T H A T  W A S  T H E  Y E A R  WH E N . . .

In 1998, Pioneer released the twisted, other-worldly vision of Yasuyuki Ueda's Serial Experiments Lain on an unsuspecting public. I was lucky enough to get a fansub of the series shortly after it was completed, and I was blown away by the unique nature of the whole production - it's like nothing you've ever seen before, and fuses the real world with that of "the Wired", (aka the Internet). Although it sounds like a truncated Matrix synopsis, Lain is in fact far more complex and mysterious than the Wachowski brothers effects-laiden sci-fi romp. What Lain manages to convey consistently is a sense that all is not as it should be, and avoids potted explanations and allows the viewer to draw their own conclusions. Anime fans took the series to heart and it recieved lavish critical acclaim.

A  D IS T I N C T I V E  L O O K

It's largely thanks to artist ABe Yoshitoshi that Lain has such a distinctive look and feel. He was plucked from his college studies to create the character designs and bizarre images that make up the series, and his since gone on to create and equally bizarre anime comedy called Neia Under 7.

Lain has a very creepy style - its just off-key enough to give the director some incredibly unique visuals to play around with, and coupled with the overall weirdness of the story, Lain becomes more than the sum of its parts and can be, at times, genuinely scary, bizarre and wonderful all at the same time.

Ueda plays with his audience, only answering the questions posed by the series with answers that lead to more questions. There are so many peices of the puzzle that at times it seems as if there's no reason to anything, at which point the series slaps you with something that suddenly focuses everything again and takes you off in a totally different direction. This jutting gear-changing can be quite dizzying, but its an amazing ride and utterly compelling. It's a series that demands close scrutiny though, so casual viewers or action junkies won't find much here to please them - Lain requires investment, and unlike so many building societies, Lain pays out with large dividends if you can stick with it.

A U D I O  O D D N E S S

Apart from the catchy opening tune by Boa (called Duvet for no apparent reason, and featuring the sublime voice of Jasmine Rogers) Lain's music is varied and very moody. It's certainly not light listening material, ranging from industrial to techno, and back to industrial via trance. The series soundtrack, Cyberia, is readily available if you go looking for it and may be worth a look if you fancy something a bit different. If you were lured in by the opening theme, then Boa's album, Race of a thousand camels, is probably going to be the better choice. It cost me £30 to import it, but was worth every penny ^_^

The backing to Lain is creepy a the visuals, and according to an interview with the Otakon panel (full page here) a group of sound engineer's working on the project created a palette of sounds for the director, which were used throughout the series 13 episodes.



W O R T H  P I C K I N G  U P  T H E N ?

Absoloutely. The fact that Lain is being released in this country, alongside other series such as Boogiepop Phantom and Noir, means that the market really has evolved. Lain brings with it a maturity and mystique that deserves to raise the profile of the medium and show that there are some series that can only really work as animation - its certainly change from giant robots or magical kiddie-oriented adventures, and as such demands some respect - hopefully the UK press will treat it as it properly and give it the proper coverage it deserves.

Lain is out now from MVM.


- Lock on by RPL, Ed

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