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This page lists the characters of Elfen Lied and their associated Tropes.

WARNING: Unmarked spoilers ahead!

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    Diclonii in General 

A race of superhumans with horns, who have the ability to extend telekinetic vectors. Because of their powers, they are feared by all humans.


  • Always Chaotic Evil: It's repeatedly stated in-universe that Diclonii are genetically programmed to hate humans and want them dead. Of course, how much of this is true is called into question by the fact that many Diclonii only became that way because humans kept treating them badly.
  • Animal Lover: Diclonii are more friendly with animals than humans.
  • Ax-Crazy: A particularly violent Diclonius can wreak havoc using their vectors.
  • Badass Adorable: The majority of Diclonii are cute young girls, and their powers are extremely deadly.
  • Bee People: They have no physical insectoid traits, but their caste system works similar to a beehive. Their species consists of a single fertile queen (Lucy), a large number of sterile workers (Silpelits), and a single male drone whose only purpose is to fertilize the queen (Lucy's brother).
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: Although most Diclonii have been treated badly by humans and thus hate them, they can grow to care for and love a human who shows kindness to them. And if someone dares harm a human or animal that a Diclonius has bonded with...well, a very messy death is most likely in short order.
  • Bizarre Alien Reproduction: Diclonii reproduce by infecting human males with their vectors, causing any children he sires to be Silpelit Diclonii.
  • Horned Humanoid: The distinguishing feature of a Diclonius is a pair of white horns that resemble cat ears.
  • Human Subspecies: The Diclonii, or Homo Diclonius, are the result of mutant ovaries. They have neko ear-like bone horns and enlarged pituitary glands; besides that, they're a cross between humans (most of what they are), social insects (for Silpelits in how they age), viruses (how they reproduce, for the most part) and gods (the vectors).
  • Mind over Matter: All Diclonii have telekinetic vectors, invisible hands that they can use for various purposes. That purpose usually involves killing humans.
  • Nightmare Hands: Diclonius can create "vectors", invisible energy-based hands that reach out from their body with the power to manipulate objects, including the strength to dismember or decapitate the average human being. Most Diclonious have a limited range and can only generate four "vectors" total. One Diclonious girl, however, can generate up to twenty "vectors" that have enormous reach and are actually visible to the naked eye.
  • One-Gender Race: Only female Diclonii are ever seen, and the Diclonii Research Facility reports that Diclonii can only be female. This is ultimately subverted with the introduction of Lucy's half-brother, the only male Diclonii in existence. The only reason he's male is because he shares a mother with Lucy and was born as a fertile Dicolinus who ages normally, unlike the sterile Silpelits.
  • Oni: Several of their motifs are based on the mountain beast. There's obviously the horns and monstrous strength (albeit as vectors), but they also follow Oni conceptually: Oni are described as the antithesis of humanity and are born when a human gives in to their evil desires, and thus are Always Chaotic Evil. Diclonii give in to their murderous desires and too can never go back to normal, and are fundamentally against humanity.
  • Our Elves Are Different: Being that the series is called Elfen Lied ("elf song" in German), Diclonii have some traits of fantasy elves, being a mysterious, superpowered, beautiful and inhuman race that turns children into their own species. Even their horns are evocative of the traditional pointy elf ears.
  • Then Let Me Be Evil: Diclonii are mistreated and considered monsters by humans because of their destructive abilities. This usually leads to them becoming human-hating Omnicidal Maniacs.
  • Touched by Vorlons: When a male human is infected by a Diclonius' vectors and then goes on to impregnate a female human, the result is a Silpelit Diclonius.
  • Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Many Diclonii only realize they have vectors after they use them to kill someone, accidentally or not. At one point in the manga, a special response team arrives at a home and finds a severed human head in the basket of a tricycle, next to a crying three-year-old Diclonius. They're forced to gun her down after her vectors rip a policeman apart.
  • Unskilled, but Strong: Most Diclonii have no knowledge of fighting techniques. They have little need of them when they have the ability to rip people apart in the blink of an eye.
  • The Virus: If a male human is infected with the Diclonius virus, any children he fathers will be Silpelit Diclonii. This is the Diclonius' primary method of reproduction.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: The majority of Diclonii have been mistreated and abused by humans, and are prone to lashing out in destructive fits with their vectors as a result.
  • Younger Than They Look: Silpelit Diclonii age twice as fast as humans.

Maple House Residents

    Lucy & Nyu 
See her page here

    Kouta 
Voiced by: Chihiro Suzuki and Hitomi Nabatame (young) (JP), Adam Conlon (series), Blake Shepard (OVA), Christine Auten (young) (EN), Bruno Coronel and Isabel Martiñón (young) (Latin American Spanish)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kouta_elfen_lied.png

An 18-year-old student who arrives in the Kanagawa Prefecture to attend college. He is the male lead and Deuteragonist of the series. Kouta lives in a closed-down inn with his cousin, Yuka, while attending university.

Kouta has repressed traumatic memories of witnessing, firsthand, the deaths of his father and sister. He ended up in a psychiatric ward for over a year following the event, but eventually made a full recovery. As a result, he is particularly sympathetic towards girls in trouble and is extremely generous to and protective of the girls around him. He is very kind and gentle as well, offering to shelter the various suffering characters he and Yuka stumble across, and treating them as part of his family. He and Yuka both initially meet Lucy as she washes up on the shore of a nearby beach.


  • Accidental Pervert: Yuka slaps him a lot for this. The first time it happened, Nyu had been out in the rain and her clothes were soaked. Kouta tried helping her change with his eyes closed, but his cousin walked in at just the right moment for his honest explanation to be hardest to believe.
  • Adoptive Peer Parent: He and Yuka both adopt Mayu despite the fact that they're both university students and Mayu is 14.
  • Angst Coma: In the backstory, he spent an entire year in a coma after watching his little sister Kanae and his father get slaughtered right in front of him by Lucy.
  • Animal Lover: Kouta loves animals and he studies biology to work with animals.
  • Babies Ever After: The Distant Finale shows him going to the place where he first met Lucy/Kaede to wait for her with his daughter Nyu, who resembles Yuka.
  • Badass Normal: He's not a fighter by any means, but he'll never hesitate to defend his loved ones or those in dire need of help, no matter how outmatched he is.
  • Chick Magnet: He attracts a teenaged, mutant girl with horns on her head and his own cousin! Also Nozomi, but she does not fall for him that hard like the others.
  • Childhood Friend Romance: He was friends with Lucy/Nyu for a short time in their childhood until she killed his father and little sister for taking another girl to the festival. The trauma caused Kouta to erase her from his memories. His current feelings for her are complicated even though he does feel attracted to her.
  • Classical Anti-Hero: Kouta is a protagonist with no superpowers, has some psychological issues and not any talents. He's also a student in a rather low-leveled university.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: He watched the girl he befriended go into a Yandere rampage that killed his father and little sister. He was so traumatized that he changed his own memories.
  • Death Glare: To Lucy, right after he regains his memories in the manga.
  • Deuteragonist: He's the second most important character over here, due to his relationship with Lucy.
  • The Dulcinea Effect: Only slightly, but Kouta is undeniably more inclined to go the extra distance to help out a girl in need.
  • Easily Forgiven: In the anime, he forgives Lucy for killing his family. In the manga? Not at all.
  • First Friend: To Lucy, or rather, Kaede. Before meeting him, Lucy's only true friend was a puppy she secretly took care of at the orphanage. After a girl who stood up for her betrayed her secret and got the pup killed by Lucy's bullies, Kouta would become the first human to truly reach out to her, making him Lucy's Morality Pet.
  • First Kiss: Stolen by Yuka.
  • Forgotten First Meeting: In actuality, Kouta met Lucy in his childhood after she killed her first victims. Unlike everyone else, he found her horns fascinating and forged a strong bond of friendship with her. However, he erased her from his memory after she brutally killed his father and sister right in front of him because he lied to her about his cousin's gender.
  • Freaky Is Cool: He was the first person to think that Lucy's horns are cool.
  • Hospital Epilogue: Even after being healed by Lucy's vectors around the end of the manga, he still had to be admitted to the hospital.
  • Interspecies Romance: With Lucy, since she's a Diclonius.
  • I Will Wait for You: At the end of the manga, he goes to the place where he first met Kaede and waits for her every year on the last day of the summer festival, even though he knows she won't come because he killed her with his own hands. Although, the twin reincarnations of Lucy and Nyu eventually come to meet him.
  • Kissing Cousins: He is attracted to his cousin Yuka, as the temple scene indicates, but then there's Lucy/Nyu muddying things up. In the final chapter of the manga, it's implied they end up together. If Kouta's daughter's resemblance to Yuka is any indication. The manga also implies that his feelings for Yuka were always stronger than for Lucy/Nyu, judging from his many scenes with Yuka.
  • Living Emotional Crutch: To Lucy. His very existence is the only reason Lucy hasn't completely snapped after all the torture humans put her through. She still loves him and one of, if not the only thing that gives her the will to go on is the thought of one day finding Kouta again and apologizing to him for killing his father and little sister.
  • Loves My Alter Ego: He tells Lucy he loves both her and Nyu.
  • Maybe Ever After: He promises Yuka to never leave her again at the end of the manga. In the Distant Finale, his daughter resembles Yuka.
  • Morality Chain: If Lucy haven't met him, she would have given in to her Diclonius impulses and decided to kill all the human race long ago.
  • Morality Pet: To Lucy; he's the only reason she ascended to anti-hero after her start of darkness.
  • Nice Guy: Though not always, but case in point: he was the first human to ever treat Lucy with an ounce of human decency.
  • Non-Action Guy: Kouta 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 slapping/punching people in the face.
  • Not What It Looks Like:
    • Played straight when Kouta tries to change Nyu'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.
    • Happens again when Mayu sees him and Nyu in the bathtube.
  • Only Friend: To Lucy. She even admits that the times they spent together are the only happy memories she has.
  • Ordinary High-School Student: Kouta is just a normal university student with no speciality.
  • Parental Hypocrisy: He tells his daughter Nyu to not play in the mountains, despite the fact he used to play in the same mountains with Lucy/Kaede when they were little.
  • Parting-Words Regret: His last words to his little sister Kanae were a threat that he'd "hate her forever" unless she apologized to his friend Lucy, who Kanae had just accused of murdering people at the festival they were at. Kanae is then bifurcated in front of him... by Lucy herself. He shows clear regret in present times for fighting with her just before she died.
  • Please Put Some Clothes On: When an angry Kouta finds Lucy on the beach near the end, he tosses her his coat.
  • The Promise: Lucy and Kouta agree to meet at the stone behind the festival terrain on the last day of the summer festival.
  • Repressed Memories: Kouta eventually finds out that his father and sister did not die from an accident and an illness, respectively. Instead, they were both murdered in front of him by Lucy, and the trauma of witnessing this caused him to block the memories out.
  • Secret-Keeper: He accidentally discovers Nozomi's embarrassing secret when he catches her checking her dirty diaper. He then throws her into water so the other girls at Maple House don't see her peeing herself.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: The murder of his family at her hands really puts a huge problem for his relationship with Lucy.
  • Sympathy for the Devil: Though he can't condone or forgive Lucy's actions by his own admission, Kouta just can't bring himself to hate her.
  • Team Dad: He's sometimes referred to as the "Father" of the group, and he acts like it. Despite looking like a typical Nice Guy, he can be surprisingly strict and gruff when he needs to be.
  • This Is Unforgivable!: He does not forgive Lucy for killing his family, but he's still conflicted with his feelings for her.
  • Tragic Keepsake: The seashell Kanae gave to him on the day of her death.
  • Trauma-Induced Amnesia: A significant part of the plot, as it's about Lucy killing his father and sister in front of his eyes.
  • Unlucky Everydude: Very unlucky. He is constantly found in compromising positions with female characters by... other female characters, and is given a lot of flack for this by Yuka. Not to mention his entire family ends up being killed because of one white lie.
  • Unreliable Narrator: We rapidly learn that Kouta's trauma has rendered him this, when relating how his father and younger sister died.
  • Would Hit a Girl: Not necessarily brutal, but he has no problems slapping women when they upset him. Not to mention that he hits Nyu with a slipper because she was going to, er, have her way with Nozomi.

    Yuka 
Voiced by: Mamiko Noto (JP), Nancy Novotny (EN), Susana Moreno (Latin American Spanish)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yuka_9.jpg

Kouta's cousin, who is around 19 years old and planning to attend the same university as Kouta. She moves in with him at the inn after having not seen him in many years. Having had a crush on Kouta since childhood, she still harbors strong feelings for him, and is openly jealous of Kouta's attention to Nyu, to the point of being irrational.

Despite her brash tendencies, Yuka is genuinely as kind and caring as Kouta. Though she is hesitant and reserved, she is accepting of Kouta's decision to use their inn to shelter those in need.


  • Adoptive Peer Parent: She and Kouta become the legal guardians of the abused Mayu. Yuka is 19 and Mayu is 14, so she's only five years older than her adopted daughter.
  • Betty and Veronica: Betty to Lucy/Nyu's Veronica, since Yuka is a normal, sane girl and not a psychotic murderer. It's obvious which of the two is the one Kouta feels more at ease with.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: She gets easily jealous whenever she catches Kouta and Nyu having a "moment", especially in the anime.
  • Cool Big Sis: She's a caring older sister figure to all the younger girls living with her.
  • 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.
  • Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Yuka tends to get pretty violent on Kouta several times.
  • First Kiss: With Kouta. In the manga, it's a French kiss.
  • Kissing Cousins: She is infatuated with her cousin Kouta. Kouta is also attracted to her, as the temple scene indicates, but then there's Lucy/Nyu muddying things up. The ending of the manga implies Yuka does eventually marry Kouta and has a daughter with him.
  • Impossibly Tacky Clothes: Some of her outfits that she lends to Nyu tend to really stand out, to say the least. They certainly suit the plucky and childlike Nyu just fine, but they contrast drastically with Lucy's vengeful and apathetic persona.
  • Innocently Insensitive: She gets mad at Kouta for not being able to remember a promise due to his sister and father getting violently murdered in front of him about twenty minutes after making said promise in some rather guilt-inducing circumstances. Granted, she has no idea that he repressed his memories of that day, and she regrets her earlier reaction once she figures this out.
  • Jerkass Realization: After reflecting on why Kouta felt the need to take in Nyu and the other girls who were left with nowhere else to go, Yuka saw herself as a terrible person for how much she scorned Kouta through all they've been through, realizing that she was being selfish in her feelings.
  • Jizzed in My Pants: To her embarrassment, she wets her panties whenever she has an arousing moment with Kouta or Nyu.
  • 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.
  • Love Confession: When Yuka confesses to Mayu how jealous she gets whenever Kouta pays attention to other girls, Mayu gently asks Yuka if maybe the reason she gets so jealous is that she loves Kouta. Yuka tearfully admits she's right.
  • Maybe Ever After: Kouta promises Yuka to never leave her again at the end of the manga. In the Distant Finale, Kouta's daughter resembles Yuka.
  • Misery Poker: She spends so much time fuming over the fact that she can't get close to Kouta when everyone else has been to hell and back.
  • Only Sane Woman: She is the only main character without any serious traumatic event in her backstory. The fact that she is a typical Tsundere in a world where every main character has serious mental disorders makes her the most normal of all them.
  • Please, Don't Leave Me: In her final scene in the manga, she tearfully asks Kouta to never go anywhere without her again.
  • Reluctant Fanservice Girl: Takes up the Ms. Fanservice role rather unwillingly, due to her being a frequent victim of Nyu's antics or getting Panty Shots that are seen by Kouta.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: Her daughter, Nyu Jr., looks exactly like Yuka.
  • Team Mom: As the oldest of the girls, she is sometimes referred as the "mother" of the group in the anime.
  • Tsundere: Sweet type. She's usually a sweet girl, but she can be violent and harsh towards Kouta.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: With Nyuu; she gets along civilly with her but admits she is jealous of the affection Nyuu constantly receives from Kouta, feeling she has been cast aside by her own cousin. Nyuu meanwhile loves her company and constantly feels the need to grope Yuka, much to her dismay. However, Lucy holds very clear contempt towards Yuka in spite of the care she receives from her and would've killed Yuka years ago if not for the guilt she felt over Kouta's sister and father. Luckily, this guilt means Lucy cannot bring herself to kill another one of Kouta's friends or family, and after the one time she pushed her with her vectors she quietly resolves not to harm Yuka again. In the manga, she trusts Yuka to care for everyone at the Maple House.

