programming director Kim Manning revealed that despite the series' high level of controversial content, the network actually inquired into the possibility of airing the series, as Manning was an avid fan herself and watched the entire series in one sitting. However, the channel's Broadcast Standards and Practices department would have required the series to be so extensively edited ("it would have been cut to shreds", she described in the post) in order to air that it would have been "unintelligible". Ultimately, Adult Swim decided not to air it to preserve and respect the original quality of the series. Reception and legacy Reviewing the first English omnibus volume of Elfen Lied, Anime UK News gave it an 8 out of 10 rating and noted that it is much more detailed than the anime adaptation by explaining what Diclonius are and showing more of the characters' inner thoughts. Although, they stated that the beginning of the anime had "more punch." Anime UK News criticized Okamoto's art as poor throughout the book, but enjoyed the extra unrelated stories included at the end. Comic Buzz called it a "great read from start to finish" and gave it a 9/10 rating. They felt the art style changed with the characters' emotions and said it reminded them variously of Neon Genesis Evangelion and the work of Junji Ito. Rai of TheOASG gave the omnibus a 3 out of 5 star rating, criticizing the art and fan service, and overall preferred the anime which she acknowledged having bias for. Reception for the Elfen Lied anime was generally mixed to positive. Reviewers such as Tasha Robinson of Sci Fi Weekly and Theron Martin of Anime News Network praised Elfen Lied for its story and technical excellence in production quality, animation and color. Due to the many scenes of nudity and gore, Dominic Laeno of THEM Anime Reviews criticized the series as being "overly blatant." Martin criticized the anime for having "sub-par voice acting" in both the original Japanese audio track and the English dub of the series, although he gave it an "A−" rating for both language dubs. Martin also said that the series "ends abruptly with some loose ends to the story that could leave viewers unsatisfied," but also called it "a horror series of exceptional merit." Laeno called the series "a genuinely good watch." Stig Høgset, also of THEM Anime Reviews, called Elfen Lied "a very