History Anime / SerialExperimentsLain

A video game for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation was developed concurrently alongside the anime, and was released shortly after the the anime's conclusion. It takes place in a different continuity while still sharing several themes, but mostly contains its own plot and characters. Tropes specific to the video game should go on [[VideoGame/SerialExperimentsLain its dedicated page]].

This line is from an email sent to multiple students from Chisa Yomoda, a high school girl that recently died by suicide. "Chisa" says that she isn't truly dead, she just transferred her consciousness to the Wired, a virtual world mainly used for communication.

Fourteen-year-old Lain Iwakura isn't interested in the Wired or anything to do with computers. A quiet introvert, she has to practically be forced into social activities by her best friend, Alice Mizuki. It isn't until she's urged to check her email by Alice and the rest of her kind-of friends that Lain sees the mysterious message. Not only does "Chisa" claim to still be alive, she also says that God exists and He lives in the Wired.

Her curiosity piqued, Lain has her tech-obsessed father buy her a new NAVI system. While Lain's mother and sister are both indifferent to her, her father is eager to help her out. He urges her to log onto the Wired, a sentiment underscored when "Chisa" leaves a similar message on Lain's classroom's blackboard. When she finally does enter the Wired to start searching for answers, everything Lain knows about herself, her family, the Wired, the world, even God Himself will be upended by one undeniable truth: nothing and no one are what they seem.

Part cyberpunk, part psychological-horror, the series is famous within the anime community for its unconventional storytelling, surreal visuals, and stellar sound design. While there ''is'' a plot, any progression thereof is usually implied to be happening in the background, whereas the concepts the creators are exploring remain front and center. A lot of questions the series brings up as to its characters and setting is left up to the viewer, so expect plenty uses of "left up to interpretation" and variations thereof in the examples listed below.

* AdjectiveNounFred: The title of the series is formatted as "adjective noun name". The name used is the main character's but what the "serial experiments" are is never directly addressed (at least not within the show itself).

* ViewerFriendlyInterface: Alternates with ObfuscatedInterface so often that it alone can drive the viewer to confusion.

* BrainyBrunette: Lain has dark brain hair and reveals herself to be a very fast learner when it comes to understanding how to use, build, and modify computers.

%%* DaylightHorror: The anime liberally uses highly contrasting light and shadows in its animation, creating eerily bright days.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Lain is barefoot in all of her representations in the Wired, as well as later in the real world. This seems to highlight how secure she feels when in her domains, despite the fact that she has the floor of her HackerCave flooded in coolant, and it would be ridiculously easy to suffer an electrical accident with all of those cables.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Eiri is defeated, but Lain decides to reset the human world anyway by erasing her own presence. This means everything bad that happened thanks to Lain's existence and actions will be erased, but so won't Alice's memories of Lain. Alice grows up to live a happy and peaceful life, as do most of the other characters, while Lain herself decides to be the barrier keeper between reality and the Wired.]]

* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: The theme song is sung in English by British band [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bôa Bôa]]. Each episode has an English name and English is used extensively throughout the series, from school to the Wired interface.

* MatureWorkChildProtagonists: Lain Iwakura is a girl in middle school who still wears teddy bear pajamas. During the course of the series, she visits a night club where a man on a mind accelerating cyber drug shoots someone else and then himself, inadvertently causes her older sister to suffer a brutal MindRape that leaves her a blank slate, sees a young man playing a VR game mistake a young girl for a monster in his game and shoot her, and has her become involved with a couple of MenInBlack who murder all the members of a rival faction. She catches a friend of hers masturbating while fantasizing about a teacher, and then witnesses the same friend have a complete breakdown when they're confronted with a self-styled "God of the Wired".

Part cyberpunk, part psychological, and part horror, the series is famous within the anime community for its unconventional storytelling, surreal visuals, and stellar sound design. While there ''is'' a plot, any progression thereof is usually implied to be happening in the background, whereas the concepts the creators are exploring remain front and center. A lot of questions the series brings up as to its characters and setting is left up to the viewer, so expect plenty uses of "left up to interpretation" and variations thereof in the examples listed below.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Lain's friendship with Alice breaks down when the Evil Lain spreads rumors around their school that she likes to fantasize about a certain teacher while "playing with herself". It's later shown to not be a rumor when the Evil Lain catches Alice doing exactly that.

