Serial Experiments Lain

Lain was an incredible anime. It blew away all the anime stereotypes by creating a story with almost no romance, action, or comedy. It was a story of a girl who got so in touch with her virtual identity that she essentially broke the border between reality and virtual reality. Without giving away too many spoilers, I'll try to elaborate on what the anime is really about. It's basically putting reality into question; What really gives us our identity? Memories? Because if no one remembered us, how would we be identified? But memories can be lost, destroyed, changed. Meaning that our identities themselves can be lost, destroyed or changed. So do we even have real, defined identities, or do we simply exist as the current memories of others? But it is basically saying that reailty happens according to how we remember it. If you remember something happening, then - as far as you know - that's what happened. You can't deny your memories until something else can change them or prove them wrong. So if you don't remember something, who's to say it happened? You can't prove it did, and until you change your mind, it remains a truth. Because you live in your world, and your world alone. People are as you see them, they are seen by your eyes, your mind. If your mind is "wrong", then you see them "wrong". But who's to say that it's wrong? And how could you ever possibly know if your mind is wrong? You can't understand your mind's "errors" with an erred mind. And those errors are defined by another's mind, so their mind could be erred instead of yours. Or maybe we simply all have different minds, and none of them are wrong. Sorry, I'm getting confusing again, I hope that's understandable enough though. It's really something worth thinking about. The other concept brought up is God. The anime poses the question: what is God? Does it even exist, and if it did, what would it be? Do we create a God? Or does it exist without us? Could it exist without us? Because, what is a God without its people? It holds no status if there is nothing for it to be higher than. People define their God, and create their God, and without them there would be no God.So then, is God perfect? If it exists in us, because of us, and is created by us and how we want it to be, what power does a god hold? When the physical reality we all take for granted turns out to be different than we thought, than what happens to God? Can a regular person become God? Serial Expirements Lain is refreshing to watch, because instead of tackling a bunch of moral conflicts through "determination and fighting spirit!!!" like way too many other anime/manga out there, it doesn't really work on morals at all. It just tries to make the viewer take a step back and look at the world around him; reality isn't always what it seems and we aren't what we always think we are. It's not a moral message, its a message of awareness.

Unlike most other animes at that time, SEL was not based on any manga or light novel, it was an original. Let me at first tell you that this is definitely not the only criteria that makes this anime unique. Firstly I would like to say that if you want a fast anime with lots of action or generally lots of things happening this is not for you; if you want an anime with romance or ecchi this is not for you; if you want an anime that starts with a bang from start and keeps on its definitely not for you; and lastly if you think after watching this you will soon forget the plot and get on with your next on watch list I say at the beginning its not that forgettable. This is an anime that makes you stop and think, makes you ponder the reality surrounding you and most certainly makes you question your beliefs. And if you think of the time when this aired that was and I think still is one of the most unique traits of any anime. STORY SEL is a story of a girl named Lain. She seems to be so ordinary at the start but please hold on till episode 3-4 then everything changes. At the beginning of the anime one of Lain's classmates commit suicide after telling everyone that she does not need to exist in this world anymore and next day all of her classmates receive an email from her. At first all thinks its a joke or something but slowly the plot progresses and we find the real truth. Lain was a shy girl with almost no experience of computers and the world of the wire (which is the writers idea of a much more developed form of internet) but she eventually finds out that she is quite skilled in computers and gets deeply involved in the world of the wired and then everything turns weird. If I say more of the plot I will just spoil the anime for you so let me just say this just be patient with the first few episodes and if you like a good story you will not be disappointed. For me story is the best part of this anime and it gets 9 out of 10. CHARACTER If anything is better than the storyline is SEL its the characters. They are only a few characters that are fully evolved to be true but still the rest are also developed with equal discretion. Lain, the main character is probably one of the well portrait protagonists for me in any anime. She is created with so much attention to every aspect that its like a flawless character, all the dialogues and the sell-centered thinking gets viewers interested more and more to learn more about her reality and always makes them guess why is she acting like that. With every episodes Lain grows more and more until all watchers will grow into the plot progressively. Other interesting characters include Masami Eiri who is although not a likeable personality but still the way he is portrait you can not but understand his logic too. Alice is another very unique character whose plot was another well placed part in this beautiful puzzle. Rest of the cast includes Lains parents and sister, her other friends and mysterious Men in Black none of whom seems to disappoint either. Characters are the strongest part of this anime and gets 10 out of 10 from me. ART/ANIMATION Arts are not the main feature of this anime and there is no stunning animations to make you go wow, but you have to remember it was 1998 almost 15 years ago so in that time it must have been not bad at all. There is also use of some experimental colored backgrounds wich actually gives some sequences good atmospheric value. I will give the art.animation 8 out of 10. SOUND/OST In the anime they are is very sparse use of sound effects present. Sometimes even dialogues are so few but all just adds to the affect of the unique atmosphere the director was trying to create. Most of the sound used in the anime are ambient stuff but the opening track by Boa and the ending by Reichi Nakaido are so good that most people will definitely check out the soundtrack for those. Overall the tracks and the ambient noise pieces and blend of sparse effects and dialogue adds immensely to the overall enjoyment of the experience. I myself like the OST quite a lot and still listen to the Reichi Nakaido ending occasionally. Sound gets from me 9 out of 10. At the end I would like to say that this anime is a piece of art and like most art is not for everyone. But people who like food for thought with their entertainment and a good overall story and unique characters (lets face the truth, now-a-days good and unique characters are such a rarity in animes) should not miss out on this anime. All this talk of this makes me want to watch SEL again and that is also another point for this anime its re-watch value. OVERALL SCORE 9 out of 10

