The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance, regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time. ...

hand symbol of outstretched fingers with the middle and ring fingers connected. The

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

'' ("Elf Song") appears in the manga and is credited to the composer

Hugo Wolf Hugo Philipp Jacob Wolf (; ; 13 March 1860 – 22 February 1903) was an Austrian composer, particularly noted for his art songs, or Lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Romantic music, so ...

. A poem by

Eduard Mörike Eduard Friedrich Mörike (; 8 September 18044 June 1875) was a German Lutheran pastor who was also a Romantic poet and writer of novellas and novels. Many of his poems were set to music and became established folk songs, while others were used b ...

is the basis for Wolf's version. It is taught to Nyu by the manga-only protagonist Nozomi. In the manga, the Diclonius are kept in a grotto called the Lebensborn Cave, a reference to the Nazi eugenics program.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Lynn Okamoto, ''Elfen Lied'' was serialized in

's manga magazine ''

'' from June 6, 2002, to August 25, 2005. Shueisha collected its 107 chapters in twelve volumes, released from October 18, 2002, to November 18, 2005. In North America, the manga was licensed for English release by

. They released it in a four-volume

omnibus edition An omnibus edition or omnibus is a book containing multiple creative works by the same or, more rarely, different authors. Commonly two or more of the works have been previously published as books, but a collection of shorter works, or shorter w ...

from May 22, 2019, to September 9, 2020.

Anime

A 13-episode

television series adaptation was directed by Mamoru Kanbe, animated by Arms and produced by

Genco is a Japanese anime production enterprise, founded on March 3, 1997. Presided over by Tarō Maki, its headquarters is located in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo. It has produced numerous anime series such as '' Honey and Clover'', '' Nodame Cantabile'', ...

and VAP. Author Lynn Okamoto has a brief

cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...

in episode 12. ''Elfen Lied'' first aired on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and special episodes of a series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the ...

(OVA) episode was released by VAP on April 21, 2005. It takes place somewhere within the timespan of the series' eleventh episode. The anime's opening theme song is "Lilium", performed by opera singer , sung in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, with lyrics extracted from biblical passages and Christian sources, including the

Book of Psalms The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of ...

, the

Epistle of James The Epistle of James is a Catholic epistles, general epistle and one of the 21 epistles (didactic letters) in the New Testament. It was written originally in Koine Greek. The epistle aims to reach a wide Jewish audience. It survives in manusc ...

, the

Kyrie ', a transliteration of Greek , vocative case of ('' Kyrios''), is a common name of an important prayer of Christian liturgy, also called the ( ; ). In the Bible The prayer, , "Lord, have mercy" derives from a Biblical phrase. Greek , ...

prayer, and the hymn "Ave mundi spes Maria". The ending theme song is "Be Your Girl" by Chieko Kawabe. ;Home media and distribution The series was released on Blu-ray in Japan on December 19, 2012. The anime was licensed by

in the United States in 2004 and released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

in 2005. ADV said the series was one of their bestselling and "most notorious" releases of 2005. During the ''Anime Boston 2006'' convention, ADV announced the distribution rights of the OVA in the United States. However, the OVA was never released on television and was not included with the box set released by ADV Films in November 2006 or in the "Complete Collection" DVDs released in June 2009 and December 2011. When ADV divided their assets, ''Elfen Lied'' remained with them and in-print. A Blu-ray box set (as well as a new DVD set) was released on September 3, 2013, by ADV and

Section23 Films SXION 23 LLC, doing business as Section23 Films, is an American multimedia distributor based in Houston, Texas specializing in releasing anime and Japanese films. Established in 2009, Section23 is one of five successors to ADV Films; alongside ...

, making it the only Blu-ray release under the ADV brand, and contains the previously released OVA. In Australia, the series was licensed by

. The series aired in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Propeller TV Propeller TV is an Anglo/Chinese television production company. Until the beginning of April 2019 it provided a TV service broadcast from the SES Astra 2G satellite and was also carried on the SKY EPG at Channel 185. It was also available for s ...

(

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...

) as part of

Anime Network Anime Network was an American video on demand (VOD) network dedicated to anime owned by AMC Networks. History The network was launched in North America in late 2002 and is marketed to multi system operators (MSOs) as both a free and subscr ...

's short-lived launch in the United Kingdom. The series also aired uncut despite a stricter censorship standard imposed by

OFCOM The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...

on UK cable TV. The Anime Network is streaming the series

On Demand On-demand or on demand may refer to: Manufacturing * Build-on-demand * Just-in-time manufacturing, a methodology for production * Print on demand, printing technology and business process in which new copies of a document are not printed until ...

in English, German and French. The ADV DVD box set confirms a rating of

TV-MA The TV Parental Guidelines are a television content rating system in the United States that was first proposed on December 19, 1996, by the United States Congress, the American television industry, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ...

