Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding
Review: When I purchased this anime, the clerk at SamGoody warned me that Lain 'sucked'. It was so bad, infact, that if I didn't like it I could return the video and pick out another anime. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, but I think he was dead wrong about Lain.Beyond a psycholigical drama on the same level, or above, Evangelion, I wasn't sure what to expect of Lain. The animation style was very interesting, and reminded me of the Japanese live action film 'Love & Pop'. The episodes are very well edited and the camera work is superb. I especially loved the "previews" for the episodes after the credits. As with Evangelion, I have never seen anything quite like this... and I am not sure exactly where the story is going, but I am very eager to see its conclusion. Anyone who likes relatively off-beat film will find many things to enjoy in this engrossing anime. However, if you are the type (and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it) that enjoys Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon or their kin, 'Serial Experiment Lain' is not for you. The episodes, like a Stanley Kubrick film, have a very slow, but deliberate, pace. In fact, there is not much spoken dialogue in the first three episodes on this volume. All in all, if you like anime like 'Ghost in the Shell', 'Patlabor 2-The Movie', or 'The End of Evangelion', Serial Experiment Lain will not dissapoint.
Rating: 
Summary: Strange & Creepy, not an Anime for the Conventional Viewers
Review: Lain is so different from everything I've seen, Anime or not, it's hard to explain it and even more difficult understanding it. I've watched all 13 episodes and I'm utterly confused. Nothing in Lain is clearly defined and the story only gets stranger with each episode. In the end nothing much is explained and it's up to you (the viewer) to tie up the loose ends and draw your own conclusion. The Lain series was done with a limited budget and aired at 1:00am in Japan. It definitely has that low-budget, late-night, creepy, strange, horror shows feel. It has some excellent graphics, but those frames are re-used quite often during the course of the series. If you watch this show for the animation, you'll be disappointed. If you like clear-cut explanation of plot twist you'll not get them here. If you like fast-moving rapid-fire anime with sharp dialogs then look elsewhere. Lain is slow, it's strange, it's creepy and it leaves itself open for all sorts of interpretations. It's one of those shows that you'll either love to death or hate with all your heart. I've watched it once, and I'll watch it again just to be sure I don't like it as much as I think I do. If that last statement make sense to you, than maybe Lain is your cup of tea.
Rating:
Summary: A 'must see' for any serious anime fan
Review: I purchased the first DVD mostly out of curiosity, then after watching the 1st 4 episodes, immediately went out and purchased the rest. The only thing missing is an ongoing plot that could spawn OVA's and feature films, as everything 'ends' in the last episode (no spoilers, you'll have to see what I mean, and I guarantee you'll be surprised). Since it seems to have preceded both 'The Matrix' and 'Ghost in the Shell' I expect that the writers of both would have been inspired by it directly. If you are into computers, if you are into the paranormal, or if you've ever questioned your own existence, it's a must-see. There seems to be at least some influence from 'Akira' and 'Roujin Z', especially in the last 2 episodes. No doubt this series was influential in '.hack/sign' as well.
Rating:
Summary: Serial Experiments Lain - An Amazing Experience
Review: One day while at the video store I noticed a picture of a sad little girl with a single strand of long hair. The picture was the cover of the first volume of Serial Experiments Lain (known by fans as SEL). Intrigued, I bought the Navi DVD. Those first two hours of spectacular visual art and music left me spellbound and yearning for more. Eventually, I bought the second volume and I now own all four DVDs. SEL is the story of Lain Iwakura, a quiet girl who gets sucked into the computer world known as the wired. As Lain explores her new world, she discovers more about people, the world she lives in, the meaning of life, and herself. Though the begining is somewhat slow, the SEL series is a must for any hardcore anime fan. A real treasure! Note: SEL is rated 16 and up (though is probably appropriate for most teenagers). There are some disturbing images involving suicide and a fairly subtle masturbation scene. Some people may also be offened by the view on God and religion.
Rating: 
Summary: Understand what you are getting in.
Review: I will try not to ruin the series for you. I gave it four star because I know many people won't understand Lain and will dislike it. But in its genre I would give it 5 stars. This is not an action or adventure or exciting or fun anime. It is a serious one that questions the meaning of reality and how reality can be viewed. If you have watch the whole Evangelion series you know toward the end it become a mind trip, or if you watch Ghost in the Shell that too become mind trip, but Lain Serial Experiment is a solid mind trip. I know I am making it sound like Lain is a bad anime, but for the few who like the anime that question reality this is the one for you. And for those that see the first DVD and said it was junk, take you time and watch the whole series. This is an anime that you must be in the right mood to watch and have the right mind to understand what is going on. On to the review: Lain is a school aged girl that is shy, with only one close true friend Alice. Lain become interested in computers, which is called a Navi, and "the wire" after a she receives an e-mail from a class mate that has committed suicide.
Lain explores the wire and finds out that there maybe another world out there, where one can also exist. Lain finds out that she can control one of these world which will end up changing the other. She is able to connect to all people in all world and try to destroy the border to the two worlds, but accidently hurts he friend Alice. It hard to determine what Lain thinks but she commits herself to endless loniless as much as a god would have...It is a must see On the first time viewing the whole series you will not understand many things happening, you will need to see the series at least twice maybe more, and still many part won't make since, but that is the way the series is made, it is made for the viewer to think and think and come up with there own oppions and understandings.
p.s. if you are in a good mood and want to want to stay in don't watch Lain, and if you are in a depressed mood by no means watch this, you become suicidal ^_^
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I had high hopes for an interesting and different film, but I was disappointed. It is different, but unfortunately boring. There are some aspects to the artwork that are unique (shadows have fun treatments) but thats about it. Otherwise, the artwork is a let down. The eyes on the main character (Lain) were a window to nothing and she really wasn't endearing. It was very slow and not a "ghost story". Maybe the next few layers get more excitng, but I'm sure the anime doesn't get better.
