Serial Experiments Lain

Lain Iwakura, an awkward and introverted fourteen-year-old, is one of the many girls from her school to receive a disturbing email from her classmate Chisa Yomoda—the very same Chisa who recently committed suicide. Lain has neither the desire nor the experience to handle even basic technology; yet, when the technophobe opens the email, it leads her straight into the Wired, a virtual world of communication networks similar to what we know as the internet. Lain's life is turned upside down as she begins to encounter cryptic mysteries one after another. Strange men called the Men in Black begin to appear wherever she goes, asking her questions and somehow knowing more about her than even she herself knows. With the boundaries between reality and cyberspace rapidly blurring, Lain is plunged into more surreal and bizarre events where identity, consciousness, and perception are concepts that take on new meanings.

Written by Chiaki J. Konaka, whose other works include Texhnolyze, Serial Experiments Lain is a psychological avant-garde mystery series that follows Lain as she makes crucial choices that will affect both the real world and the Wired. In closing one world and opening another, only Lain will realize the significance of their presence.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Iwakura, Lain Main

Shimizu, Kaori Japanese

Mizuki, Arisu Supporting

Asada, Youko Japanese

Eiri, Masami Supporting

Hayami, Show Japanese

Iwakura, Yasuo Supporting

Oobayashi, Ryuusuke Japanese

Iwakura, Mika Supporting

Kawasumi, Ayako Japanese

Yomoda, Chisa Supporting

Mutou, Sumi Japanese

Haushofer, Karl Supporting

Nakata, Jouji Japanese

Taro Supporting

Takimoto, Keito Japanese

J.J Supporting

Chikada, Wasei Japanese

Delivery Man Supporting

Chiba, Susumu Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Ueda, Yasuyuki Producer, Planning, Original Creator

Maseba, Yutaka Producer

Abe, Shoujirou Producer

Reviews

Sep 15, 2025

SgtSalamander

Recommended

Before I begin, I'd like to say something about my history with this title. I first watched this anime a few years ago, as of the time of this writing, and I found the excess of conversation surrounding this show deeply compelling, and hanging on every word of discussion I took the plunge. However, while I appreciated the prophetic themes (which have only proven to be yet more relevant as time goes on), and of course wrestled with the moral and epistemological questions it raised, I failed to properly appreciate its method of communication. I thought that, as an anime, Serial Experiments Lain was overwrought, ... confusing, and meandering to a degree which left only its aesthetic intact, giving it a 6. I would like to say now that I couldn't have been more wrong. As such, I deleted that review from 2022, and have started again from scratch here in 2025.

