Well since it seems off topic's been getting a few more new anime threads, I might as well add another one to the list.
First a little backstory, i made this post a while back about how i normally watch anime these days
Of course there are exceptions to this which is mainly getting recommendations of older shows from others. Thanks to the increase in anime threads over the past few weeks, i gotten myself a mental backlog of shows to consider watching in the future. I saw Serial Experiment Lain mentioned a few times in a thread recommending great shows that weren't necessarily popular.
Then I had a friend who came over to visit tonight with a list of shows and movies to watch which included SEL and the plan was set.
You can watch the series free on youtube thx to funimation here : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL29CFFB0C178E4903
The first half of the show, both of our heads were exploding. Everytime an episode ended, 1 question might have been answered and 20 more were asked. Towards the end, more explanations were being given but we never felt questions were truly answered which adds to the massive "surreal-ness" of the show.
After we finished the show, we googled around to see if there was a "definite" interpretation of the show's plot summary, themes, interpretations and it seems that even after 20 years, there's still debate about it. Though it is nice to see that our understanding of the story event at least falls with some common consensus lol
And now some mindblowing moments and revelations i would like to highlight as we watched the show. We finished the show at 2am and can't sleep due to the "just finished a show/game that we can't get out of our heads" phenomenon. Will spoiler in case anyone decides to watch it as well :
Figuring who Lain really is -
Lain and her connection to people in both worlds -
Lain and Eri's first face to face moment -
God -
Bear Pajamas -
Typing all of this finally got me sleepy for tonight. It was a fun ride and would recommend to those who enjoy psychological thrillers
First a little backstory, i made this post a while back about how i normally watch anime these days
Of course there are exceptions to this which is mainly getting recommendations of older shows from others. Thanks to the increase in anime threads over the past few weeks, i gotten myself a mental backlog of shows to consider watching in the future. I saw Serial Experiment Lain mentioned a few times in a thread recommending great shows that weren't necessarily popular.
Then I had a friend who came over to visit tonight with a list of shows and movies to watch which included SEL and the plan was set.
You can watch the series free on youtube thx to funimation here : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL29CFFB0C178E4903
The first half of the show, both of our heads were exploding. Everytime an episode ended, 1 question might have been answered and 20 more were asked. Towards the end, more explanations were being given but we never felt questions were truly answered which adds to the massive "surreal-ness" of the show.
After we finished the show, we googled around to see if there was a "definite" interpretation of the show's plot summary, themes, interpretations and it seems that even after 20 years, there's still debate about it. Though it is nice to see that our understanding of the story event at least falls with some common consensus lol
And now some mindblowing moments and revelations i would like to highlight as we watched the show. We finished the show at 2am and can't sleep due to the "just finished a show/game that we can't get out of our heads" phenomenon. Will spoiler in case anyone decides to watch it as well :
Figuring who Lain really is -
Lain being a program that was somehow put into a body in the real world. I believe Eri implied that he was the one who did that to her when he entered the Wired. In a previous episode, she caught on to Taro working for the Knights and tried to get her to install some sort of chip that would alter her memories. After this, she checked her memories and discovered that the reason why she didn't know any of her families' birthdays was because they weren't her real family (she didnt know she wasn't human yet) and the Knights pushed her into their household. The crazy thing is that the show never answers the question of whether or not this was the only memory the Knights/Eri tampered with. This means that potentially, the first half of the show never actually happened and only existed as fake memories in Lain's mind.
Lain and her connection to people in both worlds -
Lain is connected to every person in the Wired. As the Wired world merged with the real world, this allows Lain to be connected to every person in both worlds, giving her major influence and omnipresence in both worlds. Simple revelation but satisfying to piece together. Minds still blown.
Lain and Eri's first face to face moment -
It took both of us a really long time to realize that during their conversation, they were reading each other mind's which essentially flipped the script (Lain was speaking Eri's line and vice versa). This is what happens when you are still trying to finish a show at midnight and beyond lol
God -
Throughout the show, it is mentioned that God only exists as a concept in the real world but potentially exists in the Wired since it is possible to have some sort of being or entity having massive influence or power in that world. Once Eri is introduced, it seems that he is indeed that God of the Wired and has the same voice as the God who Lain kept talking to in previous episodes. The plot twist is towards the end when Lain tells Eri that he is actually a stand-in for the real god but doesn't mention who is really God or if he even exists. The final episode implies that God is actually Lain herself (Goddess) since she is seen as two selves having omnipresence in both the real world and Wired world. She might not have known this or didn't knew till pulling off that plot twist on Eri because of her time spent as a human in the real world. However, you can also interpret her father to be God as well since he was the only member of her "family" to say he loved her and also the only one to revisit her and lift her spirits in the final episode. The biggest evidence of course is that he appears to her again out of the sky covered in light like you would imagine God would do!
Bear Pajamas -
To quote my friend as we watched the show "Why does she keeping wearing that dumb looking bear outfit?" I had to tell him they were probably just kids pjs lol. It was weird seeing a character that is suppose to be in middle school wear those pjs though. However, as the show continued to reveal Lain's character (very shy, introverted, multiple personalities) , I noticed that she tended to wear them when something bad or frightening happens to her. My suspicions were confirmed when we started googling around and saw that it's her defense mechanism to give her comfort during difficult moments such as connecting to the Wired on her new PC, having awkward or cold conversations during family dinners, going to a club for the first time as a massive introvert (bear on her beanie hat!), and her final talk with her father. Dad telling her that she didn't need to wear the pjs anymore in the final episode signaled the eventual acceptance of Lain's decision and role in the world by Lain herself.
Typing all of this finally got me sleepy for tonight. It was a fun ride and would recommend to those who enjoy psychological thrillers
