| Serial Experiments Lain | |
 First North American DVD cover, featuring Lain Iwakura | |
| Genre | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Yasuyuki Ueda[a] |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Ryūtarō Nakamura |
| Produced by |
|
| Written by | Chiaki J. Konaka |
| Music by | Reichi Nakaido |
| Studio | Triangle Staff |
| Licensed by | |
| Original network | TXN (TV Tokyo) |
| English network | |
| Original run | July 6, 1998 – September 28, 1998 |
| Episodes | 13 |
| Video game | |
| Developer | Pioneer LDC |
| Publisher | Pioneer LDC |
| Platform | PlayStation |
| Released | November 26, 1998 |
| Manga | |
| The Nightmare of Fabrication | |
| Written by | Yoshitoshi Abe |
| Published | May 1999 |
Serial Experiments Lain is a Japanese anime television series created and co-produced by Yasuyuki Ueda, written by Chiaki J. Konaka and directed by Ryūtarō Nakamura. Animated by Triangle Staff and featuring original character designs by Yoshitoshi Abe, the series was broadcast for 13 episodes on TV Tokyo and its affiliates from July to September 1998. The series follows Lain Iwakura, an adolescent girl in suburban Japan, and her relation to the Wired, a global communications network similar to the internet.
Lain features surreal and avant-garde imagery and explores philosophical topics such as reality, identity, and communication.[6] The series incorporates creative influences from computer history, cyberpunk, and conspiracy theories. Critics and fans have praised Lain for its originality, visuals, atmosphere, themes, and its dark depiction of a world fraught with paranoia, social alienation, and reliance on technology considered insightful of 21st century life. It received the Excellence Prize at the Japan Media Arts Festival in 1998.
- ^ "Serial Experiments Lain BD/DVD Box Delayed 4 Months". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on June 28, 2018. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
- ^ Motamayor, Rachel (November 27, 2019). "'Serial Experiments Lain' Is A Mind-Twisting Sci-Fi Anime About The Horrors Of The Internet". /Film. Archived from the original on January 7, 2023. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
horrorwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Martin, Ian (September 24, 2018). "1998's Serial Experiments Lain Predicted Our Modern Internet Demons". Otaku USA. Archived from the original on January 7, 2023. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
- ^ "FRUiTS October (No.15_1st/Oct./1998)". Cornell Japanese Animation Society. Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
- ^ Napier, Susan J. (November 2002). "When the Machines Stop: Fantasy, Reality, and Terminal Identity in Neon Genesis Evangelion and Serial Experiments Lain". Science Fiction Studies. 29 (88): 418–435. ISSN 0091-7729. Archived from the original on June 11, 2007. Retrieved May 4, 2007.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).