This anime is even more confusing than the end of Neon Genesis Evangelion, which I understood actually ... but Lain takes a dive off the deep end. Though I love it for that reason.

Who is Lain, you ask? Why, that's easy; Lain is Lain.

Serial Experiments Lain and Ghost in the Shell drove me to pursue Computer Science. LOL. And I still work as a programmer. The argument of creating biology via a software still distorts my brain even today

This anime just keeps getting more and more relevant as our technology progresses, its amazing to think that I could watch this series my whole lifetime and still gives me different viewpoint as my surrounding changes. Its too ahead of its time

Lain's purpose is to be loved.

I always thought that Lain was socially awkward and shy but on the wired where you don't have to be physically present she let go of her inhibitions. Similar to how people with little to less social lives get addicted to games, facebook,..etc. also, in the end she spends so much time in there that she becomes an admin or something and hence erases all data about her.

---SPOILER ALERT---- The pain and sadness I feel for Lain is so unique to this show. So lonely, so alienated, and so confused that she chose suicide of the most purest form, complete erasure of her existence from the minds of others. There’s something so deeply terrifying and sad about this form of suicide. Suicide is typically used not to end ones existence, but if anything to FORCE others to remember them, empathize with them. Lain existed alone if but for very brief moments in the show. Her entire story only exists within our minds. In that we are the only people, as individuals, to know what she went through. Essentially, we are lain as well as we carry her first-hand memories.

Lain is clearly an introvert and lived a life with very cold parents. The only parent she is closes to is her father and he is more into his computers than parenting. Lain really don't have a bonding relationship with her sister either and they are super awkward towards one another when they do communicate. All of that contributed into Lain's eventual toxic relationship with her best friend. The type of best friend who showed Lain the love and attention lacking in her household. Her best friend is the only person that made and proved Lain is real instead of machine or software unlike her father. Such a toxic household would make anyone crazy. This anime more focuses on Lain battling her inner demands while coping with the suicide of her classmate. Lain is also suffering from identity crises and the pressures trying to keep up with society. Lain wants more friends, want to be up to date with the latest technology and want to break free from her introverted personality. She was so extreme at it that she lost sight of who she is and accidentally hurt her best friend in the process by revealing her secret. Lain is mentally ill.

At the end of the series Lain ends her existence but not her reality. Something can be real without having an existence, like numbers or geometrical figures: they are real in the counsciousness of the people without being there, therefore they have a value. Lain is no longer there, but is still real, that's why she can talk to Alice in the last scene. "An object or an action acquires a value and, this way, they get real, because they take part, in one way or another, of a reality that trascends them" (My rough translation of an excerpt taken from "Myth of the Eternal Return", written by Mircea Eliade). I don't think Lain became a goddess because for a god to be (an omnipontent, omnipresent, omniscient, necessary and perfect Being, exactly like the abrahamic) needs necessarily to just be, but not to exist, because existence involves necessarily non-existence, and viceversa, therefore the existance of god becames unnecessary, contradicting the very concept of Itself; therefore, a god needs to trascend existance and non-existence, to just Be, because the being cannot not-be, and the not-being cannot be, paraphrasing Parmenides. To me the abrahamic God and the Parmenides's being have quite a similarity. Greek gods are just too humanized (referencing Xenophanes here) to be used as an example. Limited by our very existence, we cannot perceive beings as themselves, because they trascend us, so had Lain became a goddess, Alice wouldn't be able to see her, possibly not even feel her. Demigoddess, that's possibly. I liked the videos. Keep them coming!

"No matter where you go, everyone is connected."

Lain really is everywhere now.

What makes Lain so beautiful is how it bends the line between existential materialism and a theology of virtuality. Like the idea that God was not killed by the Enlightenment, but committed suicide voluntarily in order to be reborn in billions of disparate network nodes-- each stumbling into deeper connection by creative existential questioning... The ultimate modern Creation Myth, as it is recursively self-referential yet destructively self-questioning at the same time (outside of time)... I might be getting into the weeds here but hopefully that makes some sense. Anyway great video, definitely subscribed and I'll tell my friends as well.

the anime is about "enlightenment", the dissolution of ego, and the some of the experiences one might encounter and observe in the process. Lain is a conscious being among mostly egos'. this can be identified through the artwork of the eyes and pupil differences. I have convinced myself, this anime is a medium of spiritual awakening, much to same degree as one might find the works Alan Watts'.

