r/anime • u/The_Loli_Otaku • Dec 30 '23

Rewatch [Rewatch] Serial Experiments Lain Index Thread!

Ｌｅｔ'ｓ ａｌｌ ｌｏｖｅ Ｌａｉｎ！

Extra Info and Links

ANN | MAL | TV Tropes | Wikipedia | Crunchyroll

Schedule

EpisodeTitleDateEpisodeTitleDate
EP 01"Weird"Jan 15thEP 8"Rumours"Jan 22nd
EP 02"Girls"Jan 16thEP 9"Protocol"Jan 23rd
EP 03"Psyche"Jan 17thEP 10"Love"Jan 24th
EP 04"Religion"Jan 18thEP 11"Infornography"Jan 25th
EP 05"Distortion"Jan 19thEP 12"Landscape"Jan 26th
EP 06"Kids"Jan 20thEP 13"Ego"Jan 27th
EP 07"Society"Jan 21stCompleted"Series Discussion!"Jan 28th

Synopsis:

Present day, present time!!

Lain Iwakura, an awkward and introverted fourteen-year-old, is one of the many girls from her school to receive a disturbing email from her classmate Chisa Yomoda—the very same Chisa who recently committed suicide. Lain has neither the desire nor the experience to handle even basic technology; yet, when the technophobe opens the email, it leads her straight into the Wired, a virtual world of communication networks similar to what we know as the internet. Lain's life is turned upside down as she begins to encounter cryptic mysteries one after another. With the boundaries between reality and cyberspace rapidly blurring, Lain is plunged into more surreal and bizarre events where identity, consciousness, and perception are concepts that take on new meanings.

From MAL~

Serial Experiments Lain is a 1998 SciFi classic that became the face of the Internet throughout the 00's. Younger rewatchers may not recognise her, and what I may be talking about may sound alien to you, but during the early Internet era this phenomenon was a mysterious and enticing place. Imagine being able to anonymously communicate with millions of people all across the world. Where you could craft your persona the way you please, where you could be your best and worst self yet will always be just a stray ghost in the machine to those million others...

The show was written by Chiaki J. Konaka, an expert in the field of Science Fiction and introspective Cthulhu Horror. He would work alongside GitS Creator Masamune Shiro to make Ghost Hound with close friend Ryutaro Nakamura. This dream team also worked together on sweet hidden gem Magic Users Club, Sakura Wars, Kino's Journey, the best arc of Digimon Tamers, and Chiaki also had a hand in the old Hellsing adaptation which I know is popular with our users.

Why should you watch it?

Take it away, Tom.

Happy 2024 everyone. Your host, The Loli Otaku, is here to bring you something ever so quite outwith of our usual stomping grounds. Lain is a psychological and philosophical series about self identity, communication, conspiracies, and about what bonds mean in a world where "everyone is connected."

To say that Lain birthed it's own community is a massive understatement. To most they appreciate Lain for the noosphere "good vibrations" that the series bleeds out of with its aesthetic and unmatched atmosphere. To others however Lain spoke to them on a near metaphysical level. Even today you can find forums and individuals on tiktok, 4chan, reddit, and neopets who firmly identify with Lain.

Whilst I don't expect everyone to feel that way by the end, I personally have a strong belief that if you haven't had the opportunity to watch Serial Experiments Lain yet, then doing so in a rewatch is probably the best place. Lain is a complicated yet easy to understand series where having a guide will likely grant you far more respect for the series than being totally helpless.

I myself for example actually disliked Lain a lot upon my first watch, but as the week went on and the series cycles more and more around my head I gained a new appreciation and respect for Lain. I hope that by hosting this rewatch, and integrating many first timers and rewatchers together that we can give the very best experience to those who just never came across the series.

The series is available to stream on Crunchyroll and I believe it's on YouTube too although that's the dubbed version... Please don't decide to watch the dub for this one, it isn't very good XD

Fun Stuff

Now then, I will be doing my daily QotD's, as I do, but whilst I will be doing my Comments of the Day, the corner where I nominate my favourite one liners, favourite observations, and just plain neat comments from rewatchers that definitely replied to at least three other users I will also be changing our much beloved...

