Playstation Lain and the Weird World of Interactive CD-Roms 

I did the spanish translation of this game. At some point of listening to the audio files so many times, I literally started having auditory nightmares. In japanese.

My physical disks for the Lain anime have a scratch on the first episode, so there's like 3 minutes of the anime that I wasn't aware of and had no idea existed until like 5 years after I first watched it,and in a way that is the most Lain thing in the world to me. Phantom data that both does and doesn't exist in my perception

I think what I find most interesting about this game is that, as a work of art, it creates a need for its medium to be preserved. In this case, the PS1. It seems poetic for a game about memory and computers to itself become a memory of the technology it exists on.

Babe wake up new Hazel just dropped

when i heard lain's diary where she said that someone had been reading her diary i felt so disgusted and horrible realising that that was what i had been doing this entire time, invading her privacy and life through this game....freaky

Playstation 1 art style kinda fits the series much more than the modern day graphics and we love it

"Even the ports lead dev says they don't fully understand" I'm sorry, I just can't help butAND YOU DON'T SEEM TO UNDERSTAND

Lain’s entire franchise is so fucking weird I love it. Thanks for covering this :)

best video

My dad freaking loves the anime. He even used to have a little figure of her. I've been meaning to watch it myself.

"My dad saw me crying an apologized to me." "Why did he apologize?" "Aren't I the one at fault?" "I'm the one who should apologize." If this one excerpt is enough to make me actually tear up then I don't know if I'm ready for the rest of this game.

12:08 "And even though the game goes in a supernatural direction, the very real and procedural way Touko navigates Lain's symptoms doesn't invalidate mental illness as a natural phenomenon." This made me think back to when I rewatched "The Sixth Sense" a few years ago, having not seen it since it came out--and I was struck by how heartbreaking the first 2/3 of the movie is. Because of all the cultural zeitgeist around "the twist", I had misremembered the supernatural element being revealed much earlier in the narrative. Most of the film is just Bruce Willis patiently trying to counsel and gain the trust of this withdrawn young boy, who from his perspective is either suffering from abuse or serious trauma--and trying to be in his corner amidst his school and well-meaning mother's mounting frustration at not being able to figure out "what's wrong with him". There are so many sad emotional scenes between Willis and Haley Joel Osment--like Willis tearing up trying to tell an awkward bedtime story about himself, about how he failed his former patient, how it changed him, that he and his wife don't even speak anymore--and in helping Cole (HJO), he feels like he would also be helping that other little boy. Cole meekly asks him how the story ends, and Dr. Malcolm softly says, "I don't know." He tells Cole this while he's recuperating in the hospital, after the traumatic incident of being shoved and locked in an old closet by shithead kids at a birthday party, screaming bloody murder while something inside may or may not have been actually physically harming him. The supernatural elements aren't even shown at all until over halfway through the film. Cole finally decides to trust Dr. Malcolm with his "secret"--and after a few gentle probing questions, Dr. Malcolm regrettably has to conclude that Cole might have juvenile schizophrenia or other mental illness that he's not qualified to treat him for. There's a heartbreaking scene where Dr. Malcolm just straight up tells Cole, "I can't see you anymore. I can't help you." And Cole tearfully says things like, "Don't give up on me! You're the only one who can help me!" that echo his former patient, and Dr. Malcolm starts welling up, saying, "There's somebody out there who can help you." It's all incredibly sad to think about it from a real-world perspective--would you believe a child who told you they can see ghosts, or would you think they're experiencing hallucinations, or even lying for attention? The "I see dead people" line and M. Night's "what a twist!" reputation being parodied to death since 1999 really overshadows the film, which is a shame--since that scene itself is so emotional and sad, especially since from Willis' perspective, Cole's mental stability is much more dire than he thought. I feel the film's true strength lies not in the twist or spooky ghost stuff, but in the mutual empathy and healing between Dr. Malcolm and Cole--a child psychologist desperately trying to help a troubled boy, after tragically failing to do so for patient who committed suicide--and Cole in turn listens to him, and helps him to move on. I think the hauntings themselves can be seen as a metaphor for mental illness--what "causes" Cole to feel afraid and act out is invisible to anyone else, and he doesn't understand why he's the only one who experiences this--and he doesn't feel like he can tell anyone, let alone that he'll be believed, and he's afraid that his mother hates him because of something he can't explain--but it's nonetheless real. Osment has a sad and chilling line for a child towards the beginning--he says to Willis, "You're nice... but you can't help me." Support and empathy is nice, and can be powerful--but your friends and family aren't trained professionals, and can't always help you in the way you need. There's nothing wrong with seeking and receiving help from qualified professionals, or being prescribed medication to help your brain produce the right balance of chemicals we all need to function. Anyway, that line just reminded me of that lol. Thanks for shining a spotlight on this--despite watching "Lain" on OG TechTV back in the day, I actually had no idea this companion game existed.

