the other day on a train this girl, who was probably in high school, kept looking at me. I realized that she was wearing a bnha deku shirt and she had seen the hatsune miku shirt i was wearing. i dont really care for bnha, but i remember being a teen girl in a small catholic school who would have been IMMENSELY excited & validated if i had seen a 20-something wearing anything remotely anime-related in my youth. I took out my headphones to tell her "nice shirt!" as I got off the train, but before I could she nervously blurted out "I love your shirt!" then a little quieter, "I love miku!" and I couldn't help but give her a huge grin, tell her I loved her shirt too and to have a great day. she lit up so brightly. even though anime is more accessible to her than it EVER was when I was growing up, it's still such a huge important touchstone for so many people who long for a sense of community and understanding that others may have but they might not have access to for one reason or another. idk where im going with this long comment, but watching your video reminded me of that moment and of my own feelings growing up. this analysis was fantastic, and I cant wait to check out your other videos :)
I don't know why, since i'm def not that girl, but I feel hella grateful to you. I never really dared to use any anime shirt for anything other than a comfy pajama, but if I ever did, i would have LOVED to meet someone like you!
I'm not even an anime fan or whatever, but I can tell that you're a very thoughtful person, I hope that interaction inspires her to make someone smile like you did to her when she gets old enough to be in a situation like that.
I constantly go through this in my daily life at work and such. I'm a 27 year old man, but I was one of the three who made an anime club at my school, so I was a huge weeb. I'm always complimenting anime shirts, mentioning it when I can, and the excitment in anyones eyes when you recognize what they thought was a niche interest is always lovely. It's just a pleasant thing to do that spreads positivity. Never be afraid to say "Nice Shirt" And ask questions about what they like!
The reason Elfen Lied resonated with me when I watched in high school in the mid 2010s was because the anime is explicitly about trauma. As a kid, you don't have a fully formed perspective of the world. Unless you got lucky and had an emotionally mature, well educated family, you don't have people to tell you when you are depressed, or when you're being abused or manipulated. You have to figure that shit out on your own. Or, more often than not, die without ever understanding yourself or others. Elfen Lied was an expression of emotions I didn't even know I had at the time. It helped me come to terms with the fact that my family was low key abusive, that maybe I wasn't a monster in human skin but a regular person in a shitty situation. It helped me develop some level of empathy for other people and their stories.
Actually same. I hate to admit it but the reason I latched on so hard to Elfen Lied when I was 13-14 was because as broken as it is, it was the first thing I saw that had a very brutal depiction of sexual assault trauma, and people dealing with memory issues because of it. Having been raised in an emotionally volatile and abusive family and then pushed into a sexual relationship at 13 with an older man, that manga became how I began to internalize what had happened to me, not as something normal that I didn't like or something I didn't want but needed, but as just actual abuse. I was also undiagnosed as autistic and related a lot to the girls weird mannerisms and social awkwardness followed by intense emotional outbursts. It's weird though. Having such a strong connection to something that's objectively poorly written and makes me uncomfortable now. When I have such vivid memories of crying while reading it. And it being one of my then-favorite mangas. Despite even then thinking it had too much filler Unsurprisingly one of my favorite manags now is Chainsaw Man
I've latched to it ironically because I desperately want to believe there's some spark of good in people, but the manga's ending is brutal, Lucy killed and a whole species wiped out, and you shouldn't expect the humans to mourn that, from Kouta's reactions, he never learned of the facility, so like real life war criminals, the victorious humans are going to sweep their crimes against humanity under the rug. It hurts because it's SO DAMNED REAL. Look what the Soviets did at the end of WWII, crimes the Russians still deny to this very day. I see the ugliness in the world in Elfen Lied, and I emphasize with the cute abuse victims, and I want things to get better, even if I know they never will.
Yes, this. My best friend and I were absolutely obsessed with this and other "dark" things. We loved fucked up vocaloid songs about child abuse, etc. because there's a catharsis to seeing that kind of thing when you are a messed up little child yourself. Also - it's just kind of awesome.
That "yo, have you seen this shit" sent me waaay back I used to study in a Catholic school here in Brazil, and a friend showed Elfen Lied to me on the library computer. So imagine watching Elfen Lied in the library why you try not to alert a nun. And even though I didn't like it that much at the time, the violence made an effect on me, to the point that we used to measure violence from "zero to Elfen Lied" This video is making me think a lot about the past, and past media that "made me who I am", whatever that means. All this to say, this video is awesome, thank you c:
im really glad to hear this, my MO is always to edit something so that it keeps my attention the whole way through, so im glad it works out for other ppl w/ adhd
@@hhhazel You did a good job, as another adhd girl! (I did, granted, get distracted after hanging out w/ my gf, but it still is a good for my dumbass adhd brain.)
i was so drawn to lucy because it was the first time i had seen an anime girl that wasnt this docile vessel for the main characters desires. she was just as cool as any edgy anime boy. i was deeply sex repulsed and uncomfortable in my own skin as a teen, in large part because of how society viewed and depicted women. there was something so comforting about a girl that was powerful, moreso than any of the male characters.
@@candysland27 i feel like it's a bit silly to sit as adults and argue about how my childhood self felt about a character. i fully realise lucy isn't perfect i just thought she was badass and powerful and that's what stuck with me the most.
I’m not trying to come down on your childhood self. My only issue is that so many people only see the “fighter side” of Lucy and completely ignore how infantilized and a “docile vessel” she is during the I guess main storyline that the author wanted to write ( at least as I’m learning that now) I thought it was a sci-fi show but the wanting to write a harem first and foremost totally makes more sense now. I think it’s amazing that how obvious it is, it was completely missed by teens and kids who never saw anything edgy before. It’s highly reminiscent of teen girls thinking their older groomer boyfriends were “sooooo coool”. Before realizing they were taken advantage of.
This was my second anime after Wolf's Rain. Some part of me is pretty disappointed future animes I'd watch would treat the girls like they're made of glass.
I think the notion of "empathising with your younger self" you mention toward the end is very important, and something we often forget. Seriously impressed with the dedication and sheer workload it must've taken to get this done, I really respect that. Big up.
i watched this as a young girl and for some reason the only thing i took away was "girls should commit more violence and have their own agency in media". In turn it inspired my own art and stories, of angry women and girls being violent or strong. A power fantasy and a vent, because in real life I was the ideal girl for everyone. And I think that undercurrent could be felt and why so many who didn't like violence watched it anyway. For me anyway, Naruto was my first anime exposure and Sakura blew me away. Nothing in western media had characters like sakura and i decided i loved her. Lucy took things to the next level for me. Thank you for making this video.
