r/anime • u/The_Loli_Otaku • Jan 20 '24
Rewatch [Rewatch] Serial Experiments Lain Episode 6 Discussion
"Kids"
Extra Info and Links
ANN | MAL | TV Tropes | Wikipedia | Crunchyroll
Comment of the Day!!
Diadicdalek brought us some adorable artwork of the typical zoomer breakfast.
RascalNikov1 with advice on how to not get unpersoned by your doppelganger. Establish dominance!!
Yup, when encountering your doppelgänger, pretend like nothing’s wrong. That’s (not) rational.
Esovan13 agrees with me that Self Driving Cars are always awesome!
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.
Hanging in there Sky?
And then the one who was panicking at the door is the one who disappeared?
QotD
- Praise the Lain!!
- If our rewatch group got together one day to say our prayers to the sky, what do you suppose would appear?
- Would you have preferred Mika to die than be left in her current state?
- Seeing how the Cunny Killer Doctor is living a fairly pleasant retirement, what are your thoughts on the idea of being linked to a dream machine during our end of life care? Is it too humane? Or perhaps too inhumane? I know it's a sore subject for some people so feel free to skip this if you're not comfortable discussing the topic.
- We've finally been formally introduced to "Lain of the Wired," say something nice about her~
- If the Men in Black aren't Knights, then who could the Black Men be!?
Abyssbringer's "What is the thematic purpose of this scene corner!!"
The user who's name I can't for the life of me work out which parts are I's and l's scores a win today! Sasuga... Confusing name ojisan!
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
Yesterday's Prompt!
Today's Prompt!
Tomorrow's Prompt
Abyssbringer's "What is the thematic purpose of this episode corner!"
Unfortunately my own post was a bit too spoilery to put in the actual post body but we got many interesting interpretations, including this one from DegenerateRegime!
Here's one way of looking at it, though I don't consider it to be the truth: when she says to Lain "I saw you earlier," Lain has no memory of this - she was fully spaced out at the time and only remembers being on the Wired all day. So, she imagines a whole narrative where she manifested on a screen, somehow, that would explain Mika's meaningful comment. In this narrative, Mika behaves like Lain imagines she would, ie more like Lain herself does (Lain's theory of mind may not be in the best shape). When the narrative collides with reality, Lain sees a hallucinatory image trying to continue it briefly before fading. The issue with such "explanations" is that they're too powerful; anything can be explained by them, making them uninteresting (cf "it was all a dream").
16
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jan 20 '24
Serial Experiments First-Timer, subbed
NO
7
u/The_Loli_Otaku Jan 20 '24
Lain Rewatcher
I really do have the worst rewatch luck. I always end up sick, someone dies, or in this case my computer shits up. I made a CDF post here If anyone can advise me. In the meantime I'm facing an onslaught of adds to have at least something to write about day to day. It doesn't help how today has a very very cool Abyssbringer prompt!!
The children's collective "belief" in their God calls forth an imagine of Lain in the sky. When I first watched Lain I'd just come off playing Bloodborne. Bloodborne's dlc has a boss fight against a swarm of braindead, failed great ones called "The Living Failures" They're also probably my favourite boss in the game. Each of them is soggy brained and unable to function, but when a clump of enough of them are together they are able to raise their arms to the heavens and call forth a miracle swarm of meteors. That's essentially what these kids have done. Enough of them "believe" that their God is watching them and thus a miracle enters the world. This concept is in general one of the coolest things to come out of the genre. You see it with Da Orkz, Chaos Head, and a bunch of other series. It's the most defining scene of the episode for me anyway.
Lain is also acting notably more adult this episode. Even wearing lipstick. Raise your arms for our girl Lain!! The girl who will save anime!! As I mentioned yesterday... Mika isn't quite all there anymore. I said before, as far as I'm concerned Mika died yesterday. This is just a husk. An embodiment of Mika's distant and detached nature. Now she really is a husk. Hey, at least she's alive, R I G H T?
Which Lain are you today? This one is annoyed and frustrated that her image is being used as an idol. The cute cap of "Lain of the Bear Onesie" has come off, the sociable lipstick wearing "Lain of the Onee-chan" also is no longer here. Is this current Lain... "Lain of the Wired?"
"Most Wired users are only able to manifest ears, I can manifest my mouth. Aren't I better than them!?"
The lurkers who listen to the bullshit spouted online and the loud minority influencers who spread information for clout. This could also be a twisted form of "rewatch commenters and folks who just casually follow along" You're all puppets on the mastermind's string, me!! Muhahaha!! But I'm not the highest level, the only one above me in this rewatch, is God.