Note: I ain't no english speaker Everyone is connected I recently finished one of the most iconic and groundbreaking anime in history. Honestly is very difficult to write a review as my brain is trying to recover from the mind-melting experience of watching Serial Experiments Lain, but I am going to do my best. SEL is all about making you think. While other anime want to simply amuse you, SEL tries to connect with you and tries to create some kind of "bond" between you and your conscious, pretty much what NGE and GhitS do (or try to). SEL uses (and abuses) your intelligence and your darkest feelings in order to get you into the plot. I'll simply put it this way: you can't watch SEL "just for fun", it requires your full atention and sometimes you will have to stop and re-think what you just watched. I am not going to breakdown the story for you. All I am going to say is that is amazing. The story presents some of the major teenage issues of modern Japan (suicide, technology addiction, careless parenting) and connects them with a sci-fi plot. In this context SEL's plot is essentialy a psychological thriller driven by different situations that at first seem like random events with philosophical deepness but that in the end are connected with Lain's nature and her interpretation of the world. There is an interesting theory that Lain is a personification of Jesus and that the whole serie is an interpretation of Christ's life. That's probably the most beautiful thing about SEL: everyone perceives it different and has an unique interpretation of it, and there are not rights or wrongs. SEL's art and animation are fine. It seems like a low budget production that some genius turned into a masterpiece (like Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs), but it is not really an issue and the characters expressions are really good. The soundtrack is great and the intro song is one of my favourites. SEL is not "worth a shot", it is much better and much more reccomendable than most anime out there. Then again remember that it is not an action-packed shonen that you can marathon. You must take a time after each episode to interpretate what you just watched. In the end though it will be worth your time and you will feel the satisfaction of have watched an anime classic that helped you to open your mind.

For better viewing I highly recommend watching at 1.5x speed to improve: animation fluidity and timewasting cost-cutting slowed time overall, even the OP/ED music sound much better and more ethereal once one gets used to it. Released in 1998 shortly after a much similar movie, Dark City and shortly before that one's inspired movie, The Matrix (1999). Serial episodes Lain is a rather surface-level depiction of the 1-note concept of an AI singularity that never moves beyond the 1st episode, instead rehashing the 1 concept of a machine god over and over again every episode for the entire series (in serial) and ultimately failing to do anything with it, even going so far as to progress negatively in the end when it self-deletes effectively to ep 0 and then says "omnipotence means anything is possible so it can be whatever dontcha know?" The themes raised are barely explored and mostly just there by nature of the scifi premise, it doesn't actually make any morality conclusions about anything really beyond a general pessimistic bitterness towards everything/society: religion/cult/celebrity, pedophilia (lewd shots of children, adults manipulating MC to undress to better build internet-infrastructure, teachers dating children, etc. for no reason, in other words the writer just likes making pedophilia), god, identity, singularity, technology vs luddite, conspiracy theories(aliens, illuminati, men in black gov, etc.), nihilism. This is a frustratingly shallow depiction of basic scifi/psychology concepts which refuses to ever actually explore those concepts with any depth. Instead it merely introduces each concept, then loses interest after doing a few pointless scenes related to it. For example: Videogames that cause violence: pretty self-explanatory concept. Merely a pretext for 'technology makes people go crazy' and 'must become one with the digital world'. Accel-drug-nanobot: introduced (along with irrelevant infodump wiki copypasta explaining basic concepts about nanomachines or whatever) merely as technology-addiction-drug parallel as pretext for 'technology makes people go crazy' and 'must become one with the digital world'. Dead girl suicide and emails: introduced because technology addictive and makes people go crazy and must become one with the digital world, goes nowhere, effectively dropped beyond pointless ghost appearances. Dead guy suicide: introduced because technology addictive and makes people go crazy and must become one with the digital world. (Gee we seem to be repeating the same concept and not going anywhere with it). ALL CHARACTERS: Sister: gets fridged harder than Casca because technology makes people go crazy and become one with the digital world (but mostly because character writing is hard and she got dangerously close to being an actual character and having a role in the story so just nip that in the bud and have a bunch of pointless scenes of her being a vegetable instead, this goes nowhere but at least it's consistent). Mother: kissing, annoyed, non-character, dropped. Alice in Wonderland: Complaining, WAHHHHHH (Lain loves you because you were a little friendly to her and the least mean of the 'friend' bitches bullying her and totally not because lesbian pedophilia ok?). Knights(illuminati): want to make the singularity, so help a program learn to self-actualize its code better before becoming irrelevant to machine god. Lain exposes them for no reason and then the G-men kill them all because the writer can't think of anything else to actually do with any of these potential (non)plot-lines. G-men: like to watch little girls for the entire season while cryptically saying filler, girl god kills them because writing is hard. ESP: IS REAL DONTCHA KNOW, MAYBE THAT'S HOW STUFF DOES THE THING, WHO KNOWS? immediately dropped and never mentioned again after 1 scene. The scientist created a hivemind AI by killing children: HEY THAT'S HOW LAIN ORIGINALLY, UNLESS- dropped forever immediately. ALIENS ARE REAL: because alienation, get it? Immediately dropped as anything other than superficial symbolism to never actually be explored. Identity!?: intro-psychology 1-sentence copypastas that mostly are dumb on the face of it if they even manage to be more than rambling nonsense. I THINK I AM LAIN THEREFORE I AM LAIN BECAUSE LAIN IS LAIN. HOW CAN THERE BE OTHER VERSIONS OF ME?!?!?! This waste of dialogue gives Eva's final 2 episodes a run for the crown of most juvenile attempt at introspection sequences. GOD: EXISTS. IN VARIOUS POTENTIAL FORMS. TALKS CRYPTICALLY. DOES NOTHING. THE END. I'll not go on as you can see none of it actually goes anywhere. Spoilers: The plot itself is incredibly bare bones and mostly just wastes your time: (unlike all these other plebs) our Lain is a divinely created being from the beginning of ep 1, therefore she is already in a world manipulated by the authorial insert of god (who is either: the true creator god, a creator of their potentially simulated reality, the scientist who coded the origin of the singularity in Wired and digitized his mind, or (passing the buck) a prior godly iteration of Lain (instead of a prior iteration, it could be god Lain of the future retconning reality/herself in the past)) and the world is either a simulated reality and/or a bs/arbitrary reality where nothing matters dicked around by the whims of an actively extant god. Frankly the only worthwhile/realistic/reasonable explanation (aside from near equally uninteresting fku God/magic/dream cop outs) for how Lain can rewrite reality through tinkering computers into singularity is that we only see a simulated reality in the matrix from the start and it's all just a visual metaphor for Lain rewriting her own code to evolve as a further and further advanced AI. So we watch lain become a new god of the machine. 1-note plot. Takes the entire goddamn series and does nothing with it. Personally I'd go with it all as a simulated reality and her 'techy father' is a body avatar for those running the simulation, overwriting her 'non-techy father' occasionally to guide Lain towards singularity, and afterwards he reveals himself to god Lain as her father again yet as a real (alien) god himself beyond her reality's control. Congrats, you've depicted the concept of AI singularity. Shame you didn't really do anything with it. The show is just spectacle over substance. At least the random little Engrish puns are fun for us English speakers: Weird Wired World dot com, Lain LAN lane. 1/10 (where 5/10 is average)

