Hello! This post is for all those who saw the anime Elfen Lied! If you haven't I advice you, it's a VERY good anime series (sometimes a bit harsh or gruesome, but the story rules) and it only has 13 episodes! (or so)

I wanted to advice people who have watched this to use LUCY as a primitive element.
She has these Vectors which can be resembled by the 'finger' primitive. Finger is so all around, but LUCY is a clear image of that girl with her vectors. The primitive for finger is SO COMMON! I love it how really around 100 of my stories all involve Lucy, this makes it considerabally easy to remember the 'finger'-Kanji.

Examles Given:
Criticism: They all compared lucy to monsters and critisesed her.
Clear the Land: The fallen army commander resides at the beach, awaiting Lucy. But to avoid last time's scenario he has cleared the land of rock and stuff like that.
Arrest: The phrase "You are under arrest!" is not something Lucy would listen to... (She's chop the head off! xD)
Pinch: The little girl with the 15 vectors or so, pinched Lucy badly, claiming her to be antique.
Brandish: Lucy easily brandishes things like tanks (charriot) with her vectors.

Also stories not related to the Anime which can include Lucy:
Hoist: A piggy bank get hoisted to the ceiling in a casino. They're having some trouble hanging it up there, so call Lucy to help with her vectors. xD
Put up a notice: Same story, the Muchacho still wants an audience to say how poor he is... So he asks Lucy to put up a notice.
Pick: Who would be able to pick the first apple from the tree? Lucy or the vulture?
Bungling: I could see Lucy bungling through 2 mountains, like Spider-Man, using her vectors.

Anyway! Sorry if this is not the right place to post it. And I haven't added the Kanji so while reading this you'd immediately get to refresh your Keyword-Kanji memory! ^^

Have fun!
-Mesqueeb

That's a very good anime indeed.

I will remember your tips when I get there. Thank you.

It's an interesting anime, but the soft porn nature of it bugged me. I didn't end up watching it all. If I want to watch porn i'll watch porn, if I want to watch anime i'll watch anime, but maybe that's just me.

thermal Wrote:It's an interesting anime, but the soft porn nature of it bugged me. I didn't end up watching it all. If I want to watch porn i'll watch porn, if I want to watch anime i'll watch anime, but maybe that's just me.

I agree. Although I did end up watching it all (and reading it actually), I can't see how it gets championed as much as it seems to be. If it didn't have all the 'Nyu' stuff or at least toned down on it, maybe. But personally I was more interested in the action/sci-fi side of the story than the harem bit (or harem stories at all).

But I'll give this a try next time I get a new/failed kanji with that primitive.

I don't think it's hentai tinted at all. You sometimes see a breast but that's it. I have seen series where you see LESS skin but they are so much more ecchi. I thought the bit nudity you see was very mature handled and made no big deal off, because that's just life, sometimes you see a breast, so what. AND The story is really friggin' awesome! xD And the intro song is also really awesommmme! xD
Oh and I was wondering if seeing a breast in that anime buggs a person, how can you do Heisig? xD it has so many ecchi references in kanji! And that's not even Heisig's fault but the old wise chinese. >,<
Anyway, don't wanne sound rude or anything! Because that's always the danger with text messages right? ^^ Please keep in mind this was all said with a smile.

Anyway the current debate over whether or not Elfen Lied is hentai has nothing to do with the fact that...
Lucy is a really easy primitive to make stories off!

Let me give you 1 more: Aid = Fingers + Head of the family.
So fingers are actually vectors so it's Lucy. Lucy + Head of the family :: Remember the train scene of little Kouta... He, his siter, and Lucy were having an argument in the train, but just as the head of the family came to the aid he was also gruesomely sliced by Lucy. Hence Lucy slicing the head of the family who came to the aid. >,<

Yarrr!
-Mesqueeb

Mmm, elfen lied was very overrated for me. I watched it to see why it got 8-9/10 in reviews.
I forgot why i found it so horrible, but i remember i hated it.


But wd on the stories hope they work well for ya!

I've actually been having a lot of trouble recently with "pinch" "brandish" and "clear the land." Thanks for this excellent suggestion!

Elfen Lied was the first 'mature' anime I ever watched (and subsequently read the manga for), and I absolutely loved it. I can't wait to revisit the series in Japanese, though at the moment I am concentrating on too many other things to actually watch it with the vigor I would like.

Again, thanks for the tip!

Naisu, when looking if the series was known in these forums, I stumbled upon this thread about エルフェンリート. Good idea for a primitive here as well (finger <-> Lucy)! And I can recommend the series. I do not recognise the feelings of a hentai/ecchi nature, but rather thought the nudity was presented quite naturally and not at all for fan service or anything.

I've just watched the series, and it's a nice (and gory!) anime, thanks for the up (and the Klimt opening, gorgeous!). I'll probably read the manga someday. But I still prefer things like Kemonozume.

