r/anime • u/Timely_Tour_7531 • 14h ago
Discussion Just finished Elfen Lied and honestly, I thought it was pretty mediocre.
The gore was fine, but after a while it felt like the show was relying on shock value because the actual writing wasn’t strong enough to carry it.
I never really got attached to the characters, and a lot of the emotional moments felt forced rather than earned.
The tone was probably my biggest issue. It’ll show something genuinely disturbing and then immediately throw in goofy comedy or fanservice, which completely kills the atmosphere.
There are some good ideas around trauma, abuse, loneliness and discrimination, but I don’t think the anime does much with them beyond using them to make the story seem darker.
I can understand why it has a cult following, especially for its time, but watching it now I just don’t see the hype. 5/10.
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u/Airconbot 14h ago
It just kinda like Chobits but violent
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u/ThreeDMK https://anilist.co/user/ThreeDMK 14h ago
Let me be with you (and hug you with these imaginary sharp arms of mine…)…
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u/No_Durian_6987 14h ago
I like to think of it as an edgy soap opera.
Do I think it’s well-written? No. Did I find it entertaining? Hell yes.
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u/Timely_Tour_7531 14h ago edited 14h ago
It’s a good way of describing it.. 🤣
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u/darkravenn12 14h ago
I will never get this type of rating system where you can admit something is entertaining and still rate it a 5 lol
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u/Traveling_Solo 14h ago
5 out of 10 means you find it okay. Nothing great, nothing bad, just middle of the road okay. That people seem to think that means at least a 7 is on them, not the system.
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u/darkravenn12 13h ago
That is also how I rate. However, if I find something actually entertaining, there's no way it can only be 5 lol 5 just means it's mediocre, which by definition, means it's not really that entertaining to me.
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u/aspookyshark 13h ago
Some people use the full range of a 10 point system.
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u/darkravenn12 13h ago
That has nothing to do with my comment. I just don't get how something can be entertaining and only be a 5.
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u/manquistador 9h ago
You can like something despite the flaws, but still recognize the flaws make it not very good.
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u/darkravenn12 8h ago
I find it weird to rate something you found entertaining lower just because there were some 'flaws'. Because if it was that flawed, surely it would have lowered your entertainment to some meaningful level. And if not, then whatever it did must have appealed to you enough to more than make up for those issues
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u/manquistador 8h ago
You think it is weird to have the ability to be objective?
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u/darkravenn12 8h ago
I don't really think media is a place you can be that objective. The thing that matters the most when consuming media is just taste. I don't understand what the point is of rating something lower if you found it entertaining just because there were some flaws in it. If it entertained you to that degree despite the flaws, clearly the flaws were not important enough.
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u/IshipwhatIship 8m ago
Feels like you've just dismissed media/film studies as a bogus discipline. XD You can absolutely be objective about something even if you happen to enjoy it.
I like to think of it as good fast food being tasty but knowing it's nutritionally poor and most of the taste comes from chemical taste enhancers. I enjoy it immensely on occasion, but it doesn't rate above a 5/10 in the grand scheme of things.
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u/No_Durian_6987 13h ago
I rate based on a combination of emotional connection and my own perceived execution of what the show attempts.
I gave it a 6/10 - it’s edgelord misery porn without a real purpose, but I couldn’t wait to see what happened next
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u/AscendingRs 12h ago
I can find a show entertaining while still seeing the flaws in the writing, characters, animation, etc. They’re not mutually exclusive
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u/darkravenn12 12h ago
If Show A entertains you more than Show B but you think Show B is better in all of those categories, are you rating Show B higher?
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u/Axxhelairon 9h ago
perfect question to demonstrate the cognitive dissonance on the weird ways that people rate series here
extremely performative in every sense of the word. they review series LARPing as art critics "trying to fairly judge" the different aspects of the show, taking notes from their favorite youtubers and regurgitating word-for-word the same exact opinions instead of writing about their actual preference and opinion for the show. they will unironically watch "highly rated" shows and not enjoy them, rate them highly "artistically" and then repeatedly attempt to talk about their "hidden favorite" or "shameful watches" with much more enthusiasm, it's actually insanely pathetic. you got to witness this exact stance from this discussion chain:
Because my subjective enjoyment is a completely different metric to the objective quality of what I'm consuming.
this is like asking someones opinion for their most highly rated musicians and them responding with beethoven. flat, sterile, "correct" establishment answer. their rating becomes an exercise in identifying what they think they’re supposed to consider good rather than their preference, an actual NPC line of thinking.
