aka Mitchell says "however" too many times because he isn't used to writing long essays Script: mynameismitche... Serial Experiments Lain: myanimelist.ne...
FOR REAL THOUGH she discovered she wasn’t who she expected to be and then her family was real?? Then she spiraled into despair and the only moments that present tranquility or at least relief is when Arisu reaffirms her existence or when she has her dad when she feels lonely and desperate
This series was so far ahead of its time. In the late 90's when it was being created, the idea the Internet/Wired would be "integral" and tied to outside life wasn't even a dream (or nightmare) for most people, much less a foregone conclusion... yet we are LIVING in that time NOW.
@@Alex918YT i agree. I watched perfect blue and then i was recommended Lain. I then stepped back and looked at the world around me. Everyone on their phone. Taking selfies. Making Tik Toks. Its a nightmare that left mea bit fucked up for weeks.
Col not agree, though. In the series the world shown is at some different, higher, level, compared to what we got here now. It will take years and years, or maybe will never happens in reality at all.
This anime give me such a strange feeling when i was watching it, something like a fear, but not like in horror movies... I cant even explain it... And i just feel amazed how can something cause such a deep feeling, this is a masterpiece
yeah, its a bit confusing and this anime brings anxiety sometimes... that's why i can't watch it till the end, i just feel so confused, but i still think this anime is interesting in it's own way
For me when watching it, its like a fear of our reality breaking, everything we ever knew was wrong or imagined, and realizing we have zero control, etc. Its definitely a existential fear.
@@antigraphein943 O dia que a consciência humana depender de uma pessoa que mostra caixas de cloroquina para emas e que mal consegue argumentar qualquer coisa, a humanidade está perdida!
@@tailsondelima335 Eu não creio que tem gente falando do Bolsonaro até em um vídeo americano, sobre um anime que não tem nada a ver com a situação. Você deixa o Twitter, mas o Twitter não deixa você.
It would be great if film theory had an intro to a 'Lain' video that starts with that lyric, and then Mat Pat would narrate and say, "I do now - more or less, I think? Welcome to Film Theory!"
i guess it's a deep anime which is you have to watch it several times to understand, its just like EOE or Ergo proxy, i have to watch it repeatly and thus a bit understand whats happening
@@tillum7593 in interviews they basicaly said they wanted viewers to come to their own interpretations. I cant post the link here because youtube will delete the comment
To me Lain is all of us. We only exist in other people's perception of us, so that there are multiple us. We are as omnipresent as Lain is. But that omnipresence goes away once people forget us. (This is what I thought when watching Lain, I don't mind if it is a refutable argument, its just an interpretation)
That is what I came away with. The real lain is the lain that exists. While information of you does exist in others, and a general concept of you has always existed, the only true existence is you. Throughout the story they try to get the real lane to destroy her body so that the lain in the wired takes her place, but she rejects that idea and continues to anchor the many versions of herself around the real her.
@@Shadow_Play3r Kind of but its told in a much more raw, visceral way rather than how lain does it, mainly due to the fact that Anno was extremely depressed and suicidal when making Eva
I actually had a different interpitation of the ending. I don't think she erased Protocal 7. It's still there. She just removed the information on how to use it. Her visiting her friend as her friend was an adult shows she can still manifest herself any time she pleases. But she also knows now the conquinces of humans having access to P7. So she keeps her distance and remains as a watcher over humanity. She becomes a true trinity. Human, God, and machine. Existing in all electronics, able to take flesh, but also knowing now what happens when she takes a heavy hand in the affairs of humans. So she keeps things gentle and guiding. Rather than firm and controlling as the Knights wanted her to be.
Nice interpretation, however, there is no Trinity. You shouldn't forget the existence of "god", who was the one to manipulate the whole thing and create Lain. Lain is just the byproduct of a being who abandoned his body for his wish to be loved. She just choose to destroy him and isolate herself from the world, cuz she doesn't want to be what her creator wished the to be, she defied the will of her alter ego, that's it, wired Lain, and supressed her by making everyone forget about her.
Serial experiments Lain is a story which talks about a girl who defied her destiny by contradicting even the wish of her creator. She didn't want to destroy her physical form because everyone trough that her wired form was more fit to be Lain, she wished for a existence where she doesn't need to make anyone suffer because her existence and ability to modify everyone's memories trough the wired, that's why she made everyone forget about her.
As the anime itself says, we only exist in the perception of others. If no one can see us, we doesn't really have a connection with anyone, however, we still exist somewhere. If someone dies, his remnants transform the reality in a way or another, however big or small, even if no one notices that. Even trough Lain can't die and can't be see by others, she will still be here, and will return to reality if she ever sees the need for that.
In short, she's a NOBODY. No one knows she exists and she can't participate in any human affairs, nobody cares or remembers her. Some sad existence. And, no. God doesn't exist. Not in that way this movie thinks anyway. The real thing is: We are all our own individual gods. And we each are powerful beings able to make our own fates. So this concept of "big brother is watching" has always been kinda dumb for me. These themes are so common in anime and game at that era (before Y2K, where people were so dumbly excited about the world ending just as year 2000 hits, the conspiracy theory that all systems are going to crash and the world went into chaos, etc. And HELLOOO??? Today is 2023 and nothing of that sort is happening. In fact, life is just easier. More connected, but IN A GOOD WAY), so every anime studio kinda compete for the trophy of the weirdest, heaviest, psychological bullshit they can muster up. Let's hire the mentally sickest story creator to do so, if possible. And ramp up the angst. Wanna know something funny? You'll find that today's generation of Japanese youths DON'T CARE ANYMORE about these kinds of anime. They're all into the more relaxed and laid back genshin impact thingys. Afterall, it's more realistic. Life is already so hard as it is. No need to complicate them further with scifi Psychological babble. They don't care for fridge logic anymore when getting steady jobs are harder than being an omnipresent E-girl. Its only people who got their on their late trains in ANIME exposure who think this is great stuff. Well, as in all case of "seeing it as the 1st time.. Awe". I was unfortunate and get exposed on one too many copycats/similar themed anime. And I realized that it's dumb all along. It's like complicated diet routines that seems smart but only ruins the body instead. And I thought major Kusanagi was cool as a 5 year old. Now I think she's just a damn bland and boring lesbian piece of junk. Cheers.
Ah, so Lain is the manifestation of the Earth's consciousness rendered in order to bring about the evolution of humanity by merging the Wired and the physical world in order to get humans to abandon their bodies and evolve past their physical beings, my brain hurts lol.
Best explanation of Serial Experiments Lain I’ve seen on RUclips. Literally NO ONE else picked up on the fact that Lain’s original existence, prior to existing in the Wired by way of Protocol 7 and in physical form by way of Erie, was that of the collective unconscious of the earth and all the people in it. I was so happy when those “????” turned into “Earth’s planetary consciousness,” I was just like, “Yes, YES somebody GETS IT!” And thank you for clearing up Lain’s family were hired to act as surrogates by the Tachibana Corporation. That was not clear to me when I watched it at all.
About lain family acting weird and the "dad" coming back to say goodbye when he was told not to in the show as well as being questioned if her family is real or not it kinda exposed it at least for me also the strange suit men stalking her who seemed to be able to get away with stuff it was definitely suspicious
My favorite thing about the idea of Lain being the earth's consciousness is that, ultimately, if she is all of us connected, she longs for the same things most humans do. The entire reason why she wants to be loved and understood is because all of us do - she's the embodiment of all our desires, fears, rights and wrongs. Honestly one of my guesses was that she created the "evil Lain" so that she didn't have to manifest those parts of personality into her real life body - when she manifested herself she basically wanted to erase the "id" part of herself so she created another her and gave her "id" to her and locked her in the wired. That's why she's different from other human beings - part of what being human is was missing. But your explanation that knights created the evil Lain sounds more plausible. I love how there are so many way to explain this show. An incredible video, thank you!
Yeah I think it plays the concept of how human can be fundamentally both good and evil. We only try to show our good and socially accepted side to the world and especially the internet where we can create a perfect persona. but even though we hide (anti-lain) the things we hate about ourselves or considered immoral and unacceptable behavior or opinions in society doesn’t mean it’s not there. I love how he explain the 3 lains because their in all of us w
That's a really interesting theory on the first episode in particular; for as many times as I've watched Lain, I hadn't at all thought of the possibility of the "teleporting", hazy lettering, and smoke from her fingertips as being indicative of her getting acclimated to her body. I believe the vast majority of people are looking at those events from a much more "outside-the-box" viewpoint, such as "well these are common symptoms of schizophrenia so Lain is schizophrenic lol", but I'm totally on board with this idea as it's more consistent in-universe and doesn't require headcanon (for lack of a better word) to be explained. Also, liked and subbed. Let's all love Lain.
R. D. Laing, the person Lain was named after, said that schizophrenic people are the first ones to awaken to the true nature of reality. Lain being schizophrenic doesnt mean the narrative is wrong and all those supernatural things arent real, its the opposite!
So basically... Gendo starts the human instrumentality project that is a forced evolution that merges everyone into one perfect being- wait no wrong anime about how it’s good to be alive....
Lain is pretty much what Hegel referred to as the absolute in his phenomenology of spirit. The story of Lain is a story of her discovering she is this absolute akin to how Hegel discovered his dialectical in which he proposes this absolute is the final form history will take.
@@MIWRISOT if you substitute your reality with an imaginary anime one for long enough, you are bound to blend the two and find both element blending into each other. e.g., weeb kids that watch too much naruto and start doing the handsigns with the intention of accomplishing something outside of rp, or kids who watch dbz attempting to go super saiyan. autism amplifies it all.
Who is Lain? “Real world” suggests Lain is human (body). “God” suggests Lain is program (soul). “Bolder self” suggests Lain is transcendent goddess (Seer). But Lain rejects all of these suggestions. Lain is not personal subject. Lain’s True Self Is Absolute.
Lain is the Earth experiencing itself. She is the culmination of all human subconscious, put in a human body, and made to *live* . An entity made entirely of the subconscious; made conscious.
