Elfen Lied

Elfen Lied (ja エルフェンリート, erufen rīto ) is a Manga of Lynn Okamoto published by the editions Shūeisha in 12 volumes, adapted a Anime of 13 episodes and a OAV produced in 2004 by VAP & GENCO and animated by the studios Arms.

Elfen Lied means German “Song elfic” in and decides roughly liːt . However, the German correct writing is Elfenlied .

Elfen Lied was prépublié in the magazine Weekly Young Jump of June 2002 in November 2005 and was published with the Japan by Shueisha. The version animates was as for it produces by studios VAP and GENCO and diffused from July 25th to October 17th, 2004 on Nipponese chain AT-X. Animates is a rather faithful adaptation of the manga but finishes differently because when animates it was diffused, the manga was not finished yet. A OAV left to Japan on April 21st, 2005 and is intercalated between episode 10 and 11.

In France, animates it is laid off by the editor Kaze. It will be available in DVD in 4 volumes. The first volume is available in France

Synopsis

Diclonius are human mutants having of the horns of which they draw a capacity telekinetic represented by “vectors”: phantom arms stretching itself since their backbone, provided with a force devastator. Because of that they are maintained in captivity in a laboratory of high security to be studied there.

Lucy, a diclonius, escapes from the laboratory by massacring the guards before being touched with the head by a sniper, which precipitates it in the ocean. It awakes on a beach and is helped by a young boy named Kōta and its Yuka cousin. She however lost the memory and Kōta and Yuka decide to lodge it on their premises, then give him a name: Nyu, the only word which it seems able to pronounce. The life of Nyu starts then with Kōta and Yuka. A peace of short duration because a commando of elite is dispatched to find and eliminate Lucy. After its failure, the laboratory employs two others diclonius to kill Lucy/Nyu.

Characters

Lucy

Lucy (ja ルーシー, Rūshī ) is an young girl diclonius of approximately 18 years. She has four vectors with a limiting range of two meters. However, it is very fast and can take any object and make use of it of projectiles against its enemies. Lucy hates the human ones because they maltreated it and betrayed during its childhood. Consequently, she regards the non-diclonius simple objects and not as whole people with share. She misses emphatie, kills in a way not involved and shown sometimes sadism. In spite of its little of interest for the human life, she refuses to carry reached in Kōta like killing in her presence.

Nyū

Nyū (ja にゅう) is another personality that Lucy developed after being touched by a shooting of sniper to the head. Nyū has a personality very immature and childish and expresses itself only with “nyu” even if, thereafter, she learns some words. Its innocent character and non-violent contrast strongly with the cold one and Lucy relentless. When Nyū is in danger or when that it receives a blow on the head, it becomes again Lucy. Contrary, it takes again its personality of Nyū after a certain time or when which it receives from the affection.

Kōta

Kōta (ja コウタ) is young a 19 year old student who, at the beginning of the history, just comes to move in his cousin in order to study in the local university. Kōta drove back at the bottom of him memories very horrifying which marked its childhood It is very attentive towards the girls and particularly towards those which know problems.

Yuka

Yuka (ja ユカ) is the cousin of Kōta. She is also approximately 19 years old and studies in the same university as her cousin. She moved in with him in an old inn belonging to her mother. She is in love with Kōta since childhood, and nourishes a jealousy towards Nyū which is entitled to all the attention of Kōta.

Chick

Nana (ja ナナ) is another 16 years diclonius, it thinks of being the girl of the Kurama director because of the affection that he carried to him while she was locked up (whereas the true girl of the director is Mariko). Chick is slackened to kill Lucy, but during its combat, Lucy tears off its two arms and its two legs to him. Of return to the base, Nana is not any more in a position to use anything of other than his vectors, the director puts false-members to him whom it will direct with her vectors. Chick is slackened in nature by the director against her truths orders which were to kill her. She will live then with Kōta, Yuka, Mayu and Nyū, but Nana thinks that Nyū is Lucy and wants to kill it.

Mayu

Mayu is young a 13 years old teenager, it will celebrate its 14 years during the series. She fled from her because she did not support any more her beautiful father who benefitted from her. She had spoken about it with her mother, but the latter did not do anything, because she knew that the only means so that this man remains with her was that he misuses his daughter. She was adopted by Kouta, Yuka and Nyû. Kouta pays him the expenses of the hospital.

Manga

Volumes

Prépublié in the Weekly Young Jump , the manga is finished and contains 107 chapters compiled in 12 volumes:

No-claims bonus

The author of the manga, Lynn Okamoto, added in certain volumes of the no-claims bonus which are in fact of the short stories that the author had drawn before. Besides they do not have any bond scenaristic with Elfen Lied .

MOL - no-claims bonus of volume 1
Digitopolis - no-claims bonus of volume 2
Memoria - no-claims bonus of volume 3
Will square - no-claims bonus of volume 5

In volume 8, there are also two short stories but which, this time, occur in the universe from Elfen Lied :

NOZOMI - This history explains the past of Nozomi and explains why it decided to move with the inn of Yuka.

the second short history shows us the main characters to make a small very sprinkled festival. While Chick and Mayu are sleeping, Yuka and Nyū expose their charms to Kōta. Unfortunately, their small festival stops as soon as Nyū deviate Lucy which then seems very upset by the situation.

