Serial Experiments Lain

Serial Experiments Lain is an anime television series by Yoshitoshi ABe from the year 1998. The series was broadcast on TV Tokyo from July to September 1998. On 26 November 1998, a work based on the anime PlayStation game appeared.

The series is about a girl named Lain Iwakura, the more and more noted throughout the series that she is a part of the international computer network and thoughts "Wired".

Action

The shy 13 -year-old girl Lain Iwakura (岩 仓 玲 音, Iwakura clean ) lives in a suburb of Tokyo along with their technology and computer- obsessed father (岩 仓 康 男, Iwakura Yasuo ), her cool mother and her inexpressive older sister Mika Iwakura (岩 仓 美 香).

After the suicide of eighth grader Chisa Yomoda several obtained from their class nor e- mails from her. Most hold the mail for a hoax, a joke on the Internet. Also Lain receives an e-mail so, and Chisa speaks in real time via the "Wired" with her ​​that she is not dead, but only her body has stored and has found God in the Wired. The "Wired" is an international computer network, which is constructed such as the Internet. Lain wants to go to these events on the ground. But he is suspected to have written the mail. Only her friend Alice Mizuki (瑞城 ありす) holds for her.

During this time, Lain goes with Alice and other friends in the club " Cyberia " in Shibuya. There, there will be strange events and Lain notes that in the "Wired" a very well known Lain exists with which it is often confused. It also takes others in their age, are frequently encountered in the club, so Taro (タロウ, taro ). Since she does not understand much of computers, he helps her and answered their questions, because it considers the well-known in the Wired Lain. Her father also helps them find out more about the Wired.

She meets with her ​​research on Masami Eiri (英 利 政 美). This has developed the protocol 7 for the company Tachibana Labs. This should be the following protocol of Wired. But to control the Wired, he changed the protocol and integrated consciousness in the code. Shortly after his body died and he lived in the Wired on. Some groups, he is regarded as " God of the Wired". In his opinion, the man can only evolve if he deposits his body. He has also driven Chisa to suicide. Now he focuses on Lain, he says, that her family and existence is just an illusion. In truth, she was the Lain of the Wired with which it is probably really identical and were created by him. Also, he manages difficult to burden her relationship with Alice.

But Lain is able to deal with the Wired and can thus evade Eiri. It realizes that real and virtual world can not be separated from each other. They developed different identities and passes through an evolution toward a ubiquitous and omnipotent nature of the virtual world, as for example, which can override the thoughts and memories of others through the "Wired" arbitrary.

Design and Subjects

Serial Experiments Lain uses an avant-garde narrative and character style, which is due to Yoshitoshi ABe. The plot runs confusing storylines are aware interrupted or not completed. Much remains closed and the viewer is not resolved directly. Instead, the audience is even encouraged those mysteries that arise during the course of action to resolve for themselves.

The individual episodes are called " layers " means. In the series, text overlays are commonly used on light background.

In the series, reference is made inter alia to the story Alice in Wonderland, as well as a game called Alice in cyber land. The character Alice takes on the course of action an important position and role is a similar as in Alice in Wonderland.

In contrast to the game, the series should not give the impression of a virtual network, but the difference of existence inside or outside the network. Here, the doubts Lains should be presented to their own existence in a sci-fi action.

Similarly, the living conditions of Japanese youth are treated. Some children rarely go home but play in clubs, as taro, or how the girlfriends of Lain determined by modes. There students were elected at the age of 13 or 14 years as main characters because they "are still completes least through life ."

Furthermore, it is discussed in the ninth row on different theories about aliens and the development of the computer. So the UFO crash Roswell is mentioned with old pictures from that time. Also on Vannevar Bush and his projects Majestic 12 and Memex is received. Mention can also find John Lilly, the Project Xanadu and the Schumann resonance.

Production

The series was produced with 13 episodes from the studio production 2nd directed by Ryutaro Nakamura.

In the production we used a lot of computer animations. Because of the subject is also a professional programmer was busy in the team. In addition, all participants were working with Macintosh computers, and worked as part directly to the animations.

The author Chiaki J. Konaka began to write the story as a horror story, as this was his genre until then. Therefore, it also starts with the mail of a recently deceased. The main theme of the series was at the beginning "Maybe the sky to the network is connected ."

The first episode was created by director Nakamura and the drawing manager Takahiro Kishida. In this episode there are pictures where Kishida has drawn personally for over a month. In addition, provides a ten-second scene of the room Lain with extraordinary wealth of detail dar.

The series has been compared several times with Neon Genesis Evangelion, especially similarities between Lain and Rei Ayanami, a character from Neon Genesis Evangelion, were suspected. But a connection between Lain and Evangelion was denied by the scene author Konaka. The use of text in the image, which happens as well in both series, Konaka led to the fact that he and Hideaki Anno, the director of Evangelion, were inspired by similar sources. He was mainly influenced by Jean -Luc Godard, who used this technique a long time ago.

Publications

The Japanese Air Date was on TV Tokyo in 1998, of 6 July 1998 until 28 September. The series was also sent on the Bandai Channel later. The anime was released within North America, Australia, Britain, France and Italy, and translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Dutch.

In Germany, the television series was first released on DVD and in English in July 1999 by Pioneer LDC. From September to November 2004, a German dubbed version was released on four DVDs of SPV.

Synchronization

Music

The opening credits of the series, Duvet, was produced by BOA. Was used toi Sakebi of Reiichi Nakaido for the end credits.

Reception

According to the magazine Funime the contents of Serial Experiments Lain is bizarre and " a mix of psychoanalysis and virtual reality with psychology and sociology studies ." In the series there were many " interesting and unusual camera angles and extremely unusual scenes ". The drawings are simplistic held, the characters drawn simple and realistic and the animation above average for a TV series. The special feature of the series is that they, unlike other psychological animes like Perfect Blue, Shōjo Kakumei Utena, Key - The Metal Idol manages or Neon Genesis Evangelion without apocalypse or fantasy.

The series won an award in the category at the 2nd Annual Japan Media Arts Festival 1998.

Video game

The video game of the series was released by Pioneer LDC on 26 November 1998 in Japan.

The game itself is dialogue -heavy and can fit into any classic genre. The player is immersed in an artificial virtual world in which he receives information about the girl Lain and must solve puzzles. This is not the same story is told as in the anime.