The meaning of existence

Frieda 2022-03-25 08:01:01

Finally finished watching the anime Lain and understand why those reviews say it's one of the most obscure cartoons ever made. The dim picture, the illusory characters, the ethereal dialogue, the staggered plot, the alternation of the real and the illusory, make you think hard to piece it together and find the clues.

The story is about the survival of the Internet and reality. Lain in the real world is lonely and autistic, out of tune with the people around him. The reason why she is so special is because she is a program written by the "god" in the Internet. Once she wakes up, she can freely shuttle between the Internet and reality - in fact, everyone in the story is a program, why But Lain is so special, I don't understand, is it because she is the protagonist?

The story may be about the meaning of existence: Qiansha chose to give up her body at the very beginning, and sought a new way of living in the illusory online world in the form of spirit, "For this real world, the body is the Meaningless things." "There are many mes that exist in different people's memories, and there is always one me." "Everything is fake, everything exists because of people's memories, if a little bit Rewriting the memory is like nothing happened." But does it make sense to live in the network? The end of the story is to deny the existence of "God" in the Internet. Lain chooses to end himself, delete all his memories, and let everything return to normal. No one will die strangely, no one will be hurt, and no one will hate each other. . It turns out that real existence is a kind of happiness.

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Extended Reading
  • Claudie 2022-03-25 09:01:23

    A million stars are here

  • Garfield 2022-03-30 09:01:11

    (7/10) I came across this film three times in 20 years. The first time was when I was in middle school, and I gave up after watching one episode; the second time was because of Ryunosuke Obayashi (the voice actor of Captain Goto, the protagonist of "Mobile Police") , but I didn't insist on a few episodes; this time it was because of Ryutaro Nakamura that I finally forced myself to finish it. The first half is really not boring, until the second half, or even the last few episodes, you can see the real mainline and realize that this is a cyberpunk work similar to "The Matrix" (only Lingyin is not Ni Oh, it is better to say that it is closer to Smith), and the reason why many characters in the first half are almost confounding is also obvious. But the prelude is too long, and skipping to the 8th episode after watching the first 3 episodes will not have much impact. But whether you like this work or not, you have to admit that its awareness is ahead of its time. In 1998, "The Matrix" had not yet been released, Google was just established, and the website began to appear in the form of www, and the system people used at that time was Win95... It's not too boring, "Lingyin" can be the most sensational cyberpunk work after "Battling in the Shell" and before "Hacker".

Serial Experiments Lain quotes

  • Iwakura, Yasuo: Let me give you one little warning.

    Lain Iwakura: Huh?

    Iwakura, Yasuo: When it's all said and done, the Wired is just a medium of communication and the transfer of information. You mustn't confuse it with the real world. Do you understand what I'm warning you about?

    Lain Iwakura: You're wrong.

    Iwakura, Yasuo: Huh?

    Lain Iwakura: The border between the two isn't all that clear. I'll be able to enter it soon. In full range. Full motion. I'll translate myself into it.

    Iwakura, Yasuo: Even with a top of the line civilian Navi, you couldn't.

    Lain Iwakura: I can do it. I've modified mine.

    Iwakura, Yasuo: A Psyche processor, huh? But...

    Lain Iwakura: Don't worry. I'm still me.

    Iwakura, Yasuo: Sometimes I wonder.

  • Lain Iwakura: [gasp]

    Miho Iwakura: The wired might actually be thought of as a highly advanced upper layer of the real world. In other words, physical reality is nothing but an illusion, a hologram of the information that flows to us through the wired.

    Lain Iwakura: But ma...

    Miho Iwakura: This is because the body, physical motion, the activity of the human brain is merely a physical phenomenon, simply caused by synapses delivering electrical impulses.

    Lain Iwakura: But mom, I...

    Miho Iwakura: The physical body exists at a less evolved plane only to verify one's existence in the universe.

    Lain Iwakura: Are you really, truly my mother?

    Miho Iwakura: [disappears]

    Lain Iwakura: Are you?