Director Ryutaro Nakamura's SERIAL EXPERIMENTS LAIN is rightfully considered one of the most revolutionary anime series of its time and well into the forseeable future. His use of color is nearly nonexistent, there is very little dialogue, and what few words areexchanged between Lain and her friends or her father do little to give the viewer a single clue about what -- if anything -- is going on.
And yet LAIN is impossible to stop watching. It is as close to art as anime gets, dazzling in its simplicity of line and shade to infer motion. Ryutaro-san uses stillness to cause unease, and the lack of a word or expression around a family breakfast table speaks volumes.
For all it sounds as though there is no real action, there is plenty, if subtle. (There certainly are no sword fights or ninja stunts, nor, thank goodness, any giant robots.) And if you haven't already been won over by the creepy buzzing of the eclectric lines outside Lain's house, the girl who stood on the ledge of a tale building, smiling and whispering as though talking to someone other than herself, who then leaps to her death, plus Lain's own brief but repeated hallucination that all of her schoolmates walking toward the school and are fading into mist -- if this hasn't convinced you that something very odd is going to break soon, then I promise your patience over the first three episodes will be well rewarded.
All high art and my own pretensions aside, LAIN is a very creepy and unsettling series. To say more would spoil all the rest. Believe me, I've watched anime's that dazzle the eyes and promise to chill the nerves while retaining a very high artistic and design aesthetic. I have no problem and encourage experimentation in the anime field. But one thing I can not forgive is boredom.
SERIAL EXPERIEMENTS LAIN hasn't a boring spot throughout all 13 episodes. Director Ryutaro Nakamura has not drawn a single hand, cup, empty window, doorknob or chair that is not in the scene for SOME reason. He is a true auteur in the same genius mold of iconoclast American filmmaker David Lynch. You can't take your eyes off the screen for a second, for fear of missing something vital.
LAIN will satisfy the most discriminating and jaded otaku. It sits on my top shelf of anime that I am proud to own. But like all great art, my only regret is not being able to experience it again as though for the FIRST TIME.
But you, reader, have that most enviable experience ahead of you. I'm jealous.
Ryutaro Nakamura is currently directing GHOST HOUND -- and while I've only see the first show, it was enough to give me nightmares last night. No blood, no gore -- but another lovely and innovative anime with breathtaking and never-before-seen uses of the camera in long tracking shots that would be impossible in real-life film. Further still, he uses sound -- of flies, wind, hair brushing past a face -- in a thoroughly pioneering use of 5.1 sound that sets the nerve on edge and even outdoes David Lynch whose recent INLAND EMPIRE I thought had implemented sound in the most disturbing and provacative manner possible -- but no.
Hat's off to Ryutaro Nakamura and SERIAL EXPERIMENTS LAIN. Pure genius.
-Dr Sleep
