Customer Reviews

Serial Experiments - Lain: Deus (Layers 8-10)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm only 15, and I was lucky enough to find the Serial Experiments Lain DVD Lunchbox set, which contained all four DVD volumes of the series packed neatly inside of a Palisades lunchbox. But enough of that. I got interested in Lain mostly for the story alone. It's understandable that some people may not like it, considering the fact that it does contain content not suitable for those under the age of 13. However, what fascinates me the most about this series is both the storyline and extensive research put into it. What I mean by research is exemplified in Layer 9: Protocol, where they happen to mention conspiracy events such as the Roswell Incident, and people like Vannevar Bush who was an alleged member of the Majestic 12. I also enjoyed the character designs because the characters are somewhat "real" in personality. This series can be compared to The Matrix, which also has some very deep and dark insight about our world. True, the pacing is slow, but I believe the creators did that on purpose so that the viewer could experience EVERY SINGLE MOMENT of what was taking place on the screen. Serial Experiments Lain is like a reflection of our society --- what we may or may not become in the not-too-distant future.

This DVD, Deus, is the third volume in the series. The plot has severely thickened, portraying a Lain who is confused because there is a rumor going around that she's been spying on others. Lain eventually loses her parents, the friendship of Alice (Arisu), and meets with God of the Wired. This volume is guaranteed to make you ask more questions, if not that, then at least it will force you to watch it over and over again. Serial Experiments Lain is basically a clever puzzle that happened to be released as an original and stunning anime masterpiece.

Many people have expressed confusion over Lain. This is completely understandable, for just as the episodes are named, this is a series with many layers to it. In the beginning, it tricks you into thinking it's something it's not, then confuses you in the middle, and wraps it all up in the end. And that's precisely what we have here: the end.

Lain has been criticized for its animation. The series was underbudgeted and doesn't have the quality of, say, most OVAs and movies, but the style is clean and actually rather nice.

I'll try not to say a whole lot, because here is where you begin to wrap the story up, and it should answer some questions when you watch it. All I can say is that this series really makes you think, and that's not a bad thing, now is it?

Serial Experiment Lain: Vol. 3: Deus contains Layers (episodes) eight through ten. Deus is the next to last DVD in the Lain anime series.

When I was reading reviews of Lain, another Amazon reviewer commented that the series will "blow your mind." At the time, I had only watched the first two volumes of Lain. I was like, this is interesting, but I guess my mind must be too superior to be "blown." After watching Deus, I may have been wrong. I am glad I did not watch Deus at night. I am very thankful I am typing my review while the sun is shining.

Part Matrix, part X-Files, part Boogiepop Phantom, and all post-modernist, Deus suddenly brings up Roswell, the Grays, MJ-12, the Knights Templar, Memex, and Xanadu. Don't know what they are? Run these terms through a search engine and see what comes up. There is a terrifying scene in Deus where Lain is paid an odd visit. I won't spoil it, but don't watch this in the dark!!

In this volume, Lain's life is really turned upside down. She is questioning "Who is the real me?" There seem to be even MORE Lains than the Lain in the Wired, and the Lain in the real world. There is some kind of horrible leering Lain who scared the crap out of me.

I really like the character of Taro. He plays a large role in the episodes here. I hope he is in the last disc.

I do have a comment that the classmate's suicide that started this series has completely been swept under the rug. I hope the girl's death is addressed in the final volume. Even as fiction, teenage suicide should never be used as just a story-starter.

Extras are woefully meager, with a little concept art, a "comercial" for a Lain Playstation game that reveals very little, and of course the episode "previews" that are basically Japanese child porn, with closeups of a teen's body parts such as lips, stomach, and - oh, joy, crotch.

By this point in the series, the viewer knows that this is not an adventure story about a waif-like girl who falls though a hole into the Internet. The crisis that builds over the three episodes is Lain's loss of her sense of reality. This starts as disruptions in her friendships, continues into her family and the fragmentation of her personality. Confronted, she goes on to challenge a God that cannot be. In counterpoint to the human story, we are presented a history of the Internet that makes X-files seem totally reasonable,

Beyond any doubt, Lain is about the destructive breakdown of barriers. Lain's family falls away from her, the suppressed part of her personality acquires a life of its own, her friends mistrust her... nothing is preserved. The deeper question is what are symptoms and what are causes, and, at the end of ten episodes, we are left with an uneasy feeling that the process is not over.

If I am surprised by the end of the series, it will not be for lack of thinking and guessing. And that is the true art of 'production 2nd' and director Ryutara Nakamura. Lain always invites the viewer to look a little deeper, connecting the visual and textual dots to create our own monsters in the same way that The Wired is an intensive abstract for real life. Trust nothing, we are told. The truth is nowhere.

Once again, credit has to be given to the artistic staff that takes the plot and gives it its stunning visual and aural presentation. Emulating what life is like in The Wired believable is no trivial task, and this is so well done that it sets a new standard. Reflecting it with a reality that is even stranger is far more difficult.

This series is simply the best. I have all four DVDs and a special edition, but this one remains my favorite. Everything begins to make more sense. If you havent seen the series from the beginning, DONT buy this DVD and start with it. You'll be so confused you'll get a headache. You might want to find a resident computer nerd to have handy though for some questioning.

Some have taken the notion that this OAV is "prepubescent neophilosophical mush" plagued by infantile animation. Those critics, I believe, are in too much of a rush to use their gratuitously large vocabulary that they have overlooked the inner genous within Lain. Or, even more shamefully, are desperately trying to cover up the fact that their mind cannot grasp the content. Serial Experiments Lain, if you give it a chance, is an artfully arranged tapestry of philisophical elements shrouded behind a dark curtain of intended ambiguity and mystery. It is a puzzle in itself, to be taken apart layer by layer and never all at once. Each moment is a silent epiphany, bringing you ever closer to the moment of cinematic nirvana. The animation, though sadly underbudgeted, is beautiful and commands attention. It is bright and sterile, but conveys a sense of enveloping darkness, decomposition, death. There is never much movement, each scene like that of a painting - but it still commands your attention. There are no firefights, no guts (I don't recall, anyway), no desgustingly large weapons of war; your attention is grabbed in a more sophisticated way than simple adrenline enducing shoot-em-ups. It makes you uneasy about yourself (especially these rather desturbing episodes) and about the world, it is life and death all wrapped up in a dark enigma. It is true that Neon Genesis Evangelion (still my favorite) has pioneered this neophilisophicsal "dissolution, death, and glorious rebirth of the self" idea, Lain takes it to new heights.

The series only gets better as it goes along, and "Deus" is no exception. Be forewarned, though, when saying that "Lain" gets better, that also means it gets weirder.

I recommend watching each volume twice. Usually I figure things out after the second viewing.

Lain is a new way to look at our lives. Are we really the individuals or parts of an omnipotent supreme being (the universe itself)? May be the WIRED style of life stimulates and makes us evolve... Is Lain different? These are but a few questions among hundreds of others in the domain of Lain series... This is a milestone in anime kingdom. A new bible in style...

If you've seen the previous DVDs in the Serial Experiments Lain series, you know that Lain is an intricate, complex, and breathtaking series. It doesn't go downhill, I can assure you. "Dues" is a mindblowing continuation of Lain, and by the end of the DVD, wou'll not only be more drawn in than ever, you'll be eager to see how Lain can possibly finish out in the upcommming final volume

i agree with above reviewer. this is the best anime series i have seen in years. high-tech and very much for the computer-literate fan. top notch stuff. and lain is just way too cute.