Throughout the show theres a recurring theme of "you are the sum of others memories of you". I thought sundress lain was the result of deleting herself from everyones memories. The only person with memories of her, is her. Sundress lain might be her own perception of herself
Lain has always been one of my favorite anime. I first saw it in high school around the time it was released and I've owned the DVD box set for almost twenty years. I've been rewatching it lately and I feel like with fresh eyes as an older adult, and with the way technology and our relationship with the internet has progressed since its release, I've understood it better. For example the Knights storyline was much clearer to me than its ever been in the past. I've heard this often in discussions of the series as of late but I'm still skeptical of the idea that Lain willingly sealed her own memory. My perception has always been they managed to get a piece of what she was into a body, into "hardware", literally personifying her and then set up a fake family for her as an experiment. And Lain's actions from there are an attempt to reconnect with the rest of her higher self. Maybe that's wrong but I find that impression hard to shake. But I think you hit the nail on the head with her being the Earth's consciousness/the collective consciousness. Otherwise they brought that up and seemingly didn't follow through with it beyond and explanation of why people were doing things like the KIDS experiment. It's seemingly forgotten about. Except, if we accept this idea, it wasn't. And if her actions are an attempt to reconnect to her higher self she would then in turn connect with all humanity as she does in the end. But the end result which was my first revelation about what story is actually being told is that the Wired either connected to what some might call "god" or Lain became a god through all of this and struck down Eri who was a pretender. The Christian-like "savior has to become human to save humanity" angle many people go to is also a temptingly easy one, but doesn't really play from a Japanese perspective.
Well, that has to be the best explanation of Lain I had the privilege to witness, hat off to you good sir. Still though, as a die-hard fan of the show I can tell that there is still one of two things you’re missing, like the fact that episode 13 tells us pretty explicitly that protocol 7 resonance technology and the collective unconscious are just not enough to explain Lain. That there is something beyond even the wired that nor Eiri nor her were conscious even existed until it prevented her from deleting herself completely from all existence. I don’t want to explain it here because visual story-telling doesn’t translate well into words but if you rewatch SEL, lookout for orange light/lighting like the one at 16:20. Then it should become at least a little clearer. Also, another interesting point is that it’s actually hinted pretty hard through text in the background that Tachibana has the technology to create artificial human and used it at least to create Mika Iwakura and perhaps even Lain body. Finally, in the last we see of Taro and his friends, we can see that the brat handheld navy now functions with an OS named “Kids technology”, and it somehow manage to catch a glimpse of Lain outside reality. So protocol 7 technologies is still clearly around under one form or another, which is probably why those damn electric line are still humming and the creepy shadows still have color spots in them ^^
@@tillum7593 The “beyond the wired” stuff pretty much all hinge on the discussion between Lain and herself in episode 13. Now, the translation is a little iffy and kinda change from version to version but as best as I understand it, when Lain ask where she is after failing to delete herself, the other Lain more or less says that “it can’t be the wired or the collective unconscious because no human structure could store such a vast amount of memory”. Lain then remark that “the wired was just connected to something else, but what?”. The “what” is never elaborated on, but we can still logically deduce what it isn’t and some of its properties: - As plainly said, this isn’t the wired nor the collective unconscious but something much, much bigger. - It probably isn’t the Schumann resonance either, as Lain is well aware of its existence and effects on the wired since it was used by Eiri. So it wouldn’t make sense for her to be surprised by it. - It contain memory, and a tremendous amount of it at that. It is more or less suggested that at least all the information created by humanity is in there, including memories from the future. - Being there is making Lain effectively omnipresent through both space and time. With all of that we can deduce that we are dealing with an everywhere, everywhen kind of dimension that contain at least all of humanity memory. So, a pretty nifty place, but also a very lonely one, or so it would seem until “father” appear out of the orange ^^ Now the first thing to note about this apparition is that Lain make a clear point of distinguishing it from Yasuo, her fake human father. She always called Yasuo “Papa” while she refers to the apparition with a much more formal “father”. The implication here, I think, is that “father” is the “true god” that Lain and Eiri refer to in their final confrontation in episode 12. The entity that started it all by inspiring Eiri into rewriting protocol 7 and Lain true “creator” of sorts. But what interest us here is that the guy seems to be quite fond of the dawn/twilight as he hang out above the clouds in a sky bathed in orange light. And this is not the first time in the show that kind of lighting was used. The most obvious from a cinematography stand-point is that scene in episode 5 where infant Lain sit in the part of her room bathed in twilight while “puppets” spout Knights propaganda at her from the shadows. The allegory here being pretty clearly that the Knights and Eiri are detouring Lain from her “father” and whatever he represent. Other scenes include Hodgeson final moments and the meeting with the Tachibana executive. Overall, orange lighting seem to represent the presence or the influence of “father” in a scene, a pretty smart way to include his character in the entire show while only revealing him in the last episode.
@@Robin447absolutely correct. The wired in the end was directly attached to the spirit world. Very few people understand this part of the show as well
@@ratecyanbasically the concept of the "watcher" in eastern philosophy. The idea of reality and illusion being the same thing is obvious across the east, tracing it's way all the way back to the idea of our reality being Vishnu's sleeping dream. If we take new perspectives the universe as a sort of functioning mind a la Bateson and Jung, then the reason why we exist is because we're a part of someone else's imagination.
This is the best review of Lain I have ever seen. Impressive. I like his scientific way of dissecting Lain. Rather than spouting personal/emotional interpretation, he explained Lain from a quite objective view point, referring to phrases in anime as much as possible.
its scary how the show predicted a lot of what we're going through now with the internet being an integral part of our lives nowadays. It's like a reminder to how it can make or break someone, and how you can't live solely online. That there's always the world you live in, that too can make or break you. Honestly this show could last as long as the internet itself. It really is amazing that way
I knew their were some sort of Freudian philosophy references in this anime, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what the different versions of Lain truly represented. Thank you so much for this incredible insight!
Damn, I've spent like 5 hours for searching some explanation on this anime, reading reddit, watching other vids on youtube .. and I finally found this video, thanks a lot dude, you did some incredible work, all that you said in the video makes at least some sense to me and puts the picture together, what a relief.
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 video. I don't blame you, instead wanted to thanks you for evoking feeling within me.
The mind is like anything else: skills, talents, muscles etc.......You keep using, practicing, pushing your own limits, and in time you'll see great amounts of growth.
Writing like this isn't made to be 100% understood since a good protion of it comes from concepts and vague ideas that are presented to invoke certain feelings, not understanding the certain parts is not a bad thing either. That's why even the authors of such pieces are open for different interpretations, they knwo nobody can see it from their view, but other views are not wrong. i'm not a writer myself, but maybe you should start with thinking of concecpts and an atmosphere you want to convey instead of a clear plotline first, adding more until it takes form. Pretty sure complex writing is never a straight way from start to finish.
you aren't stupid my friend. this is really complex as the topic lain is. it's good to admire people for things they are capable of but please stop talking yourself down. when you lack of one thing, other things in you are therefor stronger. start looking for those, enhance them and be proud of them instead of being angry of something you think that lacks in you. sorry if i can't bring over my point, english isn't my mother language but i hope you got what i want to say. never talk so bad about yourself kay? :)
Don't tell yourself that you're stupid. For one, I don't agree with everything sad in this video, but this does not make me stupid, nor does it make the person who made the video seem stupid. If you look me something and you would like to invest time and energy into that activity, then simply do it. Start with baby steps, focus on the present and try not to be so judgemental with yourself. Remember, most great things star of as being small things.
Serial experiments lain reminds of Coraline, they both resonate with me as they are open to interpretation. They both have very very deep and philosophical meanings or messages, and they have an amazing amount of theorise-ability, they are both about control, reality
Lain is the creator inside their creation, becoming aware of their game. their pieces all scattered aiming for their specific pieces goals. eventually coalescing on Lain as their owner. Lain being both sides not the one who made the game while also being the absolute entirety of it all. The science and acts that led up to the events in the anime, are what led Lain to becoming "aware". The spread consciousness becoming manifest in a form unexpected, but also expected. as in, something grand will exist, but what exactly it was, was unknown. And so trying to shift that being (Lain) into the mold that they believe she should have fit (their version of their god, or their end goal, the spread consciousness). This is why she is so connected to the phenomena before even touching the Wired. Her existence was the result, or more accurate, the revelation of, the truth. As if nothing and everything could exist with or without Lain herself. But that also means she would also be there and not there, as if she MUST exist, but even if she didnt, that some part of her would have to exist.
Thank you for making the show make more sense. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations.
i have a love/hate relationship with these types of shows AHHH i loved analyzing them and trying to figure everything out but at the same time, watching these types of shows makes me paranoid. tysm for explaining it more in depth
Same, I love Lain a lot but I never recommend it to anyone. Just because most people will not be able to understand unless they watch one of these videos.
@@kenmahyu exactly! i get hesitant whenever someone asks me if animes like this are good because while they are, i'd rather not put the stress of understanding everything on them
@@steiwe5648 i get that ur brain's so tiny it's barely capable of understanding anything let alone why people like s.e.l. but people have different opinions
Ohh THAT'S why there was liquid coolant all over Lain's floor. I thought it was due to her cooling system leaking and her not caring enough to clean it up unless it could harm her massive nightmare Navi.
This video/theory/explanation is godlike dude you said and prove everything in the best possible, and understandable way. What an absolute unit you are dude, amazing. and before I even watched this video I already thought about lain as a worldwide self conscious represented as a human being. wow man just wow Keep the Great Work. :)
@@hypermecha3040 *The entity known as Lain has ascended to a higher level of cosmic understanding than Magi-Chan, and knows that the dimensional merge cannot happen due to unpredictably destructive consequences.* *Lain has not only become one with the Earthly collective consciousness that is the internet, but her understanding of the universe is now the equivalent of a school child knowing 2 + 2 = 4. In other words, she understands reality better than any of us can.* *She came to me in a dream once. I sort of forgot what she looked or sounded like, but I know it was her because of the existence of a Japanese anime based off of her. She is warning numerous people about the consequences of the "Dimensional Cataclysmic Event" as she calls it, and hopes that spreading the word will help prevent it.* *She even showed me visions of the merge actually happening in an alternate timeline, and all the abhorrently weird and terrifying things that would happen to me and everyone else as a result. It is something that I wish I could unsee, and also something that I pray does not happen in real life.* *Lain may be beyond human comprehension, but she is far more grounded in reason and logic than the insane Magi-Chan.*
I absolutely loved this explanation! I watched the series after my bf recommended it, but I was left super confused. This video genuinely helped me understand both the show and why he likes it so much :)
Damn.. I'm really distraught at my inability to have uncovered these hidden meanings and themes in this amazing show. Props to the creator for deciphering the story for us. I will use this analysis as motivation to develop my investigative skills.
