Anzuu Anzuu Minaa

Serial Experiments Lain is one of those series that deserves the title of masterpiece, which I am rather stingy in giving. I have rarely seen an anime that has made me watch one episode after another without taking a break to sleep or eat. This is anime at it’s most complex, at it’s most confusing, and at it’s most fascinating. This is also one of the few animes that does cyberpunk in a totally non-stylized way. Most cyberpunk anime has sprinklings of cyberpunk fiction in it, but is mainly about flashy gun battles(which I have no problem with at all). Serial Experiments Lain takes cyberpunk and ingrains it into the very heart of the anime. The character of Lain is one of the most interesting female characters in anime, mainly because of her multiple personalities. I looked up the series on Wikipedia and found out that they had three separate ways of writing Lain’s name. There is the kanji(kanji are characters that were originally Chinese but were co-opted by the Japanese for stuff like names and such) Lain, the katakana(used for foreign words but much more Japanese than kanji) Lain, and the English Lain. Each Lain is very different and each has their own personality. Kanji Lain is the Lain that we first meet, the shy and introverted girl, then there is the Katakana Lain who doubles as her persona in the Wired, which is very much like the Internet but much more dangerous and psychedelic, who is bold and questioning, and then there is the English Lain, who is the “evil” Lain who uses people and information for her own selfish reasons. Most of the characters around Lain really don’t seem very well developed, but that is for a very good reason, we are supposed to feel lonely just like Lain. Lain is the only one amongst all of these other characters that is supposed to seem real. Lain is our life-line and our friend in this strange world were the Wired and the real world are colliding. When the story leaves Lain, it really feels uncomfortable, it’s an uneasy feeling and things make even less sense than they did before. That’s another thing I like about this series, it makes you feel like you are playing catch-up and always behind, just like Lain. The whole series is supposed not make much sense until the very end, and even then we feel as if we missed something. So we watch the series over again and still even then we get confused. That confusion is a part of the intended experience, the main theme is that of the confusion and the loss of identity that comes with a massive cultural shift like the invention of the Internet. But this is not a condemnation of the Internet, because the Wired, while a strange and scary place, is still exciting and vibrant. The series also has some subtle horror in it as well, but it’s understated and much more attention is placed on the complex relationship between the Wired and the real world, which, as the series progresses, becomes entwined with the Wired until we are no longer sure which is real and which is not. And the question of “does it matter” is brought up as well. Well, I’ve ranted enough about this, but seriously check this series out, but if you don’t like getting confused, you might want to pass. Also there is some creepy objectifying of Lain, but it’s subtle so I’ll give it a pass.