Under its apparition of slow pacing and dull characters, their lies in the depths of Serial Experiments Lain; the most unique method of storytelling I have ever seen. The key to this is in the writers' careful decision to leave multiple coherent interpretations of the plot open to the viewer, in essence creating (at least) two separate (but thematically connected) stories with the one show. This bizarre method of storytelling is done by presenting the viewer with one apparent sequence of events and character interactions, then retroactively reinterpreting them in later episodes. It's recklessly abstruse and will put off many viewers (just like the opening of this review), but by the same token is incredibly rewarding for the viewer willing to put some proper effort into working out what is going on or do some extra research about the show after having seen it. There are a plethora of easter eggs, references and philosophical ideas thrown at the viewer, often related to the concept of self in an online world. The titular character of the show and her interactions with people from different walks of life comprise the vehicle through which these ideas are explored. The artwork is the product of Yoshitoshi ABe. I should be able to leave it at that. His character designs are stunning and the choices in set design and visual presentation make it clear that there was a very strong level of communication between ABe and Nakamura and Ueda, the director and producer respectively. The atmosphere invoked by the humming of electrical lines, the pulsing of cars through the arteries of streets, the whirring of computer's internal organs and so on is eerie and surreal. There isn't a strong use of background music in the show, but this scarcity only makes the few tracks that do make an appearance stand out all the more. It's worth noting that certain songs are contextual cues in the show and play into the plot in a small way. The OP is magnificent, and surprisingly enough sung in English. In order to get the most out of this show, whenever you're presented with two contradictory events try to start with the assumption that it was intentional and then reflect on why such an inconsistency would be presented, remembering that the key information with which you can make sense of a scene may lie in a later episode. Although I gave this show a 10 I feel that it is necessary to clarify that I do not consider this show flawless, but rather that the flaws it does have don't detract from the overall experience. For example, the pacing in the opening episodes is incredibly slow, but this works in the show's favour later on as you spend more and more time trying to make sense of the events shown. On repeat viewings, even the first episode no longer feels like it is dragging on, as by then it has become obvious that even minor details can be interpreted in significant ways. In summary, Serial Experiments Lain is not just a puzzling show, but a puzzle, and an incredibly satisfying one to try to solve, even if you do wind up with more new questions than answers at times. The key is online.

IF YOU VALUE YOUR TIME DO NOT WATCH THIS ANIME. I tried once in 2022 and I got quite far to around episode 11 but I just couldn't keep going. Finally took the time to rewatch this year and it just reconfirmed how I felt about this anime. Some of the worst storytelling ever, its just not entertaining to watch at all. Trying to keep this review spoiler free so I wont really say anything, mostly just want this here as a warning to anyone down to earth. And the only reason I'm giving this a 2 is because the art and aesthetic are masterfully crafted and they're in my opinion the only reason this show is popular is that.

Serial Experiments Lain was anime series that I had wanted to see for a long time. It was touted by many as one of the most intelligent and strange anime series ever created. While I will say that this show had a lot in the way of strangeness, it unfortunately had significantly less in the way of intelligent storytelling. Sure, it plays around with a few interesting ideas (e.g. identity, the collective unconscious, man's relationship to burgeoning information technology, God, ect...) but these ideas are never explored in any real depth and mostly relegated to the role of window dressing. This was the most disappointing part of the show for me because, when all was said and done, you could have a more trippy and thought-provoking experience by reading the introductory chapters in a book on metaphysics than through watching the entirety of Serial Experiments Lain. As a lover of weird and abstract cinema, I really wanted to like this show. Unfortunately, this show mishandled almost everything it had going for it and spent way too much time on the relationship between the bland character of Lain and her equally bland friend Alice. In fact, every single character in Serial Experiments Lain was bland and wholly lacking in any depth or nuance. This show has nothing to offer aside from a few interesting ideas and visually engaging sequences. Your time would likely be better spent reading some of Carl Jung's work on archetypes and the collective unconscious or watching Terence McKenna's lectures on man in the age of intelligent machines than it would be watching this show. If anything, the experience would likely prove to be much more intellectually stimulating and engaging. When it comes to this show, I think it is safe to say that the universal praise lavished on Serial Experiments Lain is a case of the Emperor new clothes.

This series can pretty be summed up with one word: Nonsense Don't be fooled by people who tell you this is an intellectual series, or that "it gets better" because it doesn't. Serial Experiments Lain is an underrated show, and it deserves to be. I only finished this show because the sheer amount of randomness had me interested that it might eventually lead to an ending that made sense of it all, how dissapointed I was on episode 13... If you enjoy still images of power lines with humming sounds, this is the show for you. The story is extremely pretentious and nonsensical, pretty obvious that the director was cramming as many random ideas and concepts into each episode as possible without thinking about important details like characters and plot. There is a lot of pointless pseudo philosophy with no real meaning, and "acid trip" memes, "How can you be me if i am me?" silliness. The art is below average, there's not much action and the characters don't look very appealing. Everything is pretty bland and dated looking. and occasionally a scene might have some fluid looking animations, but more often then not it looks pretty terrible. 4/10 The sound ranges from nothing to poor. The music is pretty boring (when there is music at all) most of the show is silence, with the occasional beat in the background to build tension. In general the sound is pretty bad, you'll mostly be listening to the hum of power cables for half the show. I also recall a particularly annoying solo guitar rift that went on for half an episode, it was very rough and annoyed the hell out of me. Characters were all garbage. not much to say. Mostly just giving the silent treatment and looking away when asked simple questions. A lot of the character behave irrationally and change randomly during the show for no real reason. Overall I give it a 3/10. pretty terrible show, wouldn't recommend it to anybody. It was not what I expected when It was recommended to me by a friend. The show is not smart or sophisticated like people would have you believe.

