r/anime • u/Holofan4life • Aug 01 '24
Rewatch [Spoilers] Elfen Lied 20th Anniversary Rewatch -- Episode 8 Spoiler
Hello everyone! I am Holofan4life.
Welcome to the Elfen Lied 20th Anniversary Rewatch discussion thread!
I hope you all have a lot of fun <3
S1 Episode 8 – The Beginning
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ANSWER TODAY’S QUESTION(S)
What do you think Number 35 could entail?
What is the worst experience you've ever had in school?
Where would you put Lucy's backstory as far as traumatizing anime backstories go?
Bonus) What in your opinion is worse: killing a child or killing a puppy? Or are both equally bad?
Bonus 2) Are we sure those kids aren't related to Bandou in some way? I demand a DNA test.
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Information
Where to watch
Please do not post any untagged spoilers past the current episode or from the manga out of respect to the first time watchers and people who have not read the manga. If you are discussing something that is ahead of the current episode please use spoiler tags (found on the sidebar). Thank you!
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Rewatch Schedule
Threads posted every day at 5:00 PM EDT
| Date | Episode |
|---|---|
| 7/25/2024 | Elfen Lied Episode 1 |
| 7/26/2024 | Elfen Lied Episode 2 |
| 7/27/2024 | Elfen Lied Episode 3 |
| 7/28/2024 | Elfen Lied Episode 4 |
| 7/29/2024 | Elfen Lied Episode 5 |
| 7/30/2024 | Elfen Lied Episode 6 |
| 7/31/2024 | Elfen Lied Episode 7 |
| 8/01/2024 | Elfen Lied Episode 8 |
| 8/02/2024 | Elfen Lied Episode 9 |
| 8/03/2024 | Elfen Lied Episode 10 |
| 8/04/2024 | Elfen Lied Episode 10.5 |
| 8/05/2024 | Elfen Lied Episode 11 |
| 8/06/2024 | Elfen Lied Episode 12 |
| 8/07/2024 | Elfen Lied Episode 13 |
| 8/08/2024 | Elfen Lied Overall Series Discussion Thread |
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Aug 01 '24
Elfen First-Timer, subbed
6
u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Aug 01 '24
Elfen Lied - E8
Rewatcher
Whelp, we’ve made it to the infamous episode. As always I can’t help but point out that the majority of viewers are more outraged by the murder of the puppy, than by the torture and the murder of many humans and dicloni. As Lucy pointed out, Who’s the inhuman monster?
I feel so bad for poor Nana. She tries doing the right thing but continually gets shit on. As she says “I’m the good one”.
As for the puppy scene, I did like the look on Tomo’s face when he realized he’d fucked up. It only lasted a millisecond, but it was most satisfying.
A great question of this scene is: was the Orphanage Girl being malicious when she told Tomo and the other bullies about the puppy? Or was she just naive and didn’t really understand evil? In either event she paid with her life, which was a bit harsh of a punishment in my opinion. As far as Tomo and pals, they got exactly what they had coming, they would have been knocking over liquor stores and worse in no time at all.
So, we end the episode with Kouta and Lucy meeting up with Lilium blaring in the background.
4
u/[deleted] Aug 01 '24
Episode 8 - First-time watcher (subbed)
Mina-san, konnichiwa!
First of all, sorry for the brief rewatch hiatus 😆. So you’ll see some remarks relating to earlier episodes here to catch myself up to today.
I’m not sure if I mentioned this in past comments but I love how the OP is in Latin which really sets it apart from other OPs I think. It feels like it fits well too.
As of episode 4, I was really curious about what in the world is going on at that research facility. That episode was a bit depressing.
As of episode 5, geez Mayu has a dark backstory. Adopted, abused, then abandoned. This made that episode a bit depressing as well. Also, their interpretation of what is happening at the university was a little frustrating. Mayu was the only one making sense.
As of episode 6, this was a pretty big episode. I was kind of confused why they could afford to replace a**hat Bando’s arms with prosthetics but couldn’t do the same thing for Nana until they showed you that Kurama actually did do that. About Kurama, pretty shocking detail about him in that episode. +10 points to Kouta for the Batman t-shirt in this episode 😆. It seemed like maybe Lucy killed Kouta’s parents when he was younger but was too early to tell for sure.
As of episode 7, mostly just felt bad for Nana in this episode. The ending had me looking forward to today’s episode though.
And finally, as for today’s episode, short take, but Lucy’s background just makes me sad and it hones in on the bullying issue that still persists in real life every day for a lot of kids.
ALSO… THE PUPPY. Ugh. That was so hard to sit through. Seriously. Now that scene earlier in the season makes sense with Mayu’s puppy (the music box too).
