Elfen Lied



Lucy, a beautiful but extremely dangerous mutant, escapes from a sinister research facility, brutally slaughtering anyone that gets in her way, whether they intended to or not. However, a glancing head shot from an anti-tank rifle leaves her injured, and she falls into the ocean, unconscious...

Later, university student Kouta and his female cousin Yuka are walking along the Yuigahama beach near Kamakura, when they find a naked young woman with horns on her head. They end up taking her home and calling her Nyu after the only sound she makes.

Between the sinister government agency running the facility, Yuka's jealousy, Nyu's dark and troubled alternate personality Lucy and a traumatic past he cannot remember, Kouta is in deep trouble. Caught between monsters, both human and not, where does his loyalty lie?

Elfen Lied is a very, very bloody Manga, which has been likened to a combination of X-Men, Carrie, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Love Hina. In other words, it's a twisted mixture of pseudo-harem antics, mutant battles, cute girls, split personalities, and of course, lots and lots of gore - and it's more than happy to swing between comedy and horror at the drop of a hat. It has also been compared to I Dreamof Jeannie as done by David Lynch and Wes Craven. There is also a short Anime series of the same name that follows the first couple of chapters but ends with an alternative ending before the real plot kicks off.

The series has become something of a Cult Classic: given the heavy amounts of bloody violence and nudity, not to mention the dark tone overall (which are even worse in the manga), even in Japan the series only aired on satellite TV, as a glorified commercial for the DVD release. In North America, ADV didn't seriously think the show would gain widespread popularity, if only for the pragmatic reason that it was limited to mature audiences (they could never market it to 14 years olds). There was actually supposed to be a second season, but the show had to end after only one season largely due to lack of exposure in Japan from its limited TV run. Then purely by word of mouth it spread from one anime club to the next, and reviewers started noticing it, to the point that it ultimately became one of ADV's top selling North American DVDs of 2005.

Now has its own Character Page. Contributions are greatly encouraged and appreciated.

Cautious Editing/Viewer Warning: There is consistent talk of rape, extreme gore, and violence not suitable for the underage. There was a very good reason why this has been unable to air, after all.

This show provides examples of:
"Scientist (to Bando): The human race, full of idiots...is better off decreasing."
 * 108 (-1): The number of chapters in the series.
 * However, two special chapters, one canonical, one not, add to that count, possibly making it 108 (+1) instead.
 * Discard the non-canonical chapter and you get this trope played straight.
 * Abridged Series: Has one, but is currently on hiatus (see trope page).
 * Absurdly Youthful Mother: Kohta and Yuka adopt Mayu, despite there only being a 5 year age difference.
 * Accidental Pervert: Kouta
 * Adaptation Dye Job: Diclonius in the anime all have varying shades of pink hair. In the manga, Lucy's is a light pink, Nana has bluish-purple, and Mariko has blonde.
 * All of the Other Reindeer: A recurring theme.
 * All There Is to Know About "The Crying Game": and  are widely known. Somewhat subverted since you wouldn't know how those happened or revealed. It may possibly be because of the former being Makes Just As Much Sense in Context (, in other words), and the latter is all the way next to the ending.
 * Amnesiacs Are Innocent: Gets worse after she gets the memories back.
 * An Arm and A Leg: Lucy rips off the limbs of many people.
 * And I Must Scream: Number 28 in the manga.
 * And the Adventure Continues/No Ending: The manga leaves off on a wild card:
 * And Your Little Dog, Too: Inverted, the female lead does it to the antagonist and.
 * Played with early on when Lucy comes across Mayu's little dog. Lucy looks down at the dog, which is barking frantically at her but unable to run away because it's tied to a leash, and we're treated to what seems like a Gory Discretion Shot as we hear Lucy use her powers. When Mayu comes outside, the audience's expectations are subverted when it's revealed that Lucy actually cut the dog's leash. This was our first hint that Lucy's not a Complete Monster.
 * Anti-Hero: Lucy is a Type V due to the merciless nature she has!
 * Apocalypse Wow: The manga has some fun nearing the ending, including an impressive ten or so pages pages dedicated to . There's also many treats to
 * Armor-Piercing Slap: Yuka gives such a hard one to Kouta early in the anime that in the next scene you can still see her hand imprint on his cheek.
 * Art Evolution: In the manga the artwork starts off okay, but gets dramatically better. Compare the cover of volume 1 to volume 12.
 * The horns of the Diclonii also had a different look at the start of the manga, though that changed quickly. Compare here to here.
 * Art Imitates Art: In the opening credit, Gustav Klimt.
 * Artistic License Biology: Lucy's nipples are placed very inconsistently; they're always somewhere on her breast, but "where" depends on the artist.