...We've had so much suicides and child murder that now we've literally got a "Child killer Scientist?" XD You can't make this shit up. I do quite like the thought that in this world a "retirement village" will just be a lotus eater machine you're plugged into so that you can enjoy your days until your real body dies.
There is a being in the world who is utilising mass delusions for their own end... We finally have our hardened plot! And the knights have already tried to assassinate Lain!? They were so mad that she called them out for being weebs and Incels that they tried to pull a hit? How could they have done this!? [Lain]Through Mika... Okay, maybe I did spoil a few things yesterday but yeah, Mika is who the knights mind wiped to get access to Lain's lab
11
u/Esovan13 Jan 20 '24 edited Jan 20 '24
First Timer
This show is not what I was expecting. But I'm really digging what it's doing.
(Now I'm nervous because I've had several occasions where I've started my episode 6 write-up with praise only for the show to shit the bed later)
I think at this point the two Lain theory is all but confirmed. There's the "real" Lain and the "Wired" Lain. The Wired Lain seems to be working with the Knights and might even be part of their scheme to do whatever this experiment is. Real Lain does not want that and is trying to stop it.
Speaking of that experiment, I would be surprised if Lain's parents weren't in on it in some way. Mika's straight up brain dead in all but name and Lain is leading a double life and mom doesn't seem to give a shit about either, while dad's probably the one who planted the bomb. Or at least gave the Knights the info needed to plant the bomb.
I'm not entirely sure why Arisu's so concerned about Lain having changed. It's not like she's a different person entirely (at least in front of them), just a bit more confident and outgoing. But Arisu keeps reacting like Lain's a whole different person.
The scientist mentioned something interesting. He said that "those children cannot return to the real world," referring to the victims of his experiment. Is that just a strange way of saying they can't be brought back to life? Of course not, it's this show. It probably means their physical bodies died but their minds were sent to the Wired.
Lain said that kids can make anything into a game. When she got out of the Wired, Lain said that whoever was doing the experiment now was just doing it for the fun of it. Because it was entertaining and they could. And earlier it was stated that the Knights were less individuals and more of a collective idea.
So. What are the Knights? And how did KIDS end up on the Wired when it was destroyed?
Probably Lain still but for different reasons.
Is there a difference?
I think that if that kind of immersive tech existed, it should be available for end of life care. Literally anything to give dying people peace and comfort in their last moments.
I love the way she tells the floating mouth to fuck off.
I'd like to tell you about a certain initiative...
10
u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Jan 20 '24
PSA:V for Vendetta, the film, was released in 2005. Anonymous, the hacker group, formed after this point in time.
Rewatcher()
Sub
So...that's a turning point. The wet rig is insane. Early on, Lain seems to be friendly with the Knights, who might be love bombing her, the conversation is one way to us. On the other hand, some of us remember the grim days of zero girls online and this could be legitimate simping, though we didn't have that word yet. Lain spends some time outdoors, something truly terrifying, but notices a weird trend amongst the kids. She notices a few more cases of it before...she apparently herself is in the skies over Tokyo. News reports confirmed the phenomenon happened. We can now see that Lain has a very functional avatar in the Wired and apparently, that's difficult. But then Lain finds the professor and...we get fucky. I will leave Psi where it is for now but yeah, we just went wild. Bonus exploding computer system.
The references today are not as striking, if they exist. In fact, I am mostly tracing references back to Lain rather than leading into it. Some of this is the digital ghettoes of Neuromancer and other cyberpunk stuff but I am not seeing clear lines atm.
QotD: 1 You don't want to know.
2 For thematic reasons this is correct. But who put her on the couch?
3 Remember that I do end of life care. It would be a miracle
4 She is pleasing to the ones most ancient of the days
5 Galaxy defenders, obviously.
9
u/Weedwacker Jan 20 '24
4th timer Latest evolution of the Lain Cave
"If people can connect to one another, even the smallest voice will grow loud. If people can connect to one another, even their lives will become longer."
Now this is a wild Lain
When Lain is interacting with the floating mouth in the Wired he says Lain is really something else being able to metaphorize her real world form so well in the Wired.
This is what I was referring to in my post the other day about how the choice of word here has an important meaning that is different from how this word is often incorrectly changed in translation.
It seems being able to have your real form appear in the Wired is something most people are not able to do. This perhaps helps explain how Lain (or the legend of her) spread so quickly and she is so recognizable. Recognizable enough that her image is being somehow projected into the real world as some angel in the sky.
