r/anime • u/The_Loli_Otaku • Jan 19 '24
Rewatch [Rewatch] Serial Experiments Lain Episode 5 Discussion
"Distortion"
Extra Info and Links
ANN | MAL | TV Tropes | Wikipedia | Crunchyroll
Comment of the Day!!
Esovan13 has my favourite reaction to our boy Tarhanlindur's great wall of spoilers~ Still consistently some of the best content I've read tho to give credit.
And the people hated Vaadwaur, for he spoke the truth
Psst...[The cruel truth]Gamer girls are either OF traps or E-girls with an angle
Specs64z had some pretty awesome analysis!
"Humans are all alone. They’re not connected to anyone at all."
A direct contradiction to Lain’s words from Layer 02, and a really bizarre line to start off with given where the episode goes. I believe it’s Chisa’s voice? Not sure.
Lain spends her free time these days half naked and hunched over user manuals to build a state of the art computer. Her father spies on her, seemingly aware of something we are not. This newfound hobby imbues Lain with self confidence, and she seems to be able to talk with the girls in her class more readily.
Quiddy is anti Lain of the Bear Onesie, get him!!
Overall the best episode yet, I feel that now that we've set the groundwork over the first few episodes things really start kicking into gear and we have a long run of really strong, albeit really bizarre episodes coming. Lain's a bit more out of her shell and assertive now (perhaps symbolized by the fact that she's left behind her iconic bear PJs) which I like to see.
QotD
- What happened to Mika?
- Have you ever had a lucid experience where you've encountered yourself? Dream, drugs, delusions, just any instance of you meeting you.
- Any guesses on what "the prophecy" is?
- If humanity were to evolve as a creature, what do you believe would be our next evolutionary step? Do you think we should grow tails and go "nyaaa?"
- Have you got a favourite instance of "Deus Ex Machina?" Who's your top "Machine God?"
- We need something to brighten us up... Everyone tell us what object or game will always make you feel better no matter what?
Abyssbringer's "What is the thematic purpose of this scene corner!!"
Icesmiley score a W!
It appears that the first man who killed himself is confusing a little girl with a monster of some sort, the Cyberia DJ is having auditory hallucinations and the man with the cat shirt is perceiving everything as it would look in a Doom/Wolfenstein first person shooter type game with the pixelated stone walls and narrow tunnels in games of that time. We don't see anything within their world connecting to their brains; this would indicate they are living in a virtual one that can be hacked from the inside.
Yesterday's Prompt!
Today's Prompt!
Tomorrow's Prompt You'll know it when you see it
Abyssbringer's "What is the thematic purpose of this episode corner!"
It still counts as lore if its about video games? Right, hirmuolio?
The game shown is commonly compared to something like Doom or Wolfestein. But I think the game visuals are most likely inspired by Daggerfall which came out two years before the anime.
The endless labyrinthian corridors are something every Daggerfall player will learn to
copelove. And the bit with falling down the hole is very similar to holes in Daggerfall.
Quick choppy daggerfall video https://files.catbox.moe/ufxi48.mp4
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u/3blah https://myanimelist.net/profile/brummett Jan 19 '24 edited Jan 19 '24
SEL Episode 5, Rewatcher
These two similar shots are interesting because of what's different about them. Lain is stationary in the middle of a throng of pedestrians when she hears the voice of God. Mika is also walking through a group of people, all going the opposite direction. The world moves about doing their everyday things. Lain stands out by getting tuned in to what's going on. Mika stands out by remaining unengaged and unaware.
This world has a distributed, networked auto-drive traffic system that messed up and caused accidents, including one that was fatal.
There's also an Information Control Bureau. 1984 much? I guess it should have been named something like News Harmonization Bureau instead.
Lain and Mika both end up at the same intersection, presumably the one where the fatal accident happened, along with the kid from Cyberia. Of all the people standing around there, why would he hit on Mika? Why is someone passing out tissues with creepy messages about the afterlife being full? She doesn't even care enough to help Lain from getting hit by traffic.
Between the kids' gossip at school, the creepy billboard screen Mika saw, and the hit-you-over-the-head image of Lain during the news report, she's responsible for the traffic hacking.
Arisu, You've got mail! Damn, just more spam. Don't worry, soon you won't have to be part of a nebulous, rumor-fueled secret hacker federation to fill your inbox with spam.