 * Artistic Title: "Elfenlied" is German for "elf song", and is the title of a poem by Eduard Mörike (but it's not the Latin poem, "Lilium", sung during the anime's opening).
 * Art Major Physics + No Arc in Archery: When an enemy is out of reach of their vectors, a Diclonius will typically use her vectors to instead throw objects at them. These thrown objects invariably behave like a bullet or arrow, regardless of the actual aerodynamic properties of the object in question.
 * Of course, we're talking about very small objects thrown at the speed of a bullet, like that pen that's thrown into a soldier's eye. Played straight for extremely large objects.
 * Baker's Dozen: The anime has 13 episodes plus one on the DVD.
 * Batman Gambit: Starting immediately after the point where the anime cuts off, Kakuzawa initiates the second part of his plan: . An attempt to actually stop this from happening does not work, and the entire gambit proceeds as planned. Now, this would have been a Xanatos Gambit for him, if it wasn't for . The rest of the manga is spent attempting to make sure the scenario does not proceed into even worse territory.
 * Berserk Button: It's rare that dicloni care for anyone. If they do, you really don't want to threaten that person.
 * Because You Were Nice to Me: The only reason why  In a Slap Slap Kiss sort of way.
 * Better to Die Than Be Killed: One possible interpretation of when comparing the anime and manga versions of . In the anime, due to ending early,  In the manga,
 * Beware the Nice Ones: When Bando first mistakes Nyu for being harmless and provokes her into reverting back into Lucy. Lucy repays the favor by chopping off an arm, breaking the other, and blinding him.
 * Nearly happens with Nana as well, when he verbally abuses her to the point where she develops Dull Eyes of Unhappiness, and very nearly overpowers him.
 * Beyond the Impossible: How far can a Diclonius reach with their vectors?
 * Bishonen:
 * Nousou.
 * Kurama is a borderline example, but is an older man and later grows a Beard of Sorrow.
 * Bifauxnen: Until the very end when her shirt gets ripped, it's practically impossible to have guessed that.
 * Big Bad: Played straight with Kakuzawa Senior.
 * Big Damn Antihero: When the Unknown Man assaults Mayu and Nana in chapter 75, things look really bad even for this manga.
 * Black and Gray Morality: While by and large, most plot-driving characters are evil, there's shades of evil between them; some have sympathetic motivations or other redeeming qualities, while others completely lack any redeeming characteristics whatsoever. Being the latter does not necessarily mean that you are worse than the former.
 * Bloodbath Villain Origin: Lucy
 * Blood Is the New Black
 * Blood-Splattered Innocents: On numerous occasions, but most notable is.
 * Bloody Handprint: Which isn't show anywhere in the manga.
 * Body Horror: Lucy towards the end of the manga.
 * Bolivian Army Ending: In the anime...kind of.
 * Brain In A Jar: Number 28, only in a much worse fashion.
 * Break the Cutie: Every single goddamn one.
 * Breather Episode: Episode 10.5, the OVA, an extremely loose adaptation of Chapter 85-86, which explains how Lucy was captured in the beginning of the manga. A nice break if one is going through the series in one sitting.
 * Sadly the R1 DVD sets don't include it.
 * Brick Joke: In the manga, Nozomi's diaper.
 * Bulletproof Human Shield: While escaping during the first episode, Lucy decapitates an intern and uses her corpse to block a hail of 9mm bullets
 * Caught in The Rain: Kouta and Yuka in episode six.
 * Child By Rape:
 * Compressed Adaptation: The anime cuts off at around chapter 63, instead ending with a somewhat vague cliffhanger. For those who want to know what the anime missed, well... You know, just read it. It's kickass...and very sad.
 * or it would be very sad, if
 * Conspicuous CG: The vectors.
 * Contrived Coincidence:
 * Covers Always Lie:
 * Compared to the amount of blood and violence in this series, and how mentally scarred Lucy is, she sure does seem calm and serene on the DVD and manga covers.
 * Awww, look at that manga cover, with the incredibly moe pink-haired girl on the front. This looks like a pretty innocent ser-WHY IS THERE SO MUCH BLOOD!?
 * Crap Saccharine World: The melodrama takes places in a nice little coastal city and a very pretty inn...
 * Creepy Child:
 * Again, Number 35.
 * At least two of the unnamed Diclonii
 * There's also Tomo (the lead bully at the orphanage), who takes pleasure in beating an innocent puppy to death.
 * Cross-Popping Veins: Happens to Yuka twice, once when Kouta was about to mention that her cooking wasn't special, and when his little sister teases her in the flashback.
 * Cry Cute: Probably because of their exaggerated eyes, but all of the main girls when they do it. Even Lucy/Nyu and Mariko in the anime.
 * Cry For The Devil in Plain Sight: The story seems to go to great lengths to show how much of an unfortunate victim Lucy has been throughout her life.
