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Sorry, Mario, but the King of Heroes is in another anime. =D

Gilgamesh was probably one of the first five anime I watched in Japanese. The third, I believe...Yu-Gi-Oh! GX would have been first and Death Note second. So it holds a special place in my heart - not a good place by any means, but still.

As I said, Gilgamesh was one of the first anime I watched, and at the time I found it very strange and confusing, particularly in regards to the ending. Now that I'm older, wiser, and handsomer (and have watched many more anime), it makes perfect sense to me.

Gilgamesh is a ... quick, desperate Evangelion rip-off...is what I thought until this very moment, when I checked its dates. The manga is from 1976-78, and the anime is from 2003 (that's a pretty massive gap...). I could have sworn Gilgamesh came out in 1999 (putting it only a bit over a year after the release of End of Evangelion). Great. Now I have to restructure this whole review.

Even if it's not literally an Evangelion rip-off, the superficial similarities are striking. A semi-post-apocalyptic setting. Usage of classical music. A group of children vs. an alien threat. Usage of nonsensical technology. The endings are even somewhat similar. In fact, here's how you can make your very own Gilgamesh:

1. Take an Evangelion (any one will do, just make sure it's not a Rebuild).
2. Remove the mechs.
3. Remove the psychological analysis.
4. Make the Angels basically human, and don't kill any of them off. Just have the characters fight them repeatedly.
5. Pour a bunch of black and grey paint on everything so it looks boring.
6. ???
7. PROFIT?

So I can wrap up my general thoughts by saying that if you did not like Evangelion, you won't like this. If you did like Evangelion, then you should have the sophistication to not like this. Okay, let's move on!

Story! I watched this more than four years ago, so my memories of this are a bit sketchy. The premise and some of the material revealed in the first act is decent, but the second act stagnates and the third simply dips into absurdity (imagine the overarching plot of Evangelion, except that neither SEELE nor their plans has ever been mentioned before this point). It's pretty clear no one working on this made any attempt to join the events of each episode together into a meaningful whole.

Art! Gilgamesh's art is not very good. If I were to describe the style, I'd say it's rather similar to Serial Experiments Lain, except less colorful and (due to being made five years later) smoother. Like Lain, characters have poses where they look good, and poses where they look awful. Except in Lain I think that was intentional. Here, they're just off-model. The animation budget was clearly limited, as the battles are brief and movement in general is avoided where possible.

Sound! I tend to not remember soundtracks unless they're really striking. Or, put another way, if I like the show, I'll notice the soundtrack. In case you didn't notice, I didn't like Gilgamesh. The opening song is good, or at least entertaining - Wait! That's another thing it has in common with Evangelion! An addictive opening song! However, Cruel Angel's Thesis this is not. It also doesn't fit with the show, like...at all.

I don't recall much of anything in regards to the voice acting (as a reminder, I watched it subbed). In fact, it might have been pretty weak, but since I don't remember it, I can't comment on it.

Characters! Like I said in regards to story, everything in Gilgamesh is extremely disjointed. As I recall, this applies to its characters as well, who are kind of arbitrarily characterized on an episode-by-episode basis (if you've seen Kaze no Stigma, you know what I mean). My memory is a bit too hazy for details (why I am I even writing this review, then?), so we'll go with that.

Enjoyment! I watched to the end. That's something. Would I watch to the end now? I doubt it.

Elfen Lied, to me, is a joke. A very bad joke.

Alright, I need to back up and explain myself. Roughly half the people who watch it consider it to be a masterpiece. The other half is disgusted. And while I feel it's extremely bad, I haven't seen anyone else who shares my opinion as to WHY it is bad (if this keeps up, half this review will be setup...>_>).

You will hear from those who praise Elfen Lied that it's deeply psychological and lays bare the true ugliness of the human condition. You will hear from both supporters and detractors that it is full of blood, ... gore, violence, and delightful pre-teen nudity.

These are all LIES.

The people who say this have been tricked. In much the same way that, say, Bleach throws a sword around every once in a while to make you think it's a show about fighting rather than a show about talking, Elfen Lied inserts a bloodbath at the beginning and a small handful of other half-minute battles to make you THINK you're watching an ultra-violent show. So what makes up the other 200-odd minutes of Elfen Lied?

Well, basically, it's what you'd get if you combined Air and a by-the-numbers harem comedy. Actually, I haven't seen Air, so that might be an unfair comparison, but from what I know of it, that seems accurate. So if that sounds like fun to you then by all means strap in and enjoy the ride.

To reiterate, in case my point was unclear: Elfen Lied is a drama/harem comedy with a surprising amount of blood and violence that may turn off some viewers. That's my review in one sentence.

Oh, there are all these categories like Story and Art and stuff. I guess I can touch briefly on those.

There's nothing really bad about the story, although from the 75% of Elfen Lied I saw, there's not a whole lot to it. The characters are all dumb and stupid except Lucy - psychopathic girls with Murder Arms (TM) are always okay in my book. Unfortunately, Lucy is only in about 10% of her own scenes. The other 90% star that wonderful alternate personality the synopsis mentions (Think Chi from Chobits only less intelligent. YES I KNOW WHAT I JUST SAID).

The art is...fine...I guess? Honestly, that's a compliment: Elfen Lied was done by Arms Corporation, who are not known for their...Let me put it this way: after Elfen Lied, their best known work is Ikki Tousen. (I would be remiss not to note that Elfen Lied's stills and particularly the promo art are often excellent. Once again, tricking you into thinking you're not watching Chobits.)

I assume there was sound in Elfen Lied, but I don't remember much about it. I watched it dubbed and...I think the dub was decent. Not really great, but I don't think I had any complaints. But like I was saying, the only thing I remember in regards to the audio is that the opening is indeed rather beautiful, eschewing the usual J-pop in favor of...whatever it is. You can look it up on Youtube and similar if you're curious.

Lastly, there's this Enjoyment category and I must say...I enjoy Elfen Lied immensely. Not the show itself: Elfen Lied is a delight for the same reasons Twilight is a delight, or the Star Wars prequels are a delight. Sometimes you just thrill to feel burning disgust and hatred singing in your veins. And that's a gift the best anime can't give you, no matter what.

Only the worst can.