Ohhh, a girl and her therapist. I’m already interested! I wish therapy appeared in media more, it’s a cool way to explore a characters psychology. I’m horrible at games and technology, though, so I might have trouble actually playing it.

I nearly had a heart attack finding the game is fully playable in english now. I have been trying to find a way to play it for nearly two decades now… thanks a lot for the info!!!!

It saddens me when people dismiss a piece of interactive media for the perception that it lacks qualities they associate with 'games'. Some people get so caught up in rigid definitions they forget how to just take part in a new experience, not all of which are meant to engage people in the same way, or even be necessarily enjoyable in a typical sense. I'll have to try the fan translation when I start going through the different pieces of Lain media

I'm so glad that you talk about 90s multimedia so much. It's so close to my heart and I rarely hear people talking about all the amazing and wild stuff that happened around that era.

At the very beginning when you say there's no full playthrough of the ps1 game, you're wrong. I made a full playthrough series that did cross reference a 600 page pdf simply because before I did there actually was no full playthrough and wanted to make this game more accessible for others. Not here to advertise myself but my videos of a full translated playthrough do pop up when you look for it.

Unrelated but Cookie's Bustle became un-lost after reportedly being leaked from some dude's collection

Just to reference the question at 11:14. there's also an anime called Ghost Hound where, the protagonist was kidnapped with his sister when he was 4 yo. His sister died during the captivity. In the Story we see him now as an 11 yo going to a therapist and taking medication for his trauma. The anime also tackles mental health generally and other topics such as near death experiences. It's really serious at some points and then strange and qirky at others. It was made to teach japanese kids about the human mind. I'd recommend it. To give even more cedit, it was one of the three shows that Ryuutaro Nakamura (the Director of Lain !) made before he died. It's also written by Chiaki J. Konaka, the writter of Lain. And it was created by I.G. Production in cooperation with Masamune Shirow. Do I have to say more?

the only thing that sounds somewhat similar to the lain game was the arg associated with alan resnick's "this house has people in it"

Hazel. I genuinely don't know how, despite bringing up so many works I don't have the nerve to try myself, you perfectly and accurately spear my brain right in the good parts to get me hooked and keep me there. Genuinely, you've become one of my personal favorite creators and one who I recommend to anyone who needs new things to watch. Proud of you.

THE WORLD NEEDS MORE LAIN CONTENT LETS GOOOOO-

YESSSSS FINALLY SOMEONE TALKS ABOUT THIS FREAKING GAME. I just recently got into Lain (the anime universe) and I have been dying for someone to FINALLY talk about this!

