@@CerealKiller Alternatively, you can see Evangelion's team as seeing its message as so important shrouding it in as much mystery as Lain is silencing their objective. I definitely would believe the creators of it care more that people know what it's all about than Lain's creators who don't really seem to mind either way.
+Zoco It's how she sees herself. An alien. Not part of society. And when she sees the alien, it's because she was reading about the Rosewell UFO and her schizophrenia kicked in.
the stuff about the aliens I felt was meant to visually show how something can become more 'real' as more people hear about it and believe it. Like Roswell basically was granted a second life through the internet and conspiracy forums. And as Lain herself became more and more of an internet legend the more she came to resemble the alien, because like the alien, she was given a new form through the beliefs of the wired. But hey, that's just my theory.
@@Dafoodmaster the alien makes me think personally about simulation, like if humans are able to creat a world and a conscience, its maybe mean that our real world can be a simulation too, creates by other creature, and ect. Ect..thats just a theorie i thought, simulation
Two minor things, first, the japanese have a tradition of taking their shoes off before killing themselves, I noticed that the take was careful to show that Chisa kept hers on, saying that she believed she was "going on", and also, there are actually three Lains, Real World Lain, Lain of the Wired, and Evil Lain (who tries to hurt Lain and her loved ones), and they are actually spelled differently in the script (Romanji, kanji and I believe katakana), and it's apparent that Lain of the WIred is the one talking to Evil Lain , while Real World Lain watches and eventually tells them to stop.
In japanese culture knowledge of one's family is far more important than it is in western cultures. The older guy also asks her about any birthdays she's ever known to be celebrated, including her own. So, this factor really drives out the 'wired' Lain from her normal 'meatspace' self.
i like that he mentions how production 2nd thought every interpretation was valid. lot of people want to say they "understand lain" when practically everybody who's seen serial experiments lain does. create your own meaning.
Why did lains sister go crazy and what happened to her? Why did lain show up in the sky that one time? and how did some people come back from the dead in the end? Im so confused XD
+Jaun Rico The way I saw it was that basically Lain's sister had her soul stolen, or at least the Data version of it, by ether "God" or Lain of the Wired. The main reason I'm of this opinion is because Lain sees a momentary highlight of Mika against the doorway of their house in a similar fashion to the ghosts of those who were uploaded at the beginning of the show, pre Lain getting her new Navi. At the time she was taken , she was questioning Lain outright about something and potentially letting Lain know what was happening to her before she was ready. You can't let a god know they're a god before you train them to be your kinda god.
+Jaun Rico What I get from the ending is that by deleting herself from everybody's memory, she resets everything and the world is as it would be without Lain, with the strange men in black not being killed and without Eiri killing himself after being fired. I think.
Wait wait wait....You are saying that the earlier version (the one that existed since the Wired was created) of Lain, the Lain of the Wired, is the psychotic. I see the "phychotic" one, as the one who spread the rumor of Alice, that Lain tries to kill and that hugs Alice and asks her friends to go to Cyberia. (I believe she appears in those times only) But, when people (like Taro or JJ) refer to the "Lain of the Wired", they are talking about another Lain, not the psycho one. Instead one that is apparently more "mature (as JJ adresses her as an adult), kind of "cool" and confident (and maybe a little aggressive). And that's the kind of personality the Lain with body begins to show everytime she enters to the Wired. The personality that sometimes takes over her body. The Lain of the Wired is the one that goes to Cyberia and throws raves. (Also, she is the one that shows in the TVs in the opening song, not relevant xD) So, I think 2 Lains existed on the Wired since the beginning. Well no, actualy I have no idea of the origin of the psycho Lain. Also, I'm confused about the "family play". I understand you are saying that the family already existed and Lain was pushed to live with them. But if that's so, the relationship with the dad and the mom is really weird. As they sleep in separated beds, but they sometimes showed a strong physical attraction. Also, there is a point where she kisses him and says something along the lines of "let's do this while we still have time". Like, implying that after leaving Lain alone, they are going to take separated ways in life, as if not married.
I dont know if that makes sense but: If a person like lain who is a shy quiet person goes into the internet they often appear different than in reality. In reality for example a shy person would never talk to some stranger that easily but in the net a peron like that is anonymous so he/she isnt afraid so much about what people think of him/her. So...maybe there is the first, mean, wired lane, the "real" lane and the internet(wired) more confident and mature lane...
