Elfen Lied has garnered a notorious reputation for its daring portrayal of death and nudity. Released in the early 2000s, the anime juxtaposed its harsh narrative with exquisite music and exceptional animation. However, Elfen Lied is far from an easy watch.
Even in the absence of its gruesome scenes, the series evokes a profound sense of pain, leaving indelible emotional scars. The quotes from Elfen Lied serve as poignant instruments in inflicting these emotional wounds, weaving a narrative that starkly confronts the cruelty of the world in the most serene manner possible.
Each scene is punctuated by fleeting glimpses of cherry blossoms or tranquil seascapes, serving as poignant reminders of the inherent beauty of the earth amidst the harshness of reality.
While Elfen Lied may be mistaken for a harem due to its abundance of female characters orbiting the male lead, its true essence lies in its melancholic and tragic nature.
At its core is Lucy, a Diclonius fated to bring about the destruction of the world. Yet, the narrative transcends this violent premise, getting into the depths of the human psyche and finding how a traumatic past can transform even the most innocent souls into ruthless beings.
Within this dichotomy of good and evil lies the essence of reason, and Elfen Lied masterfully portrays this existential struggle.
In essence, Elfen Lied is a nice woven with thorns, yet adorned with delicate petals. Here, I’ve gathered some of our favorite quotes from Elfen Lied that resonate deeply with our hearts:
[Quotes from the anime]
Lucy Quotes From Elfen Lied
Lucy is the protagonist of Elfen Lied. She is the queen of Diclonius, a species that resembles humans but is fated to annihilate them from the face of the earth.
She was locked up in a facility, but as she escapes, she gets shot in the head, leading to amnesia. Lucy faces a personality disorder when Kouta finds her, and her alter ego of an innocent child-like girl called Nyu takes over her mind.
1. I kept on living
“You suddenly appeared in front of me in this hell. The day that I would get to meet you, I always wanted to apologize to you. I only endured because of that! So I kept on living.” -Lucy
Sometimes we set ourselves some goals and decide to endure everything to make sure we complete our goals. For Lucy, apologizing to Kouta was that goal, for which she endured the facility and all the pain she came along with within it.
2. Let you go
“I was going to let you go. After all, there aren’t many of us out there, but you’re just such a pain in the a*s.”-Lucy
Lucy clearly was never planning to hurt Nana. All she wanted was to be left alone. If only Nana had never had Stockholm syndrome, she could have lived with all her limbs attached.
3. Someone worse off
“Everyone in this place is unhappy. And since they’re unhappy, they’re probably looking for someone worse off than they are.”-Lucy
Being unhappy is not a good feeling. It makes you see the world in lesser colors, but more so than that, it makes you want to console yourself by seeing other people’s suffering. All of it, just to make one feel better about themselves.
4. Monsters
“Aren’t we all monsters inside?”-Lucy
This is one of those quotes from Elfen Lied that just click hard. There’s darkness in everyone, and everyone is trying hard not to let it out in front of everyone.
5. Apology
“All this time, I’ve lived in hope of telling you how sorry I am. I’ve fought armies, just to have this chance, but now, there’s nothing I can say.. That’s good enough.” – Lucy
To apologize is a tough job to do. You could be earnestly waiting to do so, but when the time comes, you could be equally speechless.
6. Miserable
“When you are miserable, you need something that is even more miserable than you to feel good about yourself.” – Lucy
When people go through bad times, there’s so much bad they do to console themselves and to make themselves believe that there’s someone worse off than they are. Humans sure are shrewd.
7. The horns
“I hate these horns.” –Lucy
At times I wonder if Lucy hated being a Diclonius just as much.
8. Those who aren’t human
“The ones who aren’t human… the ones who aren’t people… are actually YOU!” – Lucy
I love these powerful quotes from Elfen Lied. Through the first half of the movie, we are shown the hostile side of Lucy, who kills without much thought.
She is heartless and does not even flinch when she hurts someone. Looking back at her past, I can’t hate Lucy. She is vile and ruthless but she is not worthy of hate. Instead, I sympathize with her and all that she has had to endure all her life.
9. Please, kill me
“If I ever end up killing a lot of people… Kouta… Then please, kill me.” – Lucy
Lucy was fated to be the end of humanity, the force that would wipe them off. When the time came, she would do so, irrespective of what she desired to do. Lucy’s violent side was inevitable even for her. It’s almost sad to see her beg to be killed as she does not want to harm anyone either.
10. A Hellish Nightmare
“You were a happy dream in a life that’s been nothing but a hellish nightmare.” Lucy
This here is one of my favorite quotes from Elfen Lied. Lucy calls Kouta her ‘happy dream’ and her life a ‘hellish nightmare’. It’s beautiful the way this anime phrases its words, gloriously relieving all the emotions right at the viewer’s heart.
Kurama Quotes From Elfen Lied
Kurama was an antagonist in the Elfen Lied anime. He was the director of the facility where Lucy was locked up. He did several experiments on diclonii and even used his own daughter as a weapon. Kurama was a gloomy man filled with
11. Regret
“People who think that they can make up for their past follies with regret cannot be forgiven.” – Kurama
Kurama regretted several decisions in his life. You see, sometimes merely saying that they are sorry is not enough.
12. Warmth, love joy
“Warmth, love, joy. You had everything taken away from you and I was the one who took it” – Kurama
Kurama says this to Mariko, giving rise to one of the saddest scenes of the anime. It’s hard to carry the guilt in your heart. For Kurama, taking away Mariko’s childhood was one of his regrets.