 * Curb Stomp Battle:
 * Pretty much any fight involving Lucy,
 * Conversely, pretty much any battle involving Nana will go badly for her.
 * In the anime, Mariko pretty much stomps Lucy, and only stops because of Kurama's timely intervention.
 * Cute Mute: Nyu, after the only word she could speak at first.  becomes one near the end of the manga in a more literal way, although.
 * Cyborg:
 * Dead Guy Junior:
 * Dead Little Sister: Both a figurative example and a literal non-example.
 * Death By Adaptation:  dies in the anime, whereas he survives in the manga.
 * Death By Childbirth:
 * , in a roundabout way:
 * This happens with any Diclonius that has slipped into Kill All Humans mode.
 * Death Is Cheap: Manga only.  have excellent death scenes but disappointingly survive.   has similar treatment. This is one point in which the anime may have been better - if they actually finished it properly.
 * Demoted to Extra: Surprisingly few people are aware of Nozomi's existence. She was kept out of the anime entirely, despite being the reason that the show is called Elfen Lied and being a main character. After  in the manga, less than a page is devoted to her at the hospital. This is despite the fact that there was a ton of buildup to her exam results beforehand, and the latest development ran the risk of ending all her plans for the future.
 * The title is taken from a German song/poem of the same name (Nozomi just sings this already existing song) and is a reference to Lucy/Nyu more than any other character. The "Elfen" part is a reference to her horn's which resembles sharp ears. The "Lied" part (though actually meaning "song" in German) is symbolic to the English term "lie," meaning deception, a fitting reference to the innocent persona Nyu and the sociopathic persona Lucy. In other word's, a reference to her deception to everyone but most importantly Kohta.
 * Disney Death:
 * , though it was left up in the air.
 * Disproportionate Retribution: Several examples.
 * Does Not Like Men: follows this to a degree;
 * Dojikko:
 * Miss Kisaragi only lasts for a whole ten minutes because of this. Nana lasts longer on account of
 * Nana is this mostly in the anime. It's much rarer in the manga.
 * Double Standard Abuse Female On Male: Yuka tends to get pretty violent on Kouta several times.
 * Dysfunction Junction: Nearly or just as bad as Neon Genesis Evangelion.
 * When the most normal and cheerful person in the cast is the one with no arms or legs, expect some serious issues.
 * : Kind of. Could have been much worse.
 * And really, despite it all, the very end is something wonderful. This is one of those stories that's well deserving of this trope.
 * Eldritch Abomination: Anna. She is ironically more "Eldritch" than "Abomination" due to her being a gigantic head with two eyes and a very masive body . The reason why you never see it in the anime is due to it's residence, . It's also equivalent to God in power because it has the ability to predict the future, and she knew that . HP Lovecraft would love to marry it.
 * Enfante Terrible:, and Lucy too in her flashbacks.
 * Let's not forget Tomoo the leader of the bullies.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Bandou, even while skirting the borders of Complete Monster territory, has lines he won't cross. If he feels in someone's debt he will try to return the favour.
 * He also beats the crap out of a pedophile. It may only be because the victim is his 'friend', but his reaction denotes that he hates this kind of person in general.
 * Surprisingly,
 * Evil Versus Evil
 * Executive Meddling: According to Okamoto Lynn's official homepage, the reason Nozomi was written out of the anime was because the director of the anime hated her and thought that "it doesn't make a difference whether she's there or not", despite her being one of the main characters, and the reason the show is called Elfen Lied.
 * Explosive Leash: Done with Mariko
 * Expy - Not the series itself, but it has one. Wolf Breed. It's Elfen Lied . . . with werewolves.
 * In many respects, the doomed secretary Kisaragi seems like one for Love Hina cast member Mutsumi.
 * Eye Scream: Bando really should've stopped threatening Lucy after she rendered both of his arms nonfunctional...
 * The Fair Folk: The diclonii seem to have been influenced by them in many aspect, such as children that are secretly given to human parents but turn out to be monsters, or that they are invulnerable to normal weapons and can only be killed with a special metal (in this case tungsten instead of iron). It's this kind of elves that the title is refering to.
 * Fan Service: A girl with the body of an 18 year old and the mind of a 2 year old. Not hard to imagine all the kinds of situations this creates.
 * Also, the scene of Yuka sitting on Kouta's lap and kissing him is taken much further in the manga, and several chapters have still art of characters in revealing clothing or various stages of nudity.
 * Also, Panty Shots. Lots and lots of panty shots.
 * Fan Disservice: Lucy walks around naked in the first episode while slaughtering people and splattering blood and limbs everywhere. Mayu in the scenes where she is molested by her stepfather. Also, many of the Diclonius are naked while they are tortured and the like. It's pretty much a given that if a character is nude or nearly so, something bad is either happening or about to happen, with few exceptions (see the previous trope). Erotic or traumatizing? You decide.