I’m one of those teens who had my worldview changed by Elfin Lied. Elfin Lied was sort of my “loss of innocence” moment, as I hadn’t experienced media this edgy or gory before. It opened my eyes to a world I knew existed, but never experienced myself. I remember I felt changed after I watched it. I remember the world seeming a lot darker than it did before. I loved the gore and the melodrama, I couldn’t get enough of it. Even today as an adult, I still like watching cheesy romance and melodrama, but maybe not so much of the gore.
same kinda? elfen lied was what got me more comfortable watching gorier shows. it wasn't really the anime that opened my eyes to darker subjects, themes or visuals but it was the first one i watched that was so gory and over the top. i think that was why it was such a big deal then. i remember everyone i knew talking about how scary and gory it was back then lmao 😭😭
me too, it was my first ever anime and I had never watched something so bloody and 'scary', once I finished I was told to watch higurashi by the same girl who recommended elfen lied, that was learning true fear at the prime age of 12 haha
I felt similarly. I had a lot of terrible things happen in my younger years that left me with a powerless feeling which was portrayed a lot in Elfin Lied. It felt cathartic and validating to see Lucy take revenge and be this power fantasy that also encapsulated these complicated emotions I wrestled with that had no outlet. Lucy was so much of what I felt, and it was finally spelled out to me in a brutal way that changed me forever
I feel the same way! I watched Elfen Lied at a very young age, and I genuinely became a different person after watching it. Not because It was traumatic, but because It opened doors of self-expression I didn't know were possible :> Although Elfen Lied isn't a masterpiece, It definitely made me a better person and I'll always love it for that. Oh and Lilium is absolutely beautiful, It's been one of top OP's for years
The part of this video that went into trying to tell your friends about Elfen Lied was really nostalgic, we're about the same age and I had pretty much the same experience of finding it mentioned on an old RU-vid video and being so shocked about it I had to tell my friend group, who were the few anime-watchers at my school, and how secretive we were about it because at the time we thought we'd get in a ridiculous amount of trouble for even mentioning a show so "adult" (even though there was of course no way a teacher would have known what Elfen Lied was.) - as well as the part about friends on DeviantArt sending weird stuff to gross each other out, messing about on Gaia - I loved Elfen Lied as a kid because it felt mature and deep, and even for all it's flaws I still can't help but look back at it with nostalgia. And when I hear the ending theme, it still gets stuck in my head for days. Even the part about someone in the friend group turning out to be a trans guy happened, though uh, that was me in my friend group (and I think everyone in that friendship group turned out to be somewhere in the LGBT umbrella). It's super interesting how people in different countries can have similar vibes during their life due to the internet, especially the 2000 - 2010 internet. I think it's probably just because I'm older now, but even still being into anime actively (if not moreso, as I table at anime cons) it feels like there's no real parallel to how discovering anime like how it was in the 1990s - 2010, with how little distribution there was in the west (and especially where I live, England) outside of super mainstream and big budget anime (GitS, NGE, Naruto, Bleach, etc). It's probably for the best, because more people can legally access a ton of anime these days with ease, and information is readily available even in English when new anime are announced/released. Sorry for the tangent, that part just really resonated with me OTL Great video!!
back in 2007 i took my desktop, put it on the ground and made a pillow fort on my bedroom floor to binge higurashi no naku koro ni. such a formative time in my life.
This awakened memories of hiding my laptop sideways under the covers and watching “I hope my parents don’t walk in” through headphones past my bedtime.
Elfen lied was important to me because I worked out what frightened me about some media. I watched Titanic at 12 and became terrified of any death, violence or tension. Saw EL at 17 and realised it wasn't just violence, it was suffering I responded so badly to (and still do, to this day) and so much EL violence is hyper crazed and unmoored from any human emotion that I watched it quite easily (much to my shock)
Hey, same, kinda. I'm a little more desensitised than you, I think, but I'm also quite sensitive to jump scares and other sensory overload horror (it's not just that I'm a wimp - sometimes these things physically hurt). So compared to the sound and visual design of a lot of 2000s blockbuster horror movies, Elfen Lied was a surprisingly easy watch.
My first exposure to Elfen Lied was back in January 2013. I was 19, almost 20, whose mindset wasn't the best; my plans for what I wanted to do after high school didn't go out too well and just for the time, wanted to chill down and watch whatever thing I wanted to go through on Netflix. I was browsing through what the anime were on there at the time and I just picked Elfen Lied on a whim. I spent 2 nights going through it and I won't deny -it definitely stuck with me almost 9 years later. I knew it had issues (sitting through the dub was probably not one of my best decisions ngl) but yet I was captivated by it the whole time. Lucy as a lead definitely stuck out to me as she didn't feel like a character I had encountered before, thus making it feel in my eyes "a bit depressing to go through (though as a result it left me forgetting about Kouta whose personality felt more like burnt toast to me). Going through this 2 hour video definitely was an experience. Well done in making this. 👍
I kept thinking about why I watched this in my younger teen years, and I remembered that I was keeping a diary around that time. I flipped through it. June 27th. 2012. "I heard elfen lied has boobs in it. Imma watch it." Nothing else was written for that day until the next day, June 28th, 2012 "Well shit" And when I tell you I laughed so hard that I fell over...
It's 4 AM and I did not expect this video to touch me so profoundly. Thank you for making this, from both present 26 year old Alex, and past 12 year old Alex. We tip our hats to you.
As a person who has a history of being way to hard on their past self, 14 year old Joe and 29 year old Jo really found something profound in this. Think we bonded for the first time in a long, long time.
The way I never even watched Elfen Lied and just got taken on a 2 hour introspective-retrospective journey through my own gen-zillenial childhood relationship to anime, subculture, Web 2.0, and 21st century disillusionment? You slayed
“Lilium walked so Nier and Nier Automata could run.” That... explains a lot, actually, I say as I put on the Nier Replicant 1.22 soundtrack for the third time today.
Checking in as well from Super Eye Patch Wolf's favorite things video! So far I'm loving this video and I also can't wait to binge the rest of her videos!
@@anonymouslucario285 I grew up to be an adult and realized that it's mostly edgy garbage that serves more to frustrate me with its missed opportunities. I copy-pasted another entire comment that lays out my frustration better lol.
I was the same but I loved it as a kid and now have some sentimental feelings towards it. Like of course it is hyper edgy and not really well written but it’s kinda my guilty pleasure. For what it is I think (the anime) has its beautiful moments. Hated the manga though.
Anecdotally, when I was on exchange in Japan (around 2009), I was absolutely floored that none of my high school classmates had even as much as heard of Elfenlied; and there were some serious otaku among them. Quite a contrast to how popular it had been back in Germany.
hazel speaks the language of my people, it's just so beautiful - tastefully dishing out one great take after another about attitudes and mindsets that frustrate me so often... great video!!
that last part hit very close to home, i have been obsessed with secondhand nostalgia ever since my dad would tell me about the shows he grew up on. i’m 15 and ‘animecore’ is one of my favorite niche subcultures on the internet, and your youbtube channel has become my favorite secondhand nostalgia account for anime. it’s amazing how spot on you were about madoka, as that was my first ‘trauma bitch’ anime, where i was watching it specifically because i knew it was a violent anime with cute girls and that’s my shit! great video, elfen lied has been one of my favorite second hand nostalgia media for anime!
