Serial Experiments Lain deals with some of the most thought provoking and debated matters such as after life and reality in of itself, a true masterpiece in my opinion.
Story: With one of the most innovative and creative ideas I have come across Lain certainly goes deep with the story. It revolves around a girl called Lain, shy and out of place she is contacted by the spirit of her recently dead classmate through her email, who tells Lain that there is more beyond physical life. This leads Lain to become entangled within the internet, or "The Wired" and question both the existence of reality and the existence of Lain herself. The plot is relatively complicated and is introduced in a particularly complicated way. This could and most likely will confuse people right until the end, or possibly further. I felt this made the heavily supernatural and very theoretical story even more enjoyable and complimented it very well.
Characters: in this cold and unchanging world our cast of characters range from Lain's particularly uncaring family to her distant classmates and friends. The theme of reality seeps into this as Lain gets further and further away from her friends, family and even herself. Lain herself is a rather isolated human being with few friends and little hobbies, the sort of person who would fade away in a busy crowd. I believe she is a rather interesting character. Our supporting characters in this show are decently well done, with a couple of characters who stand out as being really well made.
Sound: Lain has a strange choice of sound. While watching this show you will be rather hard pressed to notice the music because there isn't any, or at least hardly ever any. This isn't to say there are no background noises throughout the show as you will often hear a soft buzzing like the white noise you get on a radio. This gives a rather eerie feel to the show while not feeling like its empty and missing anything.
Art: This show is rather old and as such the art of this show is also rather old. It is not poorly done at all but it doesn't exactly stand up high compared to what is available now. I do however have one thing to mention in particular about the art style. The outside world. In Lain whenever she exits her house, low pitched white noise plays and the world is rather...bright. The walls, the ground, and even the sky are all in shades of white with the green leaves to break the monotone scheme. And after that we have the shadows. Pitch black shadows splattered with red and deep purple "blood plats which seem extremely strange. These creepy and odd shadows cut deep into the white empty world of Lain helping to facilitate the paranormal theme.
Enjoyment: Serial Experiments Lain from start to finish was in my eyes a true masterpiece. The deep psychological themes will leave a deep scar on you, leaving you to wonder if you understood the message and story, whether your thoughts are correct and what really happened. For me it took me two watches of this show to leave me satisfied that I had grasped the truth of it and for others, it may even take three. I believe when a show makes you think so deeply and creates such a memory as Lain, it can't be viewed as anything other than outstanding.
