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Serial Experiments - Lain: Navi (Layers 1-4)

Serial Experiments - Lain: Navi (Layers 1-4)

List Price: $29.98
Your Price: $26.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The Worst Anime Ever
Review: This is absolutely the worst anime I have ever seen. The story is slow, predictable and full of the same flashbacks ad nausiun. The artwork is boring.

Just awful!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "Present Day... Present Time..."
Review: Lain Iwakura is a singularly unassuming 14 year old. The classic waif, surrounded by stuffed pets, and a habit of wearing bear pajamas. Suddenly inexplicable things are happening around her, culminating in her receiving an e-mail from a classmate several days after the girl committed suicide. This triggers a set of changes in Lain's life, many of them small, but ominous when taken as a whole.

Soon Lain is surfing the net with her powerful new Navi (which she barely understands) and eerie connections multiply. Lain is invited to a nightclub where another guest goes berserk and commits suicide right in front of her. Gradually, she discovers there is another Lain - her opposite - who is a master participant in the Wired, an online world where the stakes may be as high as death and transformation.

The primary plot of the series is the gradual diffusion of the boundaries between realities, and the building identity crisis with Lain at its epicenter. The story is very carefully paced, steadily turning up the sense of impending doom. As other participants in the Wired begin to die in some way related to the net. This isn't done with blazing animation, or even an excess of dialog or action. Instead, an almost minimalist style makes symbols out of everyday objects like teddy bears and telephone lines. For example, the use of space in Lain's home is almost reminiscent of Woody Allen's 'Interiors,' and depicts the same sense of distance and isolation.

Lain's world is dystopian, marked by a culture lacking even the motivation necessary to communicate effectively. In this first DVD, the viewer will often feel as baffled as Lain does, desperately reading an instruction manual that never stops to explain anything. But gradually her knowledge develops, and her personality strengthens until we are sure that something wicked comes this way.

Animation is, as I've said, minimal. Sufficient for the purposes of the series, but never allowed to become a distraction. Instead, the key element is the carefully composed graphic imagery and a well made score. This is very much an original story, and not one intended for pure entertainment. The silences in the film require thought on the part of the viewer. Even so, it is a very attractive series; one of those that stretch the boundaries of Anime is a quest for a higher esthetic vision.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Might be a little TOO freaky for you. =)
Review: WARNING! THIS ANIME IS VEEEEEEEERRRRRRRY FREAKY!

The story begins when one of Lain's classmates commits suicide by jumping off her apartment. The next day at school, rumors have it that the dead girl is sending E-mail, but everyone thinks it's a prank.
Later, Lain, too, gets an E-mail from the dead girl. The E-mail says it isn't a prank, and that the "dead girl" isn't really dead. Lain replies.
A series of deaths and wierd/mysterious scenes follow, all connected with the Wired, or cyber-world.

Over all, I give this anime four stars. If you're a fan of wierd/freaky anime, than this is right up your alley.
...You might never look at computers the same way again! Bwahahahahahahahahaha!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Hey
Review: Wau! I have been wanting to see that anime a long time ago but I couldn't saw it until 3 days ago. It's really interesting the plot and the characters are very originals.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Weird at first, but VERY engaging!
Review: Even though I had to watch these series a couple of times in order to understand them fully, none the less I liked them all the same. If you like "The Matrix" you will love, "Lain". I love the intro music, also :-)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Finally...
Review: A while ago I saw this DVD at a friends house when his mom got it due to a mix up at Blockbuster. I forgot (in my mountain-dew-induced-post-caffeine-high-stupor) to take down the name and have been looking for it ever since then but noone that I knew had ever heard of it, even the guys (and girl) at the local comic shop.

Finally I get to own a copy of this wonderful series (and the other parts) on DVD.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Confusing
Review: I thought that it was very confusing and hard to follow. Someone else may get it but I didn't.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Opened the next....
Review: Came upon Lain when I was scouring deviantart for wallpapers on slow day at work. It just calls out to you... Lain does. I looked it up on google groups, went on newsgroups, asked some anime otaku, read the reviews here and elsewhere - did the full-on research thing. What that other review says about Lain not for the DBZ crowd is only partly right. I enjoy smash-em-loud, yang anime and watched DBZ for two years. Lain is a different wavelength altogether. It's not as serious/depressing/weird as I thought it would be. But then again, I've only seen this first dvd. Yup, bought it today :) I'm gonna get the whole boxset and give my copy of Navi to a friend and get them started on Lain. It's good, smart anime worth sharing :)

PS. Navi's so good, I've already viewed it twice and started vidcapping on the third. Anyone for Lain wallpapers? (:

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: very unusual, unique, and kind of scary
Review: i've only watched the first volume of lain and this is definitely
not your typical anime. it has a different drawing style to it and definitely not like the happy, silly comedic anime i usually watch.

lain sets a very sad, and mysterious tone. throughout this series, i found myself very depressed watching it. its not recommended if you don't like watching suicide in anime or serious dark tone set throughout an anime. the violence and disturbing images in this anime are very high. you see people live in fear and kill other people out of paranoia. very mysterious...

i actually don't really like this anime since it is kind of depressing, but it is extremely unique. and i have only watched the first volume. yet it is sad enough for me to want to avoid watching it further. the drawing style of this anime is too realistic like, not your typical huge eye anime you usually see. the characters drawn in this anime don't look like the silly, adorable characters you see in other anime. this is very realistic style with a sci-fi twist. its a story about the wired. what we call the internet in our time and age basically, and goes into concepts such as client-server applications. this would probably be an interesting series to watch if you were into the information technology jargon. while it is very interesting, the disturbing images of murder and suicide might offend some people. even though i didn't like watching it; i have to give it five stars because it is very unique and is well drawn and very original in its content. only too graphic in its violence. not recommended for children. that's for sure. even some adults shouldn't watch it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sets the scene for later episodes
Review: Serial Experiments Lain is one of the most thought-provoking series ever created. This first DVD introduces the viewer to the mature themes (suicide, drug use, the link between the 'wired' and the real world), as well as the protagonist Lain and most of the minor characters - her parents, Taro and her friends Alice, Julie and Rika. It may seem slow in places, but a lot of attention needs to be paid to everything in this 13-part series for it to make sense.


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