Subaru would have never imagined how his life would dramatically change, as he leaves the convenience store, and is thrown into a fantasy world. Shortly after his arrival to this unknown world, he is attacked by some thugs while armed with only a grocery bag full of snacks, and his lousy cell phone. Subaru tries his best to fend them off but unfortunately he gets beaten to a pulp and all ends there. Fortunately for him, a mysterious beauty woman named Satella stumbles across Subaru's broken body and saves him. In order to thank her for saving him, Subaru offers his assistance in Satella's search, and later that night, he even finds the whereabouts of the enemy she seeks. But to their surprise, a much darker force waits behind the shadows, and just minutes after locating the insignia, Subaru and Satella are fatally wounded. However, Subaru immediately reawakens to a familiar scene in which he is confronted by the same thugs who pummeled him prior, and meeting Satella again only for her not to recognize him.

The one important aspect that really resonates within the Elfen Lied series is just how much shock value there is. Every scenario that Lucy finds herself in always leads up to some extremely brutal and gruesome ending. Subaru's life reflects that very same circumstance since every time he's led down a path, it always ends up with an entire cast of characters dying in the most grotesque fashion. Limbs are lying around freely, throats have been slashed clean, and corpses lie motionless in a scene of terror. Both shows just have so much surprise to them that you're never too sure as to who'll be the next victim. The two characters suffer extreme traumatic experiences which encourage them to lash out, and inflict pain upon others. They've been thrown into events which they never asked for, and are left to go through agonizing pain while the enemy laughs at it all from a distance.

Mirai Nikki follows the crazy life of Yukiteru who soon discovers that his habit of conversing with imaginary friends through his device called the diary, eventually becomes a fateful reality. Yukiteru is confronted with a girl named Yuno who he builds a strong attraction to throughout the series. This close relationship however eventually becomes a game of survival, where both Yukiteru and Yuno must pursue and eliminate their enemies, while using their equipped diaries that allow them to assist one another in this fierce battle conducted by God himself. The winner is rewarded with the ultimate power of becoming the ultimate leader of the universe.

Yukiteru and Lucy have been put through a lot of maddening experiences, so much to the point where violence and death become immune to them. They've been subjected to so much pain and suffering that now it only feels right to return the favor in some way. The two never asked for their lives to be full of torment, but some sick and twisted individual felt that they'd make a great fit in their experiments. This psychological burden is what provokes the anger and deadly intent in both main characters, because they feel it's the only way for them to survive and protect everything they own.

One day, a new transfer student comes to class named Kuroha Neko, that shocks Ryouta completely as she resembles that of his friend who had been killed prior. Kuroha can't recall any memory of being Ryouta's friend, but he discovers something odd about her. Kuroha possesses superhuman strength, the ability to see death, and other abnormal abilities. After Kuroha saves his life, Ryouta becomes a part of Kuroha's life, learning about her past and the hidden forces that exist in the universe. As he sinks more and more into a world of artificially created witches and spells, Ryouta must allow his scientific mind to accept that Kuroha has a very real power, the kind of power some corporations will stop at nothing to take advantage of.

Lucy and Kuroha have a power that a team of special forces is after to grab hold of it. Their powers are so life threatening that it takes a whole brigade of officers to stop them, but even so the two leave a pile of guts and limbs lying around as a chilling reminder. The two experienced some very tragic beginnings which provoked the darker side of them to lash out, causing others to panic in their presence. The two females never saw any of this coming, as they originally had normal lives prior to it all crashing down on them abruptly. This darker side gave them superhuman strength and the ability to control people and things around them.

Saya Otonashi is a seemingly ordinary girl living a mundane life in Okinawa City with the family who adopted her. Due to suffering from amnesia and being unable to remember any of her life beyond the previous year, life felt very difficult for her. However, Saya's forgotten past quickly comes back to haunt her as one night, she is surprise attacked at school by a creature that desires on human blood. Just before her life is about to be robbed from her, a mysterious man named Haji appears and fends off the creature temporarily. But when her Haji convinces her to drink his blood, Saya suddenly enters a trance and slays the monster with relative ease, using her own blood as a tool. Saya then learns of an organization named Red Shield, so now Saya and Haji must work together with Red Shield to fight these fearsome monsters and unlock the secrets to her troubled past.

One major reason why blood and gore sell so well is because of how well portrayed the story is behind it. None of these protagonists woke up dreaming to slash and dismember other beings without reason, but something drew them in which ignited a fuse in their minds to take action. Saya, much like Lucy, had been taken advantage of by another and now possess special abilities to seek retribution against the enemy. Destiny chose the path for these unsuspecting characters, and because of their fate, they must now use what they have in order to end suffering for others. It's as if they've taken on the pain and suffering of the innocent, and are now using that same energy to leave guts lying around in their free time.

It's the year 2019, thirty-one years have passed since the start of World War III. A top-secret child with amazing powers of the mind breaks free from custody and accidentally gets a motorcycle gang involved in the project. This incident triggers psychic powers within one of the gang members, Tetsuo, and he is taken by the army to be experimented on. His mind has been altered and is now on the path of war, seeking revenge on the society that once called him weak.

Tetsuo was the victim of an experiment that went terribly wrong, and now he must come to terms with his new abilities to put a stop to the evil around him. Many people considered him to be the black sheep of the motorcycle gang, and claimed him to be weak. Much like Lucy, the two were bullied in some way which led to their inner rage to explode. Their intent for revenge was incredibly strong, leaving nothing but dismembered corpses everywhere as a reminder of their pain. Similarly, Tetsuo also has the ability to control the minds of those around him, using the bodies of guards as shields from a barrage of bullets. All you're left with is a bloody body that resembles swiss cheese, and an enraged individual who just wants it all to end. Gore plays a huge role in both anime because it shows a symbolic reference to the inner pains that we all experience, but is now expressed in a physical form.

The Japanese Ministry of Defense has created an anti-paranormal special forces group called the Supernatural Disaster Prevention Office, which focus on capturing and infiltrating any vital information they can get about certain creatures. They are the ones responsible to protect Japanese soil and its people from supernatural and paranormal events. However, things didn't go so well in one of their missions, as one of the members is attacked and it's now up to this force to come to a conclusion as to what's transpiring around them before it's too late.

The great thing about anime of this nature is that there's always a lesson to learn from them all. The main protagonist goes through such a bloody ordeal that it leaves them scarred for a great length of time. They then use this same experience as a way to seek redemption and restore peace back into their hearts. Both anime feature female leads whose lives are in just a mess, that they can't help but lash out on others for it. Graphic violence and supernatural powers persist all throughout the anime, leaving you wondering who the next victim is. As we mentioned earlier in RE:Zero, the shock value plays such a huge role in every show we've mentioned because we just never know what will happen next. Lucy and Yomi must fight against special forces which have caused an enormous amount of torment on innocent lives, and now must use everything they've got to stop it all.