General feedback: Scary or thought provoking?

[Gracewing]

I wasn't there last night, but I have seen (some of) Elfin Leid before. ^^

Although the excessive amount of bloody, guts, gore and such didn't really appeal to me at first, I did like Elfin Leid for it's plotline, the way it deals with the extremes of someone's personality, and how power can be used/misused when influenced by other people (not sure how far you watched, but people are always on the offensive with Lucy, so she has conformed to their expectations).

What did you guys think?

[Indefinite Description]

gracewing said:

Although the excessive amount of bloody, guts, gore and such didn't really appeal to me at first...

Emphasis added: tell us more...

(Point of information: it's Lied.)

[Elscyre]

I'm biased in this of course, but I think Elfen Lied is a great anime.

Usually I'm not a great fan of blood and violence in anime, in fact many of my favourites are as far removed from such things as it is feasible to get. (Ichigo Mashimaro anyone?) I sat out of Gantz two terms ago.

Anyway, in the case of Elfen Lied I find that the interest comes from how the various horrors characters are subject to (removal of body parts, child abuse..) are catalysts for their behaviour, and explanatory factors behind their personalities.

As we saw towards the end of the most recent episode, for example, it is becoming clear that Lucy is not merely just a killing machine; she has a complicated history, and it is this past which serves to make her the way she is.

I think there's a significant underlying moral, but I'm not going to risk spoilers in discussing it further right now.

p.s. Nana is so lovely! I'd have been distraught if Lucy had killed her ;_;

[Indefinite Description]

Mmmm. I disliked GANTZ for its Kafkaesque tendencies, which I don't find in Elfin Lied; but I find its appeal more emotional than intellectual. (Before the ghost of Robert Solomon, a recently deceased philosopher noted for the mantra 'emotions are judgments', comes to haunt me, yes, I'm speaking loosely and accept it's properly a false dichotomy.) The tragic emotions flow pretty readily, and Lucy/Nyuu especially inspires a kind of nervous sympathy.

As for the provocation of reflective thought, however, while there's certainly some complexity to characters' motivations I'm not finding my perceptions... challenged. I'd be more surprised if characters' personalities were treated as gratuitous facts; the process of explanation through progressive revelation deepens understanding and thereby sympathy, but it follows the natural expectation that people act for reasons, thereby satisfying us that Lucy is psychologically intelligible, therefore human in that respect, therefore someone we can try to understand and relate to.

[Falciferum]

I'm really enjoying watching this and I'm absolutely with Lucy all the way. She's the realisation of my monster, my id, who wants nothing more than to brutally murder every motherfucker in its way. Sure I've seen other violent animes but what makes Elfen Lied so delicious is its appreciation of using it for tragedy and retribution.
I might just be feeding off the violent elements of what is as a whole a genuinely, as the title of the topic says, thought-provoking anime for reasons already discussed, but for me I am genuinely enthralled everytime the blood starts to pour. My admiration for Lucy is of course challenged by the fact she killed Kouta's immediate family, but for now it's easy to overlook that.
I haven't seen the series all the way through as I'm watching it for the first time at the society meetings, surely I can't be the only one who, for instance, after first being told the background story of Mayu is desperately pleading, begging, praying for Lucy (or even Nana) to find out about it and bring forth the fucking pain!

[Indefinite Description]

I'd say part of the appeal for me is that it's kept less than entirely clear to what extent Lucy is a psychopath and to what extent she's making moral judgments.