 * Fantastic Racism: Played straight in the fact that humans believe Diclonii to be murderous monsters that will wipe out humanity and hunt them down without mercy.
 * Subverted by the fact, that this time humanity is right! See Informed Ability below.
 * It's a complex problem.
 * Or they could just use their vectors to pierce the pineal gland and deactivate their vectors like Nana often does until their old enough to know better. Just saying.
 * Festival Episode: And a tragic one at that.
 * For Science and The Evulz: Logical Extreme: all of the scientists want to observe Diclonii, even if it means risking another person's life. When questioning their motives, it usually involves a "What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?" quote.
 * For Science and The Evulz: Logical Extreme: all of the scientists want to observe Diclonii, even if it means risking another person's life. When questioning their motives, it usually involves a "What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?" quote.

"Kouta (In the coldest way possible): I will never forgive you for . No matter how much you apologise."
 * Four Lines, All Waiting: Past Chapter 75, the manga relies on taking on individual routes and expanding on multiple characters. In Chapter 87, there's at least six individual timelines happening at once, and each timeline takes up a page, resulting in a Beyond the Impossible Mood Whiplash. In no particular order:
 * A is Nyu
 * B is Kohta
 * C is Nana
 * D is Barbara and Nousou
 * E is Professor Arakawa
 * F is The Agent
 * Freak Out: A lot of characters. Some get them multiple times.
 * Freeze Sneeze
 * Freudian Excuse: Lucy and Mariko.
 * Gecko Ending: In the anime, The manga, however, has a definitive end, maybe.
 * Kurama
 * Genre Shift
 * Good Angel, Bad Angel: Near the end of the manga,
 * Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: Used in a very prolific manner, particularly with Lucy/Nyu; just contrast the innocent Nyu persona's wide, bubbly eyes with the narrow, hateful, tortured eyes of the Lucy persona. In fact, a key characteristic of a Diclonius who's been pushed too far is a piercing, glazed-over look in their eyes, signifying their descent into murderous misanthropy (basically every Diclonius in the show goes through this at one point or another, given that Humans Are Bastards).
 * Gorn: With so much Gorn, Kirk doesn't stand a chance this time!
 * Gory Discretion Shot: Subverted, surprisingly enough: in episode 3, what looks like a Gory Discretion Shot implies that Lucy has done her usual job on a puppy that was barking at her. Soon after, it's revealed that she simply cut its leash.
 * Subverted so often that after a decent percentage of the manga, if someone isn't dismembered or beheaded in-panel you know they're probably okay.
 * Even being chopped in half might not kill you,
 * But there is a straight Gory Discretion Shot in the first episode.
 * And another one.
 * Grotesque Cute: You see everybody drawn in the cutest, most Sickeningly Sweet Shoujo style, and next thing you know, you see torn limbs, heads and hearts, and blood sprayed everywhere!
 * Hand Cannon: Bando uses two Desert Eagles chambered in .50AE, and is actually justified in using it: Most handgun bullets bounce off the Diclonius vectors, the heavier and more powerful .50AE round will go right through at a close enough range. The only other option is to use an anti-tank sniper rifle or something equivalent in power.
 * Harem Anime: Subverted. What could've been a major harem show is a high-handed drama instead.
 * Harmful to Minors: If you're a minor in this story, may God help you.
 * Heroic BSOD: Kouta goes through one that lasts for a year, and causes him to repress some painful childhood memories.
 * Heroic Dog : Both supported and subverted in Mayu's dog Wanta. His loyalty to Mayu (even over a woman who claimed to be his true owner)and the others is stellar. But like his Human and otherwise friends, his ability to save them is way limited, and he is nearly killed by the vicious Unknown Man.
 * Heroic Sacrifice:, toward the end of the manga.
 * Hey It's That Voice: Lucy is Reinforce and Allen Walker. Yuka is (a different) Kouta, Nodoka and Enma Ai. Nana is Evangeline, Osaka, Orihime and Tsuruya, nyoro-n~. And Mariko is Sayuri.
 * In the English dub, Lucy is Osaka and Nakahito, Yuka is Yomi and Madlax, Mariko is Yukari, Honey, Wrath and Kaname.
 * Hidden Eyes: Lucy often has these when she's the active personality.
 * High-Pressure Blood: Holy HELL is there High Pressure Blood.
 * Hoist By His Own Petard: The Unknown Man and both Kakuzawas die at the hands of Lucy.
 * Humans Are Bastards: A huge part of the show, but Bandou really pushes the envelope, and the Unknown Man pushes it off a cliff. Sometimes it seems that the Diclonii are more human than the actual humans, but usually not for long.