You should have way more subscribers, I learned more from you about philosophy than I do In my professors lectures. Awesome Job!

Who's watching Lain in 2019? Present day. Present time!

4:05-4:10 - "What isn't remembered, never happened. Memmory is merely a record. You just need to rewrite that record." This may sound strange, but this kind of makes me think of Johan from Monster and makes me feel like, he could technically be an evil foil to Lain, idk. :p His idea of being forgotten for whatever reason was killing everyone he knew of him and was considered to be the devil or the anti-christ, purposely dedicating his life to non-existence, or perhaps even corruption. :p

If a tree falls and there's no one around to hear it, it's probably on the record of some hipster band

Honestly I'm just glad people are still talking about Lain.

2020: We have a new theorem about how social media has distanced us to the point of physical interaction instinction after just one pandemic they now use to rage war in our minds and countries

While I had previously wondered about how the role of philosophy plays into Lain, I never saw it as explored in varied facets as in this video. I found it incredibly informative, considering I had learned many new things about philosophy from just this video alone. It also doesn't hurt that this is an actual analysis video about Lain instead of just generalizing everything, which is more or less, the vast majority of Lain videos on this site. I really enjoyed your thoughts regarding the series, and I'll definitely look through your channel. Great work.

Before I watched this anime, I believed that the Internet is just the Collective Unconscious as Carl Jung talked of. After watching, I strengthened this belief.

Despite me believing in realism, I find this show very interesting and thought provoking. If I've learnt one thing in life so far it is that even if you don't believe in another philosophy, still learn it's ins and outs as you will better your own understanding of life through that process.

In the normal universe, everything is interconnected. One could reasonably state that there is no moment when something isn't observed by a multitude of senses - be it those of living beings, or the clashing of molecules and waves with each other, creating a sort of 'universal sense' of existence. Interestingly enough, if you go deep enough - down to sub-atomic particles, this vast 'universal sense' breaks down and ceases to be a constant. There are waves that only 'decide' what state they are in, once directly observed - the phenomenon at the base of quantum physics (that and some really wibbly-wobbly math). This means that while at the macro-level, a tree will always make a sound, even if alone in the forest; at the sub-atomic scale, deep down inside even atoms, there is a world where it may make both sound and no sound at all, at the same time - until something observes it. Given this epiphany about the fundamental nature of the Universe, Lain may be ultimately both correct and incorrect at the same time regarding her sophos. Of further interest, is weather or not one can ever truly 'erase' information at all. Given enough tertiary information, we should be able to trace back anything that ever happened in the Universe, given how everything is interconnected and the ripples of an action - it's information - live on in perpetuity, as they cross time and space as no more then motes of dust, light, and radiation. The only thing that might be able to destroy information, is a black hole - and even then it might only just convert it through complex, but not fundamentally unknowable processes, into something else we are yet to understand. What I'm getting at is that while Lain could be both right and wrong regarding her views on existence, she is most likely fundamentally wrong regarding her ability to erase information - the best she could do, is mask it for those unable to look deeper. And just like someone or something capable of piecing back her existence from the ripples she left behind - we can see her, and her journey. We remember her. Thus, Lain is, ultimately, still alive, even if she doesn't realize this herself.

This is probably the best Lain video explanation ever made.

Holy shit, this is one of the most beautiful voice I've heard

Lain for me is a manifestation of the people's Collective Unconscious, Lain is a manifestation of what they believed she is. In the beginning of the series we see lain as somewhat of an empty husk. But as lain learns more about the humans through the wired and such, she and her other selves somewhat developed and thoughts about the people that manifested her. On Layer 13 after lain having a time with Alice she has come to a conclusion that having a physical body is the true way to live. So as the God who has total control over the wired she rewrote everyone's memories to the way they were which also erases the people's memories of her she did this, because Lain loves us... Really sad that Lain was brought upon to existence just to be forgotten... sorry if I didn't worded this out too well, English isn't my first language...