Serial Experiments Lain is perhaps the most prophetic vision of the future I've ever experienced in anime, and indeed, in fiction as a whole, and for this alone it merits the title of masterpiece. It is heady, intellectual, psychedelic, liminal, and challenging in regards to the points it raises and questions it asks regarding human civilization and its relationship with technology. To have predicted such an accurate portrait of the future all the way from 1998, back when computers were confined to the rooms they were in and the internet was a place you visited, shows extraordinary vision. Here we see an incredibly familiar story of the internet becoming an inescapable, permeating presence, one which blurs the line between reality and itself. A story of how people split their personalities across various personas, how the digital world allows people to fracture themselves into a million reflections of their truest and most unreal selves. How the real person gets lost in all that noise. How the very concept of "experience" comes into question as simulated reality becomes ever more common, and truth becomes a thing that is able to be manufactured. How the body becomes sidelined, and if one even "needs" physical sensations to experience true reality in the first place. Even the most straightforward theme, the central conflict of the Knights manifesting things and the Wired being "an upper layer of reality", where they deal with themes of apotheosis and the inherently religious sentiments of man and his desire for meaning, was deeply interesting, and had me on the edge of my seat. All of this is to say that the story of Serial Experiments Lain says so much while actually saying very little in terms of dialogue. What I failed to see years ago was that every event portrayed on-screen, every episode and conflict and flash of color and concept, is a parable for mankind's interfacing with the internet. When Lain encounters other versions of herself, it is symbolism for how she shattered her personality into a million different personas, while in many ways she herself is a kind of metaphor for aggregate data observing itself, and she has on some level always been a million personas. When people's faces disappear and show only their mouths, it is a poetic nod towards how words and speech become the major driving force of interaction on the internet as opposed to touch in physical space. When a standalone scene of a man taking a strange microchip-based drug called "Accela" commits an act of great violence right after, which is something that's only obliquely revisited, it is a parable about how the digital world can be a force of radicalization and desensitization. When the Knights wax poetic about blurring the lines between the real and digital worlds, they are making an imperfect and in many ways dangerous epistemological claim about how intellect-driven mental experience is the only true kind of experience, divorced from the "limited" physical world. Even when Lain sees a grey alien peek through her door, only for that to never be revisited or addressed, it is laden with meaning, like how our technology seems more alien to us as it advances, and how our depersonalization makes us feel alien to other people and even, at times, to ourselves. The story is, admittedly, difficult to contend with, but it is worth every ounce of struggle and uncertainty. If it were straightforward, and if the story spent more time ensuring its central conflict with the Knights were its main concern, then it wouldn't have been able to convey so much meaning as it does. And what really sets it apart is how true it feels now. You can never escape the internet, it follows you everywhere, even without a phone. It saturates the physical world, and even defines the physical world. With the rise of AI and simulated reality, even truth itself will become a nebulous concept to a society so overwhelmingly saturated by the internet. All of that and more is covered in Serial Experiments Lain, from 1998. Somehow, even with the technology of that world harboring seemingly magical qualities, it seems almost to become ever more familiar with every passing year, and its outlandish claims and capabilities seem closer to becoming reality. Indeed, some of the tech in Serial Experiments Lain that once felt futuristic now feels matter-of-fact, which is proof that things have developed in such a way so as to legitimize the vision of Serial Experiments Lain. Even the things which may have developed differently in one way or another still produce the same problems and the same general set of feelings that technology does in the world of Lain. This is all to say that the story is the strongest aspect of this anime, even if it is extremely dense and highly symbolic, and will take some people (like myself) a lengthy period of pondering and reconsideration to truly appreciate it not just for its themes, but also for the format in which these themes are conveyed.

This brings me to the art, which is a much more straightforward affair. Its vibes are legendary, and show exceeding technical skill. Every scene is dripping with detail and there is so much to look at it's impossible to get it all on one watchthrough, which is true of pretty much every category I'll cover here. The art direction and technical skill in putting pen to paper was breathtaking. The late 90's cyberpunk tech is unceasingly cool, the scenes of Tokyo are alive in color and complexity, and the horror scenes make for a living, breathing nightmare. This skill also manifested an immaculate vibe, capturing a kind of terminally online lo-fi doomer aesthetic before it was popular, indeed, before those words even existed to describe it, and I'd wager to say it's a pioneer in that regard. The one thing everyone thinks about first, before anything else, is the art style and overall visual qualities of Serial Experiments Lain, and that is completely justified. Unlike the incredibly dense and multifaceted story, with all of its symbolism and complexity, the visuals are instant and striking. You simply cannot mistake this anime for any other- it is extremely unique, with a command of shot composition, lighting, perspective, and color that blends 2D, CG, and unique texture elements seamlessly, so as to create this world which feels magical and technological all the same, all-encompassing yet totally uncertain, like a new age of myth that is reminiscent of man's immemorial past and hints at his infinite future, how the sprawl of the night sky into forever once enchanted and terrified, the sprawl of the digital world is much the same to our still-nascent foray into wireless interconnectedness. What does the dark hold? We do not know, but we see ourselves in it.

The sound is even better, and I rate this aspect specifically a perfect 10/10. The 'sounds of life' are some of the best I've ever heard in an anime. The whirr of computers, the knocking of hard drives, the mumbling of the insane, footsteps on various wet and dry surfaces, the smallest breaths, the sound of cars, the conversations of strangers, the dripping of blood, the echoes of screams, and the flow of electricity are just some of the perfect sounds in Serial Experiments Lain. It also utilizes silence and jarring sound effects to enhance its own storytelling. The music is also incredible, weaving its way throughout every episode and ensuring that every second is absolutely dripping with atmosphere. Not to mention, that the opening is one of the absolute best bangers in all anime, and the ending theme isn't half bad either.