When I was 16, despite having only watched two episodes of Elfen Lied, I burned a CD (!!) of my favorite anime OPs to listen to when I was driving since I didn't have an aux cable or anything like that in the car. During bad depressive episodes, I got very in the habit of going out to my car - sometimes parked in the garage - putting Lilium on at full volume, and BELTING the words as a coping mechanism. Fast forward to now - I'm 26 and just recently remembered I used to do that. I tried it out and it still makes me feel better. I've still never watched Elfen Lied (I'm, like, goth-presenting but I don't like horror or violence because of my anxiety) but I am so grateful for the opening because it makes me feel better to sing it in my car. Anyways. Revisited this video on a whim and felt compelled to share.
the editing on this is so frenetic and captivating that im watching this essay whole way through when I dropped elfen lied in two episodes as a kid because I couldn't stand the fanservice
Okay I’ve never seen elfen lied but Akio(?) and Lucy’s story actually made my heart hurt. You’re definitely right that this series seems emotionally manipulative, because so much of what you described was so over the top and dramatic. Out of the whole video, this was the only moment I genuinely felt bad/empathetic in a real way for the characters, though, and I wonder if that’s bc it’s a more grounded, ish, conflict, with an actual meaningful feeling relationship. It’s kind of wild that Lucy, who seems like the most interesting character, is just... locked away in Myuu or whatever for most of the series...? That seems like... such a waste.... she seems so much more interesting?? There’s definitely something to the anime, a potential to it, at least from what I can figure from this video, that I can see why it got popular. The concept is cool, and it seems like the anime did the best they could with the source material they had. I would like Lucy’s character based on this video, though I don’t know if I’d like any other characters. But I could see the appeal, even when before this I was a bit confused on this phenomenon. There’s definitely a spark of *something,* there, a potential for something great, even if it isn’t great itself. It’s still a garbage fire, definitely-but there’s a catharsis that seems to come from it. Yes, it’s a giant, gross garbage fire with weird sexual moments and at times spectacle-like trauma, but it speaks to the cruelty that teenage girls go through. Lucy seems like she could be so COOL in a better series and I understand why she got so popular. I can understand the appeal, honestly, and it’s probably the type of garbage I would eat up if I watched when I was younger (I.E. twelve and edgy). I love traumabitches and Mikan Tsumiki was one of my favorite characters, and I still love Madoka Magica even now. Doki doki literature club? I was deep in that shit. Honestly you’ve made me kind of interested in Elfen Lied even now, if only for how interesting you made Lucy seem, even though I don’t think I’ll actually ever watch it because. I am so sick of fanservice it’s not even funny. But, at least, I can understand how this became so popular now, even with all of its flaws. The violence, the cruelty of it speaks to a reality of being young in a world that feels like it seeks to traumatize you. And I can understand why the anime ending of it could be so impactful as an act of sacrifice and solidarity. The manga ending seems like it would just feel meaningless and hollow, but there’s a reason why the anime was the one that got popular. In the end, it was an act of love and hope for something better that drove the sacrifice, which made it feel more meaningful. Keep in mind I’m solely going off of what you said, because before this I had no clue what Elfen Lied even was except a dog died in it or something before this. But I could definitely see how something like that could leave an impact, and connect with people, even with is many, many flaws. I mean, I, at least, have no right to judge, since I am knee deep in danganronpa hell going 7 years strong. Yep. 7 years, and I’m still, for some reason, here. I don’t know why either.
I love how we can bash an anime for two hours but the review still turns into an autobiographical work. I think you really got to why I liked it so much as a kid, it reflected some kind of inner darkness… hell, you probably figured out why I like darker themes in media in general today. And also why Stranger Things felt like I’d seen it before, lol.
I love this video so so so so much, I'm a bit emotional. My relationship to this show is almost exactly like what you described. Starting with being morbidly intrigued as a 13 year old, to feeling scarred by it, to it making me feel 'deep & smart'. But above all, while watching this I remembered a sentence that described my fascination with this anime when I first watched it, which sounds as corny as I thought it was deep: "most media I try to understand, but Elfen Lied understands me." I'm baffled that this was such a universal experience, cause at the time I did not seek out reviews of it (it was too holy in my eyes), and in the years that came after I only found mainly negative or vaguely positive commentary about it. Which made me cringe at my younger self for unironically liking it so much. But with this video I'm having the same response as I had when I first watched the anime: It's sad to realise how many of us felt ostracized in our communities, but also comforting that we found similar solace. Thank you so much for going through this much effort to depict and explain so eloquently and respectfully the feelings I have about Elfen Lied.
This video is like an all timer video essay. Feels so in depth and well constructed. The tangent (I mean that in the best way) about your friends in elementary and middle school hit really hard. Been binging your videos lately, I love the personality you put in your videos.
That part, "we needed anything that could reflect our own darkness to us, we just needed something in front of us that we could see ourselves in" was incredible! I relate to this so much even if years passes since my weeb phase, this is exactly what it felt like. Thank you for incredible video (and for lending a voice for some of lingering thoughts/feelings that I didn;t know how to express)
That's an interesting take on young millennials and culture. I was born in '89 (making me an older millennial) so I was in high school when emo/scene culture at its peak. Still, I resonated pretty hard with what you said on the feeling of the era, despite being an older dude. Though what drew me to the edgy culture was my profound sense of loss of that more optimistic, Y2K, pre 9/11 world which I still remembered. That led me to vent my aggression and hopelessness through edgy art like anime, emo music, horror movies, etc.
Wait, aren’t old millennials like, almost forty now? I would argue you’re a middle millennial. I was born in 1994 and consider myself a youngish millennial.
i usually can't get through video essays this long but this managed to keep my attention so well. definitely one of my favorite videos now and changed the way i see elfen lied,, i watched it when i was 13, having my black box dye little emo girl phase so a lot of this hit rlly super duper close to home
Growing up AFAB in an abusive home with zero friends, zero power, zero sense of self except for hating me & my body, I found a dark comfort in the twin fantasies of Lucy’s vengeful, violent power trips and her soft moe sexy-born-yesterday plausible deniability found-family building amnesia. One part of the fantasy acknowledges the horrific traumas and allows the terrifying power and agency to do something about it. The other part of the fantasy allows you to forget the trauma and live only in the soft “now,” absolving you of your past and responsibility for any violence you committed, allowing you to be a cherished pet in the present. And, weirdly, just made the connection between that and the fact that as an adult those are my two buckets of power exchange fantasies 🥴 I guess old habits die hard!
