Essay - Racism, Ostracism, and Neglect (Elfen Lied)

The whole conflict of the anime of Elfen Lied stems from racism.  Though intensified by the nature of the differences (horns and telekinetic death as opposed to something as superficial as skin color), one can see over and over the potential for the dicloni to be good, loving people.  Nana is a sweet and loving person, despite being raised in a torture chamber.  Lucy is still able to have a normal friend despite what horrible experiences she had.  And yet, they are hunted, studied, and imprisoned because of the fear of what they *could* do.

This distrust and fear, though obviously taken to a much different level, is similar to any racism.  Some people distrust blacks because they *could* join/be part of a gang, even if their upbringing and residential location would render this idea unlikely.  Especially after the events of 9/11, Muslims and people of Middle Eastern decent were eyed with distrust out of fear that they may be terrorists, despite the fact that most such individuals had been hard-working Americans for as long as anyone else.  The fear that one could be in danger if a community isn't watched or guarded against has historically lead to greater fears.  And rounding up members of an ethnic group was even perpetrated by the United States already, in the form of the Japanese American internment camps during World War II.

Now, imagine, with all this racism due to simple fear of someone taking a more difficult action, what one would do if a certain race could kill with a mere thought.  All dicloni have vectors, which can let them easily kill with no more effort than a thought, and the ability to protect themselves from bullets.  This ability makes them a threat far more dangerous than any current minority, and the physical changes can make those around them justify that they "aren't even human".

Historically, many slave owners used the same excuse regarding their black slaves, as many people considered these black-skinned peoples to not be human, but instead some sort of nearly-human ape.  It is fortunate that this erroneous belief was corrected, but it the case of a person with skeletal protrusions and inhuman abilities, it is easy to see how the leap may be found again.  This is not made any less by the fact that the dicloni typically kill those around them, including their own families.

But why do they kill those around them, especially those who would typically be considered close to them?  And then you have individuals like Nana, who refuse to kill simply due to their own morals.  Why does she turn out so differently, when her life since birth has been a living hell?

Imagine that a child is born with horns, especially in a culture where such is seen as a sign of being tainted by demons (be they Judeo-Christian demons, or Japanese oni).  How many parents are going to treat the child normally?  How many children in school are going to treat them normally?  In many cases, if a child displays some perceived deficit, especially a physical one, the parents will ignore the child, or even direct ire towards them.  Children also tend towards cruelty towards those who are different.

In this case of either neglect or outright emotional abuse (or even physical abuse), there is often no outlet for the emotions of anger and sadness that build within.  Is it then surprising, that when the child suddenly has the power to kill with a thought, that their thoughts of anger and vengeance would emerge?  As it is, the vectors of a diclonius emerge around puberty.  During a time when the mind is troubled and confused anyway, the ability to suddenly act on all of the pain to do harm back to those that hurt them is in many ways very understandable.

Now, let us look at Lucy, the main diclonius in the series.  Her parents simply abandoned her at some random orphanage because they didn't want a kid with horns.  That in of itself has to leave her with a number of abandonment issues, not to mention a huge blow to her self-esteem.  Being different, she is picked on mercilessly by the other children, especially since it is human nature to want someone to suffer more than oneself:  to not be the person suffering the most.  And tying back into the racism, they often accuse her of not being human, of being some kind of animal with her horns.

She finds a small puppy, and the little creature's unconditional love gives her something to live for.  But what happens then?  Someone who pretends to be her friend betrays her, and hands the dog over to a bunch of the boys, who then proceed to beat the poor creature to death right in front of Lucy.  Who can blame Lucy for wishing them all dead?  Unfortunately, with her vectors beginning to manifest, that wish is all that's needed to actually cause them to all die.

They say that is becomes easier to kill another human each time you do it.  This definitely appears to be the case with Lucy.  Her conscience appears to object less and less each time she kills, gaining shelter and food by killing random people in their houses.  It is amazing, then, that she could still possess the ability to trust another person, then.  But not only does she do so, she is able to become good friends with the young boy Kouta.  This not only shows the horrors of what abuse can do to someone, transforming Lucy into a sociopathic killer, but also highlights the power of love.  The simple acceptance and platonic love of a friend is enough to pull Lucy back from the abyss.

And then there's Nana.  Nana has a horror story for a life.  She was raised for her whole life in a cell, stripped naked, and chained to a wall while horrific and excruciating experiments were performed on her.  Yet through it all, she is not only able to remain sane (no mean feat in its own right), but is able to actually become a beautiful person in mind and body despite it.  And how does she manage?  Simply by clinging to the unrequited love of her "father" (the chief research scientist who has filled the role for her).  She later loses most of her limbs in a battle with Lucy, but is able to not only forgive Lucy in time, but is also able to open up the chief scientist's heart as well.

And why do they lock up and torture such a kind soul?  Because she's a diclonius.  That's all the reason they need, despite that she refuses to kill, even when people want her to.  They continue to keep her locked up and experimented on, kept away from her actual family, simply because they are afraid that she could do something to harm others.


And then you have Mariko, the actual daughter of the chief scientist.  Because she was displaying extremely dangerously powerful vectors, she was placed in a cage since birth, unable to hear or see anything but the voice of a single individual who would talk to her.  In contrast to Nana, this girl experienced the expected result:  she turned into a monster.  The neglect, the lack of basic human companionship (even as little as was bestowed upon Nana), and the lack of even something as simple as a gentle touch caused her to be entirely unbalanced, even more sociopathic than Lucy had become.  Lucy may have felt no guilt about killing after a time, but Mariko outright enjoyed it.  In fact, she was only able to be kept in line by those who sought to control her by threatening to blow her up (using bombs implanted in her body) set to a dead-man's switch.

And yet, even with this sort of outlook, she still wished for her father's love.  In the end of Elfen Lied, her father hugs her, and you can see on her face that such a small gesture, that simple human affection, was something that she sought more than anything else.

If Mariko had been given the love she needed, would she have turned out so badly?  I find it doubtful.


If not for the racism, and the ostracism and neglect that it brought about, it is doubtful that any of the characters would have turned out as badly as they did.