Serial Experiments Lain (Ryūtarō Nakamura, 1998)

[Michael Kerpan]

>> This show really was on the money in its prophecy of the internet.

Murdoch -- Especially insofar as today's social media. Nothing like this actually existed yet "way back then".

[Murdoch]

Yes, the most remarkable aspect of Lain for me, at least halfway through, is how well it predicted the interplay of social media and society. This piques my interest as to other prescient visions of the internet from the 20th century (although that's perhaps something for the Other Lists section).

[Michael Kerpan]

Murdoch -- Never adapted (so far as I know) novels that are equally scarily prescient (in their own ways) -- John Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar and The Sheep Look Up. Interestingly, these use fragmentary story-telling in a way that makes me wonder if Konaka might have been familiar with either or both.

Query to all -- Did anyone actually get the Region B BluRay? The o/p Region A set was quite nice. It included both BRD and DVD versions of the series, a small booklet that talked about how this restoration/rebuilding was accomplished, and a substantial book of production drawings and the like.

[Murdoch]

I'll check those out, thanks Michael!

[Michael Kerpan]

I'll check those out, thanks Michael!

Warning -- they are tonally (in the end) more like Texhnolyze than Lain.... (especially Sheep).

[vsski]

Query to all -- Did anyone actually get the Region B BluRay? The o/p Region A set was quite nice. It included both BRD and DVD versions of the series, a small booklet that talked about how this restoration/rebuilding was accomplished, and a substantial book of production drawings and the like.

I got the Region B set, as the one in A that you are describing is sold out and was only available at scalpers prices (from what I saw). The Region B set has a few promotional extras, which aren’t worth much and no booklets at all, which is a real shame. So definitely hold on to yours as I doubt it will be bested.

[Michael Kerpan]

The Region A Lain set seemed to go out of print rather quickly. Not sure what the deal was.... *(The on-disc extras for this were also minimal).

[Murdoch]

episode 8Show

The Lain of reality and that of the Wired come to grips with their identities. Both selves struggle as they're confronted with not being in full control. Lain's sister seems to be a zombie, muttering to herself alone. Her parents, if that's what they are, have become a sinister presence, and with Lain bringing up to them her conversation with the nameless man, I expect her house will no longer be the safe space it was.

This episode strips away all sense of connection for Lain. Her friends, family and self are all antagonistic forces to her. She is adrift and isolated.

Arisu's affair with her teacher was a little disjointed for me. I wasn't sure if Lain was being called a peeping Tom because she (or her Wired self) spread rumors about it?

Anyway, this episode has a lot of strong visuals, such as Lain walking through the Wired, the rows of clothes and disembodied mouths reciting user posts. There's also the moment where, after Lain sees the message about her being a peeping Tom, the overpowering whitescape of Lain's world returns (a color palette, or lack thereof, that had largely dissipated until this moment). The isolation and withdrawal of Lain during her daily commutes in the first several episodes returns here as she's thrust into a state of anxiety from the names and accusations. It's a great example of the show's aesthetics and how it uses its medium to reflect Lain's psyche.

[Mr Sausage]

episode 8Show

The Lain of reality and that of the Wired come to grips with their identities. Both selves struggle as they're confronted with not being in full control. Lain's sister seems to be a zombie, muttering to herself alone. Her parents, if that's what they are, have become a sinister presence, and with Lain bringing up to them her conversation with the nameless man, I expect her house will no longer be the safe space it was.

This episode strips away all sense of connection for Lain. Her friends, family and self are all antagonistic forces to her. She is adrift and isolated.

Arisu's affair with her teacher was a little disjointed for me. I wasn't sure if Lain was being called a peeping Tom because she (or her Wired self) spread rumors about it?

Anyway, this episode has a lot of strong visuals, such as Lain walking through the Wired, the rows of clothes and disembodied mouths reciting user posts. There's also the moment where, after Lain sees the message about her being a peeping Tom, the overpowering whitescape of Lain's world returns (a color palette, or lack thereof, that had largely dissipated until this moment). The isolation and withdrawal of Lain during her daily commutes in the first several episodes returns here as she's thrust into a state of anxiety from the names and accusations. It's a great example of the show's aesthetics and how it uses its medium to reflect Lain's psyche.

Episode 8Show

My impression was that Arisu wasn't having a relationship with the teacher, she was just fantasizing about it. And peeping Lain spied on those private masturbatory fantasies (I think Lain even referred to them as such) and spread the info over the Wired. That's what I thought, anyway.

[Michael Kerpan]

I agree with Mr Sausage.

[Murdoch]

Episode 8Show

My impression was that Arisu wasn't having a relationship with the teacher, she was just fantasizing about it. And peeping Lain spied on those private masturbatory fantasies (I think Lain even referred to them as such) and spread the info over the Wired. That's what I thought, anyway.

episode 8Show

That makes sense. I thought it strange that Arisu was suddenly in her room after the teacher and her were shown together being intimate.

[Mr Sausage]

This is set to end on Monday. Does anyone want more time? Keep in mind that while the project will be officially done, the thread will remain open. It'll just be moved to the TV subforum. But I don't mind keeping this going another week if anyone wants it. Let me know.

[Murdoch]

I'm still plugging away but no need to keep it here because of me. I'm just as happy posting my thoughts once the thread is moved

[vsski]

After now seeing lots of anime thanks to the many suggestions on this forum, I wanted to circle back to Lain, which was my first ever anime I have seen. As you can see from my posts above I initially struggled with the animation drawings of this series feeling it wasn’t fully developed or shortchanged due to cost constraints, but got eventually absorbed by the multi layered story and enjoyed it very much. Now that I have seen a lot more I have to admit that this is still my favorite show when it comes to complex thought provoking story telling and somehow the animation does fit very well (cost constraints or not). The complexity of the themes outweighs any shortcomings for me and I haven’t seen another show or movie that I felt was as rich as this one. I will continue to watch anime now that I’m hooked but this show will always have a special place for me and I look forward to revisiting it in the future. Thanks Michael for a superb suggestion.

[Michael Kerpan]

I am so glad you have come to love this as much as I do. I feel very lucky to have encountered this at (almost) the very start of my exploration of Japanese movies and anime. It really shaped my tastes and expectations (leading me to appreciate things like Kiyoshi Kurosawa -- which I might otherwise not have been so interested by).