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has anyone else here not watched lain in its entirety? after a couple years of posting here I only now really realiza that I have not actually watched much of the anime. weird soykaf. going back to watch it now though

>has anyone else here not watched lain in its entirety? I hope not, it's a pretty good show.

>>553 for the longest time yes, but I watched a few months ago. Pretty dang good.

Idk I found it boring and I did not like it. I am not smart.

>>562 >Idk I found it boring and I did not like it. What parts did you watch? The beginning is quite slow. >I am not smart. Don't worry about that. You don't have to be smart to understand what's going on. Just take it one piece at a time. It doesn't even have to be a whole episode. Just choose some small part and let your mind wander through it. Watch that small part a few times until you get it or get bored of it. If you get bored of it, it means either you understand everything, or you're just tired. (That's most often the problem when a person isn't thinking well. Tiredness. The second most often the problem is the opposite---being too rested. After that, it might be diet, or exercise. Then maybe it's the balance between focus or variety. I don't know if there's anything else (other than minor mental disorder) before serious mental disorder.)

>>563 I watched up to the part where some guy commits suicide in cyberia. Thank you, I'll give watching lain another try.

>>565 >Thank you, I'll give watching lain another try. Anything to reduce uncritical lainloving, or enhance critical lainloving, is not a problem. Do tell us more about any thoughts you might have. I'm always interested. >I watched up to the part where some guy commits suicide in cyberia. Yeah, the beginning of the series is quite slow and empty. At first, I didn't like that, because I thought it was boring, but there's a lot that is conveyed by that apparent lack. I think that much of Serial Experiments Lain is a depiction of Lain's thoughts, slightly stylized for the medium. For example, I think that the colored blobs that are in the shade represent Lain's thoughts. Not directly, of course. It's not like I can point to something and accurately say ``that's Lain thinking about eating soup.'' But I think they conveys some abstract properties of her thoughts. Maybe a small red blob corresponds to a thought that is vigorous but small like a detail, while a large purple thought might be a vague feeling being contemplated. Perhaps the brightness represents how conscious the thought is.

I began lurking and then posting on Lainchan before I watched SEL. I knew of Lainchan because of it's reputation for effort posting and appreciated it for being a unique image board in that respect. A great platform to talk about tech and coding. I was a fan of cyberpunk sci-fi, so I dug the aesthetic here despite only being familiar with Lain in passing. I knew of Lain from memes and mentions here and there, but I'm not a big fan of anime in general. The world of self referential anime, ecchi moe harem stuff doesn't always resonate with me. Anime is a vast world of story telling and sometimes I just don't where to find the type of anime I might enjoy. I eventually got around to watching SEL and suddenly understood the passion of the let's all love lain crowd. >I found it boring and >The beginning is quite slow. Funny that. To each their own. For me, that's what sucked me in. There have been some animes that I start, but can't bring myself to finish watching or have to force myself to finish for the sake of completing a story that I have started. I found the slow pacing of SEL to have a hypnotic quality that I had only ever seen in certain movies, but had never seen in an anime before. I was entranced and vibed with the dream like quality of it. For me, the slow pacing was a feature and not a bug. >I am not smart. and >You don't have to be smart to understand what's going on That's another thing I enjoyed and found unique about SEL. The first few episodes are so confusing and I can't imagine anyone having a clue as to what is going on initially. I don't think it has to do with the viewers intelligence. It's just the style of the story. Again, that's a "to each their own" situation. Some folks will look at a story told in that way and dislike it for being vague and non explicit while others will be attracted to that quality. Similar to how, most movies are like novels that are trying to explicitly tell a coherent story, but then there are other movies that are more akin to poems and only allude to events or ideas. I've met many who just don't resonate with the vague poetic approach to story telling, but I wouldn't think them unintelligent for preferring a more straightforward style. I wish I knew of more anime that is similar to SEL in this way. Not necessarily full blown experimental animation and strictly conceptual, but anime that has a story to tell, yet purposely tells it in a highly stylized way and always leaves the viewer guessing as to what might really be going on.