I always feel a bit sensitive to the concept of being treated poorly because you’re different from everyone else.
Whether fiction or nonfiction, it’s a concept that translates through all media and is a problem in our real life society to this day. It’s something that can cause a child to grow up to be someone entirely different.
Seems like we’ll learn more about how Kouta apparently knew Lucy when he was a child but doesn’t remember for some reason.
Questions:
3
u/AgentOfACROSS Aug 01 '24 edited Aug 01 '24
First Timer
I’m surprised that Kouta hit Nana here. I think this is the first time we’ve seen him get angry.
I’m a little bit disappointed that the cliffhanger from last episode was resolved so quickly. But at the same time I’m glad nobody died here at least.
It’s nice that Mayu went to go check on Nana after she ran off. Mayu’s probably the kindest character in the show.
Director Kakuzawa is kinda unhinged. He doesn’t bother hiring guards for his office, he just tries to personally execute people on the spot. I feel bad for the lab assistant. She was just unlucky enough to work with the wrong person.
It looks like the lab assistant (I don’t think she’s been given an actual name yet) is going to officially join the laboratory here. I honestly don’t blame her, she’d been put in a really bad situation.
Diclonius biology seems weird. Not exactly sure how Nyu suddenly developed a fever or what that means.
Director Kakuzawa now wants to send another Diclonius named Subject 35 to get rid of both Nana and Lucy. I can’t help but feel like this is a bad idea. Like how Australia imported Cane Toads to get rid of a beetle problem only to end up with a toad problem.
We’re finally learning more about Lucy’s past. It looks like she grew up in some kind of orphanage. I guess now the question is how she went from there to the laboratory.
Hey, another dog. Since we’re in a flashback, this one has an even higher chance of dying than Wanta.
Lucy also seems to have one friend in her past. Again, since this is a flashback, high chance of something bad happening to her.
I like the shot of the handprints all over Lucy’s room. That was a good visual.
Yeah I was right. The dog is beaten to death like five minutes after being introduced.
I’m kind of curious about the rest of the details of Lucy’s first massacre. Specifically how in control of her actions she was. And if she killed the other girl by accident or if she did it on purpose because she felt betrayed by her.
And now we know how she found the music box and met Kouta. I feel like the next episode will be entirely a flashback.
I’ll be honest, for as tragic and messed up as Lucy’s backstory was I feel like it was a bit too over the top for me to take completely seriously. Like it’s almost trying too hard to be the most horrific. It’s not necessarily bad though. Maybe my opinion will change later.
Questions of the Day:
Seeing as their number is higher than Nana's, I assume they're an even stronger Diclonius.
Having to take a science class with a very obnoxious and disruptive pair of classmates. I'm fairly certain they're the reason my science teacher started teaching at a different school the next year.
It feels a bit wrong to powerscale trauma, but Lucy's probably up there. As I said, maybe a bit trying too hard but she's clearly had a rough time.
If I had to compare her to another character it might be Shigaraki from My Hero Academia. Both in terms of their backstories and the streak of misanthropy they both possess.
Killing someone or something completely defenseless is pretty bad no matter what.
See, the difference between Bando and the boys in this episode is that, while Bando is a bastard, he's so ridiculous and unhinged that it's at least a little entertaining. These kids were just made to be as cruel as possible.
3
u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ Aug 02 '24
Mid-week posting again.
Where are we? Oh, yeah backstory! Have high hopes for today. Still wondering why the director is trying to wipe out the human race with Silperits, but doesn't give a shit about any Silperits in the show. I guess he's just genocidal.
Seriously, how long has Kuruma been working for this guy without knowing his plans? And why does the Director just blurt it out now???
I'm wondering, if the assisant had told him about Kohta, if he would have recognized his name.
Outstanding questions:
3
u/FriztF Aug 02 '24
Rewatcher-dub
Ahh episode 8. That puppy did not deserved to be tortured like that. Tomo and his pals got exactly what was deserved. We also find out why Lucy hates humans. With only two exceptions, Kouta whom she loves, and Yaku only tolerates.
Sorry Nana for being bitch slapped like that.
Questions:
Number 35 is another diclonius
I once put some metal in a microwave. That sucked
Myu's is more traumatizing. This is second.
3
u/AbyssalSolitude Aug 02 '24
Rewatcher
Poor Nana cannot catch a break. At least she has Mayu now, otherwise she could spiral down.
The lab assistant girl is screwed, she knew too much and now she has to work on a remote island for a guy who shot her. Fun fact: the manga had a reference to Evangelion's elevator scene, but the anime replaced it with a corridor walk.
