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The terrifyingly prescient ‘Serial Experiments Lain,’ 20 years later (2018)

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Re: The terrifyingly prescient ‘Serial Experiments Lain,’ 20 years later (2018)

#141

Post by meowface »

trentnix wrote: post #47
honkycat wrote: post #35

Serial Experiments Lain is everything wonderful about anime. It is violent, dark, scary. In summary: ADULT. Anime tells stories in a visual format that for years and years you simply could not get anywhere else. Adult genre fiction was not well represented in American media. Even today, adult American cartoons are almost entirely "sitcom" format. They don't want to ever end, and they do not want to tell a story, they…

A month or so ago I finally watched the Neon Genesis Evangelion series after hearing about it for more than 20 years. After slogging through a few episodes of predictable awkard-teenagers-pilot-giant-robots-to-save-the-world it finally reveals itself as a stunning exploration into the minds of troubled youth who are, effectively, subjected to a barrage of traumatic crises. It's a deep, rich world with complex charact…

I'd recommend trying to watch a bit more of Steins;Gate and Attack on Titan. They both get very rewarding as they go on. (For the latter, it's a bit more hit-and-miss, but the hits don't ever stop. Unlike the Game of Thrones kind, where there's a sheer drop-off starting Season 5 that only gets worse and never better.) And, as another commenter wrote, there's something much deeper and more nuanced about the main character's over-the-top personality in Steins;Gate than initially appears.

Re: The terrifyingly prescient ‘Serial Experiments Lain,’ 20 years later (2018)

#142

Post by XorNot »

QuesnayJr wrote: post #44
exhaze wrote: post #26

Saw Lain growing up. Quite fond of it. Pretty weak at predicting the future. You know who was pretty good at it? Isaac Asimov (spoilers ahead). My favorite example: Protagonist visits a highly advanced planet where everyone lives on their own plot of land. People lead lives of leisure, all of their needs are taken care of by highly efficient robots. However, they are terrified of physical contact, especially with the…

I think about this all the time. When I read it way back when I thought it sounded like an absurd extrapolation of the future. And yet here we are.

The exceptional circumstances of a global pandemic aren't "predicting the future".

This point would be more relevant if it had accidentally become the norm, but that straight up hasn't and won't happen (hence the ongoing pandemic, to some extent).

Re: The terrifyingly prescient ‘Serial Experiments Lain,’ 20 years later (2018)

#143

Post by nyanpasu64 »

> lawless, anonymizing communities

i am safe from physical harm online, i can block people online.

i am not safe from physical harm in person, i cannot block people in person, they insult me when i try to assert boundaries, knowing that they can mistreat me with impunity since I'm financially dependent on them.

and i don't know anyone i relate to who lives nearby to talk to, and i can't meet even if i knew them.

Re: The terrifyingly prescient ‘Serial Experiments Lain,’ 20 years later (2018)

#144

Post by meowface »

Glyptodon wrote: post #138
teekert wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also enjoyed Ergo Proxy, Texhnolyze and Planetes. Ghost in the Shell is still the only movie I revisit every now and then (out of all movies ever). They are all slow, I want to take the time to watch them again some day. Very different but I also enjoyed Naruto as I grew up myself. It's long (but you can skip all fillers) but sometimes very deep. I enjoyed Kenshin but never finished it. As mentioned below Samurai C…

Ergo Proxy seems to suffer from translations/subtitles not conveying details/subtext/terminology sufficiently. I think it gets a bit underrated accordingly.

As one of the many people who was disappointed by the show when I watched it ages ago (despite its amazing aesthetic and visuals), I can totally believe that. In hindsight it's obvious, but after watching things from different subtitlers, I realized what a difference subtitle quality makes.

It's especially annoying when you naturally start to pattern match and pick up certain common words (if you've watched a lot of stuff for years) and see a short subtitle that seems like an extreme simplification or ham-fisted watering down of what a character just said. Subtitle timing and duration can also make a difference.

It makes you really appreciate good subtitling, at least.

Re: The terrifyingly prescient ‘Serial Experiments Lain,’ 20 years later (2018)

#145

Post by meowface »

throwamon wrote: post #59
trentnix wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A month or so ago I finally watched the Neon Genesis Evangelion series after hearing about it for more than 20 years. After slogging through a few episodes of predictable awkard-teenagers-pilot-giant-robots-to-save-the-world it finally reveals itself as a stunning exploration into the minds of troubled youth who are, effectively, subjected to a barrage of traumatic crises. It's a deep, rich world with complex charact…

(To be clear where I'm coming from: I'm not what you'd call an otaku, haven't watched many things of this kind. I really detest over-the-top stuff. I prefer realism to fantasy but can enoy it if it helps with the plot. I've watched and enjoyed Evangelion (wasn't enjoying it at all in the beginning but when it started getting "psychological" I loved it) and Ghost In The Shell, still haven't but want to watch the other…

>EDIT: Oh, I also watched Ergo Proxy in an overnight binge so I honestly can't remember much about it. A lot of people like it, I found it really boring and felt too grandiose for what actually happened in the end. There's an interesting story behind it all, but I had to resort to reading fan theories to get it.

The most common reaction to it I saw at the time actually was "really boring and felt too grandiose for what actually happened in the end". (That was my reaction, too.) It just has a lot of other characteristics that make it appealing; it's arguably still the best-looking anime I've seen, despite being 15 years old. Especially since I'm a fan of that kind of dark aesthetic. And it starts out really promising and curiosity-grabbing.

