Anime: Serial Experiments Lain

If there's ever anything that's annoying, it's when a show has a great setup but fails to carry out what the prolouge or opening few episodes seem to promise to deliver. Lain is not one of those shows, in fact I'd say it's the opposite. If anything, the opening few episodes actually underprepare you for what you're about to experience, they go too soft compared to the places the anime takes you to by the end.

Ultimately Lain is a show about loneliness, loneliness and missing connections in a world that is, ironically, more connected than ever. Obviously the usual tortured euology is the show is an allegory or propechy of the modern internet, an ungodly beast that connects people but ultimately just feeds into their isolation, but Lain takes an even more literal approach to the idea of "connectivity".

Ironically I think the standout character for me was not Lain herself, but her friend, Arisu. Lain herself, by design, is weird and awkward and hard to talk to, not to mention hard for the audience to relate to, while Arisu is basically just a normal girl thrown down the rabbit hole. She predictably freaks out when the series is finally in terminal velocity and reality itself starts to unravel, and there's one scene with her that I still think about from time to time that I won't spoil for anyone who hasn't seen the show.

I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to depictions of technology in media, because I'm a programmer and most depictions of computers, hacking, programming, or similar subjects is just unbearably cringeworthy because it's always played up for dramatic effect - screens of scrolling text, subroutines and firewalls that literally just exist for dramatic flair or pure melodrama, that kind of thing. Again, Lain actually takes its subject matter seriously and, I think, realisticlly depicts what it's like to use the internet - it's not portrayed as super glamorous or even all that mysterious, because most of the hardcore WIRED-heads are kind of losers, which I think is ironic but accurate. The WIRED is a tool, but in Lain's case, it's a tool that gains its own consicousness, even if it's just a mass delusion among the nerd elites.

The animation is alright, it's still hand-drawn but definitely in the transitional period between cel animation and digital animation. There are some pretty memorable sequences that impressed me but I won't go into them for plot reasons. If there's anything that's forgettable about the show, it's the animation.

The OP is a classic, as overplayed as it is sometimes - check out the acoustic version that Boa also did if you're tired of their normal rendition of it.

I hesitate to name my "favorite anime", because I've seen a lot of shows that ultimately aren't revered but mean a lot to me personally, but in terms of how many people would agree with me if I said so, I think Lain would be my favorite anime. It's certainly a very important anime, and I think its legend will only grow through the years.

-It has long been advised to watch this anime, I kept thinking it was about some kind of scientist lane) because of the name "Experiments".
-It all starts with the fact that, we are told "our days" almost guessed only 20 years ago) at the dawn of the rapid development of information technology, 1998 in the yard) we see a quiet lane, which, like everyone else then (girls and not only everyone (and they also say it, first of all, the male part is fond of it, and especially because of games, shooters) they know something about computers, etc. and here I can pick up the atmosphere of those years, I would even say this is the strongest part this work for me personally (maybe because I love IT technologies and 90, they got into my heart with the theme of the work)
-Regarding the plot, it's not very standard, really the top in "non-standard anime" is deserved. I don’t deny that while watching half the anime at work, I could leave for another minute and skip something, but still I still got drunk until episode 10, then, in my opinion, what kind of supernatural nonsense has already gone, of course you can say that with each series the level of fantasy increased, but there it was still somehow possible to explain everything (if you try), an alternative to Japan in the 90s, their technologies went not only uphill, but perpendicularly into space, at a cosmic pace).
-The oppressive atmosphere (just the wrong word, or just cryptic) and a certain message (how the Internet will change society), is present, gives charm, and the worst thing is that it’s reality, and it gets worse, but how did it all start well right?) here there is even VR
-Slightly a branch from the plot, there are inserts with various facts and theories, I will say that it was very unusual and interesting to see such inserts)
-What I want to say about drawing, I found a good pack with 1080p, it looked quite good), 3D technologies are used, and how my respect is drawn all sorts of mechanisms)
-And of course the music) Opening is my respect, just music and visuals, mmm, I really liked it in my playlist)
-Watched in voice acting XL Media
-Interesting fact: initially the anime was only a promotion of the game on ps1
- Bottom line: a classic that you need to watch, and more than once (even the creator says so) To be honest, it was hard to write a review, since you start to remember and even nothing comes to mind, heavy anime. Yes, and immediately after watching it was the same, and I eat for 3 days. reset

Never before has so much bullshit ever been crammed into thirteen episodes.

