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REVIEW: Serial Experiments Lain BD+DVD

So why the special treatment? Simple. It's an acknowledged masterwork. One of the few series to legitimately lay claim to the tricky label of classic; a rare pinnacle of the anime art, as close to perfection as something so deliberately strange and messy can be.

LainCowboyEvangelion

Lain: terrific style; stupid, stupid story. But obscurantism flatters the egos of some self-styled intellectuals.

But obscurantism flatters the egos of some self-styled intellectuals.

But Serial Experiments Lain doesn't merely flatter those of us here discussing it in the casual environment of an internet forum. Lain is considered a masterpiece - or at least close to one - by people who write professionally in regards to the field of anime. Carl Kimlinger, for example, writes for one of the most respected English anime websites; he is certainly no "self-styled intellectual."

This is no way, shape, or form means that everyone has to agree though (heck, I know people that can't sit through Citizen Kane). It's about doing so with civility.

Quote:

So why the special treatment? Simple. It's an acknowledged masterwork. One of the few series to legitimately lay claim to the tricky label of classic; a rare pinnacle of the anime art, as close to perfection as something so deliberately strange and messy can be.

That's just, like, your opinion, man.

Lain: terrific style; stupid, stupid story. But obscurantism flatters the egos of some self-styled intellectuals.

[/snark]

I'm going to be honest. On some level, I simply cannot understand people that dismiss Lain. You can not like it (I guess,) it can not be your cup of tea...but I cannot wrap my mind around dismissing it. Hype is, unfortunately, capable of destroying a good work. But a series like Lain, to me, is a masterpiece. It struck something in me, and I feel sorry for those that have some bitterness toward it, and other such "masterpiece" shows.

Given the choice, I'd probably watch Lain again, but comparing the two it's clear to see how one is masterful and the other isn't. Citizen Kane is like a finely tuned clockwork of film-making, and you don't have to like it to appreciate that. Lain is like a beer bottle shaped in the likeness of a laughing Buddha; curious, even compelling, but ultimately what does it contain that is truly remarkable?

Serial Experiments Lain is like the Anime movie Angel's Egg, and movies 2001 and The Tree of Life. Good movies too be sure but they concentrate too much on the depth and forget to make them fun and about people to care about, they forget emotion and adventure.

That is why Evagelion, Ghost in the Shell and GITS SAC, Cowboy Bebop, Gunslinger Girl first series, 8cm per second and the like are better, because they fuse intellect with emotion and/or epic adventure. They are things you want to watch for the fun and the characters, not just to explore it's themes.

There is no justification for A+ in animation score. This show is great but it is not a high level animation, visually. And frankly, the bluray transfer is very lazy. Basically every modern anime on Bluray blows Lain out of the water. Again, great show, but the animation score is absurdly biased.

Shippoyasha wrote:

There is no justification for A+ in animation score. This show is great but it is not a high level animation, visually. And frankly, the bluray transfer is very lazy. Basically every modern anime on Bluray blows Lain out of the water. Again, great show, but the animation score is absurdly biased.

Are you really calling a remastering where they actually went back and reanimated parts of the show lazy? Really?

Also, video quality and animation quality are two entirely different aspects. Of course most modern shows will look better than a late 90's show on Blu-ray... but I would totally beg to differ that most modern shows have better animation.