Hahaha im distraught at my inability to even put in effort to seriously try to uncover these hidden meanings and just straight away go to explanation videos.
You take Eiri's words too seriously imho. You hint that he might just be trying to deceive her at some point, but then go ahead and take him at his word when he says he created her real-life body, which is only a hologram of some sort. I don't think that's ever the case. It's just what the Knights and Eiri want Lain to think - so she gives up her body and joins them in the Wired. (They want her to be a knight among knights instead of on the God level of Eiri - or even above him.) Therefore, I think Lain - from the beginning - is a kid with better Psi abilities than the children experimented on in KIDS. Tachibana get a hold of her (before the series starts) and experiment on her. Eiri has already put himself into Protocol 7 and commited suicide. His co-worker (Lain's "father") is working to undo Eiri's selfish deeds. Lain's abilities allow her to bridge the Wired and RL theoretically, but they have to form her. So her own personality is completely erased, and articial memories of growing up with her "Dad", "Mom" and "sister" are implanted. This way, the "father" can control and steer her development. Tachibana, Lain's "father" and Lain are working against Eiri and his Knights. At the end, Lain manages to undo basically everything, her abilities allow her to free herself from Tachibana's grip and in a way, she takes Eiri's place in the Wired as "God". And after a while, she reincarnates herself into a human body again at a later time, when Arisu's grown up. Kind of a Jesus thing. God turned human. But she's omnipresent, and some shadow of a memory of her is in the world, anyway. Therefore we, as viewers, are Arisu. And we're told to all love Lain. Because that's what Lain really wants. Arisu is the "looking glass" through which we, the people, see Lain. If you're still reading here, and my thoughts aren't completely off the track and at least a _possible_ explanation, you'll see that the comments below that claim that you, Mitchell, have "done it" and finally "explained lain": No. There are at least a dozen explanations that are well-rooted within the series itself, and most if not all have hiccups within the series as well. The creators never validated one explanation or another - and have never given theirs, for a reason. The real meaning behind the series is that you should take what's there and be turned on to think about these subjects yourself. And not to forget about loving Lain. That's what we're all doing as fans of the series. That's the genius behind serial experiments lain.
Yes, this anime is open for a lot of different interpretations. And after reading some statements like yours, i can finally come to this conclusion aswell. I'll need to rewatch all over again with another eyes, because even with all the explanation, is not easy to have my own conclusions about it at all! But even with all that, i know the anime itself explains everything, i just need to pay more attention. After finishing it for the first time days ago, i discovered this anime was released in 1998, exaclty in the middle of the the ''boom era''' of the internet, where people get to know more about what internet was, without mention a lot of theories and etc... About the same topic, we have another video games, like Deus-Ex and etc.
Honestly i find this theory closer to a possible truth. I believe Eiri did not create Lain as a software nor as an hardware. Like you said i think she is a kid with higher PSI powers, which would explain why she's so fast learning and has abilities that no one has. I do not agree with the theory of Lain being the humans sub-consciousness, it would dig too much into a fantasy realm that i think does not fit well with the sci-fi aspects of the story. It is unknown whether or not Eiri knew Lain existence before killing himself or before creating Protocol 7, even though he claims to have created her.
Also: if Lain was already existing in the Wired, why none of her school friends already saw her? It is only until she starts using The Wired between the end of ep 1 and episode 2 that we see the Wired Lain at the Cyberia, but before that no one seems to have ever met the Wired Lain. Also, Eiri and the Knights makes contact with Lain only after she starts using the Wired...or at least that's what i got... Also it is said throughout the entire series that everyone has an " Wired alter ego" when connected to the network.
Also (Part 2 🤣): in Ep 12 Eiri says that he could "debug" Lane, but that can only happen if she gives up her physical body. It means that if Eiri was her programmer, he could have been already able to debug and control her, but he is not. So i think Lain is used by Tachibana, as a PSI Kid, to be formed and developed as a new God in order to fight and remove Eiri from the Protocol 7 and the Wired. Fighting the Knights and Eiri was probably her first and main purpose, under the Tachibana project.
i think lain is a god. not 'the god' in the sense of creator of all things known and unknown to man, but a different kind of god. a being (not physical) with infinite existence, so no beginning and no end. like consciousness itself, or an omnipresent idea. i think eiri is just a man who suffered some form of divine intervention which lead to him giving lain a form in the wired and a physical body in the real, human world. but that's all he did - he gave lain a form and a body under her own guidance, without knowing it. he believed he not only created this incredibly powerful being, but that he also gave it purpose. that's why he regards himself as a god and why the knights follow and worship him as one. the point of lain being in the human world was for her to bridge and eventually destroy the border between the real world and the digital one. however, upon entering the human world lain realises that she herself wants to live as a human, among humans. whether intentionally or unintentionally, she uses her ability to alter memories to alter her own memory. that's why she's confused about her existence. that's why in the beginning we see her as just a shy schoolgirl who knows nothing about technology or the wired, yet mysteriously has an innate connection to it, which is why she's able to grasp it so quickly and naturally. the knights and eiri wanted lain to insert herself into the subconsciousness of the entire world's population, so that when she eventually commits suicide, leaving her physical body behind, her consciousness and therefore her entire existence would be transferred into the wired, and the whole world would follow suit. because lain refuses to succumb to this plan, the knights and eiri do all sorts of things to try and break her and drive her to insanity, so she would kill herself. in the end, lain realises that she is actually the all-powerful one, which enables her to destroy eiri and the knights and change the world, because she realised existence is only confirmed by memory.
Wow this is an excellent explanation of the series. I can't even call this a theory, everything lines up so well in a concise way that can be easily understood. Great work
Thank you so much for your work! The idea of Lain being Earth spirit amazed me! Before that i was sure she was some kind of a heavily bugged software created by Eiri (and her other selves being alternate versions of the program). But your idea makes a lot more sense and i can't make myself think otherwise from now on :D Also your explanation of alien-Lain really helped me to stop spitting "wtf was that anime?!". In general, beautiful analysis. Love such art pieces as SEL that are rather a riddle than a show.
Just one thing I want to add to your theories for clarification: This Schumann Resonance is actually not "Earth humming", those are not soundwaves, those are electromagnetic waves. And in the show, the big idea of Eiri, was to use it as basically free worldwide wi-fi, but that kind of wi-fi, that has all human minds connected to it by default. And that means they can transfer any data they want, if nearby there is any source of electromagnetic waves, they can remotely modulate etc. I'm pretty new to the show, just finished it yesterday, but damn, the plot goes so deep.
No wonder I thought the “Everyone is connected!” line from episode 2 seemed so important. The way you describe things makes it seem like it makes perfect sense, even if this is just one interpretation, it’s an amazing one. Wonderfully done video.
The way Lain of the wired jumps out as a coping mechanism and to how Lain reacts to mentions of her reminds me a lot of Dissociative identity disorder/DID, coming from someone with DID. While Lain canonically isn't written to have it, that part of her character is heavily coded as such in my opinion.
@@electricfishfan7159 yup, huge agree. Altough I do think that perfect blue is a little more general about the dissociation, Lain can be read as a story with/about DID while perfect blue can't. No question that they both involve a lot of dissociation though
I love your explanation on explaining Serial Experiments Lain. I've seen a lot of videos trying to explain this but your explanation was by far the best one.
I believe "blue/turquoise dress Lain" is akin to the second inner voice all humans have, otherwise we couldn't have conversations with ourselves. Unexpectedly, this presence encapsulates Lain's humanity, at least in my opinion. I suppose anything with sentience has to have this also, but I prefer my interpretation. But yea, never once got the idea it was a fourth Lain in any meaningful way. Even when I was hopelessly stumped by everything else!
I interpreted the ending conversation with her father as her coming in contact with the true god that influenced Eiri to create lains body. I also think that the creation of lains physical form is being attributed to this god as well judging by Eiris reaction when lain confronts him on whether or not creating her human form was his idea. To me this also explains how she is able to still exist and go to see Arisu after she had grown up. Its stated that existence is very closely tied to memory and being remembered, and with lain interacting with god, this shows that something still exists that knows her, which allows her to continue to be able to exert her presence in reality.
yeah, that's my interpretation too, saw a pretty good reddit comment saying about the God appearing as her dad which this vid lets out. Out of that, pretty much spot on. it's awesome we can come with different POVs based upon this piece
the only thing i've settled with Lain is that she's indeed some sort of collective unconscious, or in lacanian terms, the big other itself, especially regarding the ending and how she "deletes" herself, i.e. she does not delete herself at all, rather replaces the "social fiber", so to speak, with a new one that has no concept of Lain or the wired, effectively foreclosing the existence of the wired, through the wired. A total paradox.
This is quite a thoughtful analysis. Seeing her as -- I suppose -- a Gaia entity seems quite a natural interpretation, but it's one you clearly lay out an argument for that I don't think really has been done in this way before. Bravo. I feel like the events of episode 13 indicate there could be more to the metaphysics here, however. Would the Proust reference to madelines be an indication that she's dispersing her ego again, possibly to re-remember in the future? It seems a late-stage moment of genuine confusion for her, not knowing what her path ahead should be.
