Story:
The story takes place in the “present day, present time” according to this anime where everyone communicates using a type of computer called a “Navi” (not to be confused with the annoying fairy). Lain, a girl who is not interested in computers or the wired world boots up her computer for the first time in a while to discover that she has mail… from someone who is dead!
This anime then follows the “adventures” of Lain as she discovers a group of hackers called the “knights” and there cultish mis-deeds as she also tries to cope with her MPD (D.I.D.) or something (I swear, there are enough Lain’s to make an RPG party in this anime). It is also important to know that this story can be interpreted in many different ways, as everyone I have talked to about this show seems to have seen it in a different light.
Art & animation: 10/10
The animation is amazing for its time and everything looks beautiful in Blu-ray and the non-detailed and bright approach to the psychological scenes really add to the atmosphere. Speaking of atmosphere, this show has it in spades, I actually pi**ed myself a little during this show, which is something no anime has even come close to making me do.
Music/sound:
The music, or lack-there-of in this case actually added to the aura of this show and makes a massive amount of scenes scarier. The opening is also amazing too and always sets the mood.
The small amount of music is only rivalled by the small amount of dialogue in this show, which can be a deterrent for plebeians like me who like their psychological shows to come with well… speaking, although this show presents itself in a way to stay surprisingly entertaining, even if it makes little-to-no-sense.
Character:
Lain: A shy fourteen year old girl and your only main character, she has very few friends or interests and suffers from MPD. She also wares a cute as hell onesie and uncovers all the secrets of the wired. My personal favourite part about Lain is that she cannot be pinned down to any archetype. So, in other words, she’s not a tsundere, she’s not a kuudere, she’s not a yandere and she’s not based off the other forty-anime archetypes. She is a true diamond in the rough in anime, a character.
Enjoyment:
Saying I enjoyed this show would be an understatement. For almost the entirety of this show I felt as if I had my eyes glued to the screen as I was trying to comprehend what the hell was happening.
~Outstanding visuals, beautiful music and an interesting story, so basically 10/10 would bang.