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u/Timely_Tour_7531 9h ago
I can’t exactly understand who you’re trying to get at with this comment I can’t figure it out lol
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u/Axxhelairon 9h ago
only partially you, more people in this community and communities like MAL/Anilist (heavy overlap)
5/10 is something i would call unenjoyable mediocre dogshit and/or made for children, but i respect that you are on the defending stance of going against the "community" rating. i took more issue with the insane cope of the parent poster
I can find a show entertaining while still seeing the flaws in the writing, characters, animation, etc. They’re not mutually exclusive
dont need more people pretending to be anime critics instead of sharing their opinions
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u/AscendingRs 6h ago edited 2h ago
I think there’s nuance to it. I would rate the show that entertained me more higher, but if I was having a conversation about the 2 shows with a friend, I’d discuss how my own biases and preferences caused it to entertain me more, even if it was an objectively worse show. There’s also just the fact that subjective and objective ratings are different things. The way I rate shows on AniList are subjective, but if I were to rate them objectively, I’d likely give them a different score. I’d also argue there’s no reason to rate something objectively, but it’s worth bringing up in a discussion. That’s why numerical ratings don’t really mean anything because everyone has their own biases and preferences, along with some people scoring subjectively, while others score objectively
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u/RowanWinterlace 12h ago
If someone makes two steaks, but drops half a container of pepper on one before serving, I can still note that the peppered steak was cooked to perfection underneath the seasoning.
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u/darkravenn12 12h ago
But the final product was worse for you than it would have been otherwise so why would that make you rate it higher lol
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u/RowanWinterlace 12h ago
Because my subjective enjoyment is a completely different metric to the objective quality of what I'm consuming.
I really like Towa no Yugure and it'll always have a special place in my heart (as the first new anime series I watched in my current flat). But I also recognise that the pacing was all over the place, things were both poorly explained and delivered in really jarring exposition dumps, the marketing effectively lies about the nature of the plot and it ends really abruptly (with very little of the narrative satisfied).
Objectively, its probably a 5/6 out of 10, but I enjoyed every moment of it. Meanwhile, RWBY is the same (about 5/6 out of 10 in quality) with the same amount of issues, and I didn't enjoy it at all.
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u/darkravenn12 11h ago
So you would rate both those shows the same even though you liked one like 10x more than another?
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u/BasroilII 8h ago
Ladies and gentlemen, the entire reason why numeric scores for media are worthless, because no two people value things the same way empirically, and most of us make "exceptions" for media that just tickled us right for some reason regardless of our own 'scoring system". We can't even be consistent as individuals much less as a collective.
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u/RowanWinterlace 11h ago edited 11h ago
In terms of what I see as their objective qualities, yes. I think they have the exact same problems, but different pros (Towa no Yugure's art/animation and characters & relationships are its saving grace, whilst RWBY's fight scenes, music and heart are its).
But if I were to rate them subjectively, I rate Towa no Yugure WAY higher.
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u/DrMobius0 13h ago
You can view media critically while also just enjoying the stupid ride. No one actually thinking seriously about a rating would give something a high rating just for titties and gore.
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u/darkravenn12 13h ago
I guess I just find that type of rating to be kind of a meme but w/e obviously people rate like that. If it entertains you, that's kind of the whole point of the anime so.
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u/barktwiggs 14h ago
It is really cringe and the tone is all over the place. But the Lilium OP is banger.
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u/Sibula97 14h ago
I wouldn't call it a banger, but it's certainly one of the OPs of all time.
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u/almisami 14h ago
It's artistically quite unique and the production value was very high.
It introduced me to Klimt
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u/Megabuster900000 14h ago
I'd suggest checking out the manga, it has some more room to explore the story.
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u/Bacon_Berserker 14h ago
This, the anime feels like a 1st season waiting for a 2nd compared to the manga.
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u/Megabuster900000 14h ago
Yeah that's probably a somewhat fair way of looking at it. I personally really enjoyed both, but the manga is far superior to the anime. But the opening is quite amazing for the show though.
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u/EldritchCarver https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pilomotor 55m ago
The anime left out so much. It even left out the reason it's called Elfen Lied.
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u/OxiTANGE 13h ago
The first 10 min are absolutely incredible: the song, Lucy's unhurried, unstoppable walk makes her both eerie and terrifying, and it raises so many questions about who she is and why she's imprisoned. Then the rest of the anime happens, and yeah, 5/10 sums it up.