To put it bluntly, Serial Experiments Lain is some of the most retarded, pretentious, incoherent, intelligence insulting storytelling ever concieved.

The thing is, the mere concept wouldn't be bad at all. At it's core, Serial Experiments Lain is supposed to be a science fiction story about the internet and what have you, with some brilliant visual design.

And it actually nails half the concept. Visually, Lain is one of the most visually striking animated television shows ever. There is immesurable contrast between foreground and background at all times, usually the ground is never even drawn, shadows look like some sort of windows into the netherworld or something. Sound design is equally brilliant, With the buzzes of electric cables, horns of cars, noises of trains and bleeps of computers being mostly in the fray. The goal probably was to create some sort of claustrophobic environment with the machines being everywhere and all that, and I should say they succeeded at that.

And with that, we are done discussing the merits of this series. For anything that doesn't have anything to do with sights and sounds in Lain is so awfully bad that words can not convey it.

Normally, this is the point at which I should explaimn what Serial Experiments Lain is supposed to be about. Except I can't. Not that I don't want to, mind you. If I could, I'd spoil this series for everybody interested in it so as they wouldn't get to see it.

Simply put, Serial Experiments Lain doesn't make any sense!

The main character is Lain, an eight- grader who generally becomes more and more infatuated with computers as the series progresses because she got an e- mail from an aquaintance of hers who recently commited suicide (naturally, the mail was sent after the suicide date). In the meantime, a different Lain (who is still supposed to be the original Lain) is the unofficial owner of a night club frequented by kids as young as fourteen. At the same time, she becomes capable of transferring her full body onto the Internet, due to which she becomes some sort of a legend. It's worth mentioning that in the world of Lain, it's some sort of great feat to be able to search up information on someone.

This may sound all fine and dandy, but the true idiotism and infuriating preposterousness of Serial Experiments Lain shows itself in the side threads of the story, none of which make any kind of sence! Two suits are constantly watching Lain from outside in their car because she came in contact with the shows version of Anonymous. Said Anonymous are causing the Internet to apper in real life and do something-or-another (don't ask me what and why, it never gets explained) to it's users, by means of utilising the schematics of a child- PSI gathering machine that ended up becoming a giant bomb! Lain's sister gets caught up in some sort of a nightmare with no explenation as to how and why and ends up being replaced with somebody- or something else, ultimately ending up being a victim of spontanious Down- syndrome! An Alien appears who turns out to be another version of Lain!

But most rage- inducing is the technical stupidity of the show. An online dungeon- crawler gets inadverdently mixed in with an IRL game of tag played by kindergardeners due to an error in the games protocol! Memories get rewritten via the Internet! Club music houses data that causes people to have mass hallucinations of Lain! There's some sort af a drug that isn't technically a drug but is treated as one! The main villain is the memory and personality of a programmer planted inside the goddamn Hypertext Transfer Protocol, for fucks sake!

And this isn't coming from some random idiots writing fanfiction about computers in the 1950's, no sir! The people responsible for this mess supposedly did a TON of research into the field, so their sheer stupidity and incompetence regarding the subject (which's height is probably the story's implication that computer networking is based on alien technology) is simply inexcusable!

