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Serial Experiments Lain Volume 1 
Details
Director: Ryutaro Nakamura
Catalogue Number: MVD2019
Certificate: 12
Date Released: February 16th 2004
Screen: Fullscreen 4:3
Languages: Japanese ; English - Dolby Digital (2.0)
Stereo
Subtitles: English
Duration: 100 minutes
Special Features
- Conceptual artwork
- Hidden extras
- Trailers
- Interactive menu
- Chapter selection
Synopsis
There is the world around us, a world of people, tactile sensation, and culture. There is the wired world, inside the computer, of images, personalities, virtual experiences, and a culture all of its own. The day after a classmate commits suicide, lain, a thirteen year-old girl, discovers how closely the two worlds are linked when she receives an e-mail from the dead girl: "I just abandoned my body. I still live here..." Has the line between the real world and the wired world begun to blur?
layer 01: WEIRD
lain receives e-mail from the girl that committed suicide the other day.
The girl says "I just abandoned my body. I still live here."
layer 02: GIRLS
Club Cyberia - the space with full of music, light and people who search
for their own pleasure - and the place where another "lain"
appears.
layer 03: PSYCHE
lain receives mysterious circuit called "Psyche" that improve
functions of any type of NAVIs.
layer 04: RELIGION
lain is into remodeling her NAVI after getting Psyche. Outside of her
room, the real world and wired world start mixing
Cover
click image to view large version
To view the whole cover... click here
Reviews
If David Lynch was commissioned to direct an anime series he would probably come up with something similar to Lain. This is not a typical animated series, it is weird it is confusing and it is wonderfully hypnotic. Lain centres on a 13 year old girl by the name of Lain Iwakura. Lain is a shy and distant girl that has her life turned upside down when she receives an email from a friend that committed suicide a few days earlier. This strange event results in Lain becoming more and more interested in the 'wired'; a sort of Internet v2.0 in which the boundaries between real life communication and digital communication are difficult to distinguish. As she becomes more proficient in the ways of the wired the lines between the two realities become increasingly blurred.
Visually Lain is a beautiful patchwork of differing visual styles. There are stark colours and clean lines in the 'real world' which are juxtaposed with the vibrancy and complexity of the wired. As the series progresses these two styles begin to merge with greater regularity which produces some stunning visual effects.
The soundtrack is also up to the high standards set by the animation. The theme tune by Boa is an ideal lead in track to the series and is quite unusual for an anime programme. Likewise the music throughout is a perfect accompaniment to the images with more and more digitally produced music being used as the show progresses.
Lain is an exceptional series that will intrigue and
confound you in equal measure. Its unusual narrative structure and lack
of any real closure will put some people off, but for those that are sick
of watching identikit anime and want something that will provide you with
the opportunity to think then I urge you to seek out a copy.
Lain is essential viewing as long as you don't mind being challenged.
9/10
(Adam Cook, Anime Boredom)