* MatureWorkChildProtagonists: Lain Iwakura is a girl in middle school who still wears teddy bear pajamas. During the course of the series, she visits a night club where a man on a mind accelerating cyber drug shoots someone else and then himself, inadvertently causes her older sister to suffer a brutal MindRape that leaves her a blank slate, sees a young man playing a VR game mistake a young girl for a monster in his game and shoot her, and has her become involved with a couple of MenInBlack who murder all the members of a rival faction. She catches a friend of hers engaging in ADateWithRosiePalms while fantasizing about a teacher, and then witnesses the same friend have a complete breakdown when they're confronted with a self-styled "God of the Wired".
* MentalFusion

* TeacherStudentRomance: A reciprocal one.

* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: The series can be interpreted this way; [[AmbiguousDisorder a number of Lain's experiences]] resemble symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia, including visual and auditory hallucinations, loss of perception of time, paranoid delusions, and inappropriate emotional reactions. In fact, one of the symptoms of schizophrenia is the delusional belief that [[ArcWords everything is connected]] and is somehow directly relevant to the believer, no matter how innocuous or unimportant. One might call it an inability to tell signal from noise...

* UncannyValleyGirl: Lain of course, seeing as she is very pretty, quiet, and seemingly normal at first, except she's not a normal girl. This is played with in earlier episodes by deliberately using OffModel animation techniques so that she appears out of place with her surroundings.
** The UncannyValley 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 [[OffWithHisHead knocks the head off of one]], but that just makes it even creepier.

* EverythingIsOnline: %%stopped here
** Literally, to the point that one of the catchphrases is: ''no matter where you go, everyone's connected''. [[spoiler:In fact, Lain once almost gets run over by a car, because of a failure in the citywide car guidance system.]] Considering that the first scene depicts someone uploading their consciousness to the internet by committing suicide, conventional electrical gadgets being connected to the internet isn't far-fetched by comparison.
** [[spoiler:The premise is basically this (minus the psychokinetic powers also present): human brains have electromagnetic vibrations in them as part of the neurons' functions. Planet Earth has ubiquitous electromagnetic resonance (called Schumann Resonance after its discoverer), which according to the series subtly affects the functions of the human brain. Thus, the Wired is really humanity's collective unconsciousness. Eiri's Protocol 7 manipulates the Schumann Resonance in a way that connects all people's minds subconsciously without necessarily even relying on machines, which naturally are also affected. Lain appears to be the first person capable of easily switching between the two, while Chisa and Eiri took one-way trips to the Wired.]]
* EvilTwin: The other Lain.
* EvilutionaryBiologist: [[spoiler:Masami Eiri]] is an odd example, being a computer scientist who believes that humans have reached the pinnacle of evolution physically and that, in order to [[EvolutionaryLevels continue evolving to more perfect forms]], humanity has to give up their bodies for a digital existence. To that end, [[spoiler:he secretly puts code into the latest version of the protocol that controls the Wired that would connect humans together on a subconscious level through the network. He also creates Lain a physical body to aid in this effort.]]
* ExtremeGraphicalRepresentation: The [=NAVIs'=] user interface. The desktop animations aren't terribly out of place, now that [[http://youtu.be/Rhg7dkMtD9g compositing window managers]] are common, but as Lain's computer gets overgrown, the visuals get less and less comprehensible.
* EyeMotifs: Most people grounded in reality in the anime have fairly large pupils in relation to their irises -- for example, Lain's father and Alice. Lain's [[PuppyDogEyes massive irises]] compared to her tiny pupils suggests much of her psyche is submerged in The Wired.
* EyeTake: Quite a bit of them.
* FacialMarkings: [[spoiler:Masami Eiri]] has a red stripe on each cheek.
* FakeMemories: [[spoiler:Initially Lain, everyone by the end of the show.]]
* FantasticDrug: Accela, a powerful nanomachine-powered stimulant that causes BulletTime, heightened senses, and delusional thoughts. It also seems to physically link the user into the Wired, and susceptible to its more esoteric phenomena.
* FeelingYourHeartbeat: In a tender moment between Alice and Lain, Alice puts her hand on Lain's cheek, then puts Lain's hand over her own heart to [[spoiler:try and remind Lain of her own humanity after she is nearly consumed by The Wired]].
* FictionalVideogame: ''[=PHANTOMa=]''. It looks kind of like ''VideoGame/EyeOfTheBeholder'', but with unusually invasive multiplayer elements.
* FirstKiss: Taro gives Lain hers. It's kind of glossed over, though. Interestingly, she ends up with his chewing gum in her mouth, so the entire kiss affair could be just a prank by Taro.
* FiveRoundsRapid: When confronted with the CreepyChild in [=PHANTOMa=], the player shoots her several times with a FingerGun -- with tragic consequences in the real world.
* FormulaBreakingEpisode: Layers 05, 09 and 11 respectively.
** Layer 05 centers mostly around Mika [[spoiler:and her MindRape by the Knights]], with passages in which Lain engages in esoteric philosophical conversations with a CreepyDoll, her Mom and her Dad respectively.
** Layer 09 contains a lot of InfoDump about the history and development of the Internet and the World Wide Web mixed in with scenes involving Lain trying to understand who - or what - exactly she is, which all leads up to TheReveal [[spoiler:that the "God" Lain has been conversing with in the Wired is Masami Eiri - and he's decided to pay her a visit.]]
** Layer 11 is a RecapEpisode / BreatherEpisode. [[spoiler: At least for the first half.]]
* FreakyFridayFlip: [[MindScrew Maybe]]. Layer 10 opens with a sequence where, for lack of a better phrase, [[spoiler:Lain and Masami Eiri 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--e.g., Eiri triumphantly questions Lain's godlike nature while Lain demurely proclaims her supreme power]].