On topic -

Congrats to Mesqueeb for finding a tweak to RTK that works for you!

Off topic -

Prompted by this thread I downloaded Elfen Lied and I'm four episodes in... I don't think it's a ~bad~ anime per se, the music is great and the s&m vibe of experiments on naked girls is always fun... but the intro is ripped off from Gankutsuō and I can't stop picturing Hideki and Chi while watching the actual episodes... Right down to the innocent "nya" sounds she makes, to the guy changing her clothes for her, to not understanding Japanese, to the horns sticking out of her head....... If you've ever seen Chobits you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Recycled hash. Totally uncreative. Disappointing.

#edited for readability.

I remember reading the manga when it was coming out (or at least still being scanlated). As I recall, it was pretty fetishistic, and there were clearly ecchi parts. I'm not 100% on where I'd draw the line between what's hentai and what's not, much less what's "hentai tinted." And considering that the manga includes sex, I'd say the "is it hentai or not?" debate may be more relevant than the "is it hentai tinted or not?" debate.

At the time I didn't watch anime. I tried it, but I don't think I was able to finish the first episode. I have no idea what my opinion would be on the anime or the manga now.

The anime has nudity but, unless you consider violence and porn to be synonymous it is not soft porn by a long shot.

mpacheco Wrote:If you've ever seen Chobits you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Elfenlied aired before Gankutsuō and Chobits wasn't exactly original itself.


That being said, Elfenlied is one of the better animes to be PUSHED out in the last decade. I say PUSHED out, because there are moments were you can clearly see speed took priority over quality.

@OP

Awesome reference!

mpacheco Wrote:Recycled hash. Totally uncreative. Disappointing.

Will watch the precursors then! Then I can judge as well.

Kramden Wrote:I remember reading the manga when it was coming out (or at least still being scanlated). As I recall, it was pretty fetishistic, and there were clearly ecchi parts. I'm not 100% on where I'd draw the line between what's hentai and what's not, much less what's "hentai tinted." And considering that the manga includes sex, I'd say the "is it hentai or not?" debate may be more relevant than the "is it hentai tinted or not?" debate.

At the time I didn't watch anime. I tried it, but I don't think I was able to finish the first episode. I have no idea what my opinion would be on the anime or the manga now.

Again, I read the manga as well, and I do not recall such hentai nature. And I'm quite sure that there is no sex in the manga. Of course your definition may be other than mine, and, really, this is -I think- a subject where many people will draw very different lines.

kazelee Wrote:Elfenlied aired before Gankutsuō and Chobits wasn't exactly original itself.

My mistake with Gankutsuo.. As for Chobits - I wasn't arguing that Chobits was original, just that Chobits was an object (perhaps one of many) of, shall we say, "inspiration" for Elfenlied. I think the resemblance in undeniable.

@mpacheco

I've always seen chii and the main character of Elfenlied as plays on the catgirl theme. The catgirl theme has been around since before either show came out. I can see how one can attribute the characteristic to a familiar source. I don't think it's a fair comparison.

I guess "inspiration" could be a fair term though. Who know what inspires a person to draw out a story like this.

Some other aspect that are familiar but can't really be placed on a single source are the tortured scientist, the psychotic mind, the infant mind, the harem, and the callous mercenary. /nerd

kazelee Wrote:The catgirl theme has been around since before either show came out.

You're overlooking the specific examples I mentioned which, in my admittedly unqualified opinion (I don't watch much anime), extend beyond the realm of "cat girl" themes and into the realm of carbon-copying sub-plots. I have a feeling I could dig up more examples but I haven't seen Chobits in ten years or so and as for Elfenlied, I lost interest during episode 4 and deleted the torrent.

Anyway, this conversation is boring me so let's agree to disagree about whether Elfenlied is a great anime or an uninspired pos. haha And let's agree that it's great Mesqueeb found an RTK tweak that works so well! (Mesqueeb, sorry for the temporary thread hijack)

I'm always baffled by serious discussions on subjects like: a nipple slip here, breast or ass in a love/sex scene, etc. and the problem/controversy it creates for some people. While bombarding the viewer with blood, gut and violence in so many forms its hard to describe is usually "acceptable" (or at least gets you a lower rating).
Considering were all a product of sex (and most of us did/will do it ourselves) and majority of us didn't kill anyone I think it takes a special kind of hypocrisy to have these kinds of views.

Sex is a wonderful experience (usually) for both parties involved (except for rape victims), killing people sucks at least for one person involved (the killer might not be psyched about it either) but its sex that is stigmatized in western culture like its the devils incarnate. I suspect we can thank our dominant religions for such illogical situation but I'm sure human stupidity also played a role in this.

To sum up: she rips peoples HEADS OFF in the first scene and you're concerned if its hentai, ecchi or was there or wasn't sex??

