Elfen Lied Omnibus vol. 4

This final volume arrived a couple months back and it’s been sitting, buried, under other, objectively better comics after I finished reading it.  BUT NO LONGER!  The craziest train in comics deserves to have its final volume recognized in some form.  Even if I’m going to be recounting a lot of the insanity that makes it such an entertaining read.  

Such as the time when a doctor, moved by the diclonii who saved her from being crushed by a helicopter, takes out their mind-control devices to find out if they really, really like her.  Or when Lucy takes on the giant mass of flesh that is the Director of Diclonius’ Research’s daughter and he goes full “Bond Villain” in his speechifying.  Or the mass of mindless diclonii who march through the facility murdering everyone they see.  Or when we find out about the artificial anti-diclonius weapon that’s been made by the OTHER secret research facility.  Or when the female doctor creates an anti-diclonius vaccine, then needs to be rescued, and then drops it down a pit without saying what it is until it’s too late.  Or the many, MANY tonal shifts Lucy and Kouta’s final confrontation takes as mangaka Lynn Okamoto gleefully goes “NOPE!” whenever it looks like some kind of resolution has been achieved.

However, “Elfen Lied’s” bizarre mix of tones, subject matter, and copious graphic violence placed alongside quaint slice-of-life situations has made it so that this isn’t a bug in its storytelling.  No, this insanity is actually the heart of the series and while it may be an utter shambles in terms of coherently advancing its characterizations and themes, the title still manages to shock and provoke sympathy within the reader.  Sometimes even at the same time.  It’s why when Okamoto looks to bring back every character back from the dead that she possibly can — without completely breaking the narrative — in the volume’s final chapter doesn’t feel like a cop out.  It only makes me throw up my hands and go, “‘Elfen Lied,’ amirite?”  Entertaining in spite of itself, this series was the best kind of mess.