Yeah, at that point of the vid, I was about to comment, noticed the truth, and decided, "okay. fair. ...dammit." - (When they Cry fan/ haven't dug into FF14 yet) (Though I WILL say that while the light novel is excellent, I truly love the DEEN anime too. Season 1 Was janky at times, but DAMN did I love what they did with pacing and suspense-directing.)
higurashi + umineko have been my favorite thing since middle school (which ironically i watched elfen lied shortly after finishing higurashi's anime because i wanted to find something like it, oof) so......this whole video really fucking spoke to me LOL. when they cry fans are a little bonkers though, she's right
i've never felt compelled to check out someone's patreon before, but when you mentioned sims 2 gay naruto babies, i was sold. also your editing is hilarious and even though i am super sad i laughed very hard
Re: Not being able to use "I'm Not Okay (I promise)" I had the exact same situation with my Gurren Lagann video, I wound up having to pitch shift an instrumental and somehow it worked, but yeah if it detects it blocks the video so I know your pain, that music was a choice early on in my draft too 😭
i just wanna comment that i’ve seen this video more times than i can count since it first showed up in my recommended feed back in 2021. it’s oddly comfy to me, it and the rest of your content are my go to videos to rewatch on a cozy rainy day or when i need to just relax, maybe have a nap. elfen lied was before my weeb-time, the only anime i’d ever seen before actually getting into it was sailor moon, which i’d rent a dvd or two of whenever my family went to blockbuster every friday, and i didn’t know that it was anime, or what anime even was. i only started knowingly watching it when i was about 11 and my new friends told me to watch soul eater and death note. but idk, this video is really cozy and nostalgic for me regardless. i think part of it is my nostalgia for this era of internet and fandom culture. and it surprises me every time that you don’t have more views and subs than you already do.
The depth of your analysis is absolutely fantastic! I was in my early 20's when I first watched Elfen Lied, read the manga, became enamored with Lucy's story and especially that haunting song. It's amazing to break it down like this and revisit the story through a more adult lense. There's definitely a lot of cringe, in retrospect, but I feel like I have a better understanding now of why I fell in love with it back in the day. This also makes me rethink Brynhildr and explains why Parallel Paradise felt too gross to continue lol, despite the potential of the story concept. Thank you!
Wow this was an interesting watch and certainly took me on a journey. At times I found myself disagreeing with some conclusions you drew and often wondered what the point or intent of sewing all the seemingly disconnected aspects of this video throughout it but once I reached the end I came to realize that you're right and were simply paving the path to the conclusion that regardless of quality or intent, art that brings us closer to ourselves is incredibly valuable and that is honestly an amazing conclusion that was drawn from this video and from this series overall as well. Exceptionally well done and thought out, thank you.
Yeah. I loved Lucy because she had all the power I wanted and didn't have as a teenager. You hit it right on the head. Lucy is the embodiment of adolescent female rage. The actual embodiment of the anger that rises from being a powerless woman in a society that doesn't think you're human.
I kinda like the anime ending, because I thought Lucy survived at the end, while the autorities believed she was dead (what with the old clock working all of a sudden). That left hope for a normal life for her after all (I know the series was manipulative, but I was 12 and even now I feel sad about it). I hate the manga ending because "she's dead but her reincanation has a better life" sounds so hollow to me. It's an entirely different character, what does it matter ?
As an elder millenial, I was 20 when I saw Elfen Lied for the first time, recommended to me excitedly by acquaintances. Aside from the opening scene leading to Lucy getting shot, I remember very little about the anime even though I know I watched it in its entirety. In the rare occasions I see a mention or reference to Elfen Lied in my periphery, I wonder what people really liked about it. I appreciate your analysis of the anime within the context it was created. Over the course of this 2 hour video I feel like I got a good idea of what you're like as a person and how you perceive the world, and relate to you in a lot of ways. You're a rare mind in the best way. Keep being earnest, genuine, and true to yourself. The world is a better place with you in it.
i started listening to pod spirit and on ep.7 you mentioned someone commenting that they watched this video three times in a row, and i felt compelled to come here and say ive watched this over 6 times ^^; its one of the best video essays ive watched in a few years, and everyday i thank my adhd gives me such short term memory than i can rewatch this over and over without getting bored bc i forget about whatever it said in a month. ive shown it to my friends, ive shown it to my SISTER, i think the way you communicate to both older people who got to experience the beginnings of online anime communities, and younger people discovering it via newer social media like tiktok was amazing in the way this can be captivating for everyone, since its message is directed to anyone with experience in the topic. im in a weird spot between the two, im now 19 (18 when i first watched this video), and i started using social media over a decade ago. i got to experience the poorly moderated facebook groups, the shitty my little pony creepypastas, people sending you unsolicited porn and gore art on deviantart, the emo anime girl covering one eye, and now im experiencing nostalgia for such "webcore" aesthetics, getting into some of the media you mentioned here that was popular in the early 2000s (i actually started reading higurashi bc u mentioned it here and i got curious. its good actually), slowly changing my art style into these clean line, cell shaded anime renders, listening to nightcore and putting neon stripes on my hair. all such weird but meaningful experiences with subcultures and japanese art/media, that keep evolving as time goes by and the online space changes little by little. anyways great video i use the top 10 girls with neurodevelopmental disorders image as my header on my private twitter account.
i earnestly love how fair and empathetic you are with approaching heavy subject matter. After seeing this and your video on azumanga daioh, i want to emulate some things i learned. it helped me figure out some shtuff.
I was a heady kid, pretty overly self-aware, I knew what I liked about Elfen Lied the instant I finished watching it but forgot years later when everyone started shitting on it. I was surprised everyone hated it so thoroughly. I found it surreal and dream-like, especially in logic and amnesia. It felt as if there was a force unseen just offscreen that flicked a switch every time it thought it needed to to switch Lucy into Nyu. Every contrived fanservice scenario was strangely deliberate and so pathetic as to be entirely counterproductive. The world itself didn't feel real as if none of the characters really existed past what you see of them and were often motivated by shallow selfish reasons. The only person with depth comparable to a human was Lucy, and by that logic she was the "dreamer". When she died to try and right some of the wrongs of this obviously cruel dream world, the dream ended and a resolution was had.
