>"PRESENT DAY, PRESENT TIME AHAHAHA" This still

You don't seem to understand.

>>142925824
Shame, he seemed an honest man tbqh

I want a present from Lain.

>>142925786

The problem is Lain was so far ahead of its time.

In the 90s when the show was made most of the tech was all fantasy. I watched this show on VHS and it was the age of dial-up internet. But the creators didn't want the show to be thought of as futuristic, they wanted it to be seen as contemporary. So they open the show saying it's the present day, present time.

Time passed and the tech of the series became more and more like modern tech until it seemed redundant to suggest that the series is not contemporary.

It was literal.
One of the hallmarks of good science fiction is how it roots itself in a relatable basis for the real world to serve as a level of social commentary. Part of what makes Lain exceptional is the way it handles the emergence and growth of digital culture as it began to penetrate the mainstream, in the late 90's early 2000's. The world of Lain isn't the same as the real world, and there's obvious setting-differences, but it's literally meant to be a direct analogue to the present day and present time of the world when it was made.

As for why the laughing, you could speculate 'till the jews convert since it's such a vague and ambiguous addition, but my guess would be to emphasize the critical aspects of the world it's providing commentary on. Lain is hardly a flattering portrayal of the way human beings handle digital technology and the world in which that technology is emerging, and is very critical of it. Derisive laughter could just be the way that they signal to the viewer that the present day is something deserving of derision.

>>142925824
>>142925865
I chuckled.

>>142926010
>>142926015
Thanks anons, I guess I should've taken it in context with the time period. Makes much more sense now.
Anyway, Lain thread.

>>142926010
I don't think Lain was that far ahead of its time. In the late 90's my city had cable internet and a lot of the stuff appearing on the show was all starting to emerge into the market (albeit for exorbitant prices).

I don't really know the status of Japan's tech market during that time period, but considering tech had been one of their biggest industries throughout the 2nd half of the 20th century, I'm willing to bet a lot of what's lost for you is a result of the differences between posh Tokyo suburbs and the Town of Bumfuck just north of Nowhere, Tennessee.

>>142926197

Yeah. No. The handhelds alone. They basically have iphone tech, even though they're shaped like jumbo tomagachis. To put the handheld technology in context, when the show was made the game boy advanced was still three years away.

>>142925786
I thought the laughing was a good way to set up how strange and dreadful the tone is. Its like in Twin peaks when someone does something strange. It sets the mood perfectly to show that it's a strange and scary world. The laughter is also more English sounding which would sound slightly strange to a japanese person, and for English speakers it sounds forced. It really is a killer way to set the mood.

>>142926316
A graphing calculator in the 90's could basically do everything those handhelds do, guy.

There's nothing impressive about current smartphone technology aside from their processing power and UI. Pressure-based touchscreens even existed back then, though they were crap.

>>142926010
>>142926015
These are actually some really good responses. I enjoyed reading them.

For the laugh part I'd also add the possibility that it's meant to show the ridiculousness of setting a period of reference at all. One of the core premises of the show was that our technology was advancing much faster than we ever anticipated. The creators would know that in 10 years of it's creation the world could be a radically different place. Not to mention SEL's treatment of the concept of time, which given enough data manipulation becomes mutable or even bendable. Given all that it would make sense that the voice trying to set the temporal scene for the story would take the shit out of himself.
What really IS the present day, present time?

I mean, if anything the time of Lain has become even more contemporary to our own as time passed. The present has grown even more present.

>>142926375

Yeah, sure. I remember the 90's. A TI-83 totally had HD touchscreens, GPS, wireless internet, downloadable aps and PC syncing capabilities.

>>142926434
And how do you know Lain has HD touchscreens, GPS, wireless internet or downloadable apps?

>>142926434
Aside from HD, all of those things existed back then, they just sucked.

>>142926709
Now I not only think you didn't grow up in the 90s, I don't think you've even watched the series. Fuck off, summer. Go watch lain come back and know what you're talking about.

It's been a weird thing watching technology grow in the nearly two decades since lain came out. Back then it was considered cyberpunk to imagine a bunch of kids organizing their entire lives around social networking through a tiny computer they could hold in their hand. Now it's just everyday life.

>>142926832

And they were all in separate packages that were way bigger and bulkier than the handhelds in lain. Not only did Lain predict the synergy of these technologies it predicted the human behavior around them.

>>142926015
>you could speculate 'till the jews convert
My sides.

>>142925786
What is the y-yard they keep talking about

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>>142926836
Deflecting my point and projecting on the same post, great job.

>>142926941
>the synergy of these technologies
Once again, you're overstating it. There were plenty of tech toys in the 90's that combined rudimentary wireless communication together with the ability to link to a pc. Hell, when I was a kid I had a little plastic bomber plane-shaped game handheld with an infared sensor. You could plug the receiver into a computer to use it as a controller. It was complete and absolute trash, but it's probably still kickin' around my parent's garage.