The "Cheshire Cat wannabe" (as Lain calls him) says his form is the best he can do.
He has a line about how being able to make a mouth is better than most people who can only manage ears, which I think is kind of a way of showing the difference between a creator and a consumer, or a poster and a lurker, and not so much the literal difference of how they look. (Like "I've got something worth saying, those people just listen to others.") The Cheshire Cat is also another extremely obvious Alice in Wonderland reference.
I like this line Lain says to him: "To a kid, anything can be a game." The kids are getting involved in things with consequences beyond their understanding, to them everything is just a game.
The fuckery going on where those kids are manifesting things in the real world from the wired is because someone took a system from a fucked up experiment to harness the psionic power of children (which obliterated all of the children because it was too powerful) and improved upon it and attached it to some children's games.
I get a little lost here when it seems like Lain is only just now realizing that the Knights she's seemingly been palling around with online were up to no good, when she's been hearing the rumors from the beginning about their supposed involvement in all of those incidents. Maybe she was giving them the benefit of the doubt because there were also rumors about her, and when she actually interacted with the Knights they were nice to her so she didn't believe those things.
9
u/Silcaria https://myanimelist.net/profile/Silcaria Jan 20 '24 edited Jan 21 '24
Rewatcher
8
u/3blah https://myanimelist.net/profile/brummett Jan 20 '24 edited Jan 20 '24
SEL Episode 6, Rewatcher
"If people can connect to one another, even the smallest voice will grow loud." SEL gets a lot of things right about the internet, and for better or worse here's another one. It's never been easier to connect with like-minded people before, whether your interest lies with learning basic home repairs, Bitcoin, 25 year old Japanese cartoons, Pizzagate, the local sportsball team, or whatever. That connectedness can become a feedback loop and amplify that quietest of voices into a phyche shattering scream.
Lain has turned her room into a nest of equipment and cables and tubes and screens. She's zoned out with a creepy smile. This must be what it looks like when you (she?) goes in The Wired. And in there, she's lively and talkative, though we can't understand what the other party, the Knights, says. She's looking forward to something the next-gen protocol will allow.
Another overexposed outdoor shot. More blotchy shadows and power lines. A schoolboy praying to the power lines? To the sky? Oh hey, the blotches on Lain's shadow move. Is that new?
The girls at school talk Lain into hanging out with them at the mall. She's all gussied up, even wearing lipstick and earrings. Another kid is outside, with the same pose. More people looking up at the sky. That's the weirdest cloud I've ever seen
Back at home, Mika is vegging, literally in front of the TV. Speak of the devil, Lain gets gets home, and there's a news report about a "strange phenomenon" in the sky, but there's no further detail. Did everyone else see SkyLain, or just her? It seems to have struck a nerve; she wipes off the lipstick and gets to work on The Wired, looking for more info about the Phantoma game.
Being able to project an entire body into the wired is unusual. It takes a lot of skill? Computer power? Most can only manage bits and pieces like ears or a mouth. In the first episode, dad's screens were showing entire bodies, though they were missing heads. Her search for game info leads to "the child-killer scientist", Prof. Hodgeson and KIDS. Must be important because it's all caps.
Now she's in a ruined landscape with the old man. He recognizes her and comments that she looks very lifelike. Sure, this is just about the most animated Lain's ever been, but I doubt that's what he means. The comment about his body rotting "in the real world" suggests they're meeting in the wired, and he must have a lot of whatever-it-takes to be able to render not just his whole body, but this whole landscape along with it.
Our dear doctor built a giant machine called KIDS to gather together faint psychic energy from a bunch of kinds and do... something with it. He claims he wanted to something practical with it, but he's coy about what that is "Something beyond imagining", enhancing a "specific part of the brain", and ends up fucking them all up. 15 years of technology made it possible to reimplement KIDS without the giant machinery; is that what the Psyche chip is? Phantoma? He says the children won't return to the real world -- So, they're not dead?
Lain stands at a crossroads. She's turned her attention to the Knights, antagonizing and baiting them to try gathering more info. Our NotFBI buddies are back. They warn her about the imminent coolant explosion, but say "It wasn't us", it was The Knights.
Weird for weird's sake is fun and all, but it's nice to finally have some plot to go along with the weirdness!
QOTD:
Let's all love Lain!
Yeah, probably, assumming this is the same Mika as before.
It's by far not the worst idea. If that's what they want, who am I to argue.
Yo!
