History NightmareFuel / SerialExperimentsLain

* In Episode 12, [[spoiler: TheMenInBlack recieve final "payment for services rendered" from "The Office Worker". After a brief exchange about what the activation of Protocol 7 and the total loss of devices forever would entail, "The Office Worker" drives away, at which point the MIB see...''[[NothingIsScarier something]]''...through their head-gear, which causes the dark-haired, pony-tailed, no-nonsense skeptical MIB to ''[[MindRape freak the fuck out]]''. His body twists and lurches as he appears to have a kind of seizure. "Karl", the more serious and and laterally-minded of the pair, wrestles him to the ground to see what's the matter. While his partner is still crying out in terror, he looks into his partner's retina to find an image of Lain, and his partner dies in his arms, foam dribbling out of his mouth. "Karl" turns and [[MindScrew sees what appears to be]] [[MindRape reality collapse around him]]. The last we ever see of them is the look of pure terror on "Karl"'s face. The last we ever hear of them is "Karl" screaming bloody murder at...whatever he saw.]] Possibly the most terrifying moment in the whole series.

* I cannot decide what is the most freaky thing between having almost been shot by a guy who killed two people, said it was all your fault, and then killed himself (all right in front of you) ; coming back home afterwards in the middle of the night to find that absolutely nobody's home and the beds are all made ; or how Lain doesn't. React. At all. And just changes into her teddy bear pj's and goes to sleep.
* The first meeting with [[spoiler:evil Lain]]. The grin...will haunt your nightmares.

* The sequence with the static-skinned people...with only one facial or bodily feature for each person - the rest of their bodies are just empty. Going back further, the ''lines'' of headless, kneeling avatars with gibbering mouths, spouting rumours randomly. [[FromBadToWorse And when we go back]] to them later on...[[spoiler: They ''all'' have Lain's head. They're still gibbering, but their mouths don't even look human... and [[NothingIsScarier there's no sound coming from any of them.]]]]

* The sequence with the static-skinned people...with only one facial or bodily feature for each person - the rest of their bodies are just empty. Going back further, the ''lines'' of headless, kneeling avatars with gibbering mouths, spouting rumours randomly. [[FromBadToWorse And when we go back]] to them later on...[[spoiler: They ''all'' have Lain's head. They're still gibbering, but their mouths don't even look human...and [[NothingIsScarier there's no sound coming from any of them.]]]]
* "Beep...beep...beep...understood...beep...beep...beep...now communicating, logging on...beep...beep...beep..."

* The train scene in Episode 1. After inexplicably teleporting to several places (or [[{{MindScrew}} perhaps not]]) Lain suddenly appears in front of a railroad, where a girl stands in the mist in the path of the oncoming train. The strange, dreamlike feel of the scene is eerie enough...but then we get a look at the girl's face. Her facial expression distorts from a odd combination of SlasherSmile and PsychoticSmirk to terrified/sad to just [[spoiler: HOLES]] and repeats once more.

* How about the ideas this series presents? Not since {{Eversion}} have I been so paranoid simply because I could no longer look at reality itself the same way again. The implication that our own internet might have created a new universe is just shy of not being far fetched; You know it's impossible, but it gets too close to being debatable for comfort.

* There's also the short voiceover to start every episode: ''*Static*'' "Present day...heh heh heh...PRESENT TIME...HA HA HA HA HA-" ''*static*''

*** I was actually looking up the opener one night (The above link) and left it open in one of my tabs. I forgot about it, and turned off all of the lights and got in bed. Then the light on my computer flickered, and the static started. Followed by "Present day... heh heh heh... Present Time..." Suffice to say, I did not sleep and have stopped leaving anything related to this anime open on my computer.

* ... not to mention [[spoiler:Masami Eiri turning into a grotesque gooey fleshy monstrosity that uses its giant tongue to try to ''eat'' Lain and Arisu/Alice]] in the final episode.
* not just by what happens in the episodes, but also think of the psychological horrors about the Wired (the equivalent to our Internet)...?

* A rather subtle yet very unnerving detail about [[spoiler:Masami Eiri]] is that in all of his appearances [[spoiler:as "God"]] , his clothes are always in the same position, impossibly suspended in mid-air. ''Always''. Seeing him as perfectly unmoving even when the wind is blowing hard enough to make trees shake is unnerving because it just feels ''wrong''.

* Beginning to episode 12

*** I was actually looking up the opener one night (The above link) and left it open in one of my tabs. I forgot about it, and turned off all of the lights and got in bed. Then the light on my computer flickered, and the static started. Followed by "Present day...heh heh heh...Present Time..." Suffice to say, I did not sleep and have stopped leaving anything related to this anime open on my computer.

* ...not to mention [[spoiler:Masami Eiri turning into a grotesque gooey fleshy monstrosity that uses its giant tongue to try to ''eat'' Lain and Arisu/Alice]] in the final episode.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaFayr9zI-8 This video]]...set to the trailer music of ''Film/DarkCity'', even.

