You know what to watch until the premiere of the new season of Stranger Things.
Stranger Things is one of the most popular Netflix series among critics and the public due to the good hand of its creators, the Duffer brothers, when it comes to creating a story and universe that mixes horror elements, child protagonists that grow each season and, of course, hundreds of 80’s pop culture references that has managed to make millions of nostalgic viewers fall in love. The surprise is that part of this idea could be inspired by an anime and few people had noticed until now.
It’s about the anime ElfenLied, one of the inspirations of the Duffer brothers when creating Stranger Things according to what they themselves recognized in an interview in 2017 after the premiere of the first season of the series. But to what extent is Stranger Things inspired by this anime? If we compare character development and plot twists of their plots, the truth is that the similarities are more than evident.
Beyond the inspiration between Elfen Lied and Stranger Things?
Starting with the most obvious, both Eleven, protagonist of Stranger Things, and Lucy, protagonist of Elfen Lied, are young girls with telekinetic powers who were held against their will in mysterious super secret facilities in order to develop their abilities. The thing is not there, since in the anime, as in the Netflix series, Lucy is rescued by a group of boys who decides to help her and protect her of the organization that is after her even if they are not even clear about what she is capable of or what she has done previously with her powers.
Similarly, a central theme of the story of both Eleven and Lucy is that internal struggle to really figure out who she wants to be and what she wants to do with her life once she stops being manipulated by what others want from her. As well as other topics that are covered in both series. In the end, these are two products that are very difficult to fit into a single genre, since they deal with horror themes with monsters and mysteriesbut they also have love plots and clearly humorous moments.
it is not known To what extent did Elden Lied influence in the construction of the history and universe of Stranger Things, but it is clear that if fans of the Netflix series want to kill time until the premiere of its fifth season, they have in this anime a product that has many parallels to the work of the Duffer brothers.