Not commenting to shit on your review or pick a fight or anything:
I think the narrative of Lain is at it's heart, not actually that complex.
Ignore for a second all the ambiguity around who Lain is, who Knights are, who "God" is, the men in black, who created Lain, and all that. I would argue, it doesn't really matter.
The show is just about a girl who is mistreated at home, is teased by her friends at school and doesn't exactly get why or what their intentions are, has some kind of problem that is causing her to hallucinate when she tries to focus in class and see ghoulish figures in the halls; people all around her are saying there's another girl who looks like her but is way cooler than she is; she slowly finds out that there are people after her and she doesn't know why, she finds out her family is not her real family. We are looking through Lain's eyes throughout the series, and she is confused, which is why we are confused. Lain's confusion, imo, is palpable, and so is her fear, loneliness and sadness. Not just through the tone of the series, which I do think the background noise and imagery add to, but through her expressions and interactions. The way she is shaken when Arisu wonders whether Lain really likes hanging out with the friend group. The way she desperately wants to believe that her father is really her father. She wants badly for someone in the real world to care about her and help her figure out what's going on. She is slipping further and further away from reality, and as that's happening, it turns out, she realizes she has the power to, basically, destroy the real world if she wants to. Is the power real? Imagined? Does it matter? All that really matters is what she does. And she chooses not to do it because Arisu is consistently concerned for her and shows her kindness.
I think Lain is amazing just for the emotional social drama at its center. To me, it is one of the best I've seen in anime; it just happens to be in a nonlinear cyberpunk dementia series with tons of stylish detail and ambiguity. It offers the keen insight (for 1998...) that "communications technology" meant to connect people more than ever, actually could have the inverse effect, as it seems to permit people to slip more into their own egos and fantasies, and become uncaring about the people immediately around them. I really love and empathize with Lain's character, and sadly, I don't think her confusion or feelings of isolation are that atypical. It's not just kids who are secretly anomalous real world copies of all-powerful computer programs who suffer Lain's emotional problems and difficulties at school/home. The fact that her feelings are so consistently genuine and palpable is what makes Arisu's kindness and Lain's gratitude toward Arisu so touching, and that's what makes the show so good.
Questions like "Did Lain make that guy in the club kill himself?" "Did Lain even exist in the real world before the first episode of the show?" "Why are her pupils so small?" are just interesting details to consider.
Just giving the opinion of a "Lain is one of my favorite shows" guy for your consideration XD I hope it's not that pretentious. I also do appreciate the style/ambiguity in the show, but there's more to it than that for me. Grats on the first review.
All Comments (1) Comments
I think the narrative of Lain is at it's heart, not actually that complex.
Ignore for a second all the ambiguity around who Lain is, who Knights are, who "God" is, the men in black, who created Lain, and all that. I would argue, it doesn't really matter.
The show is just about a girl who is mistreated at home, is teased by her friends at school and doesn't exactly get why or what their intentions are, has some kind of problem that is causing her to hallucinate when she tries to focus in class and see ghoulish figures in the halls; people all around her are saying there's another girl who looks like her but is way cooler than she is; she slowly finds out that there are people after her and she doesn't know why, she finds out her family is not her real family. We are looking through Lain's eyes throughout the series, and she is confused, which is why we are confused. Lain's confusion, imo, is palpable, and so is her fear, loneliness and sadness. Not just through the tone of the series, which I do think the background noise and imagery add to, but through her expressions and interactions. The way she is shaken when Arisu wonders whether Lain really likes hanging out with the friend group. The way she desperately wants to believe that her father is really her father. She wants badly for someone in the real world to care about her and help her figure out what's going on. She is slipping further and further away from reality, and as that's happening, it turns out, she realizes she has the power to, basically, destroy the real world if she wants to. Is the power real? Imagined? Does it matter? All that really matters is what she does. And she chooses not to do it because Arisu is consistently concerned for her and shows her kindness.
I think Lain is amazing just for the emotional social drama at its center. To me, it is one of the best I've seen in anime; it just happens to be in a nonlinear cyberpunk dementia series with tons of stylish detail and ambiguity. It offers the keen insight (for 1998...) that "communications technology" meant to connect people more than ever, actually could have the inverse effect, as it seems to permit people to slip more into their own egos and fantasies, and become uncaring about the people immediately around them. I really love and empathize with Lain's character, and sadly, I don't think her confusion or feelings of isolation are that atypical. It's not just kids who are secretly anomalous real world copies of all-powerful computer programs who suffer Lain's emotional problems and difficulties at school/home. The fact that her feelings are so consistently genuine and palpable is what makes Arisu's kindness and Lain's gratitude toward Arisu so touching, and that's what makes the show so good.
Questions like "Did Lain make that guy in the club kill himself?" "Did Lain even exist in the real world before the first episode of the show?" "Why are her pupils so small?" are just interesting details to consider.
Just giving the opinion of a "Lain is one of my favorite shows" guy for your consideration XD I hope it's not that pretentious. I also do appreciate the style/ambiguity in the show, but there's more to it than that for me. Grats on the first review.