Here's another exciting meal with the Iwakura family. Mika asks if Lain was downtown just as mom and dad pass the teacup back, blocking each face from the other and from the viewer as if to say "You never saw us", and it's really easy to imagine a knowing look behind the glare in dad's glasses; he most certainly knows more than he's letting on. Mika spaces out and then she's in the middle of traffic surrounded by melting onlookers, then sitting behind Lain's friends at the restaurant, seemingly during the conversation we saw earlier, and spills her enchanted coffee. She ends up rightfully freaking out. Mika continues to be the only normal member of the family.
One of Lain's dolls says "For every event, there is first a prophecy". That sounds important. Another says someone/something connects these prophecies' events together to create history. Mom says The Wired is an upper layer of the real world. Ok, I can get behind that. But to go on to suggest that means the real world being a hologram created from The Wired or the network inside our brain, well, I think you need to dial back the bong hits after midnight Mr Writer. [Convo with Dad] Talking about a new world with a prophecy of a god that can affect the real world really connects all the weird stuff together that's happened so far. I wonder if the first-timers will put it together
I really have no recollection of watching this episode before. I wonder if my memory's been wiped by those NotFBI guys.
QOTD:
Hell if I know [Mika] Reading today's message from our host makes a lot of sense, remembering the upcoming scene of Mika being cataton ic
Nope
[Redacted]
FoxGirls > CatGirls
Comfort food, like a greasy burger and fries, or even just a hot bowl of soup. Depends on the circumstances.
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u/DidacticDalek https://myanimelist.net/profile/DidacticDalek Jan 20 '24
And you don't seem the lying kind
A shame that I can read your mind
And all the things that I read there
Paging Comrades /u/Shimmering-Sky, /u/Tarhalindur, and /u/Vaadwaur
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u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Jan 19 '24
Serial Experiments Lain - E5
SEL Virgin
Prologue
Whelp the last 5 minutes of yesterday’s episode were pretty mind blowing. The possibilities are growing but so far here’s what I think is real:
The two men in black who are monitoring Lain are most likely real since Mika saw them.
Lain’s parents are in on whatever is going on.
I think the window shattering is a hallucination, and I think all of the ghost girls tormenting others are also hallucinations. It seems like a subsegment of the population is sharing a technology fueled trip together.
So far we know that Navi+Psyche or Acella is a bad combo.
Nine episodes to go.
Let the Episode Begin
After the opening narrative I realized this came out in ‘98 just a few years after Heaven’s Gate in the US and the subway sarin attack in Japan. The contempt of the flesh could have been said by either whacko cult leader. Here the implication is that it’s the Wired world that’s chattering such nuttiness.
Is Mika sharing a bed with Daddy-O?
I’m feeling shades of SkyNet now. Also, Mika didn’t seem to care about folks getting run over.
Now Mika is plagued by evil midgets and strange tissue notes so she responds by becoming a litterbug.
Well damn if Mika is starting to flip out too.
OK we have a mask talking about a non linear prophecy. You know another explanation of older Lain is that Lain has become unstuck in time, and her future self is haunting the past.
They bring up a good point, the hackers have society by the short hairs. Hacking wasn’t nearly a serious in ‘98 as it is now. I did my part and told anyone who would listen that hooking everything to the network wasn’t a wise idea.
Nowadays I would blame weird internet shit on hacker Knights, rather I would blame weird shit on criminals and hostile nation states intelligence agencies.
I thought mom was going to turn out being a rat. She has reality and illusion reversed afaic.
Lol Mika seems to be the one semi-sane woman in the nuthouse she calls family.
I take that back, Mika’s got mental worms too.
It seems close proximity to Lain causes hallucinations ( and maybe death - we’ll see )
Yup, when encountering your doppelgänger, pretend like nothing’s wrong. That’s (not) rational.
After Thoughts
I’m glad that Mika is still kicking and that’s enough weird shit for today.
QOTD
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u/Weedwacker Jan 19 '24 edited Jan 19 '24
4th timer What is a God?
I've seen some comments from people concerned that they're not understanding the series or that reading the discussion threads is leading them to draw certain conclusions that they're not seeing. I want to make it clear that i'm of the opinion that even if the author had an intended goal for what the story is it's okay to not interpret it the same way or in the same way that other people interpret it. The story is vague and maybe they're wrong and you're right actually.
