Elfen Lied (2004)

Elfen Lied parents guide

Heads up on extreme gore. That is past what the TV-MA on the box suggests. Beyond that, moderate sex and nudity, and brutal violence.

Scare

Mildly scary

A few tense or eerie moments.

Jump scares

A couple

One or two sudden jolts.

Gore

Extreme gore

Our top level for gore.

Violence

Brutal violence

Our top level for violence.

Sex and nudity

Moderate

Moderate means a sex scene or nudity on screen, even brief, or sexual violence that is described or implied but never shown.

Language

Mild

Mild words like damn, hell or crap.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

Three questions

Is Elfen Lied scary?

Only a little. Elfen Lied has a few tense moments, nothing that follows you to bed.

How gory is Elfen Lied?

Extreme gore and brutal violence. If graphic gore is a dealbreaker, skip it.

What is Elfen Lied rated, and is it OK for kids?

It is a TV-MA, with moderate sex and nudity, brutal violence, and extreme gore. Keep it for adults.

What is Elfen Lied about?

The Diclonius, a mutated homo sapien that is said to be selected by God and will eventually become the destruction of mankind, possesses two horns in their heads, and has a "sixth sense" which gives it telekinetic abilities. Due to this dangerous power, they have been captured and isolated in laboratories by the government. Lucy, a young and psychotic Diclonius, manages to break free of her confines and brutally murder most of the guards in the laboratory, only to get shot in the head as she makes her escape. She survives and manages to drift along to a beach, where two teenagers named Kouta and Yuka discovers her. Having lost her memories, she was named after the only thing that she can now say, "Nyuu," and the two allow her to stay at Kouta's home. However, it appears that the evil "Lucy" is not dead just yet...

Cast and crew

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Elfen Lied is on our Goriest, 2000s, Mystery, Anime and Foreign-language lists.

More like this feeling

Prompts we typed into CouchRot, and the lists that share its tags.

• “a thriller with a twist, no spoilers”
• “a movie that will make me cry”
• “a fun halloween movie, not too scary”

Lists with the same feel: Tearjerkers and Weird and surreal.