* FriendlessBackground: Lain has friends, but appears to have almost no actual connection to them except for Alice.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Is it Arisu, or is it Alice? It's intended to be Alice: You can see her name written clearly when Lain receives e-mail from her and other scenes. It's also been confirmed by WordOfGod to be an AliceAllusion. However, Pioneer used "Arisu" in their subtitles, hence the confusion. The production notes booklet included with the new BD/DVD set also gives her name as "Arisu".

* FantasticDrug: Accela, a powerful nanomachine-powered stimulant that causes [[CaffeineBulletTime Accela Bullet Time]], heightened senses, and delusional thoughts. It also seems to physically link the user into the Wired, and susceptible to its more esoteric phenomena.

[[caption-width-right:300:[[MindScrew Nothing is what it is.]]]]
->''"Present Day... Heh! Present Time! [=HaHaHahA!=]"''

"''It seems that there is a rumor in school that this is a prank. But I want you to know it's not.''"

* AliceAllusion: Lain's best friend, Alice, is a direct reference to Lewis Carroll's [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland Alice]].

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Eiri is defeated, but Lain decides to reset the human world anyway by erasing her own presence. This means everything bad that happened thanks to Lain's existence and actions will be erased, but so won't Alice's memories of Lain. Or at least in theory; Lain reintroduces herself to a grown up Alice who seems to vaguely remember her, so the series ultimately ends with a bit of hope that the two might rekindle some form of friendship.]]