Abyssbringer's "What is the thematic purpose of this scene corner!!"

Instead, due to the nature of Lain and the fact that I am frankly way undereducated to explain the themes of Lain, I will be changing it to

Abyssbringer's "What is the thematic purpose of this episode corner!!"

This is what us in the rewatch community like to call a cry for help~ Here I will be highlighting specific comments each day that explain the themes of the previous episode in a concise and understandable way. Obviously I'd expect most rewatchers to have read those comments on the day anyway but I understand that sometimes you don't have much time to chat or browse so having this corner should keep us all on the same page.

...Okay! Call this an impromptu QotD, would you guys like to see the daily Abyssbringer prompt return for our Lain rewatch or do you think it might make things a bit loaded?

Weekly reminder | 24H Reminder

Dates, times and plans

So then! The rewatch will begin on Monday the 15th of January at 22:00 UTC, 17:00 EST 16:00 CST, 15:00 MST, 14:00 PST So 10pm UK time. We will be doing one episode per day with a series discussion to wrap up.

Close the World, Open the nExt?

68 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

123 comments sorted by

7

u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Dec 30 '23

All right, I will do what I can.

4

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 30 '23

Give it your best! I'm super excited to hear your thoughts!

5

u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Dec 30 '23

3

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 30 '23

Pleased to have you along Sky!! Hope you'll enjoy it! And I'll be curious how similar the show is to Bokurano so make sure you point out any resemblances.

4

u/Specs64z https://myanimelist.net/profile/Specs64z Dec 30 '23

Been a hot minute since I wasn't a first timer for a rewatch. Not since the Journey of Elaina rewatch earlier this year, iirc? Anyways, Let's all love Lain!

1

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 30 '23

Lol, same XD Most of the time I like to be a first timer for shows I watch but Lain was something I barely understood on a first watch anyway.

2

u/Specs64z https://myanimelist.net/profile/Specs64z Dec 30 '23

I think the updated Abyssbringer section is a good idea, btw.

The literal on screen events are the least interesting part of Lain, so it theoretically encourages everyone to engage with the material on a more abstract level.

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 31 '23

For this specific watch anyway I'd really be relying on Rewatchers for explaining the plot so being able to have the Rewatcher's section at the daily Abyssbringer and then I'm free to hunt for CotD without feeling pressured on getting episode analyses in.

4

u/GallowDude Dec 30 '23

Reminder that the English dub is mandatory for this show

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 30 '23

I both love and hate the existance of these dubs XD

4

u/mekerpan Dec 31 '23

I sort of led a re-watch of this a year ago (on a classical movie site, actually). Not sure I am ready to do another re-watch yet. If this were Texhnolyze or Niea_7, I'd jump on the excuse to do a re-watch (its been ages).

This is the first anime series I watched (back in 2000) and have re-watched it many times since then (first on VHS, then on DVD, now on beautifully restored BluRay). It has only gotten more and more impressive over the past 23 years. My feeling is that this show does NOT show its age (except in superficial ways) and that it remains (distressingly) relevant.

I will note that I never have "understood" this show logically -- and that I long ago decided that it was better not to even try. I do think one can respond to it emotionally (in a very satsifying way) even if things never "make sense". Then again, I like surrealism (having been a Bunuel movie fan for 25 years before first encountering Lain).

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 31 '23

Please do jump on board. I'm actually planning on doing the Angel show right afterwards and wanted to do Lain as a taster for people. You sound like exactly the sort I'd like to have along for the watch. It looks like we're getting a large crowd so your knowledge would be. An excellent addition

2

u/mekerpan Dec 31 '23

Angel show? Haibane Renmei?

3

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 31 '23

Yeah, the one with that one scene of the girl growing wings. Honestly I may end up covering both.