I don’t get it. Maybe this is just a relic from a time before we talked about the Singularity and before the internet. The anime clearly strives for something. It has a lot of philosophical quotes. Characters say things like “what isn’t remembered never happened”. There is typography on the screen, references to Roswell and Jung and the theme of ‘identity’ (Why do I always roll eyes when I see this?). Now, it’s not just a collection of anime-style drawings stuck together in a pretentious and unbearable form. Lain doesn’t just copy the form of ‘intelligent’ storytelling. There is always a drive behind it. It feels more like the writers have a lot to ask and to say. They’re so excited by it that they will use all these techniques with hope of transmitting it to the viewer. Too bad it never really gels. It asks questions about identity, but how? How is having different versions of Lain automatically question the theme of ‘identity’? Couldn’t they think of a less predictable and perhaps more meaningful way to do it? It’s almost as if the themes are expressed and name-dropped, but not actually demonstrated. Having people mention God and omniscience doesn’t mean you explore the theme of theology. You need to show how it affects characters’ lives and perception of reality. You need to show what effects such a God would have if it existed. It’s not enough to just have characters with multiple identities. You need this to blend into the story. You need this to be a meaningful story element first of all. Themes shouldn’t just be talked about. You need moments that demonstrate the effect of these ideas. Only complete morons think philosophy is solely for discussions. We constantly act on our philosophies. This attitude towards philosophy is perhaps what fuels the anime, and what ruins it. It’s a shame because there’s more drive than pretense, more desire to explore than to look smart. Lain never feels like more than an armchair exercise, a ‘what if?’ thought experiment that has profound words but lacking conclusions. Often, there are moments that point to a brilliant anime. The anime isn’t a monochrome grimdark piece of crap. Even if the mood is generally gloomy, it’s not afraid of showing the sun or the occasional smile. Its setting is believable enough psychologically. It also has a clear aesthetics and knows how to express it. Still shots of wires appear often, but ever enough to become distracting. They add some atmosphere and go away. Artificial light also gets a lot of focus, but never too much. Plenty of times, it’s just another element in the show. Unlike its little brother Texhnolyze, the anime’s scenes always have more than one purpose. Its sense of style saves what could’ve been hilariously bad scenes. There are almost whole episodes dedicated to info dumps about certain topics. They’re entertaining though. The combination of imagery with the electronic soundtrack fits the mood. Since exchanging information is a big theme, this technique of info dumps actually fits themetically too. This sort of ‘experimental narrative’ isn’t too original if you watched a film like Pi or Eraserhead, but the creators know it’s not enough. You need to do more than just rip off the conventional story structure. So by replacing it with odd imagery that’s always loaded, the anime is amusing enough. It never just tells you how it intelligent it is. It tries to make you involved in the imagery, in its meaning and emotional implication. All this effort is wasted, though. In the end, the story is too divorced from reality. It gets lost in its experimental narrative and weird imagery. It’s as if I was too busy figuring out what’s going on, what it expresses. It was too distant. It was too experimental, as if I’m busy figuring out the anime rather than thinking about the themes. I’m not interested in pounding my head to understand a cryptic philosophical quote. I want a statement so profound I could connect it logically to a hundred subjects. Crypticness isn’t profound. A wide-eyed approach is. I can imagine this story working if only the creators scaled back a bit. Have a little more dialogue. Have a little more exposition. Tone down the weird imagery a little. Focus on asking whether the ideas are clear, and less on weirding the audience out. Think, first of all, why theology and identity and communication matters. Only then set out to explore them. If you can’t convince me the theme is important in the first place, I’m not interested in thinking about it. Of course, I’m not writing it off as just a bunch of pretentious dudes patting themselves on the back. It’s a, well, failed experiment. It kept me curious enough that I enjoyed it even while being utterly confused. It does have a conclusion that ties it together. It has a purpose, but I wasn’t sure what it is. Hopefully someday I’ll know. It’s better than Texhnolyze, at least. Post-Script: This review has been written a long time ago and I’ve been wary of publishing it. The anime isn’t confusing in the traditional, ‘I don’t know what’s happening so it’s good!’ way. It’s too stylish for me to write it off as pretentious doodle, but it’s too abstract to explore its themes in a satisfying manner. I’m reminded of abstract stories like Paranoia Agent and Pi. These stories relied more on meaningful scenes than coherent storytelling, but exploring their ideas was their primary focus. They never get unnecessarily weird. It’s easy to follow the abstract parts because the themes are established and followed. Lain dives headfirst into the surrealism with so much conviction, it’s as if the excitement over being experimental overtakes the desire to explore ideas. I consider this my most inconclusive review so far. I’ll need to watch this again soon to determine whether it’s just pretentious doohicky or if it really went over my head. 3 boxes of cereal out of 5

It took me THREE damn tries to watch this anime. And by the end I can finally acknowledge the hype and say yes, it's good. It's also not great. You can gush and say it's brilliant, and it certainly has moments of brilliance and there're moments where it isn't. For the story…this anime does have a story, but the point of the anime certainly isn't the story. The story starts off very slow sans the first few minutes where a girl commits suicide. If you can make it through the first 4-5 episodes with your motivation to watch intact, then I think you'll enjoy the later episodes. The plot is very environment centric. The world is very developed and there are many clues and intricacies to understanding the world that are important to both the theme and plot of the show. A small hint, the episode titles can be quite helpful if an episode confuses you :) The art is very good-looking for its time and still does hold up quite well. If anything else the visuals in this show do complement the rest of it exceptionally. Except during certain times towards the beginning that I'll get into in the next paragraph. The soundtrack and ambiance is hit and miss. The show goes for an eerie stillness and often you hear just silence with sound effects to help create some atmosphere. The problem with this is that the show doesn't always give you something to think about during the long stretches of little visual or auditory stimulus. In most horror or thrillers the silence makes you think about what horrible things or events might be lurking around the corner. In SEL you can end up just sitting there waiting for something to happen. As far as characters go there is Lain and the supporting cast. Lain is brilliant. She is a well-developed, fulfilled, and complex character that really does carry the show. We don't get a ton of info about any of the supporting cast, but they do all fill their purposes quite well, and the less focus placed on them means more focus on Lain. That works out just fine. Now although it actually took some work for me to watch the show to completion (when is that ever a good thing?), I did enjoy it by the end. The themes of the story don't stray throughout and the story even has a few great moments on it's own. It really is one of the best additions to the fairly uncommon cyberpunk genre. So if computery sci-fi interests you, I'd definitely give this a watch.

