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Serial Experiments Lain (TV).


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dxx



Joined: 19 Jul 2006
Posts: 34
PostPosted: Sat Sep 09, 2006 11:27 pm Reply with quote


Serial Experiments Lain (TV)

Genres: drama, mystery, psychological, science fiction, supernatural
Themes: computers, cyberpunk, virtual reality

Plot Summary: Lain Iwakura appears to be an ordinary girl, with almost no experience with computers. Yet the sudden suicide of a schoolmate, and a number of strange occurrences, conspire to pull Lain into the world of the Wired, where she gradually learns that nothing is what it seems to be... not even Lain herself.
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Anime Marathon Discussion (Nov. 6th, 2015 - Nov. 15th, 2015) starts here

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Lain is one of my favorited anime series. But i have heard people find this serie too boring, maybe because the "lack" of action - i know the first episodes are very quiet, but then it gets better. I think people who see this serie must know a bit of psychoanalisis and be a little interested in seeing a "philosophycal" anime. What anyway... tell me your opinion of this anime? - - also if you know somthing interest of the serie please write it down, so i can understand more this anime. Very Happy
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Lamente



Joined: 07 Sep 2006
Posts: 6
PostPosted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 3:15 am Reply with quote
I saw a few episodes, so I can't speak for the latter half of the series. What I saw was okay. It did get boring at times, and the money-saving animating techniques were painfully obvious.

Not a fan of the show, but I wouldn't bash others for liking it.
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Kruszer



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 7981
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 3:28 am Reply with quote
Really unique and great little series, I enjoyed it. When I watched it on the former TechTV (RIP Sad ) it would make me lose sleep thinking about it each night, trying to make sense of it. I found the boxset at Best Buy a year ago and promptly snatched it up as a nice addition to my collection.
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selenta
Subscriber



Joined: 19 Apr 2006
Posts: 1774
Location: Seattle, WA
PostPosted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 3:51 am Reply with quote
It's the kind of show that.... well... can't be watched once if you want to get the most out of it. You have to know everything that's going on to make the most sense out of what occurs, it also helps a lot if you've personally tried to reason through the philosophy behind the show. I was pretty surprised, I'd never even heard of one or two things from that show, and while the premise is as realistic as most anime's premise... it does sound really pretty philosophically.

I really like it in a lot of ways, and I think it is one of the better resolved alternative shows out there, but I think there could have been a lot less intentional disorientation going on in the middle segment. There seemed to be a lot of scenes whose sole purpose was to distract and disorient the viewer from both the real plot, and the psychology going on in Lain's head. I'd probably have to write a few pages and see the whole show again before I could really describe it well, suffice to say I really liked most of it.
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Quadraxis



Joined: 15 May 2006
Posts: 54
Location: Holland
PostPosted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 6:24 am Reply with quote
I really like Lain personally, and it ranks among my favourites. The show really messes with my head and the first time I saw it, it really made me curious about what the heck was going on. It's like the eps constantly gave you pieces of a puzzel, and in the end al the little pieces fell together, which gave me a great sense of satisfaction. It's entirely focused on philosophy and storytelling, which is probably why some people think it's boring because of the lack of action. I really like the artwork too.

I've seen it 3 times now, and I probably will watch it again someday, since I still think of new ways to interpretet the things that happen in the series.

The OP is also ones of my favourites btw, it fits well with the series.
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cheezisgoooood



Joined: 10 Dec 2005
Posts: 253
Location: Orlando, FL
PostPosted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 9:54 am Reply with quote
Serial Experiments Lain is one of those mind-fudge anime that you have to watch multiple times to understand. It's got a LOT of really cool, realistic ideas of the near future and the whole feel of the series is the borderline between internet and reality being erased. It's a one-of-a-kind show.
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Fui



Joined: 12 Dec 2005
Posts: 339
PostPosted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 12:32 am Reply with quote
Lamente wrote:
I saw a few episodes, so I can't speak for the latter half of the series. What I saw was okay. It did get boring at times, and the money-saving animating techniques were painfully obvious.

Not a fan of the show, but I wouldn't bash others for liking it.