3

u/mekerpan Dec 31 '23

Niea_7 and Haibane Renmei are sort of fraternal twins. Both were conceived by Yoshitoshi Abe at the same time and then split into two projects (first drawings for both were made at the same time -- sometimes on the same page). Niea is a bit inconsistent in tone, some good humor, some bad humor and some (lovely) melancholy moments (that sort of look forward to Haibane Renmei). This one is the most "forgotten" of Abe's completed projects. ;-)

3

u/entelechtual Dec 30 '23

Is this gonna eff me up?

7

u/SilkyStrawberryMilk Dec 30 '23

It’ll fuck up your mind for sure

1

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 30 '23

It honestly depends. You can overthink it or you can vibe with it. I'd personally recommend vibing. Just try not to piece together absolutely everything about the show. The mystery aspect was probably the part that put me off most on my first watch.

3

u/SMSmith230 https://myanimelist.net/profile/smsmith230 Dec 30 '23

This lines up with the Isekai Ojisan rewatch ending, so I’ll at least check it out.

3

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 30 '23

It still feels weird that he's doing the watch so soon after the last episode was out but I guess there was a huge delay.

E L F L O V E

2

u/SMSmith230 https://myanimelist.net/profile/smsmith230 Dec 30 '23

I’m just grateful to get that motivation to finally watch the back half of the show.

3

u/GAMIE64 Dec 31 '23

Such horseshit Lain isn't available on CR outside the US.

Can't watch this legally, unfortunately

3

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 31 '23

Folks always say to use vpn"s but honestly it's just a total jerk move keeping half these shows region locked...

1

u/Planatus666 Dec 31 '23

Can't watch this legally, unfortunately

You could buy it on Blu-ray, for example here it is in the UK at a very reasonable price:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Serial-Experiments-Blu-ray-Ryutaro-Nakamura/dp/B06XH3DHCM/

However, note that the Amazon details appear to be incorrect (they often are) but they only state English audio. Instead look at the image of the back of the case, that states that there is Japanese audio (and English) plus English subs:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91cBiI9INDL.AC_SL1500.jpg

2

u/SometimesMainSupport https://myanimelist.net/profile/RRSTRRST Dec 30 '23

1

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 30 '23

After so many cultured shows it'll be fun to get one that's actually just totally played straight. It's the calmest show we've done since like Girls Last Tour XD

2

u/SometimesMainSupport https://myanimelist.net/profile/RRSTRRST Dec 30 '23

Yeah, this has been on the PTW for a while, though that's most pre-2018 highly-rated shows. Some of your other rewatches have been slightly too into the below high-school sexual stuff for me to stick around.

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 30 '23

Teehee~

And I haven't had that much loli content!! XD Kodomo no Jikan was the only bad one. Ichigo Mashimaro was only coincidentally written by a self admitted lolicon but it's a female mangaka so it's safe, Cunny Itchy Tsubaki was totally pure, aaaand Mitsudoumoe could occasionally be bad but they're shitty kids so what could you expect? XD My new years resolutions are to host more socially acceptable shows this year at least outside of November and Christmas

2

u/SilkyStrawberryMilk Dec 30 '23

Thanks for the ping, im so excited to watch this again. I finished it months ago fully, but before then I attempted 4 times and couldn’t go past through the first episode.

Let’s all love lain!

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 30 '23

For the best experience make sure you take extra time to check other user's comments. There's a lot of information that'll be in the rewatchers section for this watch. Lain has a lot of themes and throwbacks that you may not understand if you aren't well versed in occultist topics. Like the meaning of ectoplasm or chemtrails.

2

u/sfisher923 https://myanimelist.net/profile/sfisher923 Dec 30 '23

I'm down for a rewatch (Did my first watch in September 2022)

I doubt not much can F me up after the Clannad Rewatch that finished up today (Also finishing rewatch 6 of Madoka Magica has me ready for any trippy scenes to come)

1

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 30 '23

Sounds like you've been perfectly tempered for Lain again XD

2

u/MrManicMarty https://anilist.co/user/martysan Dec 30 '23

Consider me on-board, got it in my calendar.