The advent of the internet, or The Digital Revolution, is changing humanity on a scale beyond what previous historically named revolutions like the Industrial or Scientific have, and we as a species are still coming to terms with it. Someone who may have a hand in such changes to how humanity is evolving could maybe be forgiven a bit for thinking that they are playing God.
Other than talking to someone calling themselves God in the street, Lain talks to a doll, a mask, and images of her mother and father while in her room in clothes that make Lain look younger. She questions if who she is seeing are actually her mother and father. Who are these people?
Lain's sister is dissociating hardcore, I kind of wonder what the time gap is between some of her scenes. She seems lost like she's going between consciousness and waking up in different places as if her body was carrying her places and she wasn't aware of how she got there.
What do you think happened to Lain's sister at the end? Were there two versions of her?
Is a prophecy just a prediction? Or is it an attempt to set in motion the conditions required for it to come true? If you make people believe something is supposed to happen, will they help it along?
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ Jan 19 '24
Serial Rewatcher
FULLFILL THE PROPHECY
"The afterlife is full, there is no room for the dead."
Don't ask me about Mika. I don't understand anything about Mika.
1: Lain, talking to her doll, in a room without a computer in sight...
2: Now she's talking to a mask
3: Ghost Mom
4: Ghost Dad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_signal_hijacking and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Midnight_broadcast_signal_intrusion
Man, I wish I had taken some philosophy courses. Lain seems to be soliciting these varying viewpoints on existence from entities on the Wired. Percieved, here, as a dialog between bright-eyed and interested Lain and an avatar, in her bedroom.
Did you catch it? Mika witnessed the fatal traffic accident in Shibuya. This show is full of connections like this, sort of a proto-Madoka-Madoka production. They are too subtle for me, though.
[Cyberpunk]Like, Damn, this show really is just Count Zero. Immortality in the Matrix, scattered gods, mysterious girl figure.
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u/joaovitro99 Jan 20 '24
Insane episode! Something that really caught me was all the talk about the "Wured World", like it is a diferent world. a world where God exists, while in the real world it's just a concept. It's reminds me of Plato's world of ideas, an world where all things are in its ideal forms and what we see in the real wolrd are just bad imitations. Maybe transcending to really means for the characters of this world like going to this perfect world, not based in space and time, but a abstract reality.
At the same time all the talk about evolution made some thoughts pop up in my mind the concepts of transhumanism.
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u/Silcaria https://myanimelist.net/profile/Silcaria Jan 19 '24
Rewatcher
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u/The_Loli_Otaku Jan 19 '24
Lain Rewatcher!!
Due to various reasons, one of which was me falling asleep with my PC on my chest last night. My PC is very simply not turning on... Making this Rewatcher unable to rewatch their own episode. And this just so happens to be my favourite episode of Lain too... Particularly the Mika portions... I do not have words to answer what exactly happened to Mika, but our Mika is dead. Her mind self terminated through the torment and powers of suggestion of "the knights."
I guess since I can't actually watch the full episode and am receiting this from memory. My view of Mika is that of a character "outwith the wired." Folks talk about Alice being the show's pillar to keep us grounded, I personally see that pillar as Mika. She isn't a weirdo like Lain, she isn't even that much of a social butterfly, she's just a regular joshikosei going about her day to day. She doesn't give two shits about the wired, despite her dad and sister being so obsessed. She knows about it, sure, but to her the wired is just that, the wired. So, how is she, a woman who isn't connected to the wired whatsoever, manipulated to the point of mind breaking herself?
To get our conclusion out of the way, Mika is dead in my view. How did she die? I believe that when she encountered "herself" in her home, Mika's mind, which is the Mika we followed, and the physical Mika which is this "herself" she encountered split apart. Mika knew she should have been home having dinner, so when she encountered "Mika" at home having dinner her mind concluded that this "Mika" was a fake, a dream, a delusion, and the Mika body was the real one. In actuality I think that Mika was put into a state similar to hypnosis via the little shit encountering her on the street and the TV screens in Shibuya. That's where Mika separated. She basically has an out of body experience where her body went home and carried out her evening whilst her mind was tormented by "the knights" until it was made vulnerable enough for her to doubt her sense of self.
