Customer Reviews

Lain: Deus [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Those who have purchased volumes one and two no doubt felt excited, and wanting more at the end. The good news is that there is light at the end of the tunnel! Unfortunately that light is volume 4. You still have another tape to go. I must say that even the weakest volume of Lain is amazing, and I will be overly harsh about this since I am a Lain addict, but I must say some things. Don't expect much from tape 3. I did, and was let down. Primarily this tape answers the question "Is there a god in the wired?", and shows us yet another side of Lain's enigmatic personality. However, it seems as though at this point the series' budget began to run thin, and the animators got a little scrapped for ideas. Also, this volume contains sections that are just wierd for weirdness' sake, and other sections that are nothing but photographs scrolling by with plot points being laid out. But the unforgivable sins this tape commits are 1)the last episode ends seemingly mid scene and 2)The events detailed in episodes 9 and 10 appear not to have happened by episode 11. Now I suppose one could justify sin #2 by saying that the whole sequence may be a vision or something, but I still was quite confused by this gaping plot hole. But don't get me wrong. You must buy this tape. It's still better than 90% of anime out there, and no series is perfect. Most importantly, Tape 4 is a life-changing experience. And simply for that reason alone, it is neccesary to see volumes 1-3. As a whole, Lain is amazing.

...after seeing the first 3 volumes, I must say that Deus is the most intense and the most suspenseful so far. I was emotionally involved with the characters and the action throughout, and the end of each Layer in "Deus" left me eager to see the next.

It is also the most disturbing of the first 3 volumes. I would say that it is not until the middle of Layer 08 that the series fully earns its 16+ rating. I feel it's worth saying that even after reading quite a bit about his series, I was rather shocked by some of what is in this volume. The very last frame of Layer 09 kept me up half the night.

Bottom line -- this series really is quite remarkable. It's incredibly original, very creepy, disturbing, and thought-provoking. If you are patient, and like something that is a bit "different" and don't need everything spelled out for you, you will almost certainly enjoy this video.