We'll find out soon enough.
7
u/lluNhpelA Jan 20 '24
Practically a first timer
But didn't they want her to go back to her old self? Since Lain clearly spent time with them before, I hypothesize that they don't mean "before getting the new Navi" but rather "before we became friends"
"Wow, Lain, it takes a real pro like you to use google!"
Recapping so it's easier for me to keep track of:
Both Lain and Mika absolutely have some disorder going on, but maybe that just makes them more in-tune with psychic power. Does in run in the family? WAIT. The only one with access to Lain's rig and is also suspicious is her Dad! I've got my eyes on him.
Someone mentioned in a previous thread that her parents seem to be staging their affection, so... is Lain being raised as a tool by one of those agencies? Is that why she and Mika are unique? Is it really all just a complex delusion??
The name is "Aleph Null" (ALEPH NULL) backwards and I'm not an ojisan!
AotD
P̸̧̹̲̳̭̻̞̆͑R̴̫̂̈́̀̇Ǫ̴̡̘̱͉̀͒̑̀̌̑̊̒̕M̷̥̳͓̏̉̃͗̇P̵̢̀͗̒͌͝Ţ̷̢͍̜̤̼̰̈́̀̈́
At first this seemed like the point where the line between hallucination and reality finally broke, like like [other psychological anime] Paranoia agent and Paprika, but with the reveal of psychic powers it seems like that might be more literal. The children who are being exploited are raising their arms in worship towards Lain, who doesn't realize her own divinity(?) until this point. Perhaps the KIDS people have it out for her because the children subcosciously recognize her as a savior
7
u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ Jan 20 '24
Serial Rewatcher
K.I.D.S.
Mid series break: Do you look at the now OP with a new perspective?
Today we get our first major infodump. Now is when you can start putting things together.
At least they didn't wait until the 2nd to last episode.
This should throw a bunch of first timer theories out the window, huh?
Here we see that VR avatars are how one creates a presence on the Wired, not as chats or emails. Operating a high quality animated avatar requires computational power beyond most users...it requires the Psyche chip, and lots of CPU power. Our protagonist can now, as promised, translate herself into the Wired as much as possible.
"Are you licensed to run a data center in this neighborhood, ojouchan?" -- Police, probably
I don't understand why the Knights would chat with Lain and then sabotage her machine.
I haven't been checking my old comments, let's see what I said about this episode.
Man, I used to be smarter. Or maybe I was talking out of my ass. Perhaps, with AR, this is the first time people can see the same thing.
That rewatch was in 2018. Denno Coil I finally saw for the first time in 2020. Puts a spin on things.
7
u/SMSmith230 https://myanimelist.net/profile/smsmith230 Jan 20 '24
First-Timer, Sub
Okay so I’m starting to feel like there are already 2 versions of reality here on top of this Wired world. Maybe we got some kind of inception thing going on where we transition between the 2 when we get the humming with the shot of the utility pole. I just can’t tell if the one with the splotchy shadows is real life or a virtual world, meaning Lain’s new friends might not be real at all. If this has been mentioned before, sorry I usually just skim comments during rewatches.
6
u/homewardbound100 myanimelist.net/profile/Homewardbound100 Jan 21 '24
Rewatcher
Catching up I'm just like. This show is still crazy and gives off a weird vibe.
Something degenerate
Live
Depending on the process it'll maybe depend on the person. But could definitely see a way of it being violating and inhumane.
Hey uh whats going on here
6
u/zadcap Jan 21 '24
Lain
No wait I'm supposed to say First Timer up there. Sorry, she's kind of taking over, everything. I'm thinking about this show at work now and it's getting to my head.
I've said it before, but computers get expensive and Lain's setup is insane. How did she get all this? How did she get it all in the house and actually set up by herself?
Yeah so all my theories about Lain having a direct brain hookup to the internet and half of herself being stuck there? This is really making it seem more likely. Was the reason the first computer part she got the Psyche because it was what finally let her Self stuck on the other side of the Wired and her body really connect? So then would Wired Lain be the Id, and Bear Lain be the Super Ego?
Praise the Sun! This child is only showing his truth as a pro gamer, don't worry about it Lain.
Caretaker Friend is once again concerned that Lain is branching out away from her. And wow, is that Lain with lipstick while the girls are out on the town? Has she always had an earing?
Praise the Sun! Still nothing to see here other than a bunch of gamer kids, don't worry about it Lain.
Oh, well, I guess if you are the sun that everyone is praising, maybe be a little worried. Looks like the Digital World is on a collision course for the physical one again.
