An erudite, confusing and chilling anime from the late 1990s, Serial Experiments Lain is creepy cool seinencyberpunk, as well as a notable Mind Screw in the genre. Shōnen 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-12", "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...
...then you will enjoy digging through the densely packed web of information that is the conceptual foundation for 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 Playstation, 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".
Alice 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.
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.
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...heh...present time! Hahahahahaha-!"
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.
Cooldown Hug: Lain to Arisu in Layer 13. 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.
Eternal Prohibition: It is the near future, and yet on one hand, it is obvious that 14-year-old 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 NeXT. (Note that the tachibana is a type of fruit native to Japan.)
Freaky Friday Flip: Maybe. Episode 10 opens with a sequence where, for lack of a better phrase, Lain and Masami appear to have switched lines. Muddling the issue is the fact that despite the actual dialogue, however, their body language and delivery match what they should be saying—i.e., Masami triumphantly questions Lain's godlike nature while Lain demurely proclaims her supreme power.
The Greys: A Grey appears as a mysterious vision, in an episode which also references the Roswell incident. It is referenced in other episodes as well. Unlike the usual nudist Greys, it is wearing a red and green striped shirt.
Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Episodes are called a layer and a two-digit number, for example the first episode is "layer 01". Each episode title is a single word of English.
Infodump: The aptly named eleventh episode, "Infornography", is essentially a half-hour long infodump culminating in The Reveal of the show's villain, Masami Eiri.
It Runs in the Family: Lain and her father are both socially awkward individuals with a love for computers.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Only Lain takes a more... shall we say... 'active' role in Alice's life even after this...
Jigsaw Puzzle Plot: The story is complex and we get disparate pieces of it during an episode.
Kaori Shimizu: Her debut role as Lain. Which may also affect her being a Kuudere.
She also contributed her body parts to the live action "Devices" segment at the end of each show.
Keep Circulating the Tapes: Despite being clear that it has the show, Funimation doesn't have any known plans whatsoever in the near future to re-release it.
A teenager hopped up on nanotechgoofballs shoots up a nightclub with a laser sight-equipped handgun. Just before he commits suicide, there is a camera shot where all you can see in the dim lighting are his teeth, and the laser dot on the roof of his mouth — a very striking image.
In the next episode, the M.I.B. have laser sights on their high-tech eyepieces. It's never explained what function the laser sights serve, other than tipping people off that they're being watched and generally creeping them out.
Mad Scientist: Dr. Hodgeson, the man who created the KIDS program (an attempt to collect information on the use of psi energy.
Magical Realism: How much of the events of this show are happening in real life and how much are in Lain's head? It's hard to tell at first.
Male Gaze: The deliveryman who drops off a package for a housewife with a top-of-the-line Navi. Although he's almost as interested in her computer as he is in her, the camera still pans slowly over her body from his perspective.
Mind Rape: What the Knights do to Mika in Layer 05.
Beep...Beep...Beep...
Mind Screw: The best way to describe Serial Experiments Lain is to throw paranoid schizophrenia and depression in a blender, along with a heavy dose of philosophy. After blending on the "puree" setting, add a dash of conspiracy theories and Accidental Nightmare Fuel, to taste.
Nightmare Face: That girl from episode 1 and 2, the one that's supposedly hit by a train. One word: Holes.
No Social Skills: When we first meet Lain she has a wide-eyed befuddlement when faced with a social situation, to the point where she is almost mute. Her friends bubbly interchanges are juxtaposed with an odd — troubling gap where a response should be. She develops some skills as the series progresses: it is uphill work and Lain is never a normal girl.
Nothing Is Scarier: The series can be very creepy during the long periods when we know something is very wrong, but there is no immediate horror on-screen.
When Mika keeps seeing messages written in red ink telling her to "fulfill the prophecy", without any idea where they're coming from or why she's received them.
Recap Episode: Sort of: episode #11 features images from previous episodes during the first 15 minutes.
Ret Gone: The series ends with Lain doing this to herself.
Reveal Shot: There are several shots where Lain or her friends have a Reaction Shot followed by a Reveal Shot — the camera moves out to show the horror they just saw.
Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: Lain's attitude toward Alice involves a romantic tint. It is open to interpretation how serious it is and whether Alice returns it.
Roswell That Ends Well: There is a discussion on the Roswell incident and conspiracy theories, and implies that the Wired might have been created using alien technology. Whether that's true, and how relevant it is to the story, is left entirely open.
Salaryman: Lain's father, who is kinder to her than her mother but still rather distant.
School Uniforms Are The New Black: Lain and her classmates can be seen wearing their uniform hours after school has ended, even after she's gotten home from school.
Hey look, it's Vannevar Bush and the Memex featured in an anime!
The references to Douglass Rushkoff, John C. Lilly, Ted Nelson, and the Roswell conspiracy theories also fit with the plot very well.
"Infornography" (episode 11) is packed solid with this trope.
Silence Is Golden: The series often has long scenes without dialogue, including montages of Lain walking around the city or in her room. The minimalist soundtrack fits as well.
Spell My Name with an S: Is it Arisu, or is it Alice? Probably Alice: You can see her name written on her cell phone near the end of the series, among other places. However, Pioneer used "Arisu" in their subtitles, hence the confusion.
Starts With A Suicide: The series kicks off when middle schooler Chisa Yomode jumps off a building. It then follows up with the girl's Internet conversation: "How does it feel to die?" "It really hurts :-)"
Stock Footage: Closeups of telephone lines and stylized shots of city traffic at night. One repeated bit of footage is rather poignant: Lain walking under telephone lines casting creepy shadows: in the last episode the same footage is shown without Lain after she erases herself from existence.
Surprisingly Good English: The theme song is sung in English by British band Bôa. Each episode has an English name and English is used extensively throughout the series, from school the Wired interface.
The Team Wannabe: The Knights fanboy who wanders around the streets wearing a virtual reality headset and begging them to let him join their group.
Technology Porn: Depending on who you ask, this is slightly more literal than in most cases.
Twenty Minutes into the Future: Mixed with Present Day (Present Time!). The setting is presented to be strikingly real, implying it all might be happening right now, but there are apparent cyberpunk-style differences.
Uncanny Valley Girl: Lain of course, seeing as she is very pretty, quiet, and seemingly normal at first, except she's not a normal girl.
The Uncanny Valley is used to full effect in Layer 08, where we see a glimpse of the Wired where each user has her face... on their own bodies. She freaks out and knocks the head off of one,but that just makes it even creepier.
The Unsmile: Lain pulls one at the end of episode 11.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Chisa is practically forgotten after the first few episodes, only getting a basically inconsequential mention in episode 10. Also, the fate of Mika and Lain's fake parents is not revealed.
Well, after Lain hits the Reset Button, we see a scene where all three of them formed an actual family, at Lain's behest one would imagine.
Where Does She Get All Those Wonderful Toys: Lain's computer setup. It's made vaguely plausible in that her father seems to work as a computer engineer of some sort, but by Layer 4 she has entire racks of servers and several monitors in her bedroom.
Artificial Human: Lain could be anything from a genetically engineered "homunculus" to a computer program to an alien. The series never makes it fully clear what Lain actually is.
Physical God: Lain is effectively a god that physically exists; a more straight example would be the guy that commited suicide to become a god.
Reset Button Ending: Lain features a rare variation which gives the series a sense of closure; the fact that it wasn't a complete reset definitely helps in that regard.
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