Serial Experiments Lain

[Aidan]

Your thoughts? A fascinating show, though it takes quite a bit of thought to figure out what exactly is going on. Feel free to get into the philosophical questions the show raises about consciousness and reality. What do you think it is saying about the Internet?

[Mushiro]

I can't believe no one ever responded to this thread. I bought a DVD of this series about 10 years ago and never bought the rest (Poor High School student lol). I just recently downloaded it and finished it. I have to say it's probably one of the most interesting anime I've ever watched. It's an anime for thinkers.

My brother is a monster follower of David Willcock (Edgar Caseys supposed reincarnate)and other people who speak about "The Science of Peace" and how the world will change in 2012. Basically the last 6 episodes followed the same philosophies. How the world has a consciousness (Schumanns Resonance) of it's own that connects us all, and how people can communicate through it. (Which a lot of has actually been scientifically proven.) Basically what is happening to Lain is what David Willcock is predicting will happen in 2012. The physical body will no longer be able to be sustained, and it will need to be discarded. However the internet is mixed in with the sub-conscious in Lain. I don't think that it was focusing on the internet as much as it was the Earth's consciousness and how to transcend and manifest yourself through it. Which Lain was doing without knowing in the beginning through The Wired.

I definitely recommend that others watch this anime. It's mind blowing, and it really forces you to think. I also liked how a lot of it was based on facts. The Majestic 12 were mentioned in it several times, which was (and still is in a form) a real organization. Along with many philosophies of today's transcendentalists. Which isn't surprising because all of the information pertaining to all of that didn't hit the Eastern world until around 1995, 3 years before Serial Experiments Lain was created. Awesome anime, check it out.

[goldtooth]

Watched the series as quick as the DVDs first shipped. Good plot, good animation, I even like the theme music. With anime having a long history of man verses technology, the series wasnt groundbreaking, but it hit the states in the 90s when the internet and online collaboration hit major strides. So it was germane enough to be creepily compelling. Still is.

[AlexMe]

Very strange series, very high up on the list of ones I need to rewatch, mainly so I can figure out what on earth is going on. I think there is a good plot in there somewhere, and the animation and phillosophy are good to watch even if your not to sure what is going on, but still a bit too confusing to follow fully!

[xTHHxAimiForevr]

It's sad how barley anyone has responded to this. The show was awesome, artistic, and scary all at the same time. + Lain was so cute in her bear outfit. I found it to be harder to follow than Fooly Cooly but I'm feeling Mushiro's explaination

[Aidan]

yeah, I've been rewatching it a bit, you can really catch some things, it makes more sense once you kind of get what's going on, though it's still very tricky. Apparently the director wanted to purposely make it hard for Westerners to understand it.

[RsR]

I mainly watched it because it was slow paced and the art is beautiful. I tried to follow ABe's work through Haibane Renmei and Technolyze. The character designs was one of the major reasons I bought the series. If I could draw I wish it would be like Yoshitoshi ABe's style...

A qoute from a friend that watched the whole series after I forced him to check it out.
"thank you for fucking up my mind. I can't stop thinking about the opening song when Lain looks like she's talking to me"

Philosophy: eternal life; why not...