    Mayu 
Voiced by: Emiko Hagiwara (JP), Cynthia Martinez (EN), Melissa Gedeón (Latin American Spanish)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vol3cover.jpg

A 12-year-old girl, neglected by her mother and a victim of sexual abuse by her stepfather. She eventually runs away and is homeless at the start of the series, living on the beach and subsisting on bread crusts from a local bakery under the pretense that they are for the small puppy, Wanta, that accompanies her. She ends up living with Kouta and Yuka as her legal guardians, and later befriends Nana and tries to take her under her wing.


  • Attempted Rape: She was very nearly raped by the Unknown Man in the manga.
  • Broken Bird: She was badly traumatized by her stepfather's sexual abuse and her mother's indifference.
  • The Conscience: She tries to talk Nana down from killing Lucy and keep the peace between them.
  • Cooldown Hug: She tries one on Lucy when she and Nana begin to fight at Maple House in the Anime; Lucy just pushes her away. She insists a second time, however, and this time it works.
  • Does Not Like Men: Her traumatic experience with her stepfather has soured her on men in general, and finding Kouta in the bath groping Nyu doesn't help. Bando is the only man she's never afraid of.
  • Faint in Shock: She passes out from the shock of seeing Nana's prosthetic leg fall off.
  • Happily Adopted: By Kouta and Yuka. They later track down Mayu's mother, who signs over legal guardianship to them without any complaint (she didn't want Mayu in her life anyway). Afterward, Mayu is seen living quite happily with Kouta and Yuka, and says she considers the two of them to be her real family.
  • The Heart: She's kind and friendly to everyone, and tries to keep the peace between Lucy and Nana.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: She forms a fast bond with Nana, who asked Mayu to be her friend to which Mayu happily agreed.
  • If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: She uses this on Nana to talk her out of killing Lucy.
  • Incorruptible Pure Pureness: She tries to bring out the best in everyone, and maintains an idealistic view of the world despite her trauma.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: She bonds most closely with Bando who is at least ten years older than her.
  • Interrupted Suicide: Heavily implied in the anime, after running away from home. She leaves her shoes on the shoreline and starts to wade out into the ocean, but turns back when she hears a puppy barking. Supplementary materials confirm that Mayu cannot swim.
  • Interspecies Friendship: With Nana. Mayu is careful to protect Nana and her true nature as a Diclonius.
  • Let Them Die Happy: When Bando lies dying after Taking the Bullet from Lucy for Mayu, he asks what happened to Lucy. Before Nana can tell Bando she got away, Mayu says that Bando's last bullet killed her, so he can die believing he finally got his revenge on Lucy. Subverted when Bando turns out to be alive in the last chapter.
  • Little Miss Snarker: In the manga, she shows some moments of genuine wit and sass, sometimes making sarcastic remarks in response to Kouta's Accidental Pervert antics.
  • Morality Pet:
    • Her relationship with Bando is one of his most humanizing traits. He generally treats her like crap just as he does with everyone else, but she's the only person he goes out of his way to protect.
    • In the anime, when Lucy is fighting Nana at Maple House, Mayu tries to give her a Cooldown Hug, and Lucy immediately stops using her vectors to avoid hurting her.
  • Nice Girl: Mayu is very friendly considering her Dark and Troubled Past. She does her best to see the good in everyone, Lucy and Bando included.
  • Parental Neglect: Mayu's mother didn't care about her new husband sexually abusing her daughter. Later, she willingly gives up custody of Mayu to have her stay with Kouta and Yuka at the Maple House.
  • Plucky Girl: Mayu's got bravery to spare when she's pushed to it, as she shows when Bando tries to threaten her into revealing Nyu's location and she has the presence of mind to call him out to his face.
  • Precocious Crush: She develops feelings for Bando who is old enough to be her father. She confesses her feelings by kissing him after he's torn in half by Lucy.
  • Rape as Backstory: She was sexually abused by her stepfather.
  • Rape as Drama: Mayu is an unfortunate victim of Rape as Backstory and Attempted Rape.
  • The Runaway: After enduring sexual abuse at the hands of her stepfather, Mayu decided enough is enough and ran away from home. She then lived at the beach until she was taken in by Kouta and Yuka who let her move into Maple House with them.
  • Sailor Fuku: She wears this as a school uniform after moving in permanently with Kouta and Yuka.
  • Shrinking Violet: Due to being homeless and having a traumatic backstory, Mayu is withdrawn and timid in the beginning.
  • Tears of Joy: Tears from her eyes when Kouta and Yuka welcome her to live with them, letting her know she isn't a burden to them.
  • Trauma Button: Mayu was sexually abused by her stepfather on a regular basis, leading to her running away. When the Unknown Man attacks Maple House and tries to rape her, Mayu flashes back to her stepfather doing so and flips out.
  • Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Mayu does this to a lesser extent regarding her witnessing Lucy's brutal dismemberment of Nana.

    Wanta 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wanta_elfen_lied.jpg

A puppy that Mayu found when she was helpless. He is a lost dog belonging to a woman who named him "James", but he runs away from her to stay with Mayu and lives together with the Maple House citizens.


  • Balloon Belly: He gets one after being overfed by Nana.
  • Canine Companion: Mayu rarely goes anywhere without Wanta.
  • 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.
  • Precious Puppies: He's a little, adorable white puppy and one of Mayu's best friends.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: He comes into Mayu's company after she runs away from home, and it's his sudden appearance that renews her will to live. Together, they eventually find a new life for themselves in the Maple House.
  • Team Pet: He's the pet of the Maple House residents.
  • Verbal Tic Name: Wan is the Japanese word for a dog's bark.
  • You Remind Me of X: He reminds Lucy of her childhood puppy that was killed by the bullies at her orphanage, and appears to be the same breed as that puppy.

    Nana 
Voiced by: Yuki Matsuoka (JP), Sasha Paysinger (EN), Romina Marroquín Payró (Latin American Spanish), Rubina Kuraoka (German)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nana2.png

Also known as Number 7, she is a young Silpelit (Diclonius born from a human) girl who has the physical appearance of being 14 years old. Most Diclonius babies are euthanized at birth, but Nana was one of a handful kept alive for use as a test subject. Nana was a stand-out subject among the Diclonius for being able to effortlessly repress her murderous instincts. Accordingly, she has never used her vectors to harm humans (or anything for that matter). Chief Kurama sees her as his daughter and cares very much for her.


  • Adaptation Dye-Job: Her hair is purplish-blue in the manga, but is purplish-pink in the anime. Also her eyes were green in the manga rather than rose-pink.
  • Adaptational Jerkass: In the manga, when she offers to help Bando up only for her arm to fall off, she's hurt when he accuses her of doing it on purpose. In the anime, she instead laughs and asks, "So you figured it out?", which suggests that she actually did do it on purpose. This is changed in the dub, where she apologizes.
  • Adaptational Wimp: In the anime, she's completely curb-stomped by Mariko. This also happens in the manga, but there Nana fights back and gets even the upper hand. Actually, she wins and might have killed her if Kurama has not appear there.
  • Afraid of Needles: She's scared of injections.
  • An Arm and a Leg: The end result of her fight with Lucy ends with Lucy tearing off all of her arms and legs one by one.
  • Artificial Limbs: She gets realistic prosthetic arms and legs to replace the ones Lucy ripped off.
  • Badass Adorable: Nana is one of the sweetest characters in the series. However when pushed she is more than capable of kicking ass, especially if someone threatens Kurama.
  • Benevolent Monsters: Even though she's a Diclonius and was tortured most of her life, Nana harbors no ill will towards humanity, loves her human adoptive father and lives peacefully with the humans at Maple House. Overall, she's also totally harmless unless someone threatens the people she cares about, especially Kurama.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: The few times said cutie-persona/psychological-defense-mechanism is broken through. During Nana & Bando's first meeting on a moonlit beach, Bando pushes her too far and she snaps on him, gaining the same dead look in her eyes that Lucy almost-constantly has and trying to kill him (and coming very close) until a .50-caliber bullet grazing her head knocks her back to her senses. Later in manga Chapter 74, the Unknown Man threatening Mayu and casually killing Number 28 right in front of Nana is enough to set her off again. Unfortunately, he blasts her before she can attack, taking her out of the fight.
  • Blemished Beauty: Lucy rips off all her limbs and they're replaced with prosthetics. She still looks cute.
  • Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: In the manga, she's the brunette to Mariko's blonde and Lucy's redhead. In the anime, they all have pink hair.
  • Broken Tears: She breaks down in tears when Kurama rejects her for not being Mariko.
  • Can't Catch Up: Despite smarts in battle and ever-increasing savvy, she has a good showing but always gets curbstomped by opponents.
  • Cassandra Truth: Nana knows about Nyu's alternate personality Lucy, but no-one else believes her.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle:
    • Finds herself at the end of these, most noticeably against Mariko. However in the manga she often ends up returning the favor, often to the person who was just beating the living crap out of her as Mariko can attest.
    • She also casually beats the clone of Mariko, Barbara, senseless until the latter takes Kurama hostage.
  • Cute Clumsy Girl: Combine with Artificial Limbs that are quite prone to popping out and, well...
    • It's much rarer in the manga which mostly consists of her limbs falling off when fighting.
  • Cyborg: She gets four prosthetics and they're not as strong as flesh-and-blood limbs, but Nana gets creative with combining their detachable nature and her vectors.
  • Daddy's Girl: She views Kurama as her father and she would do anything to make him happy.
  • Death Faked for You: After she fails to kill Lucy, Director Kakuzawa order Nana to be disposed of. Kurama couldn't stand to let that happen, so he instead puts Nana to sleep and sends her away from the research lab in an escape capsule where he leaves her money that should let her feed off for herself somewhere else.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Between the loss of her limbs at Lucy's hands, Kurama releasing her to fend for herself for the sake of her own survival, and finally witnessing her "father's" suicide, Nana seems to be a frequent victim of this. Justified though as she is the only Diclonius not to be a sadistic killer and like Lucy has lived a hellish life sheltered inside the facility; unlike Lucy though she has never stepped foot into the outside world, and thus struggles to find the peaceful life she desires.
  • Detachment Combat: Prosthetic limbs plus vectors equals projectile appendages!!!
  • Determinator: She's on the receiving end of several Curb Stomp Battles, but still gets up for the next one.
  • Disability Superpower: Lucy rips out Nana's limbs, but Nana later uses her prosthetics as part of her fighting style.
  • Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: Nana is nice to almost everyone and actively defies being a killing machine, unlike most Diclonii. However, she loathes Lucy for being murderous and ripping her limbs off.
  • Evil Wears Black: Averted. She wears black, yet she is the most moral and pure out of all the characters, especially given the morality of the series.
  • Extremely Protective Child: She's usually the most harmless Diclonius, but threaten her papa Kurama and she'll show you she can be fierce too.
  • The Fettered: She's the only Diclonius with strong morals that keep her from becoming a killing machine like other members of her species.
  • Fingore: In the anime, Lucy chops off all of the fingers on her right hand before ripping her right arm off.
  • Good Counterpart: Nana can be seen as the exact opposite of Lucy. While Lucy's default personality is serious and cold, Nana's is fragile, friendly, and kind. Nana's default personality is very similiar to Nyu and she also has an endearingly immature knowledge of the world.
  • Handicapped Badass: Having all of her limbs ripped off and replaced with prosthetics doesn't stop her from taking on Bando and winning.
  • Hellish Pupils: In the manga, whenever she acts like an evil Diclonius. This is true of the anime as well, where she gains these whenever she senses Lucy's presence. In her first meeting with Mayu, she cannot sense Lucy but when told about Nyu she gains these upon realizing they are in fact the same person.
  • Hero Antagonist: To Lucy. While she does work for the Research Containment Facility, she works for Kurama and she's got to be the most straight-up heroic character in the series.
  • Heroic Willpower: Otherwise, she would have become just as homicidal as all the other Diclonii.
  • Imaginary Friend: Cruelly subverted. Nana tries to tell the others that Cute Mute Nyu has a murderous Superpowered Evil Side named Lucy, but they think that it's just this.
  • Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Everything dumped on her only makes her sweeter and more heroic, not less. On top of that, she seems to be in complete (or near-complete) control of her murderous DNA.
  • Interspecies Romance: Implied with Kurama at the end of the manga.
  • Last of Her Kind: She very well could be the last Diclonius following the development of the vaccine.
  • Lethal Chef: Given that she was raised in a lab, this isn't all too surprising (especially in the OVA: first, she burns some in a pan, then she's too enthusiastic cutting the lettuce, her prosthetic arm comes of and the knife nearly hits Mayu).
  • Love Martyr: When she finally sees Kurama again after he's missing for six months, he's too focused on grieving Mariko's death and dismisses Nana as a "mere test subject" who isn't even his real child. Nana feels angry at Kurama's coldness to her even though she had been waiting for him and worrying the entire time he was gone. Despite that, Nana still loves him and chooses to be with him even if he rejects her. Her love eventually helps Kurama recover from his depression.
  • Made of Iron: She takes a bullet to the face from Bando, and all it does is knock her back to her senses and freak her out from the sight of the blood.
  • Money to Burn: A variation; she's so clueless over the concept of money that she uses the yen Kurama left her with for kindling.
  • Morality Pet: Even though he's dedicated to the elimination of the Diclonius species, Chief Kurama truly cares about Nana as his adopted daughter and defies Director Kakuzawa's direct orders to ensure her survival.
  • Ms. Fanservice: There are TONS of scenes of her naked throughout the series.
  • Mundane Luxury: To someone who was raised as a test subject like she was, a simple hot bath is a luxury. She also initially treats steamed rice like the most tasty meal in the world.
  • My Name Is Inigo Montoya: Nana invokes this one constantly, usually just after she's been dealt a severe injury in combat, with "This doesn't hurt at all!" Also usually, the trope is horrifically subverted. Occasionally the reverse occurs, and Nana goes on to triumph in the encounter (albeit, usually, temporarily).
  • My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Diclonii are genetically driven to murder, right? Not this one.
  • Naked on Arrival: Like any other Diclonii, she's introduced completely naked. Chained to a wall and covered in blood.
  • Nice Girl: She is kind and sweet to just about everyone, to the extent of even mourning for Mariko like a sister and lamenting that Mariko didn't get to experience all the good things in life despite the torture she put Nana through. She only ever loses her temper when it comes to Lucy, for understandable reasons.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown:
    • Lucy keeps dismembering her limbs even if she's already defeated.
    • Receives a brutal one from Mariko. In the manga however, Mariko makes the mistakes of threatening Kurama. Nana's response is to punch her senseless and disable her vectors before threatening to kill her.
  • No Longer with Us: Nana just felt like being melodramatic for some reason...
  • No Social Skills: Undoubtedly a Nice Girl but between being Younger than She Looks (Nana hasn't even cracked double-digits yet and has the mental age to match) and having had a, let's say, irregular upbringing, she doesn't come off as the most normal person. She seems strange for not already knowing normal known facts and ways of life, and tends to get frustrated easily and sulk when people don't listen (or she doesn't explain herself well).
  • Only a Flesh Wound: Subverted in her battle with Lucy; after she gets her leg and fingers chopped off, she insists it doesn't hurt... only to drop the tough girl act and scream in agony when Lucy takes off one of her arms.
  • The Pollyanna: Admirably and heroically. Under ridiculously brutal circumstances that turned other Diclonii into killers. Choosing not to be one of the series' unstoppable killing machines, Nana maintains an unshakable positive outlook and focuses on the good things in the world, anchored by her belief that everything will be OK when she can be with Papa again.
  • Power Nullifier: She can use her vectors to temporarily disable other Diclonius's vectors. This is how she disarms Lucy, unfortunately only after losing all her limbs for her troubles.
  • Pro-Human Transhuman: Even though she is a Diclonius, she has maintained her faith and trust in humanity in spite of the extreme odd stacked against ther.
  • Raised in a Lab: She has spent her entire life in the Diclonius research facility where she was raised as a test subject, so she knows absolutely nothing about the world outside the complex where she used to live, to the point of burning a "bunch of papers" that turned out to be money. And being gullible enough to believe that the money when kept together would attack her in her sleep.
  • Redemption Equals Life: If you count simply being a Diclonius as a state in dire need of redemption, Nana definitely qualifies. She is one of the kindest characters in the series, meaning she staunchly rejects the inherent, ingrained desire to eradicate all humans. She never takes a single life throughout both the anime and manga and is amply rewarded by being the only Diclonius to survive the manga.
  • Reluctant Monster: She's the only known Diclonius to be able to effortlessly repress her murderous instincts.
  • Replacement Goldfish: Kurama kinda adopted her to make up for trying to kill and abandoning Diclonius biological daughter Mariko, since Nana isn't anywhere as dangerous as Mariko. Later in the manga, however, Kurama and Nana agree she can't be a replacement to Mariko after Mariko's death. Nana then decides she'll become Kurama's wife in the future so they can be a family.
  • Rocket Punch: Bando lured her on the beach, where she couldn't use anything as a projectile to throw at him. She used her artificial arm. She later uses her arms this way again.
  • Rose-Haired Sweetie: She has pink hair in the anime like all other Diclonii. Unlike other Diclonii, Nana is a sweet and friendly girl.
  • Running Gag: If it can create a humorously awkward moment, it's likely one of her artificial limbs will fall off.
  • Self-Harm: She once tries to hit her head until she bleeds, in hopes she'll lose her memories and powers like Lucy/Nyu.
  • Self-Proclaimed Love Interest: In the manga, after her father figure Kurama says Mariko is his only daughter, Nana starts calling herself his wife out of wish to become a real family with him. Kurama never says he agrees, but he does assure Nana that he won't leave her again.
  • Seven Is Nana: Nana is Diclonius subject Number Seven.
  • Shameful Strip: Mariko humiliates her by subjecting her to Clothing Damage with her vectors, while disabling her artificial limbs, leaving her a helpless, screaming, crying mess while Mariko simply starts giggling innocently.
  • Slasher Smile: Even she has these kind of smiles, mostly when she fights other Diclonii and has the upper hand.
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill: She's the only Diclonius to have never killed a person, even when she's at her worst.
  • Token Good Teammate: Unlike the Diclonius research institute and the entire Diclonius species, Nana is a peaceful Diclonius who never kills a person in the entire series.
  • Token Heroic Orc: She's the only known Diclonius who isn't a sadistic killer.
  • Took a Level in Badass: After her defeat by Lucy, Nana becomes better in battles. Often because of her Artificial Limbs she can throw as projectiles and other quick surprise attacks. Also, in every battle with Mariko and her clones, Nana gets the upper hand at least once per battle, depending on the occassion.
  • Too Incompetent to Operate a Blanket: She was raised in a lab, and thus, unable to even cut a cabbage with an ordinary knife. When she first meets Mayu, she is completely clueless over the concept of money and uses the yen Kurama left her with for kindling.
  • A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: Kurama explicitly told her not to engage Lucy when he found her, but she chose to do so anyway in an attempt to make him proud. It ends badly.
  • Tranquil Fury: Bando makes the exceedingly foolish mistake of pushing Nana too far the first time they meet, and she lapses into this: he even gets a flashback of Lucy looking at her like this.
  • Upbringing Makes the Hero: Despite her brutal life as a test subject, her adoptive father Kurama treated her with genuine kindness and concern. This is likely the reason why she's the only Diclonius who has a benevolent nature and didn't develop murderous impulses.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: With Nyuu; she despises Lucy for having ripped off her limbs, a battle that nearly killed her. However, she eventually warms up to Nyuu despite their first meeting, who takes her in to their home with open arms.
  • Younger than She Looks: Silpelits age at about double the rate of normal humans. Nana looks 14 and is really only around seven years old, she also ACTS like her real age too.