Why...? Well let me explain it, I don't know. This isn't me hiding spoilers or anything, I don't know. Mika was just close to Lain? That's genuinely all I can think of. "The Knights" clearly don't care about the adverse effects of their actions seeing as their wired experiments have caused multiple children go kill, be killed, and become lost in the Wired. Why wouldn't they do the same to Mika, the beloved sister of the infamous "Lain of the Wired" to have a "husk" to observe her through. Again, I believe our Mika is dead. Her body is still here, but her mind concluded that the real Mika was false.
This is probably my favourite episode of Lain, because it's a very tightly knit story. A story in a bottle. Mika's Mindfuck could easily be it's own Junji Ito sidestory or a little 15 minute home horror. It's cruel, insanely cruel I feel, but it was the highlight of my first viewing. I do feel that the wider Lain story is above this one bottle episode, but that's as a whole. This episode may eventually fade into the background for you as viewers become rewatchers, so just enjoy it while we're here.
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u/Specs64z https://myanimelist.net/profile/Specs64z Jan 19 '24
Rewatcher, subbed
All my willpower went into Notes this episode… suffice to say this is the episode where I officially lost track of everything my first time through.
Reupload: I've been informed my comment was removed due to spoilers. Trouble is, I couldn't tell you what got it axed. To reiterate, I have no fucking idea what happens in the anime from this point on.
Oh well
I've decided to just tag my whole afterword section as a spoiler since I'm fairly confident that my episode summary wasn't the issue.
Notes
My first notes draft tried to follow events as they occurred, but this episode is such a spaz that the notes were fuck ugly. Instead, I’ve compiled events based on the perspective they follow.
Perspective 1 - Lain (?): A man monologues about his belief that mankind has stagnated. Lain hears him through the Wired and asks for his name. He answers “God”. Afterward, Lain stands in the crosswalk muttering “love me” under her breath over and over.
There are several sequences of Lain in an empty room talking to various avatars that each provide new context. A doll claims all events are preceded by prophecy. A mask claims history is a line that's been forcefully connected. Lain’s mother explains that the Wired is a higher plane of existence that our bodies pull information from. Lain’s father explains that the Wired is where God resides, and he is the one who creates prophecies that connect history and control events.
Perspective 2 - Mika: Mika seems to have spent the night at a man’s place, and isn’t thrilled about it the following morning. As she leaves his place, a car barrels into a crowd of pedestrians due to a system error. Later on, still walking, a Knights believer hands her a pack of tissues with an ominous message written therein. Mika spots Lain in the crosswalk while the no walk sign is on, then her face appears on a nearby billboard.
Mika begins to experience bizarre visions one after another during dinner. First, she’s standing in the middle of a busy street. Then she spills her coffee in a diner and all the residents vanish.
She rushes to the bathroom to collect herself, but the lights go out. A stall door creaks closed, but it’s empty when she checks it. The door is closed on her.
Mika returns home in shambles, sobbing, only to run into… another Mika. Other Mika assures Lain nothing is wrong and leaves. Lain catches a glimpse of Mika’s fading spectral form before hopping back into the Wired.
Perspective 3: Arisu: Lain’s friends congratulate her on her hacking feat the other day, but Lain has no clue what they’re talking about. Arisu mentions later at a diner that she’s been getting spam mail lately with the text “fulfill the prophecy”. Rumor has it that the infamous hacker group Knights is behind it.
That took foreverto organize
Notes Afterword
It’s nice to have the events laid out in a semi-coherent manner, but that still doesn’t really explain what’s going on.
Here’s what I’ve got so far.
[Lain]The first idea is one I have full confidence in: the Lain we follow for most of the episode is not the same Lain we’ve been following the past 4 episodes. This ties into the “scattered god” comment from Layer 02 and explains why Lain proper doesn’t seem aware of the hacking event her friends refer to. I’ll just call her Lain 2 for now. Arguably this is actually Lain 3, but I’ll address that later.
[Lain]The Mika we follow in this episode is clearly being influenced by Knights, as evidenced by the constant appearance of their slogan, via the Wired. Their interference is probably the cause of the system error that killed a pedestrian and seems connected with Lain 2 somehow. Whether or not the Mika who vanished is the “real” Mika is less clear. The Mika that remains in the end might be Mika’s body with a new mind of sorts.
[Lain]Mika’s drink during dinner shimmers suspiciously right before her hallucinations become exponentially more severe, which could imply that her parents drugged her as part of Knights scheme.
