Kouta (Elfen Lied)

Kouta is the male lead and secondary protagonist in the manga and anime series, Elfen Lied. He is the love interest of three major characters, including the series' lead, and a makeshift father figure to two others. Kouta has no super powers nor extraordinary skills, but his compassion and kindness may in the end have turned back an evolutionary apocalypse.

Biography
Except that he was born and raised in Hokkaido, nothing is known of Kouta's life prior to the summer he, his father, and his little sister Kanae went to Kamakura, a Japanese beachside resort town, to stay with Kouta's aunt and her daughter, Yuka. It can be inferred that his mother died sometime after giving birth to Kanae, but nothing is ever said of this, or the fate of Yuka's father. Like most characters in the series, Kouta has only one name offered up, in this case his given one. At some point during or before this stay, Yuka developed a deep crush on Kouta (cousin relationships are legal in Japan), but while he liked her as well, he found her attentions a bit much, a situation not helped by Kanae's resentment of Yuka. While walking up one of the mountains in the area, Kouta met a girl who would literally change his life forever.

Oddly, he did not learn her name at this time, and her true name was only revealed at the very end of the manga series. But this was the girl who was to become the series' protagonist and a very stark mixture of hero and villain, Lucy (although she was not yet called by that name, and in fact almost never used it to describe herself). Unknown to Kouta, she was already on a bloody path, and his offer of friendship, regarded with suspicion at first, brought light to an empty soul, though only for a time, and at an unimaginably high price to Kouta.

The girl had pinkish-red hair, and atop her head she had small protrusions that looked like cat-ears but which were actually horns made out of cartilage. Young Lucy had been teased, taunted and isolated her whole life for these, both by other children and adult staff at the nearby orphanage where she had grown up after being abandoned at birth. This cruel treatment finally culminated in a dark incident that all but sealed her hatred of other people. That incident had the result of unleashing latent telekinetic powers, with which she murdered the four classmates involved. Her time with Kouta might have been enough to save her, but for a tragic misunderstanding.

Beyond any shadow of any doubt, the brief time the two spent together was the happiest day of this girl's sorry life. But if Kouta liked his new friend, the girl was head over heels in love with him, something that reared its head in jealousy when she asked him whether the cousin he was taking to a carnival was a boy or a girl. Kouta lied, though out of concern, not malice, and said that his cousin was a boy. Seeing how fragile her feelings were, Kouta had attempted to spare her, but this small choice would seal their fates.

At the summer festival, Kouta comforted Yuka, who was despondent over his family leaving for Hokkaido soon after. As he held her, he was seen by the horned girl, who took this small lie to be the same as another betrayal in her fragile mind. Turning against Humanity once and for all, the girl killed several people at the festival, an act witnessed by Kanae. Kanae's account of this was dismissed by everyone as ridiculous, even to Kouta and their father, who decided to leave for home that very night by train. Onboard the train, the horned girl emerged from hiding, intending to punish Kouta for his betrayal. Still disbelieved and attempting to protect her older brother, Kanae was scorned by him for what he saw as lying. Those words of hate would be the last they would ever speak to each other, as the horned girl used her powers to split Kanae in two at the waist, killing her instantly. Kouta was not only scarred by the murder, but by the realization that Kanae had been telling the truth, and that his last words to her could now never be taken back. Adding to the horror, as their father came over to see what had happened, he was decapitated, with his head tossed at Kouta's feet. Kouta broke into sobs, covered by his family's blood and cradling Kanae's upper half. When the girl who had been his friend then said she was next going to kill Yuka, Kouta jumped on her, demanding she stop killing people. Somewhere in his demeanor, the girl gleaned that Kouta had never meant to hurt her, and that she had crossed a line she could never go back from. Escaping the train, the girl vowed to one day go back to Kouta and apologize for her actions.

But in large part, the damage had been done. Kouta spent a year in a psychiatric care facility, where he regained his coherence and sanity, but at the cost of suppressing his childhood memories, particularly of that summer in Kamakura. It is not known who cared for him in the years between his release and the start of the series. Once quite sharp, it seems Kouta's traumas or the memory suppression left him lacking focus, and in the end, all he could get into was a so-called 'safety school', the rough equivalent of an American Community College, for students lacking grades to enter better schools. This school turned out to be in Kamakura, where he had spent that fateful summer. Little did Kouta realize he was walking into ground zero for a world-altering, centuries-spanning conspiracy.

When she learned that her cousin was returning after all these years, Yuka, who had never given up her deep crush on Kouta, gave up on much more prestigious colleges she easily had the grades for and signed up to be in the same school as him.