    Nozomi 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nozomi_97.jpg

A 18 year old girl who's Yuka's best friend and kohai, she aspires to become a famous opera singer.

Due to her father's rather... violent opposition of her dream, Nozomi developed a psychological trauma that makes her wet herself whenever she becomes too nervous. Despite this, she tries to get into a music high school, secretly training at the Maple Inn, which Yuka invited her to, during her free time and moving there permanently after getting accepted.


  • Adapted Out: Despite being a main character, she was written out of the anime.
  • Beautiful Singing Voice: Kouta and Yuka believe she has the skill to become a singer.
  • Book Smart: According to Yuka, Nozomi usually takes first place on the mock exams. Later, it's mentioned she's the third in the country at mock exams.
  • Cute Mute: In chapter 83, her throat gets crushed by a soldier, leaving her unable to speak until the final chapter.
  • A Day in the Limelight: She has a special chapter in the manga depicting her past.
  • Dream-Crushing Handicap: A defied example. She has a throat defect that will eventually make her lose her voice if she strains it too much. Her father desperately tries making her give up on her dream of becoming a singer out of fear that she'll also lose her voice and possibly kill herself like her mother did. Nozomi still decides to not give up and pursues her dream anyway.
  • Hime Cut: She's a borderline Yamato Nadeshiko and so she has a borderline hairstyle associated with them.
  • Jizzed in My Pants: When having a moment with Kouta, she thinks she peed herself again. When she checks, she realizes she didn't wet herself with pee this time...
  • Potty Failure: Played for Drama. Due to her father's abuse, she's developed a bladder control problem that causes her to wet herself whenever she gets too nervous. It actually happens to the extent that she has to wear diapers.
  • Pursuing Parental Perils: Nozomi's mother is an opera singer who lost her voice due to a vocal cord defect, which leads to her being Driven to Suicide. Even though her father warns her about this, Nozomi chooses to still try and become a singer.
  • The Runaway: While she didn't really run away in a direct way like Mayu, she still kind of qualifies as an Abused Runaway.
  • Sacred First Kiss: Her first kiss is stolen by Nyu. It's a Forced Kiss.
  • Shrinking Violet: She's very shy and soft-spoken thanks to her father's abuse.
  • Textile Work Is Feminine: She's confident of her sewing skills.

    Piyopiyo 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/piyopiyo.png

A baby bird that falls out of its nest, and is found and taken care of by Nyu.


  • Adapted Out: It does not appear in the anime.
  • Irony: While watching Nyu tenderly cradle Piyopiyo in her hands, Nana wonders what would happen if she knew that she had slaughtered dozens of innocent people in unimaginably gruesome ways.
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter: It is a tiny baby bird whose delicate state immediately wins over Nyu's heart.
  • Verbal Tic Name: Piyopiyo is the Japanese onomatopoeia for a bird's chirping.


Diclonii Research Facility

    Director Kakuzawa 
Voiced by: Kinryū Arimoto (JP), Andy McAvin (EN), Pedro D'Aguillón, Jr. (Latin American Spanish)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kakuzawa_elfen_lied.png

The director of the Diclonius research facility. He is a repulsive, power-hungry man lacking any sense of morality and will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals.


  • Bad Boss: As can only be expected of a top-secret research facility as insanely brutal as this one. He will kill a subordinate if they decide not to obey and his disgusting treatment of Shirakawa makes the prospect of working for this guy in this hellhole look even less attractive. It's implied that fears of what the Diclonius could do to the human race has employees who've dealt with him simply grit their teeth and bear it. Given that he is later revealed to think he is a Diclonius himself and secretly plotting to usurp humankind, you could see it as Kakuzawa lording himself over non-Diclonius as an inferior species, but considering the atrocious treatment of his supposed "fellow Diclonius" in his own facility, it seems he doesn't care who he hurts so long as he comes out on top.
  • The Bad Guy Wins: In the anime only, he succeeds in killing Lucy. However, the story ends on a Cliffhanger of epic proportions due to the manga being far from finished at the time. Subverted in the manga where he is killed by Lucy and his plans ultimately fall apart. He does however come damn close.
  • Bald of Evil: He's actually bald and wears a wig because he has horns. He's also the Big Bad.
  • Batman Gambit: Starting immediately after the point where the anime cuts off, Kakuzawa initiates the second part of his plan: a missile launch with the Diclonius virus that would spread into the Japanese population, and, later, the world; in other words, the population of Japan would have their future children Diclonius, without them knowing of it. An attempt to actually stop this from happening does not work, and the gambit proceeds as planned. It would have worked if it wasn't for Arakawa and her knowledge of the Diclonius virus, so it gets foiled later on. The rest of the manga is spent attempting to make sure the scenario does not proceed into even worse territory.
  • Big Bad Ensemble: He works together with the DNA Voice to destroy humanity. Kakuzawa runs the horrific research facility and is Lucy’s greatest enemy, definitely moreso in the manga, at least until the DNA Voice offs him and becomes the main threat at the end of the series.
  • Blasphemous Boast: "Not even God can stop me now!"
  • The Chessmaster: Manga only. Kakuzawa makes numerous plans to achieve his goal, from Diclonius virus missiles, to his goddess daughter Anna to a male Diclonius. Things seem to fall into his very hands and he runs circles around those trying to stop him. If it wasn't for a combination of unforeseen circumstances, most notably Arakawa's vaccine, he would have won even after being killed.
  • Dirty Old Man: Director Kakuzawa is a very creepy rapist who misuses Shirakawa as his sex slave and at least his youngest son is a Child by Rape. And speaking of his youngest son, the Male Diclonius, he was born from Director Kakuzawa's rape of Lucy's mother and Kakuzawa wants him to impregnate his half-sister Lucy. Yes, this man wants a girl in her late teens to be pregnant as soon as possible. By a boy who has to be less than 10 years old, timeline-wise. Suddenly, all the Diclonius girls being kept naked in the facility and the sexual abuse permitted for the Unknown Man makes a lot of sense.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: He may have been killed by Lucy, but all that's left at this point is her DNA Voice.
  • Equivalent Exchange: He believes that Kurama must trade Mariko's life, which is Kurama's daughter for working with him.
    A human has no more than two hands. To take something, one must drop what one's holding.
  • Evil Is Hammy: He really loves to say his plans out loud.
  • Evil Is Petty: Considering he's just a normal person with some genetic abnormalities, his desire to Take Over the World with Diclonius is ultimately either a giant ego trip over a delusion of being something he never was, or simply the spiteful machinations of a man who knew he was nothing special.
  • Evilutionary Biologist: His "diclonius" efforts. Too bad for him that pissing off the crux of his plans (Lucy) slaps him with the Too Dumb to Live label.
  • Final Boss: He is the last enemy that Lucy confronts, though not the last enemy overall.
  • Godhood Seeker: His ultimate goal is to become the god of a Diclonius-ruled world.
  • Hate Sink: He is responsible for all the horror the Diclonii suffer, and the living embodiment of Humans Are the Real Monsters.
  • Hide Your Otherness: He wears a wig to hide the horns in his head.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Satisfyingly killed by Lucy in the manga.
  • Horned Humanoid: He has small horns in his head that he sees as proof that he's a Diclonius. However, Lucy reveals he's a human and his horns are just a skull deformity.
  • Human All Along: He believed he was descended from Diclonius ancestry that has been watered down by inter-breeding with humans. However, Lucy doesn't sense any Diclonius genes in him and concludes the horns in his head are a mere deformity.
  • Idiot Ball: His plans involve making it so that all children except Lucy's are born slipelits, which are sterile, thereby reducing the Earth's population to one breeding pair (Lucy and himself) plus his male Diclonius son, which will almost certainly result in extinction of the Diclonii as well even if Lucy cooperates.
  • Large and in Charge: According to the full-cast shot in the last chapter, he is taller than the rest of the cast by a notable amount.
  • Macho Masochism: Doctor Nousou has at one point developed a way to control the violent silpelites via brain chips, and, when prompted by Director Kakuzawa, demonstrates their complete obedience by ordering one of them to stab herself in the arm. Kakuzawa's reaction? He pulls his gun and shoots himself in the hand, remarking disappointedly that pain is no guarantee for obedience.
  • Medical Rape and Impregnate: A very creepy and disturbing example, as he found, captured and impregnated Lucy's mother in order to have a Diclonius male heir that he intended to mate with Lucy, the boy's half-sister. Even when the mother manages to kill herself in captivity, he has her dissected and tries to harvest her reproductive organs and materials. To cap it off, when he tells all this to Lucy, he regards these actions as now making them related. Lucy notably and memorably disagrees with this.
  • Mole in Charge: He half-heartedly puts up a front of wanting to protect the human race from the diclonii, the stated purpose of the research facility he runs, while really wanting the diclonii to wipe out and replace humans.
  • A Nazi by Any Other Name: His beliefs that the Diclonius are Master Race intended to wipe out and replace humanity are eerily similar to the Nazis' beliefs of the Aryan Master Race. It's really telling when the project that will kickstart it all is called "Lebensborn".
  • Non-Action Big Bad: He relies on his henchmen and Diclonii to fight for him. Best shown when Lucy kills him in one shot.
  • Only One Name: In contrast to the other Kakuzawas, his first name is not revealed.
  • Outliving One's Offspring: His son tries to capture Lucy and ends up murdered by her.
  • The Reveal: During his final confrontation with Lucy, it is made known that his family were never true Diclonius, merely Humans with a minor genetic mutation who invented legends and eugenic myths to cope with the persecution they faced in medieval times. The strife he caused our heroes and the world takes on a whole new light.
  • Slasher Smile: Pulls off a few. Despite this most of his expressions are actually quite stoic.
  • The Stoic: More so in the manga. A few hammy speeches and smirks aside, he always remains calm and collect only ever showing the slightest surprise a very few times.
  • Stupid Evil: He taunts Lucy over what he did to her mother, which predictably results in his own defeat.
  • The Unfettered: His goal is to wipe out the human race, replace it with the Diclonius, and be worshiped by them as their new "God".
  • Utopia Justifies the Means: His goal is to destroy the human race and produce more Diclonii using Lucy, the only fertile female Diclonus, to replace them. He doesn't want to do this for any moral reason, though, but only so that in 100 or 200 years he can be worshipped as the god of the new species.
  • Villainous Parental Instinct: Subverted, despite appearing to love his daughter Anna in the manga, it is clear he only sees her as a tool for the advancement of his plans. Although, it's implied he did something that returned her to her original human form after Lucy destroyed her mutated head. Ultimately, Anna is left thinking her father did care about her a little.