 * Fantastic Racism: Basically, more or less every human or Diclonius is pretty unpleasant to its own kind, but especially nasty to the other. It may just be the humans we see that are nasty, but that's pretty much everyone except Kouta, Yuka, Mayu and Nozomi.
 * Hurricane of Puns: This.
 * Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The episodes of the anime, as well as the title, are in German. And don't make much sense to German viewers either.
 * I'll Kill You
 * Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Justified. The vectors of the Diclonii make most guns completey ineffective against them. High caliber tungsten rounds seem to be the only thing they have trouble stopping.
 * Informed Ability: The diclonius 'drive to kill humans' is (almost) only ever seen in diclonii who have been horrifically, unforgivably abused by humans. There are very few times this seems to 'not' be the case, and all but one of those could be a situation of children with terrible power not knowing how to control it. Until the very, VERY end of the manga (as in the last chapter), we are only shown a single example of this not being the case, and even that one is questionable.
 * Given the near total lack of evidence to support this, it's probably more likely that the "voice driving diclonii to kill all humans" is nothing more than the internal manifestation of  psychotic break(s), and all other such examples are just kids being kids with horrifically dangerous powers.
 * Innocent Fanservice Girl: Nyu and at times Nana as well. This trope often veers from appealing to the viewer to freaking out the viewer completely.
 * In Vino Veritas: A bonus chapter of the manga is devoted to this. Mayu is knocked out very soon, Nana gets mad over Kouta's treatment of her, Nyu and Yuka try to have sex with him... then Lucy awakens.
 * Jerkass --> Jerk With a Heart of Gold: Bandou. While he's a much bigger bastard than normal of the latter, he has his moments
 * It's perhaps better than nothing that Bandou is simply a Jerkass and not a Complete Monster, given his behavior and the general treatment of most humans in this show!
 * Karmic Death:
 * Karma Houdini: Lucy, yet in the anime not only does Kouta more or less forgive her, it's hinted that she survives her last showdown with the army. The manga is a double subversion. Kouta does not forgive her, but.
 * Kouta does say in the anime that he will never forgive "Lucy" for what she has done, but
 * Also, Mayu's abusive parents never get punished for their actions.
 * Kick the Dog: Taken to the Logical Extreme, but also subverted early on to show that Lucy's killing was more discriminate than we were previously led to believe.
 * Kids Are Cruel: Lucy's childhood, which culminated in her Start of Darkness when the children in the orphanage !
 * Mariko is this to a certain extent, as her ruthless killing is more or less the Diclonis equivalent of burning ants with a magnifying glass (at least the way she treats it). Of course, she wasn't really raised to know any better...
 * Kill All Humans: Most Diclonii. Whether it's because Humans Are Bastards or because of a genetic drive is unclear.
 * It's at least very heavily implied that it's a genetic drive. The fact that Humans Are Bastards just makes it easier for them to listen to their inner voice telling them to kill everyone.
 * One interpretation is that the "genetic voice" of the Diclonii to be a simple case of egoism. It's mentioned often in the manga that human beings have a drive to expand and survive that is based primarily on egoism; it is only natural the Homo sapiens diclonius would have a similar drive. Since they are competing with humans for a place in the world, and since their vectors give them a huge advantage, it isn't difficult for them to associate their capabilities with manifest destiny and a sense of superiority, particularly after the abuse many of them receive at the hands of human beings. This serves as a particularly brutal aesop regarding both the consequences of mistreating fellow human beings and the objective insignificance of human life.
 * A differant interpretation however is that the "genetic voice" is just regular insanity and the humans simply misinterpreted the Diclonii based on that.
 * Kill'Em All: Explicitly states that Lucy could singlehandedly cause Diclonii to outnumber humans (guaranteeing their extinction), but doesn't actually occur in the series.
 * Kissing Cousins: Yuka is infatuated with her cousin Kouta. Whether he feels the same way or not is unclear but seems likely. They DO have a very intimate scene at the temple after all...
 * In the final chapter of the manga,
 * Large and In Charge: According to the full-cast shot in the last chapter, Director Kakuzawa is taller than the rest of the cast by a notable amount.
 * Large Ham: Bandou and Kakuzawa.
 * The Last Dance:
 * Let's See You Do Better: During the festival flashback, Yuka is constantly breaking the clay animals at one of the stands. Kouta says that she's terrible at it, so Yuka tells him to do it if he's so awesome at it. Then he does and manages to get the animal shape out of it, and she promises to get better at it.
 * Lighthouse Point
 * Limp and Livid: Lucy. Quite a lot.
 * Little Miss Badass: Almost all of the Diclonii are this during their preteen years.
