Line #24 NightmareFuel/ElfenLied


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3	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_elfenliedeyescream_7344.jpg]]
4	[[caption-width-right:350:Don't stare at her for too long...]]
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6	Elfen Lied is a horror series first and foremost, and even though the amount of blood in it can get silly at times, the series is undeniably nightmarish.
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9	* Lucy pretty much goes on a rampage through the research facility where she just steam-rolls everyone who go against her. Then she gets her hands on the Secretary who's the love of her most hated enemy. The scene varies in the manga and anime. In the manga she holds the girl hostage and the girl ''actually requests'' that they shoot her to get at Lucy just for the sake of being useful. To which Lucy just pulls her head off like a doll, granted it's not gory but it's pretty sudden. In the anime however, the poor girl just trips in the middle of the stand off between the guards and Lucy. Lucy, recognizing her, uses her powers and rips the girl's head off before she even knows she's in danger. If that wasn't bad enough she uses the girl's body as a BulletproofHumanShield.
10	* Some of the more disturbing scenes, including, of course, the first ten minutes of the anime. The scene where the cruel kids kill Lucy's puppy is either this or {{Narm}} depending on your point of view. The scenes where Mariko tears people into pieces, and causes one scientist's intestines to explode out of her.
11	* Bandou's first fight with Lucy leading up to his EyeScream.
12	* The graveyard scene where Lucy tears off Nana's limbs, down to her ''fingers'', even after she had been neutralized as a threat.
13	* The bit where Mayu is subject to [[AbusiveParents sexual abuse at the hands of her step father]] while her mother does ''nothing to help'' is both this, especially for those with androphobia (fear of men), and also a {{Tearjerker}}. When Mayu finally works up the nerve to complain to her mother about the abuse, her mother indifferently views her own rape-victim daughter as a sexual competitor, and asks her, "Why do you steal my husband?"
14	* The numerous amounts of SlasherSmile and [[EvilLaugh fits]] [[DissonantLaughter of]] [[LaughingMad insane]] [[PutTheLaughterInSlaughter laughter]] that [[KillAllHumans Lucy]], [[PsychoForHire Bandou]], [[KidsAreCruel the cruel kids from Lucy's childhood]], [[EnfanteTerrible Mariko]], [[ANaziByAnyOtherName The Kakuzawas]] and The Unknown Man exhibit.
15	* At one point a special response unit arrives at an apartment complex and the first thing they come upon is a children's tricycle with a human head in the basket. Inside the apartment they only find a crying three year old girl in pajamas left alive. She then rips a policeman apart before they open fire with submachine guns.
16	* The scenes where younger Lucy hallucinates and sees the dead bodies of the cruel kids that she killed come to life and mock her, as well as when she is talking to her more insane persona (the 'real' Lucy, self entitled the 'Voice of her DNA') inside her mind, leading to her accidentally attempting to strangle Kouta.
17	* The things that [[MadScientist Nousou]], a scientist from the later parts of the manga, does to create his perfect Mariko clones, including ripping the spines out of Diclonii and creating many clones that are deformed and faceless. These clones are horrifying in and of themselves, as they have no free will of their own and appear to love Nousou but are revealed to have been fully aware of the horrible way he has treated them all along when he tries to redeem himself by releasing one of the clones from mind control and she promptly kills him.
18	** As he said: "We have a serious need for the spinal cords of these girls." Nousou seems kinda cheerful, and of course what else could be behind him other than said spinal cords (with upper skeletons attached!!). Guaranteed to be one of the most mentally-scarring scenes the manga has to offer.
19	** [[NothingIsScarier It's worth pointing out that we]] ''[[NothingIsScarier never]]'' [[NothingIsScarier see the faces of the failed clones.]] This is one of ''very'' few things in the series that were so horrid, ''Lynn himself'' couldn't bear to draw it.
20	* The man known only as [[NoNameGiven The Unknown Man]], who unexpectedly barged into Kouta's house, proceeded to incapacitate Nana by [[AbnormalAmmo firing a spiked iron ball from a crossbow]] that was [[ColdBloodedTorture coated in toxins that induce a searing pain on the victim]], smashed Wanta to the point the pup began [[BloodFromTheMouth puking blood]] and seemed catatonic, and [[AttemptedRape would have raped]] and murdered Mayu (and very likely Nana as well, [[ForTheEvulz just because he could]]) had it not been for some [[VillainousRescue last minute intervention from Bandou]].
21	** The severed head and chest in the box, which he uses as a diclonius detector. She was ''still alive'' and had had her vocal cords cut out [[AndIMustScream so that she couldn't scream]]. Oh, and there was extra pain being inflicted just to make sure she couldn't attack him with her diclonius arms (Even though it had been stated that ''she can't generate vectors''). And he raped her repeatedly before cutting off her lower half just so 'her body wouldn't go completely to waste'.
22	* The Vector Crafts used as weapons against the Diclonius are made from Diclonius brains and alive.
23	** Doubles as {{Fridge Horror}}. Diclonii can sense and even communicate with each other telepathically. One can only imagine the kinds of vibes the other Diclonius in the facility are getting from that thing.
24	* Lucy during the festival after finding out Kouta lied to her. Especially in the anime where the subtitles turn red. "I'll slaughter you. Every damn last one of you."
25	* Anna looks like a huge head that lives within the sea with a constant nonchalant glare. She was turned into this when she was a little girl.
26	* The ending to the Manga is downright nightmarish. Especially with Lucy[=/=]Nyu's body rotting and decaying near the end as [[ICannotSelfTerminate she begs Kouta to kill her]]. During the final scene, what is left of her body is covered by a jacket as it's too gruesome a sight for anyone to watch. And then it comes off. OhCrap, ''indeed''.
27	* The Research Facility is a textbook definition of a TailorMadePrison. The girls in there are held like animals, much like the RealLife concentration camps of [[ThoseWackyNazis Germany]] or [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan Japan]] during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, or the merchant ships of the Early Modern Times where black slaves were held. And one of the Facility's favourite experimentation methods is to ''fire cannonballs at them'' in order to test the strength of their vectors.
28	* Kouta's backstory as revealed in episode 12 of the anime: Imagine being a young child and watching your father and sister be slaughtered (and only being spared yourself because the murderer considered you a friend) - all because you lied to her about the gender of your cousin. And then you have to stop her from killing your cousin too. No wonder the poor kid developed TraumaInducedAmnesia.
29	* [[http://static3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110928022818/elfen-lied/images/thumb/a/ac/DSC01967.jpg/300px-DSC01967.jpg This.]] If you're a human, ''this'' is what you faced during the 'Diclonius War'. There will be no [[SkinshipGrope groping]], no [[PokemonSpeak Pokemon speak]], nothing; as far as she's aware, every encounter with a human is a life or death situation, and it's her life on the line. She's fighting for her right to ''live'', and she'll kill anyone who threatens that. [[FromBadToWorse Then]] consider the fact that there are hundreds more girls just like her, [[OhCrap and they're out for your blood]]. [[WarIsHell War is hell]], indeed...
30	** FridgeHorror nudges that one step beyond when you consider the ultrasound image of an in-utero Diclonius infant seen around the same time in the series. Consider the girls' rapid aging, and that shadowed monster could possibly have once been that as-yet unborn child.
31	* While minor compared to some of the other extremes mentioned here, Kouta after regaining his memories. Specifically, his conflicting love for Nyuu and his utter hatred for Lucy for killing his family. One panel he has the same soft, sweet look he usually does, the next he looks furious and filled with total revulsion. At one point he even says he could never forgive Lucy and he wants to kill her.

Context NightmareFuel / ElfenLied