* CyberpunkIsTechno: %%stopped here
** {{Averted|Trope}} with the opening and ending themes (pop and rock, respectively).
** Played straight with the the in-show music which is dark electronica.
** {{Invoked|Trope}} whenever something happens in Cyberia. There is also a popular "Cyberia Mix" remixed soundtrack album.
* {{Cyberspace}}: The Wired, which is the main theme. TheMetaverse, if you want the specific variant.
* DarkerAndEdgier: The game.
* ADarkerMe: Lain grows much more snarky and assertive in the Wired as she becomes more familiar with it and comfortable with her abilities, though she remains quiet and shy (mostly) in the real world.
* ADateWithRosiePalms: Lain's friendship with Alice breaks down when [[spoiler:one of the Lains]] spreads rumours around school that she likes to fantasize about a certain teacher while "playing with herself". It's later shown to not be a rumor.
* DaylightHorror: The anime is known for the highly contrasting light and shadows in its animation style, creating eerily bright days. There are a number of MindScrew scenes that happen in these settings.
* DeathGlare: In Layer 3, Lain gives one to Taro when he suggests she go on a date with him, which he quickly tries to give a JustJokingJustification. It's really notable because it is the first time Lain shows something akin to an [[BewareTheNiceOnes active emotional response.]]
* DeusEstMachina: [[spoiler:One interpretation of Lain.]]
* DigitalAvatar: Most people have them in the Wired. [[spoiler:It's a sign of Lain's power that her avatar is herself.]]
* DigitizedHacker: [[spoiler:'God']] turns out to be one of these, a rather nutty scientist who worked out how to upload himself onto the web. [[spoiler:Lain herself might also count; in fact it was suggested that this was her true nature and her body was simply created for convenience.]]
* DoesNotLikeShoes: Lain is barefoot in all her representations in the Wired, as well as later in the real world. This seems to highlight how secure she feels when in her domains, despite the fact that she has the floor of her HackerCave flooded in coolant and it could be ridiculously easy to suffer a electric accident with all her cabling. Also, [[spoiler:Eiri]] in the Wired.
* DoNotAdjustYourSet: When images of Lain start to appear on video screens in public places, which creeps out her sister quite a bit.
* DrivenToMadness: [[spoiler:Alice after seeing Eiri's physical manifestation.]]
* DrivenToSuicide:
** Chisa's suicidal fall is what kicks the story off, and first clues us (and eventually Lain) into the weirdness of the Wired.
** The man who starts shooting up Cyberia eventually kills himself.
** Numerous characters (including [[spoiler:Lain herself]]) in the PSX Game.
* DroneOfDread: Images of power lines are often accompanied by an ominous humming sound, phone or data lines by a faint babble of voices. It's implied that Lain is the only one who hears it when she tells the voices to "shut up" in layer 01, startling the man beside her on the train.
* DubInducedPlotHole: The Spanish dub presents a strange instance in which the line said by one of TheMenInBlack to Lain "... but I love you. Love is a strange emotion, isn't it?" is changed to "... I can't help but feel pity for your fate. You are a very special young lady." This is not only weird because this dub doesn't feature any kind of censorship otherwise, but also because it opens the question of how he could know about her fate when [[spoiler:they are actually unwitting pawns who later die without understanding the situation]].
* EmotionlessGirl: Lain appears this way to others. [[spoiler:Except in the Wired, where she is forceful and articulate.]]
* EmpathicEnvironment: Including bleak grey skies, crows, and shadows that look like blood everywhere.
* EndOfTheWorldSpecial: [[spoiler:Lain has one at the end of the series.]]
* EstablishingShot: The StockFootage of traffic and phone lines also functions as an EstablishingShot.
* EternalProhibition: It is the near future, and yet on one hand, it is obvious that 10-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.
* EveryoneOwnsAMac: 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.) This is interesting today when you think about how prevalent Apple is, but Apple's own history is practically shown in this series, [[ItMakesSenseInContext if you can understand it]]. Check the [[Trivia/SerialExperimentsLain Trivia page]] [[ViewersAreGeniuses for more insightful fun]].
* EverythingIsOnline: Literally, to the point that one of the catchphrases is: ''no matter where you go, everyone's connected''. [[spoiler:In fact, Lain once almost gets run over by a car, because of a failure in the citywide car guidance system.]] Considering that the first scene depicts someone uploading their consciousness to the internet by committing suicide, conventional electrical gadgets being connected to the internet isn't far-fetched by comparison.

* AnimalMotifs: Lain often wears a bear pajama onesie, and some

''Serial Experiments Lain'' is an anime original created by Yasuyuki Ueda and written by Chiaki J. Konaka. The characters were designed by Yoshitoshi [=ABe=], and the animation was made by Triangle Staff with direction given by Ryutaro Nakamura. All 13 episodes of the series aired on TV Tokyo from July 1998 to September of that same year. The English release was originally handled by Creator/{{Geneon}} in 1999. When that company shut down, the series was left in limbo until Creator/{{Funimation}} rescued and re-released it in 2012.

* AspectMontage:
** The OnceAnEpisode 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 mundanity 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 recognizable modern-day setting, also links back to the infamous opening narration that we hear before the intro: "Present day... heh... present time! Hahahahahaha-!" %%stopped here
* BarbieDollAnatomy: The scenes in "KIDS" and one later episode of the god-like vision of Lain in the clouds.