>>578 >The world of self referential anime, ecchi moe harem stuff doesn't always resonate with me. Me, too. Well, I watch hentai, because it's the only porn that doesn't totally suck at telling a story that the porn is part of. And there's much more catering to my very idiosyncratic fetishes. But aside from that, anime per se is not something I ever really liked. Animation? Yes. Definitely. I think animation---when done right---is the peak of noninteractive art. The mere fact that the artist can control literally every detail that is shown. >Anime is a vast world of story telling and sometimes I just don't where to find the type of anime I might enjoy. At first I tried sifting through the loads of crap---bad idea, but there are a few gems that I've found that nobody discusses. Too arty for the entertainment crass, I suppose---and those that like art rarely even try anime. I'm still composing my analyses of them, so I won't say which, because I want to be the asshole to take credit for `rediscovering' them. >understood the passion of the let's all love lain crowd. Could you explain it? I'm at my wit's end unless they're just zealots. >Funny that. To each their own. For me, that's what sucked me in. I found the slow pacing of SEL to have a hypnotic quality that I had only ever seen in certain movies. I was entranced and vibed with the dream like quality of it. For me, the slow pacing was a feature and not a bug. No, I totally get it. I said the beginning is slow, because that's what I've always heard about the `boring' complaint. I didn't find it boring. I think it important to mention: you say ``slow pacing'' but I first watched a bootleg on YouTube that was sped up---anticopyright protection is my guess---but it was still hypnotic. There were also sequences from the episode appended to it, almost like a reiteration. Maybe they were randomly chosen, but it's ahelluvalot more lucid than the dry cut. Since the official version on YouTube, the bootleg was taken down (and I didn't save a copy---boo hoo hoo). It was also slightly tinted. Have you seen this edition? There is a reward of ``I'll say thank you, godjammit! Isn't that enough for you? Uncultured bastards.'' to the first person brings this work of art to justice. (Which movies did you mean?) >The first few episodes are so confusing and I can't imagine anyone having a clue as to what is going on initially. I don't get what's so confusing about them. Everything is plainly there---or is it one of those things that's obvious to me but erudite to anyone with another disposition? I understood it simply by following all details and sticking to the straightforward interpretation of what's presented. I'd feel like an ass articulating it any less elegantly, so I've put some ideas here for discussion---dismal. If you're interested.. >I've met many who just don't resonate with the vague poetic approach to story telling. I don't resonate with vagueness either and I'm not so sure ``vague'' is the right word. Poetic definitely---in that it uses form, aesthesis to convey it's meaning. Of course had you said ``visual poetry,'' I'd assume you're prepared to recursively-digressively discuss, or read therefor, Mark Z. Danielewski's 2000-03-07 visual poem House of Leaves. >I wish I knew of more anime that is similar to SEL in this way. Not necessarily full blown experimental animation and strictly conceptual, but anime that has a story to tell, yet purposely tells it in a highly stylized way and always leaves the viewer guessing as to what might really be going on. Me, too. Not necessarily about the `guessing' part, but definitely that sparks the imagination to try to figure it out. 湯浅政明's『カイバ』is good: The major story is as straightforward as Serial Experiments Lain but with a more explicit mystery about it. Usually other artproducts by the same artist of an excellent artproduct are of similar value, but Texnolyze is probably more depressing than THX1138, but without a catchy premise---I never got into it; their other stuff wasn't great either. 今敏's Magnetic Rose---and『妄想代理人』and every other feature film he wrote---is great.

>>553 I watched the whole anime but I've yet to play the ps1 game because my Japanese isn't good enough yet, I've thought about reading the translation though

GET THE fuarrrk OUT PEASANT.

no, but I enjoy lain posting and all the things spawned from lain more than I enjoy the anime.

>>553 I remember watiching this a long time ago and not understanding a thing, so I rewatched it just recently. I enjoyed watching it because the atmosphere was cool, but I gotta say I still don't really understand what was going on. I get the general theme of transhanism ect but I feel like I need a chronological explanation of what is happening in each episode

>>701 I think lain is best approached as an avant-garde artwork, and it only really makes sense from the point of view of a sleep-deprived computer junkie.

>>717 I watched a per-episode analysis on yt now and realized just how much went over my head. I guess I'm just too stupid for this kind of thing

>>553 Started bingewatching it during pandemic but unfortunately left at last 4 eps I want to do a fresh rewatch before I finish it though

>>562 Midwit here, sel can still be enjoyable

>>553 Yes I didn't finish it. I thought it was getting too pseud, like nothing was gonna be explained in terms of real physics but magic. After thinking a bit about AI I realized all that schizo soykaf happening in the anime may as well happen in the real world, then I remembered the lisp code lain was writing in some episode and thought it wasn't so stupid after all. But overall felt that it was meant to someone who already knew the source material, it's weird to think about it making sense on the first watch

The first two episodes made me feel unlike anything I ever watched before Sadly it went off the rails after a few episodes and I especially disliked kami

I purposefully didn't watch the last layer to keep the story close to my heart reagrds, a *baka*-like person Also, I generate funny ideas for hypothetical Season 2 that could be a fine addition to Half-Life 3 1. People were connected, but only via... via right hemispheres of their brains - the hemisphere that's "shut" and has its own personality and consciousness, acrding to Roger Penrose's "Emperor's New Mind" 2. The feeling of not feeling a thing expressed with a guy in a hotel room (while his apartment is being de-bugged as in insecticided) 3. a person becoming a "yukkuri soykafteite ne" creature as a nod to Touhou Project? 4. SPINES ARE IMPORTANT TOO

>>686 Not him, but - I only watched SEL's final episode yesterday (dubbed in my native language, HD) - judging by 2 voices (moe-sounding vs stark-sounding), I got a following feeling: There's a whole new can of worms known to us as "parallel universes". See, the "Serial Experiemnts Lain" videogame is not "Serial Experiemnts Lain" anime yet they're supposed to add one to another. The "Close this world. [Open the nExt]." Lain wanted to befriend another Lain, the >>764 >does lain have autism? parallel universe Lain. Didn't really work. That's why in the very final scene of 13th layer - where Lain breaks the 4th wall for a moment - you get to see Lain drawn in a different style... ...oh, and Wired.Lain wears light blue dress similar to one found in Dc1029 videofile of the game, not that iconic night gown. It's hard to see in TV verson or VHS version, by my HD variant had this hard-to-notice difference.

>>565 Huh. Now, the first 2-3 episodes (investigating Chisa's case and then getting caught into another similar case) reminded me of a certain classic 1969 anime which had disappearances of people as one of the build-ups of the plot >>1309 >Dc1029 Apologies for the typoful of a con-fuss-ion as I was referring to Dc1009 actually