Hello dear Kath and subscribers, your voice is very charming and very clear explanation indeed. This explanation video is rather new and I like your approach so I'm typing my toughts while listening to "Serial Experiments Lain Soundtrack: 03 Inner Vision" I am kind of a radical viewer who cant move on to another anime until I find out enough evidences on web to materialize open endings and close the wounds. So its my duty to share and sync ideas with others though I will be mostly touching to plot part: * Earth's magnetic field is believed to be a perfect transition medium between internet and physical world. * Eiri aims to merge internet and magnetic field of Earth(reality) into one with Protocol 7 but he needs an emulator. * Eiri replicates KIDS project on a bigger scale but this time he avoids Hodgson's mistakes (or technical incompetence) and embodies "harnessed collective unconscious" traversing on Earth's magnetic field in an artificial human body, which becomes conscious and its own entity and that makes Lain an unawakened god at the beginning of the story. * Lain is an intercommunal psychic experimental girl compiled and awakened by Protocol 7, bio-emerged/physical form/hivemind/Gaia/manifestation of accumulated memories which grows day by day. * As part of awakening process she was needed to be in human form to acquire required skills and understanding to interconnect humans and realms. So Eiri gave Lain human thoughts by giving her human body and sent Lain to his colleague Yasuo's house * Eiri commits suicide after embedding his consciousnes to Protocol 7 as he no longer needs his body but he still needs Lain to leave her body and expand into the Wired to complete the merger. * As a result, Eiri and Knights scripted Evil Lain and altered memories and perception of Lain & humans around Lain (mostly Alice) to make Earth unbearably distorted place and force her to do as Eiri says.(Knights were able to break reality through Lain's memories) To make it worse they tried to blow up Lain's room but MiB had lured her away in time. * Tachibana Laboratories provided Lain real life experience (family,school), MiB and hardware until she reaches a stage of maturity (where she gets rid of all Knights with the help of MiB.) * After things get serious, Boss of Tachibana Laboratories reveals his true intention and disposes MiB off using Evil Lain (alter ego of Wired Lain which was scripted by Knights) * Lain's guilt over the havoc caused by her interaction within the wired provokes her to take drastic - and irreversible - action. * An exhausted Lain appears willing to sacrifice her own flesh and blood until Alice convinces her to take a stand against the digitalized deity and finishes Eiri off as soon as she realizes he is obsessive, greedy and inferior to her. * In the end Lain sacrifices herself for her only friend Alice by removing all instances of her memory from World (but Yasuo??or was it God?? or people start to recognize her and Yasuo was the first??) by manipulating magnetic fields of Earth with her psionic powers. It eventually leads to sacrification of her physical body. Her "mind" is still alive online, but the body everyone had hallucinated about for over a decade just disappears. * Wired Lain was everywhere scattered on the wired. She existed in the thoughts and memories of people. Finally Lain makes Wired Lain disappear and manages to exist as only one ego. She becomes goddess-like being that can alter memories and reality (and bend time up to an extent ??? which reminds me of Omega from Edge of tomorow.). * After events are settled she even manages to take her only known non-aging deific physical form (just like Eiri did I guess??), she even meets grown-up Arisu (Or maybe it was all in Lain's isolated mind to cope with solitude ?? but in the end Lain is everywhere so both cases are the same ????) Serial Experiments Lain and Digimon Tamers were both written by Chiaki J. Konaka. In Tamers, Digimon were artificial life programs that evolved within the Digital World, a parallel reality within Cyberspace. They developed the ability to "bio-emerge," manifesting as physical beings by synthesizing artificial proteins - much like the way Lain's physical form was created using "artificial ribosomes" and the way Eiri attempted to manifest physically in the climax. The barriers between reality and the Digital World seem to be eroding. I think thats the beauty of anime that uses "perception = reality" mechanic. Was Lain real or only real in memories... Therefore its hard to discuss whether Lain is physical or not at all because of how perception is defined in anime.. The creators of the show have explicitly said that any interpretation is welcome and is accepted as it is your own and that is how you perceived the transpired events. But I think reality was indeed very real as we witnessed some other events through eyes of side characters and Lain is actually plastering herself onto reality. When she interacts, she violates object-subject relation, reality is purposely subjective for Lain that makes her special. Thats how she manages to manipulate physical objects like exploding eyepiece of Men in black..by accessing both object and subject which changes or rewrites reality. This is the part Im trying to understand actually. My explanation is not flawless. There are some points missing but I think I tried...please correct me if I missed a point. Most important of all, this was made in freakin 1998!.. (before Google and Matrix franchise even existed as an entity) and Im proud of it because I'm a 90s child. Not to mention OST and Lain's cuteness made me forget all that humming noise! I heard there has been a prequel or sequel named "Despera" in progress for a long time but SEL director Ryutaro Nakamura passed away in 2013 at the age of 58, and anime was put on indefinite hold until last year! EDIT: Watched it 2nd time.. will make small changes soon..