I watched Lain over a year ago and just randomly came across this video cause I was binge watching random scenes. You explained everything pretty well. Let’s all love Lain!
In Episode 12, Mika would physically say 1 long beep and 3 short beeps. For a computer, that means that there is a video issue (involving the graphics card). Perhaps she was hardware, and seeing everything the way she did caused that error.
Long theory ahead: I think that the bulk of the show happens in the past as a reflection by Lain, and that the real "present" only occurs onscreen when she meets the then-married Alice. I think this because it is frequently mentioned that "What is forgotten never happened." Reality in Lain is contingent on what is remembered, so changing memories changes the past. It's logical to assume that in Layer 13 Lain did not just remove all memory of herself, she actually overwrote all memories of Eiri with ones that involved him failing on designing Protocol 7, and as a result, Lain. In this way, people remembered having lived lives where Chisa never committed suicide, where Eiri continued to be a sulking engineer who would eventually quit and fade away, and so in their perception of reality, these things indeed never happened, even though they did; we know they did because Lain remembers them, and that is the reason why they appear in the show at all. Chisa actually did die, and so did Eiri, but because Lain made it so that peoples' memories told them they did not, people remember seeing Eiri muttering to himself about quitting his job, Alice remembers seeing Chisa alive and well, etc.
Unless you're talking about intersubjectivity, all interpretations are equally valid if they aren't being judged by others. If the premise "every interpretation is valid" exists, even if It is judged by others It will always be objectively as valid, following the premise as a rule. So noone should tell anyone that their interpretation is "less valid" when there's only one objective rule: They are all valid. If you say any other thing regarding the other interpretations, you're into subjectivity, and so you're out of the rule. Sry for being too tedious to understand lol.
thank you for the review! I was able only to follow some episodes and others just completely flew over my head. I wasn't able to make the connection between God's face and the face of the engineer who comitted suicide. so much derp.
Not really an anime guy but I just randomly watched this whole series in two nights.. It was really cool lol. Its like a psychedelic experience almost without taking drugs!!! I'm still trying to figure out my own personal interpretation of the show! haha. Cool video dude! *subscribed* Imma watch all your lain videos now :)
Well, this video is old, but I want to share my thoughts anyways. I think Lain is god. Just as in the last episode where she was just looking at everybody. However, she got bored and basically wanted to "exist", so she did two things: first, she basically "uploaded" her consciousness to the "wired", so everyone who connected to the net met her presence. The second thing she did was erase her memories and live like a normal person, so she didn't know her consciousness was in the net, that's why everyone asked her "Are you the Lain from the net?" but she didn't get what they said because she erased her memories. Of course, this anime doesn't have too much sense in a lot of ways. For example, what's the "wired"? Internet? Electromagnetic spectrum waves? What are the navis? computers? portals? howcome her navi turned into a water cooling lab?
Idk about anyone else but I kind of felt like the alien flashbacks were the first and real source of the story. It says that those group of men supposedly made a secret deal with extraterrestrials and soon after that, a few of those men made amazing discoveries or something. It makes me feel like the writers of the anime were trying to imply, even lightly, that the aliens gave or at least exchanged technological knowledge with the men which then allowed them to make discoveries and then the story of Lain would begin from such discoveries. As for the alien in the red shirt, I do think that is the evil or wired Lain and she appears only during certain conditions and to only certain people. I think it was in episode 3 where there was a dialogue where a woman was describing a kid who appeared in her room wearing a red shirt. So I don't think the concept of the alien is how Lain views herself, rather it is a disguise that she uses during certain times for certain purposes but I don't know what those are.