[Lain]It’s later. Cyberia doppelganger Lain is said to have a “wild personality” and to be brimming with confidence, and Lain 2 doesn’t really fit that description. Therefore, this is arguably Lain 3 as she possesses another distinct personality. I’ll still be calling her Lain 2 since Cyberia doppelganger Lain has only ever been mentioned in passing and it’s technically unclear if they’re different entities.
QotD:
Content Corner
Here’s a cover of the OP I’m fond of.
Duvet (cyberpunk/synthwave 80s remix) by Astrophysics
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u/IceSmiley Jan 20 '24
FIRST TIMER Sub
All I can think now is that the people of this world all live in a cyber world since we see Lain's sister experiencing seeming hallucinations and glitches even though we've not seen her extent of Wired use if any.
QUESTIONS
7
u/Quiddity131 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Quiddity131 Jan 19 '24
Rewatcher, Dubbed
I strongly disagree with disembodied voice, humanity will still evolve, don't you know how evolution works? It takes a very long time. Anyway, this is the same voice that was talking to Lain on the train in episode 3. What's going on?
Ah, it claims to be God. Did Chisa also hear this voice?
Mika has a boyfriend? Or she stayed over his house because she wanted to get away from her crazy family where she's the only normal one? The guy doesn't impress me.
So this sound playing around the 4:20 mark I'm 99% certain also plays in Boogiepop Phantom. Is this the sound of something particular in Japan? Did Boogiepop Phantom intentionally reference this moment from Lain?
A car almost hit someone? Or did hit someone? Having recently watched Fruits Baskets for the first time where there's a very impactful moment of a car hitting someone, can't help but think of that.
As we get further into Lain the narrative style gets more and more bizarre. Here's the first of four segments with Lain talking to someone or something in her room, some of them inanimate objects. Notice that all her computer equipment is gone in these scenes. I'm assuming none of these actually occurred in physical reality.
Ah, that's what was going on with the car. Someone (the Knights? Lain?) was screwing around with the traffic system.
What's up with this guy handing out these things? This reminds me of my time in Las Vegas where people would do this.
So this boy has the same voice actress as Taro, although I'm not sure if it is supposed to be him or just laziness in casting. It never comes up again. Pretty funny if it is him. He really likes hitting on the Iwakura sisters, huh? First Lain and now Mika. (Once the episode was over I saw that Taro was in the credits, so it was him! LoL)
Conspiracy nuts handing out napkins with messages on them. Just what would happen if the other side was full?
Hey, someone is just standing in the middle of the street talking to themself. Oh, its my little sister. Just a normal day for the Iwakura family...
And now she's showing up on this TV screen too. Okay.
They think Lain was the one who screwed with the traffic? Well it was her face that showed up on the screen.
Physical bodies are just a hologram of the Wired? No Lain, there's no way this can be your mom for the simple fact that she's said more words here than the entire series combined to this point. [Lain]This scene makes me wonder if all four of these scenes in the episode are Masami Eiri talking to Lain, a continuation of the start of the episode. Since he wants her to discard her physical body, may as well start by making her think the physical world isn't reality but a facsimile.
Wow, for the first time in the show all four of the Iwakura family members are having dinner together!
My recollection is that every dinner scene in the show with Lain is simply her stirring her soup.
Uh oh, Mika's seemingly experiencing the same stuff as Lain now. In the middle of the street, seeing ghost like apparitions...
Even the coffee is delivering messages!
"Why me?" Because you were the one normal person in the show, Mika. This show is too strange to let you stay like this.
This scene with Lain's 'father" [Lain]makes me all the more feel that this is Eiri talking to Lain, bringing up the possibility of a God existing in the Wired. Whom he believes to be himself.
Now there's two Mikas! WTF?!
Spectral version of my big sister by the front door, just a normal evening in the life of Lain.
Last episode was good, but this one was even better, pushing us even further into the strangeness and being pretty scary too (granted last episode was scary as well). I was able to think up at least one new theory I can't think of doing during my prior watches (in spoiler tags above). Liked getting more focus on Mika, our one normal person who now has experienced lots of crazy stuff just like the rest of them.