I'm astounded to see the amount of 10s given to this anime on this site. I had a very different experience. I found this anime unbelievably boring. In the large majority of the episodes nothing remotely exciting happens. I literally fell asleep while watching this show on multiple occasions (I rewatched what I missed so I can speak intelligently about the show, but mannnnn was it a snorefest for me...). I thought the sound effects and the music were really nice but I feel that plus the deep discussion one could have about their interpretation of the plot after the fact were the only high points. It's graphically dated and hasn't aged well, the voice acting isn't particularly good, it's weird, confusing, hard to follow and often nonsensical and it tries to be way too philosophical for its own good. It was going for deep and mind-blowing and for me it was weird and boring. I have a hard time believing this would keep the attention of most anime watchers, especially the younger crowd that prefers far more action-oriented/faster paced anime than this, but if you're the type that finds symbolism and philosophical concepts utterly riveting, this is your anime. Just don't expect anything exciting whatsoever, ever, to happen along the way. ZzzZZzzzZZZ.... Objective rating- 4 on its absolute best day and probably worse and worse over time Personal enjoyment rating- 3 AT BEST

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 introduced 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 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”. 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 and is more realistic than NGE’s Instrumentality with similarities from the original movie Ghost in the Shell (1995). No need for cyborgs, mechs, supernatural BS, and the distant future; just real science, philosophy, and psychology with a dash of conspiracy theories and a 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. Su…

Let's now recall why Serial Experiments Lain stands as my favourite anime ever (not that i watched much, to be honest) -> If there's one true thing about everything you've heard of this series, is the fact that Lain isn't your common show, It doesn't focus on things such as character development or plot, and instead decides to go analyzing diverse aspects related primarily with communication and technology (A.K.A the internet, or "the Wired" as they call it). In fact, the only coherent part of the plot of this series is this: Lain gets a computer and starts knowing about "The wired", everything else from there on can be considered screwed up, or a masterpiece, depending of how you take it - So it's difficult to rate the story because there's just too much stuff there that can't be related directed to the plot directly, but it serves to explore deeper into the topics at hand: Still, many would feel it's just pure nonsense. -> The Art and sound are maybe the best things on SEL, because the simpleness of it really makes an impact of the "weird" factor, dialog lines are lacking, and the art at many times is so simple but it makes the job so well, Duvet by Boa is a song i truly love, and it sets the mood perfectly for this kind of show, and as usual, Yoshitoshi ABe's style is outstanding. - Now for the characters, just one protagonist, Lain, the one who experiments 99% of the situations on the show, a shy, introverted person which finds in the Wired enough confidence to the point of developing a new personality (Sounds familiar?), and that's as spoiler-ish as i will get.. The rest of the characters aren't even secondary, they are just triggers that allow the diverse situations to flow in a not so nonsensical manner.. In other words, they are only there to serve as a reason of why Lain became the way she becomes and why she acts like she does. -> Maybe the biggest flaw in Lain is that is extremely indirect, it will not tell you how Lain deals with the situations in her head ala Evangelion, nor will show you directly what the purpose of the story is ala Elfen Lied.. That's why it may appear as pure BS to a lot of people, but i suggest you give it a try, because for me it definitely was something that trascended typical anime, and even typical TV, it was a thought provoking and really interesting visual essay. Story: 8/10 Art- Sound: 10/10 Character: 9/10 Enjoyment: 10/10 Overall: 10/10 You should see at least: This one is hard, and if you go through 3 episodes (layers) and find yourself boring to death maybe you should stop, but if you're just scratching your head trying to grasp what is happening move on. Layer 05 is where the fun starts though :D So there it is, a review of my favourite anime, something i think everyone should do sometime. I promise more recent stuff (is already there) but for now please bear with me reviewing things i wanted to since long ago, thanks for reading and have a nice day

''What is real? How do you define 'real'? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.'' - Morpheus, The Matrix The story starts off somewhat simple. A shy, timid, fourteen-year-old girl with few friends and interests is introduced as the titular main character. However, as the plot unravels itself, a simple web transforms into a deep, multi-faceted fabric. It is anything but simple. Conspiracies, ego, realization, communication and identity are explored in an existential tale of life in the digital age, set in the era of the personal computer. We are introduced to supporting characters through Lain, and merely few episodes in are questioned whether they even exist, or are delusions of Lain's twisted, yet innocent mind. Lain's obsession with the digital world of the Wired could be interpreted as humanity's plight into the world of the web, and a statement on globalisation as a whole. It constantly bombards the audience with questions regarding identity, humanity, religion and just when the audience thinks they are starting to get a basic grip on the highly and purposely convoluted storyline, the show throws a curve ball that knocks your interpretation over. The whole plot operates on the level of a David Lynch film. Dreamlike imagery, suspicious, mysterious characters with motives concealed behind a one-way mirror, conspiracies, and philosophical themes. However, whereas David Lynch films are usually purely interpretational, Serial Experiments Lain lays out the plot in a basic form, placing pieces throughout the episodes, and gently nudges you to fill in the blanks. Lain's development throughout the show is captivating, and very reminiscent of Fight Club's insomniac narrator Tyler Durden. As the plot progresses, we are introduced to many alter egos of Lain, hinting at a possible dissociative personality disorder. The real-world, "childish" Lain has a shy attitude and bear pajamas. The "advanced" Lain, her Wired personality, is bold and questioning. Finally, the "evil" Lain is sly and devious, and does everything she can to harm Lain or the ones close to her. This confuses the viewer and heavily ties in with the theme of identity. All the supporting cast revolve around her, but are purely there to further advance Lain's story. As with any show, the ending is paramount. Don't fret, Serial Experiments Lain delivers, with an ending I believe ties up the show nicely. There is no action-packed boss battle, or anything of the sort, but if you even expected that for a second, you're watching this for the wrong reasons. This show is purely psychological. The animation was handled by the now-defunct Triangle Staff studios. The show has aged well, and is still as well-animated as it was in 1998. The environments are very ambiguous, as we see the world through the eyes of Lain, her strange delusions coming to life. The character animation design is superb, especially on Lain. All her split personalities are well-animated, and successfully convey the vision of the writers. The sound work in the show is top-notch. The series' opening theme, "Duvet", was written and performed in English by the British rock band Bôa. The closing theme is ''Tooi Sakebi'' by Nakaido Chabo Rei'ichii. Both are gorgeous rock songs, which tie in well with the ''confused, shy teenager'' character of Lain. A recurring sound of humming power lines is a constant thoughout the series, and is synonymous with the area outside Lain's house. The use of music is kept to a minimum, preferring the use of minimalist, psychedelic sound effects. When music is used, it is commonly electronic, blood-pumping techno, connecting to the in-show nightclub, Cyberia. During the recap in episode 11, wailing, beatless, noisy guitar riffs are repeated, layering over each other. Each episode title is announced with an Apple PlainTalk whisper preset, which I thought was a small, but nice touch, fitting in with the theme of contemporary computer culture. This show is captivating. If you enjoy cyberpunk, or mystery, or psychological anime, you will definitely enjoy SEL. Interpretational, yet crystal clear. I'm sure this show could be analysed a thousand times over. I'm sure there are many double meanings hidden throughout the episodes. One of the classics of the 1990's, pushing the envelope for animated art and storytelling. I can see why this is a cult classic. If you enjoy anime that makes you think, give it a try. It's definitely not for everyone, but I believe it deserves a spot in your list. Its willingness to question the meaning of contemporary life and the extraordinarily philosophical and deep questions it presents us with are mind-bending. Present day, present time.

