The 1998 anime series, Serial Experiments Lain has a strong cult following thanks to its unique blend of Cyberpunk and esoteric philosophy. What started as the story of a teenage girl becoming enthralled by a strange alternative version of the Internet called the Wired becomes a metaphorical story that examines our relations with technology. Serial Experiments Lain is a unique series in that it demands that the viewer comes to their conclusions about its event.
One way to help a viewer understand this complex series is by understanding the series' references and influences. This article will help a bit in understanding this series by explaining ten interesting bits to trivia about this esoteric anime series.
10 Heavily Influenced By A Single Book
The series' unique blend of Internet culture and esoteric philosophy was heavily influenced by a single non-fiction book. That book being 1994's Cyberia by Douglas Rushkoff. The book primarily deals with the growing subculture of internet users and how the Internet could lead to a new counterculture. The book also examined how the Internet could create something close to the esoteric concept of a global brain.
The book heavily influences how the series depicts the Wired and its users. The book's application of the ideas of Timothy Leary to the internet was also a major influence on the series' theme. Finally the recurring cyber-club Cyberia is a direct shout-out to the book.
9 Has A Video Game Spin-Off
Serial Experiments Lain has a rather interesting video game spin-off. This game, released around the same time as the series, is an alternative take on the series. The series follows Lain's interactions with her therapist as she begins to violently lose touch with reality.
The game itself is more a multimedia experience, where this story presented through a variety of formats like video and text documents. The game is also notable for being darker than the original anime with its very brutal depictions of self-harm and dealing heavily with mental illness.
8 The Series Is Filled With Shout Outs To Apple Computers
A more light-hearted piece of trivia is that series is filled to the brim with shout-outs to Apple Computers. The most apparent reference is that many computers appearing in the series are based on Apple's design. For example, Lain's first computer is based on the 20th Anniversary Macintosh. Also, all computer in the show uses an Operating System called Copland OS which is the same name as an unreleased OS created by Apple.
There are some more plot-relevant shout outs with Tachibana Lab, the company that invented the Weird. The company's name is a play on words with the Apple Macintosh. That play on words being that Tachibana is named after a type of orange native to Japan.
7 The Series Takes Places In An Alternative Timeline
Every episode of Serial Experiments Lain's starts with a bizarre sequence of a robotic sounding voice saying "Present Day, Present Time" before laughing hysterical. This sequence seems to indicate that the series takes place in the modern-day, but the world of Lain does not seem to reflect our reality.
By looking at in-series documents and dates presented in series it's revealed that Serial Experiments Lain take place in the 1999 0f an alternative timeline where the Wired was developed instead of the Internet. Of course, given the series's loose depiction of reality, it is hard to determine what else is different from its 1999 from ours.
6 Knights Of The Eastern Calculus Are Based On A Real Group Of Hackers
The Knights Of The Eastern Calculus are a mysterious organization of hackers that seek to manipulate Lain into aiding the implementation of Protocol 7. The organization is also presented as the creators behind many of the advanced computer-related devices seen in the series.
The name of this organization is a reference to a well-known in-joke among the hacker community, that being the Knights of the Lambda Calculus. This was an organization whose membership was joking given out to hackers who work with the Lisp programming language.
5 Protocol 7 Is A Dual Reference
Protocol 7, Masami Eiri's masterplan to merge mankind's collective unconscious with the Wired, is a shout out that references the series' dual interest in Internet culture and esoteric philosophy. On the Internet side of things, Protocol 7 is a reference to the real word Internet Protocol version 6, the framework on which devices on the internet could communicate with each other. So Protocol 7 is named so, as it supposes to be the next step in the Wired's evolution.
On the esoteric philosophy side of things, Protocol 7 is named after Timothy Leary's 7th layer of consciousness. This layer is a point of enlightenment where the human mind could access the memory and experience of the whole of humanity. So for a plan involving mankind's collective unconsciousness, it would make sense to have named after a concept that involves it.
4 The Men In Black Are Influenced By Snow Crash
Despite being a work of Cyberpunk, Serial Experiments Lain does not share many of the aesthetical elements commonly associated with the genre. One exception is the Men in Black, a duo of mysterious government agents hunting down the Knights Of The Eastern Calculus. Their appearance is very cyberpunk looking with their specs looking close to being cybernetic.
The reason why the Men in Black look very Cyberpunkish is due to their appearances being based on the character of Lagos from the Cyberpunk novel Snow Crash. Most noticeably Lagos' headgear is described in the novel of being a pair of spec with one lense looking more complex than the other, nearly the same as the Men in Black.
3 The Series' Ninth Episode Is Based on Real Conspiracy Theory
The strangest episode of Serial Experiments Lain is its ninth episode, where the show gives an exposition dump about the development of the Wired. What makes this episode so strange is that it goes into a direction involving alien conspiracy theories and experiments involving ESP.
A particular noteworthy claim is that the Wired was based on alien technology recovered from Roswell in 1947. It makes mention of an organization called Majestic 12 that was in charge of covering up the crash and exploiting the recovered technology. This organization is based on a real-world conspiracy theory popular among UFO conspiracy theorists in the 1980s.
2 The Show Was Intended To Interpreted Differently In Japan And The U.S.A
An interesting thought process behind the series was revealed during an interview with series producer Yasuyuki Ueda. That thought process is that the show's creators wanted the difference between Japanese and American culture to lead to viewers' interpretation of the series to differ based on their country of origin.
This did not happen in reality for a lot of reasons. The primary reason is that the show is very heavily influenced by Western literature and philosophy. Another reason being that internet allows fans on both sides of the Pacific to easily compare not coming to a more shared conclusion than intended.
1 The Size Of A Character's Pupil Represent Their Connection To Weird
An interesting aspect of Serial Experiments Lain is that characters' eyes are used as a visual shorthand for which characters are more connected with the Wired than reality. This is most noticeable with the show's characters who are more in touch with reality having larger pupils. Characters who are more in touch with the Wired have smaller pupils.
This shorthand can be seen by the characters with the largest pupils are Alice and Lain's father, who are both depicted as being more grounded in reality. Lain in comparison has a smaller pupil compare to her large iris represent how much of her personality is submerged in the Weird. Finally, Masami Eiri has pupil so small they come off as inhuman representing his complete joining with the Weird.