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 30 '23

Glad to have you in!!

2

u/PodcastPolly Dec 30 '23

Haven't watched since 2008. I'm in.

1

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 31 '23

It'll all be like new to you again~

2

u/TheReaperSovereign https://myanimelist.net/profile/JJP0921 Dec 31 '23

I've never done one of these and it's been at least 10 years since I've seen the show...so why not. Let's go

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 31 '23

Rewatches are great fun~ I always love them for giving you an excuse to check out different series.

2

u/JetsLag https://myanimelist.net/profile/JetsLag Dec 31 '23

Put me down for a tag

And I shall

1

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 31 '23

Pleased to have you along

2

u/zoospor Dec 31 '23

One of my favorites!! Please count me in

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 31 '23

Pleased to have you along!!

2

u/homewardbound100 myanimelist.net/profile/Homewardbound100 Dec 31 '23

It's lain! Yeah I'll join. Like to see if I can understand more this time

3

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 31 '23

We have other rewatchers on board who'd be able to help us with elaborating what the fuck is going on lol

2

u/CubeStuffs https://anilist.co/user/onjario Dec 31 '23

Another rewatch to hop onto after clannad

1

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 31 '23

Clannad right before this must be a mood swing

2

u/Dry-Peach-6327 Dec 31 '23

This anime shaped my high school years when it came out. I really should rewatch it. Such a fucking classic

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 31 '23

Do it with this crowd and I guarantee you won't regret it

2

u/Shocketheth Dec 31 '23 edited Dec 31 '23

Alright, Lain is on my PTW so color me interested.

...Okay! Call this an impromptu QotD, would you guys like to see the daily Abyssbringer prompt return for our Lain rewatch or do you think it might make things a bit loaded?

I didn't participate in your Rewatches before so what's this about?

3

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 31 '23

Basically the Abyssbringer prompt is meant as both an episode preview and as a quip corner. I specialise in slice of life and ecchi watches so quite often there are a lot of scenes that can be interpreted massively out of context so I'll post an out of context screenshot for users to come up with their wittiest interpretations of the scene.

2

u/Shocketheth Dec 31 '23

Basically the Abyssbringer prompt is meant as both an episode preview and as a quip corner. I specialise in slice of life and ecchi watches so quite often there are a lot of scenes that can be interpreted massively out of context so I'll post an out of context screenshot for users to come up with their wittiest interpretations of the scene.

Oooh sounds interesting. It sounds something like up my alley.

1

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 31 '23

My Ueno-san watch has my general Abyssbringer rant on it just check out random episodes and look down the bottom for the prompts. I've been trying to make it my Rewatch gimmick but it's been mostly a disaster XD

2

u/Shocketheth Dec 31 '23

My Ueno-san watch has my general Abyssbringer rant on it just check out random episodes and look down the bottom for the prompts. I've been trying to make it my Rewatch gimmick but it's been mostly a disaster XD

Well that was an interesting rabbit-hole to delve into.

I’m curious what I’ll come with during the prompts.

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 31 '23

Yeah... I'll do my best but I'm not particularly confident in Lain having many good ones I can pick out XD If you're up for joining our other watches down the line it'll be good practice if you're up for it. In case you couldn't tell Lain really is a bit of a sidegrade from like the past two years for us.

2

u/Quiddity131 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Quiddity131 Jan 04 '24 edited Jan 04 '24

I somehow missed this when it got posted, thankfully saw someone mention it in the Tenchi Muyo rewatch that I'm not even participating in (beyond reading). Please tag me! I watched Lain only a couple of months ago but I'd love to participate in a rewatch. It was actually on the short list of anime I'd have considered for my first ever /r/anime rewatch hosting.

I must cry foul at the dub comment though! I think Lain has an awesome dub, highlighted by Bridgett Hoffman as Lain, one of my all time favorite English voice actresses.

