Elfen Lied is one of those series that you read and question whether or not it was a good series, oh wait, no it isn't. Elfen Lied is an amazingly written series that had a lot of very adult themes. It was the first series that I had ever read that I had come back to at a later age with more education and enjoyed it more due to my expanded knowledge. Whether your a psychologist or a biologist this series has a lot to offer to both different professions. It's less than I can say for Okamato's other work.

Elfen Lied takes a scientific approach to the whole "magical girl" genre, I put that in brackets because they aren't technically magical in this series, they use a force created by their bodies that the humans have taken to calling vectors (one defintion of vector being "an organism that transmits a disease or parasite from one animal or plant to another), which is a sort of way to insult these beings because these arm like appendanges can transmit their DNA into the bodies of humans, meaning that the humans infected with this DNA will give birth to Diclonius children (Diclonius being another insult to them, calling them an animal with horns). What makes this series so interesting to a person who believes in science like me is the fact that they explain everything with science, and very well so. Okamato uses already existing aspects of humanity and amplify them to create the dliclonius as a fictional species and makes it believable. In a strange sort of way, author Lynn Okamato makes it so that this fictional species that has monumental power is decently believable. Then the story of the series is pretty well written as well. For those of you that haven't heard of or prefer to avoid spoilers for series to a massive extent, this series is about a young diclonius woman who falls out of a tower and is found with amnesia on the Kamakura beaches by two other young adults, it follows these people through their experiences that all seem to revolve around the diclonius girl. The manga has a great amount of character development, even for lesser characters and even villains. Even the villains are well written. From an institution director attempting to protect his daughter, to said daughter attempting to protect her father, or even a diclonius man that has endorse humanity viewing his species as monster-like. There isn't a single human character. Though I can't say why the series is called Elfen Lied without spoiling a major plot point. This series also has a knack for portraying very adult themes very maturely while keeping a good amount of levity at nearly all points of the series. The sexual/physical abuse that one of the characters has survived is handled extremely well in a really realistic way. Then you also have a character that has a such a lack of self confidence that she has to wear a diaper because she can't control her bladder due to her lack of self confidence, this is still handled in a very mature way.

But the series is kind of lacking in the means of art. It starts of decently drawn and ends off a bit better, and as this is the authors first manga. His next series, Brynhildr in the Darkness, looks a lot better but of course it does everything else worse.

Age Rating: M for Blood and Gore, Disturbing content, Child Rape/Abuse, Nudity, Adult Themes, Explicit language, Intense Violence, and Incest.

Disclaimer: This is not for the faint of heart or those who are squeamish, there is a lot of mature content that something from North America wouldn't dare touch on. Okamato doesn't censor this series in the slightest.

Overall Rating: 9/10

Elfen Lied is a very well written series with a slight amount of fan service. But in the end it takes its intended audience seriously, which makes it one of the most enjoyable series I have ever seen.