In terms of characters, we meet a difficult point. This anime is definitely concept-heavy, and given that Lain is so many versions of herself throughout the show, it would almost make more sense to talk about her various personalities rather than the other characters, like Chisa, Arisu, or Masami. However, this would take much longer than we have time for in order to properly address each personality in the way it deserves, so we'll stick to Lain in general. Lain starts off feeling almost like a kind of victim, a shy girl who is subject to the harsh realities of her world, be it the train which is both bright and loud, or school where she has trouble reading the board. Eventually, she flowers into many different versions of herself, some of them bold, some of them curious, some of them completely numb. But all of them are Lain. In this way, she can even be said to be relatable. When we doomscroll past some upsetting news, followed by a meme, followed by some lewd ad, do we feel like the same person interacting with each one? As we experience our emotions rapidly thrash from one state to another, almost subconsciously, not a moment wasted to boredom, are we the same person on twitter, on facebook, on 4chan? Or, like Lain, do we have versions of ourselves for each setting? Each one radically different, each one still us? One upon a time this behavior was reserved for people, for friend groups and jobs, but one only really had so many, and they were fairly similar. Now, there's really no limit to how many times we undergo this process, or to what extent, only constrained by our desire. The other characters feel small in comparison to Lain, everyone from her Dad (and his iconic episode 1 laugh) to Eiri, that megalomaniacal self-styled "god". In this way, Lain, who is so unassuming, manages to be extremely powerful all the same as the story carries her along from one destiny to another, until she chooses her own. Overall, Serial Experiments Lain is a bizarre, unsettling journey into the depths of humanity's darkest and most pressing unanswered questions, and a masterful critique of modern technological life. It is one of the most iconic and noteworthy works of our age, a prophecy which presaged exactly the kind of issues we'd eventually have to face as a society one day, and while not all of them are here yet, so many have emerged in the decades since this anime's creation, which is evidence enough that we should put in the time and effort to understand what it has to say right now, to each and every one of us. This anime, even with all its extreme complexity, is something special, and I absolutely recommend it to anybody willing to put in the time and effort of really understanding it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Sep 8, 2025

torak34

Mixed Feelings

An anime with so much to say yet insists on delivering it such a perplexing and deliberately obfuscated manner. That is the charm and appeal of S.E. Lain, and it's a show you will watch mostly for the eerie atmosphere it creates and drags you into. Its themes of isolation, identity, evolving technology and the search for connection are much more palatable than the plot itself, and you will almost certainly need outside research to grasp the events of the series. Yet, I found it to be worthwhile to witness the reclusive, withdrawn Lain descend further into 'The Wired,' blurring the line between them in ... the progress. While she did, I felt as the viewer that I was also descending into its world, further grasping the existential horror of such a premise. Despite its obvious age - being conceived at the turn of the millennium - Lain is as relevant as ever and will leave you thinking about the way it presents its ideas for a good while after you stop watching. Its visuals are strikingly unique while also recognisably late 90s, truly letting itself breathe within the realm of psychological horror. While certainly profound, S.E. Lain is not the anime to watch when you want to turn your brain off and enjoy watching something for the sake of doing so. It requires concentration, an open mind and the ability to accept the non-physical, almost intangible parts of its (and our) world. Absolutely a worthwhile watch, but also a mind-boggling, often perplexing one too. Let's all love Lain.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Oct 8, 2025

giandambro3

Not Recommended

Honestly, I think this anime is highly overrated. I understand why many people call it a work of art for its atmosphere or supposed philosophical depth, but to me, it feels more pretentious than profound. The storytelling is confusing without any real purpose, and many scenes seem weird just for the sake of being weird.

The only aspect I truly appreciate is its aesthetic — it has that Matrix-like vibe, with a dark digital atmosphere that must have been innovative at the time. The animation is fine, though nothing remarkable.

Overall, I couldn’t connect with the story or the characters, who felt empty and unnatural. Rather than ... a deep experience, it left me feeling like I’d watched something trying too hard to appear meaningful without actually saying much.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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