I've tried my best to wrap my head around Proust's madeleine story in order to understand the context of your question, but frankly I'm struggling a bit. From what I've read I'm assuming that Proust's experience of the madeleines represent engaging with a stimulus that recalls latent memory (he eats the madeleine which leads him to recall forgotten memories about the time his grandmother used to give them to him), and that what you're saying is that the words her subconscious Yasuo says when asking to meet for madeleines in the future may make the suggestion that she's sowing the seeds to come back into the conscious in the future? Assuming that I'm understanding Prout's madeleines then, like everything else in Lain honestly, it's still a bit ambiguous. Considering how heavy of a psychological presence and how important the conscious and unconscious memory/perception are in SEL I think they _do_ have to be a reference to Proust rather than him just coincidentally choosing madeleines, but at the same time my thematic understanding of Lain mandates that she _can't_ come back in the future. As I stated in the video, my reading of Lain was that at the end she willingly removes herself from conscious perception in order to preserve the humanity in humankind and keep the fabric of reality as an unchangeable truth, so I don't really think it makes sense with the message of the show for her to plan to come back later. Based on _my_ reading of Lain and my understanding that her final action by resetting the world is due to her desire to keep her powers away from the public sphere in order to keep humanity away from the temptations of godhood, then the thought that immediately jumps out the most strongly to me with the context of Prout's madeleines would be that since that image of her father is a part of her subconscious, perhaps the [Proust] madeleines (stimulus that triggers forgotten memories) represent that it's one of her deepest hopes that her father will still occasionally see something that makes him briefly remember her (which does happen in the epilogue when he sees the empty chair at the table). Yasuo and Arisu were really the only positive, loving, personal relationships she had during her conscious life and so I think that the madeleines discussion was sort of paying tribute to that fact. Just like she visits Arisu one final time before permanently leaving public perception, I think the madeleine discussion was a way for her to kind of leave some sort of parting message for her father when he briefly remembers her during the epilogue.
There was no way I would have comprehend ANY of this when I was 9...only as a adult and seeing the repercussion of our lives being interconnected with the wired does a this story and concept make sense! This was way ahead of its time!
this is my theory about lain as well!! the collective unconscious of the Earth wanted to experience consciousness and connection to others so she got a body. Or maybe the people behind Protocol 7/The Wired forced her into it. Great video btw, you touched on so many moments and details I didn't even pay attention to but they make this make sense
This video helped me out a lot! I could figure out some stuff I didn't understand and rewatched the series while putting pieces together. Definitely needs more views, I'll share it with everyone I know who watched Lain.
Lain was the first anime I watched as a kid. this show actually shaped a lot of who i became. it taught me to be indifferent and keep myself protected from outside influence. without going into too much detail, that sort of thing really saved me from a lot of shit going on in my life.
I'm writing this in the year 2023, and I see everyone talking about how ahead of its time Serial Experiments Lain was, but I suspect this will get even more impressive in the future. All of our technology is moving towards a world where the physical and the digital are fused together, or even where the physical is seen as an imperfect expression of the digital. What will people feel when watching this anime when the AI has largely destroyed this barrier? If you read this comment in a few years (if the YT servers are still running) I would love for you to tell me if this impression of mine was correct or not.
I perceived Mika’s undoing as something closer to a replacement, the expulsion of her old personality to be substituted with another. This free personality fades into the collective unconscious in the doorway. We don’t know to what extent she is a natural human being in the first place, it’s likely that the kill switch was already inside her from the moment she was prepared to be Lain’s family. I would suggest that the words she saw on the tissue pack were either a hallucination in themselves like the similar writing in the soda, or acted as the trigger for the aforementioned kill switch. Taro bumping into her could also have been an intentional kill switch trigger of some variety. Also, Lain’s body isn’t manifested via protocol 7, rather she has a real artificial human body, “a homunculus of artificial ribosomes”, fabricated for a copy of the wired Lain’s persona to inhabit. That’s the key difference between her and Eiri. My understanding of this is, Lain was inserted into a physical body grown by Eiri and the Knights in a lab, for the purpose of developing her persona into a personality of its own, a personality that can be moulded for the purpose of Eiri’s own plans. Before this, the “Lain” wasn’t a personality at all, just a hodgepodge of stories and thoughts of users from across the Wired, basically a meme, though helped along by Eiri’s fake Lains making such a persona have a more concrete existence in the minds of those users. She didn’t have any memories to delete or lock away in the first place. It likely would have been possible for Eiri to make a body for himself too, had he not have an ideology that rejects the thought that bodies are necessary. Of course it’s highly possible that that hodgepodge of stories and thoughts existed before the wired, fragments in the collective unconscious, though distinctly less of a unified existence. Being connected to far fewer people, any memes like Lain or the alien before the wired can’t have had much mental influence. The fragments of “the real lain”/“the wired lain” that pop through on occasion are the second personality that’s inferred from the bits and pieces of stories that made the original Lain persona, while the normal shy Lain is what’s grown as a result of her human experience. Both existing in the same body. I don’t think she ever meets the real “Lain of the wired”, nor does anyone else, since what exists in the wired isn’t collected enough to act as though it has a real personality. What’s seen is only ever the fake Lain. Similar to the stories that the original Lain was made of, the alien backstory with the Roswell incident and the MJ12 document was intended to give credence to another story of the wired, another story that had been given form by the subconscious of the users of the wired. Whether or not the alien actually existed never mattered, what mattered was that this propagating self-reinforcing concept, this meme, began to have sufficient power to enter into people’s minds, being perceived as invading their homes. This is suggested a few different times in the show, one with a voice screaming about the little man wearing the striped sweater staring at her from the doorway, the other when the alien enters Lain’s own room. Lain simply uses the existence of this legend to enter Alice’s room and talk to her. It is likely that, similar to sleep paralysis, this best works on people that are familiar with the legend in the first place. This use of an existing legend’s presence in people’s heads is exactly what the Knights are doing with the fake Lain, of course. I agree with the thought that Lain is some sort of representation of the collective unconscious, but just as an existence that mostly didn’t exist before the wired. The Lain in the final episode is a result of the fragments of Lain being picked up by Eiri, put into a body, and let grow and mature amongst humans. Though, as that one person suggested, it’s possible that sundress Lain is the true original Lain, and existed whole in the collective unconscious even before the wired. Which suits the thought that she was the deity that influenced Eiri’s creation of protocol 7.
I thought this was a very insightful interpretation of the show. The conclusion I came to, which made the most sense to me, was that Lain was a 4th dimensional being. And in lack of better terms, the wired in it or it self was the continuous world lain inhabits. As a 4th D being lain exist outside the constraints of time, that is how Lain could be everywhere, with everyone at all times. That is also how at the end she was able to Turn back time to moments right before her influence changed everything. That’s right she didn’t simply rewrite memories, but turned back the clock, as evident when they show all the characters throughout the show who have died. The only way for that to be possible is time travel, and as we all know 4th dimensional beings possess the ability to Manipulate time.
And now I seem to understand.
lmao
Lol I get it 😂
Lol no we don’t 😂
you are an honest man
'seem'
The only thing I truly understand about this show is that Lain needs a hug.
FOR REAL THOUGH she discovered she wasn’t who she expected to be and then her family was real?? Then she spiraled into despair and the only moments that present tranquility or at least relief is when Arisu reaffirms her existence or when she has her dad when she feels lonely and desperate
In the ps1 Canon she builds a giant dad-bot just to hold her. It's so sad
True
@@boscorner is her dad even that good tho?
Let’s all love lain…
This is actually kinda a crazy anime because in 2020-21 we are seeing the internet/algorithms control peoples perceptions of reality on a mass scale.
yeah the stupid ones
@@tapsofosiris3110 U ain't safe bruh
@@tapsofosiris3110 The stupid ones? Dude, that means everyone!
Yeah this shit is deep!
@@rumfordc LOL!!!
This series was so far ahead of its time. In the late 90's when it was being created, the idea the Internet/Wired would be "integral" and tied to outside life wasn't even a dream (or nightmare) for most people, much less a foregone conclusion... yet we are LIVING in that time NOW.
Perfect Blue is the exact same way.
Present day heh, present time hahahahaha
@@Alex918YT i agree. I watched perfect blue and then i was recommended Lain. I then stepped back and looked at the world around me. Everyone on their phone. Taking selfies. Making Tik Toks. Its a nightmare that left mea bit fucked up for weeks.
Col not agree, though. In the series the world shown is at some different, higher, level, compared to what we got here now. It will take years and years, or maybe will never happens in reality at all.
@@JebAlert I was looking for this comment
This anime give me such a strange feeling when i was watching it, something like a fear, but not like in horror movies... I cant even explain it... And i just feel amazed how can something cause such a deep feeling, this is a masterpiece
It's called Psychological Horror. The movie "Get Out" is a good example of it.
yeah, its a bit confusing and this anime brings anxiety sometimes... that's why i can't watch it till the end, i just feel so confused, but i still think this anime is interesting in it's own way
@@kanitmann946 How can you compare Lain with such... movie?
For me when watching it, its like a fear of our reality breaking, everything we ever knew was wrong or imagined, and realizing we have zero control, etc. Its definitely a existential fear.
I think the phrase you're looking for is existential anxiety.
Holy crap
you did it
you explained EVERYTHING it has to offer
hats off to you my friend
I'll explain it in 2 words... higher conscience! 😎
@@hapwn i can explain it in three: Jair Messias Bolsonaro
@@antigraphein943 O dia que a consciência humana depender de uma pessoa que mostra caixas de cloroquina para emas e que mal consegue argumentar qualquer coisa, a humanidade está perdida!
@@tailsondelima335 triggered
@@tailsondelima335 Eu não creio que tem gente falando do Bolsonaro até em um vídeo americano, sobre um anime que não tem nada a ver com a situação. Você deixa o Twitter, mas o Twitter não deixa você.
Thanks. Everyone has videos explaining what they think lain means but, no one explains what actually happened in the story.
Precisely
Because trying to explain the story from the beginning after watching the whole thing is really damn hard.
I really didn't get the anime am i dumb or it just very confusing in the way it tells its story
oofingberg just finished it and it’s a very big mind fuck I gurante you over 95% of the viewer base was lost on their first watch.
@@mranimetalks8168 99% was. You arent guaranterable
Everyone always asks, “What is lain?”
This video explains, “How does lain?”
But nobody asks, "How is lain?"
@@applebottomjeansss i do
This is the best Lain video/explanation I’ve seen so far.
You got likes thought I'd tell you
@@Nayhan123 whats her ap scale?
"And you don't seem to understand" i do now. more or less i think?
It would be great if film theory had an intro to a 'Lain' video that starts with that lyric, and then Mat Pat would narrate and say, "I do now - more or less, I think? Welcome to Film Theory!"
A shame you seemed to be a honest man
i guess it's a deep anime which is you have to watch it several times to understand, its just like EOE or Ergo proxy, i have to watch it repeatly and thus a bit understand whats happening
The awesome part about this anime was that the Creator wanted everyone who watched the anime to figure out everything there selves.
Did they never publish an official explanation?