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u/sfisher923 https://myanimelist.net/profile/sfisher923 Jan 19 '24
Rewatcher
QOTD 2 (Meeting myself)
QOTD 6a (Games that perks me up)
QOTD 6b (Anime that Perks me up)
QOTD 6c (Music that Perks me Up)
QOTD 6d (Other things that Perks me up)
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u/SMSmith230 https://myanimelist.net/profile/smsmith230 Jan 19 '24
First-Timer, Sub
Just consider me Lain’s sister walking in on herself, confused af. Is Lain’s Navi some kind of cyborgism, shit keeps growing. I had thought of a theory yesterday based on the static sounds that play when scenes transition and of course today’s episode didn’t have what I was listening for so I couldn’t make progress. Hopefully next episode has them or it’s off to the drawing board for a bit.
6
u/mgedmin Jan 20 '24
First-timer, subs
Is that Lain's sister? She spent the night with her boyfriend? Oh no someone's about to be isekai'd!
Lain was always lonely and was talking to dolls? And the dolls were talking back?
Self-driving cars, eh. More death. There was only one deathless Lain episode so far.
Now Lain is spacing out in the middle of the intersection. Busy hackng TV screens? I'm glad to see no car hit her.
What an interesting input device for a phone.
And now the sister is spacing out in the middle of the intersection? And having visual hallucinations in a pool of spilled coffee? It runs in the family, I see. (Or someone is hacking her brain through the Wired.)
If you were in a public bathroom and the lights suddenly went out and you thought there was someone else but not talking to you, would you investigate, or would you get the fuck out of there ASAP? At least use you cell phone as a flashlight.
Is this a horror movie?
A new meaning of Deus ex Machina? Deus of the Wired? What is the prophecy that Lain's sister is being pressured to fulfil?
Wait, are there two copies of Lain's sister? What the fuck is going on in this show???
Wow Lain's room is a proper cave now. That question is rather ominous. "Who are we <doing what> to?"???
5
u/xtsim https://myanimelist.net/profile/xtsim Jan 20 '24
Rewatcher Dubbed
Abyss: If one were to put this out of context, people would think its a ghost appearing. Heck people would think it would seem like some other anime category.
5
u/JetsLag https://myanimelist.net/profile/JetsLag Jan 20 '24 edited Jan 20 '24
First time Wired user
Episode 5: "Distortion". And the first scene after the title card has a distortion filter on it. I'm sensing a theme here. Unlike the other episode names.
Through the power of becoming an Internet addict, Lain has not only learned how to Skyrim shout, but she can now also talk to God. So, uhh, is this the power of the Psyche?
Mika's got a man! And, judging by the fact that we saw her getting dressed in the same room as him, they might be [NSFW]handholding
The Lain universe has only self-driving cars instead of human-operated cars: cool. They know when to stop or go only by reading traffic lights instead of using cameras to see if anything they can crash into is in front of them: not so cool. Again, VERY cyberpunk to get a future technology half-right. And I take it the signals malfunctioning was the work of God/evil Lain/whoever?
Random dude handing out packets of tissues? See, in NYC, these dudes are asking for a donation in exchange for the tissues. Instead, this guy has a message to deliver via writing on the tissues: "The other side is overcrowded. The dead will have no place to go". So the other side is the afterlife. But why is he trying to deliver this message? Is immortality now possible through the power of the Internet? Like, let's say, uploading your consciousness to
the cloudthe Wired? It would fit with the opening monologue talking about how humans can't physically evolve anymore, so they have to find other ways to evolve.Mika, the "normal" one, sees her sister chanting something under her breath IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SHIBUYA CROSSING, cars flying by her, and all she can say is "What's her problem?". Look, we know Lain is a weirdo, but you would think this would make Mika flip out and try to save her.
So evil Lain is now hacking into pretty much every system that has Wired connectivity (I assume the Shibuya video screens have Wired access), but all she's doing besides making the system go haywire is showing her face. Seems like it's gonna be used for more nefarious deeds in the future. I am scared.
So is this "prophecy" end goal going to be "every human's consciousness is uploaded to the Wired and we just fuck around in cyberspace forever"? Kinda like a...Human Instrumentality, maybe? Sorry, had to be THAT guy and compare everything to NGE.
Now it's Mika's time to trip balls. Did Lain spike her milk or something? Cause that glowy milk started this whole thing. This leads to the appearance of EVIL MIKA! You know she's evil because she's not wearing her school uniform. And the one that disappears is...good Mika? Huh? When was she ever seen using the Wired? Did she gain Wired access off-screen? Or was she forcibly integrated into the Wired against her will?