* BigBad: [[GodIsEvil The God of the Wired]] [[spoiler:A.K.A. [[MadScientist Masami Eiri]]]], who is trying to [[AssimilationPlot merge everyone's consciousness]] with [[{{Cyberspace}} The Wired]] [[AGodAmI and rule above them as a God]].
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Eiri is apparently defeated, but as Lain decides to reset the human world by erasing her own presence in it, her only friend in the world, Alice, won't remember her at all. However, she re-introduces herself to Alice briefly on a bridge as the episode ends.]]
* BlackEyesOfEvil: See CreepyChild, TheMenInBlack.
* BloodSplatteredInnocents: Lain against a drugged up clubber with a gun.
* BloodierAndGorier: The PSX game adaptation contains brutal deaths ([[spoiler:including Lain's suicide]]).
* BodyHorror: Eiri's attempt to physically manifest. Suffice to say, it does not seem to go too well.
* BoyishShortHair: Lain's signature hairstyle with tails.

** Chisa implies this was part of her motivation for committing suicide.
** [[spoiler:Eiri]], as part of [[spoiler:his ThanatosGambit to hook humanity up to the Wired directly]].
* BrainyBrunette: Dark brown-haired Lain reveals herself to be a very fast learner when it comes to understanding how to use, build, and modify computers.
* BreatherEpisode: Layer 11 gives some welcome respite from all the nightmarish goings on. [[spoiler:At least until [[SubvertedTrope shit hits the fan in the episode's latter half.]]]]
* BrightIsNotGood: 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.
* BrokenRecord: "LET'S ALL LOVE LAIN LET'S ALL LOVE LAIN LET'S ALL LOVE LAIN LAINLAINLAINLAINLAINLAINALAIN"
* CaughtWithYourPantsDown: So your best friend has a [[spoiler:near-omniscient split personality]] that does [[ForTheEvulz stuff for the sadistic fun of it]] in a world where everyone is connected. Go ahead, enjoy yourself [[spoiler:while fantasizing about your teacher]]. No one will ever know...
* CheshireCatGrin:
** [[spoiler:Lain's peeping-tom alter-ego]] seems to wear one near-constantly.
** Lain refers to a floating mouth she encounters in the Wired as the Cheshire Cat.
* ClingyJealousGirl: Myu-Myu, Taro's pretend girlfriend who is very jealous of his attention to Lain.
* ClipShow: The first half of Layer 11, "Infornography", is quite obviously a budget-saving clip-show, featuring almost no new animation at all besides some computer effects and effects achieved by filming the show's animation on a CRT screen.

** She also does C++ in the artbook.
** Apparently, she's hacking Lisp while not paying attention to a lecture about C.
* CoolestClubEver: Cyberia, where Lain and her friends often go at night. It's so cool that not only teenagers, but also children go there.
* ContemplateOurNavels: One episode consisted almost entirely of live photographs scrolling by while the {{Narrator}} provided {{Expospeak}}.
* CooldownHug: Lain to Alice in Layer 13. It doesn't quite fix her after what she has seen, but she does calm down.
* CowboysAndIndians[=/=]TheGameComeToLife: The online shooter game ''[=PHANTOMa=]'' gets crossed with a bunch of kids playing tag in the real world. It goes ''very, very'' awry.
* CreepyChild: 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.
* CreepyCrows: In the opening, Lain is surrounded by terrifying crows. [[spoiler:And then she just stops them. By stopping time]].
* {{Cyberpunk}}: According to the [[http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/movie/decade/1990-1999/serial-experiments-lain/ Cyberpunk Review]]. "Degree of Cyberpunk Visuals: High, Correlation to Cyberpunk Themes: Very High".
* CyberpunkIsTechno:

''Serial Experiments Lain'' is an anime original created by Yasuyuki Ueda and written by Chiaki J. Konaka. The characters were designed by Yoshitoshi [=ABe=], and the animation was made by Triangle Staff with direction given by Ryutaro Nakamura. All 13 episodes of the series aired on TV Tokyo from July 1998 to September of that same year. The English release was originally handled by Creator/{{Geneon}} in 1999. When that company shut down, the series was left in limbo until Creator/{{Funimation}} rescued and re-released it in 2012.