What makes this even worse is that the script given to the characters in the show is absolutely dreadful. Half the time there's dialog, characters pause for five seconds after saying every line. Not only does this give the characters all the emotions of a robot, it makes the viewer feel like he/she is watching some soap opera made in the early eighties in a country under soviet rule. The other half of the time isn't any better either, filled with nonsensical scenes that have absolutely nothing to do with the plot and are nothing but unintelligent claptrap about the Interne- oh I'm sorry, the Wired.

To elaborate the utter stupidity of Lain even further, the story can't even make up it's mind about Lain's origin. Some sort of God(dess) of the Wired she becomes ( as evidenced by the ever- inexplicably- increasing amount of computer- machinery in her room, the way she makes herself omnipresent on the Internetby tying cables around herself and pinning diodes all over her body (you can bet that the original idea involved her shoving the FireWire cable clear up her ass), accompanied by her aforementioned via Internet memory erasing capabilities, she is shown to aquire this status as the story goes on. Except, later the story says that she always was present on the Wired, that she always was a legend! Whereas clearly happenings involving her didn't start until a few episodes into the story! it just goes on and on like that!

(Now is probably the time to mention the only thing Serial Experiments Lain does right, and that's the subject of online personas; how anonymity brings out the true nature of Internet users. A complete tool in real life, barely noticed by a few of her classmates, Lain is treated like the queen of the internet by the online community, and online, she acts as such. Too bad the story completely fucks up all common sence by having her internet persona appearing IRL, sometimes at multiple locations at the same time, but by this point it's not like the story could get any worse, since it practically defines "worst".)

I can only do so much to keep people away from this story. Serial Experiments Lain is stupid, incoherent, offensive to the intelligence of the viewer, and mindbogglingly boring. It practically cements Yoshitoshi Abe as the worst auteur, and Chiaki Konaka as the worst writer in Japan, period (the latter of the two later went on to somehow miraculously bring us both the best and the worst seasons of Digimon -02 and Tamers respectively-). And with that, Serial Experiments Lain cements itself as one the absolute worst stories mankind has ever made.

Viewed as an evolutionary leap that broke the boundaries of the medium and redefined DEEP in a post-cyberpunk setting, a similar reality to ours, it is one of few avant-garde (innovative, experimental, unorthodox) titles ever made by the Japanese anime industry that forces their audience to actually use their brain for the entire duration of the show.

None before it has taken the same concepts and themes shown in the movie Ghost in the Shell (1995) to unreachable heights in the same time span,
has the same amount of disagreements among the staff about what the heck they made,
is purely a mindscrew that required thorough analysis of every scene of every episode, including the stock footage,
shows the story mainly through dialogues and symbols instead of telling or narrating like in Legend of the Galactic Heroes,
and has little/no superficial entertainment.

STORY SECTION - 9.75/10 (Is this all real?)
Plot, Content, Logic - 4/4
Set in modern times, boundary between virtual and actual reality is gradually blurred with the development and increased usage of technology in society with PCs, handheld devices, video games, social networking, and the ever-expanding computer network, called “The Wired” (or the Internet in modern society). A hacker organization, led by Eiri Masami, attempts to unify humanity into “The Wired” through the collective unconscious so the virtual and actual reality cannot be distinguished. This is justified with the unknown effects of Earth’s magnetic fields (Schuman Resonance), Psi ability of humans, evolution, etc. To achieve this, the only heroine Lain Iwakura must comply with the wishes of the said organization and live only in the Wired.

Spoiler or not, that is the plot which is more realistic than NGE’s Instrumentality and has similarities from the original movie Ghost in the Shell (1995). No need for cyborgs, mechs, supernatural BS, and the distant future; just a real science, philosophy, and psychology with a dash of conspiracy theories and few major twists (e.g. fantasy/religion, reality as a whole).