I think the nature of the story, especially the way it provided catharsis, came to me at a time of when I was feeling similarly to the character of Lucy. Why nuanced in retrospect, the experience of abuse by people around me felt related to the experiences Lucy had of abuse by the people she was around. While her murdering the boys was technically the catharsis of the moment, the true emotional release came from Kohta who was the one person that was actually kind to Lucy. Irrelevant of Kohta's own personality, to have someone be kind to a person who we are shown receiving grotesque suffering is innately emotionally relieving. So I think witnesses it didn't change my world, but it did make me feel better about my situation, establishing that perhaps if I found someone like Kohta who could find goodness in the things people hurt me for, to like me for my imperfections, I could be okay. Beyond that, for a 12 year old, this anime was edgy enough that it matched my growing understanding of the world's issues and the subsequent dramatics that come from being a teenager. Now as someone a decade older, the anime is both nostalgic and still holds a level of emotional release because of its value in my formative years. Overall, it is not a well constructed story but the ways it tried to evoke emotion matched where I was when I was younger, giving me a snapshot of someone I used to be. Thank you for this essay. Learning the context and surrounding details of this story was both informative and exciting. I do now plan to stick around and see more of what you have to say about other media and literature :)
I have the most vivid memories of reading the Elfen Lied manga on the family computer when I was about 10/11 yrs old and constantly having to check over my shoulder to see if anyone was gonna come in and see me lol. I've never seen the anime, and didnt even finished the manga...but i definitely never forgot the series or the few aspects that drew me in (the tragedy, the very cool sci fi violence). So much so I even went on to later read ALL of Nonono, a later work of Okamoto's about ski jumping that is equally horrific in it's lustful fixation with torturing young women. It is truly his trademark! Also Hazel this video is amazing, your analysis of the series was spot on and every time you reference Petaluma in your videos I die. My North Bay neighbor.......
I really don't understand the modern hate for Elfin Lied. Ok I kind of do, but I think it's really dumb. Basically the emotional scenes and extreme moments still hit hard even for older people who've never seen the show. It's not that the entire show seemed good only cause we were young. Large portions of it, portions that make it what it is, are still very good for older audiences to this day. It pretty much comes down to this. The plot was often forced and written rather poorly. The emotional tension of the show however is still there in spades. Definitely the poor plot writing takes away from the show in ways we couldn't see when we were younger, but it in no way completely invalids the show. It's still an arguably good show, it's just not great or amazing. I see people who think elfin lied as trash as the same as those who found it 'the best anime ever'. Over eager edge lords who at the end of the day, have no idea what they're talking about. Often times people who consider elfin lied bad are the same as those who refuse to watch "trash shows" anyway, ya know, the actual bad shows. They have a skewed perception of what good and bad really is and can't really comment properly. They think, if it doesn't blow my socks of all the time, it's bad, which is a terrible definition for anything, let alone anime. Overall Elfin Lied is a unique show in that it does many things wrong, but at the same time, many other things right.
I remember the first time I saw Elfen Lied was in an anime convention. They were projecting the series in a huge screen and I saw everything in its huge gory glory. I was suffering of a bad episode of OCD back then so it made my intrusive thoughts flare up. I hated for it for years for that. Some time ago I watched it and I gotta admit this show is unique. I feel kinda proud of defeating that little trauma of mine. Btw kudos Hazel for mentioning Narutaru! I wish it was more known
"for a show with so many more women than men, everything sure happens to orbit around its most abhorrent fucking character. the fucking plan yogurt-on-rice everyboy whose only defining personality trait is nice" omg steven universe?
timely video! I just caught this again on Prime, after 15 years from when I watched it first. I think the Klimt juxtaposition is meant to highlight the broad strokes of the series. Klimt is all about the sublimation of simplicity. Likewise, Elfen Lied's narrative is simple and melodramatic on the surface, but if you go along with its conclusions it's all about extreme pain and cruelty leading to extreme compassion, extreme forgiveness, and extreme kindness. Just my two cents, anyway. I really liked the video!
I engaged with both the anime and manga before watching this video and im so glad i did. I went in with bitter feelings for the series after going through it in it's entirety, and after watching this video, it reminded me why elfen lied genuinely connected with people. The cultural impact, especially for teenage girls at the time, is so understated when this series is looked upon in retrospect and im so glad you were able to point that out. So again, thank you Hazel. You and your videos rock!
I only watched Elfen Lied way into my 20s, but your description of mid-2000s weeb culture hit me (even though I'm a little older than you so my dates are a bit different, the overall experience is remarkably similar)
I love nudity and violence in my media (as well as darker story themes). That's why I loved it. I used to pretend that it was deeper than that when I first watched it, but I'm more truthful to myself nowadays. But it did give me a supreme love for that theme song and served as a gateway to me enjoying music styles similar to it. Among it's many problems, I still love the anime (Still have not read the manga) and it's possibly because of how good the show maybe could have been. (Perhaps in different hands. But then it wouldn't be Elfen Lied, I guess.) It influenced me as a writer and an artist for sure, but not as greatly as other inspirations that came after it for me. This video was a great watch and brought me back to my days in Middle/High School when I was just figuring out what kinds of things I was into. Love your channel!
as a kid I had this nugget of charitable interpretation that the cousins falling in love each other was some haunting pall - a creative decision saturating even the non-violent stretches of narrative with a layer of surreality and wrongness. and now im like 'oh it's comphet'
Oh wow, this uh. Hit me in the face with my teen years, huh. I really like that you explored the significant portion of the Elfen Lied fandom that were teen girls because I was one of them. I grew up in a very abusive household and had no real friends to socialize with offline, I lived with a plethora of undiagnosed issues and as poorly handled as Lucy / Nyuu / Kaede is as a character, it clicked to look at something and recognize my own issues with compulsive thinking and anger / violence. No one I spoke to when it came time to seek professional help wanted to acknowledge that girls could struggle with intense anger and violent feelings, no one wanted to address emotional regression or self-destructive behaviors that were less than palatable. I felt like I had no where to safely express these feelings or work through them and having something like Elfen Lied was actually, really helpful. Elfen Lied wasn't the biggest thing I was into, but I fell into it as a source of comfort because despite its over the top bordering on silly approach to violence and horrific abuse, it felt like the only thing that I could see a reflection of my own issues in. I can 100% admit that I watched the anime for Lucy and the catharsis of watching her go through it. It was this almost private ritual I would partake in when things were too much, I would isolate when I could and watch AMVs about Lucy, I would look up fanart and watch the show and kind of just get lost in feeling visceral and Edgy. When I got older and found other outlets and ways to cope, I tucked Elfen Lied away as an embarrassing corner of my younger years and sold my DVDs, but I could still recall how I had found it to begin with (an AMV with a song I still unironically enjoy and keep on playlists) and kept some small stuff from that time to myself. This was a really, really interesting video and I'm glad someone I follow on Twitter mentioned it because I was like "oh that sounds like something I'd love to learn more about" and welp.
i only discovered your channel yesterday. Something completely unrelated, but as someone who is 30 now and grew up in the OG days of westernized anime, i love Elfen Lied and love your thesis. Very well done. Looking forward to seeing what else you do going forward
I loved that this manga is basically a very twisted version of the Love Hina manga(give it a read, legions above the anime imo). They literally kill of Mutsumi Otohime is the first scenes as if to say "oh you thought this was a light hearted harem show huh?".