** [[quoteblock]]Protocol Seven is expected to allow the seamless sharing of information between the Wired and the real world. And now, the following message: [[spoiler:Let's all love Lain! Let's all love Lain! Let's all love Lain! Let's all love Lain!]][[/quoteblock]]

** There was a time when TechTV (when it still existed) would play anime at two o' clock in the morning on Sunday. ''Lain'' was one of these. I was interested, because I had seen some advertisements in magazines at the time, and decided to give it a shot. I was eleven. This was a bad idea.

* In fact, this entire series can be easily called ''Serial Nightmare Tankers Lain''.

* ...not to mention [[spoiler:Masami Eiri turning into a grotesque gooey fleshy monstrosity that uses its giant tongue to try to ''eat'' Lain and Alice]] in the final episode.

A classic late 90's anime with beautiful animation best described as "creepy, cool, {{seinen}}, and {{cyberpunk}}". It's pretty much one of the most confusing anime out there. That and it can be very scary at times, as the following examples can attest.

[[quoteright:283:[[SerialExperimentsLain http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aliendude.png]]]]

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaFayr9zI-8 This video]] demonstrates SerialExperimentsLain's NightmareFuel potential very well. Set to the trailer music of ''Film/DarkCity'', even.
* ''SerialExperimentsLain'' had ''a lot'' of NightmareFuel. Particularly disturbing by the alien (shown above, inexplicably clad in [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet a green and red striped sweater]]) who spied on Lain, and then ''grinned'' at her.

* In fact, this entire series can be easily called ''[[SerialExperimentsLain Serial Nightmare Tankers Lain]]''.

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** Oh yeah, I watched this ''and'' the End of Evangelion when I was about 8 or 9. Never freaked me out until now when I'm rewatching everything.
*** I also did that, and also only got freaked out after rewatching. Oh how easy it is to be a child.

*** The voice that's a text-to-speech option on every Mac made since 1990?
**** Yes. It's ''terrifying''.

* [[{{Sneebs}} I]] just want to put emphasis on episode 5. I sat through the Ring and enjoyed myself immensely, I played Bioshock alone in the dark and had a blast, and I even took a nice hot shower after immediately after watching Psycho. Why, oh why can't I sleep properly now? Because of that damned {{Mind Screw}} when Lain's sister Mika spilled her drink. ''Fulfill the prophecy!'' *shudders* I'm not touching coffee tomorrow morning, for sure!

* A rather subtle yet very unnerving detail about [[spoiler:Masami Eiri]] is that in all of his appearances, his clothes are always either in the same position (impossibly suspended in mid-air) or being ruffled by a soft wind. ''Always'', seeing him as perfectly unmoving even when the wind is blowing hard enough to make trees shake is unnerving because it just feels ''wrong''.

A classic late 90's anime with beautiful animation best described as "creepy, cool, {{seinen}}, and {{cyberpunk}}". It's pretty much one of the most confusing animes out there, after NeonGenesisEvangelion anyway. That and it can be very scary at times, as the following examples can attest.

[[SerialExperimentsLain http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aliendude.png]]
[[caption-width:283: You probably won't be getting much sleep tonight.]]

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaFayr9zI-8 This video]] demonstrates SerialExperimentsLain's NightmareFuel potential very well. Set to the trailer music of ''DarkCity'', even.

* The sequence with the static-skinned people...with only one facial or bodily feature for each person - the rest of their bodies are just empty. Going back further, the ''lines'' of headless, kneeling avatars with gibbering mouths, spouting rumours randomly. [[ItGetsWorse And when we go back]] to them later on...[[spoiler: They ''all'' have Lain's head. They're still gibbering, but their mouths don't even look human...and [[NothingIsScarier there's no sound coming from any of them.]]]]

** Serial Experiments Lain has a special connection to preteens in another way--the director also directed S3 of {{Digimon}}. Unsurprisingly, that season is host to some of the most screwed up stuff that's ever been connected to the franchise.

* ''SerialExperimentsLain'' had ''a lot'' of NightmareFuel. Particularly disturbing by the alien (shown above, inexplicably clad in [[ANightmareOnElmStreet a green and red striped sweater]]) who spied on Lain, and then ''grinned'' at her.

*** Possible ShoutOut to [[ANightMareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger?]]

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaFayr9zI-8 This video]] demonstrates SerialExperimentsLain's HighOctaneNightmareFuel potential very well. Set to the trailer music of ''DarkCity'', too.
* ''{{Serial Experiments Lain}}'' had a lot of NightmareFuel. I was particularly disturbed by the alien (shown above, inexplicably clad in [[ANightmareOnElmStreet a green and red striped sweater]]) who spied on Lain, and then ''grinned'' at her.
** Seconded. What made it scarier was the fact that the damn thing just suddenly appeared at her doorway ''out of freakin nowhere'' before disappearing.

** Then Lain has its body. Or it has her head. Man, fuck sleeping now...