The horned girl, while remorseful over hurting Kouta, stayed in the Kamakura Area, likely never leaving the Kanto Region of Japan, infecting males to become the fathers of new horned girls, called Diclonius, while inducing blood-vessel problems, including heart-attacks and strokes, in many others. In the five years she was active, many died at her hands, and at the hands of these new horned girls (Male births were somehow very rare to non-existent), who attacked their families after reaching the age of three. It is not known for certain whether these attacks occurred because the girls were mistreated, an inborn drive to kill Humans, or simply the mercurial nature of a three-year old child. Eventually, the existence of the horned girl, the 'Queen' of her new species, was reasoned out by scientists studying the outbreak of horned births, and she was pursued by them. Taking a chance on an absued girl name Aiko Takada, the horned girl became her friend and tried to protect and aid her when Aiko was accused of killing her abusive father. Sadly, Aiko was killed by Doctor Kurama, who had been trying to shoot the horned girl, who surrendered herself to get aid for Aiko. When she was informed while in captivity that Aiko had died, the horned girl now added making Kurama suffer to her goal of reuniting with Kouta. She would accomplish both. During her time of captivity, the horned girl was named Lucy by her captors, after a fossil skeleton of an Australopithecus woman once thought to be the genetic ancestor of Humankind (older fossils have been found since Elfen Lied concluded). It should be noted that Lucy was never this girl's name, nor was it a name she herself used, nor did anyone she regarded as friendly or close to her in any way.

Return to Kamakura
Lucy seized an opportunity and staged a bloody escape that ended with her taking a head wound that rendered her childlike and amnesiac. Kouta, meanwhile, had returned to Kamakura without any memories of his earlier visit, due to the trauma of his family's murder. Yuka, who had believed he would remember her, was sad and upset when he did not. When a naked girl washed up on the beach, Yuka gave her some of Kouta's clothing and suggested they take her to the Maple Inn, a former restaurant Yuka's mother was allowing Kouta to stay in while at school, under a maintenance agreement. They named her Nyu, for the only sound her infantile mind seemed capable of forming.

Nyu, who felt all of the affection for Kouta Lucy did with none of the baggage, saw that a memento of his lost little sister was making him sad, and so broke it, enraging Kouta and scaring Nyu off. At first Yuka and then Kouta went to fetch the childlike girl back. On his way out, Kouta encountered two policemen who asked about a girl who seemed to be Nyu, at first saying that she was a dangerous killer before switching stories and saying she was merely lost. In fact, at least some members of the Kamakura Police Department were fully aware of who and what Lucy was. Kouta walked back to the beachfront and found Nyu, digging through the shoreline for a shell to replace the one she'd broken. On some level, the two old friends recognized each other, traumas on various levels keeping this down. The manga and the anime differ as to whether Yuka was present, but in any event, the two were found by members of Japan's Special Assault Team, sent out to collect or kill Lucy. One of these, the acerbic, arrogant and violent Agent Bando, would become a recurring figure in their lives. Regarding Kouta as an obstacle, he knocked him out, and began to demand Nyu provide him with the battle his violent soul demanded. The uncomprehending, terrified Nyu could not oblige, so he kicked and punched at her, till another blow to the head awakened Lucy, who gave him the fight he wanted, and the dismemberment he would vow to avenge.

Kouta awoke in the hospital, with Yuka (who was, version depending, either knocked out before him or simply not present for the attack) having no knowledge of the soldiers they encountered. Questioned by police as to his injuries (version depending, the exact same police who had spoken to him earlier), Kouta was urged to let the matter drop, increasing his suspicions of the department's loyalties. When he returned to Maple Inn (also known as Maple House, or Kaede-Sou), he found Nyu cold and weeping, her personality having reverted from the murderous Lucy, tellingly when Lucy sighted the replacement sea shell Nyu had found for Kouta. Attempting to be a gentleman while helping Nyu change out of her wet clothes, Kouta hit upon a pattern for his life to come. Yuka walked in just as he (eyes closed) had her shirt pulled up to her breasts and her pants down, with her legs raised up in the air. After a customary tsundere reaction to this awkward scene, Yuka decided to move into Maple Inn with the two, since Kouta felt he could no longer turn Nyu over to the police as he'd originally planned. Yuka had snarkily told him she would keep an eye on any antics he would try and pull with the mature-bodied but baby-minded Nyu, but both her anger and her sarcasm quickly became ashes in her throat. A casual comment from Kouta, who was recovering from a fever, one which Nyu comically tried to aid him in recovering from ( in a scene very similar to Momo aiding the feverish Sokka and Katara in Avatar The Last Airbender ), told Yuka a horrifying truth. While she knew well of what happened to her Uncle and cousin eight years before, when she heard Kouta speak of their deaths, his story had no relation to what had happened, with of course neither one knowing that the feeble girl they now cared for had been the one responsible. Not for the first time, Yuka encountered regret and frustration, realizing that Kouta's lack of recall of their time together was in fact a defense mechanism against those brutal memories. While her track record in dealing with this remained mixed, she sought to care for both Kouta and Nyu. They realized that the battle on the beach had lost one of them their umbrella, but another new figure in their lives would be bringing that back soon.

