Forum - View topicREVIEW: Serial Experiments Lain BD+DVD
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eyeresist
 Posts: 995 Location: a 320x240 resolution igloo (Sydney) |
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God this is an obnoxious thing to say. Listen to yourself.[/quote] But I'm getting so much attention!  
I just wanted to express my thoughts as succinctly as possible, which turned out to also be quite rude, hence the snark tag in a self-effacing gesture to take the curse off it. I've put my more detailed thoughts in spoiler brackets, because the whole thing is getting tiresome, and I figure people could use a break. spoiler[ Slightly longer version: there really is a part of our brains which is impressed by things so complicated or huge that we can't completely grasp them with our minds, e.g. the Bible, LOTR, the universe. Lain is one of many animes to play on this, using convoluted story-telling to create a sense of depth, but takes it to the n-th degree by combining it with arthouse-style slow pacing, and hiding the basic story issue by concealing from the audience what the central character, with whom we are supposed to identify, is thinking at important moments (given her origins, is she even thinking at all, in any sense we could understand?).] spoiler[ I make a big deal of it out of of frustration, because Lain is much more stylish, atmospheric and emotionally convincing than the typical anime, but, instead of dealing with the implications of what the story threw up, they went for the mystical cop-out, opting for "significance" rather than meaning.] |
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thomas8166
Posts: 85 Location: Tainan, Taiwan |
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Ah, Serial Experiments Lain. Finished it just a few months ago; couldn't wrap my head around the stream of conspiracies, but enjoyed it nonetheless.
Funny thing is, one detail that I remember most vividly is the code shown on-screen, which appears to be written in some dialect of Lisp. I took note of this and was very, very impressed, because most of the (recent) shows out there pay little attention to the language used for on-screen code. Mostly they're in HTML (not a true programming language, I might add; e.g. Toaru Majutsu no Index, Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo), while some used C++ (e.g. Evangelion). It's the little details like this that really impress me. |
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Araki
Posts: 397 |
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My take on Lain: it's a good, but fairly simple story told in a purposedly confusing and slow way to make it seem smarter than it actually is.
I'd give it a B. |
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Fronzel
Posts: 1906 |
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Nested spoilers don't really work on ANN. I think SEL is about thought, with the internet standing in for the idea of pure thought (as well as actually saying some things about the internet and communication technology). I wonder if I should mention Platonic Forms but I'm not confidant I understand them well enough to be making a sensible connection. The ending shows Lain becoming a creature of this pure thought and some of the consequences of that. I don't think it's a cop-out at all. |
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Aylinn
 Posts: 1684 |
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 Really? Since when is LOTR so complicated? Ok, it was written by a university professor who was interested in language and world-building. And these two elements are impressive, but the story itself is straightforward. LOTR is not even remotely mind-boggling. All the three books consist chiefly of paragraphs of description, so readers with average intelligence definitely can grasp it with their mind. Of course, if they don't find the books whose story is lost in paragraphs of description too tedious to read.
Last edited by Aylinn on Tue Dec 18, 2012 4:01 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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danilo07
 Posts: 1580 |
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Also Bible?Since when the hell is Bible considered complicated?Wasnt the hole point of the book to be as clear as possible so everyone could understand it. |
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Bonham
 Posts: 424 Location: NYC |
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Words like "pretentious," "slow" (as if there is one default speed for rhythm and pacing. And people hardly ever criticize something for being "fast"), "intellectual(s)," etc. need to be banned. They've become buzzwords for lazy criticism. People that resort to those words -- particularly without referencing specifics from the show in an articulate way -- are basically telling other people "DO NOT TAKE ME SERIOUSLY."
Lain (and Evangelion, Bebop, other yoshitoshi ABe anime, etc.) have more in common with world cinema, which includes European and Asian (art) films. No one is required to like anything. But if you are going to categorically dismiss such works, then your criticisms are worthless. |
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Fronzel
Posts: 1906 |
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I would like to criticize Dead Leaves for being too fast. |
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Mikeski
Posts: 608 Location: Minneapolis, MN |
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The usual term is "rushed", or some phrasing like "they covered too much material in a one-cour show". Agreed that neither is as loaded a term as "slow". |
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Zump
Posts: 131 |
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I'm starting to notice this more often as of late, like when people complain about Escaflowne's "incredibly rushed" ending due to an early cancellation (Funny thing is, I couldn't tell it was rushed when I watched it; maybe there's something wrong with me?). I might check out Lain. Having watched a lot of 80's anime, I am currently dipping my toes into 90's anime I haven't seen before (Utena, Gaogaigar, etc.). |
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hissatsu01
 Posts: 963 Location: NYC |
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Being initially planned for 39 episodes then changed to 26 episodes during pre-production is a very different thing from being canceled. I thought it was pretty well known that this happened, but apparently somewhere along the line the idea that it was canceled or cut to 26 while airing seems to have spread. That isn't so. That result of that sort of thing is usually disastrous. Last edited by hissatsu01 on Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:54 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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dewlwieldthedarpachief
 Posts: 751 Location: Canada |
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Despite being drawn, the majority of animation draws on filmic sensibilities in terms to framing, composition, lighting, etc.; not to mention the way perspective takes on the characteristics of a camera lens, panning, zooming, tracking, and so on. A comparison is not only productive, it's obvious. A lot of the time folks shrink away from analysis because they fear it might somehow devalue their experience, and what with your response of "apples and oranges" I wonder if that isn't the case here. Something that asks as many questions as Lain is worth some consideration, so why draw arbitrary lines like "it's pointless to compare it to a film"? It won't spoil. |
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EnigmaticSky
 Posts: 750 |
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I do with the other two works in the pseudo-trilogy of ABe (Technolyze and Habane Remeablablabla) would have gotten the bluray treatment. I think I will wait and see if they will later on down the line.
I look forward to picking this up, but an A+ for animation? Really? I've seen clips. Even if it is just dated, it isn't the most detailed animation ever. Maybe for art an A, but for animation that seems excessive. |
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Isambard
Posts: 7 |
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Unfortunately, neither Texhnolyze nor Haibane Renmei were produced in HD so any hypothetical blu-ray release from Funimation would have to be an up-scale. |
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dizzon
 Posts: 338 |
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Texhnolyze and Haibane Renmei were digital while Lain was on film(to my knowledge, please correct me if I'm wrong) so even if someone wanted to give them the same treatment they couldn't. Which in retrospect is a bummer but you can't fault the decision at the time as it seemed like the proper progression. |
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