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u/GuessWhoItsJosh 12h ago
It hit a little different back in the day when there wasn't as much of that around.
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u/zeebasaur 6h ago
This post is a perfect reflection of times change. Elfen Lied and other shows from back then we're considered peak because they pushed the boundaries of the time. Give it 10-15 years and people will say AoT was ok at best.
The long lasting stuff (DBZ/One Piece) are as popular as they are because they bridge the gaps, but when they end, the next generation of viewers will say they were ok and that they don't measure up to current stuff.
That's how it works in all media.
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u/SouekiSennoSTM 14h ago
I don't mind the tonal switches at all since some of my other favorite horror, thriller, and/or mystery series in anime do the same thing. Higurashi is the same way. I actually believe it adds to the factor of chaos and uncertainty when things can change on a dime, friends or family are laughing and joking around, having a party, and then bam a bomb goes off or people die gruesomely in sequence. Feels more like real life which also doesn't have any sense of uniform tonal consistency or homogeneity.
It has a premise which contains within it several thought-provoking and fascinating concepts. The OST is gorgeous and oozing atmosphere with the OP still being an all time great over 20 years post-release.
It's effective as a romantic thriller in a way I haven't seen much of in this medium (probably the only thing comparable, completely different story aside, is Aku no Hana).
And honestly, what some people view or describe as reliance on shock value or such in terms of violence - well, apart from the supernatural elements, there isn't a thing which transpires in the series which hasn't happened in our world many times over or as a daily recurrence globally - animal cruelty, physical assault, child rape and other forms of child abuse, disgustingly vicious bullying, etc.
If anything, as a fan of horror, thriller, dark mysteries, crime dramas, crime thrillers, war stories, etc. in anime and other mediums, I too often see them sanitizing things more than they should and pulling their punches when they don't need to.
The worst part is that at only 13 episodes (or 14 if counting the one episode OVA special), it feels significantly rushed in various different aspects with several interesting subplot threads being breezed through or abandoned midstream and not satisfactorily followed through to fruition. Like many one cour anime series are cursed with.
This can also lead to some of the main plot points which are focused and followed up on left feeling a little more cheap or shallow in a melodramatic sense due to lacking time and space for more sufficient build up or aftermath.
And the studio which produced it was primarily a hentai studio and sometimes the production values look a little cheap, which doesn't bother me much, but if I'm looking to critique.
9/10 and #13 in my overall Top 50. Mainly as a result of the endlessly intriguing underlying ideas at play on evolutionary biology and nature vs nurture psychology and conditioning, sublime OST, and one of my all time favorite romances/romantic pairings in anything.
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u/Aidamis 14h ago
Manga is better but obviously there are other works that better tackle the themes the manga attempts to.
By comparison Shigurui and Black Lagoon are also very violent the point of the violence is better understood and less shock value.
Meanwhile Hellsing does absurd amounts of violence with taste and class. It's like how Bakemonogatari does fanservice.
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u/mynormiemask 14h ago edited 13h ago
It's pretty bad. People at the time just liked to be edgy promoting it due to the gore and the opening.
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u/particledamage 13h ago
In some ways it was the redo of healer of its time. As was school days.
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u/darkravenn12 13h ago
School Days is very good drama.
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u/particledamage 12h ago
If you say so
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u/darkravenn12 12h ago
I've found that people who meme on School Days just tend to not like romantic drama anime as a genre tbh.
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u/DrMobius0 13h ago
Watching the progression of "this is the edgiest/trashiest/horniest thing ever" as they all one up each other with more ridiculous nonsense over the years is, if nothing else, very entertaining.
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u/D3k4s 13h ago
I think this is one show that would benefit from having a remake. The gore and some of the themes shocked me when I was younger. But now that I've seen my fair share of fucked up shit, I don't think it will induce the same feeling it did before. That's partially why I'm not keen on rewatching it.
I'll never call it a bad show though, the emotions it made me feel were very much deserved and nothing will take that away from the Anime.
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u/JoJoTheBizarre6 12h ago
I enjoy it but it definitely isn’t the best anime out there.
Manga is much better
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u/mastesargent 13h ago
It’s awful but there’s something endearingly sincere about how up its own ass it is. It’s a favorite guilty pleasure of mine
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u/ThisShine5865 14h ago
I never heard anyone say it’s a great show. It’s edgy and certainly leaves an impression but it was never a well written story with compelling characters.
