Elfen Lied Vol-1: Vector One (2004)
Animation Production: Genco/VAP
Released by: ADV Films
Episodes: 1-4
Running Time: 100 minutes
By Jeffrey Couto

Introduction

When I saw the blood splattered preview box for Elfen Lied my first thought was to pass this one on to our reviewer Kakumei Shojo, who enjoys darker fare of this type much more than I typically do. However after watching several DVD’s on Saturday night I said to myself, “what the heck”, might as well check this one out too and try to get out of my typical anime review picks. The DVD wasn’t too long so I figured I had nothing to lose.

Surprisingly, the series while having an extremely violent tone and dark feel to it, didn’t go way overboard with some aspects of the premise nor did it get too graphic for its own good, or better yet, too gory for my own good! I scare easily you know! Let’s check out and see what Elfen Lied about!

Story

"Lucy, a beautiful young mutant, is bred by the government to be the ultimate weapon. Armed with unfathomable powers, she escapes her handlers, but loses her memory in the process. Fortunately, our young waif is taken in by two well-meaning students. Now, with government killers on her trail, the disposition of a five year old, and a hair trigger for ultra-violence, Lucy and her young friends must unravel the dark secret of her legacy before it’s too late."-- ADV Films

Review

Volume one of Elfen Lied contains episodes one through four in the series, which include::

Episode 1: Beginning
A woman in a secured laboratory, heavily restrained by several security measures has broken loose and is going on a rampage that takes the lives of over twenty security personnel using a mysterious unseen power, whose only visual hint is a handprint highlighted by her victim’s blood. Somehow she manages to break of the secured facilities where she was being held and ends up falling to the ocean waters below.

The next day two college students, Kohta and Yuka, end up running into this mysterious girl while visiting a local beach. However, the vicious killer from the night before is no more, instead this enigmatic woman now seems quite friendly and non-threatening. Seeing that she can’t communicate and that she’s apparently had a rough night the pair take her into their care. This is the beginning of a dangerous situation for all of them…

Episode 2: Annihilation
The mysterious organization from where Nyu (as Kohta and Yuka have come to name the strange girl that appeared to them on the beach) came from is desperate to track her down and bring the girl back to their base. A small unit of specially trained soldiers is sent out to do the job, but when even their best man is easily taken down by this powerful adversary and her strange powers, they might need to reconsider their strategy.

Episode 3: Deep Feelings
Nyu seems to have a split personality, the sweet and friendly one that her new friends have experienced and the darker, psychotic persona that comes out when hit on the head or threatened by anyone. Fearful of this killer personality and her powers the organization that is after Nyu recruits another female of the same species as her, a Dyclonius, who is charged with the task of bringing her fellow mutant back, but when they finally meet will it explode into an all out war!?

Episode 4: Attack
This time its Dyclonius VS Dyclonius as Nyu takes on Nana. However Nana soon finds herself overwhelmed by Nyu’s superior powers. Can she help bring her fellow Dyclonious back to the lab where they both came from or is this the end for our young protagonist?

Dark, violent, mysterious, intriguing, thought provoking; these are some of the words and concepts that came to mind as I watched Elfen Lied. This is not at all the type of anime I enjoy from day to day, but something about how it's put together and designed just grabs you and doesn’t let go, even when the most disturbing of images plays on screen. Two components that contribute greatly to this “sticky X-factor” are the story which is constructed enigmatically enough that it makes you want to stick around to learn the next secret that’s revealed and the characters, which have many layers that are carefully and quite methodically revealed from episode to episode.

The story as it unfolds in these first four episodes is quite limited in what it reveals, but many hints are dropped and several ideas quickly come to play that will no doubt evolve into a much bigger play than what exists here. At the heart of the plot and much of the mysteries of the series at this point is the nature of Nyu’s being and her powers. By the time episode three ends we learn just enough to start wondering where this is all leading, which may very well be an all out evolutionary war between humans and the Dyclonius that will culminate in the complete destruction of either species or perhaps even both. Regardless of whether this is where everything is headed the information that we learn in these episodes is quite interesting within the context of the show and will probably make for an awesome plot build up.

The cast is surprisingly solid and manageable at this early stage of the series, which is a refreshing change from what is now the norm (you know, having 20 different characters introduced within the first 2 episodes that make you loose complete track of everything else that’s happening in the show). As part of the main three character triangle Kohta and Yuka prove to be a good balancing act between each other and with Nyu. Kohta is a sensible young man with a good heart who has been stricken by tragedy in his childhood. These experiences have resulted in his not being able to remember much of his youth, much to the frustration of Yuka.

Yuka is attending college with Kohta and is the “mother” of the group if you will. She is quite affectionate of Kohta and does everything she can to make his life easier. The only times she really gets into conflicts with everyone else is when she thinks that Kohta may be doing inappropriate things with Nyu (with this being a misunderstood situation most of the time or a simple case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time). She is the reasonable center of the group.

Nyu one the other hand could almost be considered to be two characters wrapped into one thanks to the nature of her very different personalities. On the one hand, she is a very affectionate and friendly with her two new friends, to the point where she’ll go out of her way to fix something that she’s done wrong even though she may not know what she did wrong in the first place. On the other hand when circumstances call for it she will turn into a monster that is capable of unheard of violence, capable of killing any and all humans in her path. In this state her memories and persona are completely separate from her other personality. This makes for an interesting duality to the character that translates into the story seamlessly and to great effect. I’m curious as to how they will expand on this concept as the show progresses.

The overall production of this manga gone anime series is extremely well rounded. There are a lot of digital enhancements used throughout to support the more traditional 2-D artwork and there are also several CGI effects used (such as for Nyu’s attacks) that add to the cutting edge anime look Elfen Lied has. The frame rate is solid, although not a smooth as other releases from the same year. Background art is beautiful for the most part with a color scheme that while mixed tends to lean more towards the darker side of the equation.

The in-show soundtrack was good, but not too memorable for my taste. That being the said the opening was a delight to the ears with its chants oriented sounds. This alone is something that should be checked out (I hope a domestic copy of the soundtrack is released, I would buy it just to have this song). The ending song was good as well, but it had a more contemporary sound to it. The voice actors used here turned in a good performance although there were some areas where the voices just didn’t sound right.

On the DVD end this is a solid, albeit basic package. The packaging although fan-service oriented does fit in very well with the style of the show and features Nyu in a shot that reminds one of her escape in episode one. Inside the box a small insert includes a clean copy of the same artwork on one side and an interview with director Mamoru Kanbe on the other, which makes for a quick, but interesting read. Extras include clean copies of the opening and closing themes, a character artwork gallery, production artwork and previews for other ADV Films’ releases. The video and audio transfers for this release are as perfect as can be expected with very good clarity for the sound and a sharp transfer for the video component.

Final Thoughts

Fans of violent or dark anime titles should be reserving their copies of this release now. From everything that I’ve read during my research into the series this one is supposed to get really good as the story progresses.

Violent, gory, mind grabbing. This one gets a high recommendation for folks interested in this type of fare. I seldom see shows like this, but with this one I found myself enjoying every single second of it.

Jeffrey Couto