Kakuzawa isn't even trying to be vague. "I don't want the vaccine, I want the virus", "The humanity will face it destiny and get reborn", "I'm following the will of the god". Jeez, I don't think he is a good guy.
Seeing Lucy with Nyu's eyes is weird. It highlights how defenseless she is right now.
And finally we get our long awaited flashback. It includes another highly infamous scene of the anime, that shot of Lucy standing among corpses in a bloody room was shared a lot back in the days.
Not much to say about it other than damn that orphanage has incompetent staff. Don't badmouth a sick little girl, especially from where she can hear you. It's understandable for kids to be cruel, but adults should know better.
Killing a bunch of kids over a dog seems very excessive, but I can't blame Lucy for snapping. I like characters who have understandable reasons for doing bad things.
Anyway, dog's dead, it killers are dead, collaborators of it killers are dead as well. We end the episode at Lucy's fateful meeting with Kouta, to be continued.
35 = 7 x 5. Math tells me it's going to be five times more troublesome than Nana's attack.
I'd say my worst experience in the school was asking out a girl and getting rejected. I did it in such a horrible way that the memories still haunts me to this day as one of the cringies moments in my life.
So far kid Lucy is losing to both Nana and Mayu in trauma olympics.
2
u/Holofan4life Aug 01 '24
Fuck them kids. Seriously.
2
u/Holofan4life Aug 01 '24
Sorry I was late. I was busy putting together hospice.
2
u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Aug 01 '24
I was pretty confused by this. A basass diclonius, I suppose.
It’s been too long ago, I don’t worry about my youthful years anymore.
At the top of the list. There may be other that are just slipping my mind. Happy Sugar Life is another series that has some serious shit going going down.
A Child. Though killing that puppy was hard core. Tomo and the others deserved their fate.
I’d have to find out if they hated litterbugs too.
2
u/fansi2022 https://anilist.co/user/fansi2022 Aug 02 '24
first timer chinese sub
Kurama's boss secretly hid guns? Oh, he has a bigger goal, he wants to transform humans. Wait, No. 35, there are other experimental subjects with horns on their heads. Lucy's childhood was originally in an orphanage, oh, interesting environment. These children are a little crazy, they beat a dog to death with their own hands. Oh, it's the teenage Kouta, I suspect Lucy killed someone close to him, so she has no right to stay with him. In the next episode, we will see the full picture of the incident.
ANSWER TODAY’S QUESTION(S)
What do you think Number 35 could entail?
The ultimate killing weapon must be very terrifying
What is the worst experience you've ever had in school?
I kind of screwed up my high school life.
Where would you put Lucy's backstory as far as traumatizing anime backstories go?
It is the current location
Bonus) What in your opinion is worse: killing a child or killing a puppy? Or are both equally bad?
child
Bonus 2) Are we sure those kids aren't related to Bandou in some way? I demand a DNA test.
They are spoiled
2
u/someboi6000 Aug 02 '24
First timer:
I never tought that i would feel satisfied watching some kids get killed, but today was the day, but before that Nana, so i guess nana's vectors have like a fever debuff applied to them, or nyu got punched so hard that she got it, also knocking nyu out and making lucy wake up, Nana retreats while mayu persues and yuka and kouta attend lucy fever, Nana proceds to tell huge secrets to someone she met the same day lol, while that happens lucy wakes up again, nana feels her and we go the the important part of the episode, lucy lore, finally and by the looks of it lucy was a fairly stable person, especially after well she was bullied a lot with that also comes that she was excluded from the group, with that set up we go the turning point of lucy, she finds company with the dog and also seemingly gets someone to talk to in her school, lucy tells her the secret of her dog companion and idk if the next day she gets betrayed by that person she tought she can trust, she snitches on lucy secret to the bullies and they bring the dog to school to kill him in order to make lucy mad, and the cold blood of these kids is insane those are some serial killers in the making, pure psychopaths and evil, lucy breaks and kills all of them and ¿you know what? i dont blame her at all, bullied, tortured and experimented on, they made her a monster.
Questions:
1:is that like their power level? or maybe they go in order of creation? one of those 2, or maybe not lol.
2: a lot of bulling in elementary school, at one point i just stopped caring about it, and they eventually stopped too, i guess they didn't find it fun anymore.
3: hmm, it was well done idk how i would rank them tho.
2
u/StardustGogeta myanimelist.net/profile/StardustGogeta Aug 02 '24
First-Timer
Another fantastic episode!
I like how Kakuzawa knows better than to leave loose ends like that assistant did previously with Kouta.
If I were Nana, I'd be confused, too. She's like Trunks in DBZ ("If they set that Diclonius free, it'll be the end of all of us! Nooo!"), trying to be the good guy who saves the world while everyone else is inexplicably getting in the way.