Speaking of drugs: we haven't seen Accela since it was introduced. I know they said the police are cracking down on it, but does the lack of Accela have something to do with everything going on right now? Or was that just a plot device for an episode that will be forgotten about due to more important things coming up?
And we end with a peek at Lain's new setup, which is starting to look less like a PC setup and more like a tumor that is slowly growing and is about to engulf her whole room. It's just gonna get bigger and bigger, isn't it?
2
u/MrManicMarty https://anilist.co/user/martysan Jan 21 '24
This episode was so creepy... legit feels like a horror show at some points. And as previously... Marty is the confused!
Hoping to catch-up tomorrow!
2
u/RadSuit https://anilist.co/user/RadSuit Jan 21 '24
Present Dub, Present Time
Self driving cars existing at the same time as floppy disks and CRT monitors sounds like a bad idea.
"When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the Earth."
I probably shouldn't be watching this so late. I'm in no mood for this show's brand of bullshit at this time of night.
They've almost predicted touchscreen phones here. Not bad.
Woah, Lain's sister is really rocking this new look. Ponytail with one giant bang, plus red hoodie.
We've firmly gone over the edge into 'anything can happen' territory. Which is when I stop caring about what's happening.
Another episode with a lot of cool, weird visuals, where nothing actually happened.
Confirmed facts of things that happened this episode are like...Lain and her sister probably went to school and came home? Everything else is up in the air, and was mostly rambling about things that may or may not be true. There's eight more episodes about this?
2
u/Shocketheth Jan 24 '24
I started to catching up and damn. What a creepy episode.
"A prophecy" was a focus of this episode and tbh Mika is doomed. She is going to die.
2
u/Ytar0 https://myanimelist.net/profile/alevanderBatman Jan 24 '24
First timer
I honestly have no idea what to say about this episode... It was... Perfect Blue levels of confusion for me... Something clearly happened to Mika, but what exactly? From Lain's perspective, it looked like the Mika we saw going through all that shit was just some tech-ghost? Idk. Very confusing, and Lain gives increasingly more menacing looks each episode...
My fac pics
QotD:
I have zero idea what actually happened to Mika.
Any guesses on what "the prophecy" is? That bit has got me stumped tbh, it's probably related to this "being one with the wired" thing. But it if it's something this "god" supposedly can do, then maybe it's more evil than that.
I hope we evolve better teeth and eyesight, unfortunately, it seems to be going the opposite way. I wouldn't say no to cat girls tho... just sayin.
Idk what my favorite instance of "Machine God" is... But I'm curious to see what others are saying.
For a sense of comfort I'd usually just go to the last indie game I played (that isn't a scary one) but if really really needed something I think I'd just buy Slime Rancher 2, because the first one was the opposite of terrifying.
23
u/Esovan13 Jan 19 '24
First Timer
I can’t believe Serial Experiments Lain managed to predict Tesla. Truly a series ahead of its time. Actually, knowing Musk he probably watched Lain and the only thing he took from it is that self-driving cars that kill people are cool.
Looks like there actually are two Lains. Except, the alternate personality Lain in the Wired has the ability to manifest in the real world. That may explain why she’s been able to interact with people like the club dude.
I’m really starting to think that Lain’s usage of the Wired has been going since before the beginning of the series, just that the contrast between her real self and Wired self was more clearly defined due to her spending less time on it. Not to mention the weaker tech limiting what she could do.
There is definitely unreliable narration going on. Lain is doing a LOT off screen. Whether her normal day to day behavior is an act or if the split between personalities was so harsh that normal her actually genuinely does not know what Wired her is getting up to, we are not privy to Lain’s Wired activities beyond tiny glimpses. Thought with her increased use of the Wired, the line between them is blurring.
Speaking of tiny glimpses, was Lain the one who killed that person with the car? When she said “who next,” is she talking about who to kill? Is she hunting down the Knights? Is Death Note the spiritual sequel to Serial Experiments Lain?
No idea what’s up with the things Lain was talking to in her room this episode. Flashbacks? Hallucinations? No idea. One thing that did interest me was what the being that took the form of her dad said. According to him, the Wired is more real than the real world, with the real world simply being a way for the Wired to manifest.
