Editorial: I swear I'm getting stupider

I like to consider myself of average intelligence. I'm not one of those people saying "how come he's not getting arrested" at the end of American Psycho; I can make with the laughs when watching british comedy; I think big words are kewl. But at the same time, I could never be mistaken for a guy in a wheelchair on television, that's for sure (seriously, there's a major ratio unbalance of dumb:genius cripples on TV, ever noticed that?).

And so sometimes things go over my head, or it takes me a little long to click to something. With anime, I can say for certain that Boogiepop Phantom confused me (thank god for the audio commentaries). GITS; I'm still not sure if I understand the concept of a stand-alone complex entirely. Ergo Proxy has me scratching my head a little, but it is only halfway complete so I got time to ponder.

But then I'm watching some DVDs I haven't previously seen fansubbed the other day, and as the series rounds out I found myself going "huh?"

The series in question: Elfen Lied.

Are you fucking kidding me? Even I'm disgusted. This isn't exactly Evangelion, or even Mai Otome in terms of complexity—I'm getting side swiped by freakin ELFEN LIED?? I thought it was clear that Nyuu got killed? Then who's at the door? What's that lab director guy mean by "this is only the beginning...."?

A pictorial recreation of what happened that day.

Is it possible that I'm just watching so much stuff nowdays that I'm overloaded and not letting the information sink in? Perhaps my brain is beginning to just shut down at the meager age of 26 after a daily diet of mi gorang noodles for breakfast 2 years straight.

Has Negima got room room for a sixth baka ranger?

Note: contrary to rant, I actually really enjoyed Elfen Lied I don't really see why it gets such a bad rap. It didn't matter how cute you were; no one was safe from getting their limbs torn off and abused. No other series has managed to keep me out of the comfort-zone like that.