I remember Elfen Lied as vividly as I do due to the fact that I watched it when I was only 8 years old. My introduction to it was an AMV accompanied with the song 'Room of Angels' from Silent Hill 4 and is still one of my favorite songs to this day. Now I can't really recall the story and characters, and the manga really made my head spin when I read it as a child(and I really shouldn't have read it when I was 8 bc hooo boi it did things to my brain) but it definitely left a strong impact on me as a kid because I didn't know a lot of things about the world back then, and it was my introduction to all things gore. I remember feeling proud that I didn't flinch at the horror and since then I've always appreciated the macabre. I think Elfen Lied also served as inspiration for my art at the time, well into my early teens when I got more into being your typical emo kid. A lot of people didn't understand me back then, after all I grew up in a very conservative asian country and my parents would have been shocked to find out about my interests, so I suppose I also found solidarity with Lucy in a way. I also had pretty dark thoughts since a young age and identified with her very much. As an adult now with the small amount of media literacy I have, I can definitely see it for its flaws but I won't dismiss it for the amount of impact it had on me in my formative years. I identify as non-binary but I'm AFAB, so it definitely resonated with me a lot. Definitely moreso than usual as I was raised in such a conservative environment where it was difficult for me to really express myself.(Though my family was certainly more lenient than most of my friends' families) As a side note I really enjoyed this video! I was born at the turn of the century and grew up on the internet, and found many of the topics you introduced her incredibly fascinating as I hadn't really seen another video that really delved deep into early 00's internet culture as you had in a way that was in line with my own experiences. I also enjoyed the character analysis on Lucy and why so many teen girls related to her. You also managed to captivate my attention throughout the whole video, so all in all nice job! I appreciated this thorough analysis and critique on Elfen Lied a lot :)
I was around 13 or 14 when this show happened and I watched the fansubs as it aired. It was a heck of an experience at the time. Even with all its problems I still remember it pretty fondly.
Wait, hold on - is this content made by my generation/the generation blend group of the youngest of Y and the oldest of Z, talking about NOSTALGIA?!? FROM OUR CHILDHOODS?!? AND PRETEEN YEARS?!? Wow. This makes me surprisingly happy. I’m glad I watched this I saw much of myself in this video. Kinda scary but also relieving.
This was a really well done video, I was engaged the entire time. I miss my old emo days. I was too afraid to dress up as an emo kid because my dad has some issue with it and I cared too much. Thanks for making this.
INCREDIBLE VIDEO! Loved the analysis, and the fresh blast of nostalgia as well, this whole video really just threw me back to my time as a teenager. I guess it makes sense since we were *very online* teenagers in the same age bracket, but it's genuinely wild to me how many touchstones here you talk about are the same as my life. From being an emo/scene kid who liked anime, to the moving schools and not having many friends in real life for a time, to the badge of honor for liking shock humor, to making lets plays on youtube, to the secondhand nostalgia for retro games from watching things like AVGN, all of those things and more felt plucked straight from my own life, and I love how you tied these nostalgic things together at the end, I've definitely been guilty of saying the things and feelings I had at that time had no value, and I agree that it's important to consider the mindsets and feelings of the people we were when they had immense value.
As many people in the comments I also watched Elfen Lied when I was 11-13. I loved seeing a girl being naked and supposedly fragile and vulnerable shred people to shreds. This kind of powerful female character was so empowering for my insecure teenage self. Where I also thought i was different and misunderstood while i just craved human interaction. While being bullied I constantly wanted to shed blood of others but i was just a girl. I didn't have any superpowers but it was nice imagining that. Being powerful. My rage, hatred really worked well with violent media and anime where i found a safe place. Which was another reason for making fun of me. Years later as an adult I still think this anime has a special place in my heart as many that i watched in these years. It was weird, cringy, violent and horny which i didn't mind cause my teenage brain was full of hormones. I loved the opening song so much. I still think the intro of the first sequence where Lucy breaks out of the lab was so well done. I really think that the idea was brilliant and had a huge potential but was underdeveloped plot-wise. This contrast between cheerful and lighthearted moments beside all the blood and abuse kind of appealed to at the time? I still love good contrasts. I don't remember if i ever finished the anime. And i forgot a lot of facts. I know i wouldn't enjoy this now. I remember some kind of similar story which was better executed but never received this kind of recognition like Elfen Lied. I will edit when I find the other one. Gokukoku no Brynhildr was the one. But I doubt it made such an impact like EL did.
what I came for: "wow, why did I like Elfen Lied?" what I am left with: "I truly love my teenage self for making me into who I am today, inexperienced and flawed as they were, they carried a heavy burden of a shitty childhood by pouring their grievances into art and anime and other things they loved and as such, made it bearable to cope and made me survive until now
@@hhhazel Verry good video A bit late for it but well About my experiences with Elfen Lied and the impact it left on me. long text warning. As you seemed verry curious to how a dumpster fire of an anime like this cold possible influence someone here you go. You must imagine yourself as an 8 to 9 years old boy with a verry unstable and broken family and a verry shitty childhood in general trying to escape and rationalizing his situation by seeking distraction in form of science documentaries and animes. And by irony of the destiny one of the first animes that i fell upon was... this... yes not the best thing for a 9-year-old XD. I remember that i didn't like all the suffering and physical violence and don't make me talk about the dog scene that kind of traumatized me for a time XD. But i strangely cold not stop watching it. I suffered with the characters and empathized with then and in a strange way i related with the anime and some of the girls’ situations reminded me of my mom suffering when she was younger and traumas that she passed to me by repeatedly telling me about like a way of coping. In the end when i finished it i felt less bad about my situation for not being as bad comparatively with the one the character were And most important it was for me an example to how not be and reenforced even more my fear of growing up and becoming an asshole and that i had to be a verry nice to people, specially girls... So yea i was kinda traumatised but apparently not so much because not much later i watched evangelion and serial experiments lain in quick succession XD Strange that i just got to shounen and all the other stuff after this lol i kinda inverted the "otaku progression" on its head
The witches in Madoka *are* all those things you’re talking about. They’re the embodiments of the negative emotions of girls who were desperate enough to sell their soul. The text says that witches cause suicidal thoughts, but they represent the feelings of the characters they prey on. I’m a gay guy and I wasn’t exactly a teenager when Madoka came out, but Homura was definitely my “trauma bitch.” People talk about minority representation and how it helps people “see themselves” in their media. I honestly don’t think I’ve *ever* felt that anywhere. Except, for some reason, with a gun-toting Japanese lesbian who is as different from me as could possibly be by any metric involving labels. I don’t really know why.
oh god, i used to love reading every detail about the witches, their familiars and their labyrinths on the pmmm wiki. to me, it feels like looking at someone else's vent art and trying to piece together everything i can and try to understand what that girl must've been feeling when she turned into a witch.
