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Serial Experiments Lain - 7/10
I've bumped my rating on Lain down a point. Previously at a nine, then eight for a while. Now it's down to seven.
I watched Serial Experiments Lain back in Spring of 2023. Strange to say, but it was a workout show for me. I'd put it on as I used equipment and all that jazz. For the longest time, as far as I'm aware, the interpretation that was used was the commentary this anime had on how humanity will truly deal with the introduction of a wider interconnected society and the anonymity the internet gives, along with how that same anonymity will cause people to act in different or more honest ways.
It was recently that the show celebrated its 25th anniversary (and that didn't go over well). Some documents that were placed in a VR Chat exhibit were translated and "leaked" which explains the story of Lain past fan interpretations. There is an argument that this document was for an early draft of the story, but it does feel fairly in-place with the one we got as well. Unfortunately, this story wasn't very good in my honest opinion, and has completely written itself over the originally understood story. It largely ruined it for me.
Like how Akira (1988) is only really mentioned for its first ten-or-so minutes, Serial Experiments Lain only gets the first few episodes talked about, or shown with the clips of her in her bedroom because she's "le epic snarky and quirky internet girl." The story in itself isn't that great as it gets explored further. The aesthetic of it's design visually and through sound are still very very good. The minimal use of music and holding on quiet and uncomfortable shots do a lot for it, but that's what everyone else also mentions. They don't mention the weird agency trying to make Lain a deity through the power of electronics or anything like that from what I've seen, which makes up the actual story.
Realistically, if I went of of story alone the show would be a solid 5 or 6. The visual and audible execution of the thirteen episode series holds it up a lot.
These days you do kinda see the majority of its fans split into two spots; the weird terminally online folks who use smug Lain to plaster on profiles as they act like sh*theads, and the "she is literally me" teen girls who think they're quirky and le wacky because they love computers and "aren't like other girls." (Nothing wrong with that last one, as my club members explained to me that's apparently what "kinning" is. I don't fully get it yet, but it sounds right).
Maybe that's a big point of how Lain explores multiple personalities produced through the world of the internet, but that's going off of the old fan interpretation of its story. After the creator released what it was (possibly) really about for the 25th anniversary did we learn it was actually kinda... sh*t.
I like the fan interpretation a lot more, but I'm struggling very hard to separate it from the official one. The official one ruins it from being a solid 9~10/10.
I feel a lot more confident in this after my partner watched the show. He seemed to love the first few episodes and found it as great as he had been told, but as he went further he just felt less-and-less into what the story developed into, only finding it okay in the end. I had the feeling this was honestly the case after the initial interest I had died down later in 2023, months after I finished it.
Regardless, the impact it had is understandable and I enjoy the show for it's design and for what the public understands it as. I just don't see myself going back and watching it again to try and preserve what's left of my enjoyment for it.
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While Lain is a solid show, it's very subjective. Similar to the show it's usually paired with, Neon Genesis Evangelion, it matters who is watching it. People take from it what they need because of both it's reputation and how it handles it's story telling. I think rewatches either make it feel more solid or solidifies it as something the viewer doesn't like. I personally enjoy the show despite knowing it's flaws, but I'd be lying if I said a lot of that isn't from the community it built around itself. It feels like a show that would be interesting but not as popular if it came out today, it's almost prophetic vision of the internet paired with the story it tells and how it tells it, really make make it so prolific today. Although, If it was the artstyle and sound direction you enjoyed, then I definitely recommend a different show by the same creator called Haibane Renmei.
Lain really does feel like Evangelion but targeted for the early Information Age. You're totally right that subjectivity plays a huge role.
Like I mentioned in my blog post, the fan interpretation hits way harder than what we learned during the 25th anniversary. Assuming that material is canon, it undercuts the mystique that made the original fan theories so engaging.
That idea of people taking what they need from a show gets thrown around a lot. I used to bring it up in my university lit and media analysis classes too, but my professors always pushed back with, “Yes, but the author still had an intention.” Lain walks that weird line where it’s almost too vague to clearly decode that intent, so it ends up more like a mirror than a message. A lot like Evangelion, I just don't think Lain has the same levels of 30 years worth of community in-fighting and argument.
If Lain released today, I think it would still find the same kind of audience. The same hybrid of terminally online folks and introspective loners. LOL. It's not really “niche” anymore either, but if released today it would absolutely get grouped in with shows like "Welcome to the NHK" as another entry in the “weird otaku introspection” genre. What really gives Lain its legacy is that uncanny accuracy about the internet and social identity—like The Simpsons predicting things, except it’s predicting something bigger and that we're a part of, like meme culture and digital personas.
Anyway, thanks for the recommendation! Since it’s from the same creator, I’ll definitely give it a shot.
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