Serial Experiments Lain
serial experiments lain
“A technophobic fourteen-year-old opens an email from her classmate who committed suicide and is pulled into the Wired.”
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Episodes · 13
13/13 aired
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Synopsis
A technophobic fourteen-year-old opens an email from her classmate who committed suicide and is pulled into the Wired.
Lain Iwakura, an awkward and introverted fourteen-year-old, is one of the many girls from her school to receive a disturbing email from her classmate Chisa Yomoda—the very same Chisa who recently committed suicide. Lain has neither the desire nor the experience to handle even basic technology; yet, when the technophobe opens the email, it leads her straight into the Wired, a virtual world of communication networks similar to what we know as the internet. Lain's life is turned upside down as she begins to encounter cryptic mysteries one after another. Strange men called the Men in Black begin to appear wherever she goes, asking her questions and somehow knowing more about her than even she herself knows. With the boundaries between reality and cyberspace rapidly blurring, Lain is plunged into more surreal and bizarre events where identity, consciousness, and perception are concepts that take on new meanings.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
What people say
Community consensus
Derived from 426 sampled reviews
7.7/10
Score distribution
Agreement
SplitPolarized
σ 2.36 · split reception
The polarity gap
5.7 ptsRecommenders 8.9 · others 3.2
Score over time
0.29Verbosity
Snap verdicts · shortest highly-rated reviews
- 10/10 “I love the concept of Lain, especially her humility in accepting she isn't a god, and the series is totally worth the watch. Although the beginning is slow and the ending is confusing, I highly...”
- 10/10 “This anime is truly awesome, featuring an excellent story that masterfully explores complex identity and reality concepts. While I initially found the experience a bit boring, the quiet, lonely...”
- 9/10 “The unique artwork and intentional, meditative slow pace create a timeless experience that rewards deep analysis. There are no notable flaws to report, as the deliberate structure perfectly serves...”
Watch order & related
A self-contained story.
No sequels, spin-offs or alternate tellings — Serial Experiments Lain begins and ends here.
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Reel · 01 Cat. №BS-0316
- Format
- 13 × 23′
- eps × min
- Total runtime
- 4h 59m
- all episodes
- Aired
- Jul 1998 – Sep 1998
- Summer 1998
- Source
- Tv
- media type
- Rated
- R
- 17+ (violence & profanity)
- Ref.
- BS-0316
- catalog