@@tillum7593 in interviews they basicaly said they wanted viewers to come to their own interpretations. I cant post the link here because youtube will delete the comment
To me Lain is all of us. We only exist in other people's perception of us, so that there are multiple us. We are as omnipresent as Lain is. But that omnipresence goes away once people forget us. (This is what I thought when watching Lain, I don't mind if it is a refutable argument, its just an interpretation)
Concluding ; since we have watched the show lain exists, therefore lain is.
This is same idea tackled in NGE hmm
That is what I came away with. The real lain is the lain that exists. While information of you does exist in others, and a general concept of you has always existed, the only true existence is you. Throughout the story they try to get the real lane to destroy her body so that the lain in the wired takes her place, but she rejects that idea and continues to anchor the many versions of herself around the real her.
@@Shadow_Play3r yes it is, but nge is a little bit more confusing imo
@@Shadow_Play3r Kind of but its told in a much more raw, visceral way rather than how lain does it, mainly due to the fact that Anno was extremely depressed and suicidal when making Eva
I actually had a different interpitation of the ending. I don't think she erased Protocal 7. It's still there. She just removed the information on how to use it. Her visiting her friend as her friend was an adult shows she can still manifest herself any time she pleases. But she also knows now the conquinces of humans having access to P7. So she keeps her distance and remains as a watcher over humanity. She becomes a true trinity. Human, God, and machine. Existing in all electronics, able to take flesh, but also knowing now what happens when she takes a heavy hand in the affairs of humans. So she keeps things gentle and guiding. Rather than firm and controlling as the Knights wanted her to be.
This is also how i interpreted it
Nice interpretation, however, there is no Trinity. You shouldn't forget the existence of "god", who was the one to manipulate the whole thing and create Lain. Lain is just the byproduct of a being who abandoned his body for his wish to be loved. She just choose to destroy him and isolate herself from the world, cuz she doesn't want to be what her creator wished the to be, she defied the will of her alter ego, that's it, wired Lain, and supressed her by making everyone forget about her.
Serial experiments Lain is a story which talks about a girl who defied her destiny by contradicting even the wish of her creator. She didn't want to destroy her physical form because everyone trough that her wired form was more fit to be Lain, she wished for a existence where she doesn't need to make anyone suffer because her existence and ability to modify everyone's memories trough the wired, that's why she made everyone forget about her.
As the anime itself says, we only exist in the perception of others. If no one can see us, we doesn't really have a connection with anyone, however, we still exist somewhere. If someone dies, his remnants transform the reality in a way or another, however big or small, even if no one notices that. Even trough Lain can't die and can't be see by others, she will still be here, and will return to reality if she ever sees the need for that.
In short, she's a NOBODY.
No one knows she exists and she can't participate in any human affairs, nobody cares or remembers her. Some sad existence.
And, no. God doesn't exist. Not in that way this movie thinks anyway.
The real thing is: We are all our own individual gods. And we each are powerful beings able to make our own fates.
So this concept of "big brother is watching" has always been kinda dumb for me. These themes are so common in anime and game at that era (before Y2K, where people were so dumbly excited about the world ending just as year 2000 hits, the conspiracy theory that all systems are going to crash and the world went into chaos, etc. And HELLOOO??? Today is 2023 and nothing of that sort is happening. In fact, life is just easier. More connected, but IN A GOOD WAY), so every anime studio kinda compete for the trophy of the weirdest, heaviest, psychological bullshit they can muster up. Let's hire the mentally sickest story creator to do so, if possible. And ramp up the angst.
Wanna know something funny? You'll find that today's generation of Japanese youths DON'T CARE ANYMORE about these kinds of anime. They're all into the more relaxed and laid back genshin impact thingys. Afterall, it's more realistic. Life is already so hard as it is. No need to complicate them further with scifi Psychological babble. They don't care for fridge logic anymore when getting steady jobs are harder than being an omnipresent E-girl.
Its only people who got their on their late trains in ANIME exposure who think this is great stuff. Well, as in all case of "seeing it as the 1st time.. Awe".
I was unfortunate and get exposed on one too many copycats/similar themed anime. And I realized that it's dumb all along. It's like complicated diet routines that seems smart but only ruins the body instead. And I thought major Kusanagi was cool as a 5 year old. Now I think she's just a damn bland and boring lesbian piece of junk. Cheers.
Ah, so Lain is the manifestation of the Earth's consciousness rendered in order to bring about the evolution of humanity by merging the Wired and the physical world in order to get humans to abandon their bodies and evolve past their physical beings, my brain hurts lol.
But she ultimately rebels against Protocol 7 and Eiri in order to let humans just be well....human.
so like instrumentality in evangelion
Very similar to Christian mythology, which is also similar to Egyptian mythology.
@@SocialKidmusic dude. Do you even read the bible?
@@jonasjasikevicius8780 Yes I do.
Best explanation of Serial Experiments Lain I’ve seen on RUclips. Literally NO ONE else picked up on the fact that Lain’s original existence, prior to existing in the Wired by way of Protocol 7 and in physical form by way of Erie, was that of the collective unconscious of the earth and all the people in it. I was so happy when those “????” turned into “Earth’s planetary consciousness,” I was just like, “Yes, YES somebody GETS IT!”
And thank you for clearing up Lain’s family were hired to act as surrogates by the Tachibana Corporation. That was not clear to me when I watched it at all.
doesn't make much sense though
It's the thing about the Earth's population approaching the same as the number of neurons in the brain too
About lain family acting weird and the "dad" coming back to say goodbye when he was told not to in the show as well as being questioned if her family is real or not it kinda exposed it at least for me also the strange suit men stalking her who seemed to be able to get away with stuff it was definitely suspicious
My favorite thing about the idea of Lain being the earth's consciousness is that, ultimately, if she is all of us connected, she longs for the same things most humans do. The entire reason why she wants to be loved and understood is because all of us do - she's the embodiment of all our desires, fears, rights and wrongs. Honestly one of my guesses was that she created the "evil Lain" so that she didn't have to manifest those parts of personality into her real life body - when she manifested herself she basically wanted to erase the "id" part of herself so she created another her and gave her "id" to her and locked her in the wired. That's why she's different from other human beings - part of what being human is was missing. But your explanation that knights created the evil Lain sounds more plausible. I love how there are so many way to explain this show. An incredible video, thank you!
Yeah I think it plays the concept of how human can be fundamentally both good and evil. We only try to show our good and socially accepted side to the world and especially the internet where we can create a perfect persona. but even though we hide (anti-lain) the things we hate about ourselves or considered immoral and unacceptable behavior or opinions in society doesn’t mean it’s not there. I love how he explain the 3 lains because their in all of us w
I swear, it’s like every small thing in the show has multiple interpretations that can all be right at the same time
That's a really interesting theory on the first episode in particular; for as many times as I've watched Lain, I hadn't at all thought of the possibility of the "teleporting", hazy lettering, and smoke from her fingertips as being indicative of her getting acclimated to her body.
I believe the vast majority of people are looking at those events from a much more "outside-the-box" viewpoint, such as "well these are common symptoms of schizophrenia so Lain is schizophrenic lol", but I'm totally on board with this idea as it's more consistent in-universe and doesn't require headcanon (for lack of a better word) to be explained.
Also, liked and subbed. Let's all love Lain.
Tyler lain od’s on acid and disassociates for a week
Serial Experiments Lain, is closer to our universe than you'd think. This is the future
R. D. Laing, the person Lain was named after, said that schizophrenic people are the first ones to awaken to the true nature of reality. Lain being schizophrenic doesnt mean the narrative is wrong and all those supernatural things arent real, its the opposite!
@@YY-ln1ol
by communicating do u mean your bussy actually "receives" the message ??
So basically... Gendo starts the human instrumentality project that is a forced evolution that merges everyone into one perfect being- wait no wrong anime about how it’s good to be alive....
Get in the Lain, Shinji!
...they are both 14...
They're basically the same anime except one has cool mechs and one has kawaii girl in bear suit.
@@seedubhuntx the original evangelion never had a problem with that
almost red icon
Lain is pretty much what Hegel referred to as the absolute in his phenomenology of spirit. The story of Lain is a story of her discovering she is this absolute akin to how Hegel discovered his dialectical in which he proposes this absolute is the final form history will take.
The same Hegel who was right?
I mean wrong... no, he was right. No, not right. He was wrong, definitely. I think he was right, however.
@@baltofarlander2618 lol
If you watch enough anime, you never need to take hallucinogens.
because rabid consumption of the internet and/or anime induces schizophrenia
@@sjuvanet impossible
@@thomasdilfurd4176 nope
@@sjuvanet Can't say I can prove you wrong but in my experiences it's been the other way around.
@@MIWRISOT if you substitute your reality with an imaginary anime one for long enough, you are bound to blend the two and find both element blending into each other. e.g., weeb kids that watch too much naruto and start doing the handsigns with the intention of accomplishing something outside of rp, or kids who watch dbz attempting to go super saiyan. autism amplifies it all.
Who is Lain?
“Real world” suggests Lain is human (body).
“God” suggests Lain is program (soul).
“Bolder self” suggests Lain is transcendent goddess (Seer).
But Lain rejects all of these suggestions.
Lain is not personal subject.
Lain’s True Self Is Absolute.
Agree... I'm me
Is this a hegel refrence?
Lain is Lain
Cool and good
@@lainiwakura4678 I'm me she says
Fascinating video so far, but I need you to know that when you say “anti-Lain”, the auto-generated captions interpret it as “Aunt Elaine”
😂😂😂 lmfao
Yeah, i'm french and i put english subtitles to better learn the language but when it's auto generated by youtube it's a real mess
Lain is the Earth experiencing itself. She is the culmination of all human subconscious, put in a human body, and made to *live* . An entity made entirely of the subconscious; made conscious.
I love that the series was shown not told
Right brain hemisphere thinks in images after all, and it is the one possessed by God
My middle name is lain. It WAS based off this anime.
@W0RLD W1D3 4P47HY Ikr?
ITS CRAZY
Your parents are Lain fans huh? Tell them they are cool.
You are cool :)
B r o
Throughout the show theres a recurring theme of "you are the sum of others memories of you".
I thought sundress lain was the result of deleting herself from everyones memories. The only person with memories of her, is her. Sundress lain might be her own perception of herself
oh wow i never thought about it like this ...!! very interesting
Now THIS is quality content. Keep up the good work my dude. Can't wait to see more!