 * Lovable Sex Maniac: Nyuu, Full Stop. In the manga at least. She is constantly making Kouta grope her and molesting the other girls that live at the inn. Subverted in that she doesn't understand the gravity of her actions, and is only (for the most part) copying things that she's seen others doing.
 * Love Confession: When Yuka confesses to Mayu how jealous she gets whenever Kohta pays attention to other girls, Mayu gently asks Yuka if maybe the reason she gets so jealous is that she loves Kohta. Yuka tearfully admits she's right
 * Love Makes You Evil: Lucy at first, but she does get better. Mariko as well. Yuka too, but to a lesser extent.
 * Lucy Is About To Kill You: When Bando decides to kill Lucy by shooting the grenade next to his dead teammate, he forgot an important object: the teammate's automatic machine rifle. It went to hell from there.
 * Lyrical Dissonance: First, the violent anime ends with a cheery upbeat song. Then, the lyrics turn out to be all about unrequited love, which is actually a subplot in the series.
 * Mad Scientist: Arakawa, the assistant of Kakuzawa's son starts out as only slightly eccentric when she has to take over his work. Being practically locked in in a basement room on a small remote island and working alone for weeks really tooks it's toll from her.
 * Made of Iron: Lucy survives taking an anti-tank slug to the head in the first episode. To be fair, though, the thing barely grazes her, she's wearing a helmet, and she has her vectors to protect her. She still does survive falling hundreds of feet off a cliff into the ocean without drowning immediately afterwards though.
 * Magical Girlfriend: Dismembers the genre with a rusty chainsaw.
 * Memento MacGuffin: Lucy's letter to Kouta..
 * Mildly Military: Bando never seems to face any repercussions, even when he threatens fellow squadron members with a gun.
 * Mood Whiplash: This should be obvious if you have read anything else on this page.
 * Mugging the Monster: The kids who picked on Lucy and killed her dog didn't know just what they were messing with.
 * Mundane Luxury: When Nana moves in with Kouta and the others, she gets enthusiastic about things like hot baths and somen noodles.
 * Naked On Arrival: Well, Lucy wasn't actually naked when she went on her rampage in the beginning, but she ended up naked after freeing herself. Played straight when Kouta and Yuka find Lucy naked on the beach, but as yet-unnamed-Nyu.
 * Nature Versus Nurture: A point is made about whether or not the diclonii really are malicious, or if their cruelty is a byproduct of how they were raised. Lucy appears to be the latter; Mariko appears to be the former.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Herod: The bad guys regularly visit hospitals trying to find newborn diclonii and take them, with or without their parents' consent.
 * No Holds Barred Beatdown: Although there are quite a few, Lucy fighting Nana probably takes the gold.
 * No Longer With Us: Nana just felt like being melodramatic for some reason...
 * Non-Action Guy: Kouta. He isn't very strong, smart, has no powers, weapons or anything except some cool friends.
 * Although he has a knack for solving his problems by punching people in the face.
 * No Name Given: Numerous examples, especially near the Manga's end. The Agent and the Unknown man are the most prominent. The Operatives in, the Fleet Captain, and The Bakery Lady are also never named.
 * No Social Skills: Nana was Raised In A Lab.
 * Not What It Looks Like: Played completely straight when Kouta tries to change Nyuu's wet clothes, as she doesn't know how to do it herself.
 * Subverted once when it's exactly what it looks like. Kouta is most definitely groping Nyu, mostly because she made him. Yuka is not exactly convinced by his explanation.
 * Off-Model: The art in the first manga volume is a little dodgy, especially concerning Lucy's legs and several male faces. It noticeably improved, although it's not without some hiccups that carry over into Nononono.
 * Offing the Offspring:
 * Oh Crap:
 * Ominous Latin Singing: "Lilium", the opening theme.
 * Omnicidal Maniac: Lucy, Lucy, Lucy, LUCY. Justified, in that.
 * One-Gender Race: Subverted, as there are male diclonius but they so incredibly rare that we only see one in the manga,  There are two other cases, but it's not clear whether they're descended from Diclonii whose ancestors bred with humans to the point that the only part of the Diclonius heritage remaining is the horns (there are two of them), or if they just have a birth defect that changes the shape of their skulls.
 * Only a Flesh Wound: Having your limbs ripped off or exploded is okay if you get a tourniquet, and usually if you don't as well.
 * Only Known By Their Nickname:.
 * Our Clones Are Identical: All the following sub tropes are done with . Though those are manga only.
 * Cloning Blues: Subverted, due to the Mind Control devices they appear rather cheerful. When the Mind Control is off, they they still aren't sobbing wrecks.
 * Expendable Clone: Ordering a clone to to prove a point isn't the worst thing done.
 * Opening a Can of Clones: See above.
