| Lain is, to put it mildly, a severe case of mind screw. This is the perfect place for people to discuss their first impressions of this anime and how they differ, or don't differ, from later viewings. I'd post something but I'm too tired to think straight let alone analyze Lain. |
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| my first impression/reaction: Wow, this is cool stuff. I can't wait for the next lif. After seeying the whole anime I was 3 years older or something like that :P I never saw the last 2 episodes of it. I had to buy the DVD's to accomplisch that. You can't really call it a first reaction when I finally saw this last two. |
| Present day....Present Time....hahaha www.Tribute2Trance.nl |
| I loved the mood in Lain. Even now I'm searching for a mood like that in every anime I watch. At first I was confused... the suicide scene and everything else ;) And every episode left me wondering about its meaning. That buzz and cables scenes were also amazing. And I cried at the last episode, when the insert song was played. It's one of my favourites. |
| The first time I saw Lain was soon after it came out on DVD here, in 6th or 7th grade I think, and I hated it for its slow pacing and subdued feel. I watched it again about a year later, though, and fell in love with it(for the same reasons, along with its heavy dose of psychological and philosophical discussion). |
| "A geek is a person, male or female, with an abiding, obsessive, self-effacing, even self-destroying love for something besides status." --D.B. Weiss, Lucky Wander Boy My anime review blog.  Many thanks to Alwerien for the claim banner. |
| I loved every second of it. I'm an avid reader of cyberpunk science-fiction and transhumanist popular science literature, so I was most delighted to discover an anime which addressed topics such as collective unconscious and subjective reality, which are rarely encountered in the visual medium. |
OrgunNov 1, 2007 12:00 PM
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| At the first ep i thought it was just gonna be about each day of Lains life or something you know, like an episodic phsycological anime. I had no idea it would actually have a proper plotline XD. |
| Signature removed. Please follow the signature rules, as defined in the Site & Forum Guidelines. |
| Lain to me was the anime I have been looking for. When I first watched it, I remember being mesmerized by the sights and sounds of the universe Lain lived in. I will admit that it is slow paced, but I honestly think that is what made Lain... well Lain. That and the discussions that it left open for the viewer is why I truly think that this is the best philosophical anime. Of course, it did bring back fond memories of all the existential discussions I used to have with my friends but that is another story ^.^ |
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| I recognize pretty much everything what MizuNoKiba said. While The Matrix and Ghost in the Shell were thought-provoking and resulted in many philosophical discussions with friends, Lain completely pulled my legs away. It was also amongst the first animes I saw, and the primary cause for my sudden increase in interest for anime. It was quite a coincidence that I found SE:Lain. It was all caused by an avatar on a game forum; an avatar with Lain in a thoughtful expression. For some reason Lain's portrait really caught my attention, and after doing a quick Google on the name of the user, Iwakura, I quickly found out what it was. After reading a few short reviews and PM'ing Iwakura, I decided to order the DVD amongst some others. SE:Lain instantly caught my attention with it's atmosphere, extreme story and weird yet not meaningless scenes. After the first watch, I was pretty blank on what it was all really about, but I kept thinking about it. It was like a curse; I couldn't get the series out of my head. Having thought so much, it didn't take long before I couldn't resist to watch it again. The second time was just as inspiring as the first one, and suddenly I started to see all kinds of patterns in the story. I felt enlightened. For weeks I crawled the Internet for all information I could find about SE:Lain. I must admit that I had become pretty obsessed with it. I collected list of fan-sites, pictures, music and other media - I even tried the PS-game even though I don't understand Japanese >_< Of course, at some point I fell back to a more normal state of mind, but even today, almost 2 years after, I'd say that SE:Lain has affected me a lot. |
Help this cat on his quest for World Domination!
| Lain is just one of those animes you have to watch a couple times to understand it. The first time I watched it, my mind completely fuzzed out. |
| When I finished watching it...I had to think about it for a bit, trying to figure out if I fully understood it or not. I think for the most part I got it. I found myself thinking about it a lot actually...and the opening song was stuck in my head for awhile too. I liked it quite a bit. One of my top ten so far, granted that I havent seen that many animes. It just makes you think, thats what I like about it. |
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| It was something that I took notice of a few years ago because of it's rather odd sounding name but never got around to watching it. It had been on my list of things to watch for awhile and I decided that I would cross it off. I saw the first episode and was completely blown away, and a couple of days later I was done with it. By far the best anime I have ever seen, it's the only one on here that I've given at ten. |
   #NBHNC |
| A few years back I watched Neon Genesis Evangelion, and loved it for it's 'weird-ness' Since then I have been searching for an anime with the same kind of weirdness, and once I joined Myanimelist.net I read the recomendations, and lain right away caught my interest. When I started watching it the first impression wasn't all that great, they didn't speak, and it was all a bit confusing but I kept watching. Now it is by far the best anime I've ever seen. Lain in her bearpj somehow really caught my interest and thus I've made it my avatar XD. for anyone who isn't afraid to use their brain, I would defenatly recomend Serial Experiments Lain. |
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| First two episodes were for me a bit... weird? strange? fantastic? I didn't know what to think about Lain. But then I watched next one and next one and next... The series ended, and I became a fan of Serial Experiments Lain as many other people. I think it's very hard to write about personal feelings that occure when watching Lain. It's hard to talk about Lain even if someone has seen it many times, I suppose. And that's why Lain is not so popular - you have to use your brain all the time... |