As the title suggests, this is a series of unique experiments (one per episode), focused mostly on LAIN (not just Lain Iwakura), that revolves around its central theme, perception. The material is openly presented through minimal storytelling in the form of monologues, open-ended dialogues, anonymous characters, symbols, and psychedelic and surreal imagery so nothing is absolute. By watching at face value, there are plot holes because the viewer’s vision throughout the entire series is limited. Thus, the audience is forced to make their own interpretations to fill those holes and complete their “reality” of the series while answering its questions about identity, memories, time, existence, morality, concept of God, and more controversial topics. This alone is not confusing enough without the common schizophrenic hallucinations, stagnant or creepy atmosphere, and subtle lies. Add as well the cynical yet fairly accurate criticism of our dependence with technology because of the lack of live communication (or abundance of chats in “The Wired”), insecurity and isolation, apathy and despair, technology (virtual) over human life (real), definition of humanity (anthropological, psychological, sociological, or something else) and other ideas to support the notion of “abandoning the flesh.” This all makes it a series only for the brave few.

Structure - 2/2 (NO FILLERS & BREAKS!)
Everything is almost divided equally in layers and the opening and ending sequences with a key concept related to Lain, the Wired, the organization and Eiri Masami, or the content. There is not a single second of filler as it gets straight to the point since the first viewing of the opening.
Everything is relevant to the plot, character, atmosphere, schizophrenic experience, or just the mindscrew. At first glance, they are disjointed or fragmented but do follow a linear timeline shown in different perspectives through the characters and the medium for communication.
Think of it as a spiral Mandelbrot set with the last episode as its center/core/tip. To which point the series begins is for the viewer to decide.

Since the information is transferred from layer to another, the viewer must have understood the meaning and relevance of every single scene and the importance of the introduced concept or idea to the overall story.

Pacing – 1.75/2
It moves along with Lain Iwakura’s involvement in the Real and the Wired.
The episode pacing is slow enough to give the viewer enough time to ponder the philosophical questions asked and interpret the slight changes in the current frame/s while unnecessary events are skipped and hints were shown sparingly to move on to the next concept and keep the viewer interested. On an episode basis, the pacing is slow or realistically paced but, when examining the entire picture, it is quite fast and can leave you puzzled for the entire duration. The first six episodes are consistent, down to the last second of the ending theme, but the next seven lost its screws and started the mindscrew and WTF!? moments (if the first episode was only slightly/partially confusing). I admit that this second half is hectic to the point of deducting this section a bit but the execution does deliver everything extremely well.

Concluding Arc – 2/2 (Sensible only if you survived the mindscrew)
Consistent with the memory motif that was mentioned and applied in plot developments and twists, the bittersweet ending is perfectly fitting and foreshadowed a few times. Every loose end is tied up if all of dots are connected.

CHARACTER SECTION – 8.25/10
LAIN – 2.75/3
Omnipresent in both the Real and Wired, this being is represented ... well, anything you can think of. In this series alone, it is shown in the form of a Lain Iwakura, a shy, naive, curious, and “ordinary” junior high school girl with two main conflicting personalities, and Lain of the Wired. Her introverted and socially challenged outer layer is meant to relate to the audience and criticize the hikikomori, NEET, otaku, obsessed Internet users, etc. who have abandoned the “real” world to some extent while her repressed inner self asserts her beliefs in the presence of agents, apathetic classmates and family, conspiracists, trollers, and strangers, states her own opinion in straightforward and honest manner, thinks logically, and does her own way. Freudian and Jungian psychology are applied in the usage and blending of these two personalities as she further engages the people around her and translate herself into the Wired.

The only minor problems for her characterization are her naivety, ideas that rarely come out of nowhere, and confusing personality switch which is rarely done for plot convenience.

The rest – 2/3
All of the characters represent the “normal” citizens of modern society that are purposely designed to be realistic but unlikeable with the selfishness, betrayal, lies, fear, depression, mental breakdown, and death in various ways. Existing only to contribute to the plot and fully develop Lain Iwakura, not all of characters have enough screen time and depth. In a way, they are perfect as this allows the audience to focus mostly on the story, the best aspect of the show.