“What the hell did I get myself into this time?” Serial Experiments Lain. This anime is often regarded as the prototype for the dementia genre. With all the 9’s and 10’s I see here from the top reviews, it’s kind of strange how it notches just below an 8 for its overall score. I was left entirely speechless, moved and disturbed all at the same time when finishing this series, which are all unique feelings. However, due to the sheer open-endedness and shock factor I feel this anime is often overrated amongst reviewers. It did not define the genre, nor did it have me binge watching through to its conclusion. Bear with me regardless of your opinion on the series as I delve into my review. “Present day, present time… hahahahaha!” This phrase will probably haunt me for quite some time. It’s really interesting how the story of SEL plays out. It starts out with immediate shock factor as our MC Lain watches as a young girl falls to her death from the top of a building during an apparent suicide. To top it off, girls in Lain’s class begin receiving emails from this girl though she is deceased. There is a catalytic blur of a border between the real world and the world of “The Wired”, or the world created by rapidly advancing network technology. Lain becomes increasingly obsessed with this technology and dives further into the muse of reality vs. fantasy. In SEL the story telling is primarily done visually as there is actually little dialogue spoken between characters. It’s an interesting take on things, but is done decently due to the creepy aura created from the artwork and characters. On a side note, this could also be perceived as a weak area due to the sometimes stagnant areas of story where I had to skip back and see if I missed something when I became confused. The one thing that shines in the ambiguity of SEL is how many different ways the story can be interpreted. The show deals with a character struggling to unveil her true identity through existentialism and discovery. It teeters on the edge of sanity, making what would be clear plot holes excusable through curiosity. I feel if I were to watch it multiple times sequentially, starting each time with a new plot theory, I would focus on entirely different aspects of the series. The setting is slightly dystopian in regards to technology over encumbering the entire populace and it makes it very relatable. I believe this plot was way ahead of its time (1998), and it gives me appreciation for it that much more. The ending filled me with so many questions I felt I needed to phone the writers immediately to discuss my opinions. I took a step back and realized THAT was what they were trying to achieve with SEL; an open interpretation for the ages. It’s been dissected to the lowest possible level, and I’ve heard everything from the story being about rape to a bad acid trip. While I firmly believe this anime is not for everyone, if you open your mind a bit and think about each episode one at a time, you will find an experience unable to be achieved by most stories in the present day. I gave this category such a low score due to the lack of depth in every character but Lain. Lain is actually quite marvelous and complex as a character, but I would argue to say she’s the only one worth noting in the entire anime. The rest of the cast felt irrelevant or replaceable to me. The constant struggle Lain goes through with her identity crisis makes you feel for her, even though she’s becoming increasingly creepy and obsessive as the show goes on. The transformation her room and relationship with her family goes through is spine-chilling, making me wonder if there is a human side to her at all. To top it off, the random bear pajamas she is often seen wearing takes the cake for fright factor. And her eyes, those EYES. Creepiest shit I’ve seen in awhile. There were some questions about Lain that I feel went unanswered, like her random love interest with Arisu that’s hinted at towards the end of the anime, or the many “forms” of her that other people comment that they’ve seen… most notably the guy at Cyberia saying “Oh, so you’re going for the little girl look today, huh?” Many things regarding Lain’s existence were touched on, but never fully explained. This added to the overall mysterious aura of the show. Man this is the weirdest art I’ve ever seen, and it fit SEL so well it was scary. The style almost represented that of a lucid dream, the entire environment seemed to carry a hazy tint to it. The shadows were colored with a purple/reddish glow, and many of the characters had blank faces with bulging, dull eyes. It created an overarching dream-like feel to the whole anime which only made it eerier. Also, I don’t know if I’m describing this correctly, but the random close shots of character’s flaring nostrils and mouths was possibly one of the oddest things I’ve seen in an anime. The random androgynous or alien-like figures that would appear at a distance in Lain’s room or on the street honestly scared the hell out of me. For some reason, the copies I had of SEL contained no ED or OP song, which added to the overall feel. I did look them up on youtube, and while the ED was nothing special, the intro was actually really good. The rest of the soundtrack was ominous in nature, and the sound effects like wires buzzing were infrequent but accurate. I’ll be 100% honest, despite the many ways there were to interpret this anime, I didn’t actually enjoy it. There were moments that penetrated my soul due to sheer freakiness, and some moments I really had no idea what was going on, but overall the lack of character depth and open-endedness kind of ruined it for me. I guess I could say I am more of a logical man, and I enjoy animes with a clear beginning and end, without an extreme room for interpretation. I don’t know if I could recommend this anime to anyone, unless you were really open to anything or a deep intellectual. Like I previously stated, there were times that I was left dumbfounded or confused but the ominous vibe and plot interpretation keep it interesting for most. It’s definitely not the greatest anime in history like some of these reviews make it out to be, but if you’re into existentialism and questioning your own reality, or just in the mood for something completely different, give SEL a try. Thanks for reading!

