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|  Serial experiments lain is an anime which begs to be interpreted (read my review for a basic description of the show). While the story gives us a lot of hints as to what might be going on, nothing is ever explicitly explained. Even when things are explained in the form of commentary and "speeches" throughout the show, we are shown that the views put forth in those speeches (such as given by Eiri Masami) are not necessarily correct and truthful. When dealing with prophetic speech or prophetic anime, it is our responsibility to be skeptical and questioning just like Lain was, even though the uncertainty can be painful at times.
Yet, it wasn't so painful. Serial experiments lain could have easily fallen into the same trap that so many other "meaningful" anime fall into, that is: take itself too seriously. By refusing to explain itself any more than it did, serial experiments lain avoids that trap. If anything, it explicitly showed (through references) that there is a lot more out there beyond the scope of what 13 episodes of anime can explain, that these ideas are not brand new, that other people have a lot to say about all of this, and those sources are available to anyone with more than a passing interest in what serial experiments lain is all about. Although serial experiments lain does not attempt (or pretend) to offer a totally new vision, it succeeds wildly as a new and wonderfully constructed synthesis of older elements. In that sense, lain the anime has a distinct postmodern identity, the type of identity that Lain the character is searching for.
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List of Lains movies
- Navi
- Knights
- Deus
- Reset
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