13. No right
“It’s my fault. I had to kill so many others’ children. But I kept you alive because you were my daughter. I had no right to be so selfish” – Kurama
Once again, this is yet another painful quote from Elfen Lied that drew our attention toward the pain of regret that Kurama carried. He knew what he had done in his life. He carried his sin silently, and when things went south, he only accepted it all as his fate.
14. Regret
“Regret is the domain of those who have earned the right to look back at the past. All I have is shame.” – Kurama
Through the hard life of Kurama, we come across one of the heaviest feelings man has known: regret.
15. No way I can forgive you
“There’s no way I can forgive you, no way in the hell” – Kurama
Kurama was a conflicting character. For all the sins he had committed, I should have been able to hate him. But when he gets defensive of Nana in front of Lucy, I wonder if he has some amount of the human heart left in him.
16. The Least I can do
“It’s nothing compared to the pain you caused Nana but it’s the least I can do” – Kurama
As Lucy cuts off Nana’s limbs, Kurama appears and he does the little bit he can to avenge Nana.
17. You will have to pay
“It was my sin from the beginning. But you will have to pay” – Kurama
Kurama was every bit of a terrible man. However, he was not the only one who suffered due to his sins. Apart from Lucy and Nana, a person who suffered the consequences of his actions severely was Mariko, his own daughter.
Kouta Quotes From Elfen Lied
Kouta is one of the primary characters in Elfen Lied. He is kind and willing to help anyone he sees in trouble. As a child, he went through a traumatic experience where he saw his father and sister die.
To cope with the trauma, he faced amnesia, which caused him to forget the incident. Now grown up, he meets with Nyu, Lucy’s amnesic personality, and faces his past again.
18. The girl I met
“I still love that lonely little girl I met so long ago.” – Kouta
This is one of the warmest quotes from Elfen Lied, and it comes from no one but the soft-hearted Kouta. He loved Lucy and saw her for real, which was hiding behind the dark facade.
19. Her own little way
“She is saying happy birthday in her own little way” – Kouta
I find it cute the way Nyu (Lucy) tries to surprise Mayu. It’s not a huge display of affection. It’s small, but the thought behind it is what matters.
20. Home
“Your home is with us, at maple house” – Kouta
Kouta could not leave someone who wanted help alone. He opened doors to his house for those who were stranded and helpless. This was one of the things that made him such a likable character.
21. That sadness
“You didn’t deserve that sadness” – Kouta
People suffer from several experiences. No one deserves to be unhappy, but it happens anyway. Although sad, that is the reality we live in today.
Nana Quotes From Elfen Lied
Nana is a major character from Elfen Lied and a Diclonius like Lucy. She was born and brought within Kurama’s facility. However, instead of harboring hate towards humanity, Nana suffered from Stockholm syndrome. She saw Kurama as a father that she needed to please.
22. A cell phone
“What’s a cellphone?” – Nana
I doubt Nana ever said something deep or was even capable of doing so. The reason why I picked these words by Nana as my favourite is that it gives us a look at the life in the facility and how sad it must have been. Nana was not only devoid of having a cell phone. She was completely unaware of the existence of the device. Nana had spent her life locked up within a cell. No wonder the Diclonius grew insane and wanted to annihilate the world.
23. That didn’t hurt
“That .. didn’t hurt at all” – Nana
Once again, we see how Nana was built. Despite being hit by Lucy, she keeps a strong face and claims it didn’t hurt. Her obsession with Kurama gave her the strength to endure Lucy’s strong blows.
Yuka Quotes From Elfen Lied
Yuka was Kouta’s cousin, who was also in love with him. She was like a mother figure within the Maple residence and took care of everyone in the house.
24. It’s because you saw Mayu eating rice
“It’s because you saw Mayu eating rice yesterday and she looked happy” – Yuka
On Mayu’s birthday, Nyu gets her a bowl of rice since she looked really happy eating rice previously. This reflects on the underprivileged life of Mayu as well as on the good within Lucy.
Mayu Quotes From Elfen Lied
Mayu was the second person to join the Maple residence after Nyu. She was a fourteen-year-old runaway who roamed around with her dog. After being saved by Kouta, she starts going to school and lives a happy life.
25. I envy you
“I envy you just for having someone who’s worried about you.” – Mayu
Mayu too, like most characters in Elfen Lied, had a sad past. She was abused and assaulted by her own parents leading her to run away from her home. As someone who had never experienced love, she was bound to feel innocently envious.
26. I’m crying again
“I’m crying again. I don’t want to, but I’m so happy!” – Mayu
As aforementioned, Mayu’s life was not easy. So when she found people in Maple’s residence giving her the love she had never received, she could not stop her tears. It’s cute, happy, and sad at the same time.
Mariko Quotes From Elfen Lied
Mariko was Kurama’s real daughter and an antagonist of the Elfen Lied anime. She becomes increasingly violent on finding out about her parent and seeks to kill Nana out of desperation and jealousy.
27. And we meet
“And now, we meet, just like in my dreams” – Mariko
Mariko was a victim of Kurama’s crimes. Now completely insane, she meets her creator and declares her happy feelings as she does.
This gore series has been quite popular. Although it differs from the manga, I find it adequately satisfying. Planning a horror night in? Elfen Lied is highly recommended! You can easily stream it on Amazon Prime Video or Hulu.
Honorable Mention
Ojisan de Umeru Ana