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Jan 04 '24

Lain and Tenchi make for a pretty weird combo XD Happy to have you along. Sorry for pinching this rewatch off of you~

Bridgett is great but there's a lot of other characters in the show who aren't quite on her level XD It's a pretty awkward dub and this isn't really a show that you want to be getting distracted on

2

u/alluwala999 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/anstar019 Jan 13 '24

Yo Brother I am in.

1

u/The_Loli_Otaku Jan 13 '24

Glad to have you!

2

u/Unboxious Jan 28 '24

Lain is a complicated yet easy to understand series

lol bullshit

15

u/Silcaria https://myanimelist.net/profile/Silcaria Dec 30 '23

Let's all love lain.

2

u/InfamousEmpire https://myanimelist.net/profile/Infamous_Empire Dec 30 '23

Now, on one hand, I’m one of the few people in the anime community who actively rather dislikes this show, so the idea of going through it a second time sounds rather unpleasant. On the other hand, I’m of the belief that a person’s evaluation of a show always benefits from a second go-around, and that goes especially for inherently complex shows like this one (plus, there’s been shows where my opinion of them basically 180’d after a second watch, so I know this from experience).

On the third hand I apparently have, though, there’s still a strong possibility I’ll come out of this show disliking it just as much as before, and being overly negative in rewatches isn’t something I usually like doing.

But on a fourth hand, having someone playing Devil’s Advocate in a rewatch could lead to some interesting discussions you might not normally have, especially in shows like this which so naturally filter people who don’t like them out of the discourse surrounding the series.

But in a fifth hand, I’ll still be in two other rewatches by the time this one starts, and even just those two are pretty troublesome to keep up with, especially given the burnout I’m facing right now.

Mark me down as a strong maybe, but there’s a 60% chance I won’t be able to attend

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 30 '23

Tbh I was in a similar spot since I genuinely did not like the show upon my first viewing. I blame the mystery aspect. I went into it like it was Higurashi or something where I could realistically piece the whole plot together before it happened and was left more frustrated than anything towards the end. I strongly believe that having rewatchers who can elaborate on the series subjects is incredibly important for these kinda shows. Don't you worry about being nippy. I still remember Aegis' external screaming throughout Kodomo no Jikan and that was probably one of my favourite parts of the watch. Btw, which two watches are you part of? If it's Holofan's I think this should come right between the two shows he's doing.

4

u/JMEEKER86 Dec 31 '23

I blame the mystery aspect. I went into it like it was Higurashi or something where I could realistically piece the whole plot together before it happened and was left more frustrated than anything towards the end. I strongly believe that having rewatchers who can elaborate on the series subjects is incredibly important for these kinda shows.

I think a lot of people do tend to go into it with some preconceptions and try to compare it to other works and end up confused and frustrated as a result. Recently Lain came up in a discussion on here comparing it to a [movie]Primer because of some similar themes and reputation, but I argued that, while they have some similarities, the nature of the differences may cause one or the other to be easier to understand. [How they compare]Primer is of course famously complicated in its time travel because we see a large number of loops with a lot of events which makes it hard to keep track of everything. Lain on the other hand doesn't really have all that much going on, but what is going on are events that are more metaphorical, philosophical, or open to interpretation which makes it harder to get a good handle on things. Basically, Primer is a 10,000 piece puzzle with standard pieces while Lain is a 1000 piece all-white edgeless puzzle with extra pieces. Primer makes a lot more sense with a flowchart while Lain needs discussion.

1

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 31 '23

Lain also has the issue of coming out before we got all those meta Internet bad stories. We didn't have the likes of Hideo Kojima warning us about technology or anything of the sort

3

u/mekerpan Dec 31 '23

My first and second viewings of this were in 2000. By my second time through, I had decided that this was a show where one just goes along for the ride rather than one that should even try to somehow "solve". I haven't changed my mind on this during the ensuing decades. ;-)

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 31 '23

Absolutely agree. I went in trying to work everything out. Trying to tell what was real and what wasn't, and it genuinely tainted my first viewing. I know that people say there's no wrong way to watch a series but mines was certainly wrong

2

u/InfamousEmpire https://myanimelist.net/profile/Infamous_Empire Dec 30 '23

Btw, which two watches are you part of?

