Summary: >

In a world which continually integrates itself with computers, Lain is rather odd in that she doesn't involve herself in computers all that much (or anything else for that matter). But when she gets an e-mail from a dead classmate things start to change. Her classmate claims to have merely abandoned her body and now lives within the wired world itself. If that were true then what exactly IS the wired world. If we could abandon our bodies and live in such a world, then what exactly is the "real" world. For that matter, which world is really real?

Lain gets more involved with the wired world not only to investigate some of these things herself, but also because of the strange things she experiences in her own life. Was her classmate telling the truth?

Thoughts: >

So I will start with my typical disclaimer for this type of show: I'm not into cyberpunk stuff. Lain isn't cyberpunk mind you, but it has many similar elements. You see I was scarred in the 90s with the cyber-everything that we were going to do. Cyber-pets, virtual-teachers, we wouldn't need to use the bathroom anymore because we could use our cyber-toilets in the virtual bathroom. No, it's just not my thing. If you've read my review of Ghost in the Shell, I tend to have similar sentiments.

And actually there are many similarities in the central theme between Lain and Ghost in the Shell, however Serial Experiments Lain brings that whole theme down to earth were we can better relate to it instead of being distracted by stuff like a cop shoot-em up type show, and awesome animation. As such Serial Experiments Lain was heralded when it first came out as this ultimate deep and philosophical anime. I honestly don't believe that, but some people stand by that view.

So first of all lets look at the central character: Lain. This girl is about as exciting as pouring salt on snails. And having done that as a kid, I can assure you that was much more interesting. Pouring salt on Lain would at least give this girl some flavor. Her personality is all most flat-lined. Aside from that she doesn't seem to overly react to anyone either. This was however probably intentional as there is another side to Lain that starkly contrasts to her normal dull character, which she discovers for herself. I however found it hard to feel much attachment towards such a character, that doesn't really define itself nor give you a reason to relate to her.

But many aspects of this anime seem detached. The designs in the real world typically don't evoke any sort of response, nor are they supposed to. The side characters were as uninteresting as Lain. So what else is there. Basically this is a story driven anime, and not even so much story driven as being driven by its philosophical theme about what is real and what is virtual.

Things however aren't cut and dried because if anime had a camera man, he'd be on acid. But being "trippy" in itself doesn't really make it abstract, just confusing and well... trippy. For that matter I recommend you don't watch this anime while on drugs because you might get a bad trip. However if you can't get into it, alcohol may be an alternative to the plot.

Anyway this anime is a good title for those looking for a more deep and thought provoking anime. To me it just didn't have enough flavor to really catch my interest, and I unfortunately have to admit that I didn't much like the title. Personal bias aside it's at least worth checking into. It's certainly a must see for anyone with an obsession with power lines.