Lucy (Elfen Lied)

Kaede, also known as Lucy and Nyu, is the main protagonist from the Elfen Lied series.
== Charactah Account ==
Lucy is a Diclonius girl around eighteen years old. She has developed strong emotions of hatred and vengeance towards regular humans mainly because of how she was treated by the majority of them as a child, making fun of her horns and giving her insulting nicknames such as freak. 
As a child, she bonded with a dog that was killed right in front of her by classmates, triggering her first killings. She loses all sense of empathy, killing without much concern, and acts somewhat sadistic, often torturing victims before killing them (such as Bandou and Nana, though she failed in killing them both).
Towards the end of the series, however, she begins to show remorse for her actions, mainly towards Kohta, who lost his father and sister to her. Kohta was Lucy's childhood friend, though she didn't trust him when they first met. As they became friends, Lucy starts to have feelings towards him. She kills Kohta's father and sister out of jealousy when Kohta goes to a festival with his cousin Yuka, which causes Kohta immense mental trauma that makes him forget about her and his cousin.
== Appearance ==
=== Anime ===
* Elfen Lied
* Elfen Lied: In the Passing Rain
=== Manga ===
* Elfen Lied
== Trivia ==
* Nyu is the only resident of the Maple House to have their name written in hiragana instead of katakana. Obviously, Lucy herself is an exception to this (her names expressed in katakana and kanji), as is Kouta, whose name appears in kanji in the letter Lucy wrote to him when she was a child.
* Kaede means 'Maple' in English; Note that this name goes unused except at the very end of the manga; she is known largely as Nyu to her friends, and as Lucy to her pursuers. It is also the name of the central location in the series, Maple House. However, there is also reason to believe this name isn't her birth one, given to her by her mother, as she was abandoned as an infant and was shown to be naked without any means of identification. This circumstance makes it highly likely the orphanage workers gave her the name "Kaede," but the matter is never specified in-series, and Kakuzawa makes no mention of the name her mother meant for her. When asked about the situation, Okamoto merely said the origins of her name were "a secret," leaving the matter a mystery to all but him.
* Lucy is the name given to an Australopithecus afarensis skeleton of immense importance, as that Lucy is one of Humanity's earliest known ancestors. The archeological find likely played a role in Kakuzawa's renaming of Kaede, though this is never confirmed in-series.
* Lucy may also be a reference to Lucifer, king of demons and popularly conflated with Satan, with some seeing the other Diclonius characters as inhuman demons.
* Nyuu is similar to the word "gyuunyuu" meaning milk. It could be an example of a baby word since milk is a common first word-like sound for babies, but babies don't always pronounce words correctly. This reversion to infantile speech would imply that Nyuu is like a complete rebirth for Lucy.
* The word Nyuu is similar to the spelling of the word cow in Japan. Since the bullies at the orphanage called her an ox, this may be why she spoke that word. It also has an 'ecchi' connotation as slang for breasts, which as Nyuu she frequently groped, even when 'mature.'
* At the anime's end, it is left for the viewer to decide whether Lucy or Nyu is the one at the door. Many fans believe that Lucy allowed her horns' destruction so her personality would "die," allowing Nyu to live with Kouta without causing him any harm.
* Lucy appears taller than Nyu when standing, which is probably an oversight in the animation process or a case of artistic license: an attempt to make Lucy seem more intimidating than Nyu.
* "Nyaa" or "Nya'an" is the sound a cat makes in Japan.
* Neither anime nor manga ever makes clear the extent to which Lucy (or other Diclonii) was naturally prone to killing Humans or how much of it came out of reciprocated hatred and self-defense.
* Lucy is possibly left-handed, although her left-handedness is assumed since she has only ever been seen using a weapon in her left hand. This usage is in contrast to Nyu, who is shown using chopsticks with her right hand. Left-handedness once had a historical association with evil or bad luck.
* Until she was captured and learned she was a Diclonius, Lucy was unaware of the origin of her vectorsand DNA Voice, believing perhaps they were the result of some magic. This idea is backed up by her telling Aiko that she's a "magician."
* Sanae Kobayashi, Lucy's Seiyu, also lends her voice to the acclaimed anime series Baccano. In it, she plays the part of Ennis, another powerful young woman used by others, and who faces questions about her essential humanity, much like her character in Elfen Lied.
* Sanae Kobayashi also voices another redhead, Gemini Sunrise who shares a few similarities with Lucy and Nyuu. Bubbly, lively Gemini has a split personality named Geminine, who is more aggressive and driven toward avenging her master, yet honors the samurai code Gemini follows.
* Except for Chief and Professor Kakuzawa, Lucy is the only horned character in the series using a firearm, and certainly the only true Diclonius to do so.
* There's an animation goof in Episode 13: when Lucy approaches Mariko after knocking her out of her wheelchair, her hair ribbons are missing for several frames, yet appear again when Mariko attacks her with a barrage of her vectors and are only knocked off onscreen when Mariko breaks one of her horns. Also during this scene, Mariko's prosthetic arm appears to be her left arm when it should be her right arm.
* She appeared in Death Battle where she fought Carnage and won.
* On March 4, 2021, Okamoto confirmed on Twitter that Kaede's birthday is July 2nd.
* The early concept art version of Lucy/Nyu has a similar light brown hair color to Yuka. It is possible that this was changed because Lynn Okomoto might have felt that the hair colors could have been too similar in colored art.
* One of the creatures the Diclonius are meant to be compared to or inspired by are the oni. Creatures known as kijo are often seen as the female equivalent of the oni and one of the most famous ones is named Momiji. Momiji is the word used for the Japanese maple tree, Acer palmatum, and Kaede's name in English means Maple.
== Gallery ==
File:Lucy (Elfen Lied) Render 01.png
File:Lucy (Elfen Lied) Render 02.png
File:Lucy (Elfen Lied) Render 03.png
File:Lucy (Elfen Lied) 01.png
File:Lucy (Elfen Lied) 02.png
File:Lucy (Elfen Lied) 03.png
File:Lucy (Elfen Lied) Fan Art 01.png
File:Lucy (Elfen Lied) Fan Art 02.png
File:Lucy (Elfen Lied) Fan Art 03.png
File:Lucy (Elfen Lied) Fan Art 04.png
== External Links ==
* Kaede at Elfen Lied Wiki
Category:Characters
Category:Females
Category:Elfen Lied