God…I miss these videos, please come back :’(

I love serial experiments lain because it accurately shows how addictive the internet is today

You should definitely do a video on texhnolyze.

Thank you for covering this anime, it truly deserves this coverage, and you did a great job breaking it down

one of the few anime channels that hasn't annoyed me. your very insightful.

I just adore this Channel. This video especially, as existentialism more or less saved my life, or rather Sartre did. A couple of years ago I was really sick. My heart had a bpm at around 140-180, sometimes even as high as 200. This lowered my hearts effeciency to a minimal, which resulted in liquids building up in my body, about 12 liters. My metabolism was through the roof, so much that they eventually had to cut out the part which makes it. (Don't know what it's called in english, sorry.) I could barely walk 5 meters wothout losing my breath like I'd been runing for days. I had no energy and no will to live, I became suicidal to a small extent. I just sat in my hospital bed, staring into the wall. Crying when no one was around. Then I read "existentialism is a humanism." By Sartre. I read it twice. I understood what was happening in my body was a situation I had little controle over, but by accepting this illness I was living in bad faith, and I could either fight this or die broken. Sartre didn't save my life. Not literally. But he did save my mind, or what religious people would refer to as a soul. Had I not read his book that half a year of me getting exhausted by walking to the bathroom would have broken me in pieces. And because of that I recommend that bloody book to every depressed, suicidal fool who will listen to me.

I wonder why she doesn’t post anymore. Her videos are quite thought provoking.

Lain managed to commit the perfect suicide that Johan from Monster desired. Except she regreted it in the end.

After some time, you bring about La Mettrie, saying in substance that the ego is independent of the body, in the way that we could replace parts of your body and you would still be yourself. You say this is the point of view the show presents. At least for me, it is the worldview of Eiri, and of Lain under his influence, but in the end, Lain realized through Alice how the body is important. Eiri is convinced that the body is a limitation for the evolution of the human mind, but then Lain finally asserts her existence when she realizes she has a body and without it she has no ego. Eiri can only respond by trying (and failing miserably) to materialize himself, showing his powerlessness as an immaterial entity and the collapse of his worldview. This is really where the show was headed to. I mean, parts of your body are parts of you, as these change, you change too. Also, there have been examples of people who got transplants and experienced sensations that felt like they weren't theirs. The whole psyche is not strictly located in the brain, neurons are everywhere in our body, though in varying density. Also, associating the body with a biological machine could well be a truism, and as such, not helping at all deciphering the mysteries of life.

I’m an existentialist. However, my belief is that the meaning of existence can only be defined by us and it is the existential responsibility to define it.

What an amazing channel. I feel like I just stumbled upon a hidden gem

And to think this director worked on Digimon Tamers...Amazing.

I love this video you made. I'm a huge, and I mean a HUGE fan of SEL Lain, and I literally watch your video atleast once a week for the past year just about. Just know that someone out there cares for your content, and yes, The Wired and Real Life are interchangeable with one another.

I think you should do an analysis of Ergo Proxy. It's my personal favorite, because of its heavy philosophical influence and subtext. "I think, therefore, you are." I interpreted Vincent Law's first eye-opening as a symbolic gesture to show that because he left Romdeau, he was able to truly see the world and stop living the illusion he created for himself. All that stuff about being a model citizen was abandoned because he finally saw a glimpse of the wasteland of the real world. He could not return after having seen this truth, which reminds me of the Allegory of the Cave. Oh yeah, and episode 20 Sacred Eye of the Void was excellent for being heavily inspired by Zhuangzi's Butterfly Dream Parable.

Such a special work of art.

