Elfen Lied Vector 1 - Armchair Empire

• Media Source:Armchair Empire
• Reviewed By:Tazman
• Review Date:06/09/05
• Read the original review click here

Idle hands are the Devil?s Plaything.

Nyu is a babe in the woods. Washed up on the shore, unable to communicate, she?s discovered by a pair of college students ? Kohta and Yuka ? and counts on them for everything.

Lucy is a vicious killer. Equipped with a battery of deadly psychic arms, she dismembers her enemies before they have time to scream. The two personalities couldn?t be more different ? if only they didn?t have to share the same body!

In Elfen Lied, Volume One, innocence and evil collide in some very dark places. As the rooms in Kohta?s rented house fill with runaways and killer mutants ? danger mounts outside. Whether it?s from a renegade soldier or a mutant assassin ? one wrong move could mean the difference between life and death!

Elfen Lied (pronounced ?LEEED?, don?t know why but it is) is definitely one of the darker anime to be imported in recent time. Using stark imagery and graphic violence to tell a intertwined story of abuse, betrayal, and love that will shock people quite often with its twists and turns. A complex story of the relationships between Kohta and all of the women in his life and the incidents of the diclonius that have escaped. This series is rated TV-MA for a reason, so you may want to watch something else if violence bothers you.

Lucy the diclonius is a mutant, besides the horns on her head, she resembles everyday humans. She possesses the ability to control 6 psychic arms that can stretch up to 2 meters away from her body and can not only defend her but make for devastating weapons. She is currently being studied at a high security research facility, but a guard?s mistake has allowed the killer to escape her confinement and she is making a bee-line for the door. On her way

out of the facility, she is brutally slaughtering anyone foolish enough to try and stop her. Chief Kurama tries directing the defense against her, but is unable to stop her onslaught. She is even able to deflect a 50 mm anti-tank shell from killing her, but the impact is taken on the head and she falls into the ocean.

Kohta has returned to rent a former restaurant from his cousin Yuka who he will be attending college with. The two have not seen each other in many years, at the time Kohta experienced an unnamed trauma that continues to affect him today. While walking along the beach, they come across a college age girl who has washed up on to the sand. The girl (who is Lucy) doesn?t appear able to talk except for the phrase Nyu. Naming the girl Nyu-chan, they take her along to Kohta?s apartment and begin to look after her. After some time in the house, Kohta begins to reminisce about his family and when he looks at the seashells that his deceased sister gave him, he becomes melancholy. Seeing him upset, Nyu breaks the seashells thinking that they were upsetting him. The act enrages Kohta and he yells at Nyu until she slinks out of the house and heads back to the beach.

At the research facility, they make preparations to search for Lucy and are prepping an assault team to neutralize the girl. Their trump card is the psychopath Bandoh, who is so excited by killing that it dominates his every waking moment and is itching for combat against worthy opponents.

Yuka is worried about the missing Nyu, so she heads out to search for her while Kohta sulks at home. He is visited by 2 police detectives who are canvassing the area looking for a girl who looks suspiciously like Nyu but with more vicious eyes. With the brusque manner in which he is questioned, he does not tell the detectives what he knows and instead claims to know nothing. Now worried about Nyu, he heads to the beach and finds her. While talking to her, he is attacked by Bandoh and another soldier who knocks him unconscious. Bandoh continues to taunt and assault Nyu trying to see what makes her a dangerous killer, but when she doesn?t respond he strikes her in the head and orders his associate to kill her.

The blow to the head causes Lucy?s personality to come to the surface, and she kills the other soldier then begins to fight with Bandoh. The fight is pretty one sided, and ends with Lucy poking out his eyes and ripping both of his arms off. At the end, Nyu?s personality resurfaces and she runs off. The commotion of the fight drew a young homeless girl and her dog to the area, upon seeing the severely injured man she renders what first aid that she can then runs off to call an ambulance. When she returns with help, Bandoh is gone. Yuka comes across the unconscious Kohta and brings him to a hospital ? after being seen by doctors, Kohta is once again visited by the detectives to whom he relates the two soldiers that attacked him. The detectives don?t seem too surprised, but instead suggest that they may have been gang members dressed up and they suggest that he forget the incident. Heading home, Kohta is greeted by a very cold and wet Nyu who gives him a new seashell to replace the one she broke.

