Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Serial Experiments Lain at Amazon.com. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users./>. Read reviews on Serial Experiments Lain on MyAnimeList, the internet's largest anime database. Lain Iwakura, an awkward and introverted fourteen-year-old, is one of the many girls from her school to receive a disturbing email. Looking for information on Serial Experiments Lain? Find out more with MyAnimeList, the world's most active online anime and manga community and database. Lain Iwakura, an awkward and introverted fourteen-year-old, is one of. An erudite, confusing, and chilling anime from the late 1990s, Serial Experiments Lain is Creepy Awesome seinen cyberpunk, as well as a notable Mind Screw ….
Serial Experiments Lain Schizophrenia Definition
Spoiler warning! Too Many Words about Serial Experiments Lain. Serial Experiments Lain is a very dense series, one packed with provocative ideas and images. It is also very confusing, and can be interpreted many ways. An erudite, confusing and chilling anime from the late 1990s, Serial Experiments Lain is creepy. Serial Experiments Lain It was all aliens! Everything in this series has been the work of Aliens. The Wired was created using alien technology, it is like ….
Serial Experiments Lain - All The Tropes Wiki. File: Serial experiements lain. Present Day. Present Time. Ha. Ha. Hah. A! An erudite, confusing and chilling anime from the late 1.
Serial Experiments Lain is creepy cool Seinen. Cyberpunk, as well as a notable Mind Screw in the genre.
Shonen has Neon Genesis Evangelion, Shojo has Revolutionary Girl Utena, and seinen has Lain. The show takes an information- rich dive deep into the nature of reality and truth, and in the process leads the viewer to come to his or her own conclusions about the meaning of the show, the meaning of reality, and even what actually happens in both. The setting for Lain is a place that appears to be contemporary Japan - - albeit with a few telling differences. The story begins with apparently- normal schoolgirl Chisa Yomoda throwing herself off a building without warning. Several days after her suicide, Chisa's friends receive emails purporting to be from Chisa herself.
The emails claim that she has not died, but simply abandoned her body for an existence within "The Wired", a pervasive computer network very much like the Internet as first envisioned by William Gibson (with some touches of The Matrix). This is the point where Chisa's classmate Lain Iwakura - - a shy, reclusive teenage girl who looks younger than her actual age - - enters the story. With nary a social skill and no knowledge of computers, Lain keeps a resolutely reclusive attitude and barely interacts with her not- really- friends, her best friend Alice/Arisu, her cold parents, or her indifferent sister Mika - - until she receives something that will change everything in the whole world: one of the emails from Chisa. Everyone thinks the Chisa emails are a cruel prank, but Lain is curious about the meaning of the message in the email. After Lain's tech- obsessed father happily supplies her with a top- of- the- line "navi" (personal computer), she begins searching The Wired to find out more.
What Lain discovers undermines her family, her sense of self, and perhaps even the fundamental fabric of reality - - and she is soon forced to deal with a power she is unprepared to control. Serial Experiments Lain is a unique creation. Its visual style is unlike any other animated work, Western or Eastern, and constantly evolves through the course of the series, serving as a metaphoric device in and of itself. Much of the plot development is orthogonal to the viewer - - sometimes seen but often simply implied - - which requires the viewer to think about and draw his/her own conclusions about what's happening.
A fair amount of information is obscured or distorted, but this simply reflects what is happening within the series itself; the story challenges the viewer to impose his or her own interpretation on even the most self- evident aspects of the show. Lain's creators are also quite well- read, as they draw upon dozens (if not hundreds) of real- world sources for what seem to be the most outré concepts in the story. If Vannevar Bush, W. O. Schumann, Douglas Rushkoff, John C. Lilly, Ted Nelson or Nikola Tesla mean anything to you..
If "Majestic- 1. 2", "Roswell", or the Knights of the Lambda Calculus rings a bell.. If you would spot literary references ranging from Lewis Carroll to Marcel Proust to Cordwainer Smith.. If you are a computer techie who knows way too much about esoteric operating systems, and the history of computer development, especially the creation of the Macintosh..
Serial Experiments Lain. While it's not necessary to do so to enjoy the show, it greatly enhances the overall experience if a viewer does the legwork.) To understand some of the references and sources better - - or add some examples - - visit the Trivia page.
Lain was originally conceived as a full- on multimedia project, although the other two parts are not nearly as widely known as the Anime. The second part of the project is a short Manga story included with an art book - - The Nightmare of Fabrication - - which touches on similar themes (albeit without all the heavy references) and serves as an awkward sort of "bridge" between the anime and the third part of the project by including characters exclusive to each. The third part is a game for the Play Station, although calling it a "game" may be a bit of a stretch - - instead of actual gameplay, it acts more as an interface to access parts of Lain's story (which runs in a different direction to the one presented in the anime), presenting a multimedia experience that includes video, diary excerpts, and notes from Lain's therapist. SPOILERS AHOY! This show provides examples of: A Date with Rosie Palms: Lain's friendship with Alice breaks down when one of the Lains spreads rumours around school that she likes to fantasize about a certain teacher while "playing with herself". A God Am IAlice Allusion: Alice Mizuki. Word of Godconfirms her name is intended as a reference: "Alice" is Lewis Carol's (sic). I often use the "Alice" as the metaphor in my scenarios.
