Shortly after the suicide of Chisa, students at her school begin to receive e-mails from her. To one particular individual, Lain, she leaves a message explaining that she simply left her body behind, for she didn’t need it.

If that introduction were not confusing enough, the remaining plotline of Serial Experiments Lain certainly meets quota. It is an intricate anime dealing with various philosophical questions and theories. It is a symbol driven story, and therefore, the plot actually isn’t supposed to make much sense. While this is generally a good thing for those who like TV to make them think, it is a turn-off to many viewers, and has made Lain less popular among the mainstream anime viewers.

Not wanting to spoil the anime for any potential viewers, I’m not going to deal too heavily with plot, though considering the anarchy with which it was constructed, it probably wouldn’t make very much sense anyways. The largest questions that the anime brought up were: what makes reality, what constitutes a god, and what is humanity capable of? I’ll deal with each of these separately.

What Makes Reality?
According to Serial Experiments Lain, reality as humanity knows it is no more than memory. Should the entire world simultaneously forget a single moment in time, that moment would cease to exist. Memory is not limited to events of the past, but includes the present, and even the future. Should one gain the power to manipulate memory, one could erase parts of reality much like a user deletes files off a hard drive.

What Constitutes A God?
For those essentialist religious people, don’t shoot me. I’m only telling you what the anime discusses. It is more than possible that there is no real God. The homeless man who begs for quarters could be considered a god in the sense humans follow if only he had a person to worship him. All the deities humanity worships are gods, but only because there are those who idolize and worship them. This is very much in keeping with Nietzsche’s “God is dead and we have killed him” proclamation, for any of you philosophy buffs.

What Is Humanity Capable Of?
Human beings are creatures of near infinite possibilities, applications that can do great things if used correctly. The human body, however, has reached its pinnacle of evolution, and cannot advance any further. With minds that have so much more evolutionary capacity, the only way for humans to rise above the stagnation that they have fallen into is to remove the mind from the body, thereby destroying the walls that constrict them so.

Though many ideas and theories are presented in the anime, none are presented as absolute and solid truths. Everything proposed in Lain is done with contradictions and uncertainty, leaving the viewer with a jumble of what-ifs dancing through his mind. This is precisely why I have to say that it is one of the better anime of the ones I have been exposed to.
In absolutely obscure fashion, it follows none of the norms of accepted plot, character or theme types. It was not made to appeal to the pop-culture junkies that Sailor Moon and Pokemon do. Because of this, I consider it more than entertainment, and will even go as far as to call it a work of art. It is expressive, unique, off the wall, and bold, all of which I love. Needless to say, I recommend this to all intelligent viewers as a provocation for thought. Get it! Get it! Get it! I can’t emphasize that enough. Be warned that it’s probably worth a second watch, because I guarantee you will react differently the second time around.

Prepare to have your mind blown away as you enter the world of Lain, and kiss the rules goodbye. Welcome to the Wired.