Lain is a timeless anime in its approach. It's incredible to imagine that an anime from 1998 would deal with the topic of technology in such a pioneering way that it would remain contemporary for today. For many moments I found myself reflecting on the way I treated my online life when watching Lain. The dangers of technological immersion here is quite a debate, but just more of the many that this anime addresses.
The anime, like I said, is difficult and dense to watch. It demands your maximum attention, otherwise you will be lost in the episode and consequently in the anime as a whole. And speaking of episodes, each one in this anime is unique and has peculiarities that make it seem like the anime doesn't progress or that, when it does progress, it skips stages. I believe this is because Lain is an anime unlike any other. I think this anime is so brilliant that it gets lost in its genius, often making you feel out of place in the story because you don't understand anything. I think this complicated narrative choice is intentional. Lain is not an anime to understand, or rather, it is not an anime with just "one truth".
The other topics covered here are extremely deep as well. Identity crisis, God, Memories, Truth, Family and Friendship are just some of the themes that I can remember for now and because there are several, what I mentioned earlier ends up happening, of Lain losing herself in her own genius.
Lain is not a bad anime, far from it, in fact I believe that much of my complete lack of understanding of the anime is my own fault, but Lain does not make it any easier, and many choices are meaningless, even for an anime that is proposes to be difficult. There were choices at the end of the work that will take away points from me too. Let's say that Lain had a resolution that fell short of the genius shown throughout the work and I believe that the most important moment of a story is its ending, therefore not being able to put a stop to it.
Technically speaking of this anime, the direction makes extremely interesting choices. There are details that are often unnoticed and others that are very noticeable and that make the anime experience elevated. I believe that Lain's greatest quality, in addition to her approach to technology, is her direction. It's also worth mentioning that it's not a visual masterpiece or anything (in fact, it's a very poor anime in terms of animation even for the time) but certain scene choices make up for the lack of quality very well.
Finally, even though I finished the anime with the feeling that I wasn't able to enjoy it in its entirety and already thinking about rewatching it, I could spend hours and hours writing about its genius. In short, watch Serial Experiments Lain!
