City of Amnesia

This is a thread that I had to bring up. It discusses the confusion behind SEL and the deeper meanings behind the show and the goings on in it.

There tends to be some debating over the possibilities, considering how confusing it really is. Some have said that Lain plays a form of a God, collecting souls.

...

I forgot what other people have said. I am losing my train of thought.

Anyway...

Lain discussion thread *points to thread*

I saw it online and bought the DVD set for cheap at Otakon. I felt I had a decent grasp of what it was talking about and what it referenced and the like by the time I had finished watching it. Since then however, it's kind of faded away. I enjoyed it greatly though. I need to watch it again.

Spoilers and jazz past this line.

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Lain's final predicament reminded me much of Angel in Big O, and the question of whether a person existed or not if their memory was entirely erased also rung familiar. It may have been the inspiration for the Big O's background, but for some reason I suspect Big O is something of an amalgamation of Konaka's previous works in a compact form. Take that theory for what you will.

I remember being initially confused by her sisters, uh, 'condition.' Someone suggested that the Knights had simply driven her insane. Initially I had thought she had been replaced by a clone or something. Now I tend to think that somehow her concisenesses and body were separated by the Knights, and her consciousness went on to the wired (explaining the static 'fadeout' after the two halves saw one another), and her body was stuck without a signal, thus explaining her creepy phone line and modem noises.

I fell asleep watching this show. I am sure there was some interesting stuff in some of it, but it took FOREVER to do anything. I just couldn't bring myself to really follow it.
War.

I watched it when i was like ten years old, it still scares me even today. I think i also watched boogiepop phantom at that time too  :o

I've never seen this show, but I've been led to believe it's one of those that screws with your mind and most of the series happened inside of someone's head.

I'm planning on getting the DVDs soon. I've heard it's a very good series.

I dont have a screencap of the alien handy, but why hasn't one been posted yet.

I wanted to get the box set myself, but I have no money.

I do believe that this is one to screw with your head. It screwed with mine trying to get the meaning out of it all.

Is it bad that I got bored after the first four episodes?   :B

Mayhaps now that I've mastered Stand Alone Complex, I could try this one again...

Do try. It isn't too incredibly long. I think it only has maybe 16 episodes.

Absolutely not, you lasted a little less than me (six episodes, I think?) and I still got bored of it. I'll give it another try, but since I like shows like Ranma 1/2, Dragon Ball, and GitS, I doubt I'll like it any more.
War.

I can understand why, not a whole lot actually happens as far as action is concerned. More of a long introspective character study mixed with philosophy. Which just isn't some peoples schtick.


Twelve.

Yeah, it's been a while since I've seen it. I was going to say thirteen, but at the last moment said sixteen.

Actually, thirteen is right, I was one off.

Again, someone post the alien screencap.

Now if you're comfortable watching something where this type of thing just appears out of left field, isn't ever fully explained or really even mentioned or touched upon ever again, and then later for no reason the knights templar are also involved. You will like this series.

If you're all hung up on "well why would an alien have what looks like a christmas sweater on, wheres the big robots" then no.

But this area isn't for the big robots...

Anyway, Lain is Lain. I don't really think she's an "alien" persay. There was another anime along these lines of being confusing as all hell and not a comedy...But I forgot what it was...

I checked it out from the library, tried watching it again.

I turned it off after episode two this time. My god, the show is slow as hell, never explains anything... Nothing happens! If I want to watch a show where nothing happens for six hours, I'll sit through Inuyasha.
War.

Towards the end it just suddenly goes "oh also now roswell, majestic 12, and the knights templar are involved". Its so absolutely out of nowhere that its great.

Also, again, the alien part I keep mentioning which was just completely whacked out and somewhat unnerving I suppose?

Also I just remembered, I think someone involved with the writing or production of this also made paranoia agent, which was really the last animu AS aired that I cared about (both seasons of ghost in the shell had already aired by then)

I think that the creators and possibly animators of Paranoia Agent did Boogiepop Phantom too...

I'm fairly certain they did Boogiepop Phantom, but i'm not sure about paranoia agent.
If you want an anime that will leave you in an eternal brain fart be sure to watch lain. This anime is definitely for the thinkers and dreamers out there. Casual anime fans will have a difficult time following the stories premise. Bottom line. Lain kick ass. End of story.

I love things that make me think, but Lain didn't do that. It just kind of left you trailing along, giving no real clues, then out of nowhere like Sharp said just PUMMELS you with explanations out of left field.
War.

I loved that part though, I'm not kidding. I much prefer "Apparently whats going on is the knights templar, and an alien, are in ur computer stealing the megahurtz. Also majestic 12. Also the van allen belts but thats not part of this" to something like evangelion where its all "Oh actually this was all just about some punk not whining as much anymore"

Like it stopped being a plot and became pretty much some montage of conspiracy theories

I like things that made you think, like... I, Robot. Not the movie, the book. The book took place over quite a long period of time, and showed subtly how robots ingrained themselves into society and took over. While it was hidden and subtle, and they revealed how some humans thought robots had done that toward the end, Asimov gave clues both leading and misleading to allow you to draw your own conclusions by the end of the book. That, my friends, is a mind ****.
War.

Oh I left out disconnected 56k modem chick didn't I

I think you need to explain this, Sharp.
War.

At one point uh....it's been a while since I watched it, I forget which character exactly, I think its lains sister, goes from acting normal to just wandering around the house with this half-catatonic stare making this beeping noise like a 56k modem thats hit a busy signal.

I think its implied the alien fries her brain or its just another bit of random oddity thrown in there because...well its there. Yeah. Amused me anyway.

"Aliens Fried Her Brains..." Sounds like... I can't even begin to acknowledge how low this anime is on my to watch priority list.
War.

Well..the ending was more than "enter: giant pallet-swapped robot, stage right. THE END" so it had that at least

(It was CLOSE but it wasn't...yeah..that)

Well, hey, there's something to be said for Big O and their pallet swapped robots. Also, I thought one of the premises was that Bigs were supposed to look similar? But yeah, not watching this. I'll watch it after I go insane and buy Bobobobobobobobobobo on DVD.
War.

No the ending and actually the whole second season sucked. I agree with nine, it was more interesting when it was some vaguely film-noirish thing about a guy trying to investigate dark secrets of the past. The robots were flavor, the fact one of them seemed steam-powered was neat but really, more often than not they detracted from what initially interested me, sorry.

(Except I'm not really sorry)


Yeah I can't entirely recommend it. I haven't watched it in years, I have one of the dvds and sometime I'll go rewatch it and may hate it.

It just seemed so insane and absurd and it was generally entertaining to me. Apparently the creator thought "OH AMERICANS WONT LIKE THIS" or so I think read in some interview/article about it...well he failed miserably if this was his intent, I had my fun watching it which is all I care about.