SV; the Canadian rating is 14A. In a post to the now defunct official

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representativ ...

and s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...

message board in April 2006, programming director Kim Manning revealed that despite the series' high level of controversial content, the network inquired into the possibility of airing, as Manning was an avid fan herself and watched the entire series in one sitting. However, the channel's Broadcast Standards and Practices department would have required the series to be so extensively edited ("it would have been cut to shreds", she described in the post) in order to air that it would have been "unintelligible". Ultimately, Adult Swim decided not to air it to preserve and respect the series' original quality.

Reception

Reviewing the first English omnibus volume of ''Elfen Lied'', Anime UK News gave it an 8 out of 10 rating and noted that it is much more detailed than the anime adaptation by explaining what Diclonius are and showing more of the characters' inner thoughts. Although, they stated that the beginning of the anime had "more punch." Anime UK News criticized Okamoto's art as poor throughout the book, but enjoyed the extra unrelated stories included at the end. Comic Buzz gave a 9/10 score, calling it a "great read from start to finish". They felt the art style changed with the characters' emotions and said it reminded them variously of ''

Neon Genesis Evangelion , also known as ''Evangelion'' or ''Eva'', is a Japanese mecha anime television series produced by Gainax and Tatsunoko Production, and directed by Hideaki Anno. It was broadcast on TV Tokyo and its affiliates from October 1995 to March 1 ...

'' and the work of

Junji Ito is a Japanese horror manga artist. Some of his most notable works include ''Tomie'', a series chronicling an immortal girl who drives her stricken admirers to madness; ''Uzumaki'', a three-volume series about a town cursed by spirals; and ''Gy ...

. Rai of TheOASG gave the omnibus a 3 out of 5 star rating, criticizing the art and

fan service , fanservice or Example: A frame (numbered "25") from the English opening sequence of '' New Cutie Honey'', in which character Danbei Hayami fires a Rocket Punch as main character Honey Kisaragi lies topless and prone in the background, i ...

, and overall preferred the anime which she acknowledged having bias for. Reception for the anime was generally mixed to positive. Reviewers such as Tasha Robinson of ''Sci Fi Weekly'' and Theron Martin of ''

'' praised ''Elfen Lied'' for its story and technical excellence in production quality, animation and color. Due to the many scenes of nudity and gore, Dominic Laeno of '' THEM Anime Reviews'' criticized the series as being "overly blatant." Martin criticized the anime for having "sub-par voice acting" in both the original Japanese audio track and the English dub, although he gave an "A−" rating for both language dubs. Martin also said that the series "ends abruptly with some loose ends to the story that could leave viewers unsatisfied," but also called it "a horror series of exceptional merit." Laeno called the series "a genuinely good watch." Stig Høgset, also of ''THEM Anime Reviews'', called ''Elfen Lied'' "a very special show, good and bad parts taken into consideration." On June 12, 2015, the now-defunct Chinese Ministry of Culture listed ''Elfen Lied'' among 38 anime and manga titles banned in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Legacy

Matt and Ross Duffer have cited ''Elfen Lied'' as an influence on their 2016

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series ''

Stranger Things ''Stranger Things'' is an American television series created by the Duffer brothers, Duffer Brothers for Netflix. Produced by Monkey Massacre Productions and 21 Laps Entertainment, the Stranger Things season 1, first season was released on N ...

''. They said that ''Elfen Lied'' was like an "ultraviolent '' E.T.''" and noted that the character

Eleven Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number) * One of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''Eleven'', a 1970 collection of short stories by Patricia Highsmith *''Eleven'' ...

was inspired by the anime. Another cited influence was the 1988 anime film '' Akira'', which they felt had in turn influenced ''Elfen Lied''. The anime opening theme "Lilium", with its Latin lyrics extracted from biblical sources, has been publicly performed by a variety of choirs around the world, including in countries such as Ukraine, Sweden, Brazil, and Chile.

Notes

References

External links

Official VAP anime website

* * {{Takao Yoshioka 2005 anime OVAs ADV Films AT-X (TV network) original programming Arms Corporation Biopunk anime and manga Fiction about bioterrorism Fiction about bullying Censored television series Dark Horse Comics titles Dark fantasy anime and manga Fiction about discrimination Domestic violence in fiction Fiction about animal cruelty Fiction about familicide Television shows about murder Television shows about telekinesis Madman Entertainment anime Mass murder in fiction Anime and manga about revenge Seinen manga Sentai Filmworks Shueisha franchises Shueisha manga Splatterpunk Television censorship in China Television shows set in Kamakura Works about murder Works about rape Works about sexual abuse Works about sexual harassment Works about torture Works banned in China Works banned in Russia Works about abuse