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Serial Experiments Lain
Media: TV Anime
Genre(s): Cyberpunk, Psychological, Science Fiction
Anime Director: Ryutaro Nakamura
Studio: Triangle Staff
Number of Episodes: 13
Licensed? Yes (Geneon)
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Lain Iwakura (Shimizu Kaori) is a quiet, antisocial eighth grader.
One day she gets a mysterious email from Chisa Yomodo, only to find the next day in school that the other girl had already committed suicide.
From here, Lain is convinced to begin using "The Wired", a virtual reality network similar to the Internet.
As Lain moves further and further into this strange world, wierd events begin happening both in the real world and online.
Serial Experiments Lain delves deeply into philosophical concepts such as multiple identities, the definition of God, and the power of human communication.
It is amultidimensional piece that dwells in areas other anime steers away from.
By Vampt Vo (3/24/07)
As one would expect, a psychological show like Serial Experiments Lain is all about plot.
The most important part of this is Lain, the neccessarily strongest-written character in the story.
Lain begins as such an enigma to the viewers that we can't help but watch if only to find out more about her.
She develops multiple personalities while using the Wired, and we watch her wrestle with their existence and power over her life.
This is a very introverted series, based on looking inside of the main character.
While there are supporting characters, they are not given much depth, and are not very believable.
Lain's friend Alice, (Asada Yoko) pronounced "Arisu" sticks out for being the "normal" girl who contrasts Lain's increasingly strange behavior.
Though her character may seem too simple, Alice actually counters Lain well, and puts her in perspective.
The plot is driven to its conclusion based on unanswered questions. The events of previous episodes, or "layers", are explained later in the show.
In this way, the viewer is forced to end an episode asking themselves for reasons and explanations for everything they just saw.
This is mystery writing at its finest.
The plot also moves along at a brisk pace, since SE Lain is only given thirteen episodes to tell a very deep story.
The art is detailed and realistic, though the character designs can look a little simple.
Nevertheless, emotion (or lack thereof for some characters) is shown very accurately.
Power lines, cars, Navis (computers in Lain's future) and other technology is very detailed and sometimes creepy as well.
Some people may see the reused art as a weakness of the series, since it seems like the animators skimped out on making the show fully animated.
This causes problems in character movement, making them look unrealistic, but the psychological effect of these reused frames is very effective.
There are clips, like one of a crowd in a city at night and Lain leaving her house and going to school, that are used multiple times to drive them into your mind.
This works well, and subtlely gets you used to the normal way things work so that when the series switches them up on you, it makes you uneasy.
Serial Experiments Lain's animation is a good example of the entire mindset of director Ryutaro Nakamura when creating the series.
There is a focus on subtle story elements and psychological concepts, but character designs and writing takes a hit.
Shimizu Kaori's work as Lain is beautiful, as she gives the character emotion and can truly make us feel for her.
Not only that, but Kaori also voices Lain's two other personalities, and allows them to become both strikingly different and disturbingly similar.
While there is very little voice acting by anyone else, Alice's Asada Yoko also adds some emotion (though she definitely overacts) and Taro, (Takimoto Keito) a boy working for the secret organization called the "Knights", gives a believable performance.
The opening song by BoA, titled Duvet, is very well sung and the lyrics fit the show very well.
Also, the animations that go with this opening are very creepy and compliment the series perfectly.
The songs used during the episodes are simple instrumentals.
They use combinations of different electronic sounds to achieve a mysterious, cyberpunk feel.
On another note, the series also uses a lack of music to induce emotion, making the music disappear in many sequences so that the viewer feels drawn into the void of sound.
My single complaint about the music is the more poppy song used in the second half of the final episode.
While it fits the scene, this song breaks up the very serious tone the music has had the entire thirteen episodes.
Serial Experiments Lain is my favorite anime series at the time of this writing.
It may not be perfect, but something about how Ryutaro Nakamura presents this show lends it a kind of wonder.
The messages are many and varied, and each of them contains meaning in our current world where the internet is constantly expanding.
We are asked who we really are, and where our selves truly reside.
Are we souls inside of fleshy bodies, or concepts and memories in the minds of others?
Is the internet another world, or just a method of transferring data?
And of course, how can one be sure that they are always themselves?
How can they be sure that there are not two of them, one unaware of the other?
Serial Experiments Lain presents profound and intriguing questions, and even when it answers them for us, we are left to contemplate where we stand in this world.
Who we are and what the meanings of our lives are.
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| Animation: |
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2.5
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Average:
(3.25 stars)
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| Plot: |
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3.5
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| Voice Acting: |
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NR
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| Sound: |
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3.5
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| Overall: |
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3.5
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