I watched Serial Experiments Lain something like 7-10 years ago and I remember it really had an impact on me. I remembered it existed a couple months back and have been meaning to watch it again. I had no idea there was a game that went with it. There's something about mid-late 90s anime that deals with mental health (either directly or indirectly) that really resonates with me. Lain, Paranoia Agent, and NGE were a few big ones for me. They just feel different from any others in their presentation of the topic. Or Maybe it's the age at which I first watched them..

oh, dam. Hazel dedicated. I've had so many ideas in the shower, but I always figure it's too much of a hassle to try to type them out or write them down, so I just let them vanish

"It disregards cohesion of vision to be the most it can be." I know this isn't a firepunch video but that little line is one of the most profoundly worded ways to describe firepunch I have heard. It's a manga I've found very hard to describe the appeal of to people and with a throwaway line you put it in better words than I've ever managed to, thanks for that.

Ps1 & Lain PTSD's do be hitting me really hard rn.

Your ability to break up talk of heavy themes with wholesome shitposting is unlike anyone else i've seen. Much love

i would love to see you introduce the entire history of blaame! and nihei tsutomu's universe

The empathy definitely comes through in the videos. Connecting imagery and personal reaction and feeling is to me, the more interesting way to do media analysis, rather than just trying to parse what things could mean in general.

I am once again crying because the Hazel content is too relatable and I’m serially sad.

I love that you even casually mentioned Pieta. That Manga destroyed me

It was 2019, I believe. I downloaded all of lain to watch at a later date, but hadn't ever gotten around to it and it sat in a folder for almost a year. Fast forward to December of that year, a couple days before christmas. I had just stayed up all night writing a paper for my final college assignment. Looking behind me out my window I saw the sun come up as it turned to 7am. Well, can't really go to bed now. Gonna have to stay up and tough it out so I don't fuck up my sleep schedule. Decided it'd probably be a good idea to watch all of Lain in one sitting. By the end of it, I was delirious and having weird half-asleep fever dreams while the episode played in the background, sending me spinning in my own head. So yeah, one of the best watching experiences I've ever had with any piece of media. 10/10.

I rewatch this an embarrassing amount. Your voice is so comfy tbh. And like no matter how many times I watch your videos, rewatching them is like watching it the first time. Which is weird for me because I have a horrible time focusing with my adhd but watching your videos its so easy to get really invested in what you're saying even if I've already heard it.

I love that after ive “played” this game, it only made your points more appealing. I wrote notes and did multiple orders of reading and watching everything. I have had dreams about making progress in this “game”. Its not a game, its a project, and i passed the damn thing with an 4.0+ several times over

I really really like this video. This truly is a piece of art. From the usage of old videogame OSTs, to this random tangents, the calm voice and how thouroughly this seems to be researched, I just love it. Thank you for always making such amazing content and allthough Lockdown was pretty hard for me your videos always put a smile on my face and I am really glad I found your channel. It is amazing how Lain not only is a Character, but has permiated internet culture and through the various forms with which people interacted with the series carried on the spirit of the anime. Also it is really difficult, that I see myself this clearly in both the anime and game Lain reflected (or are they both the same?). I am sometimes unsure if my obsession with this series is something great or not, because it does not seem to have helped me until now. But for some reason it makes me feel as if there is a place I will once fit.

LETS ALL LOVE LAIN

Lain seemed like such a funky show getting into it at first as I decided to watch it after Evangelion and I wanted to see more mindfuck anime. Yeah Psychological Horror anime is definitely a mainstay here

I got great Jacob Geller vibes here, especially when you started talking about the Interactive CD-Roms. Also I had to rewind quite a few times at 30:10 because of I love this song way too much and it distracted me lol

This is the kind of obscure content that nobody I know would even remotely understand (I have no friends)

I'm just going to pretend I know exactly what this video was about just like when I watched Serial Experiments Lain.

I keep getting surprised again and again by how much Hazel is genuinely a talented historian. No idea if she has any formal training in history but I wouldn’t be surprised. Every one of these videos is so wonderfully contextualized within the discussed media’s historical and socio-political environment and it always enriches the criticism.

