Elfen Lied

I was really surprised by the way this show went from a semi-fan service show to a genuine deep and story driven show...with fan service. The story's about a group of Diclonius are being kept in an underground lab. Diclonius are humanoid mutants; their mutant traits include small horns sticking out of their skulls and telepathically manipulated phantom arms (known as vectors) with a reach of at least two meters. Diclonius also have some serious mental health issues (homicidal tendencies being the most noteworthy). One of the diclonius escapes (naturally) and meets college students Kohta and Yuka, who take her in and name her Nyu, which was the only word she could say. However, the Nyu has another, more murderous personality called Lucy. Lucy escaped from a secret island lab by slaughtering more than a dozen guards and once she reached the mainland, the Nyu half of her personality kicked in.

I don't normally go for shows like Elfen Lied; I'm not a big fan of shows or movies whose main selling points seem to be nothing more than gratuitous violence and nudity (hence why I think 300 is horrible movie), but for some reason this one works for me, mostly because it is all rather stylishly done. The first two to three episodes of Elfen Lied are gleefully nasty and incredibly stylish, and I enjoyed them in a guilty pleasure sort of way. But what I wasn't expecting and what I couldn't love more was how the show's story and characters would deepen the way they do. So I was surprised when I suddenly found myself just as engaged by the story. Sure, the numerous decapitations and bloody fights are fun, but there's now a genuinely engaging emotional undercurrent to the proceedings.

There were sometimes where the plot's treatment of some of the characters seemed to be too harsh or just too much, but a course correction was usually right around the corner. I was also pleased by the distinct lack of annoyingly goofy, stupid characters. In fact, the one bubbly, bumbling character is killed off in the first five minutes. This series simply kept getting better and better. From the characters and their relationships, to the various ploy threads, to the humor, right on down to the rampant bloodshed, almost everything about Elfen Lied works. For the time being, this easily in my top ten best anime series.