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I never did understand why "Elfen Lied" was considered a good anime. Its characters were extremely thin and uninteresting, and it prioritized shock value over any good action or storytelling.

If you agree with those statements, then here is the counterpoint: From the same mangaka, we have Brynhildr in the Darkness, which also includes girls with superpowers (except the explanation is clearer and better, there are multiple girls, and they all have distinct personalities that are engaging and intriguing, even if some are more likable than others), a government agency trying to pursue them to recapture them, and an unpowered boy at the center of their ... drama (except he's got a strong personality and intelligence and is likable).

From that description, you might imagine both series to be very similar... but I found them wildly different in tone and execution. Right out of the gate we are given much more of a sci-fi tone, whereas Elfen Lied claimed to be based in sci-fi but really took the tone and style of a fantasy in visual portrayal. There's a LOT more humor (which I guess, compared to Elfen Lied, is "almost any"... but in this case it's actually frequent and actually GOOD), the artwork is cleaner/clearer, and I found the developing twists and turns far more interesting here.

In fact, I was damn well glued to this one. I struggled through Elfen Lied, but this one had me fascinated by its worldbuilding and mystery, as well as very engaged with its protagonists. I did lose some interest when harem-like tropes started getting introduced and unnecessary fanservice began popping up, but they never overshadowed the main story, and thankfully, our lead male is more irritated by those tropes than anything, which helps them go down a bit easier.

If you want some blood, action, suspsense, mystery, and a little romance, it's actually very well done here. The main complaint I have is regarding the few dangling mysteries still left open by the end, since they couldn't exactly include everything from the manga. A pity that they never made another season, but it still hits a semi-decent stopping point. As it stands, this is a real gem.