There's something trully beautiful about despite how she literally achieved transcendence into a new type of being, the person who was loved, who mattered, was the mundane, deeply injured and melancholic human being. I'll be thinking about that a lot, I feel, as time goes on and the world gets darker. Anyway it's been a year Hazel and I absolutely, deeply, pathologically need a three hour breakdown on the deconstructionist antics of Drakengard. I need it both emotionally and physiologically.

gosh your videos always make me feel so comfortable, i dont even know how i could be nostalgic for the late 90s, but something about this just wraps me up like a warm blanket after a really shitty day. thanks hazel! looking forward to the next video!

The Lain-verse is just so DENSE and complex it just leaves me in awe....and this game is like another pocket universe extension of the same fictional universe. The creators REALLY did their home work on a vast variety of topics. Thanks so much for this review!

When I first found out about PS1 Lain and checked it out a few years ago it was like... like coming home after a long trip away. This game lived inside my heart without me ever knowing it existed; the aesthetic, the themes, the structure, all of it has in one form or another seeped into indie thriller culture piecemeal, and I had, in a sense, played the game without ever playing it. I knew Lain even though I had never met her, or at least, not this version of her.

I can see Rule of Rose on your shelf and now I'm dying to hear your thoughts about it in future videos 👀 Great video btw!

Serial Experiments Lain was my favorite anime when I was 13 years old, back in 2001. I'm a clinical Psychologist for 10 years now. I didn't knew about the game though, and I'm amazed by how similar with the psychoterapeutic process the game narrative is. I'll certainly watch the full gameplay as soon as possible. It will make me a better professional in a very nostalgic way. Thanks for the video!

i love how you write scripts like youre telling a friend before internet how cool some game was, its really nice how you talk to us like youre giving us information right before we play the game like a tutorial, its super cozy

The way you take us from dank memes over Persona-style music to doubting the self under Everything at the end of time-style noise, is the best kind of whiplash, and I am down for it from the second my eyes registered the words "Playstation Lain".

God damnit, this all hit me in the feels for a game I've never played, let alone the anime that I'd never heard of until now. The care with which you hold for every topic you talk about is felt and appreciated. It's like your holding a tiny egg in your hand, and you're gently showing it to those around you.

this video convinced me to finish Lain before I watched this Finished about 10 minutes ago

Having people discovering Lain after all these years makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. LET'S ALL LOVE LAIN!

this game is an unironic masterpiece and that it never even got translated, much less became the revolutionary turning point it should have been, was a complete travesty. this is an incredibly intelligent approach to software as exploratory, sprawling art projects, and the somewhat meta nature only makes it even more brilliant. this should have been a turning point, seriously. this should have revolutionised "games" or entertainment software or however you wish to refer to it. ah well. lets all love lain, even when consumers don't.

"I am blue" and with that i spit out my drink and subscribed at the same time

This is my favorite video you have done to date.See you covering the lain ps1 game something i was always interested in but never found a dedicated video that explain the deal with it already peaked my interest, but you also covering obscure CD-roms for a half an hour fits both interests and aesthetic perfectly that i greatly appreciate the effort you put into this video.

It was a stroke of genius to add the RE Dead Aim save room music in the video. Thank you for all your wonderful videos!

I've only seen maybe two of your videos so far but theyve both been so captivating to watch. Your tone/cadence, the editing, and the amount of research you put into making these videos and assessing a topic make it very powerful to watch from the perspective of a viewer. I really enjoy watching/listening to analyses for media and I think you have a unique manner of doing so that keeps out your opinion and remains pretty nuetral while still managing to share how you experienced the media on a personal level. I also love the way you relate the topic source to other games/media. Thank you so much for sharing your work, I cant wait to watch more from you! :^]

29:43 I think alot about how, in your narration, the phrase "I must exist" pokes out between the two readings. I think about this video a lot in general. Its a good one

