Jan 28 2009
#27-31: “Haibane Renmei” to “Elfen Lied”
I have seen many takes on angels in both anime and manga, so when I began watching “Haibane Renmei” I wasn’t sure I would get to see anything new or different. But this series surprised me. It revolves around a group of angelic beings who live in a monastery like building as a type of family. They must spend their whole lives as these beings confined within the walls of a small town where the monastery resides. There is some mystery as to why they must stay within the walls of the city, and why they are born as angels in the first place. The animation here is beautifully done, and the characters sweet and beguiling. It is worth trying out the rest of the 13 episodes.
“Ajimu Kaigen Monogatari” is another shojo romance anime series where a whole lot of nothing terribly exciting happens. A teenage boy catches sight of a pretty teenage girl while waiting for the train one day, and immediately falls in love with her. Thus begins a series of ridiculous situations (such as the boy accidentally brushing against the girl on the train and her calling him a “pervert”) that seem to permeate this type of show. While the animation was nice to look at and the opening music wasn’t too bad, I don’t think I could sit through the rest of this four part show.
“Ayakashi” was hard for me to find further information on because, as it turns out, there are two anime with the same name. One is horror anime, centering around ghosts and samurai, while the other involves magical teenagers with super powers, and was released only on the Internet. The “Ayakashi” that I stumbled upon is the second series. And while I have nothing against samurai ghost stories, I’m glad I found the anime that I did. There was ridiculous fighting, bizarre hair colors, obnoxious characters, and comedic moments that suddenly turned deadly serious without any warning. All signs of a top notch shonen style series. This show is only 12 episodes, but it makes the most of them.
What would it be like to be a girl destined to destroy the world, so everyone inhabiting that world (pretty much) is out to kill you? That is the basic story behind “Scrapped Princess.” Here we have a spoiled but likable girl traveling with her adopted family while searching for a way to evade prophecy. There is a nice mix here of action, magic, and comedy, without the story becoming too sentimental or silly. This is another super short series, with only 12 episodes, and it packs alot of information into the small amount of time it is given so you have to pay attention.
“Elfen Lied,” I realized very early on, is like no other anime series I have ever seen. It has all the trappings of a shojo series: pink haired characters with large eyes and cutesy voices, adorable boy characters who find themselves living with an influx of women, and brightly colored scenes with sparkling beaches and sunny streets. But to get to all this shojo goodness, you have to get past the opening first. And what an intense, unexpected, and bloody mess that is! The body count must be in the dozens at least during that first 10 minutes, and the carnage all stems from a pretty and very naked girl in a metal mask. This girl is Lucy, the mutant character at the center of everything - good or bad - that occurs within “Elfen Lied’s” too-brief 13 episode + 1 OAV series. Sometimes she is very, very bad, and sometimes she is very, very good, and it is always a toss up which version you will see in an episode. And that is part of the charm of this series. You never know what you will see next.