Lain has always been one of my favorite anime. I first saw it in high school around the time it was released and I've owned the DVD box set for almost twenty years. I've been rewatching it lately and I feel like with fresh eyes as an older adult, and with the way technology and our relationship with the internet has progressed since its release, I've understood it better. For example the Knights storyline was much clearer to me than its ever been in the past.
I've heard this often in discussions of the series as of late but I'm still skeptical of the idea that Lain willingly sealed her own memory. My perception has always been they managed to get a piece of what she was into a body, into "hardware", literally personifying her and then set up a fake family for her as an experiment. And Lain's actions from there are an attempt to reconnect with the rest of her higher self. Maybe that's wrong but I find that impression hard to shake.
But I think you hit the nail on the head with her being the Earth's consciousness/the collective consciousness. Otherwise they brought that up and seemingly didn't follow through with it beyond and explanation of why people were doing things like the KIDS experiment. It's seemingly forgotten about. Except, if we accept this idea, it wasn't. And if her actions are an attempt to reconnect to her higher self she would then in turn connect with all humanity as she does in the end.
But the end result which was my first revelation about what story is actually being told is that the Wired either connected to what some might call "god" or Lain became a god through all of this and struck down Eri who was a pretender. The Christian-like "savior has to become human to save humanity" angle many people go to is also a temptingly easy one, but doesn't really play from a Japanese perspective.
Well, that has to be the best explanation of Lain I had the privilege to witness, hat off to you good sir.
Still though, as a die-hard fan of the show I can tell that there is still one of two things you’re missing, like the fact that episode 13 tells us pretty explicitly that protocol 7 resonance technology and the collective unconscious are just not enough to explain Lain. That there is something beyond even the wired that nor Eiri nor her were conscious even existed until it prevented her from deleting herself completely from all existence. I don’t want to explain it here because visual story-telling doesn’t translate well into words but if you rewatch SEL, lookout for orange light/lighting like the one at 16:20. Then it should become at least a little clearer.
Also, another interesting point is that it’s actually hinted pretty hard through text in the background that Tachibana has the technology to create artificial human and used it at least to create Mika Iwakura and perhaps even Lain body.
Finally, in the last we see of Taro and his friends, we can see that the brat handheld navy now functions with an OS named “Kids technology”, and it somehow manage to catch a glimpse of Lain outside reality. So protocol 7 technologies is still clearly around under one form or another, which is probably why those damn electric line are still humming and the creepy shadows still have color spots in them ^^
can you elaborate on the significance of the orange lightning and what there is beyond the wired? it sounds extremely interessting
@@tillum7593 The “beyond the wired” stuff pretty much all hinge on the discussion between Lain and herself in episode 13. Now, the translation is a little iffy and kinda change from version to version but as best as I understand it, when Lain ask where she is after failing to delete herself, the other Lain more or less says that “it can’t be the wired or the collective unconscious because no human structure could store such a vast amount of memory”. Lain then remark that “the wired was just connected to something else, but what?”.
The “what” is never elaborated on, but we can still logically deduce what it isn’t and some of its properties:
- As plainly said, this isn’t the wired nor the collective unconscious but something much, much bigger.
- It probably isn’t the Schumann resonance either, as Lain is well aware of its existence and effects on the wired since it was used by Eiri. So it wouldn’t make sense for her to be surprised by it.
- It contain memory, and a tremendous amount of it at that. It is more or less suggested that at least all the information created by humanity is in there, including memories from the future.
- Being there is making Lain effectively omnipresent through both space and time.
With all of that we can deduce that we are dealing with an everywhere, everywhen kind of dimension that contain at least all of humanity memory.
So, a pretty nifty place, but also a very lonely one, or so it would seem until “father” appear out of the orange ^^
Now the first thing to note about this apparition is that Lain make a clear point of distinguishing it from Yasuo, her fake human father. She always called Yasuo “Papa” while she refers to the apparition with a much more formal “father”. The implication here, I think, is that “father” is the “true god” that Lain and Eiri refer to in their final confrontation in episode 12. The entity that started it all by inspiring Eiri into rewriting protocol 7 and Lain true “creator” of sorts. But what interest us here is that the guy seems to be quite fond of the dawn/twilight as he hang out above the clouds in a sky bathed in orange light. And this is not the first time in the show that kind of lighting was used.
The most obvious from a cinematography stand-point is that scene in episode 5 where infant Lain sit in the part of her room bathed in twilight while “puppets” spout Knights propaganda at her from the shadows. The allegory here being pretty clearly that the Knights and Eiri are detouring Lain from her “father” and whatever he represent.
Other scenes include Hodgeson final moments and the meeting with the Tachibana executive.
Overall, orange lighting seem to represent the presence or the influence of “father” in a scene, a pretty smart way to include his character in the entire show while only revealing him in the last episode.
@@Robin447 Thank you so much for writing this!
@@Robin447absolutely correct. The wired in the end was directly attached to the spirit world. Very few people understand this part of the show as well
@@ratecyanbasically the concept of the "watcher" in eastern philosophy. The idea of reality and illusion being the same thing is obvious across the east, tracing it's way all the way back to the idea of our reality being Vishnu's sleeping dream. If we take new perspectives the universe as a sort of functioning mind a la Bateson and Jung, then the reason why we exist is because we're a part of someone else's imagination.
This is the best review of Lain I have ever seen. Impressive.
I like his scientific way of dissecting Lain. Rather than spouting personal/emotional interpretation, he explained Lain from a quite objective view point, referring to phrases in anime as much as possible.
its scary how the show predicted a lot of what we're going through now with the internet being an integral part of our lives nowadays. It's like a reminder to how it can make or break someone, and how you can't live solely online. That there's always the world you live in, that too can make or break you. Honestly this show could last as long as the internet itself. It really is amazing that way
I knew their were some sort of Freudian philosophy references in this anime, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what the different versions of Lain truly represented. Thank you so much for this incredible insight!
Freud sucks, lain sucks, both cringe-lord crap
Damn, I've spent like 5 hours for searching some explanation on this anime, reading reddit, watching other vids on youtube .. and I finally found this video, thanks a lot dude, you did some incredible work, all that you said in the video makes at least some sense to me and puts the picture together, what a relief.
"No matter where you go,
everyone is connected."
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 video.
I don't blame you, instead wanted to thanks you for evoking feeling within me.
The mind is like anything else: skills, talents, muscles etc.......You keep using, practicing, pushing your own limits, and in time you'll see great amounts of growth.
Writing like this isn't made to be 100% understood since a good protion of it comes from concepts and vague ideas that are presented to invoke certain feelings, not understanding the certain parts is not a bad thing either. That's why even the authors of such pieces are open for different interpretations, they knwo nobody can see it from their view, but other views are not wrong.
i'm not a writer myself, but maybe you should start with thinking of concecpts and an atmosphere you want to convey instead of a clear plotline first, adding more until it takes form. Pretty sure complex writing is never a straight way from start to finish.
You are NOT stupid. If you want to write you’ll need to practice and sharpen your skills.
you aren't stupid my friend. this is really complex as the topic lain is. it's good to admire people for things they are capable of but please stop talking yourself down. when you lack of one thing, other things in you are therefor stronger. start looking for those, enhance them and be proud of them instead of being angry of something you think that lacks in you. sorry if i can't bring over my point, english isn't my mother language but i hope you got what i want to say. never talk so bad about yourself kay? :)
Don't tell yourself that you're stupid.
For one, I don't agree with everything sad in this video, but this does not make me stupid, nor does it make the person who made the video seem stupid.
If you look me something and you would like to invest time and energy into that activity, then simply do it. Start with baby steps, focus on the present and try not to be so judgemental with yourself. Remember, most great things star of as being small things.
*blinks*
That actually makes sense.
Thanks
Now I seem to understand. Thanks you seem an honest man.
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あなたの構造分析を支持します。 素晴らしいビデオをありがとう。
Serial experiments lain reminds of Coraline, they both resonate with me as they are open to interpretation. They both have very very deep and philosophical meanings or messages, and they have an amazing amount of theorise-ability, they are both about control, reality
Lain is the creator inside their creation, becoming aware of their game. their pieces all scattered aiming for their specific pieces goals. eventually coalescing on Lain as their owner. Lain being both sides not the one who made the game while also being the absolute entirety of it all. The science and acts that led up to the events in the anime, are what led Lain to becoming "aware". The spread consciousness becoming manifest in a form unexpected, but also expected. as in, something grand will exist, but what exactly it was, was unknown. And so trying to shift that being (Lain) into the mold that they believe she should have fit (their version of their god, or their end goal, the spread consciousness). This is why she is so connected to the phenomena before even touching the Wired. Her existence was the result, or more accurate, the revelation of, the truth. As if nothing and everything could exist with or without Lain herself. But that also means she would also be there and not there, as if she MUST exist, but even if she didnt, that some part of her would have to exist.
yay you got it.
Amazing
@@akiradkcn lets love lain
Thank you for making the show make more sense. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations.
is that a nge reference?
i have a love/hate relationship with these types of shows AHHH i loved analyzing them and trying to figure everything out but at the same time, watching these types of shows makes me paranoid. tysm for explaining it more in depth
Same, I love Lain a lot but I never recommend it to anyone. Just because most people will not be able to understand unless they watch one of these videos.
@@kenmahyu exactly! i get hesitant whenever someone asks me if animes like this are good because while they are, i'd rather not put the stress of understanding everything on them
@@drainyourlife It's not good lol. its edgelord cringe and bad
@@steiwe5648 i get that ur brain's so tiny it's barely capable of understanding anything let alone why people like s.e.l. but people have different opinions
@@steiwe5648 I bet you watch shit like rent a girlfriend
Ohh THAT'S why there was liquid coolant all over Lain's floor. I thought it was due to her cooling system leaking and her not caring enough to clean it up unless it could harm her massive nightmare Navi.
what was the liquid? or why was the liquid there?
huh so y was there liquid?
@@tillum7593 13:12
@@nutsafiso7609 13:12
@@tillum7593 It's a cooling agent made so the navi doesn't overheat
This video/theory/explanation is godlike dude you said and prove everything in the best possible, and understandable way. What an absolute unit you are dude, amazing.
and before I even watched this video I already thought about lain as a worldwide self conscious represented as a human being. wow man just wow Keep the Great Work. :)
Been saving this in my playlist for right after I was finished watching this for the first time, and boy am I glad I did.
