Anime Preview One: Maburaho and Elfen Lied - Anime Reviews


	Maburaho Publisher: ADV Films ETA: April 2005 Elfen Lied Released by: ADV Films ETA: May 2005
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Anime Preview One:

Maburaho and Elfen Lied

Maburaho Preview:

In a world of magic users, power and standing is measured in the amount of magic that you can use. Therefore, poor Kazuki is the lowest of the low. Unlike his peers, this high school boy can only use magic a handful of times before his body disappears. However, with his magic lineage and the power at which his spells are effective, his offspring will be some of the most powerful magicians ever.

And so, the race is on for Kazuki’s genes… that’s right genes. Kind Yuna has moved into Kazuki’s room and declared that he is her husband; ultra-powerful (and busty) Kuriko is willing to take Kazuki’s genes the hard way (pun definitely intended); and quiet Rin (shinto-like priestess with an affinity for Katanas, and using those Katanas) is being pressured by her family to marry the boy. The only thing more disturbing than the interactions between Kazuki and the three girls is possibly the interaction between the three girls.

Maburaho is a very bright, mildly ecchi series that is quite funny and a good work up of the traditional “harem comedy”.

- Tazman

Elfen Lied Preview:

If Gantz is the second most disturbing manga that I read actively, Elfen Lied is easily number 1. That’s not a bad thing, but it is a definite warning, this series is excellent but will shock and disturb most people and is NOT FOR EVERYONE! The anime for Elfen Lied is an excellent adaptation, although not comprehensive of the manga, it does follow the original material quite closely until the story’s end (there are a few differences, but the number of the manga-ka’s original ideas that are intact impresses me). This series thrives off of violence and surprising turns with a pinch of nudity and off-normal interpersonal relationships.

The next evolutionary step in the human species has started to emerge: the diclonus. The diclonus is nearly indistinguishable from regular humans except for their two protrusions from their skulls that resemble horns. These new beings possess incredible psychic abilities as they can generate psionic arms called

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“vectors” to help or fight on their behalf. Although attached to their bodies, these additional arms can not only deflect the path of a bullet, they can shred through the human torso like a razor through pudding. When one of these diclonus escape from a testing facility (in one of the bloodiest firefights that you’ll ever see), she is about to taste freedom

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when she is shot in the back of the head. The injury is not fatal, but causes a dual personality to exist – this girl is now unable to speak and is a severe amnesiac, but her underlying personality is the vicious killer that escaped the facility.

Elfen Lied will make you question your perceptions of who the bigger monsters are, and surprise you at every turn.

- Tazman

(April 17, 2005)

“Homey, you know that I'm usually good for a XXX-throwdown...”

- Marge (Simpsons)