'' Elfen Lied'' is an anime series adapted from the manga of the same title by

Lynn Okamoto is a Japanese manga artist and a former employee of Bandai and Arc System Works. His most famous work is the series ''Elfen Lied'' which was adapted in a 13-episode anime series by the studio Arms. He lives in Tokyo, Japan. Works * (2002–20 ...

. Produced by Arms Corporation and directed by

Mamoru Kanbe is a Japanese storyboard artist and director. He is best known for directing the anime series ''Elfen Lied'', ''Sound of the Sky'', and '' Kimi to Boku''. Filmography * '' Ninja Ryukenden'' (1991) Director * ''Nana Toshi Monogatari'' (1994) Di ...

, it premiered on TV Tokyo's AT-X satellite channel on 25 July 2004 and concluded on 17 October 2004. The series spanned 13 episodes and was followed by a single

original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

(OVA) on 21 April 2005. The OVA episode, referred to as episode 10.5, depicts events occurring somewhere within the timespan of episode eleven of the series. The series is based around the efforts of humanity to quarantine and eradicate the diclonius, a species of mutant humans with horns. It focuses on " Lucy", who escapes her holding facility and is believed to be the first diclonius, and on two teenagers, Kohta and Yuka, whom Lucy encounters in the Japanese city of

Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kamak ...

. ''Elfen Lied'' is licensed for English language releases by

ADV Films A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. (known simply as ADV and also referred to as ADV Films) was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt Gre ...

for

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and by Madman Entertainment for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and New Zealand. ADV Films UK division aired the English dub of the series in the United Kingdom on

Propeller TV Propeller TV is an Anglo/Chinese television production company. Until the beginning of April 2019 it provided a TV service broadcast from the SES Astra 2G satellite and was also carried on the SKY EPG at Channel 185. It was also available for s ...

as part of Anime Network's launch, uncensored and uncut. ADV released the series across four Region 1 DVD volumes, with the first volume released 17 May 2005. A box set, containing the entire series, was subsequently released 28 November 2006 in both North America and Europe to Region 2 DVD, and in Australia by Madman Entertainment on 4 April 2007. ADV did not include the OVA episode in the box set, instead releasing it as a standalone volume in 2006. The OVA was relesased by ADV Films in 2006. It was not released with the ADV series box set in 2006, nor was it dubbed into English at that time. On September 3, 2013, Distributor Section23 Films released a Blu-ray and DVD set of the series, which included the never-before released OVA with an English dub. However certain key characters have different voices (notably Lucy / Nyu). The opening theme is "Lilium" by Kumiko Noma. The ending theme is "Be Your Girl" by Chieko Kawabe.

Episodes

The words "Elfen Lied" are in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, and all episodes have alternate titles in the language. The English translations of the episode names, however, are taken from the Japanese names for the episodes. The German titles do not translate exactly to those of the Japanese titles, except in some cases. The German episode names are included in the titles during the episodes, and "DAS ENDE" (lit. "The End") is shown in German at the end of the last episode. Translations of the original German titles are given.

TV series

OVA

Chronologically, the OVA special fits between episodes 10 and 11. Amongst other topics, it explains how Kurama was able to capture Lucy and why she doesn't kill him whenever she encounters him.

References

External links

Official anime website
{{in lang, ja
Official ADV website
(US distributor)

(Australian distributor) Episodes Elfen Lied