* AdjectiveNounFred: The title; the "serial experiments" is never actually addressed in-story, though.[[note]]Comments in an artbook suggest that they refer to carrying on life after the body has died - in other words, allowing humans to serialize themselves. Therefore, Chisa and Eiri are the performers of said experiments.[[/note]]

* AGodAmI: [[spoiler:Masami Eiri: he even introduces himself as God. Lain breaks him by pointing out that the timing of his advent means he can be no more than a placeholder for the real god--if there is one--and the real god may be Lain herself.]]
* AliceAllusion: Alice Mizuki. WordOfGod [[http://www.cjas.org/~leng/alice.htm confirms]] her name as a reference.
-->"Alice" is Lewis Carroll's. I often use the "Alice" as the metaphor in my scenarios. Alice in "Lain" is same.
* AloneInACrowd: Lain does this at times.
* TheAlternet: The Wired, which may or may not be alive. This anime took place in "the present day" and "present time" at a time when the internet was clearly named and defined. It's just that much of a MindScrew series. Visually, the Wired is mostly shown as a mass of swirling visuals and holograms that look impossible to navigate, or as a physical space that strange beings inhabit. It also doesn't seem to have any actual websites (that the audience know of, anyway), instead acting more like a giant chatroom or MMORPG where you can 'see' other people.
* AncientConspiracy: The Knights of the Eastern Calculus.
* AnimalMotifs: All over the place, notably Lain and her teddy bears/bear pajamas, and the omnipresent crows.
** The bear symbolism underlines Lain's hibernating potential, despite her outwardly unimposing appearance.
* AnimeThemeSong: "Duvet" by British band Boa. Haunting and will remind you of ''Manga/GunslingerGirl''.
* ArtificialHuman: [[spoiler:Lain could be anything from a genetically engineered "homunculus" to a computer program to an alien to the anthropomorphic personification of the collective unconscious. The series never makes it fully clear what Lain actually is.]]
* ArcWords:
** ''Everything is Connected''
** ''Close the World. Open the [[UsefulNotes/MacOS neXt]].''
** ''Fulfill the prophecy.''
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler:Lain disappears from the Earth after deleting her memory from everybody's minds.]] Also, [[spoiler:Eiri Masami]]'s goal.

** The OnceAnEpisode 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 narration that we hear before the intro: "''Present day... heh... present time! Hahahahahaha-!''"

* {{BFS}}: In video games.

%%

"It seems that there is a rumor in school that this is a prank. But I want you to know it's not."

This line is from an email sent to multiple students from Chisa Yomoda, a high school girl that recently committed suicide. The email claims that Chisa isn't truly dead, she just transferred her consciousness to the Wired, a virtual world mainly used for communication.

Her curiosity piqued, Lain has her tech-obsessed father buy her a new NAVI computer system. While her mother and sister are both indifferent to Lain, her father is very eager to help her out. He urges her to log onto the Wired, a sentiment underscored when "Chisa" leaves a similar message on Lain's classroom's blackboard. When she finally does enter the Wired to start searching for answers, everything Lain knows about herself, her family, the Wired, the world, even God Himself will be upended by one undeniable truth: nothing and no one are what they seem.

''Serial Experiments Lain'' is an anime original created by Yasuyuki Ueda and written by Chiaki J. Konaka. The characters were designed by Yoshitoshi [=ABe=], and the animation was made by Triangle Staff with direction given by Ryutaro Nakamura. All 13 episodes of the series aired on TV Tokyo during the Summer 1998 season. The English release was originally handled by Geneon in 1999. When that company shut down, the series was left in limbo until Funimation rescued and re-released it in 2012.

Part cyberpunk, part psychological, and part horror, the series is famous within the anime community for its unconventional storytelling, surreal visuals, and stellar sound design. While there ''is'' a plot, any progression thereof is usually implied to be happening in the background, whereas the concepts the creators are exploring remain front and center. A lot of questions the series brings up as to its characters and setting is left up to the viewer, so expect plenty uses of "left up to interperation" and variations thereof in the examples listed below.

A [[VideoGame/SerialExperimentsLain video game]] for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation was released shortly after the conclusion of the anime and was developed concurrently. It takes place in a different continuity while still sharing several themes, but mostly contains its own plot points and characters. Calling it a "game" may be a bit of a stretch, and the creators actually define it as "psychostretchware". Instead of actual gameplay, it acts more as an interface to access parts of Lain's story, presenting a multimedia experience that includes video, diary excerpts, and notes from Lain's therapist. Although it hasn't received an official English version, [[http://psx.lain.pl/ some fans have translated it]] and put it into a PDF format, available for download. A single-chapter {{manga}}, ''The Nightmare of Fabrication'', which was included in magazines and artbooks, takes place in the continuity of the game, showing the events of a scene that's mysteriously absent from the games' files, and introducing the game continuity's alternate version of Masami Eiri. This manga ''was'' actually translated into English, included in the English edition of the ''omnipresence in wired'' artbook.

