Serial Experiments Lain

Overview

Shy 14-year-old Lain Iwakura meets a school friend on the Wired, a super-Internet that allows almost total immersion in cyberspace-but Chisa died by her own hand days ago. Now she says God is in the Wired. Understandably shaken, Rein is further baffled by a strange encounter in a club, where a junkie is so scared by her sudden, chilling response to his pestering that he kills himself. Rein learns more about the Wired, drawing her further into another existence, one where Lain, her second self, lives an independent life in the electronic impulses. In an identity crisis redolent of Perfect Blue, Lain starts putting in appearances in the real world, causing her double to wonder which of them is real. Uncertain of her true origins or existence, or of reality itself, Rein/Lain crosses paths with the godlike entity Deus (creator of the Wired, now dwelling inside it) in a surreal struggle. The listless analogue world of the late 20th century and the digital dream of the Wired combine to present a vision of the dominance of technology so nihilistic that at times it makes Evangelion look almost sunny.

Real originality is rare in any field, but SEL skillfully perverts the two-as-one magical-girl tradition in an interesting Internet-inspired direction, fused with a paranoid Luddite technophobia. Much of the credit goes to Armitage III-veteran Konaka and newcomer Abe, who has since created Niea_7. Director Nakamura deliberately plays up the low-budget animation, making a virtue of 1990s cost-cutting by contrasting Rein's flat, unnatural daily life with the luxuriant, swirling CG images of the Wired itself. Much of the "action" takes place in cyberspace or inside Rein/Lain's skull, and the blurring of links and walls between objective and subjective reality is chillingly effective. Unlike in Key the Metal Idol, Rein finds ordinary life messy and banal; weighing the so-called advantages of humanity, she is prepared to trade up, a sentiment guaranteed to appeal to troubled teens.

The concept would be refined in more magical terms in Haibane Renmei, a later anime based on an earlier manga by Abe.

Music Themes

Opening Theme

"Duvet" by Boa

Ending Theme

"Tooi Sakebi" by Nakaido "Chabo" Rei'ichi