    Dr. Kurama 
Voiced by: Osamu Hosoi (JP), Jay Hickman (EN), Gerardo Reyero (Latin American Spanish)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kurama.jpg

The chief of research of the Diclonius children in the research containment facility.


  • Arch-Enemy: He has the extremely dubious honor of being the human Lucy seems to hate the most - the one who's still alive, at least. He was the one who oversaw her initial capture, but more importantly he didn't keep his promise to save Aiko if Lucy would surrender, putting him on the same short list as Kouta of humans Lucy will not kill, but for very different reasons. Which makes it sort of fitting that towards the end of the manga, Kurama accidentally shoots and nearly kills Kouta right in front of Lucy in a way similar to Aiko's death.
  • An Arm and a Leg: Lucy cuts his arm off. It was self-defense.
  • Badass Bookworm: A scientist who punches Lucy out without fear for what she did to Nana.
  • Beard of Sorrow: After the Time Skip of the manga, Kurama has grown a beard as he has spent months in a state of shock and depression because of Mariko's death.
  • Blatant Lies: Implied. At the end of the manga it's revealed Aiko did survive her bullet wound. It's implied he lied to Lucy that she was dead so she won't pursue her again.
  • Broken Tears: In the manga, he has a tearful breakdown after Mariko dies. And again when one of Mariko's clones dies in his arms.
  • Byronic Hero: Kurama is a stern, no-nonsense man who is devoted to his job, in spite of the horrible atrocities that were being carried out. As the series goes on, he has plenty of sympathetic moments due to his conflicts about what he believes must be done to protect humanity from the Diclonii children and his own morals.
  • Cradle of Loneliness: After one of Mariko's clones dies in his arms, Kurama keeps holding the body for days.
  • Death by Adaptation: He dies in the anime, but he stays alive in the manga.
  • The Dragon: To Director Kakuzawa in the first half of the manga, as well as in the whole anime.
  • Dying Declaration of Love: In the anime, Kurama tells Mariko that he and her mother loved her before the bomb inside Mariko kills them both.
  • Easily Forgiven: He tried to strangle a newborn Mariko to death and when he couldn't do it, he had her locked up in a top-security prison for her entire life. Despite of that, Mariko almost instantly forgives her father to the point she doesn't hesitate to die for him after he hugs her and admits he does love her after all.
  • Excessive Mourning: His immense grief over his biological daughter Mariko's death causes him to neglect his adopted daughter Nana for a while.
  • Final First Hug: He embraces his daughter Mariko for the first and only time shortly before she dies protecting him from Lucy. It's even more depressing in the anime where Kurama hugs Mariko to die with her just as the bomb inside her explodes.
  • Fond Memories That Could Have Been: In the anime, right when the bomb inside Mariko detonates and kills them both, Kurama imagines himself, his wife and Mariko being a happy family as he realized that life could have been possible if he had accepted his Diclonius daughter.
  • A Glass in the Hand: Thinking about Kisaragi and her death at Lucy's hands causes him to feel such anger and angst that he breaks a glass he was holding in his hand. The bleeding in his hand doesn't compare to the pain he feels inside.
  • The Heavy: Why does Lucy do what she does? A friend (and her only one) took a bullet for her not knowing Lucy could deflect it so Lucy gave herself in to try and save the friend when Kurama offers to help if she comes quietly. Later Kurama flatly informs Lucy the friend died. She now wants to make him suffer.
    • In the anime, merely informing Lucy her friend died was enough to set her sights on Kurama. In the manga version, Kurama twists the knife by casting aspersions on the girl he killed, and saying that all this was Lucy's fault for not surrendering and the Diclonius' refusal to co-exist with Humans. Needless to say, this inverted accusation has no appeal for Lucy, and explains her single-minded hatred all the more.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: He executes baby diclonius and justifies his actions by convincing himself the babies must be killed before they grow up into murderers.
  • Interrupted Suicide: In the manga, he tries to shoot himself after Mariko dies. He's stopped by Bando who gives him shelter at the beach where he also lives for several months.
  • Living Emotional Crutch: To Nana, who could only withstand all the experiments conducted on her by becoming attached to and wanting to please her "papa".
  • Moral Myopia: He hates most diclonious for their psychotic tendencies and hatred of humanity as a whole, but completely turns a blind eye to the brutal, horrific, and inhumane treatment and experimentation they endure that makes them this way.
  • Necessarily Evil: He sacrifices children and adult women for the sake of saving the human race.
  • The Needs of the Many: He's willing to terminate innocent children and not-so-innocent adult women alike, for the sake of saving the human race.
  • Noble Top Enforcer: Unlike Director Kakuzawa who is just evil and plans to make Diclonii take over the world, Kurama participates in the research because he sincerely believes Diclonii are a threat to the world. He also does feel remorse when torturing and killing Diclonii.
  • Offing the Offspring: Kurama was initially in charge of terminating Diclonus children because he was the only one who could do it with no signs of regret. That is, until, his own daughter Mariko turns out to be one as well. This is ultimately subverted in the anime, when Kurama dies with Mariko because Mariko explodes rather than him doing anything to her. Eventually played straight-ish in the manga, though Kurama only kills a clone of Mariko and not the real article, with the clone vehemently insisting on not being treated as Mariko.
  • Opaque Lenses: We usually can't see his eyes through his glasses.
  • Outliving One's Offspring: After trying to kill her own daughter several times, Kurama ultimately can't do it. Instead, he watches as Mariko is killed when the bombs implanted inside her blow up while she protects him from Lucy.
  • Parental Substitute: He is the surrogate father of Nana.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: A cold and pragmatic Blue to aggressive and hot-blooded Bando's Red.
  • Revenge Myopia: Towards the end of the series, he comes at Lucy with a gun, after she promised not to attack humans anymore, for all the grief she gave him, but then who captured her, locked her up in a vault, and not only had her undergo horrific experiments, but is directly responsible for sending an army at her and killing her best and only friend in front of her eyes when she was a child, and blamed her for it?
  • Scary Shiny Glasses: He's shown with them very often.
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Him and Bando. Though, Kurama is a Badass Bookworm on par with Bando's Badass Normal.
  • Sharp-Dressed Man: He always wears a suit, except during the time of his Heroic BSoD.
  • The Starscream: He secretly tries to prevent Director Kakuzawa from becoming the god of Diclonii.
  • The Stoic: Initially, although less and less as the plot progresses.
  • Together in Death: A thwarted example occurs in the manga, where he intends to die crushed by a missile with his daughter Mariko in his arms. However, both survive and then he watches Mariko blow up while protecting him from Lucy. In the anime, however, he succeeds to die with Mariko when he holds her in his arms as the bombs inside her explode.
  • The Unfettered: Kurama's goal is to save the human race, even if it involves terminating innocent children and women alike.
  • Villainous Rescue: In the anime, he saves Lucy from Mariko's No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
  • Would Hit a Girl: He slaps Lucy with enough force to knock her off her feet. Given that she had just dismembered Nana, it's justified.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Considering that he's tasked with euthanizing diclonius newborns.

    Kisaragi 
Voiced by: Maria Yamamoto (JP), Tiffany Grant (EN), Analíz Sánchez (Latin American Spanish)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kisaragi_elfen_lied.jpg

Kurama's young, clumsy secretary who has worked for him for at least five years and admires him. She's killed by Lucy early in the series, just to mess with Kurama.


  • Bulletproof Human Shield: While escaping during the first episode, Lucy decapitates Kisaragi and uses her corpse to block a hail of 9mm bullets. In the manga, Kisaragi is made Lucy's human shield even before her decapitation.
  • Cute Clumsy Girl: Messily deconstructed. Despite being one of the few characters with any significant dialogue in the first episode, she gets her head ripped off ten minutes in.
  • The Ditz: Deconstructed, as her clumsiness leads to her death by Lucy.
  • Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher: She's akin to this; she's clearly out of her depth working in the facility she does and doesn't seem to understand the magnitude of what she's involved with, if her delayed reaction to a naked, rampaging Lucy is anything to go by. Kurama's affections aside, how she lasted as long as she did on the job before her fatal encounter with Lucy is a mystery.
  • Off with Her Head!: Courtesy of Lucy.
  • Too Dumb to Live:
    • The moment she saw the devastation that was being caused one would have expected her to realize that a noncombatant like herself should do the smart thing and get to the exit ASAP. Then again, this being Lucy, it wouldn't have been useful at all...
    • This is not the case in the manga version, where Kisaragi comes across Lucy before seeing any devastation and death from her, and is thus at the wrong place at the wrong time when Kurama and his guard squad arrive on the scene. Cue Bulletproof Human Shield and Off with Her Head!.

    Shirakawa 
Voiced by: Hitomi Nabatame (JP), Shelley Calene-Black (EN), Cony Madera (Latin American Spanish)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shirakawa_elfen_lied.jpg

The Deputy Director of the facility under Kurama who is secretly in love with him.


  • Adaptational Heroism: Played with. The manga Shirakawa is a more ruthless and petty person who has a bad case of Green-Eyed Monster when it comes to Kurama's family, admitting in her thoughts that the reason she suggested the bombs be put in Mariko was more because she is Kurama's child with another woman than out of practicality. In the anime, Shirakawa is significantly softened up as she takes on Isobe's role as the Token Good Teammate of the research facility, is horrified by the idea of the bombs implanted in Mariko's body, and even tries to protect Nyu from getting gunned down when she realizes Nyu is Lucy's innocent Helpless Good Side. That said, Anime Shirakawa is not revealed to be a double-agent collecting information to thwart Director Kakuzawa's Evil Plan, either.
  • Dies Differently in Adaptation: Lucy rips her in two in the anime, in the process triggering Kouta's repressed traumatic memory of her killing Kanae the same way; in the manga, she is still the one who kills Shirakawa, but decapitates her to screw with Kurama and taunt him, similar to how she killed Kisaragi.
  • Girl Friday: Faithful/attracted to her boss, and despite being cold and distant is The Mole in the facility meant to gain information about the potential genocidal research there.
  • Killed Mid-Sentence: In the anime, she thinks Lucy is still in her "Nyu" personality and unwittingly brings herself in range of Lucy's vectors while trying to tell Kouta the truth about "Nyu".
  • The Mole: Preceded the Agent in this regard, sending enough information to her superiors for them to realize the gravitas of the situation and send in the second.
  • Not So Stoic: In the anime, she is moved to tears when Kurama agonizes over Nana in what appeared to be her final moments.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Her death in the manga: after her Green-Eyed Monster actions towards Mariko with some hope Mariko would be killed to have Kurama to herself, she moves past her personal agenda and makes it up to Kurama by risking her life to grab the detonator from Lucy and try to help Kurama save Mariko. Though Lucy wrecks that plan, kills Shirakawa, and seals Mariko's fate, it was a definite show of Character Development by Shirakawa.
  • Subordinate Excuse: To Kurama.
  • Sex Slave: In the manga, she's a sex slave to Director Kakuzawa to get information from him.
  • Sexy Secretary: Acts as Kurama's Number Two with operations and definitely has the look. Director Kakuzawa even uses her as a sex slave.
  • Unbalanced By Rival's Kid: In the manga, it was her idea to implant bombs within Mariko's body, not Kurama, who was unaware of it. The reason? Mariko is his a child from another woman.
  • Uriah Gambit: Sending Mariko in to fight Lucy was her idea. They were counting on Mariko winning, and even if she didn't, it wouldn't be a total loss. The Director accuses her of doing it to destroy parts of Kurama's past life so he'll let it go and move on. Her reasons for doing it are likely a combination of that, risking less human lives, and trying to divert suspicion from her The Mole Status.
  • Too Dumb to Live: In the anime, she gets too close to Lucy while trying to explain to Kouta who she really is, putting herself within range of Lucy's vectors. It proves a fatal mistake.

    Isobe 

Voiced by: Naoki Kinoshita (JP), Rick Piersall (EN), Ricardo Tejedo (Latin American Spanish)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/isobe.jpg
An assistant of Kurama.
  • Adaptational Villainy: Manga Isobe was a troubled individual who tried to see the differences in Diclonius. His own niceness in fact is what got him killed. Anime Isobe not so much and comes off as another typical arrogant human.
  • An Arm and a Leg: In the manga, he tries to keep Mariko from attacking Kurama by threatening to set off another bomb when she rages at her father and regains her vectors. Mariko cuts off his arm instead and it lands too far away for him to reach the detonator.
  • Asshole Victim: Anime only, due to Adaptational Villainy.
  • Evil Makes You Ugly: Due to Adaptational Villainy, his entire character design was changed, who looks much less attractive than his average looking counterpart.
  • Killed Mid-Sentence: In the anime, when Isobe attempts to shoot Nana, but he is killed by Lucy.
    "You're the only one left. Think of the reward—" (gets decapitated)
  • No Name Given: In the anime. The manga does reveal his name, but only after he died and stopped mattering as a character.
  • Off with His Head!: How Lucy (anime) and Mariko (manga) kill him.
  • Token Good Teammate: Unlike in the anime, the original manga version of Isobe is one of the nicer characters employed at the facility, balking at the use of bombs to control Mariko and showing anger on hearing of the lies Saito told her about her parents. This becomes a plot point when it leads to his undoing, courtesy of Mariko.

