Bait.

Elfen Lied is the quintessential newfag anime. It offers nothing but fap material for edgy teens that need to grow the fuck up.

>>142161086
>Bait
Kinda. Discussion bait, not trolling bait.

>fap material
Not at all. The nudity scenes have nothing to do with fanservice but crudity.

>it offers nothing
A strong story. Flawed? Sure [I'll let you guys pinpoint the story flaws]. But still emotive, with characters you can relate with, without those retarded "white is white and black is black" morality...

And more importantly, it's fun.

>>142161086
The anime is absolute pretentious shit, but the manga is the kind of shit that's entertaining. Far from a masterpiece, but an interesting enough read if you're bored.

>>142161685
I've noticed the anime cuts out lots of character development (like Bando) and it changes the ending too much (from "there's no world for Lucy and Kohta" to "I'll run away"). But the theme/discussion of prejudice and power relations is still there, one can even draw parallels between Diclonii and genius kids, or the Kakuzawa clan with "MUH HERITAGE" people.

>>142161237
You have to be more subtle to create an effective discussion bait.

>>142160985
>Is there a better manga than this?
Dodge a bullet by not mentioning the anime newfriend.
The manga is ok, nothing spectacular, nothing too horrible. It's an average harem shounen with added fanservice and a slightly edgier plot.

>>142161870
It's hamfisted to death without any subtely and it looses it's message because of all of the free service jiggle physics and ~~ÑYUUUU~~ fagottry

>>142162069
Not necessarily. Stating an opposite opinion is enough in 4chan.

>>142162286
>Dodge a bullet by not mentioning the anime newfriend.
I'm almost making a joke with vectors stopping bullets.
Stupid jokes apart, I don't want to dodge said bullet, the discussion about the anime might be fun too.

>harem
It's not a harem manga; Nana, Nozomi and Mayu aren't romantically interested in Kohta. Lucy and Yuka are, but this makes it a love triangle, not a harem.

>shounen
A shounen manga would have a male protagonist fighting; Kohta isn't a fighter nor the protagonist, but Lucy.

>fanservice
See >>142161237. The nudity scenes aren't fanservice; and if one is aroused by a naked legless armless bleeding girl, might as well call everything fanserv aswell...

Maybe it's just a drama?

>>142162374
The anime is quite hamfisted indeed due to the cuts.

>>142161086
>tells other people to grow up
>is a manchild that browses an anime image board

Pot kettle etc.

>>142163008
>The nudity scenes aren't fanservice
~~~ÑYUUUUU~~~
No fuck you, the animators knew fully well what they were doing when they were animating those cute teenage looking girls getting covered in blood.
If you want nudity that isn't fanservice look at LOGH, that's where it's done right.

>>142164540
>the animators

I was answering >>142162286 about the manga, where nudity is treated more consistently; but not even in the anime they're fanservice.

Nyu is for all purposes a retard who cannot talk and pisses herself on the floor; she isn't presented even on a cute-sexy way. Scenes as Kohta undressing her are played for laughs, not for sexual teasing of the viewer.

>Legend of Galactic Heroes
It looks interesting, I'll take that as a recommendation.