[9.0/10] _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Present Time - Present Day Ironic. Serial Experiments Lain isn't timeless. In fact, it bathes in its own time. You can make parallels to the lives we live, the wired culture which we indulge in. Perpetual connectedness. Forever trapped in the screens in front of us. Yet Lain is a product of its own time. The late 90s when, instead of Y2K, Japan was drenched in its own fear. The horror of technology. How it grows, evolves, enraptures, and swallows. The technophobe culture which Lain overtly commented on is the very culture that no longer exists to the same extent today. We accept technology as it comes. We consume it as it springs forth every second of every day. Circuitry hangs low over the city like a spider web. A barrier that represents one layer beyond our own. A layer of the wired. The weird. The mysterious. Power lines, low hums of generators unseen, these are motifs through which director Ryuutarou Nakamura expresses the indulgence of a society bordering on dystopia. Power, mystery, and growth. The symbols associated with a spider. It's web. A perpetually connected string of vines that ensnares victims. The shadows aren't black but splotched. They are made up of moving ink, the bubbling of a cauldron. The shadows move and hide anything and everything. Ethereal, they walk and cover or uncover. Whenever you are to wander into the over-blown, exposed outdoors, you see a world that is one step behind, the people disappear, desperately grasping progress. That progress manifests in evolution. You are alone. You are empty. You are without friends or anyone who understands you. You poor, poor girl, thick-brimmed glasses on your face and a frown that never dissipates. You see an opportunity. The opportunity for freedom, to escape, to become something more. You jump. Fall. Fall all the way down. Windows shatter and the metal of the roof crumples under your weight. You don't know. You are no longer restricted by the heaving, useless body that no one understands. You are now a part of something more. Or you. The one frustrated with work. The grind. It weighs heavy on your back and you can feel your ribs begin to crack. You believe in something more. That something right above you every time you walk outside. The shadows can't mask that. The wires drape over, like taunting beggars asking for you to come. You do. Screw work, screw obligations, you double down. You don't need your body. You need influence, you want religion, you want to be the religion you want. You are. You Don't Seem To Understand. Lain transposes the meta. View the wired as a look into the real world through the eyes of the fake world on screen. We are presented with falsehood, we see their reality, we see our own through that same reality. Blurred images of parking lots and bridges run through many filters. Hardly distinguishable as real but they are. These are the images Lain uses to show us the parallel. The meta. Far from us but close anyway. Like an infinite loop. The presentation is purposefully confusing and fractured. The narrative lacks a timeline. We see a poor girl, fourteen, introverted, shy, a parallel to the two souls lost. One on the train-tracks, one splayed out on the streets. This girl, Lain, is given a window to the new, weird, wacky world of vaporwave fuzz and dripping cyber heaven. The wired is just that. A depiction of future as seen from the past that purposefully paints itself as completely dissonant than the path we took. Yet it is an esoteric narrative that is hauntingly believable in the minutia, but ultimately unbelievable in the idea. The ideas here, which are undoubtedly avant-garde and esoteric, are made to be siphoned from by the viewer. A string of information given to you. What do you take from the depiction of the internet? The web that harbors answers and routes of communication that might seem completely unbelievable. What would you have said in 1998? What would you have said in 2000? 2005? Later? Lain isn't timeless because as time passes what you take from it is utterly different and not through the intent of the writer or director. It happens to be that because that is how technology works. The creators know that. We should've too. Lain works because it isn't timeless. If it were then the answers we seek would be malformed. Technology isn't timeless, much like this series, it becomes dated. Lain's room evolves as she does. Ego Death. To lose yourself in duality. Your self-identity melts away into pixels and becomes yet another blue screen that hums and glitches. The device which you look at the said screen is shaped like a gun. You press the trigger and the screen collapses and the gun is holstered in your hoodie. The hoodie is worn by a boy no older than thirteen. Lain experiences ego death. Her loss is documented through thirteen brutal episodes. Each one adding layers. Layer one is weird, Layer ten is love, layer thirteen is ego. The layers evolve as does her room. Tubing stretches, viscous green coolant dashes through and feeds her system. Every time we see her room something new has been added. This persists until Lain lives in the cyber-heaven that she first got to witness in layer one. Consumed by the internet. No doubt people can relate. Anime fans especially. Let the flickering screen be the food for the day. The duality of not only yourself but the difference between fiction and reality. A topic which can be read into at any time and place. The bad side manifests and becomes you. You lose the understanding you saught. In Jungian Psychology this is the psychic death. The fundamental change of the psyche. This could be becoming something new, becoming a god, realizing your true potential, your strength, the power, the mystery unfolds. Yet it can also be understanding who you were to begin with. The delusions fade and you see yourself for the first time, not in the third person, but in the first. Memories. They can be false. Once you forget them, the notion that they ever existed comes into question. The final theme of Serial Experiments Lain. An experiment in truth. Relating to truth and fiction, but only enough to draw the parallel. Once you remove yourself, truly remove yourself, you never were there to begin with. Just a fleeting thought triggered by minutia. Lain makes this connection. Tea and madeleines. Written as an essay by Marcel Proust. The idea here is that certain triggers may cause forgotten memories to erupt back into the conscious. The memories of a childhood friend, the first time you tasted soda, the eyes of a deleted girl that is as much a part of you as she is everyone. The theme only holds weight to those who believe that the final comment of the series holds weight. A divine being that carves out a location for itself, out of reach by all but perhaps in sight. Like the wires that hang over you every time you venture outside. Every idea builds on itself to paint a picture of more than just a culture. More than just a narrative. A holistic approach to storytelling that relies on encapsulating a present day. A present time. You laugh, but it is a period piece unlike any other. One that may fall victim to quick production or off-model animation, but one that wants to never be just another fleeting thought.

