Back to imbecilic's Profile imbecilic's Profile

Since the Oreimo finale made an unexpected attempt to deliver on the show’s initial premise, here are my thoughts on the big finish:

1) Kyousuke and Kirino have a really tame idea of what it means to be “lovers”. I kept waiting for the S-word to come up during their vague discussions of their future as Siblings In Love, but it seems a couple of chaste kisses and many exaggerated exclamations to Kyousuke’s premature harem constituted the entirety of their brief incestuous adventure.

2) As implied by the opening of this review, I was surprised when the incest taboo was finally broken. Incest as an anime ... trope is notorious for being manipulated for laughs, exploited as fanservice, and/or cheaply skirted around at the last second (“Onii-chan was only my adopted brother all along! Yay!”) in order to “legitimize” whatever socially-outlawed relationship had been transgressing between the brother and sister characters in question. While I may not like the Oreimo franchise very much at all, one thing it doesn’t do is cop out on its viewers regarding the Bro/Sis dynamic. Despite my feeling constipated at the notion that Kyousuke broke up with Kuroneko to “be with” his sister, I nevertheless appreciated the plot development, in a weird sort of way.

3) This doesn’t mean I wasn’t at first frowning uneasily when both siblings loudly confessed their undying love for each other, though. I kept ticking off all the societal and biological repercussions that the show wasn’t so much as poking a stick at. I treat ridiculous cartoons aimed at salivating fanboys with as much sternness as I would an acclaimed piece of contemporary literature, because that makes so much sense.

4) Also I was crushed just a little bit that Kuroneko was kicked to the curb; she was my favorite Oreimo girl. (Bye-fu to my waifu.)

5) Toward the end of episode 16, Akagi said something along the lines of , “I couldn’t imagine myself and my brother going out, but [Kirino] sounded so happy bragging about [you two], so I started to think…maybe it’s okay after all”. This may not sound like the sociological breakthrough of the decade, but it’s a well-placed line all the same. It serves to remind viewers of the taboo while at once offering them a bit of sympathetic rationality. I may be making way too much of it, but it struck me as both a naive and understated perspective, and it improved my mood slightly as I watched the rest of the episode.

6) “We can be lovers until we graduate, and then we’ll go back to being normal siblings”. Really? This is your grand solution? I’d imagine it would be incredibly difficult to ever be “normal siblings” again after you’ve swapped spit and referred to each other as BF/GF.

7) Overall, the show reeks of generic anime RomCom, but it doesn’t make you lose faith in humanity, and after two seasons of teasing viewers with the promise of a relationship that never came to fruition, Oreimo delivered something...mostly palatable. More or less, anyway. If you're into this sort of thing. Which I imagine you'd have to be if you were a fan of the franchise.

Let me start off by saying that this is an anime I have avoided for a long time. Though the show has many fans, I'd essentially kicked it under the rug because I felt that it was too “mature” for me. (Mind you, this was when I was in middle school, and a mere panty shot made me feel uncomfortable.) HOWEVER, last week, I sat down and watched all thirteen episodes over a period of four days, and I have quite a bit to say about the series. Some of my commentary might stray dangerously close to /butthurt rant/ territory, so bear with me. ...

Let's discuss the technicalities of the show. Order of business numero uno: dub/sub. For this particular show, I suggest you stick to the original Japanese. Because the dub is ear-gratingly bad. The Japanese is a little lack-luster from what I can tell, but the English dub is comprised of extremely wooden acting and irritating voices all around, so the choice isn't exactly hard to make. Second: Elfen Lied has a lovely musical score, one that highlights the bloody scenes of the series very well. Most notable is the haunting OP song, “Lilium”, around which many a (melo)dramatic moment in the series is based. Third: the animation is bright and fluid, though it lags a little here and there. Visually and musically, the series is mostly solid. Peel back the first few layers of the onion, however, and you'll see that Elfen Lied has several gaping problems.

First of all, the story is dark, yes. It contains themes of betrayal, child abuse, bullying, rape, torture, abandonment, and other such cheerful plot points. The producers claim that it is meant to criticize the dark side of human nature. As I see it, however, it doesn't do this very well at all. In fact, the only thing Elfen Lied does do very well is /divert your attention/. The waterfalls of blood, severed limbs, and naked girls that the series is notorious for are so occupying to most viewers that they forget to examine the “big picture”. The show basically thrusts tear-rending scenes of cruelty in your face and expects that you'll ignore its many deeper flaws. Because if you think for a bit and brush away the gore-fest that is the surface of Elfen Lied, you'll realize that there is nothing there. The series was most likely intended to manipulate you into overlooking its utter lack of a point.

The plot, which supposedly focuses on the Diclonii and their attempts to wipe out the human race, goes nowhere at all. Instead, the plotline is unevenly divided, with a large chunk of the series revolving around the “mystery” behind Lucy's relationship with the ever-clueless Kouta, another prominent chunk--of course--focusing on the sad backstories of all the wonderful girls that eventually gravitate towards the loser (It should be pretty evident by now that I strongly dislike Kouta and the entire concept of his character), and a smaller chunk attempting to shed light on how the Diclonii came to be and the Institute's affiliation with the murderous beings. Instead of developing this meager third chunk, the writers chose to exploit the moe aspect of the show, giving it a completely unremarkable main plot. Think about it. How many times have we seen the “Lame-looking guy generously adopts several virtuous girls into his house and protects them from danger, soon discovering that they all have tragic pasts and are each falling madly in love with him” scenario? This scenario only works well with a fantastic setting, unusual characters, or masterful storytelling; none of which Elfen Lied has.

Because the writers halfway-introduced the Institute and its evil plans for the Diclonii, and then left this idea hanging like a dog's tongue on a summer day, the ending of the series feels incomplete and pointless. Not much of anything happens at the end, actually, except for the bloody deaths of many bystanders (nothing new), and a /sad romantic moment/.

In summation, Elfen Lied is a series that is best to watch with your brain turned off. It's the one way you'll get any sort of satisfaction from a show that, really, only has aesthetic value. It has numerous plot holes and is entirely generic in terms of its storyline: take any average moe title, pepper it with a smattering of gore and nudity, and you'll have Elfen Lied. If you truly want to depress yourself with a well-done portrayal of the darkness of humanity, I suggest you pick up something along the lines of “Now and Then, Here and There”.

Elfen Lied is not, in my opinion, the masterpiece that a chunk of viewers perceive it to be. In fact, I found it to be a shallow bundle of harem tropes and plot devices. In summation: It was pure bullcrap. Now, I don't mean to imply that Elfen Lied will seem this banal to everyone. As long as you don't start the anime expecting to find within it deep and controversial messages, then you will probably be a happy camper.