rewritten 250 added, 62 removed
Serial Experiments Lain is a 13-episode TV series Lain was an original anime, not an adaptation: created and co-produced by Triangle Staff, aired Jul 6 to Sep 28, 1998 (Tuesdays at 01:15 JST), an Yasuyuki Ueda, written by Chiaki J. Konaka, directed by Ryutaro Nakamura, animated by Triangle Staff with original story licensedcharacter designs by Funimation Fourteen-year-old Lain Iwakura receives an email Yoshitoshi Abe. It ran 13 episodes on TV Tokyo and affiliates from Chisa Yomoda, July to September 1998 at 1:15 a.m. JST Ueda ran it as a classmate who has killed herself, cross-media project across anime, a video game and is drawn into manga. The game scenario was written first and developed alongside the Wired series, and he called the series an 'enormous risk' because it was so original Voice cast: Kaori Shimizu as Lain, Yoko Asada as Alice Mizuki and Sho Hayami as Masami Eiri, the line between reality self-styled god of the Wired, in a plot where Lain learns she is a physical version of the Wired's admin process Konaka denied the series was influenced by Neon Genesis Evangelion, saying he had not seen it until Lain's fourth episode, and cyberspace blurs Won cited Godard, The Exorcist and Hell House instead. Ueda said he meant it partly as a cultural counter to postwar American values Design detail: Lain's asymmetrical left forelock was Ueda's request, to signal an unstable character, and the bear pajamas were suggested by character animation director Takahiro Kishida Reception: it won an Excellence Prize at the 1998 Japan Media Arts Festival for questioning the meaning of contemporary life. Newtype USA praised its handling of identity and has been discussed in academic technology, ANN's Mike Toole named it among the most important 1990s anime, and literary commentary Scored 8.10 by 365,731 some reviewers faulted the final three episodes for leaving questions open Scores: MAL 8.11 from 368,137 users, ranked #600 on MyAnimeList#599, popularity #227, rated R-17+; producers listed are Genco and Pioneer LDC, and Funimation holds the licence