Serial Experiments Lain

Boy, how I remember my first time wathing this.

I had no idea what I had just watched (I'm still not entirely sure I do), but whatever it was, I loved it.

Lain is by far one of my favorite animes of all time. The story is deep, well thought out, and very entertaining throughout. The characters develop perfectly, the atmosphere is incredible, and the story is flawless. Some of the story is left slightly open ended, leaving the viewer to fill in his or her own conclusions.

Tech heads will relate to this story effortlessly. The Wired is easily a souped up version of our own Internet, and the history isn't outrageously far from our own and well explained. The parallels between our world and this fictional world really make things interesting. This series really hits a sweet spot for sci-fi technological dramas.

Every anime fan should see this series, but be prepared for a brain twister. I've watched it a good five times and I can honestly say I still find new tidbits of the story every time. You just can't sit back and put your brain on cruise control; You must make an effort to follow the story or it will leave you mercilessly lost and confused.

And remember folks, this is fiction. You have to be willing to suspend belief a few times and accept the universe of the work at hand. Those unwilling or unable to do this, need not apply. Think of it as a deep mystery novel. Even when following the concrete parts of the story with great attention, there's enough misdirection to leave you wondering what if... and that's half the fun.

If you simply can't accept that the story isn't handed to you neatly gift wrapped, and that you may have to fill in the details from your own imagination, then go watch a simpler anime. This isn't for you. If you like the confusing story of animes like Neon Genesis Evangelion, or Boogiepop Phantom then you'll love this. If you live and breath technology, you'll only love it that much more. All in all, this is a masterpiece of animation.

• Rirath_com

As most have already pointed out, `Serial Experiments: Lain' is a rather unique Japanese anime series. Watching `Lain' is not an easy trip to take, certainly, but one that is totally engaging nonetheless. Although exactly what the show is `about' is subjective and is open to interpretation to all who see it, I believe some people are completely missing some key points. Some have complained about the lack of character development during the series. But one must understand, that's the whole essence of the series: alienation. Look at the shots in Lain's classroom when the teacher is writing on the blackboard; all the other students except Lain are grayed-out. Look at the scene where Lain shows her father the Psyche processor and look how far she stands from him. Even look at the name of the club, Cyberia (as in Siberia: a cold, desolate place of exile). It's all done to emphasize how far, how detached, how alienated Lain is from everyone else. The direction in `Lain' is brilliant in depicting this. We, the audience, exist in the real world as we watch Lain, but we hardly ever get to know her. Yet we know she has a deeper personality because of what other characters say about her (`weren't you the girl at Cyberia?' Etc). These facets, which we only get a rare glimpse of, are her `online-self'. There have been studies that have shown a paradoxical relationship between time spent on the Internet and isolation and loneliness. Japan is one of the most `online' nations in the world, with almost 40% of the population having Internet access. At the same time, Japan also has one of the highest suicide rates amongst developed nations (which brings to mind a scene early in the series of the girl who commits suicide). Many are concerned with Japan's trouble youths and the increasing difficulty many have forming meaningful relationships with others. The only meaningful relationship we, the audience, see Lain have with another person is with Arisu. Other than some brief instant messaging via a palm pilot, Lain and Arisu's relationship exists entirely in the real world, not on the Wired. So, to me, the entire series is a metaphor for this increasing isolation of Japanese youth in an ever-expanding high tech world. For those having troubling getting into this series, I say focus on the directing, the atmosphere, the metaphors used throughout. Come to your own conclusions. I highly recommend this bittersweet, highly unique series to any who want to branch out from familiar territory.

Last night I finally received the last of 4 DVDs in this mind-blowing series. This series is to anime in general what films like American Beauty are to movies in general. Don't let the word anime turn you off, folks. Doing so would be like comparing Schindler's List to The Kentucky Fried Movie...

The story follows Lain, a shy, adolescent school girl. After receiving an email from a classmate who committed suicide a few days earlier, Lain begins to examine the world, society, god, self, technology, and how these concepts fit together. The fact that such an email could easily be faked is irrelevant, but instead we focus on how Lain's perspective changes as she learns to deal with life. This 13-part series, spanning 4 DVDs, is the best aspects of American Beauty, The Sixth Sense, 2001, and (to a lesser degree) The Matrix rolled into one subtle and beautiful story.

Note that this is NOT an action-packed story, nor does it lessen itself by trying to cater to the lowest common denominator. Nor does it ever come straight out and explain itself or what is going on. That's not the purpose of the story. The purpose is to make you think about your own place in life, and how you deal with it. The story is never judgemental, it simply gives you things to think about. It raises more questions than could possibly be answered given the limitations of language. The answers can only be understood, never explained.

In keeping true to the Zen Buddhist traditions of Japan, the animation style is often minimalistic, offset by the frenetic chaos of the computer animation added to it. This is an intentional counterpoint to the more natural looking animation, often consisting more of still paintings than movement, and the effect is stunning.

So if you are looking for a thought-provoking way to spend about five and a half hours of your time, I cannot recommend this more. If you understood what made American Beauty such an incredible movie, you'll love Serial Experiments: Lain.

I feel like I have to say a few things about zetes's rant. For one, it's kind of depressing when people watch 4 episodes of a show and feel like they know everything about it. To put things in perspective, this is like watching the first 35 minutes of a movie and being convinced that it's worthless. But onto his points:

1. Yeah, a lot of effort does go into making the show more mysterious, but eventually it really does touch on themes that would appeal to those looking for something intellectual, especially functionalism, descriptive materialism, and the problems with a wholly materialistic interpretation of identity. Don't expect hardcore analytic philosophy, just a nice sprinkling of references and some interesting perspectives.

2. When you first start watching the series, it makes absolutely no sense, and every episode just seems to be adding to the complexity by introducing new aspects. But by the time you finish it, I guarantee that all of these things will make perfect sense (even why Lain's family seems so shallow and undeveloped). In this sense, the series creates perfect order out of total chaos, an aspect that I particularly liked.

3. I'm not going to pretend to be a film critic, but the directing seemed pretty effective at creating the kind of atmosphere that the series needed. And many of the episodes ended with great "what the hell just happened?" moments, that forced me to revise all my theories and definitely made me want watch more.

No offense to zetes, but you shouldn't watch this anime expecting to find character portraits or traditional "slice-of-life" drama. Just like any good existentialist movie ("Donnie Darko" comes to mind here) it won't make too much sense until you've watched the whole thing and maybe even thought about it a bit. So if you feel like you won't be satisfied unless you get your moral straight-up, then this series isn't for you. It'll make you think and will only provide you with more question, not answers.