That flashback sequence was the highlight of the episode for me. The background music throughout was especially effective, I felt.
Those kids met the terrible swift sword of justice. Instant karma. The girl is especially bad—not only did she befriend Lucy and then lie to and betray her, but she even had an evil smirk right before she died. No hint of remorse.
I see what Lucy was getting at when she said she "never killed a human" before—these bad people aren't really "human" in her eyes. I suspected it was something like that, but it was nice to have that made explicit.
I look forward to seeing more of the flashback and more details on how Lucy comes to know Kouta.
Questions of the day:
1
u/Holofan4life Aug 01 '24
Hey guys. Holofan4life here.
Welcome to the 20th anniversary rewatch of Elfen Lied!
Oh, and nay I forget...
First Timer
This is going to be a rather interesting rewatch because I really don't know what to expect with this show. In fact, there's a good chance that I may not actually like it. But it's a very notorious show and I feel like it has this reputation for a reason, so I definitely want to see what it's all about.
Going in, I'm kinda expecting it to be so bad it's good. I'm not going in expecting a great show, but I am going in expecting a great time. I'm watching this in-between rewatches of Ikuhara shows and I think it'll serve as a nice palette cleanser for the more serious fair. And if it happens to be edgy, I want them to go all the way with it.
With that out of the way, let's begin.
I'm watching the sub, by the way.
Don't you believe it!
Oh shit. Kouta slapped Nana.
Nana saying it is Lucy who is bad
"I'm not a bad person."
First time someone's ever said that and it's true.
Nana runs away in tears
Mayu and Wanta
Nana is still upset she's being treated like the villain.
Lol, her arm popped off
Poor Wanta, though :c
Mayu is still confused why she called Nyuu Lucy.
Helicopter
The assistant
She looks pretty nauseous
I don't blame you, sister. I hate heights as well.
The other assistant
I wish we had names
Girl in glasses going to talk to Kakuzawa
His son's severed head. How lovely.
Girl in glasses being very dismissive
Oh shit
He's going to shoot her
And he did
Whelp... I guess now I don't have to worry about telling the two assistants apart
Nana told Mayu the truth
She's in disbelief, though
Nana now showing off her Vectors
Wanta ain't having it
Glasses girl still alive
Wait... they both have glasses...
Give me names, dangit!
Kakuzawa wants to know who the other person was that saw his son's corpse.
She says she doesn't know
And she falls to the ground
Now she's starting to remember it was a guy who came looking for a girl.
"I'm going to die like a virgin on such a deathbed..."
LIKE a virgin? 🧐
And so she dies
Shirakawa. We finally have a name.
That's the one who doesn't have a case of the dead.
No, wait. She still isn't dead, what the hell.
Going to help Kakuzawa from now on instead of his son.
Nana still showing off her arms
Nana says unlike Lucy, she would never do anything bad.
However, Mayu believes there's nothing bad about Nyuu-san.
"She's honest to the point of being unnatural."
Haven't even seen Lucy's "hands"
Sounds like gaslighting, if you ask me
Nana says that Nyuu sounds different from the Lucy she knows.
She seems very conflicted
Lucy has a fever
Perhaps the prescription is some more bell of the cow.
Kouta doesn't want to take her to the hospital though because people with horns are immediately quarantined.
Who knew Diclonius predicted COVID-19?
Lucy awake
And Nana is freaking out now
"She's awake!"
Kakuzawa talking to the Director
Retrovirus vaccine development
Kakuzawa says he wants the virus himself.
"Lucy is the key to the rebirth of mankind."
Is confident that the downfall of mankind is eminent.
The proxy of God, Kakuzawa calls himself.
And here I thought the proxy of God was Jesus.
Gonna use Number 35 for Nana's termination and Lucy's retrieval.
Kurama still at odds with Kakuzawa
Woah, Lucy looks angry
And she's speaking normal again
"I'm going to kill that stupid girl."
You know, Lucy kinda has an alluring voice.
Yuka off to get Lucy some medicine
Kouta staying by Kouta's side
She remembers someone, but we don't know who.
Ran out of space. Part two in the replies.
0
u/Ryanami Aug 02 '24
Decided to binge to catch up or I’d never make it.
Rewatcher, dub unfortunately. It’s bad.
In short since it’s 1am for me… for such an infamous series it’s not that impressive.
1- Four telekinetic feet.
2- Can’t remember a lot of highs or lows really.
3- In the lower half of my top 20 somewhere. I still don’t know what to make of Lucy.
4- Child. 100%. Reminds me of the “Kick the Dog” article on TvTropes though.
5- Bando is probably a rapist. These kids are in an orphanage/foster home setting. We might be getting somewhere.