Hazel, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS! Seriously, you’ve introduced me to so much cool stuff, and I’ve only just begun to watch your channel. Thank you for going over this type of media. You’re doing such awesome work, and I can only hope you’ll keep going and showing more people your amazing analysis of various obscure or strange media. You allowed me to see meaning in things I might have otherwise passed off as shallow or uninteresting. Your point of view is seriously a breath of fresh air. Thank you. :)

i don't know how else to say this hazel i am just absolutely in love with your content. cannot explain just how much i love lain and how you talk about it

That Avril 14th guitar cover, perfect. Thanks Hazel

What this video tells me is that the Lain game would have been my jammest of jam as a child in the early 2000's. All the brain power and time of a kid with unfiltered internet access would have made me obsessed with it. Alas, as an adult, I see clunky menus and decide to spend my time with easier sources of dopamine.

You might just be the most underrated content creator on this entire platform. I seriously admire how much effort is put into your videos. They’re super refreshing and dynamic, yet so incredibly genuine and well researched. Respect. Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to go rewatch SEL now.

Your last minute take on PSX Lain's ending gives a whole new weight to "let's love Lain" motto

I'm a simple woman, I see hazel upload? I turn my volume up and click with anticipation.

Okay SO this whole essay is so amazing and I loooooove having such an in-depth and gentle examination of the themes of both the anime and the game. It’s very refreshing to see an analysis that doesn’t focus on “ohh the game is soooo confusing and weeeeeird” to the point of ignoring other qualities like other dives sometimes do. Your sense of humor is phenomenal, the insight into the property itself is so nuanced and wonderful. AND at 18:54 you sprinkled in one of my favorite tracks from one of my absolute favorite games EVER (Cave of Fear from the Guardian’s Crusade OST, if anyone wants to know!) so I’m absolutely enamored. You rock, thank you for this and for your other wonderful videos!

Lain analysis _and_ SH background music? God bless the algorithm. Fantastic video, subscribed! Edit: DID I JUST HEAR DEAD AIM'S SAVE THEME? That's it, the bell is getting a tick too.

This is the first video of yours I've ever watched and I am already ABOLSUTELY in love with your content, thank you for this!

This the best video i’ve seen on youtube for a while. So much knowledge on obscure e-creations. I’d expect nothing less from the Lain fandom! Great work!

An absolutely excellent essay, I love when channels like this just appear through the algorithm, I'm looking forward to whatever you do next.

this channel is trapped in the early 2000s and I love it

Thank you for talking about everyone's friend Cookie Blair and for using Spigot as the icon of a cool adult with a defined palate at 20:52. I love multimedia/fmv games so much

I discovered your channel a few days ago and I'm glad I did, I really loved your content overall and something that I wasn't expecting to see today was a video about the Lain game, the entire Lain franchise is one of my favorite pieces of media ever, and I feel like the Lain game is always overlooked, people mostly talk about the anime, that is in fact really good but this game also deserves tons of credit. The Lain anime, at least for me, wouldn't be the same if this game didn't exist, and I'm happy to see someone finally talk about it, keep up with the great work you're doing!

I literally just went to japan and saw a physical copy of the lain video game for around 90$, I didnt realize its significance until coming back and I wish I had bought it

This was incredible! I'd love to hear your takes on more video games in the future!

I am astonished to discover that someone else knows about Uncle Buddy's Phantom Funhouse, Puppet Motel, Garage: Bad Dream Adventure, or Gadget, much less mentioning all of them in one video with The Silver Case and Moonlight Syndrome. This is amazing

my therapist is going to need a therapist after i try this. thanks hazel

Thank you for all you've done in this video. I particularly enjoyed the tour of the experimental art projects that preceeded this game. It's wonderous and slightly unsettling in an interesting kind of way

Absolutely loved this video. The sheer amount of work put into content, information and the quality of narration is superb. Looking forward for more!