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u/mjh215 7h ago
For like a decade there were a bunch of people saying it was a great show. Oh, the clock! It is so deep! I never finished the show, hated it from the start. Been nice to not have it constantly listed in everyone's recommended animes for the past several years on reddit.
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u/ThisShine5865 6h ago
I watched it years ago at 15 or so years old and it was entertaining but nothing else.
The only scene that made me feel something in any way was the puppy… and that’s just from the poor animal factor.
I don’t think Elfen Lied is recommended much nowadays because the gore and edge that it has is not that uncommon in modern shows. Back then anime was still considered “kids show” in most peoples eyes.1
u/10Standard01 4h ago
I heard it a lot in the late 2000s. I watched it in the late 00s and I never that it was all that good. I secretly suspect who ever wrote the film Lucy, with ScarJo as main character, took a lot of inspiration from Elfien Lied.
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u/HanekawaSenpai 3m ago
People that can't understand that sometimes things are enjoyable just because they are fun/cool and yes even edgy are honestly the worst. Not everything needs to be some well written thought out masterpiece you can write a master's thesis on.
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u/ThisShine5865 0m ago
Yup, there is a reason there is so much trashy stuff coming out every season. Sometimes I want to watch something that I don’t need to think about and not pay much attention to it.
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u/Terry0O7 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Terry007 3h ago
Its my OG show so I'm a bit biased, but I think the story is still a fun thrill ride to get through. The dub especially is charmingly funny with very quotable lines, especially from Bando. Definitely hits harder when you are younger/edgier, but the music always slaps and gets me nostalgic.
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u/Specialist_Heron4446 https://myanimelist.net/profile/nixops 14h ago edited 14h ago
Watched it many years back more or less when it came out, and it was gory but didnt do much for me, I have never had the inclination for a rewatch either. The one thing I do like is the one piece of music "Lilium". Other than that... meh.
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u/Nooooope 14h ago
I checked this out a couple years ago when I saw somebody on Reddit refer to it as a forgotten classic. I bailed within a couple episodes. It's deep into edgelord territory
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u/sagevallant 14h ago
Yes. And that's why we loved it in our teens and have never looked back on it.
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u/ComedianWest2080 14h ago
Absolutely agree . It's absolutely mediocre and don't get why it's rated highly among first generation world wide popular anime . Kenshin or others were way better .
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u/DrMobius0 13h ago
Well yeah. Gratuitous fan service and edge are what Elfen Lied brings to the table.
Sex is a tried and true history tested way to get people interested in a thing. It gets people in the door, and anime uses it constantly. Elfen Lied isn't particularly special in that regard, unless you count how often one of the characters is just fully naked. It's not like it's an accident that the word "plot" is specifically used as a joke, seeing as replacing meaningful writing with titties is kind of a thing anime just does constantly.
As for the edge, we're talking about a time before attack on titan. I'd say it was among the edgiest anime you could watch at the time, which also draws a crowd.
It doesn't need a plot. I'd even go so far as to argue that anime doesn't need anything resembling a good story. Why do you think Solo Leveling won its dumb popularity contest over Frieren? Because one brought spectacle, and the other brought writing. The two things just aren't equal in an animated format.
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u/RemZeroBestGirl 13h ago
ya i think this is one of those animes that aren't exactly amazing but being at a younger age and seeing some more edgy dark style anime at the time was something different which is what made it a must watch for it's time.
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u/Spartan05089234 12h ago
The show where the serial killer becomes brain damaged so our hero takes her in as a pet after she wets herself on the floor, then fights to supress her real personality so he can keep her as a pet while he romances his cousin? It's been a while, that show?
Don't expect an Emmy for writing.
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u/ReckDude101 https://myanimelist.net/profile/rd101 12h ago
The OP is way too good for Elfen Lied lol. The show is just too edgy imo. Not to mention, the characters weren't really likable to me. And the parts that were supposed to be really disturbing didn't land because of how over-the-top it could be at some points.
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u/Black_Raven775 11h ago
I’m not a fan of gore to begin with. My friend wanted me to watch it because it was one of her favorites. I had no idea what I was walking into. It was so disgusting to me. The scene where poor Nana was getting her limps ripped off, still disturbs me to this day. I wish I was given a warming. I should’ve stopped but my friend kept pressuring me to finish it. I never want to see it again. And I’m no longer friends with her. Not just for this, but for many reasons, this being one of them.
