Serial Experiments Lain (1998)

I finally got around to watching the first disc (of four) of SERIAL EXPERIMENTS LAIN after it had been sitting on my shelves for well over a year. I hadn't been putting off watching it because I didn't expect to enjoy it, I just wasn't ready to get started on a series.

LAIN turns out to be one of the strangest animes I've come across, a kind of vague horror based around a young girl called Lain who begins to get caught up in some sinister internet-based goings on... or the world of "The Wired" in their terms.

The style is excellent, with visual motifs of wires and audio queues of burbling electronic chatter setting up a very threatening atmosphere, all very well animated. The content unfolds quite slowly, revealing just enough to keep you guessing. Genuinely quite creepy to watch, and hence very enjoyable. Feels vaguely like MEMENTO MORI or something along those lines.

Looking forward to discs 2,3 & 4!