Lain Poster
Average: 7.7
Mean: 7.2
← back to media hub ← back to home

Overall Thoughts

Serial Experiments Lain is an anime about a 14 year old girl and her and everyone else's relationship with the "wired", which is essentially a hyperbolic representation of the internet from the dot-com bubble era and during Japan's "lost decades" after a significant economic crash. Lain is very cynical in its depiction of tech due to the real life context, and honestly, is a shockingly accurate cautionary tale, obviously sans the extremes or abstract themes the show represents, it is scarily real in its core messaging.

Ep 1
EP 1
5.2
Layer 01:
Weird
Episode 1 is strong thematically, with 2 moments that are really quite shocking, however the episode is the first, so it exists without context on a first watch, and as such is sort of weird, it doesn't really "hook" the viewer, so much as confuse them.
Watch on Archive.org (Sub) View on IMDb
Ep 2
EP 2
6.6
Layer 02:
Girls
Episode 2 is much the same as episode 1. Reinforces that the core ideas, of the wired, death, and transhumanism, but still nothing is explained to us, such as 14 year olds going to the club, or why the man is scared of Lain, but to be fair, it does do a good job at hooking the viewer, and is more engaging than the first episode.
Watch on YouTube (Dub) View on IMDb
Ep 3
EP 3
7.2
Layer 03:
Psyche
Episode 3 is the last episode in what I see as the introductory grouping of episodes, where the show takes off its training wheels and starts to dig into the concepts it introduced. Episode 3 leans into that a little, but not too much yet. With a lot of things still being unanswered.
Watch on YouTube (Dub) View on IMDb
Ep 3
EP 4
6.8
Layer 04:
Religion
Episode 4 sees Lain start going a little insane, with everyone beginning to wonder what's up with her, and we also begin to see the dissonance between the Lain of the wired and the "real" Lain grow. Plus some more use of the drug seen in the last episode.
Watch on YouTube (Dub) View on IMDb
Ep 3
EP 5
9.3
Layer 05:
Distortion
I think this is where Lain both simultaneously explains itself, and gets more confusing. I love the feeling that it keeps ramping up and up, with more themes and stakes, and all the previous mysteries now seem simple and small in comparison to the new, this episode is great.
Watch on YouTube (Dub) View on IMDb
Ep 3
EP 6
8.2
Layer 06:
Kids
On the back of the last episode, episode 6 is sort of batshit. Lain now has deity-like apparitions of her appearing in the sky, a step up from the billboard with her on it in the previous episode. Lain explores the wired to find more answers and it's a very good episode.
Watch on YouTube (Dub) View on IMDb
Ep 3
EP 7
7.0
Layer 07:
Society
Episode 7 sees the strange men in suits take a more important role in the plot and Lain faces an identity crisis after a man in their office questions her and causes her to break down crying, Lain then has to face the differences between the "different" Lains.
Watch on YouTube (Dub) View on IMDb
Ep 3
EP 8
10.0
Layer 08:
Rumours
Lain's relationship with Arisu is explored in episode 8, and Lain's fractured ego, the show deals with sexual themes in a suprisingly mature way for a 90's anime and there's not much more to say without spoling it, this episode is almost perfect.
Watch on YouTube (Dub) View on IMDb
Ep 3
EP 9
5.9
Layer 09:
Protocol
A good amount of episode 9, is a documentary about Roswell? It feels like a bit of a misstep, the rest of the show ignores this completely and it leaves aliens existing in the world of Lain to be ambigous, but I'm not sure what the point is? There is also more exploration of the Knights and Lain's alter-egos.
Watch on YouTube (Dub) View on IMDb
Ep 3
EP 10
10.0
Layer 10:
Love
Episode 10 is fantastic, it focuses on Lain's identity, where she came from, and what is real and what isn't, and in a show full of secrets and mysteries, we really needed some exposition, we see Lain becoming more powerful, and the end of the Knights.
Watch on YouTube (Dub) View on IMDb
Ep 3
EP 11
4.1
Layer 11:
Infornography
The most memorable thing about this episode is its name, which is honestly quite witty and relatively thought-provoking. More than half of this episode is the intro, outro, and a 10+ minute long recap sequence, which is, admittedly presented in a fairly unique way - through the lens of Lain plugging into the wired and reliving the trauma and everything that got her here, however it comes off as a typical anime filler episode.
Watch on YouTube (Dub) View on IMDb
Ep 3
EP 12
10.0
Layer 12:
Landscape
After episode 11 this is great, episode 12 is another banger, Lain again becomes more powerful as the walls between the real world and the wired collapse more. Lain becomes aware of her past and what she is, and there is a great moment with her father. We also see Lain and Arisu's relationship get tested. This episode is genuinely amazing.
Watch on YouTube (Dub) View on IMDb
Ep 3
EP 13
10.0
Layer 13:
Ego
The final episode of Lain, and a very good ending. There is not much to say here without spoiling it, but it is genuinely as close to perfect as I think it could've been. It's a great conclusion to the show and the sort of 3 episode bloc it forms, ignoring episode 11. It feels very derivative of Evangelion, almost eerily, but I don't say that negatively.
Watch on Archive.org (Dub) View on IMDb