anime thoughts: Serial Experiments Lain (1998)

[orangerful]

I got this anime series for Tim as a Christmas present. It was a short series, only 13 episodes, but it was really well done. It aired in 1998 but it is still eerily relevant when it comes to the themes it explores. It does get a little trippy near the end, going from a mostly linear story to just WEIRD but I still really liked it.

Without giving too much away, the story centers around a young girl named Lain. Her father buys her a new computer, a fancy high end Navi that can connect her to The Wired (internet). As soon as Lain logs into the computer, she finds herself obsessed with it, wanting it to be more powerful and give her more access to the Wired. After a long week of online activity, her school friends invite her out to a club in town. But at the club, something strange happens - people say they have seen Lain there, interacted with her, know her. Lain has know memory of any of this...

I really had to focus on this show, the story had lots of layers going on. There was a lot of atmosphere to the show, moments of long pauses, close ups on the eyes of each character, scenes with the wind blowing through the wires powering the town as birds chirp...

Deep thoughts on our connected society that still ring true today, definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of the strange.

Comments

[girlwhowaited.livejournal.com]

This is on my list! So many older titles from when I was in school that I need to check out.

[icecoldrain.livejournal.com]

I watched this anime several years ago. I remember it being good, but strange lol.

[ragnarok-08.livejournal.com]

I definitely need to check this one out soon.

[night-owl-9.livejournal.com]

This has been on my to-watch list for a long time. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

[snogged.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

I saw it way back when it aired on French TV. It's a classic.

[erychan86.livejournal.com]

This sounds so intriguing... What happens next???

[kael1030.livejournal.com]

I remember watching this anime years and years ago... I was thoroughly confused by what was going on XD I definitely wasn't in the right frame of mind when I watched it... I should watch it again sometime though and give it another go..

[plumxxjam.livejournal.com]

SEL is one of my favourite anime series ever! I am so glad you really liked it❤❤

[silverusagi]

I remember watching this a long time ago. I do remember it being trippy, lol.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Huh. This came out during my very brief period of being into anime, but I never checked it out. Sounds like something I'd like though, so maybe I should give it a try soon.

I didn't get to start The Magicians last night as I had expected to. With my binging of Unfortunate Events, I fell behind on my real-time show watching, so now I'm trying to catch up on that first.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

So many shows...I decided to watch the first episode of 'Riverdale' this morning and ended up really getting sucked into it!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

*googles it* Huh! Now I'm curious as well... I've never been into the comic, but teen dramas (especially CW ones) often work for me. Onto my list it goes!

[moon-blitz.livejournal.com]

I remember encountering pieces of official art for Lain on a fansite back in 2001. I was curious about it, but had no way of watching it at the time. But now that you reminded me about it, I'll have to give the series a watch!

[elizalavelle.livejournal.com]

This sounds interesting. I haven't watched much anime but it's a genre I want to try more of.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Same here. My husband and friends have only recently gotten me into anime. There are just so many kinds of stories out there, I am learning which styles I like. Now that I've found this series of "anime classics" on Amazon, I might buy a few more since they are already vetted for me. :) Though I really did enjoy the new 'Attack on Titan' series.

[kseenaa.livejournal.com]

Isn't anime always a bit strange? ;-) And weird? This sounds like a good story though. :-)

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

LOL true, but this reached a new level of WTF! for me.

We did find an ADORABLE anime on CrunchyRoll about a Dad who is trying to learn to cook for his daughter since he realized that they can bond over food (the mother has passed away). It is JUST SO DAMN CUTE!!!!!!!!!!! (http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2016/06/01/sweetness-and-lightning-cooks-up-a-japanese-broadcast-schedule)

[kseenaa.livejournal.com]

Anime and manga are quite fascinating. There really is something for ALL subjects and genres. And here they say cartoons and comics are just for kids... BAH! Should take a leaf from Japan, I say... :-P

It does look very cute indeed. :-)

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Yeah, America has the biggest hang up with accepting animation to be more than kid's stuff, probably because of the "comics code" in the 50s that pretty much killed any adult comic books in favor of "decency". Oddly enough, because of the American occupation of Japan, manga was "invented" and since the Japanese didn't have the same hang ups and rules, their comics began to flourish as entertainment for all ages. (can you tell I was a bit obsessed with comics and such a few years ago???)

Anyway, I'm sure all of this also leaks over into American cartoons vs anime, though I also wonder if it has to do with available studio space LOL. We have so many places for TV shows to be filmed because our country is so big but not so much with Japan!

[kseenaa.livejournal.com]

That is just such a shame. I wrote my masters thesis (with a friend) about comics in libraries and we had a chapter about comic history. And I mean, the golden age of comics and silver age of comics was... taking place in the US. :-P So it's just a damn shame. Here it's changed a bit. There's more and more comics for adults as well being translated and published. And there's even a movement that has showed up among swedish comics. The "feel-bad-comics". X-D Instead of feel-good-stories, these are dark comics about horrible subjects like... abuse, child-abuse, crime, murder... etc. VERY well made and all, but yeah. *LOL* The Millenium-triolgy has been turned into a very graphic graphic novel as well! Totally off topic, but there you go. X-D

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

LOL yeah there are some AMAZING graphic novels coming out right now from all over the world, even the U.S. so things are getting better. Heck, we are even seeing some more mature animated films being imported/translated at least, even if U.S. studios are still playing it safe.

LOL yeah, I read 'Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' and I had the same reaction to the movie as I did to the graphic novel -- I didn't even like READING those things, why would I want to see them?!?!

One of my all-time favorite graphic novels is 'Blankets' by Craig Thompson. Have you read that one?

[kseenaa.livejournal.com]

No, I haven't! But that sounds totally interesting though. :-D