Little things as well as big keep me on this episode. Nana and Kouta, who only recently were trading glares, are now risking their lives to aid the other and begging for their well-being. There isn't enough time for her to think it, but this must show poor Nana that she really has a home and family at the Kaede-Sou.
Back at the Sou (Or Maple Inn), the despondent Yuka gets a boost from Mayu--a girl with every reason in the world to be bitter--who calls her and Kouta her parents, and the Inn the first real home she's ever known.
But we also see once and for all the end of all hope that the love Kouta and Lucy/Nyu share can overcome all obstacles. For it was the young Lucy who ended Kouta's childhood in the most gruesome way imaginable, all for a lie he told as a kindness. The scene of Kanae's death had me hoping that she died instantly and did not linger even for a second. Early on, I thought perhaps Lucy was Kanae, taken away and experimented on, but it became clear even before this where it would take us. The heart of Elfen Lied is always a conflicted one, but we keep right on coming back to it.





