Review of Serial Experiments Lain: Box set

Introduction

Lain is an incredibly imaginative anime, mixing soul-searching philosophy with virtual reality, cyberspace with the sub-conscious mind. By episode 11, the first 15 minutes of the episode is a mind-bending visual montage set to Neil Young style guitar feedback, and it need make no apologies for such an inclusion. This is no `Astro Boy` - and should be approached only by those wanting a genuinely rewarding, thought-provoking cerebral experience. It`s like an anime equivalent to `The Prisoner`, raising more questions about perception than its prepared to answer. And it`s bloody brilliant. Viewed back to back, with the excellent English dub, this is possibly the finest anime set I`ve viewed to date, and there`s been a few!

Here`s a (quote) descriptor of the first disc:

"There is the world around us, a world of people, tactile sensation, and culture. There is the wired world, inside the computer, of images, personalities, virtual experiences, and a culture all of its own. The day after a classmate commits suicide, Lain, a thirteen year-old girl, discovers how closely the two worlds are linked when she receives an e-mail from the dead girl: ?I just abandoned my body. I still live here..? Has the line between the real world and the wired world begun to blur?"

Lain is the story of a shy, quiet schoolgirl who starts to recognise anomalies in her everyday life. Things that just don`t fit or don`t add up. It`s not long before she starts putting the pieces together, connecting to an alternative reality internet (The Wired). She realises that there are other versions of herself running in parallel with the existence she knows.

And then there`s Cyberia. Forget all you know about nightclubbing and mind-expanding drugs. Cyberia takes that whole world a step further. It`s a place where Lain and others converge to subject themselves to the totality of `The Wired` - all information and memory interconnected and channelled for consumption. Like MSN Messenger taken to its most advanced and logical state, clubbers communicate seamlessly with each other, flitting across timelines and manifesting as lifeforms in alternative realities.

Of course, indulgence at this level leads to problems of identity. What is the real world and what is false? Or are there many layers of reality?

And what happens when it becomes apparent that your parents and sister are all part of the same plan? That they have been `acting` all along as part of a greater alternative reality? (Like `The Truman Show`, you`re the last to know…).

Video

This looks very good indeed, especially considering that this has almost certainly endured the indignity of an NTSC to PAL conversion somewhere along the line. Compression is great, though with the exception of Disc one, there are oly three 22 minute episodes per disc so clearly no space issues.

Audio

The series comes with a choice of English 2.0 or Japanese 2.0. Having viewed this series in original language with subs first time round I took the non-purist route and found the English Dub to be a perfectly god one. In fact, I found the whole series infinitely more cohesive as a result. Music and effects are imaginatively chosen and even whispered dialogue is crisp and well-balanced.

Features

Very few extras here, and repeated (bar the Wired segments which are just pointless, running for about 10 seconds a piece).

Promotion
This comprises of a DVD trailer for the series, an advertisement for the CD soundtrack (featuring that great opening track by BOA), a TV spot and an advertisement for the Playstation game.

Concept Art
Each DVD has 18 pages of conceptual art that covers character and prop designs.

The Weird
Weird is right. Never more than 10 seconds these `teasers` are an incomprehensible addition, and barely worth a mention.

Conclusion

This is more like it. All the episodes from a series available in one box, eradicating the need to wait for a month or two between discs, or (possibly worse) downloading substandard fan-subs in desperation. In truth, that`s how I watched `Lain` first time round and I found this viewing far more satisfying. Watching this with the excellent English dub made its tapestry of meaning more comprehensible and thought-provoking than ever.

I guess I should add that `Lain` is utterly, bewilderingly, jaw-droppingly brilliant. It completely broke the mould on its release some eight years ago, paving the way for other cerebral anime treats, like `Haibane Renmei`, complete polar opposites of old-school `Fist of the North Star` style bash `em ups.

Most incredible of all perhaps is how relevant it all feels even today, with its underlying `power of the internet` theme (the Wired), despite the fact that on its release in 1998 the internet had yet to enjoy its boom period. It may also be surly to point out the fact that this pre-dates `The Matrix` by about a year, and there are many similar themes and thoughts to both. In truth, this is probably more to do with such thinking `being in the air` than any idea-pinching, though it`s a thought nonetheless.

If you`re a fan of anime and you don`t have Lain on DVD then this set should be elevated to a number one position on your wants list without delay.