    Professor Kakuzawa 
Voiced by: Hiroaki Hirata (JP), John Swasey (EN), Mauricio Pérez (Latin American Spanish)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/professor_kakuzawa_elfen_lied.png

Son of Director Kakuzawa and a collegue of Kurama. He has the same goal as his father.


  • Attempted Rape: On Lucy. He failed.
  • Bald of Evil: His hair is really a wig to hide his Diclonius horns. Lucy kills him for trying to rape her.
  • Big Bad Wannabe: He plans to overturn his father and take over the world himself. Lucy kills him before he can even try it.
  • Devil in Disguise: Literally and metaphorically: His horns are hidden under a wig and nobody knows of his plans to destroy humanity.
  • Failed a Spot Check: It never occurred to him that the drugs he used on Nyuu had only knocked out that aspect of Lucy's split persona, not Lucy herself as he intended.
  • Godhood Seeker: Like his father, he wants to become a god after the Diclonii rule the world.
  • Hide Your Otherness: He wears a wig to cover the horns on his head.
  • Killed Mid-Sentence: He tells Lucy he's going to rape her and wants to create a new race, only for him to be decapitated mid-sentence.
  • Mad Scientist: He wants to destroy humanity because For Science!.
  • Medical Rape and Impregnate: He's planning to rape and impregnate Lucy so he can produce more Diclonii children. Lucy kills him before he can go through with it.
  • Off with His Head!: Lucy beheads him.
  • The Starscream: To his father, wanting to rule the Diclonius race in his own name. He fails.
  • Too Dumb to Live: His entire scheme to rape with Lucy is incredibly carelessly planned, but his fruitless appeals to her that they're on the same side when the drugs woke her from her Nyuu state were even more idiotic. Even when she's clearly in no mood to listen to a word of what he has to say, he still insists that they're destined to mate and carry out their task of wiping out the human race. That's right, even after trying to rape her, he has the audacity to insist they're allies; Lucy is quick to set the record straight with him.

    Dr. Arakawa 
Voiced by: Eriko Ishihara (JP), Jessica Boone (EN), Angélica Villa (Latin American Spanish)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arakawa_elfen_lied.png

A researcher working alongside Professor Kakuzawa to find a vaccine for the Diclonius virus.

In the anime, she's basically only there for comic relief, but in the manga, she plays an extremely important role as the story progresses on.


  • Action Survivor: At the end of the manga, she survives the riot of the clone Silpelits.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: In the manga finale, she ends up finally creating the Diclonius vaccine.
  • Girlish Pigtails: She wore two braids in her middle school life. The boys view her as unfeminine and ugly, though.
  • Identical Stranger: A weakened Diana mistakes Arakawa for Nousou, probably because of their similar hair style. This actually saves her life and allows her to command Diana.
  • Mad Scientist: Arakawa 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.
  • Nerds Are Sexy: Averted in her backstory, as she was considered ugly by the boys.
  • The Pig-Pen: She states she hasn't taken a bath in over a week, even considering that, now that she's working in the Facility, she should take a shower at least every three days.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: Early on, she's the only comedic in a series filled with gorn and dark drama.
  • Running Gag:
    "I'm never going to get to take a shower!"
  • Science Heroine: Near the end, she saves the world by developing the Diclonius vaccine.
  • Seriously Scruffy: She's working so hard that she never has time to take a shower.
  • Smart People Wear Glasses: She's a scientist who wears glasses since her adolescence.

    Saito 
Voiced by: Maria Yamamoto (JP), Allison Sumrall (EN), Lourdes Arruti (Latin American Spanish)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/saito_elfen_lied.png

A young researcher who is Mariko's foster mother and communicates with her per speaker and monitors. She claims to love Mariko like she's her real child, but Saito is brutally murdered by her, though she manages to blow one of Mariko's arms off.


  • Adaptational Nice Guy: Is revealed in a later manga chapter to have fed Mariko cruel lies about her birth parents and made her think she was unwanted and willingly abandoned to live her whole life in the dark container, which certainly did the girl's mental health no favors; making Mariko coldly tricking, snubbing, and killing Saito a touch more karmic in retrospect. The anime makes no mention of her telling such lies to Mariko, making Mariko's betrayal completely undeserved and returning Saito to a tragic character whose only crime was falling prey to Mariko's manipulations, giving her shades of the manga version of Isobe.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: She seems to be a sweet and nice woman. But in the verge of death, she pushes one of Mariko's bomb buttons.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Manga-only. First appears to be one of the few researchers to show some kindness to the Diclonius, as she appears sweet and loves Mariko after spending so much time talking with her, being excited to see Mariko and rushing to cradle her when she falls. When Mariko unexpectedly kills her, saying she's not her mother, it cements Mariko as an evil, dangerous diclonius and Saito a victim who cared too much. After her death, Isobe learns that Saito manipulated Mariko with the lie that neither birth parent wanted her, when her mother definitely did, and her father made a devil's deal to keep her alive. His thoughts on the matter make it clear he doesn't believe it was something as innocent as Saito not knowing or misunderstanding, but a conscious effort to make Mariko have only her left as a parental figure, and his opinion of her changes same as the reader's likely does. In hindsight it makes Mariko killing her and rejecting her as a mother more karmic.
  • Dying Moment of Awesome: Despite losing the lower half of her body, thrown through a glass window, and the shock of Mariko's betrayal (not to mention surely going into medical shock), in her last moments Saito has enough strength and presence of mind to push the bomb button and blow Mariko's right arm off, making the slaughter end before it can turn into another bloodbath like Lucy's escape. Like many things, though, the manga version of this scene is colored by later reveals about her, and it's genuinely ambiguous in light of the kind of person she turned out to be whether it was a genuine act of heroism or spite out of being rejected as a parental figured.
  • Girlish Pigtails: She wears two braids that gives her a girlish vibe.
  • Grievous Harm with a Body: Mariko throws her torso at the person who is about to push the button. Unfortunately for Mariko, Saito is Not Quite Dead and now within arm's reach of the button herself. Maybe she should have thrown Saito's lower half instead...
  • Half the Woman She Used to Be: While Saito is tenderly holding Mariko, the latter splits her apart at the waist in an explosion of blood and guts, then her top half lobbed through a window. She's still alive for a few more seconds after, just long enough to press a button and set off one of the bombs inside of Mariko, before expiring.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: She insists she genuinely cares for Mariko, who's she's overseen for most of her time spent in the facility. Mariko however felt no such attachments in return and her first instinct is to brutally murder Saito. Realizing her fatal error in judgement, she blows off one of Mariko's arms just before she dies.
  • Like a Daughter to Me: She has been assigned to Mariko for years (possibly as long as Mariko has been in containment) and while she's never actually been in the same room as Mariko for safety reasons, they talk through speakers set up in Mariko's container and the control room. She claims to love Mariko like she's her real child, having essentially raised her and been the only human "contact" the girl had been had during her imprisonment. At first Mariko seems to also see her as a Parental Substitute and calls her "Mom", only for it to be viciously subverted the first time Saito is within slicing range of Mariko's vectors. Saito's last act is to pay her back by blowing off one of Mariko's arms.
  • Not Quite Dead: After being blown in half and thrown through a window, she uses her last few seconds of life to press the button to detonate the bomb in Mariko's right arm.
  • Parental Substitute: Like Kurama, she becomes a surrogate parent to the diclonius she oversees, interestingly enough to Kurama's own biological daughter. Unlike him and Nana though, Saito and Mariko have never been in the same room together or even seen each other face-to-face, having only ever talked to each other in separate rooms through speakers and Mariko only knowing her as a voice in the dark. Unlike Nana, Mariko doesn't feel any real affection for her captor and kills her as soon as she sees Saito in the flesh.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: She's killed very quickly after her introduction.

    Anna Kakuzawa 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anna_elfen_lied.JPG
The daughter of Director Kakuzawa, who is turned into a "goddess" with precognition powers.
  • Anti-Villain: The "Villainess in Name Only" variant. If it wasn't for her father, Anna would probably be one of the sweetest characters in the manga.
  • Black Sheep: The only member of the family who has a low intellect and no talents. Her human form only.
  • Book Dumb: Was this before her father experimented on her.
  • Eldritch Abomination: A massively engorge brain several tons and capable of predicting the future. Ironically more Eldritch than Abomination and ultimately she returns to her normal form at the end of the manga.
  • Even Bad Women Love Their Mamas: The Anti-Villain variation. She genuinely loves her father. Indeed, the reason she helps her father is out of love and a desire to be useful to him. Unfortunately the feeling is no longer mutual.
  • Evil Genius: Subverted. While a genius in her goddess state, Anna can hardly be described as evil (At least not in comparison to her father or some of the other questionable people) and only wishes to help her father out of a need to support him and prove herself. Ironically this was subverted entirely in her human form where she is neither evil nor a genius.
  • Naked on Arrival: Inverted. She's naked in her last appearance.
  • Redemption Equals Life: Played with, in the end Anna does nothing to actually redeem herself. However at the same time out of all the antagonists she is perhaps the least evil and thus remains the only Kakuzawa to survive the end of the manga.
  • Seers: Her goddess form has precognition powers. Actually it's just very complicated and long math.
  • Tom the Dark Lord: A very horrifying Eldritch Abomination goddess with the name Anna.
  • Unexplained Recovery: She somehow returns into her human form after Lucy destroyed her goddess form. Though, there is an implication that her father had something to do with it.
  • Was Once a Man: She was born as a sweet young girl who loved to run, but thaks to her father experiments, she transformed into a horrible creature who couldn't support her giant head She recovers at the end.
  • "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: She goes through some horrific experiences because she wants to be useful and appreciated by her father.
  • White Sheep: The only kind person in her family.

    The Unknown Man 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/unknown_man_el.png

A minor manga-only character, a man clad in a black trenchcoat and wide-brimmed hat, with opaque sunglasses and greasy-looking hair. At first appears relatively civil, he soon reveals his true colors as one of most horrifically evil bastards, if not the most evil, in the entire series. A brutal, heartless, Hidan-level sadist, rapist, and all-around not very nice man, he delights in causing pain and suffering, especially in Diclonius and/or teenage girls.


  • Abnormal Ammo: Let's just say that heavy spiked balls coated in potent toxins isn't exactly what you'd expect a crossbow to fire.
  • Agony Beam: A low-tech variation, in the form of a crossbow that fires spiked metal spheres coated in a toxin that causes horrible, cripplingly agonizing pain to those it hits. Bites him in the ass - literally - during his fight with Bando.
  • Ambiguously Human: He's heavily implied to be the same species as Kakuzawa (a non-Diclonius horned human), however we never see him without his hat.
  • Attempted Rape: He tries to rape Mayu. Bando stops him.
  • Ax-Crazy: Perhaps the craziest. And considering the likes of Bando and Lucy, that's saying something.
  • Badass Longcoat: He wears a dark long coat, similar to Alucard.
  • Corrupted Character Copy: His design and attitude are clearly ripped straight from Alucard (which is no easy feat to achieve considering that Alucard himself is a Corrupted Character Copy of Vash the Stampede) but he has none of Alucard's positive qualities, has his worst aspects flanderized, and is a slimy Dirty Coward who runs away from a Badass Normal like Bando in contrast to Alucard goading his enemies into peppering him with bullets to demonstrate his power and wanting to die at the hands of a normal human.
  • Dirty Coward: He gleefully tortures and rapes defenseless Diclonii and normal children, but runs away when he confronts Bando.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: He is shown disgusted at what Kakuzawa had done to his daughter. However considering his later actions, it seems to be subverted.
  • Eviler than Thou: Definitely worse than Bando and/or Lucy, and arguably worse than even Kakuzawa Sr.
  • Eye Scream: He tries to shoot Mayu's eye out with his crossbow to punish her for resisting him. Bando intervenes just in time.
  • No Name Given: This arguably just makes him worse.
  • Off with His Head!: Courtesy of Lucy.
  • Psycho for Hire: Less Hammy than Bando, but much more sadistic.
  • Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: He rapes Number 28 offscreen and tries to rape Mayu only for Bando to give him the beating he deserves. It's also implied that he was allowed to rape many more Silpelits by the staff of the facility.
  • Sadist: Oh yes. He greatly enjoys inflicting pain on others and frequently tortures and rapes for fun.
  • The Sociopath: He gleefully rapes and mutilates Diclonii, nearly kills Wanta, and threatens Mayu with not just rape, but disfigurement.
  • Sinister Shades: His sunglasses make him look like Alucard.
  • Sunglasses at Night: Like Bando and The Agent.

    Dr. Nousou 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nousou_el.png

The head scientist of Chief Kakuzawa after Kurama's departure.


  • Abusive Dad: He's the creator of over a thousand failed Mariko clones, who were the victims of his horrible experiments and were killed en masse to have their organs harvested. Even the four perfect clones he grew attached to were not spared, as he implanted mind-control devices in their heads and forced Diana to stab herself in the heart to prove her obedience. After having her device removed, Barbara makes it clear how much she hates him for torturing her and her sisters, before she slices his head off.
  • Dissonant Serenity: He performs brutally horrific experiments on Diclonii while having a calm expression all the time.
  • Dude Looks Like a Lady: He has a similar face and hair style to Arakawa, just having light hair and mirrored bangs. This becomes a plot point, when Diana mistakes Arakawa for him.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: As horrific as his experiments are, he really loves Alicia, Barbara, Cynthia and Diana.
  • Heel–Face Door-Slam: After the Mariko clones sacrifice themselves to protect him, he starts having second thoughts about the research facility's inhuman treatment of the Diclonii. He frees Barbara from her mind control device to give her back her free will. Barbara then rips his head off as revenge for his abuse towards her and the other clones.
  • Heel Realization: He feels regret over his tortuous experiments after realizing he loves the clones of Mariko he created as if they were his daughters.
  • Identical Stranger: His appearance looks very similar to Arakawa.
  • Karmic Death: He's ultimately killed by Barbara when he removed the mind-control device of her, letting her release all the hatred she felt for how he treated her and other clones so cruelly.
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy: He's a feminine-looking man with long hair tied back in a ponytail.
  • Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: He's an amoral scientist who performed unethical and Body Horror level experiments on Diclonii.
  • Oral Fixation: He usually has a pocky on his mouth.
  • Parental Favoritism: If the clones he created can be considered his "daughters". He loves the four perfect clones that he created, but coldly murders the failed ones and harvests their organs.
  • That's an Order!: He orders Alicia and Barbara to let him die so they would survive and could capture Lucy. They refuse to do so. While Alicia dies, Barbara manages to save him, and Lucy is captured thanks to Cynthia and the Agent.