Development – 1.5/2
Atypical for the plot and character are integrated. Both advance at the same pace. Unlike most series where there has to be some sort of obvious conflict, the main protagonist simply levels up by interacting with strangers, going to different places, obtaining new friends, gaining new information, and other normal stuff most of humans do. Each information introduced in the episode adds another layer to her characterization. Gradually, her multiple personalities blend, and access in the Wired improves. What is still unclear in the end is how she manages to switch her personality.

The rest do change but only for the sake of the current demands of the story.

Catharsis: 2/2
Since the characters are never given the same amount of focus on Lain Iwakura, they might as well be dealt with in style. Suicide, insanity, mindscrew, murder/homicide, memory loss, removed from existence, disappearance, abandonment, etc.; everything is there in its uncensored glory. Most are not spared, not even Lain Iwakura. This is not like the Matrix, Black Lagoon, or any other show that just wastes its NPCs or side characters for the sake of plot convenience. Every concluding point of the character’s lives/existence is with reason and can be explained by previous events.

ART SECTION – 8.5/10
General Artwork and Visuals - 5.25/6
Production values are lower than Ghost in the Shell (1995) and Akira (1989).
Stock footage is sometimes used. Passable CGI and real photographs don’t blend well with the actual animated artwork.Common animation flaws in the 90s are probably present here. I can nitpick every single flaw there is but resistence is futile against the experimental art style from a late 90s Japanese anime TV series.

The minimalistic artwork and visuals is filled with so much symbolism in most of the frames that the story can never be fully understood without it. Simple color changes, stock footage, and even just the text (e.g. lain in the OP) has some hidden meanings. High contrasts, striking lighting effects, dark color palette that gives off a melancholic feel, bright watercolors, different animation styles, varying detail of background and foregrounds, screen caps, and smooth lines are good enough just on the aesthetic value. What is more impressive is the entire artwork of its computer hardware and software. Monitors, processors, motherboards, wires, cooling systems, etc. are accurately drawn with detail while the programs used are quite similar to the real ones we have.

Character Figures/Designs -1.75/2
Designed by the talented Yoshitoshi Abe (Haibane Renmei, Texhnolyze, Niea_7), every character looks exactly as one should be, even the NPCs and avatars. None look like blobs, sticks, or other characters in the show; none have weird hairstyles, and faces and reactions (if you exclude the hallucinations and the mindscrew); all are drawn realistically but never distracting. Detailing, shading, and clothing also change depending on the occasion and complement the physicality and personality of the characters.

As for Lain Iwakura, her unique hairstyle, eyes, and bear clothing (e.g. pajamas (my profile picture), hats, and toy) symbolize something and improve her moe and nymph aspects.

There are couple of inconsistencies in some frames due to angling.
Some NPCs lack faces and overall detailing but they are meant to be generic just like the backgrounds so one can focus on the story, the main thing anyone should care about.

Transition/Fluidity - 1.5/2
Accurate positioning/angling and zooming or scrolling of still frames, along with slow movement, is repeatedly used to compliment its content and artwork. Transition between stock and new footage is handled well especially with the change in audio. This, along with artwork mentioned above, produced the atypical OP and simple ED, each perfect in its own right.

As for actual character movement and special effects, it is paced similarly with the atmosphere but is a bit slow at times. There were key moments when characters should actually be moving instead of the frame only. Certain scenes can be presented on a larger scale so we can see more of just everything from characters to backgrounds without sacrificing the story and the focus on Lain.

SOUND SECTION – 9.25/10
Soundtrack – 3.75/4
The opening theme “Duvet” by Boa and the ending theme “Tooi Sakebi” (A Distant Cry) by Nakaido “Chabo” Reichi are excellent choices for they achieve the following:
1.) allow Lain Iwakura to communicate her feelings to the audience (personal pronouns are commonly used)
2.) perfectly describe her situation in her empty “Real” and dark “Wired” lives.
3.) introduce the right atmosphere for entering and exiting the world of LAIN
Both are also in sync with their respective videos.

