Elfen Lied anime series review

Elfen Lied is an anime series released in 2004 in Japan. The series is about a girl named Lucy/Nyu who is a mutant called a Diclonius and we find her in the beginning of the first episode escaping from a cell naked and brutally murders over 20 some people by using her invisible hands called vectors. The series starts of very violent with a lot of nudity, so this might not be suitable for younger viewers. After she escapes she is taken in by Khota and his cousin Yuka. The plot thickens and gets very complex and very emotional and deals with very hard topics like sexual abuse of a one of the main characters by her step-father which is the reason that she ended up homeless. Another character experiences his father and sister dying in front of him, there is also a theme of Lucy as a child being bullied very brutally by some kids because of her horns, which becomes the reason she starts murdering people. Like I said there is a lot going on in this series. This series like many anime they I have seen is amazing with character development, and spending whole episodes of creating back story of the characters. The writers did a great job at making the characters so that the viewer develops a strong connection with them. Honestly the writers of this series are absolutely fantastic, I mean there are scenes that are hard to watch because of the emotions that they conjure up. Again this is not for everyone, and for some viewers this is far too graphic, and not just the violence but thematic as well, but that being said those things and how they are done is part of what makes this series work so well. The animation is also very clean and beautiful, the characters are all beautifully drawn, as are the sets. Also the music is fantastic as well, there is definitely a lot of beautiful art in this fantastic series. Unfortunately I have not read the manga yet, so I can not say how closely it follows, however, it was being made at the same time as the manga so I know that the story does deviate quite a lot from the manga it was based upon. This series though is very influential, for example the Duffer brothers cited Elfen Lied as a huge inspiration for their hugely popular Stranger Things series, and the character Eleven is based on Lucy/Nyu. Stranger things is also inspired by Akira, which coincidentally Elfen Lied also drew inspiration from Akira. So if you have never seen this but are a Stranger Things fan, and you feel that while watching this there is something familiar about Eleven and Lucy/Nyu, that is why. This series though also has gotten some criticism for the heavy use of graphic violence, and nudity, and other graphic themes. The series was also banned in China in 2015 as well. Though that criticism aside, it is definitely in my opinion a must watch series. Would I recommend this series? Absolutely (as long as your are not triggered by the themes in it, so view with caution), it is one of my favourite anime series and I have watched it multiple times, and every time it triggers a strong emotional response, and the ending almost always leaves me in tears. Like I said just an amazing series.