    The Agent 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/unnamed_el.png

An ambiguously looking operative that goes alongside Nousou at the assault of Maple Inn. Is the one that knocks Lucy out and brings her back to the facility.


  • Anti-Hero: She really is trying to save the world. She'll willingly sacrifice innocent lives if it means getting her job done, though.
  • Badass Normal: The only person to defeat Lucy. Even though it was a cheap shot.
  • Bifauxnen: The Agent was confused for a man for almost all of her appearances, but was revealed as female at the very end, where her shirt rips, and reveals her cleavage.
  • Combat Pragmatist: She will use any means to win.
  • Cool Shades: She wears shades to match her coolheaded personality.
  • Double Agent: She works for the Japanese goverment and was sent to Kakuzawa as a spy.
  • Hesitant Sacrifice: After she stays behind to help Dr. Arakawa escape the island, she cries before the Diclonii seemingly kill her and she says she does not want to die. She's later revealed to have survived, though.
  • Hidden Depths: Introduced as a replacement for the former hunters (the aforementioned Bando, and the Unknown Man), and at first acts as a quieter and less sadistic hunter. Eventually she's revealed to be a government agent sent to shut the facility down, she's also quite the Determinator, and shows she's willing to die if it helps to save humanity.
  • No Name Given: Her name is never mentioned.
  • Not So Stoic: Stays behind to face certain death so Arakawa can escape with the Diclonius vaccine. Starts crying as soon as Arakawa is gone.
  • Shoot the Dog: To keep up the illusion of her loyalty, she shoots Kouta when he pulls a gun on Nousou.
  • Sunglasses at Night: Just like the rest of the 'Hunters'.
  • The Stoic: She's a very serious person and shows few emotions.

Diclonii and Silpelits

    Mariko 
Voiced by: Tomoko Kawakami (JP), Luci Christian (EN), Cristina Hernández (Latin American Spanish)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/54367l.jpg

Also known as Number 35, she is a young Silpelit girl. She is regarded as the most powerful of the Silpelits, possessing 36 vectors with an approximate range of 11 meters each in the anime (the number and range is much higher in the manga).

After her mother's Death by Childbirth, Mariko was imprisoned as an infant. Her physical impairment is seen in her atrophied limbs as she moves around in a wheelchair. Despite the environment she was raised in, she is relatively well developed psychologically (for a given degree of "psychologically"), unlike Nana. She is extremely homicidal and sadistic, and enjoys torturing and dismembering her victims. However, her personality is not blatantly evil: she is only having fun, and the pleasure she gets from it is equivalent to a child playing with toys, not really noticing the differences.


  • Adaptation Dye-Job: Played with. Due to weird lighting, she seems to be blonde in the anime for most of her early appearance, but in the dark lighting of the facility and again outside the funky sunset light (which would need to contain an enormous amount of dust to have that effect, by the way) she's got the classic Diclonius pink hair.
  • An Arm and a Leg: Her right arm gets blown off by one of the many bombs implanted in her body. In the manga, she also loses her legs when fighting Lucy.
  • Artificial Limbs: She gets a prosthetic arm in the anime before being sent out to hunt Nana down.
  • Ax-Crazy: Extreme emphasis on crazy.
  • Blank Slate: In the manga, after being flattened by a huge-ass missile, Mariko temporarily takes on a Nyu-esque persona, even down to only being able to say "Myu". She snaps back to normal when Lucy shows up.
  • Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: In the manga, she's the blonde to Nana's brunette and Lucy's redhead. The anime averts this by making them all pink-haired.
  • Calling the Old Man Out: In a rather emotional scene, she berates Dr. Kurama for treating Nana as his daughter while allowing Mariko herself to be imprisoned in a dark and lonely room with almost zero human contact for her entire life.
  • Creepy Child: She strips Nana and tears off her prosthetic limbs, all while laughing like a kid that finds it fun to crush an insect.
  • Crocodile Tears: She starts crying in front of the man holding the phone that controls the bombs inside her body, all in order to gain his sympathy and get him to tell her the code to stop the bombs from blowing off.
  • Curbstomp Battle: In the anime, she utterly dominates Lucy. In the manga, she takes care of Lucy fairly easily there as well and it's only thanks to the cell phone timing Mariko's bombs and getting her off guard that Lucy is able to get the advantage.
  • Cute and Psycho: A cute, innocent child who just wants to be loved, and a sadistic mass-murderer who gleefully kills anyone she can get her hands on. She laughs adorably just as she has fun hurting and humiliating Nana.
  • Cute Is Evil: Even compared to the other diclonii, her design screams cute, being a frail, dainty little girl with big eyes and a sweet face who looks like a little doll, and later gets dressed up in cute ribbons, frilled top, and skirt. Yet she is even more dangerous than the other diclonii because she has longer, more numerous vectors, and is even arguably the most Ax-Crazy, disregarding even the Because You Were Nice to Me get-out-of-jail-free clause most seem to have.
  • Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the manga, Mariko pulls a Heroic Sacrifice to save Kurama from Lucy, charging Lucy to use the explosion to kill them both; Lucy decapitates her before the bombs go off, but the blast still damages Lucy's horns and represses the Lucy personality, setting up the six-month Time Skip. In the anime, she and Kurama die together after he orders Isobe to detonate the remaining bomb inside of Mariko's body while he's hugging her.
  • Dying Declaration of Love: Just before the bomb inside her goes off, Mariko tells her father that she loves him.
  • Enfant Terrible: She's the most dangerous of the Silpelits with an extra helping of Ax-Crazy, who sees killing as a game. She's also about five years old.
  • Evil Cripple: She has spent most of her life in isolation and has extreme atrophy in her legs, so she has to get around in a wheelchair.
  • Explosive Leash: Taken to an extreme. She has multiple bombs planted in her body set to go off every 30 minutes if a specific code does not get constantly transmitted. The manga reveals this was in fact Shirakawa's suggestion, done less for pragmatism and more out of petty jealousy that Kurama had a kid with someone who wasn't her. It was set off once when she started going out of control, and was also used to keep her under control, since she couldn't use her vectors if she was in that much pain.
  • Extremely Protective Child: After Mariko realizes her father does love her, she's determined to protect him no matter what, even sacrificing her life to protect him from Lucy.
  • Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Mariko looks like an innocent, cute girl, but she's an Ax-Crazy Silpelit. This is even invoked by her in the manga, when she tries to get the code from Isobe.
  • Faux Affably Evil: She kills and tortures people with the same cavalier attitude a giggly little girl would have in playing with her dolls and tossing them aside when they're not fun anymore. Even losing her arm doesn't seem to put a dent in her spirits for long. She also likes to look innocent and get sympathy from adults to lure them in, before she surprises them by taunting and killing them.
  • Freudian Excuse: The reason why she became evil is because she's captured in a dark cage since her birth and is left alone by her own parents (or better said, her mother died and her father Kurama left her in the hands of those who put Mariko in the dark cage). She's visibly emaciated and partially starved, has never left her container nor seen light until she is released to help the facility deal with their rogue diclonii, and the only "socialization" she's ever had is the sound of one person's voice over a speaker (who, in the manga, was not above emotionally manipulating Mariko and deliberately making her believe her parents did not love her to make Mariko more dependent on her). Unsurprisingly, Mariko has a severe Lack of Empathy and massive abandonment issues about her birth parents. In both series, as soon as she sees that she is loved by her father, she ceases to be a villain at all.
  • Go Out with a Smile: In the anime, as Kurama takes her for a walk, they tearfully reunite with him promising never to let her go again. The bombs inside of her go off shortly afterwards, killing both of them.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: She instantly becomes jealous when she hears Nana calling her father "Papa", feeling angry and sad that her father could raise another Diclonius girl while he left her to be imprisoned. In the anime, she was also violently jealous of Nana for being a diclonius who has friends (Kouta) and strangled her in anger.
  • Handicapped Badass: Being wheelchair-bound and having only one (real) arm doesn't stop her from curb-stomping Lucy.
  • Hime Cut: Mariko has blunt bangs, chin length sidelocks, and mid-back length straight hair. It signifies her sweet and innocent facade.
  • I Just Want to Be Loved: All she ever wanted was receiving the love from her parents.
  • Improbable Age: 5 years old. And the strongest Silpelit.
  • Kids Are Cruel: Mariko is this to a certain extent, as her ruthless killing is more or less the Diclonius 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...
  • Lack of Empathy: She's a borderline Sociopath.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: She throws Saito's torso at the person who is about to push the bomb button. She doesn't expect Saito is still alive at this moment and can push the button herself, resulting Mariko's loss of her right arm.
  • Light Is Not Good: Compared to Lucy and Nana, Mariko has light hair and wears light clothing, and is enormously insane. Mariko is the youngest of the diclonii shown and is a child at heart, for better or for worse.
  • Little Miss Badass: The strongest Silpelit in the research facility is also the smallest and youngest we see in the series.
  • Love Redeems: Her father showing her affection is all that's needed for her to stop acting evil and choose to protect her father even if it costs her her life.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Takes after "Mommy" Saito in at least this respect in the manga. She masked her true feelings towards Saito by pretending she loved Saito as a mother same as Saito loved her as a daughter, and acting cooperative up until she is released from confinement and Saito is within range of her vectors. When she realizes the bombs are going to automatically detonate and kill her no matter what she does, she turns to manipulating Isobe into giving her the code to stop the bombs' detonation, by using her tears and his sympathy against him. Makes her seem unusually intelligent and discerning for her age, especially after spending her whole life isolated in a dark container with only Saito's voice over the speakers. Aside from being raised by Saito, it might be in the DNA (literally) since Number 3 - the silpelit who infected Kurama and caused Mariko to be born a diclonius - notably also tricked her captors by pretending to be weaker than she was. It's much lessened in the anime where she is more upfront about her murderous intentions after her first scene.
  • Naked on Arrival: Like any other Diclonii, she's introduced completely naked, but had a helmet.
  • One-Word Vocabulary: When suffering temporary amnesia, the only thing she says is "Myu".
  • Pet the Dog: In the manga, she tells Nana to protect their father before going off to fight Lucy.
  • Raised in a Lab: She was raised inside a steel container with human contact consisting of nothing more than a scientist acting as a sort of foster mother through speakers and monitors.
  • Redemption Equals Death: In the manga, she charges a now-quite-unhinged Lucy and gets right next to her, allowing herself to be killed just in time for the explosives implanted in her to go off. The explosion knocks Lucy's horns off and causes her to regress to Nyu, thus saving Dr. Kurama from Lucy.
  • Sadist: She finds enjoyment in putting Nana through torture and humiliation just because she can. She's compared to a child that makes a game out of crushing insects.
  • Slasher Smile: Like any other evil Diclonius.
  • Stepford Smiler: An extreme Type C example.
  • Together in Death: In the anime, she dies together with her father after he orders his subordinate to activate the bomb inside Mariko while he's holding her.
  • Too Powerful to Live: She's the most powerful Silpelit ever born. It's no surprise she doesn't live past one story arc.
  • World's Strongest Woman: She is the strongest Silpelit in existence.
  • Yandere: Though not as bad as Lucy, she still beats the tar out of Nana in a fit of jealousy upon hearing her call Kurama "Papa". In the manga, she gets over this before her death and actually tells Nana to take care of "their Papa" for her.
  • You're Not My Mother: Mariko says this to Saito right before killing her.

    Number 3 
Voiced by: Mikako Takahashi (JP), Allison Sumrall (EN), Hiromi Hayakawa (Latin American Spanish)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/number3.png

A minor character present in Dr. Kurama's backstory. She is mainly known for allowing Kurama to figure out how Diclonii are born.


  • The Gloves Come Off: She hides the true strength of her vectors so she can catch the scientists off-guard and escape containment.
  • Naked on Arrival: Like most other Diclonii, she is completely naked when we first see her.
  • Pet the Dog: Even though she kills everyone she meets at the facility, she makes a special occasion to visit Kurama to thank him, and she spares him for showing the closest thing to sympathy she had ever seen.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: She only appears for a brief period in Kurama's backstory, but she plays a pivotal role there. When she goes to meet Kurama, she sticks one of her vectors into his and Oohmori's head. When both of them end up siring Diclonii, Kurama finds out how they infect people with The Virus.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: She is killed off in the backstory after very little screentime.

    Number 28 
A relatively minor manga-only character, 28 is mainly known for the nauseatingly horrific fate she suffers at the hands of the Unknown Man.
  • Half the Woman She Used to Be: Everthing below torso amputated so she becomes portable in a bag.
  • Muggle Born of Mages: Despite being a Diclonius, she is unable to generate vectors. That doesn't stop the Unknown Man from torturing her anyway.
  • Naked on Arrival: Like any other Diclonii, she's introduced completely naked.
  • No Name Given: We only know that she's called "Number 28".
  • People Jars: Is carried within a container by the unknown man, only in a much worse fashion.
  • Rape as Drama: Courtesy of the Unknown Man.
  • The Voiceless: She doesn't get any spoken lines before the Unknown Man first gets his hands on her, and afterward she can't speak because the bastard ripped her vocal chords out.

    Alicia, Barbara, Cynthia & Diana 

The four are the only successful clones of Mariko, created by Doctor Nousou, but they are physically older than their original. Each of them have a mind-control device inside their forehead that prevents them from going amok and makes them peaceful. Nousou has perfect control over them and they listen only to him, but sometimes they do not if they try to save his life. The clones are used to capture Lucy.


