The Matrix, just less pretentious and more Japanese

If only the entire show had this quality of animation...

After I finished watching the anime series Serial Experiments Lain I thought it would be a good idea to review it whilst it was still fresh in my mind. Well it's two weeks since then so I've already failed on that point.

Serial Experiments Lain is cyberpunk set in the present day, present time, with a liberal dose of horror for good measure. The plot follows the titular Lain, a 14 year old schoolgirl, as she delves into the hacker culture of The Wired. That's the plot in a nutshell; to go into more detail would either lead to spoilers or personal interpretation, as this is a series that remains vague for many of the details and reasons of the various events.

Given its nature as a mind screw Serial Experiments Lain has some rather interesting visual ideas. A particularly surreal one is this:


I was going to talk about contrast, atmosphere and the subjective nature of the 'blood pools' but you know, I think the screen capture does enough by itself.

Unfortunately, not all of the visuals are quite as nice. The overall quality is rather fuzzy at times, although I'm willing to bet some of this is due to my version of the series being downloaded from a torrent purchased legitimately. Some scenes also leave me guessing what was cost cutting and what was artistic choice. An example would be one of the shots of students in Lain's class. Are they grey and less detailed because it's cheap to do so? Or is it a metaphor for how they are not relevant? Or perhaps an effect of The Wired on Lain's perception?

In the end, I'm not actually sure whether or not Serial Experiments Lain is a good anime or not; nor do I know whether I personally like it. Pros look like cons with a different frame of mind, and vice versa. Is Lain just a flat character with no developed personality or motives, or a girl who is trying to find herself amidst a supernatural identity crisis? These sorts of questions leave me unable to form any real strong feelings either way so I guess I have to say:

Serial Experiments Lain: 3/5

Or better yet, decide for yourself; the series is only 13 episodes long. 13 episodes of incomprehensibility, magic computers, and far too many eye close up shots.