!!This series provides examples of:

Part cyberpunk, part psychological, and part horror, the anime is famous for its unconventional storytelling, surreal visuals, and stellar sound design. While there ''is'' a plot, any progression thereof is usually implied to be happening in the background, whereas the concepts the creators are exploring remain front and center. A lot of questions the series brings up as to its characters and setting is left up to the viewer, so expect plenty uses of "left up to interperation" and variations thereof in the examples listed below.

Part cyberpunk, part psychological, and part horror, the anime is famous for its unconventional storytelling, surreal visuals, and general atmosphere of uneasiness. While there ''is'' a plot, any progression thereof is usually implied to be happening in the background, whereas the concepts the creators are exploring remain front and center. A lot of questions the series brings up as to its characters and setting is left up to the viewer, so expect plenty uses of "left up to interperation" and variations thereof in the examples listed below.

{{Shonen}} has ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', {{shojo}} has ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', and seinen has ''Lain''.

An erudite, confusing, and chilling anime which ran from [[TheNineties July to September 1998]], ''Serial Experiments Lain'' is CreepyAwesome {{seinen}} {{cyberpunk}}, as well as a notable MindScrew in the genre. Directed by Ryūtarō Nakamura and written by Creator/ChiakiKonaka, the show takes an information-rich deep dive into the nature of reality and truth, and in the process leads the viewer to come to their 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 [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture with a few telling differences]]. The story [[StartsWithASuicide 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 "[[{{Cyberspace}} The Wired]]", a pervasive computer network very much like [[{{Cyberspace}} the Internet as first envisioned by]] Creator/WilliamGibson.

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 [[NoSocialSkills 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, 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, as well as an organization of hackers who are causing trouble and the mischievous [[BigBad God of the Wired]] who has his own plans for humanity.

''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 [[JigsawPuzzlePlot orthogonal]] to the viewer -- sometimes seen but often simply implied -- which requires the viewer to think about and draw their 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 their 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 [[CulturalCrossReference 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 UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla mean anything to you...
* If "Majestic-12", "Roswell", or the Knights of the Lambda Calculus rings a bell...
* If you can spot literary references ranging from Creator/LewisCarroll to Creator/MarcelProust to Creator/CordwainerSmith...
* 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 UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh...

... 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 [[ShoutOut/SerialExperimentsLain Shout-Out]] page.

Also has a [[Characters/SerialExperimentsLain character page]].

A [[VideoGame/SerialExperimentsLain video game]] for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation also exists, released shortly after the conclusion of the anime and developed concurrently. It takes place in a different continuity that shares several themes, but mostly contains its own plot points and characters. Calling it a "game" may be a bit of a stretch, and the creators actually define it as "psychostretchware". Instead of actual gameplay, it acts more as an interface to access parts of Lain's story, presenting a multimedia experience that includes video, diary excerpts, and notes from Lain's therapist. Although it has yet to receive an English version, officially or unofficially, [[http://psx.lain.pl/ some fans have translated it]] and put it into a PDF format, available to download. A single-chapter {{manga}}, ''The Nightmare of Fabrication'', which was included in magazines and artbooks, takes place in the continuity of the game, showing the events of a scene that's mysteriously absent from the games' files, and introducing the game continuity's alternate version of Masami Eiri. This manga actually was translated into English officially, included in the English edition of the ''omnipresence in wired'' artbook.

The anime can be watched on [[http://www.hulu.com/serial-experiments-lain Hulu]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL29CFFB0C178E4903 Funimation's official Youtube.]]

'''SPOILERS AHEAD!'''

!!''Serial Experiments Lain'' provides examples of:

* AmbiguousDisorder: 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. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking She also talks in a weird staccato.]] [[spoiler:Except in the Wired.]] It's notable that a lot of the things that happen to Lain are evocative of the symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia.

* GodIsGood: [[spoiler:Lain, when she resets the world to give everyone (especially [[PseudoRomanticFriendshipAlice]]) a happy ending.]]