If true - GREAT news about Elfen Lied

[Gojirob]

On the Elfen Lied Fansite, a fellow fan claims - and I have no reason to doubt them, but I wanted to use qualifiers nonetheless - that an Email to Mamoru Kanbe was replied to with the news of a tentative look at a second season or reboot of the anime.

According to this, he and Okamoto both are poring over international reviews and sales of the DVD's, checking to see if its even worth considering. I really don't think this person is lying, but who knows if they were misled. It sounds reasonable, especially them checking the economics of it all before proceeding.

My personal suggestion : If you're a fan who's been to content to view it online, buy it outright. If there is anything to this, a spike in sales just might do the trick. And yes, at least according to this same source, Nozomi is a distinct possibility this time around, since the e-mail in question says that it was timing, and not any Nozomi hatred on Kanbe's part, that kept her out last time.

Sorry not to have anything more definite, but against this possibility, I'm willing to look a little foolish if it falls flat.

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

Nice, that's a good series. I'd rather they continue it than reboot.

 

[zakkrusz]

I'd definitely be up for either.

Unfortunately Japan's shiny new Youth Ordinance bill that went into effect in July is going to make it a giant thorny pain in the ass to get away with something like an Elfen Lied sequel/reboot. In fact the more extreme violent and sexual things like Elfen Lied are exactly what the bill was created to try and censor/regulate/ban. If it does get off the ground they'd have to make it a direct to video OVA to get away with it and by law it would have to be put "behind the counter" with the pornography. Also it would not get a TV slot without being totally neutered with obscene amounts of censoring. If the creator(s) of it are considering anything, then getting it past the red tape and still make enough off it to justify making it in the first place somehow is probably numero Uno on the list.

 

[Gojirob]

Well, EL has an existing fanbase who would seek it out. Plus, maybe this bill has some sort of 'grandfather' clause about sequels rather than all-new works?

Like I say, I'd like to be sure my friend hasn't been bamboozled, but since it was an 'we're thinking it over' rather than a 'we're on it', again I tend to have a bit more hope despite the many levels of obstacles to making this even under the best of circumstances.

 

[zakkrusz]

Well, it was pretty popular here in the states anyway. I don't know how well it did in Japan though and domestic sales would probably matter a bit more than foreign sales to them when deciding to make a sequel. Elfen Lied was released in 3004 and generally it's rare for something that old to get revived. I definitely wouldn't count it out though, considering franchises like Inu Yasha, Trigun, Rurouni Kenshin, Berserk, and Last Exile have gotten or are getting new material and they're older.

 

[Gojirob]

Whether it means anything, I recall seeing a shop (maybe in Sankaku Complex) that was completely devoted to LO, and to EL in particular, so who knows.

As to them checking out reviews...I tried to set up a page of review links on the Wiki, only to find a great many basically say 'a dismissable ecchi gorefest' or words to that effect.