D.R. Laing was an important figure within the late psychedelic movement, which in turn was heavily influenced by the people who developed the early internet. It was the era of the Human Potential Movement, and also transhumanism as we think of it today. A lot of Lain's "contracultural" and "human evolution" themes related to hacker culture had a lot to do with West Coast people like John C. Lilly or Terence Mckenna. Two volumes in my opinion ESSENTIAL to understanding Lain are "Cyberia: Life in the Trenches of Cyberspace" by Rushkoff and "Escape Velocity" by Mark Dery.

I will never stop being surprised and delighted by just how much armored core music is in these wonderful videos.

That armored core OST at the end was totally unexpected, excellent video

You have rapidly become one of my very favorite RU-vidrs and creators in general. You've got extraordinarily well-structured, well-written scripts with more interesting and undiscussed topics than any other channel I follow, along with great delivery and editing. Keep it up, you're one of a kind

i have no idea why but the moment this video ended i just started crying. you are such a blessing to this site and i hope you continue making beautiful works like this

finished your elfen lied video and then saw that this was uploaded 6 min after i finished that, and as someone who felt targeted when u mentioned people having lain as their private twitter icons, the obvious answer was to come here and see what you had to say. this slaps, great work again!

Thank you for using the Save Theme from Resident Evil: Dead Aim at 10:38

appreciate the song lists you include, i always have at least one song in each of your videos that i wanna check out

it's always very fun to come back to this video and hear "I get to play a game for a video for once!" especially after the cozy anime games video that came out recently

this video is a masterpiece of a short documentary/review. it is the Lain/House of Leaves/Inland Empire of its genre to date. How did you manage to hit the Nail on the head so completely specifically for my tastes with this video. congratulations. I wish i had the ability to put these types of ideas into my own creative endeavors. this genre of horror is tops, and i don't know what it's called, but it's disturbing and needs growth.

Its really cool having a soft voice in the background while I work or study :) love your vids

I come back to this video almost religiously. Your videos are just So good and well made and I love diving into the stuff you highlight and rewatching your videos after finishing them! I‘m on disc 2 of the game now on the website and I‘m in love! The anime didn‘t do it for me at first but with the game it feels super intimate and the way you search through data makes it feel like you‘re kinda with lain on this journey as a sort of parental outsider figuring out what happened to her and reaching out to her through that disk and I honestly love that! I‘m just so happy your video got me to play it! Cause i feel like with only the anime i‘d never loved lain as much as i do with the game and the connections of both. It‘s so fun!

man! my high school English teacher had us come in after school to watch three women for extra credit and I have never heard anyone talk about it! It's really funky and I should rewatch it because I definitely didn't appreciate it enough at 16 being shown it by a somewhat off the rails English teacher

3:00 props for using the Battle Network 3 NaviCust theme!

This is amazing. I knew the PS1 game existed but could never find a way to play it in English. Thanks for making me aware of the web browser port. Pausing the video to watch later, so I can go play the game first.

I just tumbled in this video drunk and now I’m terrified to sleep for I have absolutely no idea what is going on

It's interesting that you mention the content warning in DDLC, because I'd argue that it's there less as a legitimate content warning, despite the fact that it also is that, and more as a device to craft the experience. Like you say, some things are more impactful when you already know how it goes, or at the very least, the impact is different. With DDLC, knowing that something was going to go wrong going in shaped the nature of the experience. I started injecting horror into the bits that were genuinely innocuous, or I'd forget in the middle of the early part of the game that something *was* going to happen, and it would immediately make me anxious, despite the fact that nothing that ought be anxiety producing had happened yet. The main reason I think that is because of the *way* that the content warning is presented, much more like it's part of the material, rather than being incidental or obligatory.

I watched this on the 3ds internet browser. You could say it was a... serial experiment. But for real it really added to the experience of lain. This video is one of my favorites of Hazel's.

Yo, thanks for going so in to depth in this; I've always been interested in it but never took the plunge. Great video!

This is incredible. There's something really, really special about the way you make videos and I'm so glad I've gotten to witness it, even if I can't describe it.