Serial Experiments Lain is brought to us by Triangle Staff studio and is directed by Ryutaro Nakamura and produced by Yasuyuki Ueda. It ran from July 1998 till September of the same year and the series featured a total of thirteen episodes.
There is no manga available for Serial Experiments Lain; there are several art books available as well as the soundtracks and even a video game which was released in Japan two months after the series finished.
Yasuyuki Ueda is one of the most well known producers of Anime in Japan, having worked on Ergo Proxy, Hellsing, Haibane Renmei and Phantom Quest Corp. Director Ryutaro Nakamura is best known for his work on Serial Experiments Lain but has also worked on Rec:, Space Adventure Cobra and Ghost in the Shell: Stand alone Complex. Lain is voiced by Kaori Shimizu, the actress behind other series such A.L.I.C.E., Fruits Basket and Inuyasha, she all so voiced a Little Sister in the Bioshock series.
Serial Experiments Lain is about a fourteen year old girl called Lain, who seems to live an ordinary life, with nothing special about her or her family. One day Lain arrives at school to find the other girls in hysterics over an email they received that morning from another classmate who killed herself the night before – the email claimed the girl was actually alive and living on the ‘Wired’ and she encouraged her fellow classmates to join her.
This is the first of many odd occurrences that now seem to follow Lain who has little knowledge of computers let alone any experience of the Wired. Teased by her old sister, ignored by her mother and placed second in her father’s affections behind computers Lain turns to the Wired, a system much like our internet, which allows instant consumption of information and connections with others.
Now connected with the Wired, Lain enters a world that is now going to tear apart her assumptions of reality. Stalked by the creator of the Wired online and sought by the fanatical group known as the ‘Knights of the Eastern Calculus’ the lines between the virtual and reality begin to blur and soon Lain finds herself consumed by the Wired. Will she abandon all that she knew for an eternal life on the Wired? Has she ever actually existed in reality?
Before we deal with the real detail of the series it’s probably best to mention the other little details. The animation in Serial Experiments Lain is beautifully drawn with eccentric details that feel almost lifelike or electrified. The plot of Serial Experiments Lain is difficult to pin down; there isn’t anything typical about this series.
As a viewer you are not following some little girl on an epic quest to rid the internet of a villain nor are you meant to assume that the piece is a social commentary on the expansion of communications technology.
Serial Experiments Lain is both simple and complex, watching as Lain wades and consumes her way through information, a lot of which is jumbled both in the context of the plot but also in the timeline, each piece is not easy to trace but it is easy to comprehend and grasp. The complexity of the series is not the story or the character of Lain but in the ideas and thoughts that it provokes in us as an audience – What do we define as reality? How do we define ourselves as real? If something has no physical presence then is it real? Several themes run through the series, most notably, reality and its definition but you will also find the series looking at theology, loneliness and depression/mental illnesses.
This is not an Anime that you can just simply throw on and watch in the background, it requires your full attention as a viewer and even participant. The series draws you in as you are consumed by it, both director and producer wanted the viewer to feel the story and to not just identify with Lain but grow to love her.
If you are looking for something different and you find yourself enticed by Serial Experiments Lain and what you’ve read so far then believe us when we say that this is a series that you will never forget and you might even learn something from just watching.
Good Points
Excellent animation
The best character development we’ve ever seen
Powerful themes and an engaging and intelligent story
Refreshingly different to other Anime
Bad Points
Insane amounts of information to absorb
Confusing
Rating: 9/10