The OST composed by Reichi “Chabo” Nakaido is a well-crafted collection of unconventional rock, jazz, and techno music. With the exception of Track 10, there are no lyrics but have the same impact, if not more.
Kodoku No Shigunaru (Signal of Solitude) and Inner Vision give a pleasant and relaxing feeling to mark the end of Lain and our journey in this mess. No other BGMs can match them on the same scenes.
Cyberia (nightclub) Theme, Lain’s Theme (Yes, she has her own special music theme), and Kiri no Ijigen supply the seriousness and suspense while complementing the content and atmosphere.

What made this short of a masterpiece is the lack of variety of similar tunes.
The staff played certain BGMs, specifically Kiri no Ijigen, a couple of times when the artwork and dialogue require something more or less “weird”.
The result is a conflict of the emotions previously and currently invoked.
WOW! or WTF!? responses for every episode happens less often. Also, there are a few moments when the BGM is played at the wrong time or does not give off the right tone.

By itself, the soundtrack is perfect, but, when used in the anime, it is not.
The second soundtrack “Cyberia Mix” makes up for flaws of the first.

BGM/SFX – 3/3
The silence and buzzing sounds of cables sounds helps the audience focus on the finer details and important concepts presented in the artwork while the sparingly used creepy or rock tunes and sound effects change the tone to spice things up when necessary. Never was it ever distracting the audience from the current topic and always gave a sense of realism or just weirdness.
Whatever you hear in a room, sidewalks, buildings, vehicle, computer, etc. in our current world, Earth, sounds extremely similar in this show. It tried to be as real as possible and succeeded.

Voice Acting – 2.5/3
Gnerally good for the seiyuu.
The voice actors may lack the emotional touch in their dialogues and sound dull, boring, wooden, or awkward but they manage to maintain the more important ambiance. Lain's voice actor is commendable though.

As for the English and modified voices, the computer software does it exceptionally and beats everything else, including the modern Vocaloids (e.g. Hatsune Miku).

VALUE SECTION - 10/10 (PRESENT DAY, PRESENT TIME!)
Historical Value and Memorability - 7/7
Along with Ghost in the Shell (1995), these are the only prominent cyberpunk titles in the 90s that have significant influence in the treatment of anime and rebirth of the genre itself.

This is one of the few titles ever made to have only one multi-layered female protagonist that ultimately defined the entire series and be remembered for who knows how long.

Lastly, the bear clothing fetish was reintroduced in the anime community.

Replayability - 3/3
Decrypting everything will take the same time as memorizing and implementing all of the right combinations in Dragon Lair from scratch without cheating. The clues are all over the place and it might take days, months, or years and every rewatch can give a different overall understanding of the mystery behind LAIN and the Wired.

ENJOYMENT SECTION – 10/10 (And you don’t seem to understand...)
Having none of the MOE, unnecessary fanservice and violence, storyTELLING, forced and cliché plot devices, overused formulas, bad pacing, and the damned FILLERS and recaps (but I admit that some are enjoyable), one experiences something nonexistent in the majority of all anime titles.

It is a coming of age experience that treats its audience as independent critical thinkers and mature adults. Never does it attempt to manipulate our emotions, caterto specific fetishes, tell the story, waste time, censor controversial images, sugarcoat the content, and any of the like. Instead, it offers the questions , that fuel the human insatiable curiosity, and pure mindscrew by simply overloading the human brain with the constant stream of information about the mysteries, hallucinations, and philosophical notions. One doesn't need to see themselves in the characters like in Neon Genesis Evangelion and Revolutionary Girl Utena or have eyegasms with the animation in the movie versions of the two mentioned titles above. All one needs is to focus on the story and whatever happens to the main character and the rest will follow.
Everything is consistent, neutral, and honest for what it is – avant-garde.

