Lain

In the near future computers have become more invasive then they were in the late 90’s when Serial Experiments Lain came out and is still somewhat off in the future. This 13 episode series explores the world of being plugged into the web and how the internet could develop a consciousness of its own.

    Lain is a quiet, solitary and odd child. One day after a classmate commits suicide she gets a disturbing email from said dead girl, talking about how she is in a better place now. Lain is intrigued and bothered by the possibility of emails from the dead and begins investigating why she killed herself. Soon Lain finds her self deeper into the seedy digital underworld of Tokyo than she ever imagined existed as she traces a nanotech drug through a club the girl frequented. Mysterious wired men in suits are stalking her and she thinks the web is trying to communicate to her through any means necessary. Not afraid of the results Lain dives in with determination and soon opens her self up to the darkness’s the web has to offer, even converting her room into a massive processing unit. As she digs deeper into the mysteries surrounding the ‘drug’ and the idea of a consciousness in the net she starts to find that she might not be who she thinks she is.

    This is a very unique and daring series. Coming after Neon Genesis Evangelion helped to break up some of the barriers for anime on TV; Lain was able to push the boundaries with its technological art house style. There are many sequences in the series that are filled with nothing more then ambient background noises…such as power lines or distorted chatter on the train. Odd color washed scenes add to the surrealism of the series as well. The artwork is interesting and typical of anime from the late 90’s in terms of quality…ok but not as good as modern styles. The story is filled with red herrings and plenty of confusion until the end when only some of the conclusion makes sense. It seems more as if the viewer is being asked to connect the dots on their own and generate their own truth to the events that take place through out the course of the show. The soundtrack is reminiscent of computer games from the mid 90’s when they tried, horribly, to inject realism into the games. The opening theme song is one of the best opening anime themes I have ever heard, a nice acoustic song by a band named Boa titled Duvet. While this show sits fondly in my fandom as one of the ‘great’ series from the end of the 90’s it isn’t for everyone and has seemed to slip into obscurity amid today’s plethora of anime. It isn’t for the casual viewer as it can be difficult to watch at times due to the art house aspects of it and the confusing plot. The only thing that made even less sense was the game that came out for the Playstation…of which I am still uncertain what was going on.

    If you are a fan of cyberpunk anime and weird technologically related tales this is a great series for you to watch. Fans of the .hack and Overdrive series’ might enjoy this one as well.