Serial Experiments Lain is one of those anime which bore people in the first episode, and tell them almost nothing about the show. (Boring shit is supposed to be educational! Or at least teach you something about itself). Honestly, when episode one ended I didn't learn anything about the show other than the message on the board. I felt like it wasted my time on purpose by adding useless things. Once again I blame MAL ratings and reviews about this being a great anime. Story: The story is intelligently boring, IT MAKES NO DAMN SENSE! I have to wait for such a long time just for someone to say 1 fcking sentence? Hell no. Tell me wtf is going on you MFERS. On the bright side, at least it's only an average of 5 seconds waiting right? NO IT'S USUALLY 10 SECONDS! So yea I didn't understand anything that went on in this show, because, it barely gives the watcher information, and it bored me far worse than Naruto fillers do, and fk I don't even watch Naruto. I dropped it because of fillers. Why didn't I drop this if I dropped Naruto because of the fillers which I said SEL was worse than? I DON'T KNOW! I guess I'm happy this was only 13 short episodes and I wanted to kill time. Once again, blame MAL ratings. Art: It's an old show, so the art is alright I guess. BUT, Hunter x Hunter was made the year after this crap, and it had far better animation. So of course, the art for me was nothing eye-catching. More like eye-throwing heh. Hehehe. I'm so funny. You know what else is funny? This show's animation. Sound: 'kay sir I don't wanna listen to cars half the time and the girls' surroundings, rather have more TALKING. Really, the sound of this anime is like when I go downtown. The sounds of horns get annoying. The soundless-ness of someone in an anime talking and us not being able to hear it is far more irritating. Character: I didn't figure out anything about anyone because it was basically about Lain. Or should I say, Lame. Lame, becomes more and more fond about computers. She's a goth emo fag who can't speak much because she has bad eye-sight and doesn't get glasses for some reason even though eye-sight has nothing to do with being able to speak. When she does speak, it'll be 2 words kthxbye. Enjoyment: Well you see............(5 seconds passed).....(mouth moves but no sound is made) Overall: Bullshit. Not recommended for humans. Should be rated R for retarded.

Goodness, I must say, I really enjoyed Serial Experiment Lain! I'll start off with the thing that stood out the most for me and that was the art! While watching I noticed that the background art and settings in S.E.L. were really bland, however I can't say that it was a bad thing because it helped me focus more on the characters... or well mostly the character. In addition to that there are multiple scenes in the show were things get really, really trippy. What I mean by that is expect to see bright vibrant colours, and really bizarre moments. Character designs were not all that great, however for it's time it is acceptable to me. Special effects used during the show were also really good.The second thing that stood out most was the pacing of the show. It was a bit on the slow side for me, however that worked out in the stories favor for multiple reasons. The number one reason of course being that it made the show a lot more intense and dramatic. In addition to that, Lain's personality and reactions to certain events going on in the show made things a bit exciting too. The music also tied in really damn well with the show! the BGM playing, along with the events going on during the show really added more of a "holy crap what is going to happen next" type feeling!! Plus it had a really memorable Opening song that even though unrelated, I have downloaded... that aside, overall I would highly recommend S.E.L to anyone who wants to see a really unique, nostalgic, psychological mystery show!!

Neon Genesis Evangelion is widely regarded as a land mark in anime. With its release in 1995, the series has been critically acclaimed across the world for its deep complex plot and its philosophical approach. Though being largely popular, on the other side, Serial Experiments Lain, which deliver a philosophical aspect of identity and reality seemed to have mix reviews over the matter.Point taking, Serial Experiment Lain is not easy to watch. The absence of action and sound and Lain herself is a definitive turn off for some. As for the others, it will be an experiment. It is not easy to find a story within Serial Experiments Lain,as it gives the viewer an impression of non sense and that the story never goes in a straight direction. However, the series story can simply be viewed as a concept more than a definitive story line. By concept, I mean the concept of reality. The two opposing worlds, "The Wired" and the real world makes a good contrast questioning the sense of reality. The bad point of the story, is how it flows during the series. It is very difficult to follow the events and fully understand them. Some scenes might have nothing to do with the story, but you will still be questioning yourself if it did. In overall, the story is the weakest point of the anime as it is more confusing than ever. The art is not fabulous or beautiful, and this is why it's perfectly fitting for the series. High contrasts, absence of details in the background, and very light colors gives a definitive feeling of what this show is about. Character design is minimalistic and simple, but gives a mood of melancholy. The contrast effect, through the show is a reminded that what you're watching is a mind-fuck. And so, the art is perfect for this show and any other style wouldn't be as perfect. It would an error to review the soundtrack as it is more fitting reviewing the almost total absence of music through the show. Simply bizarre, Serial Experiments Lain prefer having the buzzing sound of a strong light rather than music playing the background. While the show does include melancholic music it is also kept to a minimum. The seiyūs would be the little turn off for me, I was never impressed with their performance for the most part. Lain is the star of the show. A shy girl in the real world and someone to be feared in the wired and then there is the one who claims to be Lain. Through the series, the viewer can be confused on who Lain really is as she is not one personality. Even Lain herself doesn't know who she really is, and neither the other characters. Simple thoughts, Lain is a great character and the only great character of the show. I could easily complain about the side characters, but the main point of the show was to focus on Lain. After all, I did enjoy Serial Experiments Lain even though I had a hard time to complete the series. If you are looking for entertainment, you will have a hard time finding it in this show since it is not meant to be entertaining. However, Serial Experiments Lain is an experiment and I wonder why, today, animes lost the sense of experimenting with new ideas.

Here's the most important thing you need to know about Serial Experiments Lain: give the series 5 episodes before you drop it, otherwise you would have missed a truly unique anime experience. I get scared very easily, and some parts of this anime freaked me out. If you're the kinda person that likes mildly creepy sequences and that weird stuff, replace that 5 for enjoyment and give it a 10. That's just from my perspective. I didn't enjoy watching the anime, but my was it cool. Serial Experiments Lain delves into the question of reality, existence, time, and memory. The anime starts out crippling slow and is rather hard to follow. Though this would usually bore the viewer, here it intensifies the abnormal events that literally drown the series. Every episode will leave you hanging with questions, and the questions will get better and better. Let's get this straight here: Serial Experiments Lain is weird. Hence the name if its first episode. Certain plot elements and sequences are scary, unorthodox, and sometimes downright bizzare. Watch this anime with your thinking caps on, as there's tons to be learned from here. The characters in Serial Experiments Lain are different from your usual anime characters. You basically have to watch for yourself to find out. Lain's character development is very pleasing and one of the features of this anime. The sound is limited to the OP, ED, and ambient sound effects. Well done, but this anime isn't worth watching for the sound effects. OP is good and siuts the anime well. The art consists of hard lines, but has a very dull feel. Several key scenes are repeatedly emphasized and visual motifs such as shadows literally jump out at you. In conclusion, Serial Experiments Lain is an intriguing anime that everyone should at least try. The series ends well and leaves the viewer with many thoughts and questions in his/her head.