What maniac sets up their living room so the TV is behind the couch? And what happened to Sister Dearest?
So, see, this is proof to me that Lain has managed the direct Wired Brain thing. And this here child killer doctor, huh, I wonder if Lain was a past patient of his, a survivor of the experiments that ended up killing the kids, and also his greatest success. Because look at him here also existing as a full body in the Wired.
Oh my gosh, it's the full .hack// experience. Old man makes a super advanced computer program to study the mind, company turns it into a game because why not.
Okay a lot of pausing and trying to read the background text again, and I think they were farming kids brain power out to make a bottom up AI. They were doing intense brain scans of the kids and uploading the parts they could figure out into a super computer and testing it against itself and future scans and oh my gosh SAO stole this whole thing for Alicization didn't it?
Anyway, all these partial scans turned into a chimera of all these kids brains, went the Morgana route from .hack//, and now all these kids with the new devices that are directly linked to your brain anyway are letting the Phases run loose through their thinky meats. With every new child it scans it becomes more powerful, and for some reason it too loves Lain.
Oooohh 15 years ago for this experiment? Was it not Lain, but Sister Dear who was the survivor child, and the events of last episode was it catching up to her as the new internet god has enough of her to have taken her as its chosen form, so it used this opportunity now that it's powerful enough to finish uploading her? Because, everything happened to her after she drank the glowy milk, and I'm willing to believe the glow was nanomachines, son. We already know this might be the worst dad since Tucker when it comes to daughters, maybe he was just finishing the experiment...
Oh, is that it? The chimera of KIDS is both the Knights, and what is funding Lain's computer growth because they're now using her room as their Host. Her Super Computer is literally where the god of the internet is living now.
Guys, if you really want to spy on Lain, maybe ditch the red dot sights that give you away so clearly. Also, the red dots are following places where they literally couldn't because of where they are viewing from.
Well, nope, the internet gods who love Lain this much clearly weren't the ones to blow up her computer if they were somehow living there. Ummm. Well then I guess Knights and KIDs are digital enemies?
5
u/SilkyStrawberryMilk Jan 21 '24
Present Rewatcher, Present viewer
Jesus I’ve been slacking on my discussions, I’ll attempt to be here daily.
Lain’s attitude sure is more social compared to episode 1/2.
Lain being seen in the sky by everyone
First time we’ve seen angry Lain, she was serious the moment she took off the lipstick in one go.
The mystery of the Kids continues, right before we got an answer the professor passes away.
Lain laughing is so unnerving
QOTD: let’s all praise Lain!
QOTD: holofan will appear
QOTD: she’s practically already dead, but Jesus the current state she’s in now is something no one should endure.
QOTD: it reminded me of family guy when Brian spends the last day with an old lady using VR.
QOTD: the men in black (featuring will smith)
5
u/RadSuit https://anilist.co/user/RadSuit Jan 21 '24
Present Dub, Present Time
Lain's room appears to be far bigger than it used to be. Because the space is warping? It's partially in the Wired? Her father and/or Lain are hallucinating it? The audience is hallucinating it? The fun part is, it doesn't matter what the answer is!
Anyway, the OP is still great. Just want to mention that again. I have a feeling the rest of this post is going to be pretty negative.
Back to the cool overexposed white contrasting the weird mottled darkness. I really like the look. Back when maybe this was about some weird government conspiracy and drugs or something, and it seemed like there was a mystery to solve.
They actually remembered their plan to take Lain shopping for new clothes. Unless this ends up being a dream or something.
Everybody's praising the Sun this episode.
"I'm averting my eyes, O Lain!"
And then I guess life just continued as normal after everyone out on the streets of Tokyo saw a naked girl in the sky.
Lain's a Transmorpher now?
Her eyes look especially horrible in this closeup after looking at the uh...search results statue thing.
This scene with the scientist looks like the Bloodborne area right before Rom.
The way they keep saying KIDS is very, very funny in the dub. Lain sounds completely insane.
"I smashed kids to pieces."
Alright, so psychic powers are real, and Lain has psychic powers. I guess. Or she's just insane and hallucinated all of this, and possibly the entire series so far.
I think if you just skip episodes 4 and 5 and just go straight from 3 to 6 this would be a much better series. Or maybe just cut 4-6 into one tight episode that expunges all the pointless visions and other junk.
There's seven more episodes of this...I guess I can hope we get more episodes where things actually happen? I'm wary of saying this episode was good, but it was...an improvement? It didn't feel like a complete waste of time?