So basically she’s Earth-Chan?
Yes, but she _prevented_ the dimensional merge. Maybe CC is still evolving.
@@hypermecha3040 *The entity known as Lain has ascended to a higher level of cosmic understanding than Magi-Chan, and knows that the dimensional merge cannot happen due to unpredictably destructive consequences.*
*Lain has not only become one with the Earthly collective consciousness that is the internet, but her understanding of the universe is now the equivalent of a school child knowing 2 + 2 = 4. In other words, she understands reality better than any of us can.*
*She came to me in a dream once. I sort of forgot what she looked or sounded like, but I know it was her because of the existence of a Japanese anime based off of her. She is warning numerous people about the consequences of the "Dimensional Cataclysmic Event" as she calls it, and hopes that spreading the word will help prevent it.*
*She even showed me visions of the merge actually happening in an alternate timeline, and all the abhorrently weird and terrifying things that would happen to me and everyone else as a result. It is something that I wish I could unsee, and also something that I pray does not happen in real life.*
*Lain may be beyond human comprehension, but she is far more grounded in reason and logic than the insane Magi-Chan.*
@@eliesh3833 What the fuck dude
@Eli Esh now there’s my man of the hour. Someone besides me ACTUALLY saw and read the prophecy....nice.... ^_^
@@eliesh3833 so we can't travel and are stuck forever?
Really sad that she was brought into existence just to be forgotten...
I absolutely loved this explanation! I watched the series after my bf recommended it, but I was left super confused. This video genuinely helped me understand both the show and why he likes it so much :)
Damn.. I'm really distraught at my inability to have uncovered these hidden meanings and themes in this amazing show. Props to the creator for deciphering the story for us. I will use this analysis as motivation to develop my investigative skills.
Hugely autistic comment
Hahaha im distraught at my inability to even put in effort to seriously try to uncover these hidden meanings and just straight away go to explanation videos.
Wow... 10/10 video. A lot to unpack here. I'll enjoy my next rewatch more from this video!
You take Eiri's words too seriously imho. You hint that he might just be trying to deceive her at some point, but then go ahead and take him at his word when he says he created her real-life body, which is only a hologram of some sort. I don't think that's ever the case. It's just what the Knights and Eiri want Lain to think - so she gives up her body and joins them in the Wired. (They want her to be a knight among knights instead of on the God level of Eiri - or even above him.)
Therefore, I think Lain - from the beginning - is a kid with better Psi abilities than the children experimented on in KIDS. Tachibana get a hold of her (before the series starts) and experiment on her. Eiri has already put himself into Protocol 7 and commited suicide. His co-worker (Lain's "father") is working to undo Eiri's selfish deeds. Lain's abilities allow her to bridge the Wired and RL theoretically, but they have to form her. So her own personality is completely erased, and articial memories of growing up with her "Dad", "Mom" and "sister" are implanted. This way, the "father" can control and steer her development. Tachibana, Lain's "father" and Lain are working against Eiri and his Knights.
At the end, Lain manages to undo basically everything, her abilities allow her to free herself from Tachibana's grip and in a way, she takes Eiri's place in the Wired as "God". And after a while, she reincarnates herself into a human body again at a later time, when Arisu's grown up. Kind of a Jesus thing. God turned human. But she's omnipresent, and some shadow of a memory of her is in the world, anyway. Therefore we, as viewers, are Arisu. And we're told to all love Lain. Because that's what Lain really wants. Arisu is the "looking glass" through which we, the people, see Lain.
If you're still reading here, and my thoughts aren't completely off the track and at least a _possible_ explanation, you'll see that the comments below that claim that you, Mitchell, have "done it" and finally "explained lain": No. There are at least a dozen explanations that are well-rooted within the series itself, and most if not all have hiccups within the series as well. The creators never validated one explanation or another - and have never given theirs, for a reason. The real meaning behind the series is that you should take what's there and be turned on to think about these subjects yourself. And not to forget about loving Lain. That's what we're all doing as fans of the series. That's the genius behind serial experiments lain.
Yes, this anime is open for a lot of different interpretations. And after reading some statements like yours, i can finally come to this conclusion aswell. I'll need to rewatch all over again with another eyes, because even with all the explanation, is not easy to have my own conclusions about it at all! But even with all that, i know the anime itself explains everything, i just need to pay more attention. After finishing it for the first time days ago, i discovered this anime was released in 1998, exaclty in the middle of the the ''boom era''' of the internet, where people get to know more about what internet was, without mention a lot of theories and etc... About the same topic, we have another video games, like Deus-Ex and etc.
Honestly i find this theory closer to a possible truth. I believe Eiri did not create Lain as a software nor as an hardware. Like you said i think she is a kid with higher PSI powers, which would explain why she's so fast learning and has abilities that no one has. I do not agree with the theory of Lain being the humans sub-consciousness, it would dig too much into a fantasy realm that i think does not fit well with the sci-fi aspects of the story.
It is unknown whether or not Eiri knew Lain existence before killing himself or before creating Protocol 7, even though he claims to have created her.
Also: if Lain was already existing in the Wired, why none of her school friends already saw her? It is only until she starts using The Wired between the end of ep 1 and episode 2 that we see the Wired Lain at the Cyberia, but before that no one seems to have ever met the Wired Lain.
Also, Eiri and the Knights makes contact with Lain only after she starts using the Wired...or at least that's what i got...
Also it is said throughout the entire series that everyone has an " Wired alter ego" when connected to the network.
Also (Part 2 🤣): in Ep 12 Eiri says that he could "debug" Lane, but that can only happen if she gives up her physical body. It means that if Eiri was her programmer, he could have been already able to debug and control her, but he is not. So i think Lain is used by Tachibana, as a PSI Kid, to be formed and developed as a new God in order to fight and remove Eiri from the Protocol 7 and the Wired. Fighting the Knights and Eiri was probably her first and main purpose, under the Tachibana project.
Good point:p.
Thorough and insightful.
Lain is everywhere.
i think lain is a god. not 'the god' in the sense of creator of all things known and unknown to man, but a different kind of god. a being (not physical) with infinite existence, so no beginning and no end. like consciousness itself, or an omnipresent idea. i think eiri is just a man who suffered some form of divine intervention which lead to him giving lain a form in the wired and a physical body in the real, human world. but that's all he did - he gave lain a form and a body under her own guidance, without knowing it. he believed he not only created this incredibly powerful being, but that he also gave it purpose. that's why he regards himself as a god and why the knights follow and worship him as one. the point of lain being in the human world was for her to bridge and eventually destroy the border between the real world and the digital one. however, upon entering the human world lain realises that she herself wants to live as a human, among humans. whether intentionally or unintentionally, she uses her ability to alter memories to alter her own memory. that's why she's confused about her existence. that's why in the beginning we see her as just a shy schoolgirl who knows nothing about technology or the wired, yet mysteriously has an innate connection to it, which is why she's able to grasp it so quickly and naturally. the knights and eiri wanted lain to insert herself into the subconsciousness of the entire world's population, so that when she eventually commits suicide, leaving her physical body behind, her consciousness and therefore her entire existence would be transferred into the wired, and the whole world would follow suit. because lain refuses to succumb to this plan, the knights and eiri do all sorts of things to try and break her and drive her to insanity, so she would kill herself. in the end, lain realises that she is actually the all-powerful one, which enables her to destroy eiri and the knights and change the world, because she realised existence is only confirmed by memory.
This should be the mandatory 14th episode of the show, haha. Thanks for the video, it helped me a lot!
I absolutely loved your video explaining serial experiments lain.
I only wish I had seen this video before watching serial experiments lain.
God. This level of convolutedness reminds me of xenogear.
when i finished the anime i was confused but thanks to this video i finally get it thanks man
Wow this is an excellent explanation of the series. I can't even call this a theory, everything lines up so well in a concise way that can be easily understood. Great work
So basically, Lain has an internet addiction, schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder? So you are telling me Lain is an average Reddit user?
When you were narrowing it down it all clicked at I was like " SHE IS THE EARTHS UNCONSCIOUS FREQUENCY! " and then you said it and I felt so smart.
Thank you so much for your work!
The idea of Lain being Earth spirit amazed me! Before that i was sure she was some kind of a heavily bugged software created by Eiri (and her other selves being alternate versions of the program). But your idea makes a lot more sense and i can't make myself think otherwise from now on :D
Also your explanation of alien-Lain really helped me to stop spitting "wtf was that anime?!".
In general, beautiful analysis. Love such art pieces as SEL that are rather a riddle than a show.
Really good video. I was so confused piecing things together but this really helped.
Just one thing I want to add to your theories for clarification:
This Schumann Resonance is actually not "Earth humming", those are not soundwaves, those are electromagnetic waves. And in the show, the big idea of Eiri, was to use it as basically free worldwide wi-fi, but that kind of wi-fi, that has all human minds connected to it by default. And that means they can transfer any data they want, if nearby there is any source of electromagnetic waves, they can remotely modulate etc. I'm pretty new to the show, just finished it yesterday, but damn, the plot goes so deep.
No wonder I thought the “Everyone is connected!” line from episode 2 seemed so important. The way you describe things makes it seem like it makes perfect sense, even if this is just one interpretation, it’s an amazing one. Wonderfully done video.
The way Lain of the wired jumps out as a coping mechanism and to how Lain reacts to mentions of her reminds me a lot of Dissociative identity disorder/DID, coming from someone with DID.
While Lain canonically isn't written to have it, that part of her character is heavily coded as such in my opinion.
@@electricfishfan7159 yup, huge agree. Altough I do think that perfect blue is a little more general about the dissociation, Lain can be read as a story with/about DID while perfect blue can't. No question that they both involve a lot of dissociation though
I love your explanation on explaining Serial Experiments Lain.
I've seen a lot of videos trying to explain this but your explanation was by far the best one.
The most underappreciated channel.
This is one of the best analysis of the material I've seen, friend. Love the work.
I believe "blue/turquoise dress Lain" is akin to the second inner voice all humans have, otherwise we couldn't have conversations with ourselves. Unexpectedly, this presence encapsulates Lain's humanity, at least in my opinion. I suppose anything with sentience has to have this also, but I prefer my interpretation. But yea, never once got the idea it was a fourth Lain in any meaningful way. Even when I was hopelessly stumped by everything else!
and we don't seem to understand... a shame you seemed an honest man.