My sentiments exactly. I haven't touched the 3rd or 4th DVDs of the box set. I really should sit down and finish it though; I heard it all 'comes together' at the end. I know some people who absolutely loved it, so I feel like I'm missing out on something, but I'm still not sure what.
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Hisdon



Joined: 18 Mar 2006
Posts: 411
Location: Poquoson, VA
PostPosted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 5:38 am Reply with quote
Fui wrote:
Lamente wrote:
I saw a few episodes, so I can't speak for the latter half of the series. What I saw was okay. It did get boring at times, and the money-saving animating techniques were painfully obvious.

Not a fan of the show, but I wouldn't bash others for liking it.

My sentiments exactly. I haven't touched the 3rd or 4th DVDs of the box set. I really should sit down and finish it though; I heard it all 'comes together' at the end. I know some people who absolutely loved it, so I feel like I'm missing out on something, but I'm still not sure what.


well, if you havn't touched your last 2 dvd's , think it's kinda obvious what you are missing Razz
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TestamentSaki



Joined: 11 Oct 2005
Posts: 1012
PostPosted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 10:40 am Reply with quote
You have to see it plenty of times to understand it (a bit)

I loved the series (and most of all the OP 8)). The story may be quite bizarre, but the graphics (quiterealistic) are great!
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CrockPot



Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 75
Location: Jackson, MS
PostPosted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 1:27 pm Reply with quote
TestamentSaki wrote:

I loved the series (and most of all the OP 8)). The story may be quite bizarre, but the graphics (quiterealistic) are great!


Lain is hands down my favorite anime and I enjoyed the opening music so much I bought the album it was on from Boa. I've never bought music specifically because of an anime before or since.

It can be incredibly difficult to figure out what is going on, or what philosophical ideas are actually being put forth in the series, but I never let that be my primary focus anyway. I simply loved the character of Lain.
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beast



Joined: 26 Apr 2004
Posts: 102
Location: High Ground
PostPosted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 1:55 pm Reply with quote
SEL was among the first ten or twenty anime I've seen and remains to be one of my favorite series to this day. Even though it's been a couple of years since I've seen it (and I've seen it only once ^^'), I still sometimes catch myself imagining how Lain's overseeing and observing this our real world and the virtual vastness that is the Internet. Razz
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TAKAVAR



Joined: 10 Jul 2005
Posts: 138
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 4:15 pm Reply with quote
It was a philosophical idea which was presented via anime. an i was very suprised that it did entertain me at the same time. lain was one od the first 20 or so anime serries that i watched and is one of my facorites too.

What i liked about it the most was its complexity, an mystery wich was predictable if you used logic, ( rather than trying to get in the writer's head )
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Nerv1



Joined: 24 Aug 2006
Posts: 601
PostPosted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 9:19 pm Reply with quote
I only watched one episode of it on KETH(another PBS station) in the SF bay area 5 years ago. It was interesting but quite boring too.
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adonais



Joined: 21 Apr 2006
Posts: 302
PostPosted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 10:57 pm Reply with quote
Lain is the kind of story that invites you to pause and reflect, and if you just assume the couch potato mode expecting to be entertained at no mental expenditure on your part, you'll probably be disapointed and find it boring. On the one hand, it flirts with science, invoking real-world physical phenomena spoiler[(e.g. the Schumann resonance)] and extrapolating just a little bit into the unknown. On the other hand it appeals to your negtive capability, to accept and take pleasure in the mysterious quality without any irritable reaching for fact and reason. I feel that both of these are going on at the same time - it's not a conflict, and the series may be enjoyed from either perspective. Some people like to compare it with Boogiepop Phantom. The style is superficially similar, but personally I like Lain much better Smile
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beast



Joined: 26 Apr 2004
Posts: 102
Location: High Ground
PostPosted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 12:16 am Reply with quote
adonais wrote:
Some people like to compare it with Boogiepop Phantom. The style is superficially similar, but personally I like Lain much better Smile


I felt the same way. My impression of Boogiepop Phantom was that of a show that tried to be confusing just for confusion's sake. It still had some great redeeming eerie and psychotic moments though.
You should give Texhnolyze a try if you haven't already. It doesn't manage to excel SEL, but comes surprisingly close. =)
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