As an avant-garde horror show, Serial Experiments Lain is not something that's favorable to judge on standard metrics for a well-rounded narrative. The plot is relatively thin on the ground, but it never for a moment makes you think that is the most important. The story is about the feel of the world, the implications of the events, and what is felt by yourself and the characters alike. It's more grounded than most avant-garde art pieces and the narrative reveals are satisfying, just don't expect a typical format of "event, reaction, character reflection". Some other reviews call this "non linear", though I think "non sequential" is a better term. The sequences don't tend to wrap up in and of themselves, they always build towards heightened emotions rather than new story beats.
Serial Experiments Lain holds the carrot just out of reach for its entire runtime, very effectively guiding the curious viewer down a deep hole of discovery. Explanations don't really start appearing until Episode 7, which was when my personal tolerance for the pure abstract was starting to run thin. Even then, you simply must accept that the logic is beyond standard comprehension. You are forced to confront the surreality head-on, not searching for answers to the parts that are illogical but to the parts that make very clear sense. Throwing out the abstractions is not the point, they are truly necessary for the narrative power of the story.
However, when it attempts to touch upon traditional storybeats, it does have some trouble really making those mean something. For example, the character Myu-Myu seems to have some semblance of an arc going on and is given a large amount of screentime as a side character, but it never actually adds up to anything. Along with a certain amount of repetition of certain elements - such as Lain's endless blank stares at things that never show us much new about her character - it really shows that this show was restricted in one way or another. As much as the emotional resonance comes through, there was clearly a great many challenges in production.
One of the most fascinating parts about watching Serial Experiments Lain is how it gives even a novice viewer incite into how anime is made, whether they're looking for it or not. To be frank, this show is JANKY. There's so many clear animation issues and reuses that it's clear that Triangle Staff was a no-name studio. At the same time, the show uses this to its advantage. You can hear the room of the voice actors. Liberal use of filters make you question whether or not something is actually a mistake or a cue to the existential dread lingering at the edge. Blank space - like the dead silent audio bed and the colorfully dancing shadows against a sea of white - is one of the most unsettling things about the whole show. Many of the repeated elements are absolutely intentional and amplify the concept of recursion as part of the narrative. It definitely wears aspects of the digital age on its sleeve, even if it still exists in the space between the move from analog to digital.
It's impossible to get the most out of the show without understanding the time and place that it was made in. Only at the very cusp of the ubiquity of the World Wide Web, the story's "Wired" envisions a world of pre-internet thought about the basis of a global network. Untamed visions of connection without standardization, rapidly changing and evolving for everybody, not just technology people. This vision of a future which seemed plausible in a twisted way singled out the cyberpunk vision of Serial Experiments Lain next to Ghost in the Shell and The Matrix which sandwich it. In its focus on the idea of connection, Lain turned out to be the one with more relevance to active life than either of the other two.
More than its vision of the future though, the series also is a view of the late 1990s. Clothing, music, grungy aesthetics, the place of social dynamics about to be shaken up by the ever-present surroundings of technology. That makes it a time capsule, despite being sci-fi. It is inescapably of a time period which this reviewer grew up in and therefore cannot help see a world through young eyes like Lain's. That doesn't necessarily make it nostalgic, but it adds a certain potency to the world the creators communicated.
What this anime does perfectly is in creating an atmosphere. I really cannot fault the directorial vision, even as its production needs sometimes show to readily. They made an immense amount out of what they had and I loved it. What it doesn't do great with is giving sufficient depth to all the concerns and subjects it brings up. There's so many small crises in the story about what the eroding layer between the digital and physical world means, yet only about two major topics get explored in much depth. So much more could have been said about the subjects it really seemed to understand from its brief glimpses - including memes, the way forums change the nature of discussion, how technology could affect education, etc.
What does this recommendation come down to? If you want to experience something truly unique that will give you an appreciation for the abstract without overwhelming your every waking thought, Serial Experiments Lain is a story with a satisfying arc and conclusion amongst the avant-garde. I couldn't tear my attention away from it, though I wouldn't necessarily call it "suspenseful" as other shows are. I can completely understand why others call this a masterpiece, but too much potential slips through the gaps for me to recommend it like that. It is a vision I can whole-heartedly recommend to any sort of Japanese horror fan in addition to existential sci-fi lovers alike. Having it in my anime vocabulary will definitely help me look deeper at other shows in the same vain.
