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By Jonathan Klotz
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For a generation, Element Lied It was an introduction to the world of anime, mainly because if you can get through the gore, violence, and fan service in this series, you can get through almost every other mainstream anime series. The cute box art and character designs belie the quirkiness and self-seriousness within it, which, let’s be honest, hasn’t aged well at all. The show’s influence has gone beyond anime, with the killer Lucy cited by The Duffer Brothers as directly influencing design Stranger Things Eleven.
Telekinetic Girl Meets Naive Boy
Once you hear that the telekinetic Lucy, who was so traumatized by her experience in a secret facility where she, along with other Dicloniuses….Dicloniusi?….a mutant species that has started to emerge and introduce growing threat to normal humans, has been studied for years. Lucy escapes inside Element Lied clearly more violent than eleven in Stranger Things Season 1, with a lot more blood and more dead bodies being used as shields, but all of them are saved by a mean young boy who develops a crush on the girl who could kill him with the power of her mind.
Element Lied settles down quickly after the lab escape and soon finds a rhythm that sustains him for 13 episodes. Lucy, who loves killing humans and takes sadistic pleasure in doing so, is replaced by a different personality, Nyu, for most of the show’s run time. Like Nyu, Lucy is friendly and innocent, and she does not want to hurt anyone with her telekinetic powers, which manifest as invisible arms, called “Vectors,” although she retains the potential to destroy the whole of humanity.
That’s an amazing feat Element Lied can go between heartfelt drama, coming-of-age romance, and ultra-violent kill fest over a single episode. Some parts haven’t aged well over the years, namely the fan service and at times, gore for gore’s sake, but others, including the surprisingly deep features for what looks like a schlock fest on the face, remains relevant today. You have to get past the bloodshed to find human emotion, even in the inhuman Dicloniuses characters.
Element Lied is not for everyone
Stranger Things drawn from many media, especially 80’s classics, incl Akirathe groundbreaking sci-fi anime that redefined an entire branch of entertainment, then Element Liedthe 2004 release that serves as the blueprint for one of the biggest breakouts of the past decade is a little surprising. Then again, there’s still nothing like the anime’s unique blend of genres, both of which are such a great introduction to animeand also a very horrible introduction, all at the same time. Needless to say, it’s not for kids at all, no matter how cute the DVD box art looks.
Element Lied it wasn’t my introduction to anime; that was the Toonami block on Cartoon Network a decade earlier, but it was one of the first I watched when I picked up the medium again. By then, I was used to the serious darkness and self-seriousness of mainstream comics in the 90s, which made the odd mix of a harem anime setting, Berserk– bloodshed style, and overly cute characters just the kind of weird I needed at the time. It also helps that the music, especially Lilyis an absolute banger, and every time it plays you’ll find the motivation to keep going for another episode.
Element Lied available to stream on Amazon Prime.