OVERALL OBJECTIVE RATING – 9.29/10
A truly deserving cult classic that still stands to the tests of time by 2011 standards.

Now, watch the AMV (what should be the official trailer) in the given link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaFayr9zI-8t

Suggestion List:
Neon Genesis Evangelion series (popularized the mindscrew/dementia genre and deconstructed the mecha genre, for shounen fans)
Revolutionary Girl Utena (deconstruction of the shoujo genre)
Haibane Renmei (SELain for the casuals)
Texhnolyze (same difficulty, shares some similarities with SELain and NGE)
Boogiepop Phantom (same theme of escapism)
FLCL (easier than all of the above, can be watched by simply chillaxing)

Serial Experiments Lain is an anime like no other.

Lain is an introverted schoolgirl who knows little about computers, until after receiving an email from a girl who committed suicide. Unlike others who see this as a prank, and ignore the email, Lain replies to it. Lain takes this immediate interest in computers and begins learning at an abnormal rate of how to work technology, and The Wired.

The internet is either gone, or was never created in this universe, instead, they have what is called, The Wired. At times the anime refers to it as an upper-layer of the real world. How The Wired actually works, is never fully explained. Some people access it looking into a monitor, others like Lain enter the wired in a seemingly physical state, and is a scene where someone has some sort of visor on, and he can see The Wired while walking around. What the experience is like, is left to the imagination of the viewer.

Now that that is out of the way, I am sorry to say that there is not much about the plot I can reveal without feeling like I'm spoiling something, but I will try to give a general idea. Lain is omnipresent. She exists both in The Wired and the real world. There's not more than one Lain, she exists in more than one area at a time. The thing is, each part of her holds it's own memory and is unaware of what her other parts might do, though there do seem to be exceptions at times. This redefines an "Identity Crisis," and you really start to feel sorry for Lain, and what she goes through. You will start noticing that different Lain "Bodies" hold different behaviors, and throughout the anime you can begin to tell which is which. There's the shy Lain that you were introduced to at the beginning of the anime, the bad-ass Lain, the creepy Lain, the wired Lain, etc.

Serial Experiments Lain does not necessarily have a direct plot. It's about Lain trying to figure out, "What is going on, and when I do find out, what am I going to do about it?" If you desire a direct plot, or something fast-paced, this anime is probably not for you. However if you like anime that involves deep thought, science-fiction, or simply something new... This anime is perfect.

Fall-backs
SEL tends to have pointless explanations. To those who have watched Death Note... do you remember the scene where Light explains his extremely detailed security system for his Death Note, and they never used that in the story? That's what I'm talking about, and SEL is PACKED with these. At one point there is a voice explaining a psychoactive drug and how it works in extreme detail, and it was not needed for the plot at all, even though is makes you think it will be something important.

Where it shines
Like I said, there is no anime like SEL. The art is perfect for the mood of the anime and very unique, the soundtrack is great, and the plot is very original. You could sit down with a friend and watch the entire anime from beginning to end, and still argue on which Lain behavior was which at certain points, or what somebody meant by what they said. The facts of the anime are solid, and the ending is more than satisfying. It's one of those anime that each time you re-watch it, you get something new out of it.

Lain is mostly remembered today for the opening song, or the creepy atmosphere, but it also stand out as a period piece by being one of the best speculative fiction series of the time period it came out. Although the way it presented the internet in its early stages can be seen as silly now that we are all using it, it still predicted how it affects the way people think or how bad guys would abuse it for achieving deification by controlling peoples’ minds. It’s an exaggerated version of what actually happens today. You know, the mass media controlling the narrative, megalomaniac sociopaths promoting their agendas, and many becoming NPCs who are supporting the current thing. The presentation in Lain is of course not that down to earth, it’s done in a metaphysical way, as was the style at the time. Because back then the end of the millennia was near, people were worried about new technologies, and Neon Genesis became a big hit by having the exact same concept with Instrumentality, so let’s copy it to get a piece of the pie.

