Anime what the hell?

I finally finished the series, and I must say That was one of the best. As for what happened, is she god, or is her father god? or was that all in Lain's mind?

 

This series ****ing confused me....

I thought she was god, what's going on here?

 

well, this thread has already descended into it by itself, but nonetheless..

SPOILER **************

theories: 1. her dad is god (some think in a christian sense)
2. her dad is an extra terrestrial with whom lLain makes contact (think 2001, a Space Oddysee)
3. Her dad at the end was a figment of her imagination, made up by her to comfort her in her loneliness

I don't know. I don't like the made up idea, cause it would go against my sentimentality hehe.

 

/meh looks confused

I just watched the hole series for the first time and i am REALY confuesd and i am sure it didnt help that i watched it in one siting.
I can remember being confused after watching the last ep of Evangelion, but thats nothing to how i feal now.

/me goes back to wandering around the house muttering to himself

 

Yeah, it was strange. I'm not sure what I get and don't get, I'll have to rewatch it when I get time. I'd like to know what's with her sister though, what happened to her?
I probably would be more exasperatedly confused, but I've watched all of Eva, FLCL and Spirited Away(not to mention all of trigun, most of Bebop and Flame Of Recca, and some of Kenshin{sooooo much anime, head going odd}) within the past couple of weeks too, probably dulled the headwreckedness of it. Still...

 

Serial Experiments Lain is one of my favorite animes (among . . . many). I think one of the most important things about the series though is that it shouldn't be judged until all of it is watched, and that it should be given a chance all the way up to the last episode - this was a point a friend of mine made very clear to me when she lent me the series. I thank her very much for that advice.

I didn't like it that much after the first two episodes. But after that, my curiosity started to grow . . . and then by the second to last episode I was like "Oh my God, this is awesome!"

***Possible Spoilers Ahead***















I have a basic idea of what's going on in the show, though it's been a while since I've watched through the series so what I have to say may not be crystal-clear. Lain's father, of what I gathered, is simply a man, part of the family that the "physical" Lain was put into the care of. Her father, however, was the only person that really "connected with her," that shared a love of computers, and got Lain into them. Notice that in the end of the series, her father is the only person who feels any sort of memory of Lain . . . when he looks at the empty seat where Lain used to eat.

The physical Lain and the Lain of the wired are the same Lain, but in the beginning of the series the physical Lain doesn't have any awareness of the Lain of the wired. The purpose of the physical Lain is to connect the borders between the "world" and the wired.

Lain is not "God" in the Christian sense, nor do I think she is any sort of creator-figure. In the conclusion of the series where she proves the existence of "God," which causes the "wired god" to go crazy (in one of the most tension-filled and awed scenes of anime I've ever seen, except maybe the launch sequence in Wings of Honneamise). If I remember correctly, Lain even says herself something along the lines that she is just a program - a program that was meant to cross the borders of the wired and the world. But perhaps it IS possible that Lain is supposed to be a creator figure. I'd have to rewatch the series to give some further thoughts on that issue.

But if I also remember correctly, hadn't Lain already existed in the wired? If that's correct, then I'd say that the physical Lain is a creation of the wired Lain, put into the "world" in order to connect, from the "world," to the wired. I hope that makes some sense . . . but I'm trying to work as well from memory as I can. That's all just speculation, however.

It was never really clear to me on what the real role of the "agents" were. I know that they were hired by some sort of outside group to observe Lain (once she was introduced into her "family") and monitor her progress.

Man, I really want to watch through the series again.

DrunkLeprachaun - to answer your question about Lain's sister, she went crazy as a result of the merging of the world and the wired. The anime indicated that other people went through traumas, though different from the apparent insanity of Lain's sister.

-Odin

 

I thought they made it all pretty clear, by anime standards.....

 

And how would you argue that? While Lain can be understood, I don't think that it is presented in a way that is any more clear than other anime shows that usually tend to be blatant in their explanation of the show's plot.
-Odin