Animate

The series was carried out by Mamoru Kanbe and was produced by studios GENCO and VAP. It contains thirteen episodes of which the eleven first rather accurately cover the first sixty chapters of the manga, i.e. until volume 6 included. The last two episodes as for them derive significantly from this one, to offer a conclusion to animates. The author of the series, Lynn Okamoto, makes a short appearance in episode 12.

Elfen Lied for the first time was diffused on the satellite chain of TV Tokyo, AT-X, from July 25th to October 17th, 2004 and was repeated in 2005 because of its success. April 21st, 2005, a 24 minutes OAV also left to Japan. It is intercalated in the history between episode 10 and 11 and has one duration equal to that of a normal episode (approximately 25 minutes) what lead some to prefer to him the name of episode 10.5 or then even of episode 14. This OAV, with the lighter tone, does not make advance the history but brings elements on supporting characters.

List episodes

1 - Meet Chance

2 - Cleaning

3 - Inside

4 - Transitory contact

5 - Victoire

6 - Defeat

7 - Le Monde

8 - Beginning

9 - Painful memories

10 - Infant

11 - Complication

12 - Marsh

13 - Irreversible

14 - OAV (episode which never passed on TV) (10.5) - In the Downpour

Technical informations

Author: Lynn Okamoto
Realizer: Mamoru Kanbe
Script: Takao Yoshioka
Music: Kayo Konishi, Generic Yukio Kondō
of beginning: Kumiko Named
Générique of end: Chieko Kawabe
Draftsmen: Seiji Kishimoto, Hiroyuki Ogawa
Producing: Kazuaki Morijiri, Manabu Tamura, Osamu Koshinaka

Japanese doubling

Lucy/Nyuu : Sanae Kobayashi
Kōta : Chihiro Suzuki
Yuka : Mamiko Noto
Chick: Yuki Matsuoka
Mayu : Emiko Hagiwara
Professor Kakuzawa Yu : Hiroaki Hirata
Kouta (child): Hitomi Nabatame
Bandou : Jouji Nakata
Kurama : Osamu Hosoi
Mariko : Tomoko Kawakami
Secretary: Asuka Tanii
Shirokawa : Hitomi Nabatame
Kisaragi : Maria Yamamoto
Ordering of Sat: Masakazu Kohara
the Man out of Suit: Naoki Kinoshita
Sniper : Hajime Iijima
Guard: Yuuki Tai

O.S.T

Lilium - Opening version
Katsubou
Shinkai
Hanayou
Senkou
Yureai
Jouzai
Rin'
Yokusoku
Hakuri
Uso Sora
Youkou
Neji
Ametsuyu
Lilium - Saint version

Credits

; Credits of opening

Lilium (example played harpsichord) of Kumiko Named

; Credits of end

Be your girl of Chieko Kawabe

Difference with the manga

Compared with the manga, the approach and information on the diclonius differ on certain points. The virus diclonius is more briefly explained and with less precise details. In animates, all the diclonius have hair varying between the red, the purple one and it pink whereas in the manga Lucy/Nyū has the pink hair, those of Chick are purple dark and Mariko is fair. The diclonius also seem to have a limited number of vectors what is not the case in the manga.

Characters who appear in the first sixty chapters of the manga in theory covered by animates do not appear, such as for example, Nozomi, a knowledge of Yuka. In the same way, the musical box which plays the melody of the credits of opening Lilium does not appear in the manga.

Reception in Occident

Animates was greeted for the quality of its production, its animation and the use of the colors. One of criticisms is that the series finishes rather abruptly what can leave certain dissatisfied televiewers. In spite of its criticisms, the Western critics described the series as really has genuinely good watch , has horror series off exceptional merit , In 2004, at the time of the AnimeReactor Community Awards , the fans chose Elfen Lied like better Opening/ending, better Drame, better thriller (mystery, horror), better fanservice and Lucy/Nyuu was selected like better female character.

Topics approached

Animates as the manga are very violent one and gores and contain scenes of nudity as well as a certain psychological violence. They include/understand frequent scenes of tortures and mutilations of children. The emotional screen mixes in several points love and assassinat.
It treats in particular the problems of the genetic engineering and the evolution of the human race.

However, the emotions which it produces and the criticism of the company are of a rare intensity. This violence and these characters in distress make it possible to make pass from the messages which remain deeply registered in the spirit of the reader or the spectator.

The force of this history lies in the perfect control of the art of contrasts like in the setting in scene of those. It very introduces characters Kawaii on a music melancholic person by alternating the scenes of paternalist behavior, of very childish innocence, Ecchi, violence, cruelty or amorality, leading to an intensification of the emotions of the spectator. The realizer manages to manage the level of tension by musical or environmental environments, and by the selection of the type of scenes, intersecting dark scene with scene of life, scene of life by threat…

Artwork

Among the notable characteristics of figure the credits of beginning of episode animate. It shows us representations of the characters of animates taking as a starting point the work by the painter and artist Autrichien Gustav Klimt. One can see there the Kiss , Adele Bloch-Bauer I or Die Umarmung . These representations are accompanied by a Latin melody and in Greek inspired by the Bible and written by Kumiko Noma, Lilium . It is composed by Kayo Konishi and Yukio Kondō.

The music of the credits of beginning lasts 1 min 30. There exists a long version of this song on the OST of animates: it is about Lilium ~full version~ .

The credits of fine also show an imitation of a work of Klimt, Danaë

The title of animates as for him is drawn, according to the manga, of Elfenlied by Hugo Wolf, melody inspired of a poem of Eduard Mörike.

References and Notes

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