Personally I would go even further and say that the "Aliens" (or whatever they are) were in fact the ones pulling all the strings. Episode 9 strongly suggests that the technologies allowing for the wired to exist were developed under the influence of “cosmic entities” calling themselves E.C.C.O (Earth Coincidence Control Office), through some sort of intangible network. This is further confirmed by the fact that when Lain confront Eiri in episode 12, she makes it clear to him that rewriting protocol 7 to become the god of the wired wasn’t his own accomplishment but rather the work of an even more powerful entity influencing him. That he was just a proxy for the true god. My theory is that ECCO initiated a gigantic conspiracy in order to allow Lain to exist. The Tachibana is under its control and the events of the show are just a carefully planned trial to make her awakened to her power and learn how to control them. The father figure appearing to Lain at the end is in fact ECCO revealing itself to her as the true god that created her and congratulating her for her decision to sacrifice herself for the good of all. The Alien is not evil Lain but ECCO paying Lain an early visit, smiling as all is going according to plan. I could say more, but I believe that the true beauty of Serial Experiments Lain is to be able to discover new hidden stuff each time you’re rewatching. I’ll give you a tip though, in SEL own internal symbolism, soft orange dawn/dusk lighting seems to symbolize the true god and its truth (as opposed to Eiri lies) as well as heaven.
Agent Rook that's exactly what I wanted 2 read Maybe the aliens programmed Eiri who programmed Lain (he said he can "debug" her) It's a bit funny as if every being is an application encoded into a body 2 do a certain role
The only thing thats got me stumped as of now is the shady background of the knights and Tachibana Lab. The office worker who was heading the two men in black spies said he was excited and waiting for Eiri to erase the line between reality and the Wired, but why then was he the one who was behind killing all of the knights? They were supposed "worshipers" of Eiri/God of the Wired, or maybe they actually weren't? Maybe it had to do with the "one truth" Taro was talking about to Lain?
Well, here's how I see it: the Knights were following Eiri's orders, but they were also causing a lot of trouble. The office worker wanted the line between reality and the Wired erased, but he undoubtedly knew that Eiri didn't _need_ the Knights to do it. The Knights were just Eiri's thugs (at least, in the office worker's mind). He thought he could eliminate the Knights, and Eiri would still erase the line.
Wow your explanation of the series made the show 100 better for me now that i think back on it, i knew the show was highly complex and attempted to understand it but your explanation was incredible. Thanks for breaking the show down man
Well, that is a mystery, isn't it? ;-) I can think of a few possibilities: One: The changes to Protocol 7 allowed people from the Wired to manifest in the real world (as Eiri did, touching lain's braid and appearing in her room), so lain could use that bug/feature to create physical bodies for those who'd died. Their consciousnesses were still available in the Wired. Two: Those people aren't alive; they are shared hallucinations. Three: Eh, it's art. :-)
I just finished watching this anime. It weirded me out the first time I tried watching it and never got around to finishing anything beyond episode two. Now that I've finished it, I'm glad I did though I'd never really make any attempts at watching it again. The whole experience of it made me feel empty and oddly enough sort of put me in an existential lack or something along those lines? Definitely filled me full of those wholesome feels though. As for my own interpretation, the black and white of it all as you've laid out seems to fit for me perfectly fine. As for the aliens, I think its all just history, not quite a red herring but rather just an account of what happened in the past to really set the whole internet "the wired" thing in motion. Like having to set up a few weird details for a no shit there I was story or something of the like.
For the same reasons you started the video with, I hesitate to call any interpretation wrong, but I personally had a completely different interpretation of the series. I feel like a series that clearly has a lot of intent and deep thought put into its symbolism didn't just put things in as red herrings, and in fact left the series in a state where there was nothing else that could be removed without taking away core scenes that were needed for a full interpretation (evidence by how the recap episode didn't even use the full episode to recap, but added additional things in to give the series more time its writers apparently thought it needed). I really like the timeline you presented though, and it's given me a good excuse to rewatch the series with your interpretation's lense in mind. I'm sure I'll notice some things I've thus far missed and probably change my overall interpretation to a degree, so I just wanted to throw out a quick thank you for making this and furthering my understanding of this great show. ^^
***** Well, _lain_'s writer explicitly stated that the aliens were a red herring, so I felt I was justified in saying that. :-) Sadly, I can't find a link to the interview now.
ive been waiting for somthing like this i got the anime becuase you talked about it so much and enjoyed it. i never really found the story that complicated but than again im not one to delve too deep into things that i get first go. this was a nice insight to the story and a couple of things i missed ( or interprated differntly ). thankyou.