Historical impact aside, the anime is obviously dated in terms of visuals, although it still holds up in terms of mysterious atmosphere and mindfuck special effects. The biggest issue most newer fans will have with it is how it doesn’t have the usual crap that sell, such as elaborate fight choreographies, or excessive fan service. The heroine can be seen as a waifu when she is dressed in those silly bear pajamas (and you are that fatally desperate to need one for watching an anime), but she’s mostly a surrogate for the viewer. She’s not there as a manic pixie dream girl that motivates some dull guy to participate in some hobby, as is the trend these days. Lain is not entertaining, it’s not about carefree characters in some high school and there are no silly romantic triangles.

You see, the bulk of anime are about escapism. To run away from the boredom of your dull existence and into a realm of excitement and lack of responsibility. Lain seems to be doing that at first with everyone getting hooked on their internet and videogames (with wireless joysticks I must point out, at a time when it wasn’t widespread or cheap). And then it makes the whole thing to seem horrifying by changing peoples’ perception, and by causing death and mayhem everywhere. In effect it becomes anti-escapism and a cautionary tale on what happens when you indulge too much in any hobby. That’s the prime difference with something like Sword Art Online which is the polar opposite of what Lain is going for. You know, videogames are cool, I too wanna get trapped in a virtual reality and have lots of waifus being amazed with me. That is the main difference between sci-fi shows of the late 1990s and the 2010s. Back then almost everything was serious and scary. Lain is of the same vein as something like the original Ghost in the Shell movie. Philosophical, about loss of self in a virtual sea of impersonal information. What happens if your consciousness becomes data and you get a fusion of man and machine? Do you become a God? Do you ascend into a higher dimension? It’s that shit that makes science fiction great and memorable.

With that said the show has its problems. How does a girl who doesn’t know or like computers that much changed so fast in a few episodes? It feels like a character rewrite because we don’t see the change, it happens out of screen. It’s the same thing with Kirito and Asuna in Sword Art Online loving each other when we hardly see them together. I mean, it’s done for maintaining a sense of mystery by making you ponder why does such a thing happen, but it’s still too sudden. Also why does nobody do something if videogames and The Wired are forcing people to commit suicide? What are the parents doing, the teachers, or the police? Why don’t they ban or regulate the damn thing? Because if they did we wouldn’t have a story.

Also the whole concept of technology changing your perception is resolved in a really cheap way at the end that almost makes the whole theme pointless. The answer to the mystery of what is going on and why is Lain acting like a different person at times is not her losing touch with reality because of overexposure to The Wire. She was a deity. Not because of the internet, she was all along. So, um, what kind of a moral message does that leave you with? It’s no longer about how technology changes her, because she was always different. She was another Suzumiya Haruhi, which is not helpful when she’s supposed to be a stand-in for the viewer. Oh, what a betrayal. We are mortals, we wanna view and evaluate the show with mortal standards. That’s why it was way better when in the Haruhi anime the protagonist was Kyon. A mortal, not the goddess.

As if that wasn’t enough, the mortals in Lain (and by that I mean every other character in the show) don’t achieve that much. Not only the heroine takes up most of the screentime, the others don’t affect the outcome much. There’s this really elaborate conspiracy going on that involves a dozen different things which are resolved in a hurry at the end and in a cheap way because the heroine can do a lot of weird reality warping shit. So what was the point of the show? If you are not the Special Chosen One from the very start you are fucked? Thanks every popular fighting shonen ever made! What would we do without your important moral message?

With that said, Lain is still a good watch. It’s thematically powerful and attracting as a mystery, the music and the atmosphere hold up. It’s just that it’s very impersonal (and dare say un-relatable if you are a feelfag) when you get the answers and not everything comes together in an organic way at the end. It works far better conceptually than it does in execution. Still worth recommending, but not flawless.