  • Adapted Out: They do not appear in the anime.
  • Alphabetical Theme Naming: Their names start with a letter from A to D: Alicia, Barbara, Cynthia and Diana. Furthermore, their names end with an A.
  • Anti-Villain: Due to the mind-control devices, their evilness is surpressed and they are sweet girls who are working for the villains. Barbara subverts this later, and Diana for a few seconds.
  • An Arm and a Leg: Lucy throws stones to torture Alicia, dismembering her an arm and a leg. Then, Lucy beheads her.
  • Badass Adorable: They are Mariko's clones after all, the strongest Silpelit.
  • Badass Arm-Fold: Barbara does this a few times after she's out of control.
  • Berserk Button: Barbara does not like being addressed as Mariko, vehemently insisting that she is her own individual person.
  • Berserker Tears: Barbara cries for her dead failed clone sisters when she kills Nousou.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Diana is demoted to stay back because of her Game-Breaking Injury. She shows up later, when Arakawa is in danger.
  • Clone Angst: They are clones of Mariko. This has a terrifying effect on an already beyond-broken Kurama when he finds Cynthia, who dies in his arms, and Barbara, who claims not to be Mariko. Also subverted, due to the Mind-Control Deviced they appear rather cheerful. When the Mind Control is off, they they still aren't sobbing wrecks.
  • Cool Helmet: Each of them wear helmets similar to Lucy's, but the number of eye holes depends on the one who wears it. Alicia has one on both sides, Barbara has two, Cynthia has three, and Diana has four.
  • Defusing The Tykebomb: After his near death experience, Nousou considers whether the girls could live a normal life or not.
  • Determinator: Alicia and Barbara do not give up to save Nousou, regardless of the pain the have to feel or the danger they in there.
  • Died in Your Arms Tonight: Cynthia dies in Kurama's arms, who mistakes her for Mariko. Coincidently, it is night when it happens.
  • Divergent Character Evolution: Not in terms of characterization, as they all share the same personality, either with or without Mind-Control Device. But they are distinct in their roles for the plot, with each of the four girls fulfilling a different purpose to advance the story.
  • Expendable Clone: Ordering a Diana to stab herself in the heart to prove a point isn't the worst thing done.
  • Game-Breaking Injury: Nousou orders Diana to stab into her heart. She gets better, thanks to a replacement heart, but this injury makes her useless for the mission to capture Lucy, that's why she stays in the labor. This is fortunate for Arakawa, who is later saved by her.
  • Half the Woman She Used to Be: Cynthia is cut in half by Lucy. Not only reminds this Kouta of Kanae's death and brings his memories back, it does not kill her instantly.
  • Handicapped Badass:
    • Cynthia manages to break one of Lucy's horns, despite being cut in half.
    • A weakened Diana manages to kill several other Silpelits before being killed herself.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Alicia and Barbara disobey Nousou's order to capture Lucy or run away, but they decide to save him from being crushed by a helicopter. Lucy uses the opportunity to attack them with objects, since she is out of their range. Alicia gets killed by her, and Barbara still disobey Nousou and jumps in front of him to tear the helicopter above him apart, since the clones' vector's ends are weaker.
  • Hope Spot: Diana becomes one for Arakawa and the Agent. But not for long.
  • In the Back:
    • Lucy keeps attacking Alicia and Barbara from behind, who are trying to save Nousou from being crushed by a helicopter. This ultimately kills Alicia.
    • Barbara is shot in the head by Kurama from behind. He comments that she probably noticed his gun and he wonders why she didn't dodge or something.
  • Killed Off for Real: All four of them die during the course of the story, but under different circumstances. Cynthia is cut in half and dies a few minutes later after that. Alicia is beheaded by Lucy before Cynthia finally dies. Barbara is shot in the head by Kurama. And Diana is beheaded by one of the random clone Silpelits.
  • Made of Iron: They are specially modified for being able to use their vectors regardless how much pain they feel.
  • Mind-Control Device: They have these in their foreheads, that prevent them from being evil. They are under Nousou's control.
  • Naked on Arrival: When they are introduced, they wear nothing but helmets.
  • Not Quite Dead: Cynthia is not immediately killed after being in cut in half by Lucy. With the help of the Agent, she is able to break one of Lucy's horns. Unfortunately, Kurama finds Cynthia, mistaking her for Mariko, and she dies in his arms.
  • Not Quite Flight: Barbara uses her vectors to move her in the air like she could fly. Combined with Badass Arm-Fold, it looks cool.
  • Off with Her Head!: Lucy beheads Alicia with a stone monument. Diana gets beheaded by one of the random clone Silpelits.
  • One-Word Vocabulary: Under mind-control, the only thing they can say is "Myu" (and "Papa"), just like Mariko under her temporary amnesia.
  • Replacement Goldfish: Cynthia becomes this to Kurama, despite it's only her upper half of her body. And when she's dead. Kurama gets the same reaction when he meets Barbara.
  • Send in the Clones: They are sent to capture Lucy.
  • Sibling Team: They are created to capture Lucy. But because of Diana's Game-Breaking Injury, the team consists only of the three when they mission starts.
  • Single-Minded Twins: They all have the same personality.
  • Slasher Smile: Barbara and Diana when they are out of control.
  • Spy Catsuit: What Alicia, Barbara, and Cynthia wear during the mission.
  • This Is Unforgivable!: Barbara does not forgive Nousou for his experiments on the failed clones, whom she considers as sisters. Even when he apologizes for this.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Like Nousou, they like pocky.
  • Turned Against Their Masters:
    • Nousou removes Barbara's mind-control device to find out if she's really not an evil monster and does love. He's wrong and this costs his life.
    • Arakawa does the same to Diana, though Arakawa is not aware of the purpose of those devices. Fortunately, the Agent puts them back into Diana's forehead before anything could happen.
  • Tyke-Bomb: They are the research's "weapons" that are barely treated as people. Initially.
  • Undying Loyalty:
    • Diana stabs herself into her heart with knive to prove how loyal the four are to Nousou.
    • Alicia and Barbara disobeyed Nousou's orders to save his life, even at the cost of their own. Later, Nousou tests if it's really the girls that saved him or the mind-control devices. It's the latter.
  • Walking Spoiler: They are Mariko's clones. Of course that's a spoiler.
  • Younger Than They Look: They are only a few months old at most, but they look physically older than Mariko, being in their puberty. Since Silpelits age double as fast as humans, and clones of in general age faster than their originals, this combination justifies this trope.

    The Clone Diclonii 

A collection of 1,104 Diclonius clones of Mariko created by Nousou at the Diclonius Research Institute. Unlike their four "sisters", Alicia, Barbara, Cynthia and Diana, they are physically deformed and are mainly created for the purpose of having their organs extracted.


  • Adapted Out: They do not appear in the anime.
  • And I Must Scream: Kept in deplorable conditions for their entire lives before being killed and having their organs extracted.
  • Body Horror: They are imperfect clones of Mariko with severe physical deformations.
  • Brown Bag Mask: Which hide their deformed faces.
  • The Dog Bites Back: After sensing Lucy's presence, they blow up the Institute with their vectors, kill nearly all the researchers, and nearly destroy the anti-Diclonius vaccine. They are only stopped by the efforts of the Agent.
  • Expendable Clone: Unlike the other Diclonii at the facility, they are not given names or even numbers. Their only purpose is to be killed for their organs.
  • Extra Eyes: Some have three or even four eyes, as seen by the holes in their masks.
  • Facial Horror: Their faces are never seen, but are so horrifically deformed that they have to be covered by cloth sacks.
  • It Can Think: Nousou describes them with "failures without even a human countenance left", but the fact that they specifically tried to destroy the anti-Diclonius vaccine suggests that they could tell what it was for.
  • Naked on Arrival: Noticing a pattern?
  • Organ Theft: The failed clones' organs are harvested for research and anti-Diclonius weapon development.
    "We have a serious need for the spinal cords of these girls."
  • Powered by a Forsaken Child: Their organs and spinal cords are used to create anti-Diclonius weapons.
  • Walking Spoiler: Similar to Alicia, Barbara, Cynthia and Diana, in that they're Mariko's clones.

    Spoiler Character 

The Male Diclonius

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/male_diclonius.png

The only male Diclonius and the second one who is not a Silpelit. He's the son of Director Kakuzawa and Lucy's mother, being Lucy's half-brother, who is specially born for impregnating her. He also has a mind-control device in his forehead and is controlled by his father.


  • Brother–Sister Incest: He's born to impregnate his sister, so the pure Diclonii race won't extinguish, and Director Kakuzawa becoming god.
  • Child by Rape: Director Kakuzawa found, kidnapped, and raped Lucy's mother, so he can impregnate her. He meant the boy to be the first of many, but the mother killed herself, and efforts to harvest her unique womb failed.
  • Death of a Child: His own half-sister kills him when he's a mere child.
  • Long Lost Sibling: To his half-sister Lucy. This is justified, since Lucy was abandoned as a baby and he's born much later.
  • Mercy Kill: Lucy kills him together with his father, who controlled him and created him for a single purpose. She feels sorry for him.
  • Mind-Control Device: Like the Mariko clones, he has a mind-control device in his forehead that prevents him from being evil. He's under Director Kakuzawa's control.
  • Naked on Arrival: Averted. Probably because he's not a girl.
  • No Name Given: Makes you wonder if his father even bothered to give him a name. Although depending on how you interpret the text in that chapter, and the Adam & Eve symbolism, Kakuzawa may have named his son Adam.
  • Off with His Head!: How Lucy kills him.
  • The One Guy: The only male Diclonius known to exist.
  • Walking Spoiler: A male Diclonius? Lucy's brother? The circumstances of his birth? His purpose? That's all a Spoiler.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: He's killed in the same chapter where he's introduced.


Other characters

    Bando 
Voiced by: Joji Nakata (JP), Jason Douglas (series), David Wald (OVA) (EN), Dan Osorio (Latin American Spanish)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bando.jpg

An operative for the National Police Agency's Special Assault Team. Although he is technically human, he is as homicidal and apathetic to other people as the worst Diclonius are. He is incredibly skilled in combat and widely-regarded as a lethal and bloodthirsty soldier.


  • '90s Anti-Hero: His design seems to be ripped straight from Duke Nukem, and he certainly has the personality of one.
  • Adaptational Dumbass: Zigzagged somewhat in the anime. Ironically while he was taking several levels of badass and character development in the manga, the anime decided to do the opposite. Though he gets stronger weapons and learns about keeping his distance, his fights in the anime after being mutilated usually involved him kicking his opponent while they're down (and then realizing afterwards he shouldn't get too close) and shooting his gun in the general direction of people and yelling a lot.
  • Adaptational Villainy: While a Jerkass, Bando in the manga was a badass with redeeming qualities to him and character development. The Anime decided to get rid of anything that could make Bando likable while adding more things to hate. The end result was a character who at his best was still worse than Manga Bando at his worst.
  • Anti-Hero: Though unlike Kurama, he kills mostly For the Evulz, or Revenge.
  • Anti-Villain: The Noble Variant in the manga after his character development. He's also kinda this in the anime, though arguably not as much as in the manga.
  • Artificial Limbs: After his skirmish with Lucy, who wouldn't?
  • Ax-Crazy: Not only he is a self-admitted Psycho for Hire, and not only he refuses to personally kill Nyu who can't defend herself, because he can't be arsed to do something so ''boring'', at the beginning, he will smash your face if you as much as try approaching him from the back, even if you are a harmless woman. Though, only at first. He gets notably less crazy later in the manga as a part of his Character Development.
  • Badass Boast: Offers some subtle but still cool lines in the manga and backs up every single one.
    "What are you surprised about stupid? Didn't I tell you that I can never die?" After coming back at the final chapter of the manga after being cut in half by Lucy.
    "You dumbass! Me alone is plenty for the likes of you!" Lucy mockingly tells him and Nana to come at her together. He gives this line and avoids all of her attacks and proceeds to beat the crap out of her.
    • He tries to give one in the anime. "You think I need a gun to kill you? I'll do it with my bare hands." Which might have been incredibly badass had he not been a broken bleeding mess on the ground whom Lucy obviously didn't see any threat and was unable to back his words up.
  • Badass Normal:
    • Takes on several Diclonius including Lucy (twice) Nana and Mariko in the manga and holds his own using nothing but his skills and some heavy bullets and comes close to winning a few of them as well. Not even getting torn in half will stop him.
    • In the manga at least, he, after surviving multiple encounters with Dicolonii, learns how to dodge vectors.
    • He also nearly manages to beat Lucy in his 2nd fight with her, losing because the Unknown Man got in the way, and then because Mayu got in the way.
    • Also when facing the Unknown Man, he gets hit with one of his toxic spiked balls, and he endures the pain and rips it out despite being hooked into his skin with barbs.
  • Berserk Button:
    • Don't litter on the beach, or else.
    • Also, he can't stand pedophiles.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Manga exclusive, combined as it often is with a nice case of Dynamic Entry, when the Unknown Man assaults Mayu and Nana in chapter 75, things look really bad even for this manga.
  • Blood Knight: He refuses to kill Lucy when Nyu is in control because he can't be bothered to do something so boring.
  • Byronic Hero: Chapter78's introduction drives the point home.
  • Character Development: Bando is probably the most Dynamic Character in the series. He goes from a Sociopathic Soldier who joins the SAT to legally kill people who'd give him a challenge, to a less dangerous Jerkass who, while still treating everyone else like utter shit, will still repay people who are in his debt, and is also obsessed with having his Revenge against Lucy, to finally, a Jerk With A Heart Of Brass who risks his life to stop the Unknown Man from raping Mayu in a truly badass manner, but is still obsessed with killing Lucy.
  • Chekhov's Classroom: Bando remembers the instructions given to him earlier in the episode about the 2 meter effective range of Lucy's weapon.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Bando dips into Crazy-Prepared territory, getting his fight with Lucy in a place where he set up, hid traps, and cleared of debris for her to throw.
  • Cool Shades: Very cool.
  • Crazy-Prepared:
    • After getting his ass handed to him by Lucy early on, he completely cleaned up the beach in order to make sure Lucy had nothing to attack with, figured out her range of attack, and got modified Desert Eagles that fired rounds too heavy for Lucy to block or at close range knock away.
    • His crazy preparedness actually works against him in the manga where his attempt to blind Lucy with a flash grenade and tear gas worked against him when the bright flash kept most of the gas from entering her eyes. Though even she admits that if it wasn't for the Unknown Man, he'd have won.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle:
    • He gets the short end of the stick when he meets Lucy.
    • He gives one to the Unknown Man, even though he had his crossbow and Bando didn't use a gun.
    • Having been prepared this time around, his second fight with Lucy in the manga ends with him stomping her face into the ground and nearly killing her twice. Unfortunately, people like to get in the way.
  • Cyborg: He gets a prostethic arm and artificial eyes and a mechanical lower half of his body.
  • Debt Detester: It's his principle to avoid being indebted to anyone, especially to women.
  • Determinator: Through a combination of technology and sheer badassery, Bando walks off stuff that would kill most people. These include getting in order, his legs shot up, one arm ripped off, the other arm snapped, both eyes gouged out, the second arm ripped off and getting bisected. In short, by the end of the manga Bando is a head and chest on life support and isn't slowing down.
    • Grabs hold of a spiked metal ball, which is coated in agony-inducing toxin, out of his body and baseball-pitches it straight into the ass of the guy who shot him with it.
  • Disability Superpower: His prosthetic arm allowed him to remove a spiked ball from his body during his duel with the Unknown Man.
  • Don't Sneak Up on Me Like That!: Bando punched a woman with that excuse.
  • Electronic Eyes: He gets cybernetic eyes after Lucy blinds him during their first fight.
  • Eye Scream: After disabling him during their first fight, Lucy uses her vectors to gouge out his eyes. He did tell her that "the next time I see you, you're dead," so...
  • Flat "What": His expression when Lucy throws The Unknown Man's head at him is priceless.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Saves Mayu from Lucy during his second battle in the manga and gets cut in half as a result. Unlike most examples he survives. It also completes Bando's character development in the manga.
  • Half the Man He Used to Be: Loses his lower half and his left arm (and his right one, though he lost it earlier, and It had been replaced with a cybernetic arm). He recovers, but with a cybernetic lower half (and arms).
  • 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.
  • Handicapped Badass: Blurred vision and a dysfunctional hand doesn't stop Bando from kicking extreme amounts of ass.
  • Hidden Depths: A notable example before his character development. After his recovery from his first fight with Lucy, Bando needs some body parts replaced and has to be sterilized (encounters with Vectors make human males carriers of Diiclonius genes). The prospect bothers him as he admits that he had wanted to be a father one day. Also reveals, before his supposed death, that he always wanted someone to cry for him if he ever died.
  • Hitman with a Heart: Despite his intro as a Psycho for Hire and the other times where he acts the part after, he's not all bad, specially towards Mayu.
  • I Owe You My Life: He would have died after Lucy dismembered and blinded him if Mayu haven't found him and called for help. Although he hates owing a favor, he asks Mayu to call him when she needs his help in order to repay her.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: The young teenager Mayu often visits him at the beach and Bando has a soft spot for her big enough as to save from from the Unknown Man.
  • It's Personal: Lucy beats him in a fight, cuts off his arm, and crushes his eyes. He spends the rest of the series wanting revenge on her.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While he doesn't have much respect for other people and has a foul mouth, he has his moments of decency mainly towards Mayu.
  • Mildly Military: In the anime, Bando has done everything up from threatening other men with guns, to knocking out his own partner to just being a real jerkass overall. Averted to a significant degree in the manga. Bando may say a few threats, but never does more than that.
  • Noble Demon:
    • Bando has lines he won't cross. If he feels in someone's debt he will try to return the favor.
    • And he can't stand the Unknown Man.
    • He may be crazy as fuck, but doesn't like people littering on the beach.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Beats the absolute crap out of the Unknown Man which culminates in him shoving the Unknown Man's poisoned spiked ball where the sun don't shine.
  • Pet the Dog: Only when Bando is going through his character development. While his overall attitude doesn't change, his actions certainly do. And by the end of the manga, its almost surprising that he was a near complete monster in the beginning. Some of the things he ends up doing is...
    • Seeing if Mayu is alright after roughing her up.
    • Saving Nana and Kurama from an enraged Mariko.
    • Preventing Kurama from committing suicide and sheltering him.
    • Saving Mayu and Nana from the vicious unknown hunter and keeping his promise to Mayu.
    • Sacrificing himself to save Mayu from Lucy.
    • Treating Nana's wounds from the Unknown Man -knowing she couldn't go to a hospital
    • Giving the deceased Diclonius a proper burial after she's killed by the Unknown Man
  • Pragmatic Villainy: Played With: he claims to clean up the beach because he's preparing for a fight with Lucy, and any and all trash can be used as a projectile. While that is true, he really does hate the litter and wants to keep the beach clean.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: An aggressive and hot-blooded Red to Kurama's cold and pragmatic Blue.
  • Sir Swears-a-Lot: Being the tough guy that he is, Bando curses far more than anyone else in the series. What makes it even more noticeable is that all the other main and secondary characters either don't swear at all or only do it once in a while.
  • Staying Alive: He has come back from having one of his arms torn off while the other is broken and having his eyes gouged out by means of cybernetic implants. Later on he is torn in half (by the same character no less) yet returns in the end of the story healthy again (except he's half robot by this point). Somewhat jarring in that he was definitely dead the last time.
  • Sunglasses at Night: Partially justified, as he set up flash bombs on the beach, and he kept the glasses on, on the off chance he'd get into fight.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Instead of just ventilating her, he chooses to play around with her first (a "duel"). In the ensuing fight he manages to accidentally awaken her "Lucy" persona and nearly gets killed.
  • Took a Level in Badass: While hardly weak before, Bando goes through some major changes in the manga after his first defeat by Lucy. His fights afterwards end with him utilizing the knowledge about Diclonius to his advantage, using several good tricks and remaining the only human to fight Lucy twice (and surviving) but actually holding the advantage over her in their second fight and nearly winning.
  • Unexplained Recovery: In his last appearance before the final arc, Bando is ripped in half by Lucy and apparently dies in front of Mayu and Nana. However, the last chapter reveals that he somehow survives, gets prosthetic legs, and reunites with Mayu again. The only implication of how he recovers from a fatal wound is that Kurama might have sent his body to be rebuilt.
  • The Unfettered: Anything is permissible so long as he has the opportunity to kill Lucy.
  • Villainous Rescue: He's a psychopath whose only goal in life is to find and kill Lucy/Nyu, but when the Hunter assaults Mayu, he comes to the rescue.
  • Would Hit a Girl: Most notably on his introductory scene, when he viciously backhanded a woman who made the mistake of approaching him from behind without warning. He outwardly threatens Mayu at one point by citing this trait.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Despite having some standards, he is still more than willing to rough up Mayu and harrass Nana to get some information about Lucy. He also generally treats both girls like utter crap when he's not saving their lives from psychotic Diclonii like Mariko or Lucy or the even more psychotic Unknown Man.