While I like the interpretation in this video the whole idea that it doesn't touch upon dead people "returning to life" kinda stumps me. The entire SEL plot was well thought out and smart, so it would be weird to make a random mistake like making the dead come back to life when all Lain could manipulate was memories and technology, not human anatomy or time. If her "hard reset" involved the reanimation of the dead there's likely 3 viable theories as to how that's possible. a) The entire story is a fever dream, a hallucination, a psychotic episode or anything like that. b) Just like a, but this time only part of the story is a fever dream. Either no one ever died and Episode 1-12 were Lains hallucinations or people actually died, episodes 1-12 are real and the whole "reset" in episode 13 is an illusion. c) (And I prefer this one) Lain is more than just an AI Eiri created. Maybe she actually is god or part of god, or maybe there's no actual god but Lain was the worlds (not just the wireds, the real worlds) "admin". That would mean Eiri didn't create her, but he merely found her and used part of her abilities without ever knowing she was basically omnipotent. Just as you said there can be lots of different interpretations and their all valid, but I doubt anything in the anime happened to just serve as a weird plothole that makes no sense. People coming back to life when Lain is just an AI/Admin would be just that: A plot hole.
Ok here's what I think is happening firstly i believe accela is the key to allow protocol 7 to work. Accela would allow the people to regain their psi "powers" which would allow them to regain their connection to one another "as they once did" (lain episode 11???) as well as the connection to the wire freely. Secondly the videogame was a testing ground to see if protocol 7 could actually work. And if the knights could see if they could control the children. (kid who kills the people and girl who creeps the guy out and says "gotcha"). The knights might want to do this to see if they could control lain but it didn't work. (failed attempt to make her commit suicide) Also (this is just some serious speculation here down) i think that eiri secretly made another lain to be a psychotic prankster which in turn would more people to commit suicide (in order to evolve) but when tachibana labs figured this out they quickly fired him, and tried to replace the psychotic lain with the "wired" lain. Eiri found out so he killed himself in order to secure the well being of his twisted ideals. this makes sense since Eiri always believed that in order to evolve the human race he must first make everyone become a digital version of themselves. Also why one week later? if he believed that he was done he should have killed himself sooner or if he was trying to do more he would have killed himself later (unless of course he finished his project then killed himself). Additionally i believe that the aliens helped forge the wire and lain. This would explain why only lain saw them and why the alien was dressed as lain. This could also mean the third lain was actually just the alien, side note both are always seen smiling and snickering. finally what is the prophecy about that made the sister turn insane???
I'm glad you did this. The only things I didn't understand from it was the events leading up to the anime and the ending when she met with Alice again and what it meant for Lain.
I actually thought Lain never existed, and created her own world from memories from users from the wired. The knights and Wired employees knew this and were trying to help her or co exist in her world. It all came to an end when she is becoming more human and her understanding of humanity is no helping her friends and family in her world.
Nice interpretation. I always want to rewatch SEL after reading/listening to other people's thoughts on it, to remind myself of the details and my own interpretation so I can compare. I hope Despera in 2016 turns out to be as interesting.
I always thought that Lain herself manifested from the Wired as a result of the experiments done with protocol 7, and the whole there being two different Lain's is just two instances of her split personalities where one of them (shy) manifested and the other (psychotic) stayed.Lain's actions of erasing everyone's memory of her was also in accordance to her returning back to the Wired and defeating her psychotic personality. (there is a scene where she is destroyed.)
Thanks for the explaination. After watching lain, I was in a state of confusion and wasn't sure if it was a bad show or if I was just didn't understand it (I think it's pretty good now- might have to watch it again sometime). I have a question though: Did you enjoy lain a ton when you first watched it? or did you develop your love for the show after contemplating and possibly re-watching it? Anyways, you've gained another sub lol.
My theory was similar. I knew she had a split personality, but the rest of your theory probably needed note taking, which I of course didn't do. I guess the background of Lain is explained sometime after later 9 because that's as far as I've gotten today. I know it describes the dangers of the Internet, but I thought it was just that. But like you said, any interpretation is valid. I'm sure my theory is going to change as I keep watching. Great explanation though.
BRILLIANT. I just finished watching the entire thing, and regretted wasting my time. And then I found your video here :) Your eloquence and clarity have been so helpful! Thank you very much :)
i thought that the knights copy or stole the kids program to create this new videogames (i dont remeber the name) and make them lose the sense of the reality and this made this kids kill other people and commit suicide to get more and more people inside the wired (sorry my bad english) PD: good explanation :D
ahhhhh i was sorta under the impression that she reset time but yea the complete wipe of memories makes more sense, looks like i understood it almost perfectly though i should seeing how i watched it 4 times in under a month..........