 * Send in The Clones
 * Overdrawn At the Blood Bank: Goes right along with the High Pressure Blood
 * Person of Mass Destruction: Every Diclonius has the potential to become one of these.
 * Pineal Weirdness: The Diclonius start as humans with large pineal glands.
 * Please Put Some Clothes On: very near the end
 * Also here
 * Potty Dance: Lucy (as Nyuu) does this before finally just going on the floor.
 * The Power of Love: Not in the way it's usually thought of, and it doesn't show much in the anime, but the manga makes it pretty clear that love (primarily of the filial sort rather than romantic) is more powerful than anything else motivating a Diclonius, even their instinctive drive to Kill All Humans.
 * Precious Puppies: There are a few puppies in this series, and they're all quite precious. Except when
 * The Promise: Lucy and Kouta agree to meet at the stone behind the festival terrain on the last day of the summer festival.
 * Psycho for Hire: Bandou before his Character Development, the Unknown Man from the manga.
 * R-Rated Opening: One of the most notorious openings in anime history.
 * Rape As Drama:
 * Real Place Background: The series takes place in the Japanese town of Kamakura. Most of the locations, such as the stone stairs, are well-known local landmarks.
 * Redemption Equals Death:
 * Red Eyes Take Warning: Practically every Diclonius.
 * Red Shirt: Played painfully straight. Almost every guard, soldier or cop seen is the manga end up slaughtered by a Diclonius, often Lucy, even if they're not agressive or fleeing, which probably make us wonder What Measure Is a Mook?.
 * Reincarnation: At the end of the manga, where.
 * Rose-Haired Girl: All female Dicloni have pink hair in the anime. Nana is the only one with a personality to fit the trope, although Nyuu kind of applies.
 * The Runaway: Mayu is a textbook Abused Runaway while Lucy is a textbook Orphan Runaway. Nozomi kind of qualifies as an Abused Runaway, but she didn't really run away.
 * Running Gag: Arakawa is constantly voicing her annoyance about being kept from her apparently frequent showers. Later, after having worked alone in a basement room without much outside contact for weeks, she's made her great breakthrough working in nothing but her sweaty underwear and dirty hair.
 * Also Nana losing her concentration and dropping her arm or leg (often to the disbelief or horror of accidental witness).
 * Shrines and Temples: It's set in Kamakura, so they're all over the place.
 * Shrinking Violet: Nozomi (manga), Mayu
 * Skinship Grope: Nyuu loves doing this.
 * Shoo Out the Clowns: In the fastest Shoo-out ever, the general feel of Elfen Lied is realized when the cute Dojikko secretary gets her head cut off in the first five-ten minutes of the first episode (and she had done nothing except walk in on Lucy's battle!). And it doesn't help that Lucy uses her beheaded body as a human shield next.
 * Sociopathic Hero: Bandou.
 * Soundtrack Dissonance: The ending theme, Chieko Kawabe's "Be Your Girl", in contrast to pretty much all that the viewer's seen for the previous 20 minutes or so.
 * Though if one pays attention to "Be Your Girl"s lyrics, they actually fit with the rest of the story fairly well
 * Spider Limbs: Vectors
 * Split Personality: Lucy/Nyu. Provider of the current page image.
 * Split Personality Makeover
 * Split Personality Takeover: The shift between Lucy and Nyu; Lucy knows when Nyu has been in control, but doesn't try to stop it from happening.
 * Star-Crossed Lovers:
 * Start of Darkness: Episodes 8 & 9 show Lucy's backstory, along with the only happy day she spent while with Kouta when they were kids.
 * Staying Alive: Walking trope embodiment.
 * Super-Powered Evil Side: The Ax Crazy Omnicidal Maniac personality which is inherent to Diclonii and which Lucy tries to not completely give in to. Lucy could be considered evil, or just murderously vindictive.
 * Sugar and Ice Personality: What young Lucy's tsundere tendencies have matured into by the start of the series. Although not at the same time, Lucy's character seems therefore to be the very rare quartet of Tsundere, Kuudere, Yandere and Yangire.
 * Superpower Meltdown: Happens to Lucy near the end of the manga. It's not pretty.
 * Sympathetic Murderer: Lucy, to the point some even start siding with her
 * Tailor-Made Prison: The sinister Research Faciliy in which Diclonii are held and experimented on (more like tortured).
 * Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Lucy. Although quite the Yandere she is very beautiful and tall with long red hair.
 * Team Mom: As the older of the girls, Yuka is sometimes referred as the "mother" of the group in the anime.
 * Tears From a Stone: From a stone Hachiko.
 * Also Berserker Tears, Tender Tears, Ocular Gushers...justified in how so very broken everyone is.
 * Tears of Remorse
 * The Bad Guy Wins: In the anime only, but the way they resolved all plot lines by then, Kakuzawa is the only one who came out unambiguously ahead. And he's laughing like a maniac over his victory. However, the story ends on a Cliff Hanger of epic proportions.