    Kanae 
Voiced by: Maria Yamamoto (JP), Monica Rial (EN), Zoe Mora (Latin American Spanish)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kanae_elfen_lied.png

Kouta's little sister who died before the series starts. She was actually brutally slaughtered by a jealous Lucy, and along with his father, serves as the trigger for Kouta's Trauma-Induced Amnesia.


  • Blood-Splattered Innocents: During Lucy's rampage at the festival.
  • Bratty Half-Pint: Kouta certainly viewed her as one, always treating her like a bother to him and not believing her wild claims, both of which he came to regret after she was killed.
  • Cassandra Truth: Her wild story about a horned girl killing people with arms that came out of her head is proven true in the worst way.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: She became jealous whenever other girls showed attention towards Kouta, as seen when she kicks Yuka.
  • Collateral Angst: She was brutally murdered by Lucy in front of Kouta, and this is what results in his Angst Coma and his attempted revenge against Lucy.
  • Death by Origin Story: Her death at the hands of a jealous Lucy had a major impact on Kouta's life.
  • Death of a Child: She was killed by Lucy while being only a few years younger than Kouta, who was a kid at the time of her death.
  • Did Not Die That Way: She didn't die of illness as Kouta initially remembered. She was brutally murdered by Lucy right in front of her brother and he altered the memory out of trauma.
  • Half the Woman She Used to Be: Her body is torn in half below her lower back by a young Lucy.
  • Little Miss Snarker: She was quite fond of back-talking her big brother.
  • Posthumous Character: She died before the series starts.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: Her death affected much of the present story and characters into being what they were.

    Tomoo 
Voiced by: Reiko Takagi (JP), Chris Patton (EN), José Antonio Toledano (Latin American Spanish)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tomoo_elfen_lied.png

The ringleader of the children who tormented Lucy as a child. Tomoo relished in the pain she felt. After he died, he haunted her visions as a spectre to get his Revenge for what Kaede did to him.


    The Orphanage Girl 
Voiced by: Noriko Shitaya (JP), Allison Sumrall (EN), Nycolle González (Latin American Spanish)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/orphan_girl_elfen_lied.png

A young girl that lived in the orphanage with Lucy. She told the bullies about Lucy's puppy, resulting in them beating it to death and beginning Lucy's Start of Darkness.


  • Accomplice by Inaction: Regardless of whether she truly was part of the bullying or if she truly didn't know just how demented Tomoo and his gang were, the fact that she told them about Lucy's puppy when she explicitly told her it would be bad news and then did nothing to stop it after the fact (not even warning Lucy about her telling them) makes her just as guilty. And that's even assuming she really didn't have anything to do with it.
  • Ambiguous Innocence: It's never made clear if she was actually in on the plot to kill the puppy, or just told the wrong secret to the wrong people. Lucy sees her hiding a smile after she apologizes for the puppy's death, but it is possible that she was imagining it.
  • Death by Origin Story: Along with the rest of the orphanage kids, her death serves as part of Lucy's Start of Darkness.
  • Death of a Child: She was only a child herself when Lucy blew her up into a bloody paste for getting her puppy killed.
  • Eye Scream: If Lucy's hallucination of her is anything to go by, the Orphanage Girl was killed by Lucy slamming a vector through her eye.
  • Girlish Pigtails: She wears her hair in two small pigtails.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: Telling the bullies about the puppy makes her this, provided she wasn't really in on the plot to hurt Lucy. What did she think they were going to do to it? In fact, Lucy had explicitly told her that the other boys would hurt it if they found out.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: She's visibly horrified when she sees that the bullies beat Lucy's puppy to death. However, she could have been faking it.
  • No Name Given: She is never referred to by name.
  • Riddle for the Ages: Was the girl really innocent of any crime and simply made a terrible mistake? Or was it all part of their plan to torment Lucy even more? Considering she was exploded by Lucy we'll never know for sure.
  • Slasher Smile: She cracks what could be one after confessing her mistake to Lucy, suggesting that she was in on the plot. Whatever the truth, she had already signed her death warrant.
  • Your Head A-Splode: Lucy blows her head off for her betrayal, along with the other children who killed her puppy.

    Hiromi Kurama 
Voiced by: Akemi Kanda (JP), Luci Christian (EN), Dulce Guerrero (Latin American Spanish)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hiromi_elfen_lied.png

Kurama's wife, plus Mariko's dead mother.


  • Death by Childbirth: A cruel subversion. She survives giving birth to Mariko, but is left severely weakened and must undergo surgery to save her life. The complications of her weakened state plus the added stress of seeing Kurama try to kill their newborn daughter was what ended up causing her death.
  • Driven to Suicide: Subverted. Earlier in the series, Kurama remarks that she killed herself after witnessing him trying to kill Mariko. During his extended flashback, we learn she had suffered from complications due to the birth because of cervical cancer. She ultimately tries to stop Kurama from killing Mariko, begging him to spare her, causes her sutures to come undone, and ends up bleeding to death on the floor. What Kurama said about her killing herself is how he views what happened.
  • Posthumous Character: She only appears in flashbacks.

    Aiko Takada 
Voiced by: Maria Yamamoto (JP), Allison Sumrall (EN)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aiko_takada_8412.jpg
A young girl and the second human to ever befriend Lucy.
  • Accidental Murder: When her father tried to cut a painting she made for her mother with a knife, Aiko pushed him away and he ended up accidentally slashing his own throat.
  • Death by Adaptation: While she gets shot in both versions, the manga later revealed she survived by showing a poster of her adult self. The anime doesn't include this.
  • Death by Origin Story: Her death at Kurama's hands lead to Lucy crossing the Despair Event Horizon. Except that she's actually alive.
  • Following in Relative's Footsteps: She wants to become an artist like her mother, even though her mother's art career drove her to leave the family. She does grow to become a famous painter in her adulthood.
  • Kill the Cutie: She was just a little girl who wanted to see her mother again, only to sacrifice her life to save a new friend. Subverted; she actually survived.
  • Morality Pet: She's the first human whom Lucy ever wanted to protect.
  • Nice Girl: She's the second human after Kouta to treat Lucy kindly.
  • Posthumous Character: She died years before the first episode, appearing only in Lucy and Kurama's flashbacks. At least in the anime. A panel in the manga's epilogue implied that Aiko did survive the gunshot and grew to adulthood, unbeknownst to Lucy.
  • Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Kurama told Lucy that Aiko died from her bullet wound. However, this scanlation here states that Aiko survived and grew up to become an artist like her mother.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: Even though she only appears in a flashback, she is the reason Lucy was first captured and the source of her hatred of Kurama.
  • Taking the Bullet: She takes a bullet meant for Lucy from Kurama, which pushes Lucy over the Despair Event Horizon completely.

    Mayu's parents 
Mayu's stepfather is voiced by: Hideo Watanabe (JP), Ty Mahany (EN)

Mayu's mother remarried when Mayu was around twelve or thirteen years old, and the stepfather sexually abused Mayu.


  • The Faceless: Mayu's flashbacks always have their faces hidden in shadow.
  • Hate Sink: Both of Mayu's parents are disgusting, vile people who only exist so the audience hates them. It says a lot that the voice actress for Mayu's mother choose to remain anonymous because of how abhorrent the character is.
  • I Have No Daughter!: They did not report Mayu's disappearance to the police, and Mayu's mother didn't need to think long about giving custody of Mayu to Kouta and Yuka, much to Kouta's surprise.
  • It's All About Me: Mayu's mother, who accuses her own daughter of stealing her husband. And it's evident she got together with this bastard without Mayu's knowledge or blessing.
  • Jealous Parent: When Mayu told her mother about the sexual abuse, the mother expressed jealousy of all the "attention" the stepfather gave Mayu.
  • Karma Houdini: Despite frequently abusing and neglecting Mayu, they receive no punishment for their actions. However, this is mainly because Mayu's mother willingly allows her to stay with Kouta and Yuka at the Maple House.
  • Lecherous Stepparent: Mayu's stepfather sexually abused her.
  • Skewed Priorities: A particularly cruel example that is definitely not Played for Laughs. After Mayu tells her mother what her stepfather has been doing to her, instead of showing concern or trying to help her, Mayu's mother point-blank reveals she only cares for her new husband's attention rather than her daughter's well-being. This is easily one of the biggest reasons she's so loathsome.
  • Unnamed Parent: Neither of them is called by their names and they're Mayu's parents.
  • Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: Mayu told her mother about her stepfather's sexual abuse, but her mother instead hit her and became jealous of all the "attention" the stepfather gave Mayu.

    Nozomi's father 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nozomi_father_el.png

A man who violently opposes his daughter Nozomi's dream of becoming an opera singer like her deceased mother.


  • Abusive Dad: He frequently beats Nozomi to force her to quit pursuing her singing career. He's also to blame for her urinary problems because it was her fear of his anger what caused her to lose control of her bladder.
  • Fantasy-Forbidding Father: He disapproves of Nozomi's dream of becoming an opera singer, due to her being the only heir of his business. The real reason is he doesn't want her to suffer the same fate as her mother, who committed suicide after losing her voice to a throat defect.
  • Unnamed Parent: We never get to know his name, hence he's referred to as "Nozomi's father".

    Nozomi's mother 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nozomi_mother_el.png

Nozomi's deceased mother. She was an opera singer.


    Aiko's father 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aiko_father_el.png

  • Abusive Dad: He frequently beats the crap out of Aiko for drawing.
  • Fantasy-Forbidding Father: He does not want Aiko to be an artist because it reminded him of her mother, who left him because of her career.
  • Unnamed Parent: Like most parents in the series, we don't know his actual name.


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