Rating:
Summary: The beginning to one of the most bizarre anime series ever.
Review: Anime is a very broad genre, encompassing all sorts of subgenres, and more often than not a particular anime series will belong to several of these subgenres at once. There are, however, some series that defy categorization, series that can only be classified as "in a league of their own." The haunting and equally disturbing "Serial Experiments Lain" is such a series, demanding a certain something from its audience in order to be fully appreciated. With that realization, "Lain" is most certainly not for everyone, but for those who dare to watch this series will set out on a journey unlike anything they've ever experienced. The first DVD in this series, "Navi", introduces us to Lain, a shy thirteen-year old girl with a seemingly typical life. But everything changes when a classmate of Lain's commits suicide and emails supposedly from the dead girl suddenly circulate to everyone in the class. Curious, Lain reads the email and reads its chilling words: "I just abandoned my body. I still live here..." Thus begins her journey into the Wired, the internet-like world that has a life of its own. Could Lain's dead classmate be right? Has the line between the real world and the wired world begun to blur? Anyone expecting a straight-forward story will be in for a rude-awakening; "Serial Experiments Lain" is anything but straightforward. Rather than simply lay out everything for the viewer, the show instead asks the viewer to decide for himself what is going on. Every shot, every sound, every moment in "Lain" contains some kind of meaning or symbolic imagery, meant to be deciphered by the viewer based upon what he believes is happening. The result is a surreal and eerie presentation with an almost ominous atmosphere. And yet there's also enough to fascinate, even seduce the viewer into continuing, drawing him deeper into the story and closer to what the "truth" is. Some will find it boring; others will find it mesmerizing. Only those willing to move on will ascertain the series' secrets...or discover there were never any to begin with. Visually, "Lain" makes good use of its anime medium. With moody colors and vibrant psychological stimulus, the series knows how to present its macabre imagery in the best way possible. Granted, it's not the most detailed anime series ever produced, as evident by the character models in certain situations, but that's not what the series is trying to accomplish. And what it accomplishes it accomplishes so well, that's all it needs. The audio of the series is just as important and well-executed as the visuals. With its evocative score done by Reiichi "CHABO" Nakaido, "Lain" paints an unsettling portrait of sound to amplify the mood already set by the visuals. The sound effects also do their share of sustaining the atmosphere, from the eerie silences to the hiss of smoke to the ghostlike hums of the power lines. As for the dub, Pioneer has put together a marvelous English track that is sure to please dub fans and maybe even a few sub fans. Every voice actor matches his or her respective character and gives a performance matching the solemn performances by the original Japanese voice actors. Definitely one of the better dubs on the market today. Overall, "Serial Experiments Lain" is a fantastic anime series, but only if you're the right kind of viewer. Many people will understandably dislike what this series attempts to create and others will be uncomfortably confused by what "Lain" is trying to attempt. But for those with an open mind and a desire to explore one's own psyche and personal convictions, "Serial Experiments Lain" is the perfect choice.
Rating:
Summary: Creepy and somehow beautiful
Review: This disc begins what is perhaps the most intriguing, creepy, and wonderfully strange television series ever created. Show an episode of Lain to five hundred different people and you'll get five hundred different interpretations of what's going on. I've talked to people who think that the character Lain is a modern Jesus, and others who think that she's the Goddess described in various pagan religions. That's how wide open this particular anime is for personal interpretation and meaning. The writers never explain anything outright, with intelligence-insulting dialogue; the significance of each bizarre little moment is entirely up to the viewer to figure out. Spend the money and get the whole series, because you'll come back to it again and again and again. Every single time I watch an episode (oops, I mean a "layer") I find out something new about the storyline, and also about myself. This is absolutely essential viewing for anyone who likes anime or just good (albeit extremely strange) sci-fi.
Rating:
Summary: This is unlike any anime series I've ever seen.
Review: Let me first say that if you are to watch this anime series you better have a extremely open mind, if you don't you wo'nt get through the first episode.
Lain was one of he first anime series I really seen all the through, before i really couldn' get into anime cause I thought if you've seen one you've seen them all, stupid right? But I was always searching for somthing smarter, because i don't like being treated like an idiot when i watch anything, when the plot, conflicts, relationships between the character are fully explained within the first few episodes, and the ending is just thrown in there at the last minute. This one really caught me by surprise, I first heard about it from one of my friends who is an anime freak. I decided to check it out and I was blow alway emotionly, I rented the first tape and I got so addicted to it that I just went out and rented he rest of the series and watched it all in one sitting, that is somthing you shouldn't do because I was so tired mentally that I couldn't watch anything for days cause it was to much to take in all at once. I am only recommending this to people who really like to think deeply about what their watching.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring
Review: I'm really sorry to say this, but this anime is simply BORING. I've seen a couple of other anime films before, some good, some bad, yet one more time, nothing SO boring. Just think, the picture on your screen stays exactly the same for about half a minute, without anybody saying anything...and on the length of the whole episode just nothing significant happens or is said... It's not thoughtful or philosofical or anything, just...boring :) I really wonder how people could compare this anime to Neon Genezis Evangelion, which is really high quality film by the way, or any other good anime...
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