Alice in "lain" is same. Alone in a Crowd: Lain does this at times.
Ambiguous Disorder: Lain, what with her crippling social ineptitude, stunted emotional reactions, inability to understand interpersonal relationships, extreme adherence to unreasonable habits, obsessive tendencies, and massive talent for mathematics and computers. A very significant non- comedic use of this trope. Ancient Conspiracy: The Knights. Animal Motifs: All over the place, notably Lain and her teddy bears/bear pajamas, and the omnipresent crows.
Anime Theme Song: "Duvet" by British band Boa. Haunting and will remind you of Gunslinger Girl. The theme is also very much an Ear Worm. Everything is Connected. Close the World. Open the ne. Xt. Fulfill the prophecy. Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Eiri's goal, Lain's eventual solution.
Aspect Montage: The Once an Episode opening scene' establishes its city location by a montage of power lines, crowds crossing roads, and the familiar Japanese "Don't Walk" sign. This gives a sense of tension and mundaneness at the same time.
Part of that tension might be because the viewers remember what happened during the opening of the first episode, intermixed with these same establishing shots. The opening scene, because it is set in a relatively recognisable modern- day setting, also links back to the infamous opening line that we hear before the intro: "Present day.. Hahahahahaha- !". Baker's Dozen: The DVD had a bonus episode. Barbie Doll Anatomy. BFS: In video games.
Bittersweet Ending. Black Eyes of Evil: See Creepy Child, The Men in Black. Body Horror: Eiri's attempt to physically manifest.
Suffice to say, it does not seem to go too well. Blood- Splattered Innocents: Lain in her first Crowning Moment of Awesome against a drugged up clubber with a gun. Brain Uploading: Chisa implies this was part of her motivation for committing suicide. Brainy Brunette: Lain. Bright Is Not Good: All over the place.
Lain's neighbourhood, school and other places she visits are frequently bathed in yellowish light. The effect is more creepy than anything else. Caught with Your Pants Down: So your best friend has a near- omniscient split personality that does stuff for the sadistic fun of it in a world where everyone is connected. Go ahead, enjoy yourself while fantasizing about your teacher.
No one will ever know. Cheshire Cat Grin: Lain's peeping- tom alter- ego seems to wear one near- constantly. The Cheshire Cat itself is around, too. Clingy Jealous Girl: Myu- Myu. Coolest Club Ever: Cyberia, where Lain and her friends often go at night.
Contemplate Our Navels: One episode consisted almost entirely of live photographs scrolling by while the Narrator provided Expospeak. Cooldown Hug: Lain to Arisu in Layer 1. It does not quite fix her, but she does calm down. Cowboys and Indians: A bunch of kids playing tag get crossed with an online shooter game. Creepy Child: Goes to town with this trope. There's the disturbing little girl who chases after players in PHANTOMa, and then there's Chisa, and to a certain extent Lain herself. Cyberpunk: According to the Cyberpunk Review.
Degree of Cyberpunk Visuals: High, Correlation to Cyberpunk Themes: Very High". Cyberspace: The Wired, which is the main theme. The Metaverse, if you want the specific variant.
Cyberpunk Is Techno: The opening and ending themes don't fall under this, but the in- show music is dark electronica. There is also a popular "Cyberia Mix" remixed soundtrack album. Death Glare: In Layer 3, Lain gives one to Taro when he suggests she go on a date with him. He quickly tries to give a "Just Joking" Justification. Digital Avatar: Most people have them in the Wird. Do Not Adjust Your Set: When images of Lain start to appear on video screens in public places, which creeps out her sister quite a bit.
Drone of Dread: The soundtrack often has this. Emotionless Girl: Lain appears this way to others. Empathic Environment: Including bleak grey skies, crows, and shadows that look like blood everywhere. End of the World Special: Lain has one at the end of the series. Epic Rocking: First half of episode 1.
Clip Show with awesome music. Establishing Shot: The Stock Footage of traffic and phone lines also functions as an Establishing Shot. Eternal Prohibition: It is the near future, and yet on one hand, it is obvious that 1. Taro is doing wrong every time he's drinking or smoking at Cyberia, and on the other hand, there are illegal future drugs like Accela. Everyone Owns a Mac: The Tachibana corporation is loosely based on Apple, which explains all the references to Ne. XT. (Note that the tachibana is a type of fruit native to Japan.) This is interesting today when you think about how prevalent Apple is, but Apple's own history is practically shown in this series, if you can understand it. Check the Trivia pagefor more insightful fun.
Everything Is Online: Literally. Evil Twin: The other Lain. Evilutionary Biologist: He is not a biologist, but Eiri's motivation for his plan was to help humanity evolve further. Extreme Graphical Representation: The NAVIs' user interface.