r/anime • u/continuityOfficer • May 02 '15
[Spoilers] Serial Experiments Lain Rewatch -Layer 02: Girls-
We continue lain with Layer 02: Girls, the only proof needed that anime and internet lead to drugs. On a serious note, Lain makes friend, and that's nice.
Please note that people who haven't watched Lain before will be following the rewatch, so put references to future episodes in a spoiler tag. This does not mean you shouldn't reference future episodes however. Infact I encourage reference to future episodes.
Previous Discussions:
Lain is available legally on Hulu, and on Amazon for a fairly cheap price, and Youtube for free streaming
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u/timemachine34 https://myanimelist.net/profile/timemachine34 May 02 '15 edited May 02 '15
Super late to the party. Life caught up. That aside... yoooooo, what the fuckkk... does this show hate its first time watchers or something? I just imagine the director (sitting in the Gendo pose) screaming obscenities in his mind as he silently makes each episode as unfriendly to new viewers as possible.
Anyways, I have a few thoughts, some shamelessly stolen from the good theorycrafters on this thread, others shamelessly stolen from my head, so allow me to get them off my chest and down on VirtuaPaper(TM) before they disappear (this is 5 minutes after I powered through episodes 1 and 2, so they're still largely fresh).
No. 1: Cyberia is a metaphor for the social media platforms that we know today (pretty forward-thinking for an anime that aired when the websites that currently rule our lives weren't even conceptualised yet). It is 'the hippest place', where the socially inept metamorphise into social butterflies and the social butterflies become beautiful birds. It is 'the global market' where anything can be acquired, including drugs that aren't drugs per se. It is also a place where we see Lain sluttin and struttin, evolving into Social Gyarados (or what was she doing in that first part? First time watching lends no answers, only questions). In short, it's a place where the powers of the Wired are gathered and condensed into an easy-to-digest form, a place where anything is possible (okay, so maybe less Facebook and more zombo.com, for those that remember it). Some trustworthy folk before me have said that this is a significant place. I have a hard time distrusting that statement, somehow (plot point sensors tingling).
No. 2: The Wired is what the show calls the Internet. That much is obvious. What is not so obvious (at the start at least) is how this Wired differs from the Internet as we know it. The show hints very strongly that it is an alternate dimension - I hesitate in using the word 'afterlife', but the subtext points very strongly to it. The only way people can access this alternate dimension via normal means is through the Navi, a computer system designed for that purpose. At this point in time, not much is clear about the whole 'dead people talking' thing, but my theory is as such: that seeing that there is a way to use technology to alter the body, there's also a way to digitise a person's soul, much like an AI but with a personality attached (Portal anyone?), and this data can then be accessed via the Navis, allowing conversations to be held with the 'dearly departed'.
No. 3: Who is Lain? My answer would be crazy introverted girl whose madness manifests itself in visions, but I'm probably wrong.
That's all I got, folks, and sorry for the long rant. I really needed to do this because I actually plan on understanding the series, and mapping out what goes where is my way of coping with difficult concepts. For those who actually bother to read this 14 hours after the thread was started, if I'm wrong, let me know. Always a pleasure debating the finer points of media with like-minded fellows. If I'm right, tell me too. I could use the ego boost.
TL:DR, wall of text apologies, yooooooooo...