Adopting Mayu, Losing Nyu
Unknown to Kouta and the combatants, at least one other person was on the beach the night Lucy and Bando fought. Living on the beach was a young runaway girl named Mayu, fleeing sexual and emotional abuse, and caring for a small dog she named Wanta. When Mayu comes to Maple House to return the umbrella (who lost it and when depends on the version) Mayu is able to confirm to Yuka that there were soldiers on the beach that night, one of whom, the wounded Bando, whose life she saved. Mayu departed after a much-needed meal, but was understandably reluctant to offer up any information about herself. But her path led right back to Kouta and Yuka when she encountered the girl named Nyu, who she had met while returning the umbrella. Unknown to everyone, while Mayu was in the house, a blow to the head caused Nyu to once again become Lucy, who fled the house rather than potentially harm Kouta. In fact it was Lucy that Mayu encountered, locked in battle with another of her horned species, a Diclonius named Nana. When Mayu caused a distraction, the gentler Nana tried to warn her off, and Lucy used this opening to begin to dismember Nana. Knocked away rather than killed, Mayu was taken to the hospital and avoided dealing with her abusive family by having the hospital call Kouta. Learning that Mayu was homeless and realizing she must have a reason for running away (though in the narrative they never learned this), Kouta and Yuka resolved to offer her a permanent place to stay. At first reluctant due to the pain she suffered and suspicious of such kindness, Mayu found circumstances offering her no choice. That said, she immediately found safety, comfort and some happiness in her new home. So that Mayu could go to school by them, they got her to open up and tell them where her mother lived. While the mother was civil enough, her willingness to sign over custody to strangers raised alarm bells for the young cousins. Out of courtesy to Mayu, they asked no more of it. The pair, despite only being in their teens, in effect became Mayu's parents, and her demeanor brightened immediately.

Yet life with the rambunctious Nyu would complicate even that. With Lucy's love for Kouta combined with a mature body and a child's curiosity, Nyu knew little of boundaries, proven when she climbed into a bath with a badly flustered Kouta, being caught by Mayu, who for a time became suspicious that Kouta was a sexual predator, like the stepfather she had fled. Attempting to keep Nyu under control, Kouta and Yuka found once again that it was their lives that were out of their control.

Kouta and Yuka were caring, smart, but not even as worldly as the girl they had in essence adopted. This was demonstrated when they were forced to bring Nyu to their college classes, wherein Professor Kakuzawa, once head of the facility where Lucy had been held, recognized her immediately. Tricking the young couple into surrendering their charge to him, only Mayu later questioned his supposed relation to Nyu. While Lucy awoke and dispatched this schemer as she did so many, Kouta went on a search to find Nyu, only to meet the Professor's ambitious (if awkward) assistant, Doctor Arakawa, with whom he found the Professor's severed head. Kouta took in her words about horned people being a threat, but still kept on searching for Nyu. This time venturing out with Yuka, a sudden downpour forced them to seek shelter, where Kouta admitted he recalled some parts of his feelings for Yuka, at least in a broad sense. This situation had the two kissing intimately, till the rain stopped and they found Nyu, who was Lucy at this time. To her credit, Lucy, who had just recalled the tragic events of their childhoods, tried to admit who she was, but panicked at the thought of losing Kouta and reverted to Nyu. Returning home to Maple House, normalcy of a sort set in when Nyu assaulted all three of her housemates in her sexually curious manner, ironically taking some of the edge off of Mayu's suspicions, since Nyu was now firmly shown to be a problem in this regard.

In one of the biggest differences between the manga and anime versions of the story, a new housemate entered the scene, ironically one of the only characters to make Elfen Lied a 'harem' story besides Lucy and Yuka. Her name was Nozomi, Yuka's school kohai and a gifted singer whose family opposed her ambitions. While she too suffered Nyu's attentions (including a very controversial scene), she also ended up teaching her and by extension, Lucy, the poem/song Elfenlied, for which the series is named. With Kouta's encouragement, Nozomi used Maple House to practice in and seek relief from her father's ferocious opposition to her singing career.

While the next and final housemate (in both versions) would not be a member of any harem, she would prove as important as Kouta or even Lucy, in many respects. In fact, while affection would grow between the two over time, Kouta would rarely struggle as fiercely as he did with Nana, now somewhat recovered from her brutal battle with Lucy.

TBC...