History Anime / SerialExperimentsLain

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: Layers 05, 09 and 11 respectively.
** Layer 05 centers mostly around Mika [[spoiler:and her MindRape by the Knights]], with passages in which Lain engages in esoteric philosophical conversations with a CreepyDoll, her Mom and her Dad respectively.
** Layer 09 contains a lot of InfoDump about the history and development of the Internet and the World Wide Web mixed in with scenes involving Lain trying to understand who - or what - exactly she is, which all leads up to TheReveal [[spoiler:that the "God" Lain has been conversing with in the Wired is Masami Eiri - and he's decided to pay her a visit.]]
** Layer 11 is a RecapEpisode / BreatherEpisode. [[spoiler: At least for the first half.]]

An erudite, confusing, and chilling anime which ran from [[TheNineties July to September 1998]], ''Serial Experiments Lain'' is CreepyAwesome {{seinen}} {{cyberpunk}}, as well as a notable MindScrew in the genre. {{Shonen}} has ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', {{shojo}} has ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', and seinen has ''Lain''. Directed by Ryūtarō Nakamura and written by Creator/ChiakiKonaka, the show takes an information-rich dive deep into the nature of reality and truth, and in the process leads the viewer to come to their own conclusions about the meaning of the show, the meaning of reality, and even what actually happens in both.

[[caption-width-right:300:[[MindScrew Nothing is what it is]].]]

** The references to Douglass Rushkoff, John C. Lilly, Ted Nelson, and the Roswell conspiracy theories also fit with the plot very well.

* GodIsGood: [[spoiler:Lain, when she resets the world to give everyone (especially [[RomanticTwoGirlFriendship Alice]]) a happy ending.]]

* RomanticTwoGirlFriendship: Lain's attitude toward Alice involves a romantic tint. It is open to interpretation how serious it is and whether Alice returns it.

* TheAlternet: The Wired, which may or may not be alive. This anime took place in "the present day" and "present time" at a time when the internet was clearly named and defined. It's just that much of a MindScrew series. Visually, the Wired is mostly shown as a mass of swirling visuals and holograms that look impossible to navigate, or as a physical space that strange beings inhabit. It also doesn't seem to have any actual websites (that the audience know of, anyway), instead acting more like a giant chatroom.

* TheAlternet: The Wired, which may or may not be alive. This anime took place in "the present day" and "present time" at a time when the internet was clearly named and defined. It's just that much of a MindScrew series.

* PresentDay: Heh, Present Time! The series is said to take place around 1999.

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Mixed with PresentDay (Present Time!). The Wired and its associated hardware are alien imports into a pretty ordinary Japanese city that happens to have self-driving cars.

* HotForStudent: [[HotForTeacher And it's reciprocated.]]

--> '''Lain:''' So if that's true about me, what about you?
--> '''[[spoiler:Eiri/]]God''': I'm ''different''! How '''''[[WhoDares DARE]]''''' you?! I'm '''''DIFFERENT!''''' ''[screams in incoherent rage]''

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler:Eiri]]'s goal, [[spoiler:Lain]]'s eventual solution.

* EverythingIsOnline: Literally. [[spoiler:It becomes implied as the series goes on that both the real world and The Wired are both real and interconnected, as the Wired is really humanity's collective unconsciousness. Eiri's Protocol 7, which allowed everyone to connect to the Wired without any devices, triggered this. Lain appears to be the first person capable of easily switching between the two, while Chisa and Eiri took one-way trips to the Wired.]]

* EvilutionaryBiologist: Not a biologist, but [[spoiler:Eiri]]'s motivation for the plan was to [[EvolutionaryLevels help humanity evolve further.]]

* FantasticDrug: Accela, a NanoMachine that lets the user see things in CaffeineBulletTime.

* TheMenInBlack: Coupled with ThoseTwoGuys.

* OracularUrchin: Lain.

* ParanoidThriller: Easily the most famous example of this genre in anime.

* PoweredByAForsakenChild: The appropriately named [=KiDS=] experiment.

* SurrealHorror: This anime makes the idea of going on the internet an Creator/HRGiger nightmare...