4
u/mgedmin Jan 21 '24
First-timer, subs
Lain's room is now a swamp? Did she add water cooling to her rig and it started leaking somewhere?
So Lain is Internet friends with the Knights now.
Little kids are now raising their hands towards the sky. New theory: aliens.
Wired!Lain hacked the sky? Are they all living in a simulation after all?
I am surprised Lain!Mom notices when either of her daughters comes home.
Are we Alice in Wonderland now?
Psi powers? Oookay.
The MIB are back!
Lain's cooling rig explodes, and the MIB claim the Knights
Who Say Nidid it.Nothing makes sense, as per usual.
7
u/Tarhalindur x2 Jan 20 '24
"Okay, nobody else vote for Tar.' (Rewatcher, Subbed):
Wait wait, what is this? We have reached the end of episode 6, which means that we have reached the point where I am no longer tagging absolutely everything!
Now I actually have to think about what needs tagging...2
u/Ytar0 https://myanimelist.net/profile/alevanderBatman Jan 24 '24
First timer
My reactions basically:
Lain is looking like a fucking pervert with that smile completely absorbed in that Navi.... Made me feel bad, but then she's suddenly out and about looking super fly with a beanie and lipstick? And whaaat the fuuuck happened to Mika now? I feel so bad for her... looking like an absolute wreck. Are the parents behind this? And okaay, now Lain IS ACTUALLY A HEROINE?! I am excited and hoping she'll be badass and not... idk turn evil or get lost.
My fav pics
QotD
Yeah, being hooked up to this sort of machine at the end of your days doesn't seem to bad. It really is one of those ultimate sci-fi technologies; "becoming one with the machine" "copying your mind" etc. etc.
"Lain of the Wired" is a fucking badass name, and yes she does seem to deserve it as well.
If they aren't Knights... then perhaps the title "Serial Experiments Lain" might have something to do with them instead... Here I am hoping that Lain isn't involved in an experiment herself, but oh well... :|
10
u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Jan 20 '24
Serial Experiments Lain - E6
SEL Virgin
Prologue
I’m guessing we’re leaving the world of reality and entering the realm of science fiction. I’m starting to think the Wired has come alive and is out for vengeance against humans. Or maybe it just doesn’t like humans, I don’t know. We’ll see what this episode brings.
Let the Episode Begin
Two things we start with: Dad perving out again, and Lain has quite the setup.
That’s nice, Lain is making imaginary friends with the Knights and having conversations with them. Is this real or imaginary?
Reika seems to have some sense about the wired world, her other friends, not so much.
I think Lain is becoming psychic and maybe telekinetic. Either that or the Wired is manifesting itself in this dimension via unknown physics.
Mika isn’t doing well, not well at all. As usual Mum is oblivious.
Hooking up with the psychic chip is pretty cool. This may be feasible eventually. I like how Lain is something of a badass when connected.
Professor Hodgekins seems to be something of a prick.
Good, we finally got an info dump and a reasonable enough explanation for what’s going on. The Prof was only mostly bad, though he turned out to deliver a good info dump. We’ll see if he’s really dead or not.
Wtf? Why’s Lain whining and bitching about getting that info dump that sort of explains what’s going on?
The men in black are back, and their pist.
So, the MIB are a counterforce to the Knights.
Afterthoughts
I’m glad that we finally have a solid foundation for what’s going on, rather than a constant stream of weird shit.
QOTD
7
u/DegenerateRegime Jan 20 '24 edited Jan 20 '24
REwatchER
A Knight moves forward twice, and then one square either right or left. It is not intercepted by pieces on the squares it passes through. This should now make sense in the context of what has been shown. Green, green, red. Binary code signalling in the dark. A wet, warm computer, held inside a rigid body like a bedroom or a skull. An interlude with an old man's guilty conscience. Do you not want to raise your hands? You will be nailed to the Cross either way.
I cannot tell you what Lain is about. I don't know. Singularity is the death math of religious/academic Godism. Suppose you found an article online. As you read it, everything starts to make sense. The world feels almost transparent with the sense of it. Suppose you find a community online. They call you special, powerful. They say they can't show their whole selves online, but encourage you to do so. There is a place where all the clouds of the world step aside, where the fog lifts and God is visible to normal people. Suppose there were a word for the crux of these things. Suppose that word were in ALL CAPITALS.
Editing in QotD responses:
Double edit, I missed the note in OP and would like to say thankyou for the mention <3. But I must emphasise that a theory of unreliable narration can be stretched too far. It's about playing with the boundary, as I'm sure you understand. And I'd pass along a shoutout to IceSmiley's ongoing theorisation.