Re: The terrifyingly prescient ‘Serial Experiments Lain,’ 20 years later (2018)

#146

Post by Area12 »

trentnix wrote: post #47
honkycat wrote: post #35

Serial Experiments Lain is everything wonderful about anime. It is violent, dark, scary. In summary: ADULT. Anime tells stories in a visual format that for years and years you simply could not get anywhere else. Adult genre fiction was not well represented in American media. Even today, adult American cartoons are almost entirely "sitcom" format. They don't want to ever end, and they do not want to tell a story, they…

A month or so ago I finally watched the Neon Genesis Evangelion series after hearing about it for more than 20 years. After slogging through a few episodes of predictable awkard-teenagers-pilot-giant-robots-to-save-the-world it finally reveals itself as a stunning exploration into the minds of troubled youth who are, effectively, subjected to a barrage of traumatic crises. It's a deep, rich world with complex charact…

Psycho-Pass. Finish season one, which tells a complete story. There was a drop in quality in season two. Psycho-Pass is about two layers of futuristic police, "inspectors" with full citizen rights, and "enforcers" who are treated as "latent criminals". A brain scan from the end of a cop's weapon, which takes a second to complete, may determine your fate. The lead female character is initially very keen and eager to be an inspector, but soon questions the system and society. It's fast-paced and a great show.

Re: The terrifyingly prescient ‘Serial Experiments Lain,’ 20 years later (2018)

#147

Post by lukifer »

wcarss wrote: post #115
trentnix wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A month or so ago I finally watched the Neon Genesis Evangelion series after hearing about it for more than 20 years. After slogging through a few episodes of predictable awkard-teenagers-pilot-giant-robots-to-save-the-world it finally reveals itself as a stunning exploration into the minds of troubled youth who are, effectively, subjected to a barrage of traumatic crises. It's a deep, rich world with complex charact…

So many recommendations, but no Trigun yet. Starts off very silly, but goes to some good places over its single season run. At least, I sure felt it did when I was 13. It's a western/sci-fi set in a vast desert-dwelling society, focusing on the legend of the mysterious criminal Vash, with a 60 billion dollar bounty on his head, usually called by the nickname "Vash The Stampede", who wreaks destruction and mayhem wher…

The heartfelt moral questions the series poses ("the spider and the butterfly") are nothing short of profound, all the more because they may not be resolvable. One of my favorite series ever, aesthetically, narratively, and thematically: I've seldom seen anything so simultaneously silly, and gut-wrenchingly poignant.

Re: The terrifyingly prescient ‘Serial Experiments Lain,’ 20 years later (2018)

#148

Post by bsanr2 »

honkycat wrote: post #35

Serial Experiments Lain is everything wonderful about anime. It is violent, dark, scary. In summary: ADULT. Anime tells stories in a visual format that for years and years you simply could not get anywhere else. Adult genre fiction was not well represented in American media. Even today, adult American cartoons are almost entirely "sitcom" format. They don't want to ever end, and they do not want to tell a story, they…

It's amazing to see mainstream America discover, with our television Renaissance, what most otaku knew and took for granted since the 90s. I hear family talk about the latest It Show, and it's almost word for word what you would have found on the more polite anime forums back in the day. Even the premises echo: of Record of Lodoss War and all its derivatives in Game of Thrones, of Gundam and Cowboy Bebop in The Expanse. Don't think for a second that TV producers aren't mining the rich veins of both conceptual and visual "basic research" anime creators have done on what "works" for the extended fiction format and action-oriented television.

The one thing I will say is that, as an anime watcher, you do start to pick up on the repetitive tropes that might have felt fresh in your first few series, and with the aforementioned unsavory pandering towards the figma crowd, American TV that apes anime definitely has me less fatigued or concerned about sharing my enthusiasm with any particular show with F&F.

Re: The terrifyingly prescient ‘Serial Experiments Lain,’ 20 years later (2018)

#149

Post by fomine3 »

baybal2 wrote: post #116
entropicdrifter wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you liked Robotech and Evangelion, you might want to check out some of the Universal Century timeline Gundam shows. Mobile Suit Gundam and Zeta Gundam are the classics, but for something with gorgeous modern animation, check out Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, it's a prequel series that follows the main rival character from the original through his childhood and up to the start of the war that's the setting for th…

> Legend Of The Galactic Heroes I only recently found that it was a cartoon originally. I read it as a novell like 20 years ago.

Novel is original, cartoon is delivered.

Re: The terrifyingly prescient ‘Serial Experiments Lain,’ 20 years later (2018)

#150

Post by mjevans »

egypturnash wrote: post #124
perardi wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[cracks knuckles, adjust sunglasses] Kick reason to the curb and do the impossible! Sorry. Gurren Lagann, paired with Evangelion, remains one of my favorites. Though it’s a different production crew, it is the same studio, and it’s fascinating to watch them as a counterpoint. There is an obvious point where the main character in Gurren Lagann could, and perhaps should, break, but hope comes through. It’s the optimist…

I still find Kamina's repeated urging for Simon to "believe in the me that believes in you" to be something really compelling. The exact wording is a little awkward and stilted - translations almost always are - but the sentiment is gold , especially for the teenage audience this kind of stuff tends to attract. Sure, you don't believe in yourself. You tear yourself down all the time. But you also believe in your best…

I found it to be a better version of "believe in yourself"... anyone that needs to hear that phrase is very likely to have problems doing just that. You nailed the context though; believe (your best elder-brother figure) who believes in you; they thought you could, prove them right.
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