I'm so glad I watched this rather obscure series. I thoroughly enjoyed it until the very end and I generally don't like Anime at all. I think anyone with a strong stomach should watch it. It's pure brilliance. I simply can't believe how it grabbed me and kept me interested until it was over. I'll keep this spoiler-free except for the basic details in case any of you want to watch it.

The story revolves around beings called Diclonius--they look like humans, only they have pink hair and weird horns on their heads that look like the ears of a cat. They appear to be part of a genetic mutation and seem to posees some very creepy abilities. So basically, humans are frightened of this new "species", so they lock them up in specialized facilities for experiments. One of them escapes and.....well, I'll stop there.

It sounds like a clich?concept out of a sci-fi movie, I know--but trust me, the excecution is excellent. The series has a balanced mixture of Action, Comedy, Horror, character development and Drama along with some beautiful music. A pretty good deal if you ask me. The characters are likeable and we actually get to know them as the series goes through its short range of episodes (13 eps plus an extra 14th one that I haven't seen). I sat through the whole thing in a single viewing, that's how hooked I was.

I would also like to commend the American voice-actors for their great acting. I can't comment on the Japanese ones because I only watched two subbed episodes in Japanese and I can't even understand it in the first place. Another big plus is the fact that it was a lot more grounded in reality than some other Animes I've seen.

Unfortunately, as good as it was, it still fell into a variety of typical Anime clich? Such as most of the "good" characers being 100% pure and good-willed (with the exception of the protagonist--if you've seen it, you know why) while some of the bad guys are absolutely evil bastards with no redeeming qualities whatsoever (although this only applies to a few of them).

Another cliche present were the extreme levels of emotion coming from certain characters. It is quite corny... although every single Anime seems to suffer from this, so you should not detract any points because of that.

Lastly, a certain subplot was introduced quite late into the series and didn't work as good as it could've had.

Okay, so much for the bad stuff.

It is an excellent Anime though *not intended for young kids*.  If you're heavily grounded on American (or other similar) culture, you might find some of the material in the series to be offensive. The Japanese have different views on what people should and shouldn't watch, so there is plenty of nudity--actually, no. I take that back. Most of the nudity is in the opening credits only. There is only some of it in the actual series and it is--at least for the most part--tastefully done. And it is animated, so who the hell cares?

Then there's also the fact that falling for a cousin is acceptable in Japan. If you can get past that, it should be okay.

BE WARNED: The nudity isn't the only thing you might get shocked by. There is some strong language (even in the dubbed version) and extreme gore and violence (physical and psychological as well) here and it doesn't matter who is getting killed or who or what is getting abused--they'll show everything. Since it is an Anime and not live-action, there are no boundaries. I wouldn't recommend showing this to your son or daughter at all just because it's a cartoon.

I would really recommend you hunt this down unless you really can't stand Anime or if are sensitive person.

The story leaves some loose ends, although it still provides a good sense of closure. I can't blame the creators though...I think they wanted to make more episodes. Either way--a very good Anime with a very good story. 8/10 many other people loved it (IMDB rating of 8.7), and I'm not surprised. It's a truly touching and entertaining piece of work.  

*edit*The correct spelling for the title is Elfen Lied--not "Elfin".

--Julio