 * Theme Music Power Up: In the manga Lucy sings the German song "Elfenlied" while . Apparently, the more thematic the song, the bigger the powerup.
 * Theme Tune Cameo. Variants of "Lilium" often show up in the anime's background music. It's also the tune Kouta's music box plays, and is labeled as such.
 * The Three Faces of Eve: Two sets of them:
 * Lucy's personalities can all be interchangable.
 * The three notoriously killed women: Kisaragi (Seductress), (Mother), and  (Child). Maria Yamamoto voiced all three of them, and they are each given approximately ten minutes of total screentime. While minor characters, they help influence the overall theme of Anyone Can Die.
 * The Mole: Two of them  and the   both turn out to be spies for the.
 * Then Let Me Be Evil: Part of it was from Lucy's own imagination (such as when she imagines Kouta saying he only liked her cause she was a freak), but it was mostly because of the bastard kids who not only picked on Lucy, but constantly taunted and harassed her, and constantly demonized her (and this was before the puppy incident). Kouta almost kept her from doing this, but ended up lying to her (mostly to spare her feelings since his cousin was a girl instead of a guy, but Lucy saw it differently).
 * The Wiki Rule: A given.
 * This Is Unforgivable: Kouta say this to  after he remembers that she . In the anime, he clearly still loves her, and he says so even after what she'd done. In the Manga however...
 * Then Let Me Be Evil: Part of it was from Lucy's own imagination (such as when she imagines Kouta saying he only liked her cause she was a freak), but it was mostly because of the bastard kids who not only picked on Lucy, but constantly taunted and harassed her, and constantly demonized her (and this was before the puppy incident). Kouta almost kept her from doing this, but ended up lying to her (mostly to spare her feelings since his cousin was a girl instead of a guy, but Lucy saw it differently).
 * The Wiki Rule: A given.
 * This Is Unforgivable: Kouta say this to  after he remembers that she . In the anime, he clearly still loves her, and he says so even after what she'd done. In the Manga however...


 * ....But, at the end of the manga, it's clear that he ALSO still loves her, even after all she's done, so he might have forgiven her
 * Title Drop: The manga has Nozomi sing the titular song at one point.
 * Too Dumb to Live: Kisaragi in the anime as Lucy proves ten minutes in, in a very gory fashion. In the manga,
 * Too Incompetent to Operate A Blanket: Both Nana and Nyuu. Nana's being such is due to her traumatic childhood, while Nyuu is essentially an infant in an adult body.
 * Tragic Keepsake: The seashell.
 * Trauma Induced Amnesia: Happens to Kouta when he sees what Lucy does to his sister and father.
 * Traumatic Superpower Awakening
 * Tsundere: Lucy, in her Start of Darkness; Yuka
 * Tyke Bomb: Every single girl in the facility. Apparently what's produced there. Lucy and Mariko could certainly be called nuclear tykebombs.
 * Unexplained Recovery: Nana, and Bandou
 * Unstoppable Rage: Lucy about 90% of the time (oh, but what a wonderful 10% that is!).
 * Unusual Ears: They're actually horns, but they look kind of like cat ears.
 * Used to Be A Sweet Kid: Lucy.
 * Villain Protagonist
 * What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: Sure, Lucy and Nana have it tough, but at least their looks let them avoid the fate of their faceless siblings who are treated as mere cannon fodder.
 * Still doesn't explain Mariko or Number 28 though.
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human?: When is at stake, humans are willing to do lots of things.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Barbara flying over the sea with vector propulsion. Too bad she's only the sole survivor of the Quirky Miniboss Squad and didn't use it much before getting written off to make way for Lucy.
 * Where It All Began: Slightly subverted since this place is not the earliest shown. In the final pages of the manga,
 * Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: Occurs between Mayu and her mother.
 * Woman Scorned: Sure, Kouta! Don't tell Lucy that you're going to the festival with your female cousin!
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Lucy. So very, very much.
 * Yandere: Lucy.
 * Nana is similar, in that she has a default cute personality but shows frequent signs of completely flipping out, like when she assaults Nyuu upon recognizing her as Lucy, between episodes 7 and 8.
 * Yuka gets close early on, but she backs off. What? He can't remember a promise due to That bastard. Guess I have to kick his ass now.
 * This moment is somewhat justified in that she has no idea that he repressed his memories of that day. Still...
 * Your Head Asplode: ...where do we START!?
 * Everyone who dies that isn't gorily chopped in half? Losing all your limbs at once is okay so long as you get a tourniquet though.
 * The general rule seems to be that as long as your torso and head are still attached and intact, you're going to be fine.
 * Except Number 28.