I sobbed when homuras backstory was finally revealed. How guarded and stoic she was made to be because of how fruitless her efforts thus have been. How, despite her countless efforts, her love never faltered. How she even distanced herself for the sake of madoka despite her intense love and protection she is so compelled to vy for. I get it. I don't get it as a gay man, but I can sympathize as a semi-closeted lesbian catholic in the Bible belt with the themes that this anime crosses lines with and compels us to no doubtedly resonat with. It's hard. It hurts. But we still keep trying. I see it and I see the bigger picture which encapsulates the larger lgbtq experience to some extent. It feels so alienating to be different or know something that others don't. We know the helpless despair we're left to burden when our best friend kissed us then disavowed us out of fear of being outed as queer. Homura blurting out about her being a magical girl too and madoka acting so uncomfortable demonstrated that to me, personally. Long comment short, I feel you. I feel what you mean and though I can never know first hand I can empathize as much as I can, which hopefully illustrates that you are never alone and you're amazing. It's so beautiful that you've found solace in an anime that, while not exact, mimics and metaphorically illustrates what you needed to relate to. It's so important and I'm so glad it helped you as much as it has.
also idk if its different in japanese but in the english dub mami makes it clear that when she says witches' curses are the cause of those things, it's usually when there isn't a RATIONAL explanation. *unexplained* suicides, *sudden* cult activity. it's not that they cause all those things, it's that the curse has a tangible effect that you can trace.
I kinda feel that as a gay girl who was in the closet for way too long. Like, I didn‘t really relate to Homura‘s character but I did relate to her desperation and loneliness and her self destructiveness. I also think it resonates with queer ppl cause Homura literally represents unrequited love wich is ofc for us usually a big issue cause being gay often times comes with that and also isolation and loneliness. But I also kinda love how the show frames her love for Madoka as self destructive cause I feel like it also kinda comments on how Homura deserves better as well. Madoka even in the end when she finally reveals her true intentions still sacrifices herself for the sake of others so even in the end Homura still loses Madoka wich drives her crazy as seen in Rebellion and I feel like that kinda also showed that their love isn‘t really healthy either. I kinda felt myself more leaning towards hoping Homura would end up leaning more on Sayaka cause i felt like she was kinda robbed and also sayaka and her kinda fit better as well. Both lost a person they loved to someone else, just that for madoka someone is literally every magical girl in the universe except homura, and both are mentally tormented in pretty simmilar ways wich i would argue could make em relate to each other better and I feel like Rebellion also hinted at that wich I really liked. I mean Sayaka knows how it‘s like to lose a loved one you try so hard to save. She knows how homura feels. Madoka doesn‘t really. Or rather she cares more for everyone else than homura. From homura‘s perspective madoka essentially pulled the trolley to run over homura instead of 100 strangers for altruism instead of personal attachments and for homura that is essentially her being abandoned by the only „friend“ she ever had in her life for the sake of everyone else literally. It is the ultimate betrayal and that to me is why i think her and Madoka aren‘t really healthy tbh. Cause I think that Madoka and Homura are too different. It‘s like the martyr vs their widowed wife. And the alienation of said wife because technically she shouldn‘t be upset about her altruistic partner giving his life to the people. Even if to her it feels like they gave their life for everyone‘s sake just not hers. And I genuinely love that narrative cause it is so rare but also so complex. It‘s just awesome!
I think we need more essays like this-ones that focus on what effect a series had on people rather than just straight up “thing was good” or “thing was bad.” I really appreciate your content and you bet your sweet bippy I’ll be back for more
about the elfenlied poem - the song is based on the 1830 poem by eduard möricke and is indeed really silly. however, möricke's poem is based on a 1780 poem of the same name by goethe, which i think could be interpreted to be melancholic. here's a quick translation: at midnight, when the humans sleep, then the moon shines for us, then the star glows for us; we wander and we sing. at midnight, when the humans sleep, on meadows, near the alder trees, we look for our place we wander and we sing and dance a dream. i wonder why this older version wasn't used. its from the perspective of the elves, talking about how they have to wait for humans to sleep to come outside and dance and have fun and be happy, but then at the very end implies it's just a dream, not real. wouldnt this work way better for the generic theme of "theres a class of people that are not human and oppressed"? i wonder what's up with that.
could be a translation thing perhaps? like maybe möricke's poem and goethe's poem are similar enough when translated into japanese that they hold the same meaning or just get easily mixed up? that's just wild speculation tho^^;
@@TindraSan yeah, i have a feeling that maybe he read the translation of goethe's poem, then assumed the lyrics to the song version were equally melancholic, or maybe that he heard the song and loved it, tried looking it up, and ended up reading a translation of goethes poem rather than mörickes. we are just wildly speculating together here, tho. lol
Also, that version works way better with the notion that the Diclonii and humanity’s existences are incompatible: the “elves” can only come out and enjoy the night when humanity is “asleep.”
I grew up in a quaker/pacifist household and so violent media wasn't allowed at all. Watching that first scene on my old DELL laptop at 11PM after my parents went to bed felt like I was breaking the law, and Elfen Lied quickly became my gateway into anime that was darker, and more visually violent. And from a lack of awareness of how....Horny it is, I felt almost empowered as a angsty helpless teenage girl, seeing other helpless teenage girls RIP people to shreds. Though in hindsight probably was not the best thing to inflict on my 10 year old brain this series will always have a special place in my heart as a springboard into a rebellious emo/punk lifestyle. Thank you for making such an awesome video about it!
The popularity of Elfen Lied also was a real phenomenon in Germany. Every weeb around my age (early twenties) was at some point a fan of it. A contributing factor for that is that many people around that time (2008 and later) had just heard of Anime, but didn't want to watch it with subtitles and had no money for dvds. Therefore they just searched on RU-vid ›Anime all episodes german‹ and Elfen Lied was available, with all episodes and a decent dub. Maybe the title also played a role and after that all the splatter and emotions that where described here made Elfen Lied memorable. So this video was pure nostalgia. Thanks! (Nana actually was my first Cosplay. It looked really bad, but people at the con where so nice to me anyway:)
Im in this picture and I... kinda look upon it fondly^^ Elfen Lied was actually the very first Anime i consciously watched and knew that it was an "anime" if you know what i mean. And yeah, the German Dub for it is actually surprisingly professional and good considering the subject matter^^ Ah, this makes me nostalgic for waking up at 6 am on Saturday and watching Shaman King on Kabel 1, or the stuff that was on in the afternoon on RTL2 like Yugioh and One Piece and all that. Good times^^
@@guillermodebaskerville7117 uhm afraid not, i dont think i have^^ but on that topic, most german Anime Dubs share some of the cast, our Voice actor pool is, while higly professional, very small^^
@@guillermodebaskerville7117 Unfortunately I haven't watched Azumanga Daioh, but if I ever stumble upon it, I'll keep it in mind :D But dubs in itself are somehow funny. If someone would ever create a version of Elfen Lied where every character would speak a different language, I would definitely watch it.