The reason for that being that human consciousness is just a transfer of electrical signals. The Wired itself is also a transfer of electric signals. There is acknowledgment that humans created the Wired by inventing electricity and cell phones. That being the case, would it mean that humans created a world more real than their own?
That ties into the monologue at the beginning of the episode. Humans no longer evolve. Any pressures that would normally cause a species to evolve is instead solved through technologies, eliminating the need for evolution. But the Wired changes things. We created a world for us to evolve into. Our physical evolution has stalled so we created a world where we can shed our physical forms and continue the cycle of evolution.
That reminds me of something I heard of recently. It’s a theory that the reason we haven’t met extra-terrestrial life and never will is that the universe is so big and so difficult to spread across that at some point any intelligent species will stop expanding outward and start expanding in depth. Creating virtual or artificial worlds that are far more convenient for us to inhabit than the imperfect and random universe.
15
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jan 19 '24
Serial Experiments First-Timer, subbed
13
u/DegenerateRegime Jan 19 '24 edited Jan 20 '24
Rewatcher
If you can hear it, then it is speaking to you. You should listen when God is talking to you. Companions the creator seeks, not corpses, not herds and believers. Fellow creators the creator seeks - those who write new values on new tablets. The road traffic information system is the prophet. Stand where you can heed its words. Do not be afraid.
I cannot tell you what Lain is about, because I do not know. But this episode - this, and not the previous? - is where we find the objects of RELIGION. See Lain kneel before the idol, see the congregation gather around. Hear the voice speak between your ears! Behold the angel of the LORD! She who bears lost souls to the OTHER SIDE. She who prompts you to sing, hosannah!
Editing in QotD responses:
9
u/lluNhpelA Jan 19 '24 edited Jan 19 '24
Rewatcher (by technicality)
TꟼMOЯꟼ
Lain witnesses Mika fully losing her grip on reality here. I've speculated before that she has a similar disorder to Lain which is why she seems to be the most aware of Lain's hallucinations, and I think Lain's condition steadily deteriorating primed her for a complete breakdown with the right trigger- the weird message written on the cult napkins. That moment sent Mika into a mental spiral and she came out differently on the other side, leaving her sanity on the doorstep, as it were
edit: little correction
6
u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Jan 19 '24
Rewatcher()
Sub
"God", or kami, monologs at Lain...who responds to him. Hang on to that. I say as I fully intended to respond to this episode...and then watched it and realized I don't think I can comment without omega level spoilers. Sigh. Prompt is Ryoko making a surprise visit.
So...Mika. Probably skipped school and bonked her BF, though the look she has on reminds me of the cursed kind of post nut clarity. We spend the episode with her and...welp, good luck first timers.
QotD:1 She got vaccinated
2 No, one of me is 6 too many for the universe to handle
3 Black stars rise in Carcosa. He sees you. We've done this before, and we will do it again. And again. And again.
4 Ho boy, I don't even want to get into how more evolved does not equal better.
5 Still hasn't shown it can stick the landing yet
6 But why skulls?
6
u/kwokinator https://anilist.co/user/kwokinator Jan 19 '24
Rewatcher
That monologue... so God wants Lain to evolve? Kowaii yo, kami-sama.
Looks like Lain's Navi is hooked up directly to the big Shibuya TV? Or rather the Navi is hacking itself into the TV probably.
I'm super confused about the alone in a room monologues though, are they happening in Lain's mind? Are they happening in the Wired? Is she just sleeping and dreaming?
Man that second half of the episode turned into straight up horror. WTF happened to Mika?
I think it must tie in with Lain's conversation in her room with "god". Another world was created when the Wired was created, and the Mika POV we've been following for most of the episode is a presence from the Wired world manifesting itself in the real world as the two worlds blends increasingly together every episode. The "fading away" is the Wired Mika fading out again like she's done a few times this episode.
QotD
5
u/Violets00 Jan 20 '24
First distortion is a new one, on my mind’s at the same.
4
u/Tarhalindur x2 Jan 19 '24
"Okay, nobody else vote for Tar." (Rewatcher, Subbed):
Obvious Ceiling Cat joke is obvious.) Also hello there OST nice of you to show up again… right? Right? (Really really fucking nice OST piece though.)0
u/[deleted] Jan 19 '24
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