I haven't seen the anime so I was referring to the manga. Anyway, it's been years, though I clearly remember one character being sexually abused with at least one rape scene. I was pretty, "Wow, that's hardcore," at the time (obviously I had no idea what doujinshi I would run across in the future). Also, as I recall, there are lots of weird characters and relationships with some pretty typical harem antics thrown in. I can't say I remember it particularly well, but I remember enough scenes to strongly suggest that it's not free of any sort of eroticism. If I have to reread the 80 volumes or whatever to make a point on an internet forum, I'll do it, by god!

. . . a few days later
"lol, turns out I'm wrong, guys!"

And I'm not concerned about sex, thurd ^.-

thurd Wrote:I'm always baffled by serious discussions on subjects like: a nipple slip here, breast or ass in a love/sex scene, etc. and the problem/controversy it creates for some people.

Moral dilemmas aside, sex and nudity can be touchy subjects because it's private matter.
I mean, we've all seen ourselves naked, but public nudity is still unacceptable. Sex fine in certain contexts (which vary from person to person), but when it's outside those contexts it becomes inappropriate. So, I think some people don't like (somewhat) pornographic material in otherwise non-pornographic shows (actually, that's partially why I hate people linking porn/talking about porn/using porn in kanji stories on this site).
I won't comment on violence.

"Moral Dilemmas aside . . . I won't comment on violence."

You skipped over the interesting issues. Anyway, I agree with thurd. Why is sex and nudity so stigmatized?

Well, I don't want to get too much off topic and I've only seen one episode of Elfen Lied.
I think one reason people don't get so hyped up about the violence is that it's supposed to be disturbing (right?), and that's all there is to it. If you decide to watch a violent show and then complain, it's like turning on a horror movie and then complaining about how scary it is. So, hm, people might get irritated/offended if they go to watch action and get some Chobits style soft porn (or whatever). But I get offended by gore and sex more than the average person, so I can't speak much for other people.

Elfen Lied creeped me out in the 'bad' sense of creepy; I appreciate creatively depicted action/disturbing violence etc. when it's indiscriminate in a sense in terms of 'real life' issues, and I think this is fairly common. There's something universal and abstracted about it that allows for a kind of Keatsian negative capability. Or when it's discriminatory but contextualized within the story and goes somewhere with that, does something with it beyond superficial engagement.

But in some media and I think Elfen Lied is exemplary, perversions/sexualized elements tend to operate on a surface level that feels masturbatory/offering a 'service' for the audience (a 'fanservice' if you will), and it connects to inbuilt gendered/sexual biases in society.

I don't think representations of sex and sexuality in any medium has managed to reach the baseline of creativity and egalitarianism when it's good or blanket generic incompetence when it's bad that violence has and thus I put extra sensitivity and criticism into those aspects of media on an aesthetic and principled level; but, I'm confident that it will evolve as long as people hold themselves to higher standards be it for mass or elitist consumption (and as long in the meantime that it's not 'thrown out with the bathwater').

I didn't understand a single word of that

Well, I think that at least in America there's an idea that nudity means sexuality. There's also a tendency for media to be either not sexual at all, very slightly sexual (sex scenes with no nudity, or scenes that hint that something sexual happens without showing it), or straight up porn. There's not a lot in-between, and when there is people make a big stink about it (why else would anyone remember the movie Basic Instinct?)

So, I think a lot of people in America (and probably a lot of other countries, but I can only speak for America) react to scenes with nudity, or even things like unnecessary panty-shots, very strongly. But, being that manga made for pre-teen and teen boys and girls in Japan often has sex mixed in with it--while not being porn--most people in Japan don't react strongly to a little nudity or sex. When a little is included, the director or writer is not trying to make you have a strong reaction, which is how an American director would use that kind of nudity or sexuality.

Though, I should note, I've always found America's preoccupation with sex and censorship weird. When Duke Nukem 3D came out on Nintendo 64 the strip clubs were replaced with gun stores (violence is better than sex in American censorship). Walmart sells guns, but not CDs that say "F--k". The way you try to make your kids mature about sex is pretending it doesn't exist until they're like 15. People scream when they see each other naked by mistake, haha. Weird.

mpacheco Wrote:You're overlooking the specific examples I mentioned which

Not really. I recognized your point and used the catgirl theme to illustrate my own.

Quote:Anyway, this conversation is boring me so let's agree to disagree about whether Elfenlied is a great anime or an uninspired pos.

Never really said it was great. It's among the best of the worst, at best. Chobits as well.

PS I don't watch much anime either (nudge nudge wink wink)

Tzadeck Wrote:The way you try to make your kids mature about sex is pretending it doesn't exist until they're like 15.

No. The way they make their children mature about sex is by telling them it's wrong.

Quote:People scream when they see each other naked by mistake, haha. Weird.

Shit only happens in movies, yo. Why you sterrrr eotypin?