Serial Experiments: Lain Review

[Serpentfury]

Intro

Serial Experiments: Lain Follows the vein of Neon Genesis Evangelion, it can compare quite well to it. The story is heavily based around philosophy, religion and questioning of one's sanity, also an ending that is open to interpretation. This anime however doesn't involve well-armed battle robots, but a computer that greets and invites you to a virtual reality where every users can do whatever they want. Its name is Navi which is a multi-purpose gadget owned by almost every students at school the main character, Lain Iwamura attends. Ironically, she may be the main character, she is far behind the trend and doesn't have a clue what Navi is. That all changes when a terrible tragedy strikes at her school.

Plot

The first episode begins in a rather ominous tone. A female student attempts a suicide, a few days later, all the girls from her class receives a greeting message from a deceased friend except Lain. When Lain's peers pressures her getting Navi, eventually she asks her father and gets one, also sees the last message from her dead friend, she becomes intrigued and replies her. After that a lot of things happen that I can't explain because I will only confuse you. It's not that the story is random, it's put together like puzzle pieces you will have to figure it out by yourself. I recommend you to watch through the whole episodes with a full attention. This anime is very thought-provoking, by the end of the series it feels rewarding.

Characters

The most memorable character would be no doubt the main character because she is intriguing and mysterious. Probably the very first female main character made without sexual appeal in mind, it made the anime stand out from the rest of the pack. Lain is a very reserved person like Shinji from Evangelion but she is much less whiny and very determined person capable of sorting things out on her own. That doesn't mean she is independent, throughout the series, it seems that she hates the isolation, she goes on a road to find herself. Slowly, we get introduced to the minor characters that come occasionally in certain episodes. One of the character you will get to know more is Arisu (in English Dub: Alice) who becomes Lain's best friend. She seems to care about Lain and invites her to night out with her friends. She is one of a few likable characters in the anime. The other character you will see often is Lain's older sister who seems bratty. She like Lain encounters series of trippy hallucination, she begins to question her sanity. Probably you'll probably question your sanity as well because everything in this anime is weird and trippy.

Presentation

It's made around the same year as Cowboy bebop but the presentation is rather cheap perhaps, it was done on purpose to complement the weird theme. Whatever the case is, animation is pretty comparable to Neon Genesis Evangelion. That's the one of some flaws I can think of in this anime. The drawing style is good, I like it. The characters are drawn in a realistic way and they all have natural facial reaction, the background and the virtual reality setting is also very well done. As for the music, the majority of them are atmospheric and minimal that sets the mood of the anime, but the opening theme is really one of the highlight, in fact I liked it so much, I only watched the opening theme to just hear the music that fits well with the anime as well. I watched in original dubbing and I don't have any problem with it at all. Lain mostly speaks in emotionless voice and that's how she is. As for the other characters, they are all good enough to fit the characters.

Longivity

This anime lasts only for 13 episodes but somehow manages to fit all like puzzle. The series won't make sense until you watch to the end. It is one of those animes that requires watching it over again to understand it perfectly. I only watched it once, to be honest I don't understand fully. I only grasped the gist of it. I would probably watch it again if I loved it but I don't find it compelling enough to repeat watching all over again. The good thing with this anime is you can watch the episode on its own because the storyline flows in a non-linear fashion.

Conclusion

The question is will you like this anime? I have to say this anime is for the acquired taste. It has its own style of drawing and making characters and following the plot. One of the device that turned me off was sometimes this anime loads you with too much information you lose a track of the story. One time you will watch Lain going out on her day, all of a sudden it explains the history and creator of the internet like you are watching an educational film from your high school days. Makes me wonder is it necessary? All in all It's a good anime worth checking out as I think it is one of the early psychological anime.

[rjtayler]

A fair review that makes me want to try this one out for size. Thanks.

[Serpentfury]

You should if you are interested in Paranoia agent type of animes.