Story - This is an utterly difficult part to comprehend. The storyline is not even linear. Instead, there are seemingly ambiguous clues and fragments all over the episodes. If you have not paid enough attention, or if you have not prepared yourself well for a thinky show like this, you will be lost quickly and get extremely confused first time watching it, because yes, it is hard to follow. Once you have good understanding of the plot and solve the puzzle, you will wonder how possible was the story be even written back in time. Not just with intensive philosophical and psychological elements that audience needs to deal with, but everything the story itself is beyond time as a 90s series.
Art - Despite it is a 90s experimental show, I still liked the art. The art is quite different from the "mainstream" productions, even compared to most popular anime shows back 15 or 20 years ago. We all know though, Lain is pretty hard to be put alongside with mainstream for benchmark. At times, high-contrast colours of different saturation grades were used for emphasizing certain circumstances and moods. Weird-looking reflection-like intricate shadows were used to express the Wired world concept . All these brilliantly worked for creating amazing atmospheres and is a plus for me.
Sound - I cannot say this is a bad part, because, as to fit the atmosphere, not much OSTs were used. There are not many conversations between characters as well. If I am to say, I would say silence was more used than anything in this aspect. A lot of words were substituted by facial expressions, reactions and certain forms of symbolism. The opening theme (Duvet by Bôa) was awesome on the other hand.
Character - Story centered around our protagonist Lain - and Lain had huge character development and psychological impact along the storyline. Also you may pay attention to the relationship between Lain and her best, if not the only friend, Alice. As you keep watching, you will wonder who, or what, some characters actually are, like the "Wired Lain", "Wired God", Lain's parents, or you would even wonder if Lain is God, or if Lain and "Wired Lain" are the same person. All these confusions within the understanding of the characters are so mind-blowing and would take a while until you figure it out all.
Enjoyment - I like philosophy. I like science fictions - even if the story is pseudo-science only. And of course I like cyberpunk and its story backgrounds. (Did not pay much attention to genres though, just realized lately this is called "cyberpunk") What is not to like? Bravo I say.
Summary - This is such a beyond-time anime in so many ways. The way the technology gets integrated in our daily life is shown in the elements like the Siri-like desktop computer system, texting friends in class, holographic display in Lain's room etc, coming from a 1998 anime (where mobile web service was not even popularized until later in 2000s), is way beyond time for me. Also philosophical integration with technological devices is very idea-provoking. The philosophical definition of existence and a shared/collective unconsciousness are also giving blue screen of deaths in our brains.
Bad thing about this anime? Maybe the theories in this anime are too advanced for some people and such made their heads exploded before anything significant can be processed in their brains, making its market small. It is also a matter of taste indeed - I personally loved it and I give my full recommendations to anyone who likes thinking. Definitely worth watching, and perhaps rewatching.