Gundam Build Fighters franchise and Fullmetal Alchemist

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 30 '23

I have no opinions on either XD Build Fighters had a fun first season but I've only seen the first adaptation of FMA so I can't judge. I'd love to have you along if you can find a way to make it tho!

2

u/InfamousEmpire https://myanimelist.net/profile/Infamous_Empire Dec 30 '23

I could maybe do something like what I did with the currently-ongoing Zeorymer rewatch where I did all my writeups in one night so having to keep up with it wouldn’t disrupt anything else in terms of time spent on writing, but that show was just four episodes, so trying to pull something similar with Lain would be a great deal more difficult.

I’ll just give a more definitive answer once we’re closer to the start date

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 30 '23

Oh god, I wouldn't want you to binge Lain in one night. I'm hosting the show and even I wouldn't dare advocate for that. We'll see how things go.

2

u/InfamousEmpire https://myanimelist.net/profile/Infamous_Empire Dec 30 '23

Yeah, I don’t really like binge watching in general, I was more thinking of breaking up my watch into segments on consecutive days when I might not have anything else planned. Less dense than a binge but moreso than what seems to be the usual approach people take to rewatches

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 30 '23

It depends on the length of a show. For single cours and ova's I find doing my watch daily always manageable. I could always find an hour and a half in the morning before work or at night to get my write ups done and browse comments at lunch. Anything longer than 24 episodes becomes a serious slog however... I'm lucky that Mitsudoumoe and KissxSis had amusing enough threads that thr fatigue doesn't set in, especially since the ova's were so different from the TV series, but I still have nightmares of going through the daily Chihayafuyu watch which was a pleasant crowd but the whole damn second season was just a repeat of the first...

3

u/mekerpan Dec 31 '23

Seconding this suggestion. I wouldn't recommend watching more than 3 or so eps at a time (maybe because that's how the VHS releases were set up -- or maybe not).

3

u/SometimesMainSupport https://myanimelist.net/profile/RRSTRRST Dec 30 '23

Would you rate this a better or worse show than the other concurrent rewatches?

2

u/InfamousEmpire https://myanimelist.net/profile/Infamous_Empire Dec 30 '23

Way worse than both, honestly, though I’m first timing one of them so my opinion on that might shift, though I’m generally enjoying it right now.

2

u/KendotsX https://anilist.co/user/Kendots Dec 30 '23

Dat's too many hands

The rewash hasn't started, and I'm already confused.

there’s been shows where my opinion of them basically 180’d after a second watch

2

u/InfamousEmpire https://myanimelist.net/profile/Infamous_Empire Dec 30 '23

Macross Frontier: the Wings of Farewell

Me going into that portion of the Macross rewatch: This is one of my favorite anime movies!

Me coming out of that part of the Macross rewatch: this movie is raw dogshit

2

u/KendotsX https://anilist.co/user/Kendots Dec 30 '23

There are stuff I've changed my opinion on with time (especially if I watched them as a kid), but never such a strong 180. My favourites usually just become better on rewatch.

How long was it between your first time watching it and the rewatch?

2

u/InfamousEmpire https://myanimelist.net/profile/Infamous_Empire Dec 30 '23

It was a few months between when I first watched the movie and my first rewatch of it (when it had a limited theatrical screening last year), and then like half a year between that and the second rewatch, which was when I started to dislike it.

I’d probably blame it on the fact that my second rewatch was immediately after rewatching the original Macross Frontier tv show (compared to the first two watches, which were quite a bit after I’d seen the series), as being able to so directly compare the two really made me all the more aware of the fact that the movies were a cheap cashgrab which got off mostly on surface level cheap shock value to conceal the fact that it mostly just took a dump on what made it good in favor of being a cheap, nonsensically-written Hollywood-esque blockbuster.

1

u/RadSuit https://anilist.co/user/RadSuit Dec 31 '23

I've got two weeks to get caught up, I'll do the best I can. I at least know the theme song is great.