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

Sui-Xi, Lin Supporting

Yamazaki, Takumi Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Ueda, Yasuyuki Producer, Planning, Original Creator

Maseba, Yutaka Producer

Abe, Shoujirou Producer

Reviews

Mar 3, 2025

TrendFox

Recommended

I had a chance to watch "Serial Experiments Lain." Profound and unsettling, this anime explores some pretty heavy philosophical themes while capturing them through its visuals. The shot compositions are extremely intentional and will push your brain to think more about them than the surface level. If I had to critique it for something, it would be that it sometimes loses itself in its philosophical ideas and jumps around from one to another while trying to tie all of them up, which will leave many (me included) confused.

However, that is kind of expected when with Psychological Cyberpunk Thrillers.

But that's why it's one of my ... favorite genres.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by TrendFox (3)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Mar 18, 2025

Miggzy64

Mixed Feelings

I'm a fan of what thematic meaning I was able to extract from this, and I'm sure that on a rewatch things might click a little more into place. Unfortunately, everything is presented with such mundanity that I don't think I'll ever get around to that. It has everything you need to make a great, hard-hitting show about the oppressive always-on connectedness of the internet, but they forgot to make it an entertaining show. I can stomach something like this for about 120 minutes but this is 13 episodes of TV. I was never excited about tuning in next week to see more vibey shots ... of mundane life/ the internet paired with musings on what it means to be a person/ data/ memories/ exist in a place. There are cool ideas here but it does very little to exploit the strengths of TV anime. A short OVA, theatrical film, manga, visual novel, or essay could all get these ideas across without losing any of what makes Lain great.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Miggzy64 (2)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Apr 21, 2025

BigOmegaTV

Not Recommended

If you grew up and watched this in the 90s then it's probably the deepest thing you ever saw. In today's world though this anime has not aged very well. In fact some parts of it are just absurd. The pacing is so slow, that even if you like slower paced type of shows, you could probably cut out around 50% of this anime and lose nothing of substance. Plot points are just kind of thrown at you with little coherence for you to piece it together. The atmosphere and sound design are excellent as was standard of the era, but the tone doesn't know ... if it's going for a horror, sci-fi or some kind of slice of life. All in all Lain is filled with many ideas that have very little payoff by the end and that's really the worst of it all. I could have put up with all of it if the plot resolution was satisfying but all of it ends up more convoluted than when it began.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by BigOmegaTV (1)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

One Main Character

by Gino99

50 Entries · 112 Restacks

Anime that more people need to watch

by Xenia456

40 Entries · 61 Restacks

Essential & Elite Anime

by ManicPixieTerror

50 Entries · 1.2K Restacks

North American Anime & Manga Releases for May

North American Anime & Manga releases for May 2014 Week 1: April 29th - May 5th Anime Releases Amazing Nuts! Cat Planet Cuties Complete Collection (S.A.V.E. Edit...read more

Apr 29, 2014 1:00 PM by Snow | Discuss (24 comments)

	Poll: Serial Experiments Lain Episode 8 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) aero - Mar 16, 2009	154 replies	by teraphIl1000 »» 4 hours ago
	Poll: Serial Experiments Lain Episode 7 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) aero - Mar 16, 2009	148 replies	by teraphIl1000 »» 8 hours ago
	Poll: Serial Experiments Lain Episode 6 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) aero - Mar 16, 2009	153 replies	by teraphIl1000 »» Yesterday, 2:03 PM
	Poll: Serial Experiments Lain Episode 5 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) aero - Mar 16, 2009	191 replies	by teraphIl1000 »» Yesterday, 12:24 PM
	Poll: Serial Experiments Lain Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) _k1_ - Feb 7, 2009	170 replies	by teraphIl1000 »» Yesterday, 11:50 AM

12 Complex Psychological Anime to Wrap Your Head Around

In a genre with anime of various types ranging from action to sports, these are the psychological anime that will actually challenge you and the way you think.

by MAL_Articles

272,179 views

Top 25 Best Anime Opening Songs of All Time

Everyone has their own favorite anime opening, but is the one you cherish featured on this best of list? Let's take a look at 25 of the best and most famous anime openings in anime history!

by FreeNightFalls

1,247,573 views

RecommendationCollectionMusicVideo