* {{GIFT}}: Multiple times in the Wired. Most of these people can only form eyes, ears, and mouths, and one was given the nickname "[[Literature/AliceInWonderland Cheshire Cat]]" by Lain.

* CreepyCrows: In the opening, Lain is surrounded by terrifying crows. [[spoiler:And then she just stops them. By stopping time]].

* {{Cyberpunk}}: According to the [[http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/movie/decade/1990-1999/serial-experiments-lain/ Cyberpunk Review]]. "Degree of Cyberpunk Visuals: High, Correlation to Cyberpunk Themes: Very High"

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->''Ｌｅｔ＇ｓ ａｌｌ ｌｏｖｅ Ｌａｉｎ！''

An erudite, confusing, and chilling anime from [[TheNineties the late 1990s]], ''Serial Experiments Lain'' is CreepyAwesome {{seinen}} {{cyberpunk}}, as well as a notable MindScrew in the genre. {{Shonen}} has ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', {{shojo}} has ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', and seinen has ''Lain''. Directed by Ryūtarō Nakamura and written by Creator/ChiakiKonaka, the show takes an information-rich dive deep into the nature of reality and truth, and in the process leads the viewer to come to their own conclusions about the meaning of the show, the meaning of reality, and even what actually happens in both.

* DroneOfDread: Images of power lines are often accompanied by an ominous humming sound, phone or data lines by a faint babel of voices. It's implied that Lain is the only one who hears it when she tells the voices to "shut up" in layer 01, startling the man beside her on the train.

Also has a [[Characters/SerialExperimentsLain character page]]. It really NeedsWikiMagicLove.

* LullDestruction: Inverted, with long moments of silence with long gaps between any dialogue, most of the time.

* StalkerWithACrush: Arguably one of the most depressing example in media. As much as [[spoiler: Karl]] means Lain no harm and in one case he is particularly interested in her safety (which may explain at least in part his earlier stalking), his subsequent [[spoiler: declaration of love to her still comes out as absolutely cold and contorted, and the fact that he won't even wait for or expect a response from Lain suggests that he is be perfectly aware of that]]. Worse part, [[spoiler: he will die shortly after]].

* StalkerWithACrush: Arguably one of the most depressing example in media. As much as [[spoiler: Karl]] means Lain no harm and in one case he is particularly interested in her safety (which may explain at least in part his earlier stalking), his subsequent [[spoiler: declaration of love to her still comes out as absolutely cold and contorted, and the fact that he won't even wait for or expect a response from Lain suggest that he is be perfectly aware of that]]. Worse part, [[spoiler: he will die shortly after]].

* StalkerWithACrush: Arguably one of the most depressing example in media. As much as [[spoiler: Karl]] seems to mean Lain no harm and in one case to be particularly interested in her safety (which may explain at least in part his earlier stalking), his subsequent [[spoiler: declaration of love to her still comes out as absolutely awkward and hermetic, and he is perfectly aware of that]]. Worse part, [[spoiler: he will die shortly after]].

* StalkerWithACrush: Arguably one of the most depressing example in media. As much as [[spoiler: Karl]] seems to mean Lain no harm and in one case to be particularly interested in her safety (which may explain at least in part his earlier staking), his subsequent [[spoiler: declaration of love to her still comes out as absolutely awkward and hermetic, and he is perfectly aware of that]]. Worse part, [[spoiler: he will die shortly after]].

* StalkerWithACrush: Arguably one of the most depressing example in media. As much as [[spoiler: Karl]] seems to mean Lain no harm and in one case to be particularly interested in her safety (which may explain at least in part his earlier staking), his subsequent [[spoiler: declaration of love to her still comes out as absolutely awkward and hermetic, and he is perfectly aware of that. Worse part, [[spoiler: he will die shortly after]].

The setting for ''Lain'' is a place that appears to be contemporary Japan -- albeit [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture with a few telling differences]]. The story [[StartsWithASuicide begins with apparently-normal schoolgirl Chisa Yomoda throwing herself off a building without warning]]. Several days after her suicide, Chisa's friends receive emails purporting to be from Chisa herself. The emails claim that she has not died, but simply abandoned her body for an existence within "[[{{Cyberspace}} The Wired]]", a pervasive computer network very much like the Internet as first envisioned by Creator/WilliamGibson.