Eh, I really do find your take plausible and it certainly helped me to understand a few things. I don't think I like the idea of Lain actually being 2 separate programs. She certainly has mpd, but the idea of them being two different people entirely doesn't seem to feel right with the rest of the show. I mean half the show is about her existential crisis, so I would like to think the show is resolved more with all of it being contained in her one head.
I did understood the plot only partially, I get the esence but not the details, thanks a lot for make all the pieces fit in my mind xD This anime is outstanding, the best anime series I've seen by the moment :) Thanks!
Well, on the one hand, this video contains just my interpretation of events. On the other hand, a lot of lain fan sites describe the various elements in great detail, researching the significance of various names and elements. I've also done some Googling of my own. Lain's last name is a very interesting reference, for example.
I was under the impression that the Lain that spread the rumor was created by the Knights, which is why we don't see that Lain after the Knights are exposed and eliminated.
Now, this is before the Wired exists, yes. We are, however, told that there was early work on what would eventually become the Wired. And, as I've said, the Wired works as essentially an evolution of the collective unconscious and that, really, it had always existed. So one could say that those real world manifestations of things in the Wired were really manifestations of the collective unconscious. So, in the world of Lain, the collected belief in something has the ability to make it real.
This will be in two posts. Here's something though. The stuff about aliens may have been a red herring, but it does reveal something about the nature of the Wired. The show states at one point that things within the Wired have the ability to manifest themselves in the real world. It also states that the Wired is, essentially, an electronic evolution of the collective unconscious.
Beautiful Dreamer is a classic. excellent story. Cat Soup is also very much worth it if you enjoy weird/deep stuff. should check it out if you get a chance. how about Noein, Moribito or Pom Poko?
Thanks for the interest! I don't think there is anything to explain about FLCL, to be honest. All of the backstory that's relevant is explained in the show. The rest is up to the viewer to interpret, and there's little coherent to put together.
the only thing that I can't figure out is why you have one in a t-shirt khaki shorts and a blazer but I'm going to go back to watching this video because I really love Lain
Have you read this theory before? I think it's a good theory on what happened. A lot of the links don't work anymore that lead offsite since it was made 10 or more years ago. geocities.haggenso.org/Lain/grand.htm
ah ok thanks! I would say though that I don't think you do see her at the end. You hear her mum talk about her being on a diet and you see her hands as she stands up, but you don't actually see Mika's face... more ambiguity it seems!
I feel irritatingly sad that I can't be smart as you. I always dreamed to create complex stories but how if I'm so stupid that can't comprehend this. I don't blame you, instead wanted to thanks you for evoking feeling within me.
Hi there! Best I can tell, the Knights aimed some version of the KIDS system on Mika, which slowly drove her insane. That's why she had that out-of-body experience, which ended with her sitting in the middle of the Knights logo. It completely overwhelmed her brain. There was really nothing that lain could do for Mika until lain learned how to reset the world.
did you just skip the point that Lain 1st time using her power to erase everyone memories about bad rumors thing, and because of that, lain memories dissappear in everyone mind
Cháo Kình Well, this is not meant to explain every plot point in the story, one by one. :-) It's just a broad overview to orient folks confused by the major elements.
Now, what I garnered from this, when they speak of the Roswell incident, is that the public's facination, their collective belief in these happenings, actually made true the events which were once just a hoax.
Thanks! I didn't know that lain's father was from Tachibana labs.. I thought that they were just programs created to house lain. But him being from Tachibana labs makes MUCH more sense. It's amazing how I can watch lain 3 times now, love it so much, and still not understand everything! LOL I THOUGHT THE ALIEN THING WAS REAL THE FIRST TIME I WATCHED IT. I wasn't really paying THAT much attention, but then I realized... oh.. a UFO crashed?... the government covered it up?... oh
what about her sister? who forced her to go to the wired? and the whoe plot about the game? was that part of teh experiments that old guy did that the knights got a hold of? Also are all of the weird things she things in episode 1 just more red hairings?