Episode 03

Yuka realizes that she forgot to give Kohta a key to the apartment when she brought him back from the hospital ? and comes across the worst possible scene: Kohta trying to change Nyu?s wet clothes while keeping his eyes closed. This upsets Yuka (as you?d imagine) but mostly because Kohta doesn?t remember how much he meant to Yuka back when they were children, and all of this time she has been carrying a torch for him that he does not seem to know anything about. All of the excitement has taken a toll on Kohta and he develops a nasty cold and fever, with only Nyu in the house to watch over him you wouldn?t believe the trouble in getting a glass of water.

The research facility prepares another counter-measure for Lucy, this time they intend to fight fire with fire. Another diclonius, Nana is being sent out to try and neutralize Lucy long enough for support to overwhelm her. The young girl believes that Chief Kurama is her father and is willing to do anything that he asks in order to make him happy in her eyes including the extensive testing that is being performed at the facility. Bandoh is convalescing at the facility as well and learns that he is going to have to be castrated if he wants to live. Demanding to know why, Kurama explains that people who have come into contact with the ?vectors? (psychic arms) will have offspring that are diclonius instead of regular humans, and the facility wants to stem the increase of them.

Yuka finally returns to the house and helps a sick Kohta regain his strength and brings the house back into order after Nyu?s frantic searching. The house is visited by the homeless girl Mayu who was returning the umbrella that Kohta lost when he was knocked unconscious. He asks Mayu about that night and she confirms the presence of soldiers on the beach ? Kohta now believes that the police were covering something up and does not trust them now. Nyu tries to help clean the house but she slips on the floor and hits her head, which brings out the Lucy personality. As Kohta nears her, Lucy sends out her vectors to attack him but she suddenly recognizes him and does not attack, but instead leaves the house.

Episode 04

Nana is able to track down Lucy thanks to her diclonius abilities and begs her to surrender. Lucy warns the young girl off, but after being pestered enough, she becomes angry and begins fighting with Nana. The battle quickly becomes interesting as Nana?s vectors aren?t as powerful as Lucy?s but they do have a longer reach which allows Nana to keep her outside her fighting range while restraining her. Once Lucy starts throwing objects at her, the battle becomes intense.

In the city, Mayu is visiting a local baker and asks for breadcrusts to feed Wanta, her dog (and herself). Running into Yuka, she is ashamed and runs off. Yuka talks to the baker and they start to believe that she is homeless. Mayu is with her pet, eating breadcrusts near the battle between Lucy and Nana and when she hears it she runs to see it. Nana fears Mayu getting hurt and loses concentration and consequently has her leg torn off. Lucy throws Mayu away and then rips off all of Nana?s limbs, just then a visibly upset Chief Kurama arrives with the reinforcements to neutralize Lucy. Kurama is upset that Nana tried to stop Lucy alone and was so seriously hurt in the process, Nana is able to neutralize Lucy?s vectors long enough that she is left with no option but to flee. Taking back to the laboratory, Chief Kurama can do little to help Nana so he gives her a drug to help her sleep.

Mayu is injured from being thrown and with no family, she has the hospital contact Kohta who impersonates a family member and gets her released. Sensing that she needs help, he offers her dinner at his home and a place to stay for the night. In the meantime, Nyu has resurfaced at home and is happily helping Yuka prepare dinner for Kohta. The meeting between Mayu and Nyu goes rather well ? Mayu sees Nyu and thinks that it?s Lucy but decides that it couldn?t be as Nyu is so nice.

This first disc of Elfen Lied does a good job of setting the plate for some downright nasty change-ups later and it doesn?t skimp on the violence and extreme personalities. If you are looking for something darker than most anime fare, this is definitely it.

- Tazman

(June 11, 2005)

Posted on Thursday, June 09, 2005 (Archive on Saturday, July 09, 2005)