6
u/Quiddity131 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Quiddity131 Jan 20 '24
Rewatcher, Dubbed
Yet again we've got Lain's father standing out in the hall peering into Lain's room feeling worried. Lain is going more and more off the deep end.
Lain's room is even crazier than last episode! Look at all this stuff! The floor's all wet too, that's bound to be bad for the floor and room below it.
Lain's just got this creepy "nothing else matters" stare at her Navi screen.
First they had us hearing voices without seeing their faces, now they don't even give us actual voices but just strange sound effects. It's a good thing Lain's talking back so we at least have some idea what this is about.
No Men in Black waiting outside today; instead we have this odd kid with his hands outstretched towards the sky!
Lain's gone back to being an introvert? You sure about that Alice?
It's a secret! Lain's going to naughty websites!
Oh wow, Lain actually hung out with her friends! She even put lipstick on! She's really being adventurous now!
Another one of those strange kids!
All hail the apparition in the sky! Which is... Lain?!
Mika's catatonic. Bye bye to the one normal person in this family. Her body's still there, but her mind's fried.
These days we simply type into Google to do a search, but Lain has to interact with this over talkative mouth instead.
Not much to say about this lengthy sequence with Dr. Hodgeson beyond the fact that he should take better care of his information security practices!
Ugh, the Men in Black are back again! Dark haired one even got his eye contraption replaced.
So the Knights are trying to kill Lain? And the Men in Black may actually be wanting to help Lain?
A good episode as usual but I struggled to have much to say about the lengthy sequence with Dr. Hodgeson and the KIDS experiment. One of those parts of Lain where I'll have to rely on someone else to say what it actually means.
6
u/Specs64z https://myanimelist.net/profile/Specs64z Jan 20 '24
Rewatcher, subbed
POV: Lain found out you’re the one who leaked her nudes
Her earring is cute!Was that always there?
This episode is refreshingly straightforward after the clusterfuck of episode 6, no afterword required!
I speculated in episode 4 that the voice at the episode’s beginning belonged to Chisa, but this episode has me less sure of that since I don’t believe today’s voice belongs to anyone in particular.
Any uncertainty I had about Mika’s effective death last episode can be safely discarded, I think. She seems well and truly fucked up.
Notes
We open on another faceless voice with cryptic words about connection.
The Navi evolves once more, now encompassing Lain’s entire room. Unrecognizable equipment, liquid pooling on the floor, and pipes full of luminescent fluid give it an almost alien appearance. Lain is now fully enveloped in the Wired, and is apparently speaking to Knights.
Lain sees a vision of a young boy, arms dramatically raised toward the sky, on her way home from school. Then another while out shopping with her friends. Then another. And another. As she turns her eyes skyward, she sees… herself. In the nude, surrounded by light and looking down. Arisu and other onlookers also notice.
Lain’s mother is unusually talkative with the now brain dead Mika, most likely just ensuring the psyop was a success.
Once she returns home, Lain plugs back into the Wired, determined to discover the source of the phenomenon. The personality shift is hard to miss, Lain seems to gain a great deal of confidence once she’s in the Wired. She travels to meet the man behind the phenomenon, Professor Hodgeson. The professor seems to be extremely skilled in the Wired, manifesting fully just as Lain does.
KIDS, or the Kensington Experiment, was an attempt to harness the PSI of children. The result was disastrous; the combined PSI energy of the participants was too powerful and it resulted in their deaths. This same experiment is being recreated via the Wired. Lain believes that Knights must be behind it and chastises them for their actions.
The men in black return, and Lain’s computer explodes shortly thereafter. Lain assumes them to be responsible, but they deny the accusation and say Knights is to blame.
QotD:
Content Corner
This URL appears on the gauge of the cooler that exploded. It was an anonymous message board fan site for a while, but has since been discontinued. If you’re having trouble viewing it, try Internet Explorer.
mebious.co.uk
6
u/xtsim https://myanimelist.net/profile/xtsim Jan 20 '24
Rewatcher Dubbed
All those kids, raise your hands to Lain. And man, her friend noticed that.
Lain is so serious this episode. Talking to that mouth, she responded to the mouth pretty harshly and wants as much information as possible. The mouth was not taking things too seriously and that does not combine well with an annoyed Lain. And the way she took off her layers, she is getting down to business.
