[ILOVEJAPAN]

This show just came up on another thread so I thought I would start my own thread for it.

First off I must say, this sereise left a huge impression on me. It's one of the only shows thats ever made me cry (twice actualy). Its just such a buetifull show and it has some really deep messages, that I would like to live my life by from now on (sorry if i'm sounding a little over-dramatic).

I'm sure some of the people who are reading this are going "Psshh I saw the first 10 minutes of that show and it was just trashy violance, gore and nudity"
While I will addmit that I did enjoy the violance and nudity (and its one of the things that attracted me to the show in the first place) its NOT the only thing you will get out of this show.

If you watched the first episode and thought "Umm...I'm not much into violance and gore, I dont think I will watch this any more" Then PLEASE continue watching. There is so much more to the show then just the violance.

Although, If you watched the first episode and thought "Ewww...I dont really think I can handle this..." Then as much as I think you are missing out, you probably should stop watching, because the brutality does not subside after that, it just is'nt the main focus anymore.

This. show has some of the most buetifull animation and music I have ever seen/heard, and you can see where the influences come from. The opening theme is a bunch of pictures of the characters from the show inserted into famouse paintings, like Gustoffs "The Kiss." And for the music, they took several psalms, and verses from the latin bible (the song "Lilium" is in latin), and added a tune that is meant to sound like a greagorean chant.

The show itself was based on on a german poem by the same name (well actualy it was based on the manga by Lynn Okamoto, but the manga was based on a german poem).

Here are a translation the lyrics (provided by wikipedia):

At night in the village the watchman cried "Eleven!" (A pun: "elf" means also "eleven" in German)
A very small elf was asleep in the wood -
just at eleven! -
And he thinks that the nightingale
must have called him by name from the valley,
or Silpelit might have sent for him. (Silpelit is a character's name from an opera of Mörike's, "Eduard auf dem Seil")
So the elf rubs his eyes,
comes out of his snail-shell house,
and is like a drunken man,
his nap was not finished;
and he hobbles down, tip tap,
through the hazel wood into the valley,
slips right up to the wall;
there sits the glow-worm, light on light.
"What are those bright windows?
There must be a wedding inside;
the little people are sitting at the feast,
and fooling around in the ballroom.
So I'll just take a peep in!"
Shame! he hits his head on hard stone!
Well, elf, had enough, have you?
Cuckoo! Cuckoo!
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elfenlied"

Ok, so here is why I talk about why this sereise meant so much to me, and if you actualy read through this far, then I aplaude your patiants.

If you have seen the show, then maybey you see how the poem simieler to the anime. Like the poem, the anime is a dark tale of human cruelty, and prejudice. It potrays people as cruel, selfish, weak, cowardly, and afraid.
It shows that people hate/fear/think they are above anything and anyone that is diffrent from them. Because people fear what they don't understand, they turn to violance and cruelty. Weather people descriminate against other races, religions, sexual orientations, beleif systems, people who are diffrent, creatures that arent human, homleless people on the street (etc)

Some people hate Lucy for killing so many people, but in my opinion most of the people she killed were heartless monsters, that deserved to die. And I cant really blame her after how she had been treated. So I can only feel pitty t'words her and nothing else.

Ok, so now Im rambeling on about how tragic and depressing the show is (and to the people I havent yet lost, I love you and you all deserve candy, just keep reading a little longer, Im almost done) but the really meaningfull parts of the show was how the characters managed to find so much joy, happieness, and people cared about them, after they had experienced such painfull, misereable lifes for so long.

potential spoilers (although not huge ones):

and the fact that Kouhta (lead male role) was able to still see some good in lucy after she had done such horrible, unforgivable things to him, was just so touching to me I actually had to cry (although Im embarassed to addmit it).

spoilers over:

These themes of there being some light at the end of the tunnel, even for people who are past redempetion, were really buetifull to me, and make me want to reach out to people, and help them.

Agh...there is sooooooooooo much more to say about this show but I dont want to torture all of you who are kind enough to still be reading this, so I will just wrap things up by saying: If you havent seen this show watch it. If you have already seen it, please tell me what your impressions of the show were because I really want to descuss it with somone.