Serial Experiments Lain is definitely a classic cyberpunk anime. But it’s also incredibly slow. This isn’t an action anime, it’s a psychological anime. And I wonder just how dated it feels. Aside from the CRT monitors everywhere, are the themes still applicable today? I think the anime was enamored with the idea of what The Internet could become. But now, in 2023, does that message still hold up?
What do you think? For those who have already watched Lain, would you recommend it today to someone who has never heard of it?
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5y4nQ5Y1V8
It’s streaming on Funimation. For some reason it isn’t on Crunchyroll yet, even though Crunchyroll and Funimation were supposed to merge libraries over a year ago.
This is one of the ones I always wanted to get around to watching, but never did.
I immediately went to Crunchyroll to add it to my watch list.
Then I came back, dejected, and saw you already pointed it out. Salt in the wound.
A masterpiece will be a masterpiece forever
It might not be easy to watch by today’s standards but then it was the foundation for those standards.
I’m not disagreeing with you, this is simply me probing for more details.
Why do you think social media makes Lain more relevant? I thought Lain focused more on the wonder and magic of what The Internet could mean for humanity, rather than the social problems that can arise from actual internet usage. They definitely touch on someone portraying a different personality online compared to the real world (which is absolutely relevant regarding social media) but I thought that was more a function of Lain’s deteriorating mental state than a cautionary aspect of The Wired. Granted, it’s been a while since I’ve watched Lain, so I could be misremembering.
It is one of the weirdest and most interesting anime series, I’d always recommend it. It is definitely a bit slow at times though, but it was really fun and I’d still say it’s worth watching. If you want something similar, but more action-filled (albeit slow and depressing as hell), Texhnolyze also exists.
Totally agree. Texhnolyze isn’t as slow as Lain, but it is extremely depressing. I thought it was going to be about how sweet cybernetic limbs could be but instead it was more about the trauma of having limbs amputated. Definitely a good anime, but it wasn’t what I was expecting (or what I wanted it to be).
