No.19257
The show had a calm, moody schizophrenic atmosphere that I haven't seen get captured today. Unsure and shaky, the world around the protagonist tells a story of its own through warped lighting and voices/buzzing. The plot seemed like allegory or an excuse sometimes but it was a fairly entertaining mystery at the first half and commentary on the second. The character interaction and thoughts truly shine in the dark. Lain's fragile mental state present a certain unreliability to some events. You can't truly be 100% sure with how Lain has multiple personalities. The seconds of silence that drag on forever between lines really ramps the mood of the show. It gave you breathing room for thinking and reflecting but still implied something on its own. The art style is distinct too and looks beautiful today. The budget might not be the best, but the style ramp it up. My first experience with the show (very long ago) was a pretty cherished tale. Very tired, woke up, drank milk and eated something and gone to the living room. It was airing on TV and I tuned in while Lain was logging in to Navi for the first time. I was very surprised to see an anime about computers to such extent and sat and watched it until end, coming off really confused to what it was about but in a bit of a wonder. The "coming of age" story through Lain resonated in me at the time. Was pretty clueless on what the future held at stake or who was I. The show really sticked onto my mind and it effectively changed me as a person. I heavily felt suicidal, isolated myself from everyone and actively avoided people but everything felt so clear after it. As for our surroundings, everything just seems so busy and connected now, while in the 90s and 2000s you still felt secluded in your region, the advent and adoption of the Internet resulted in a much more globalized nature and delivery of news, social affairs and information. Everything feels more active but more lonelier at the same time. Like big melting pot, it promotes detachment and dehumanization and everything looks so superficial and fake. Thousands of false information are spread to the Internet and it's too big to handle. Some could be fooled or effectively brainwashed and base their way of living by thing anyone can write. Internet's evolution was also interesting. Like the real world, it also felt secluded and you had plenty to learn and discover. Now everything is manufactured and hubbed. I couldnt find services that did everything for me before, but now everything tries to do something more than supposed to. I liked how Lain represented the nature of social dimensions and manifestations in the Internet, it was a realistic depiction of peoples inner thoughts. In the end, it was right, we are all connected.
I think is a good anime, I wish there was more calm anime that tried to tell a mature story like Lain. Recommendation?
No.19266
Lain is probably my favorite TV show ever. It holds a real special place in my heart though, because around the time I first watched it, I was having serious problems with depersonalization and my memory due to trauma. Watching a show that dealt with problems of identity, memory, truth, and being really helped.
>>19257I was going to say more in my post, but you said almost everything I wanted to say myself.
I recommend Haibane renmei, it's by the guy who did art for lain not schizophrenic or very dark, but calm and moody.
No.19308
>>19260+1 for perfect blue. Was an incredible experience
No.19335
>>19308Ghost hound was a good one in that direction too, there are a number of others too, but they're not "cute little girl" animes like SEL so never caught on as much.
Has anyone here ever explored the possibility that SEL was just another waifu anime with some edgy sci-fi elements added to help appeal to the target demographic?
No.19337
>>19335Probably, but there's really no point to that kind of snobbish contrarianism though. People have done the same thing for YN. Sometimes, if something seems like there's some kind of weight and or meaning to it, it actually does. SEL definitely owes some of its popularity to the main character being a cute girl, but saying all of the obvious allegories and social commentary is just a coincidence makes no sense.
No.19346
>>19337What if the social commentary is all worthless because its nearly impossible to accept that kind of sanctimony from people who coldly and ruthlessly exploit cute little girls. If some thug shot you in the stomach to steal your wallet and then as he was walking away with your money said "I wouldn't have ended up like this if George Bush had funded public education like he promised" would you enjoy the social commentary with your dying breaths, would you think the guy that just shot you for his fix money is deep, thoughtful and intelligent?
No.19351
>>19335>Has anyone here ever explored the possibility that SEL was just another waifu anime with some edgy sci-fi elements added to help appeal to the target demographic?I find this statement extremely odd, you're speaking like you're talking about an anime that hasn't come out yet. Anyone who's watched the show knows that it's not meant to be a "cute girls" anime. You might as well call Yume Nikki a moe game with weird nonsense added to appeal to the "wtf did I just play" niche.
No.19352
>>19335Lain is not very much moe, the character designs look straight out a 90s western cartoon. There's very defined bones and all and Lain herself isn't much of a "self-pleaser" that moe anime typically employ.
No.19353
>>19346I don'tknow what you're smoking, but that makes no sense. Nobody is being exploited. SEL doesn't even really pander that much. Her design and the entire show's aesthetics don't suggest that the makers were trying to callously manipulate the viewer. People who would do that in the first place wouldn't make a show like SEL rather than a slice of life harem comedy.
No.19409
>>19353>Her design and the entire show's aesthetics don't suggest that the makers were trying to callously manipulate the viewer. One of the themes that holds true for the works of ABe is that the main character is always a little girl. His drawing style is somewhat nonconformist and he uses that as part of his "i'm too deep and serious to be a pedo" act. Woody Allen used to try and put on the same act, all while he was fucking preteen lookin asian girls. A lot of people use the "i'm too serious to be thinking about procreating" act compulsively, its extremely common, which I guess makes ABe common too.
No.19416
>>19410it seems like you find reading something which disagrees with the conventional wisdom so inexplicable that you can only understand it as a being a joke or some other from of disingenuousness. thats the same reaction the Wright brothers got when they told people they invented an airplane, it was years after their first flight before the general public caught on that it was legit and not a scam so i'm in good company reiterating the fact the the overwhelming majority of ABe's have been works with young teenage girls as the main focus and the two most obvious explanations for that fact would be either that he is a pedo or that he is an artless manipulator who realized that bland predictable cute little girl moeshit outsells genuinely entertaining GAR anime like Angolmois – Genkou Kassenki, Aah Harimanada, Ping Pong Club and Gurazani
No.19434
ABe said in a panel discussion at Sakruacon on April 12, 2009 ( my birthday) that Texhnolyze was a commercial failure because it lacked sex appeal.
No.19435
>>19434…and thats why he puts girlyshit in everything, because he won't eat otherwise. It not because he is pedo, its because the general populace is shallow and artless.
No.24365
>>24363the recipe for this actually looks pretty good. I want to make it sometime
No.24596
>>19257That ominous and foreboding atmosphere in the show is taken further in the visual novel. I think what can describe it best in both the VN and show is the inverse of that corporate computer office computer aesthetic that was part of the optimism camp of the 1990s. Bad descriptor so I hope you know what I mean but it encapsulates that lateral biblical apocalypse and whirlpool to the end of time and space. What I also liked about it is that it's anti-tech message or warning of the trajectory technology is going like any good cyberpunk explores but it seems the fanbase ignored this or missed the point as I never see it brought up except in explaining the plot, not to dismiss the enjoyment of the computer technology and Wired but that wasn't the real point of it all.