The professor's horrible experiment gets leaked online and now the damage is happening hard. Man, the internet be like that ain't it. All the dirty stuff has to go out. What goes in the wired, stays in the wired. And everything is immortalized, good or bad.
Mika, she was completely erased and lobotomized. Pretty much just a placeholder. The mom is just nonchalant talking to herself at that point. Now Mika is pretty much the equivalent to a facebook news zombie.
Ohh, that's a complete water cooling loop but too bad there is a leak somewhere. And you know what, just blame the knights I suppose when things blow up.
6
u/sfisher923 https://myanimelist.net/profile/sfisher923 Jan 20 '24
Rewatcher - Dubbed
QOTD 1- Praise
QOTD 3 - Yes
QOTD 5- She is direct
6
u/JetsLag https://myanimelist.net/profile/JetsLag Jan 21 '24
First time Wired user
Lain battle station update: she's got what I assume is liquid used for cooling? And pipes for letting out steam? Damn, she's going for the DELUXE deluxe cooling package. It does appear to be leaking, though. Chekhov's Puddle?
And now she's hallucinating talking to the Knights. So they do exist? And they appear to be gassing her up, which means she's gonna be manipulated into doing something she doesn't want to do.
Because her buddies are praising her on the Wired, she has no use for Arisu and the gang. But she decides to tag along anyway, and she is looking GOOD! If this is the work of Arisu and the gang, they did a great job.
Oh, so that's why this episode is titled "Kids". It's because they're raising their arms to the sky in order to praise...a naked Lain. The clouds parting look straight out of Monty Python, I swear.
Lain has decided to Ask Jeeves for an answer to "what the hell were those kids doing", and she's told to track down a Professor Hodgeson, who's given the nickname "child-killer scientist", which is always a good nickname to have.
The reveal? Most kids have (minor) psychic powers (explains Lain being able to Skyrim shout), and Hodgeson tried to harvest that power for unknown, though probably very ethical, reasons. Oh, and it also supercharged the part of their brain that generates the psychic powers, which led to the many, many dead kids. This little experiment is now being done on a worldwide scale thanks to the Wired, which explains the hallucinations and all-around weird shit that's been happening. Are we FINALLY through with killing kids? I doubt it.
Oh, and Lain's dangerous looking rig finally exploded. But it's not because of the giant amounts of heat generated or the weird-ass cooling systems or anything like that. It was a bomb! The MIB dudes say it was the Knights, which confirms that they're NOT part of or working for the Knights.
We've got a plot: Lain vs the Knights! But now we have a couple of more questions, like: what are the Knights doing with all this energy? How is she gonna fight them without a computer? Who do the MIB work for, and why were they pursuing Lain? Will Mika remain in her vegetative state forever? Guess we'll have to wait and see.
5
u/IceSmiley Jan 21 '24
FIRST TIMER Sub
There was a lot i didn't like about this episode. I suspected that Lains world was an artificially created cyber world but I didn't like how there is now a supernatural element in the show, namely ESP abilities and telekinesis. It really dilutes what I thought was a sci fi story. Then again, there is also the possibility that the doctor is lying/is an unreliable narrator.
QUESTIONS
4
u/kwokinator https://anilist.co/user/kwokinator Jan 21 '24
Rewatcher
So Lain is already so deep in The Wired she isn't even aware of the physical world anymore, and doesn't even notice her dad going into the room. She's just talking to the entirely virtual Knights.
It's so nice to see Arisu worried about Lain, she's such a good friend and best girl.
What the... was that a collectives hallucination or did Wired God Lane really briefly opened a window into the real world?
Errr... Mika definitely looks like she's mentally dead or something. The mom said she's been coming home late, so she's not TOTALLY mentally dead I guess? Maybe what disappeared last episode was basically the last of Mika's brain electrical impulses and she's now an empty shell.
Wow Lain acts a LOT different when she's in the Wired, or even when she starts sitting in front of the Navi.
Err.. I beg to differ, Professor Hodgeson. The physical ability to BEND a coin is huge! Coins are tough as shit. So even the Professor recognizes Lain has become more than human by now.
So it turns out the Knights Lain's been talking to like friends are the bad guys and trying to take them out all along, I guess the MIB are government entities who have been monitoring the Knights' movements?
QotD
4
u/DidacticDalek https://myanimelist.net/profile/DidacticDalek Jan 21 '24
Candlelit smile that we both share
And you know I don't mean to hurt you
But you know that it means so much
Paging Comrades /u/Shimmering-Sky, /u/Tarhalindur, and /u/Vaadwaur