What did you enjoy most about Serial Experiments Lain?

Not sure how many fans of this series are on this site. But, it sort of feels as if this may be overlooked. Manga UK posted an interesting article about the director of this series.

http://www.mangauk.com/?p=ryutaro-nakamura-1955-2013

Not sure how many of you knew about it =/

So what did you enjoy most about this anime? The minimalistic art? The confusing story? The point of the story? How accurate it predicts the internet to be like?

 

Ha ha, I really liked Serial Experiments Lain. I have a thing for strange (as in very different, not funny strange) anime. The band is called Boa who perform the song Duvet for the opening theme. They are London based and were only successful in Japan. Kind of sad when you consider the fact that they could have been so popular over here. The song easily appeals to anyone as it is pretty much a pop song. Not too sure why they were never successful over here in the UK.

 

Imma have to agree somewhat with Supernatural Knight here. The first five seconds of every episode were intriguing, and then after that I was just really bored. I watched the whole thing through to see if the ending would save it, but the thing is I just never got attached enough to the main character to give a sh!t about whatever was going to happen to her. I will say that SEL had a few interesting concepts associated with it, and that was probably the most enjoyable aspect of it for me, but I felt like an onlooker to the story rather than being immersed in it.

 

I've altered the other thread to encompass deeper thoughts on the inner workings of Lain's narrative and concepts, so in here I'll take the chance to reiterate my feelings on the anime.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with Serial Experiments Lain. It looks really nice for a 90s anime, it sounds great, and it manages to be complex whilst also feeling rewarding if you do explore its themes. It's interesting seeing some of you didn't enjoy the anime, but I don't suppose that is surprising given the ambiguous and abstract nature. The anime very much demands that you explore and investigate the ideas it's throwing at you, and if you don't feel the intrigue to do so, it probably all comes off as feeling shallow. But I for one went deep into the world it had created, going so far as to research old science that paved the way for the internet we know now. I've wrote a bunch more in the other Lain thread if anyone is interested.

In terms of what I enjoyed most, I'd probably say it was the character of Lain. She walked this interesting line between being a relatable, introverted female character, and being something completely alien and hard to grasp. You almost go on a journey with the character, as both you and the character slowly piece together the true meaning of her existence, drawing your own conclusions as to what she is. I found that to be very engaging and compelling, and I think the ending does a good job in leaving the series on a melancholic, yet peaceful tone.

 

@Lince I think that the main thing to take away from Serial Experiments Lain is that it seems to be more a fairly accurate prediction of the role of the Internet in post-modern society. There wasn't really much of a plot to be drawn in by. More concepts I would say. But, for me Serial Experiments Lain was aesthetically pleasing to watch, with very interesting characters. I have to admit, now it has been some time since I saw it (I think about 2-3 years ago). My memory isn't what it used to be

 

i watched it sometime ago, but the aesthetics is very attractive. so surreal. Also is intriguing how close it came to predict the internet as we know it. Although it lacks a good plot i thing is on purpose to make it more surreal to the point i lost interest for moment, as Supernatural Knight said.
The idea i believe is kind of like in the movie TRON, what is possible and where is the limit to what can be created inside the virtual world.

 

I may need to eventually watch this again cause it was a little confusing but I loved the trippy art style and the overall strange moments going on and being talked about in certain episodes.