Shirakawa (白河)
She is another member of the Diclonius research and termination staff, as also Kurama's right-hand woman in her mid-30's. Though her personality on the surface reflects a business-like demeanor, she holds a secret affection and genuine concern for Kurama and on all the matters related with his mysterious past, implicitly hinted from time to time in the series. However, Kurama does not return the feelings because most of his time he focuses on attempting to find and terminate Lucy, therefore, keeping the relationship strictly professional. Her personality in the manga is mostly servile and submissive, going to such extents as letting Chief Kakuzawa to sexually abuse and play humiliation games on her (to get information from him). In the manga she has feelings for him and considers admitting it before being decapitated by Lucy. Nonetheless, her character plays a more important role in the manga than in the anime, and literally meets her demise at the hands of Lucy. Voiced by: Hitomi Nabatame (Japanese), Shelley Calene-Black (English)
Hiromi Kurama (蔵間ヒロミ)
She is both Kurama's wife and Mariko's biological mother who was in her mid-20's before she died. She only appears in episode 10 of the anime during the series of flashbacks that Kurama recalled to relive his first experiences with the Diclonius. Prior to Mariko's birth, she was diagnosed uterine cancer during her last month of pregnancy. The doctors were forced to perform an emergency Caesarean section to save her life and the baby's, however, the operation resulted in the complete removal of her uterus leaving her in a delicate state of health due to massive blood loss. After Kurama found out the child was born a Diclonius, he told Hiromi that she (the baby) had to be disposed of. Hiromi immediately went hysterical upon hearing this, furthering aggravating her condition until she passed out.
Shortly afterwards, she walked into the nursery, drenched in blood, to find her husband there attempting to strangle their daughter. She approached him in a trance state (no doubt due to her fragile state of health and overwhelming concern about the fate of her daughter) and told him, "Why does she have to die? You always wanted to have a child, but/and I won't be able to bear you children anymore." Hiromi then tried to make Kurama promise her that he would keep their daughter (Mariko) alive, collapsing dead in front of him as a result of the strain the past events had on her body. {It is to be noted, in the anime at least, she isn't shown to have committed suicide, but rather seemed to have died as a result of her failing health in attempting to eke the last promise out of her husband.
Voiced by: Akemi Kanda (Japanese), Luci Christian (English).
Style and themes
In the comments made by director Mamoru Kanbe on the Elfen Lied website, he intended for the anime to question and discuss values based on the way in which humans divide each other by difference, as well as the belief that atrocities such as those committed by Lucy in the series are strongly influenced by the way in which people are treated by their fellow beings. The series frequently discusses the events and treatment which define the human character in such a way, and the problems which arise from discrimination, as well as the wild contrasts between compassion and vengeance between fellow humans, through the strong vengeance of Lucy compared with her past memory of Kouta. Many of the themes are mentioned at the teasers at the ends of episodes in the series.
Themes such as genocide and the attempts to "purify" the earth from each other also appear in the anime between diclonius and humans. Both species feel the need to populate the earth with their own species and wipe each other out. Kanbe quoted this in relation to the desire of humans to cast each other out and segregate each other.
Throughout the series, there is a great deal of nudity, blood and gore, extreme graphic violence as well as psychological violence. One of the most prevalent motifs of the series is the humanity of the diclonius, especially contrasted against the inhumanity of ordinary people. One reviewer described the series as "devoted to quite a few of the darker, more callous factors of human nature". Throughout the series there are various incidences of human sadism, casual beatings, cruel experimentation, and outright killing.
Unlike other anime which distinctively fall into a specific subcategory, Elfen Lied does not fall under any specific genre, containing elements of horror, comedy, drama, romance, action, science-fiction, and suspense. A majority of the episodes contain graphic amounts of violence and gruesome deaths. There is also a lot of female nudity and serious thematic material such as child rape and torture. The series also sometimes has strong language; the word "fuck" is used several times throughout in the English localization. Compared to the other anime of its time, the series is very radical, bold and daring in terms of its plot and content. The series juxtaposes many different tones and genres and was described by a reviewer as "mixing insane amounts of violence with a heavy dose of 'ultra-cuteness.'" The series balances its darker themes with romantic sub-plots as well as many comic moments. Elfen Lied has been described as similar to, or borrowing elements from Chobits, 3x3 Eyes and Gunslinger Girl.