I am glad i found the video and would love to see more. I am sad because it only has 7600 views but it is what it is. As for talking about Lain i don't think 9 minutes is ever gonna be enough, but you managed to do a pretty great 9 minute talking video nonetheless. I've taken Lain to the deepest part of my forever questioned existence and if everything fails me i will always have her.

just rewatched this show recently and this video is a great addition to the experience imo. Great video, subbed.

Goosebumps throughout the whole video. Great Explanation not gonna lie, I now had the chance to really grasp the idea behind Lain.

I like that you like hearing what we think. I always was curious about Lain, but i never found the time to see it all. Thanks to your video, i know what to expect for. I love this type of videos, its like talking with a friend about your favourite shows, and truly learning something new. See you later, Space Cowboy!

I LOVE the use of mushishi soundtrack at 0:46

You're so amazing, I just love your breakdowns and ideas on anime, plus you got that voice that just soothes the soul!

One of the best anime ever made. Good video!

"Published on Sep 11" Never forget What a godly upload date

Awesome vid! I love this sort of stuff. Rarely do people apply the kind of analysis that many works of anime truly deserve. The artform is just ripe with artistic potential which can be observed already in lots of existing works: Serial Experiments Lain, for one; the oeuvre of Hayao Miyazaki... etc. Again, it's so nice to see a video that capitalises on the artistic intentions of the production team. Likely, these philosophies were running through their minds while they were creating Lain.

Woah. Just came across this channel. Philosophy in anime is literally one of my favorite things to think about. Def got a new subscriber💪🏾

Excellent....I'm in the middle of this series EP 7...Thanks for the insight. I just subscribed!

I'm so happy I found your channel

Plus, that OP snaps! I still have it on Playlists nearly 2 decades after first watching the show!

The narration really gets my misophonia going, sounds like you had a mouthful of jelly while recording this

If I could use one word to describe the subject of "Lain" & "Boogiepop Phantom," I'd say they are about "memory." At the end of the story, Lain deletes stored information so that no one will know she ever existed. It was watching "Lain" that I realized that we value people for their memories (who they know, what they know, etc.), and that value is based our own memories of that other person.

You forgot alchemy! The material world is the lower part and the wired is the upper part, Lain being Hermete trismegistus. If you dig deeper you can see how accurate this reference is. Great video by the way :)

loved your video about lain! i just finished watching the series and you really break down the philosophy so clearly. also, hard for me to explain, but i noticed this idea of technology being a vehicle for something that has always existed, this ability for everyone's unconscious to be connected, and to give life to thoughts and to manipulate "reality". But Its like, humans need to create something tangible called technology to be able to understand the nature of this existence. its like lain got so much power by questioning reality, sparked by exploring technology, leading to her thoughts being so powerful that what she felt came true, like not existing in class or her avoidant family leaving her behind. i feel kinda optimistic after watching lain coz its almost like, theres no reason to question anything, we just need to know that we create our reality, without understanding why. embrace hope and love i guess. thanks lain!

I very much enjoyed this video and was happy you took the stance of expanding on the themes without trying to use them to "explain" the story. I was also happy to didn't use a title like "lain explained" or some similar thing. Thank you.

I’m going to dissolve into quantum probability waves now thank you very much.

“I rather be remembered then to be some else memory.” Incognito Night

if it wasn't for sel, i wouldn't be working in hi-tech, building all the stuff the show taught us.

I have watched this series way too much, and I have yet to figure it out. It's my number two favorite anime series of all time, and I never realized so much form it until I found this video! It has me thinking I need to rewatch the series form a new mindset. thank you!!!

this video was easy to understand now let me dive into the anime and see if i can keep up. when i watch these philosophical/psychological anime ( for example ghost in the shell) i always watch videos like these beforehand because its better to learn and get a better understanding than to pretend i comprehend wtf they're talking abt. especially since i get distracted so easily lol. though i will admit i usually get frustrated when i dont initially understand something.

your voice is so cool! This is one of my favorite animes, thank you for uploading.

Ｌｅｔ'ｓ Ａｌｌ Ｌｏｖｅ Ｌａｉｎ ！

i dont understand or i am stupid?

I like you, and appreciate your work.