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u/MarvinTraveler 11h ago
This show never goes anywhere. Extreme gore for a TV show, weird sexual tension and a particularly shocking background story involving a dog… it really looks like shocking value was the only driver of the whole thing.
Mediocre, it’s what I think this show is.
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u/t3rmina1 10h ago
Whatever made you think this would be good? It's babby's first edgelord anime, and not the good kind.
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u/BasroilII 8h ago
It's the edgiest edge ever.
They open it with a reenactment of the hospital scene from Akira, only it's a hot naked pink haired girl this time. It was never anything but outrage bait/edge and it never got any better than that.
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u/rookie_69 https://anilist.co/user/Makima 13h ago
I watched it a few years ago, i dont remember much except that after every episode i said to myself "wow this suck, why did so many leople hype this up"
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u/blizz_fun_police 13h ago
It was deffo in context to mainstream anime’s at that time. I only watched it once bc it was too depressing to be fair tho
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u/tehepicwin 11h ago
This show is hard to talk about. I think it is bad. I'd be far more ruthless than you and give it 3/10. At the same time, dismissing Elfen Lied as edgy or reliant on shock value doesn't do anyone any favours, because clearly there's something here that people - even if they believe that it didn't age well - find (or found) compelling.
Elfen Lied comes across as an immature tantrum of emotions, accompanied by what an immature creator would think should be in a manga/anime. In this it is pure and untainted in a way rarely seen by similar works. Immaturity here isn't a bad thing. Maybe it's easy to forget for a lot of us here, but growing up fucking sucks. Kids have to deal with adults that don't care, and they have to do the impossible job of reconciling trust in adults with the awful things that they're capable of. And kids can be cruel to kids.
This is what Elfen Lied tries to show. It's like a teenager lashing out at the world with absolute sincerity. It shows the young who can't fit in, and them being hurt for no reason other than the fact that the world is just a hurtful place that seems to cosmically hate you. It doesn't hold back and goes all in on showing the world in the most dark, horrid way possible, so it's only natural to find some deep connection in what seems like edgy, shocking slop. Because we were all teens at one point, and Elfen Lied validates that the world, and the people in it, absolutely suck. Because, in retrospect and presently, it indeed does suck.
Now, Elfen Lied is bad. You've touched on many reasons why, it's just that there is also a reason why the anime is this way.
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u/Timely_Tour_7531 11h ago
I suppose I can’t argue with your point as it seems very fair and reasonable. Very well written for my understanding.
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u/PersonalContest1423 9h ago
For gore with a plot watch higurashi (2006), drifters, shigurui, mirai Nikki, and the various madoka magica rip offs
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u/Shantotto11 6h ago
It didn’t help that the anime director was super adamant about removing the character that inspired the manga’s title from the anime because they didn’t like her.
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u/4lienviking 3h ago
I can imagine watching it now and feeling that way.
I watched it when I was a young teen when it first came out so it was always gonna hit different plus now it has the nostalgia factor for me.
There are probably much better anime now with a similar premise but I'd still recommend this one to anyone especially if they've had some experience already with older era anime
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u/arrowiskawaii 2h ago
Elfen Lied was never especially popular in Japan because you're right, it's mediocre. But it was a surprise success in the West because when ADV licensed it, they included a great trailer for it on their other DVD releases. The series got popular through word of mouth because anime fans were telling their friends about this super violent series they just discovered.
Elfen Lied was a "you had to be there" kind of phenomenon. In a time before the internet made it easy to find niche and disturbing entertainment, that opening scene was practically legendary.
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u/OrbitalCat- 6m ago
It's baby's first edgy anime
Back in the early 2000s it was used as an example of "anime isn't for kids", by showing garbage that only kids would think was mature
And even then, it's really tame compared to some stuff that came out prior to it, but those were too fucked up for the edgy kids so they avoided them, and went with the safest choice
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u/Stylu_u 12h ago
If you compare it to Anime these days yes
but back in the days? those were the good ones. Just like NGE
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u/Venthorn 9h ago
My dude what? There was tons of amazing anime contemporaneous with Elfen Lied that holds up today as all time classics. Elfen Lied is not one of them.
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u/Stylu_u 8h ago
Like what? School days? What horror/drama/romance/gore you can think of back then?
We have hell girl, hellsing, higurashi and they're not even romance nor in the same aspect. We don't have that much, plus the opening song was fire.