Oh my god, that "Elfen Lied changed my worldview" part. I had a friend in middle school who was obsessed with Elfen Lied. She would go on about how this show is deep (as opposed to "shallow and childish" shonen shows that I was watching) in how it portrays that society ostracizes those who are different. We were, like, 12 at the time so of course the simplest "bullying people for being different from you is bad" message seemed sofisticated.
I think it's specifically that it expressed that "bullying people for being different from you is bad" message with the same intensity that we'd feel when being bullied or excluded by our peers. shoujo would have the over-the-top relentless cruelty of bullies it rarely had the female lead fighting back bc she was meant to be a damn saint who would smile and bare it all until someone gave her a shoulder to cry on - all while still following her dreams!, the Cinderella type of strength that you can't quite appreciate as a young angsty teen. shounen on the other hand tended to downplay the bullies I feel? or at least it often ended up feeling less severe bc the male lead was allowed to fight back before it got too messed up. no manipulation or sense of betrayal, no true drama just alot of straightforward anger and dick-measuring, yanno? the strongest sense of injustice often came from adults reprimanding a kid for violently defending himself. Elfen Lied gives you the over-the-top intense mistreatment AND the protagonist fighting back with the full the force of all the emotions you as a tiny-teen viewer were feeling when life was at its worst.
Elfen Lied carries what I HOPE is an unintentional message that people who are not the same as us or mentally ill must be wiped out for their own good as well as ours. The ending really does feel as if the Nazis won, and that the author wanted to justify what the facility did.
i take it slightly deeper, its about trauma, and how its inherently bad to cause it, but that trauma caused to the victim could radicalize them and do horrible things.
@@saberiandream316Hey, you commented in my Number 28 thread, remember? I disagreed and said if the Nazis won, it wouldn’t be worse than what we got, and you also said that manga Kurama deserves to die. I saw your comment just now and was surprised I recognized someone who commented on my post. I like the anime, but not the manga, so I want to ask you, do you think anime Kurama deserved to die? I thought he was much better than manga Kurama. I will agree with you that the vector craft killing all the diclonius in the facility was in very poor taste.
@@saberiandream316Hey, you commented in my Number 28 thread, remember? I disagreed and said if the Nazis won, it wouldn’t be worse than what we got. You also said manga Kurama deserves to die. I saw your comment just now, I didn’t think I would find someone that commented on my post here on RU-vid. I like the anime, not the manga, so do you think anime Kurama deserves to die? I thought he was a much better guy than manga Kurama. I will say that I agree with you that the vector craft coming to finish off the Diclonius at the facility was in very bad taste.
This video made me realise that what we consider cringe in our adult years was actually our teenage selves doing the best we could with the resources we had available at the time. I am proud of us. Thank you.
This comment hit like a sucker-punch to the feels As someone who has a lot of teenage regret, this reframing feels really validating somehow Anyway, thanks for that
@@yoseisovereign6728 It's really not that cryptic. As kids we all had less information about the world, ourselves, and other people as well as fewer tools with which to put all of that information together. We gravitated towards and championed things that changed our comparatively small worldviews (like gratuitously violent and edgy media like Elfen Lied), and most of us said, did, and liked strange things because they helped us feel understood or secure at times in our lives when we had a lot of big emotions and inadequate coping skills for them. Then we grew, learned, and evolved our thinking to the point that we outgrew what helped our younger selves make sense of things. It's a natural process of developing as people, but some people seem to forget that when they criticize their younger selves so harshly for, essentially, not already knowing better.
I love how Shinji makes it into the House of Psychotic Women with pretty much a majority of his female cast there as well. To be honest, I think Shinji is portrayed as the most traumatized out of all of his female/male cast.
this sounds strange to say but i love how many twists, turns, and little rabbit holes this video goes on. you seem to know exactly when to break up the tension and move on to something else, the flow of this video makes it hardly feel like a typical 2 hour anime review type video. plus, the attitude you take regarding objectivity is extremely refreshing; its so much more important and i think more interesting to examine not just the media itself, but the environment it was created, and thrived in. your videos are only getting better, and i already thought they were top tier
Elfen Lied was quite possibly the first piece of media I could ever truly connect to, and the fact that it is such magnificent trash only reminds me of what magnificent trash I was at 13
If you want to know about Higurashi did horror correctly without being exploitative, I HIGHLY recommend Bess’s channel. She breaks down everything very well within the cultural context of 1980s Japan
I was going to recommend Bess's channel, too. I personally do enjoy video essays on series I haven't seen, and Bess puts as much passion and love for Higurashi into them as Hazel put for Elfen Lied into this one. It's uplifting to experience, really.
Agreeing that Higurashi definitely deserves a second look or either checking out Bess's videos: rather than being an exploitive horror story of watching cute girls suffer it does quickly bring together a message about the effects of paranoia, and the importance of talking to others when you are struggling rather than carrying burdens alone
using the Rule of Rose OST in this video is honestly a genius move, not only because it slaps ass but also because of the whole "if i had a nickle every time a group of orphans killed a dog out of sheer spite towards a girl they despise, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice" thing
There could be another whole essay about the role of psychic powers in stories of escaping and fighting back against abuse. Psychic powers typically draw strength from and are heightened by emotion, are easily masked and concealed (to whatever extent the story permits), and can be exerted regardless of physical build. When I was watching this I was thinking about the parallels and contrasts between Elfen Lied and Matilda. Matilda develops her powers not during a time of emotional stress, but when she feels explicitly safe and loved. Her form of "revenge" is harmless pranks designed to undermine the power granted by the authority of her targets; she doesn't use her powers for selfish ends, but instead uses them to prevent abusers from isolating their victims by protecting, empowering, and showing solidarity with those victims, uniting them against their abusers. They're very different power fantasies based around the same archetype of powers: one where the protagonist is deeply affected by their trauma and uses their powers to survive in an isolated existence where their few human connections are raw and powerful but fleeting, one where she functions as a sort of revolutionary superhero who befriends an abused class of people and topples an abusive authority.
Just because you brought up the comparrison to chobits i rember reading it when i was 13. It was my first shoujo manga and i remember seeing chii in those lolita outfits and thinking "i want to be cute like her". This had a pretty lasting impact on my developement as a young boy
I am half way through this video and the most chilling thing I’ve seen so far is the “republican persona fans” lunch table Jokes aside though I have now finished the video and I am really blown away with how much of a window this was into my own brain. I was That Emo Girl that recommended Elfen Lied to everyone at school when I was 12. I can totally see now why I liked it so much, just watching other young girls who had gone through trauma react in ways that were hyper violent and angry was something I hadn’t seen really at all before. Baby’s first revenge fantasy Anyway thanks Hazel for helping me become uncringeable. I loved black butler and elfen lied when I was young but then as I got older looked back on those interests as embarrassing. Now I have circled back to loving them again but this time I know it’s because I am gay and have had a bloodhound-like sense for camp and Trauma Bitches ever since I was born. Bless