You're right that the packages were much bulkier and more unwieldy than portrayed in the show, but that's also just a consequence of the show being a product of visual design. Their handhelds were made to look cool, not realistic.

Also
> it predicted the human behavior around them
No, it simply described the behaviour that was already surrounding them. That behaviour hasn't really changed much since the 90's. It just spread beyond losers like me and penetrated into the mainstream.

>>142927214

Your point was wrong. All the tech I listed were demonstrated by episode three of the series, are predominantly featured throughout the show's run and if you'd watched the show you know that. I highly recommend it. It's only 13 episodes and it's brilliant.

>>142926941
To be fair outside of maybe the GPS it makes sense for those things to be packed together.

>>142927399
GPS was also the big exciting new tech during the 90's that everything was pushing. Hell, there were beepers with built-in GPS back then.

>>142927345
>HD touchscreen
That handheld thing Lain uses to code in her class? It's text-based, barely HD.
>GPS
When?
>wireless connection
When? The show makes a big deal of the presence of wires connecting everything together, the atmosphere created with the lonely images of an urban environment with the buzzing of current going through the wires is a big part of the show.
>downloadable apps
No they didn't unless you simply mean downloading stuff in general, something that was already a thing in the 90s.

>>142927274

Handheld navis are for all intents and purposes basically smartphones that weren't completely realized until mid-late 2000s but handheld tech was kind of getting it's footing in the 90s. I'm sure the PDAs and blackberries of the mid 90s made for a pretty simple starting base to imagine the wondrous handheld devices of the future.

>>142927517
Connecting people without wires or devices via IPv7 and Schumann resonance was a big part of the plot, remember?

>>142925786
As opposed to "once upon a time" or "a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away".

>>142927517

In "Rumors" after Lain recovers from a near breakdown she starts fiddling with her navi. The edges on the text as well as the small writing on some of the windows could only work if the device had an HD screen.

In "Girls" Alice guides Lain to cyberia by a phone chat with live GPS navigation.

The Navi she holds constantly connects to the wired throughout the entire series.

Again in Rumors you can see Lain going through programs that she's gotten off the wired. Also other characters reference programs they get online for their devices.

>>142927826
My memory is not very good when it comes to those episodes that had a ton of exposition, all that I remember from the concept of connecting people without wires was that the real world and the online world started to merge together and that's it, I think it's a bit of a stretch to compare it to radiocommunications through air but I might be wrong.

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>>142927894

No.

They even reference this in the series. The accella kid tells lain to put the gun in her mouth and pull the trigger with her thumb.

>>142925786
What was the first half of ep11 about? Was it just a short recap?

>>142925786
Here and now is the time and place you matter. You only live as you. You exist in the time and place you do. The story relates to your time and place, is of immediacy.

>>142926197
But the internet was still distinct of "reality" back then. That's the important "prediction" , the blurring of the worlds and how the internet isn't separate from reality, but instead a part of it.

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There's too much needless arguing and conjecture in this thread. We should stop.

LET'S ALL LOVE LAIN.

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>>142925824
>>142925865

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>>142928631
>tfw Lain will always be with us
It's a good feeling.

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Does anyone have the multiple viewing WEG for lain. It's surprisingly accurate.

>>142928541
>But the internet was still distinct of "reality" back then
Speak for yourself.
I spent more of my childhood fucking with punchcards, and later IRC than actually communicating with other human beings. Before Google was good, you had messageboards, forums and IRC channels full of know-it-alls who you asked for advice (or baited into a flame war) whenever you needed to know something.

The main difference between the internet now and internet back then, aside from the obvious software scalability and user-friendliness, is simply the number of people using it. It went from being anathema associated with no-life outcasts and poindexters to being something every normalfag spends 3 or more hours a day on. That change didn't come from the technology itself, but just better marketing and the inevitable, gradual acceptance of any new technology into daily life. It's not really an impressive feat for science fiction to predict that era-defining technology will become embraced by the masses over time.

>>142927826
>As opposed to "once upon a time"
This is literally all it meant. It was setting it squarely in the present, i.e. 1998

>>142928777
But that's the point. It was special to use the internet, you wouldn't casually post on twitter.

>>142928777
>That change didn't come from the technology itself
Yes it did. What,, do you think the only thing keeping the masses back then from using the internet was some guy going "gee, how about we market this to everyone?". The ease of use was what made it possible, and the ease of use was only possible to create with the development of tehnology.

Story time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkXzOlytPME

What did the alien represent?

I watched Lain 15 years ago, is it worth going back to, will it make more sense?

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>>142929178

All the thoughts of people were starting to blend together and Lain made one of them real without knowing it. Soon she learned how to control it which is why she later appears to Alice in the body of the alien.

There was never anything to get except for pretentiousness.

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>>142925786
Why is this show so sexual? I can't stop rubbing it on the screen.

>>142929430
I want to fuck her in her flooded room

>>142926425
>present has grown even more present
muh technology isn't natural
muh technology is summoning the devil
muh technology destroys humanity

meanwhile I enjoy being able to have a entire library that updates itself that I can surf while entirely naked and do it all for extremely low cost to me.
thanks government and corporate sectors!