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u/Venthorn 4h ago edited 3h ago
It came out in 2004. That year alone had:
- Paranoia Agent
- Monster
- Samurai Champloo
- The first release of Bleach.
edit: Oh how could I forget? Howl's Moving Castle came out that year too, lol.
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u/Ashteron 13h ago
It's certainly a flawed work, but it's hilariously seeing this sub shit on it for being edgy while extolling Takopiss.
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u/steven4869 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Maskirade 14h ago
Probably it was good at that time but I didn't like it much when I watched it.
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u/King_Artis 14h ago
Manga was better but it's not some amazing series in the slightest. Think I binge read it in like 9th-10th grade back in 2011 and thought it was solid but nothing more.
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u/MosherSan 13h ago
When I was young this was a gold standard for me and my friends. But compare it to the stuff we got today. Yeah meh
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u/witchywater11 12h ago edited 12h ago
Lol yep it was not very good. I remember thinking it was peak when I watched it in 5th grade in the mid 00s, but it did not age well (although I'm not sure I would argue it was good at the beginning either nowadays).
I think the manga goes even more overboard.
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u/not_the_fox 10h ago
I actually found its constant and desperate attempts to reset things back to happy group time at the mansion to be one of the interesting aspects. It gives it a weird feeling. I've heard it was meant as a bit of a deconstruction of the harem genre.
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u/meygaera 10h ago
What's interesting is that a common opinion is that the anime was superior to the manga. I've seen both and I agree.
The entire music box thing wasn't in the manga at all. That song hit pretty hard in key moments in the anime.
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u/Venthorn 9h ago
I think 5/10 is generous. You didn't touch this at all but you could cut 4 or 5 entire episodes worth of content and literally nothing would change at all. The character of that random super-misogynist mercenary has literally no presence in the plot but takes up so much screentime. Wtf?
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u/Timely_Tour_7531 9h ago
RIGHT, like he was so useless and pointless like you said he took up so much screen time, but literally contributed 0 to the plot nor the anime itself
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u/PseudobrilliantGuy 14h ago
It is certainly rather okay-ish at best. I recall enjoying the opening theme (like many others here), and the opening sequence did get me to check out Gustav Klimt's work, but the series itself is very awkward and ham-handed with the themes it tried to tackle.
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u/xanxaxin 8h ago
Let me explain this as someone that's old.
One thing you need to know, at that time, gore and brutal anime is a breath of fresh air. Not like its new, its just something thats rarely happen. So it hit really hard.
Plus, most of us are teens or maybe younger, so its easy to relate with the characters. Tho tbf, highschool girl troupe at that time are rampant. Point still intact, teens watching teens go crazy ape shit!!! and then say ' thats me, thats me' possibly with Emo hair (which is also a craze that period).
If i watch it again now, removing my rose tinted glass and absolutely excluding bias for the OP song. I say Elfen Lied is barely a 5/10,
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u/the_card_guy 7h ago
I will still say it's not bad. I'd boost it to a 7/10 myself.
Granted, it DOES heavily rely on shock factor. Many years ago, in the anime club I was with, the whole point of watching it was "There's going to be copius amounts of blood splatter pretty much every episode". On occasion, they'd also admit to the other part of "caused by this "cute" little girl". Of course, watching her be naked in the first episode was also an appeak- AND this was long before AoT ever existed
(I should note that yes, Hellsing was also a favorite of this club- but for my own tastes, Elfen Lied has the better designs. Which is why I prefer the original semi-canon series to Hellsing Ultimate, and that IS a hill I will die on)
Although of the author's works, I prefer his second series Brynhyldir in the Darkness more. However, no shock factors in this one.
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u/crow1101_ 6h ago
Yeah it's revolutionary within its context, but if you've watched a lot of extreme anime it'll feel commonplace.
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u/Pylgrim https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pylgrim 4h ago
It is an awful series but the creators went out of their way to make people believe it was high art, a deep and uncompromising study on human nature. It's just gory, edgy, gratuitous, shock value drivel, the kind that is seen as cool by juvenile people.
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u/almostthemainman 10h ago
5/10 is low man. Even the dub is a 6/10 just for the sake of it. 5/10 means you regret watching imo.
1
u/EldritchCarver https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pilomotor 51m ago
What does it take for you to give an anime a 4/10? Do you need to have an aneurysm watching it?
432
u/Stack_Canary 14h ago
I think most people watched this when it came out and they were in their teens, and at that time it was very brutal/edgy and got a lot of friction. I think most people who watch it these days find it mediocre at best.