Transitioning drastically from background information to the story or recapping with a series of clips as if fast-forwarding through the story. Two of the episodes are even more unique with their storytelling, as they dump information on the viewer just like it would be like accessing it as data. While it is a little confusing at times, that’s exactly other the story is supposed to be as the viewer is trying to figure out alongside Lain whether there is someone else pretending to be her or she’s just going crazy. Then stuff starts getting crazy, as the show doesn’t become about dangers of internet at all, but a dark mystery of just what is going on in the real world and the Wired as Lain becomes famous for things shes never done. Lain moves from almost a social outcast, to fitting better into the group, to outside of it from losing herself in the Wired world. While starting out to seem a little bit like an after school special about the dangers of burying yourself into the internet, the way the story progresses is extraordinarily done. The main story of Serial Experiments Lain is dark and deep, exploring identity and how people choose to communicate with each other. This phenomenon though is all it took to get Lain hooked and set on a drive to know more and more about the Wired world and upgrade her computer more and more to access it better. To the point that even though she received an email from this classmate, she didn’t know about it until other classmates were fretting over their own. The show follows Lain a simple little girl that only really gets the basics of technology, i.e. Only problem is that the classmate is dead. What happens when the barrier between the real world and the digital or Wired world begins to blur and disappear? Is it a good thing as people are free to truly live how they wish in either world or a bad thing for pretty much the same reason? The idea behind Serial Experiments Lain is that this line is blurring in ways people aren’t expecting as the show starts out with characters receiving emails from a classmate. Being the series that lead to later collaborations, what is there to expect from this anime, besides the experimental style that seems to be this groups forte. While their later collaboration would be a dystopian future, Serial Experiments Lain takes place in modern day. Before getting back together to make the series Texhnolyze, reviewed HERE, writer Chiaki Konaka, producer Yasuyuki Ueda, and character designer Yoshitoshi ABe had their first collaboration with the anime Serial Experiments Lain.

Serial experiments lain review