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Rating: Tokyo, Shibuya district.
Young Chisa Yomoda admires the view below from the top of a skyscraper.
She smiles, removing her glasses...
And lets herself fall into the void.
In the days immediately following the tragic event, strange emails start arriving to the classmates of the little girl, where Chisa herself gives news of her existence. Little Lain, coming home after an apparently normal school day, turns on her Navi (a sort of personal computer that allows access to the Wired, a network that now every human being has access to) and finds the email from her friend who committed suicide in her mailbox. Lain then decides to ask a question.....just to try...
"Why did you kill yourself?"
"Because God is here..." comes the real-time response...
And it is with this fascinating prologue that "Serial Experimental Lain" begins, one of the most important anime of recent years. Phenomenal in many aspects, a work so layered and rich with the most unimaginable concepts and philosophies, that for those who do not approach the screen with the desire to "dissect" every dialogue and scene, it can feel like a punch in the stomach, a mere mass of images, heavy as a boulder.
Interpreting this work is therefore the ultimate goal of viewing. Even more so than in Neon Genesis Evangelion or Ghost in The Shell. But there is no single interpretation...
The authors in fact revel and indulge in numerous different currents... from the more easily recognizable ones, like the literary calls to Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, or Dick's novels, to Douglas Rukshoff’s theory of technorealism passing through Jhon C. Lilly with his theories on the expansion of consciousness, arriving at the concept of "Collective Unconscious" forged by Gustav Jung. And again, continuous references to the Templar Knights, theories about the existence of God, and the ontological proofs of St. Thomas and St. Anselm. But in general, the questions posed during viewing only outline a disturbing picture...
If indeed in the Wired it is possible to find a final instrument for the development of connections between individuals that goes beyond the barriers and social conventions typical of the system, especially the Japanese political and social one, leading to the sublimation of the collective consciousness, thus giving life to a single sentient entity, is it possible to overcome the need for an interface, a peripheral? Can our body indeed just be an application, something that allows us to connect?
Is that why little Chisa got rid of it?
If this is its only purpose, then could we do without it?
And in this case, where could reality be?
Perhaps it is in the wired where we are always connected through thought, and consequently, we are all connected to everyone's thoughts?
These are just some of the questions the protagonist will face in a hallucinogenic and disturbing journey. The world where Lain lives is made of semi-deserted streets, skies where birds do not fly, and landscapes invaded by electrical cables. A world dominated by the dull and disturbing noise that is continuously perceived from the latter, an unreal and anguishing buzz. The nullification of personality and human consciousness in reality for the sake of an alternative world is given by the blatant indifference that is felt in Lain's own family...indifference.. only speaking of technology, the possibility of expanding what is technological at home, leads Lain to have a dialogue with the father...nothing else but the word Wired reigns in the everyday life of the little one.. The music only highlights this aspect, often resulting in a rarefied manner. A special note deserves the opening theme, the marvelous Duvet by the BOA group. Certainly, the most beautiful opening theme a TV series has ever had. Wonderful song, which has not a few elements that make me associate it with the Cranberries, and splendid editing of images. The latter, in general, rely on oppressive colors, which together with the slow, indeed very slow, direction only increase the sense of anxiety that lies at the base of the narrative, implanting more anxiety and more anguish under the viewer's skin... just like the close-ups in the practically empty eyes of Lain. The characters themselves, their design makes them ethereal, not easy to associate with a defined reality... and reassuring elements like the protagonist's pajama only take on strange connotations to the atmosphere. The narrative is then disconnected until the final stages. There is no true chronology to fit the events and everything makes the anime even more disorienting.
Because Lain is this... Disorienting. An operation outside the box, full of excellent ideas and excellently developed, though not easily approachable. Almost Lynchian in its atmospheres and in its convoluted mechanisms of metaphors, subtexts and subliminal messages. But a work that deserves to be seen at least once. Because Lain is part of those works that can hardly be appreciated halfway. You either love it or hate it.
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