A cursory scan of the Wikipedia article tells me that Serial Experiments Lain “demonstrates influences embracing philosophy, computer history, cyberpunk literature, and conspiracy theory, and it was made the subject of several academic articles.” Doubtless, then, it was an anime of intellectual proportions, intended to titillate the mind as well as the heart (for it is more often than not the heart that anime reaches, an art-form that seems geared towards the warming of our inner-being through the evocation of a colourful, dream-tinged world of wide-eyed youth). I sat down, hungover, on a Tuesday evening, and prepared for a real tour de force.
The first episode conjures up a universe that is unnervingly dark. The ominousness of Lain is almost viscerally transmitted by the artwork and soundtrack. The OP is truly haunting – a wistful, creepy paean to the show itself. Lain herself initially appears as the archetypal shy schoolgirl who just wants to make a few friends – as if Shinobu from Love Hina was randomly transported to a bleak, sinister world of impending doom, where instead of a well-intentioned but goofy landlord to find comfort in, she has a new supercomputer.
The premise for a discussion about the validity of making friends in the virtual realm is thus opened: are they as real as friends that exist in the three-dimensional world, and if so what actually distinguishes “The Wired” (what the internet is referred to as in the show) from “the real world”? Lain does have some sort of friends at her school, and they do make the effort to build some bridges with her. The most prominent member of this group – Arisu – says, “I’m sure there’s a really social girl just waiting to get out of that shell of yours” to Lain after an invitation is extended to go jiving at a nightclub. Thus a very believable and endearing relationship is constructed – the seemingly more-sure-of-herself Arisu tries to befriend and ingratiate herself with the socially anxious Lain, and this acts as quite an emotionally impactful subplot.
All is well, then?
Alas, the only empathetic moments of the show are created by this relationship. This is because there is something tangible to hold onto – we’re willingly pulled into the Good Samaritan play of Arisu, and root for the formation of her friendship with Lain – when everything else starts getting confusedly deconstructed. Lain’s relationships with her family and other cast members are not sufficiently grounded, and when the going gets weird, one just doesn’t care.
For the going certainly does get weird. Samuel Taylor Colebridge famously said that the “suspension of disbelief” was a necessary pre-requisite for one to experience a story in its full intensity. In Serial Experiments Lain’s case, the disbelief not merely has to be suspended but completely annihilated before one can even begin to fathom what is going on. Whereas Neon Genesis Evangelion - an anime that often betokens comparisons - established its characters, setting, and plot before the psychedelic hammer started smashing the framework to pieces, Lain befuddles and perplexes by the end of the second episode. From there on the show essentially functions as a mystery, drawing the viewer into an endless guessing game whilst cryptically vomiting up documentary-like segments about various renowned scientist-philosophers and their strange, kooky ideas before delving back into the story (if it can even be called such).
Many of the ideas contained therein - both in the documentary-like segments and the actual dialogue - are indeed very interesting. A lot of ground is covered. The trouble is, it feels hurriedly spewed out, and sometimes has a very tenuous connection to the overall show (for instance, an interlude about John C. Lily’s mind-expansion practices). One is unsure whether to try and forge some sort of link out of these expressed ideas in order to come to some sort of grand understanding, or if they’re just there to add to the heady atmosphere.
In spite of the lack of anchorage the show affords, the atmosphere is maintained throughout. The artwork, music, and directing act as robust pillars holding-up a watery and incoherent world. Even if I was unsure of what exactly was happening - I began to blame an inability to concentrate, assuming I’d missed something, but upon closer inspection realized that I was just dazed by the constant non-sequiturs - emotions were still communicated to me, and I was struck by fear and paranoia without quite knowing why. It has been said that some things are meant to be experienced rather than understood, and the basic, stripped-back experience of Lain is at times profound - but one can tell that the show is trying really hard to push a point, and the rapid structural degeneration makes the didactic attempts seem feeble.
Serial Experiments Lain is certainly avant-garde. It is a veritable whirlwind of ideas, rouged-up in the cosmetics of a spine-tingling thriller. But it is, for all intents and purposes, a mess. One day, perhaps, another anime will come along, perched upon the shoulders of Lein, and take the original impetus that drove its creation and deliver it, this time, fully-packaged and sealed. Until then, we’ll just have to content ourselves with this curious melee of madness
