Before the rise of popular and accessible streaming services like Crunchyroll, newly released anime spread by word of mouth over the internet, and fans often watched whatever they could get their hands on. It was during this time that Elfen Lied rose to popularity in the West, and coming across the series would eventually become something of a rite of passage for fans of the medium. Many of them, myself included, used Elfen Lied as a gateway into other more obscure anime.