If a tree falls in a forest, does it make a sound. If something is not happening in our current awarnessss/perception did it happen? I mean none of saw the big bang but were all here ya? I mean if you left the stove on and forget, you might just come back to a fire. If a tree fell on a man with dementia would he survive, since he forgot about therefore it no longer exists right. Imo it feels a bit arrogant to believe if something isn't in your memory or awareness it just didn't happen. As if human perception creates reality. The sun still burns even without life. Even if you believed all of reality was an illusion what good would that do you? I remember Itachi trapping Kakashi in a illusion world. The first thing Kakashi says something like "This is only an illusion" with Itachi retorting by stabbing and torturing him days on end, as Kakashi screamed and screamed. His illusion becoming his new reality.

I think Lain (the show) has to assume the mechanistic view of the person for it to make sense. Otherwise, it's left completely unexplained how Chisa or Eiri can live in the Wired while being dead in the "real world."

I literally just finished watching it and now the only going through my mind is “ what the fuck was that”

Concise, simple, and enjoyable. I just finished the series today and I wanted to dive deeper into the show, and this video did just that. :D

Lain predicted the internet

This, this is amazing- the way you speak, the way you explain. flawless 🤌🏾

This was one of the first anime I ever watched. Really cool 😊

This was one of the best videos i have ever watched in a very long while,thank you!I have subscribed.

My explanation of Serial Experiments Lain Everyone's on meth.

Just finished watching the show , and out of all the crazy stuff that goes on , my favourite thing about it is the watercolored shadows.

Falling trees not making noise and non-existing vases... My head hurts.

This video is good, but I think it misses a major point about the character of Lain: she's not actually a normal person at all. Unlike the people who die and transfer their consciousness to the wired, Lain's consciousness (allegedly) *precedes* the existence of her body. We are lead to believe "Lain of the Wired" is the original Lain, and that this person has existed for a long time (either as literal software, a manifestation of the Collective Unconscious, or something else). I don't know if that's the correct interpretation, but that line of questioning is one of the most interesting ones in my opinion.

I honestly hope that one day chiaki k makes a spin off series to serial experiments lain because oh boy i really want see more of his work in my life time

This is the whole life is a simulation type thing 🧐. Your voice is so nice it’s ASMR ❤️

i think sound is qualia, it's an experienced sensation evoked by the ear from the sense data: sound waves. so a tree falling makes sound waves which only make sound if there is someone receiving them.

Great video and great taste in anime. Expecting to see your thoughts on Evangelion. There's alot of Schopenhauer in it.

Please keep making these videos!

I'd like to see you make an analysis of Texhnolyze.

I just discovered your channel and i love your videos! Can you please tell me the music you used in this video? (The part about the vase had an amazing background song)

This was very nice. Thank you. Keep it up!

Watching the anime really felt like a weird fever dream..

Lain for me is more than an entity, she's a thought, a message, and an experience...

I'm happy i discovered this video :D i think i'd like to learn more about philosophy it seems very interesting.

i grew up watching code lyoko and when i heard serial experiments lain was the inspiration for CL i just had to watch it

"If I namedrop philosophers am I deep?" No.

I see Lain, I see philosophy, I subscribe.

I think that Lain is about the disconnect between being and being percieved. Lain in the end didn't kill all of herself, just her material existence. Lain now only exist as a perciever, the creator of ideal being for the world, while not existing materially herself. She is like a god in the world of ideas. Let's all love lain since she makes us exist.

Thanks for videos, its really nice conent to watch. First of all its wired with Philosophy so you can receive some interesting ideas and info . And another point is that you can rewatch this anime with new thought and even maybe create some adds for it. Looking forward to the next videos.

While I dont remember too much of the story or what philosophy they tried to use. It would awesome to hear something about Wolf's Rain. Loved that show in Jr high. One of the first anime to make me cry. And just about everyone who watched it at my school all cried too. Wish I wasn't lazy right now or could remember the kids name. But man that hurt the heart. Loved this video!! Hope you find success with the KZfaq algorithm. It can be a pain.

Not enough people know about this Anime, definitely one of my favorites.

Hi. I really like your Lain video, and there’s some ideas you bring up here I’d like to reference in a video I’m making this month. The video will follow a literature review format, wherein I plan to survey how multiple video essayists on YT have approached making meaning out of Lain. Please let me know if you don’t want me to quote you / your ideas (which may include audio/visual snippets from your video). Either way, thank you for adding to the conversation on Lain on YT!