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Seems like Lain has become more popular in mainstream culture lately, especially amongst young women. I see new memes made it about it regularly in very random places. My general guess as to why would be that the themes of the dangers of the internet (especially WRT kids) and social isolation has struck a cord with the younger generations. Someone older might have seen the internet come in slowly, and saw the benefits it's brought, whereas a young person who has grown up with it might be significantly more frustrated and cynical, blaming the internet for their lot in life. Also note that mental illness is significantly higher amongst younger generations than in times past (the reason why is up to debate). All of which is to say Lain might resonate with young people in an interesting way. However, I do feel like I rarely see the themes of the show actually discussed by such people. Often seems more like surface level quirky 'I like weird stuff' hipster attitude. I'd love to be wrong about that though. What are you're thoughts Lainon?

Oh! I was going to make a post about this, lainon. I thought it was just the algorithm catching up to my interests and showing me more Lain related media. It could possibly be just that. However, I do see Lain more and more in memes and surface level internet culture now. I'm personally quite happy seeing Lain every now and then now. I never thought of the people sharing the memes, though. >I do feel like I rarely see the themes of the show actually discussed by such people. Maybe it is the case. I haven't interacted much with other fans outside of Lainchan to make a measured judgement to be fair. I remember going into SEL with the same mindset of "this looks weird and I like weird" attitude, after watching all of the show, I got more interested in the way Lain approaches technology, Using tech to transcend herself and become one with the Wired in a way. Creating a bridge between the virtual and the real. I can relate to her with how much tech became a part of her life, much like mine. Growing with computers and the Wired, unrestricted and free, for better and for much worse. It took me a while to get around the show once I heard about it the first time. I find it hard to put time aside to watch shows. I only pushed myself to watch it after I heard from a close friend, from college, that it was the only anime he watched. (Turns out he was lainon himself after I learned of Lainchan and started frequenting it. Hi btw if you recognize yourself :) ) I imagine that, for the new lainons, it will be the same. Not exactly the same experience I had, but similar. Thinking of SEL as only a "weird anime" and finding themselves interested in one of the many related topics SEL touches after watching it.