I interpreted the ending conversation with her father as her coming in contact with the true god that influenced Eiri to create lains body. I also think that the creation of lains physical form is being attributed to this god as well judging by Eiris reaction when lain confronts him on whether or not creating her human form was his idea. To me this also explains how she is able to still exist and go to see Arisu after she had grown up. Its stated that existence is very closely tied to memory and being remembered, and with lain interacting with god, this shows that something still exists that knows her, which allows her to continue to be able to exert her presence in reality.
yeah, that's my interpretation too, saw a pretty good reddit comment saying about the God appearing as her dad which this vid lets out. Out of that, pretty much spot on. it's awesome we can come with different POVs based upon this piece
the only thing i've settled with Lain is that she's indeed some sort of collective unconscious, or in lacanian terms, the big other itself, especially regarding the ending and how she "deletes" herself, i.e. she does not delete herself at all, rather replaces the "social fiber", so to speak, with a new one that has no concept of Lain or the wired, effectively foreclosing the existence of the wired, through the wired. A total paradox.
This is the best video i've watched in months, thank you for allowing me to truly understand this piece of art
I'm not crying...you are.
This is quite a thoughtful analysis. Seeing her as -- I suppose -- a Gaia entity seems quite a natural interpretation, but it's one you clearly lay out an argument for that I don't think really has been done in this way before. Bravo.
I feel like the events of episode 13 indicate there could be more to the metaphysics here, however. Would the Proust reference to madelines be an indication that she's dispersing her ego again, possibly to re-remember in the future? It seems a late-stage moment of genuine confusion for her, not knowing what her path ahead should be.
I've tried my best to wrap my head around Proust's madeleine story in order to understand the context of your question, but frankly I'm struggling a bit. From what I've read I'm assuming that Proust's experience of the madeleines represent engaging with a stimulus that recalls latent memory (he eats the madeleine which leads him to recall forgotten memories about the time his grandmother used to give them to him), and that what you're saying is that the words her subconscious Yasuo says when asking to meet for madeleines in the future may make the suggestion that she's sowing the seeds to come back into the conscious in the future?
Assuming that I'm understanding Prout's madeleines then, like everything else in Lain honestly, it's still a bit ambiguous. Considering how heavy of a psychological presence and how important the conscious and unconscious memory/perception are in SEL I think they _do_ have to be a reference to Proust rather than him just coincidentally choosing madeleines, but at the same time my thematic understanding of Lain mandates that she _can't_ come back in the future. As I stated in the video, my reading of Lain was that at the end she willingly removes herself from conscious perception in order to preserve the humanity in humankind and keep the fabric of reality as an unchangeable truth, so I don't really think it makes sense with the message of the show for her to plan to come back later.
Based on _my_ reading of Lain and my understanding that her final action by resetting the world is due to her desire to keep her powers away from the public sphere in order to keep humanity away from the temptations of godhood, then the thought that immediately jumps out the most strongly to me with the context of Prout's madeleines would be that since that image of her father is a part of her subconscious, perhaps the [Proust] madeleines (stimulus that triggers forgotten memories) represent that it's one of her deepest hopes that her father will still occasionally see something that makes him briefly remember her (which does happen in the epilogue when he sees the empty chair at the table). Yasuo and Arisu were really the only positive, loving, personal relationships she had during her conscious life and so I think that the madeleines discussion was sort of paying tribute to that fact. Just like she visits Arisu one final time before permanently leaving public perception, I think the madeleine discussion was a way for her to kind of leave some sort of parting message for her father when he briefly remembers her during the epilogue.
There was no way I would have comprehend ANY of this when I was 9...only as a adult and seeing the repercussion of our lives being interconnected with the wired does a this story and concept make sense! This was way ahead of its time!
Thank you for this. A wonderful summation of a complex show,
SE Lain is one of the great Sci-fi for the ages! It captivated me in 2000 when I first saw it, and it's been so influential to me throughout my life.
Wow, this story is actually kind of sad
this is my theory about lain as well!! the collective unconscious of the Earth wanted to experience consciousness and connection to others so she got a body. Or maybe the people behind Protocol 7/The Wired forced her into it.
Great video btw, you touched on so many moments and details I didn't even pay attention to but they make this make sense
This video helped me out a lot! I could figure out some stuff I didn't understand and rewatched the series while putting pieces together. Definitely needs more views, I'll share it with everyone I know who watched Lain.
first off all: great vidoe and instanyl subscribing.
everyone asking who is Lain but no one ask HOW is Lain.
I absolutely loved this, bravo bravo bravo what a valuable essay. thank you for making it!
Nice!"Serial Experiments Lain" is one of my favorite cult animes.
It's interesting you mention the id, ego, and superego but not its relationship to the concept of the holy trinity.
Lain was the first anime I watched as a kid. this show actually shaped a lot of who i became. it taught me to be indifferent and keep myself protected from outside influence. without going into too much detail, that sort of thing really saved me from a lot of shit going on in my life.
Nice choice. The bs we hear and learn during our life might shape us into a really unwished formed, truly sad.
I'm writing this in the year 2023, and I see everyone talking about how ahead of its time Serial Experiments Lain was, but I suspect this will get even more impressive in the future.
All of our technology is moving towards a world where the physical and the digital are fused together, or even where the physical is seen as an imperfect expression of the digital. What will people feel when watching this anime when the AI has largely destroyed this barrier?
If you read this comment in a few years (if the YT servers are still running) I would love for you to tell me if this impression of mine was correct or not.
Who knows, personally, i don't think the ai is the problem, but what people might use it for.
And by people, i mean the ones who hold powers and might arrange means to use it against everyone for their own wishfull desires.
The most 90s Anime that I've ever watch
Fantastic explanation! Thank you for sharing your insights on this show that has had me scratching my head for about 15 years now.
Thanks for the explanation. Just finished the last episode, I felt like my brain is being rubik cubed. Can sleep better now
This is an absolutely brilliant analysis, no nonsense spot on information and deductions. Truly an achievement man.
I perceived Mika’s undoing as something closer to a replacement, the expulsion of her old personality to be substituted with another. This free personality fades into the collective unconscious in the doorway. We don’t know to what extent she is a natural human being in the first place, it’s likely that the kill switch was already inside her from the moment she was prepared to be Lain’s family. I would suggest that the words she saw on the tissue pack were either a hallucination in themselves like the similar writing in the soda, or acted as the trigger for the aforementioned kill switch. Taro bumping into her could also have been an intentional kill switch trigger of some variety.
Also, Lain’s body isn’t manifested via protocol 7, rather she has a real artificial human body, “a homunculus of artificial ribosomes”, fabricated for a copy of the wired Lain’s persona to inhabit. That’s the key difference between her and Eiri. My understanding of this is, Lain was inserted into a physical body grown by Eiri and the Knights in a lab, for the purpose of developing her persona into a personality of its own, a personality that can be moulded for the purpose of Eiri’s own plans. Before this, the “Lain” wasn’t a personality at all, just a hodgepodge of stories and thoughts of users from across the Wired, basically a meme, though helped along by Eiri’s fake Lains making such a persona have a more concrete existence in the minds of those users. She didn’t have any memories to delete or lock away in the first place. It likely would have been possible for Eiri to make a body for himself too, had he not have an ideology that rejects the thought that bodies are necessary. Of course it’s highly possible that that hodgepodge of stories and thoughts existed before the wired, fragments in the collective unconscious, though distinctly less of a unified existence. Being connected to far fewer people, any memes like Lain or the alien before the wired can’t have had much mental influence.
The fragments of “the real lain”/“the wired lain” that pop through on occasion are the second personality that’s inferred from the bits and pieces of stories that made the original Lain persona, while the normal shy Lain is what’s grown as a result of her human experience. Both existing in the same body. I don’t think she ever meets the real “Lain of the wired”, nor does anyone else, since what exists in the wired isn’t collected enough to act as though it has a real personality. What’s seen is only ever the fake Lain.
Similar to the stories that the original Lain was made of, the alien backstory with the Roswell incident and the MJ12 document was intended to give credence to another story of the wired, another story that had been given form by the subconscious of the users of the wired. Whether or not the alien actually existed never mattered, what mattered was that this propagating self-reinforcing concept, this meme, began to have sufficient power to enter into people’s minds, being perceived as invading their homes. This is suggested a few different times in the show, one with a voice screaming about the little man wearing the striped sweater staring at her from the doorway, the other when the alien enters Lain’s own room. Lain simply uses the existence of this legend to enter Alice’s room and talk to her. It is likely that, similar to sleep paralysis, this best works on people that are familiar with the legend in the first place. This use of an existing legend’s presence in people’s heads is exactly what the Knights are doing with the fake Lain, of course.
I agree with the thought that Lain is some sort of representation of the collective unconscious, but just as an existence that mostly didn’t exist before the wired. The Lain in the final episode is a result of the fragments of Lain being picked up by Eiri, put into a body, and let grow and mature amongst humans. Though, as that one person suggested, it’s possible that sundress Lain is the true original Lain, and existed whole in the collective unconscious even before the wired. Which suits the thought that she was the deity that influenced Eiri’s creation of protocol 7.
This is already bonkers as hell and I'm only 8min in
Excellent stuff. Stellar job in explaining this muddled masterpiece.
Cheers.
Thank you so much for your amazing effort in making this video! It connected the dots for me and now I appreciate the show even more.
I thought this was a very insightful interpretation of the show. The conclusion I came to, which made the most sense to me, was that Lain was a 4th dimensional being. And in lack of better terms, the wired in it or it self was the continuous world lain inhabits. As a 4th D being lain exist outside the constraints of time, that is how Lain could be everywhere, with everyone at all times. That is also how at the end she was able to Turn back time to moments right before her influence changed everything. That’s right she didn’t simply rewrite memories, but turned back the clock, as evident when they show all the characters throughout the show who have died. The only way for that to be possible is time travel, and as we all know 4th dimensional beings possess the ability to Manipulate time.
Amazing
this video explains what happened in lain more than lain does
Japan must have some insane subsidies for science projects.
and i tink that you're right about lain bein the will of the planetary consciousness that was deep af ty & bless you for that