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| I think that SEL has a plot and a philosophy that REALLY can grab your attention; I mean, it's kinda easy to feel Lain. She's strange, but still we can associate ourselves with her, and I wonder if on the bottom of our being we are like she, somewhat crazy, god and Lain. |
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| Firstly, I was kind of worried I was going to be disappointed and it would live up to the hype. As I watched the show, it did live up to my expectations of being a "deep anime". I noticed it was quickly an anime I knew I had to pay a lot of attention to. As I sort of figured. But still, I noticed I used the rewind button a lot. I came out feeling close to Lain as I could ever expect. I'd be perfectly happy living forever on the internet with Iwakura Lain. She doesn't have to worry about ruining me at all. She could only make my life better. I'm masochistic enough to take anything she could do to me and come back for more. There's a lot to this anime, but what I have grasped, is it's heavy influence from the book Cyberia. Creating a technoshamanist perspective that I relate to and agree with. So yeah, I was pleasantly surprised to see the show Lain share my religious views. My first, very first impressions of Lain without watching, was that then hipsters and goths liked it because it was a psychological anime. And that there was probably a lot to be seen in it, being heavily compared to Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell, and .hack. That it would similar traits of thinking about technology and spirituality in an in depth fashion, instead of surface level fun like plenty of action and sci-fi anime is limited to. I had a feeling I was going to like the show. And I had already had a Lain wallpaper on my computer long before I had watched the show. And had already sort of developed a crush on Lain Iwakura. |
 Old avatar and sig retired for now. |
| I liked that it was somewhat mysterious but also high tech. I want Lain's computer. |
| Fantasy Bit: Links to all my sites and the sites I joined. Games, fanfiction, fanart, blog, forums and more. |
| I first saw Serial Experiments Lain in a magazine, I think it was wizard, back when I was 8 or 9. The book was riddled with advertisments of the show. I remember thinking that she was pretty back then and I wondered why shelooked so troubled. Although I didn't have the technology back then to view this particular anime, I promised myself I'd watch it. Around a year ago, I was on an anime forum when the word "Lain" came up. It was an instant flashback to the pic of that troubled girl. However, it was being compared EVA and Paranoia Agent, both shows I never took a liking to. I had a feeling that I was going to like this anime but, I held it up due to the comparisons. I just finished watching SEL today (well technically yesterday) and it completely changed what I want to see in anime now. I just want to see an anime that gets me from point A to point B that leaves me satisfied. Lain made me realize that you dont have to fit a cookie cutter piece to be a good anime. I do have a lot of feelings about all the meanings and I am very interested in know what is actually fact in Lain and what s completely left up to interpretation. Unfortunatly, Lain is having a negative backlash effect on my brain. I can't stop thinking about the show, so much so that I can't cut to think about it every moment. I personally need a good few days before I can come back and share my thoughts on this wonderful experience. In the mean while, I've decided to go on and watch a few light-hearted animes before I watch SEL for a second time. I'll probably post my thoughts of the show soon though, once I gather a full grasp on what exactly is my first impression. Also, I want that Lain doll lol. |
| SE:Lain was amongst the first anime I watched and it left a really deep impression in me. Then I was watching it a second time and got at least the same amount of surprises then the first time because of the weirdness of the story . Even now (years later) there are times when I do a quick search for Lain related topics, which also explains why you are just reading this. Also found Ghost Hound (which I'm watching now) the same way, which is made by the same staff as Lain. |
| My first thoughts on Lain were that it was probably going to be good. I mean, I was a fan of cyberpunk, and wikipedia said Lain was cyberpunk, and I was like, "o ok.". However. It was better than just good, and it's become my favourite animu. My thoughts now are that a Blu-ray version of Lain should be released. |
| IaMP with me. |
| I had Lain in my possession for a while but I hadn't gotten around to watching it. I tried watching the first episode on three different occasions, but ever single time I would stop around half-way through. And then one day I went through the episode completely, and the next one, etc. I quickly realized what it was that I had, and it became one of my favorite series. |
| I think I first saw Lain on G4TV back when they still had anime unleashed, they played some random episode and my initial thoughts on the episode were 'O_O wth was that......' but the slow pacing and weird thought provoking story had me interested. At the time it was unlike any anime I had seen before it and I was instantly in love with it. I've seen the show about 4 times now and I still fell that very few other anime reaches the same levels that Lain does. |
| >it drained all my energy I agree with this. Lain is one of those shows that I feel physically and emotionally ravaged after finishing, partly because I usually end up watching it all in one sitting, but there's something so intense about the show, too, that has me wide-eyed and burning out my retinas. |
| Need some remake,,,This anime awesome... |
| I really don't remember my first impression of seeing lain, for me is just as.... it has always been there, can't rememeber how it was before Lain :P |
| "The past will often attack the present with the pain of your memories." "There is no wish that doesn't come true." "The brain is a microcosm creating its own stories. People then live out these stories." "Time does not exist. Only the illusion of memories exist." "Existence does not rely on matter. Everything is phantom." "The waking dream called the world is constantly changing. What's so sad about that?" "Pure perfection has no past. That is how you live perfectly." "How can you say you are a phantom?" Seiichi Kirima |
| In the first episode I thought she was hallucinating.. |
| sexual incest in nisomonogatari - no one bats an eye romance incest in SAO - everyone loses their minds |
| Serial Experiments Lain was a unique experience for me. |
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