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>>142929430

>>142929668
He never said that though. There are some anime that do this shit and it's awful, but SEL isn't one of them.

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>>142929430
>>142929549
>>142929712
stop sexualizing a god.

>>142929668
But Lain is neutral in that aspect.
Technology can be evil when the one that controls it is a cunt like that doctor and it can be oaky when the one that controls it has good intentions.

>>142929732
internet boogeyman
Its no different from lovecraft. I don't think SEL was bad by any measure, its just you have to understand where its coming from to be able to get on that ride so naturally its hard to understand what the fuck is going on. I spent half the series thinking she was just nuts.

>>142929837
That doesn't match the overall tone of the series at all anon. I understand your point but I don't see how you can argue that when most of the screentime is in dark closed off settings with melancholic music.

>>142929940
But she was already autistic way before she got an interest in computers.

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What was the point of accella?

>>142929836
you gotta stop putting the pussy on a pedestal

>>142929940
It's meant to look oppressive but it's not exactly a social commentary on how technology is evil.

>>142930151
To have lain kill him. It was the start of the disconnect of lains self.

>>142928631
That scene was so well done. Very unnerving and captivating.

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>>142927274
>That behaviour hasn't really changed much since the 90's
I beg to differ, pic related, but in the context of Lain, we did see social effects like teenagers rooted to their text messages and small sects of online game addicts just losing themselves completely. Covert agencies spy on people's communications, online shopping makes its mark, and the world goes round.

The biggest difference in the world of Lain is that it didn't predict MySpace. As soon as every layman and loony was able to share any throwaway thought that came to mind, the entire duality that existed in Lain crumbled in our own world. In Lain, people drew a line between a personal tangible world and an impersonal intangible one. That's not so in today's world, all because of the social network, where the people who accept the digital into their lives are those who accept their lives into the digital and are just everyday people. There is no line, because the Web is not a world in itself; it is a tool we use to build such worlds. People are just more comfortable with that proposition than Konaka may have predicted.

It's odd to think that we'll try putting a person's mind into the computer in the coming decades. That's when the real fun begins.

How is the dub?

>>142931711
Who fucking cares?

>>142932228
Well I was thinking of rewatching Lain and sine I never saw the dub I considered if its not horrible it would be worth viewing.

Instead I just wont rewatch the series and it can fade into obscurity because of whiny internet virgins being pretentious and feeling the need to look smart

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>>142932329
Aye, contrary to the out-of-control "subs vs dubs" meme, dubs are shit when they're shit, not when they're dubs. And this one isn't particularly shitty.

>>142932329
I never watch anything dubbed, it's a principle.
I heard the Bebop one is good tho. Wouldn't have a clue either way.

>>142932449
My rule of thumb is generally if it's an anime with young girls/kids, the dub is guaranteed to be utter shite. Pretty much all cases of good/decent dubs happen to be anime that have heavy western inspirations or have an all male cast, i.e. Cromartie, Bebop, Redline, Dandy.

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>>142932671
>bebop
>redline
>dandy

Bebop + Redline = Dandy...?

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>>142931489
Maybe the reason Lain is so popular on 4chan is because it's one of the few places left on the internet where it's possible to create a separate online persona.

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>>142926015
>but my guess would be to emphasize the critical aspects of the world it's providing commentary on. Lain is hardly a flattering portrayal of the way human beings handle digital technology and the world in which that technology is emerging, and is very critical of it.

I'm going to have to disagree with this. Ueda has said that he at least was very optimistic about technology, and that Lain wasn't meant as a prediction or a reaction to technology. I think it's a way more metaphysical work than people tend to realize.

>>142932833
Except YouTube, Twitch, any MMORPG, Twitter, Facebook's "Personas" feature, and Nebraska.

>>142933553
>YouTube, Twitch, any MMORPG, Twitter, Facebook's "Personas" feature, and Nebraska
Who uses these? Nobody I know.

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>>142929178
also >>142929241

>>142933630
You should leave the basement once in a while.

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>>142933692
>https://stallman.org/facebook.html
No thanks, I'm fine down here.

>>142933942
Stallman is a hack. Can't even write a competent microkernel.

>>142934081
Doesn't make him wrong about social media.

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What's really happened to her sister?

>>142936083
Trapped between the wired and real life, while her empty shell is used to spy on Lain for the Knights and place the bomb in her computer.

>>142936083
Reference to old doppelganger folk tales. She is lost in between reality and the wire

>>142932833
What the fuck are you even talking about? You can do that literally anywhere as long as you don't use your actual information. In fact, 4chan is pretty terrible for that purpose because a consistent persona requires you to be trip/namefag cancer.

>>142932329
>Instead I just wont rewatch the series and it can fade into obscurity because of whiny internet virgins being pretentious and feeling the need to look smart
Wait anon, if you don´t rewatch Lain then it will fade into obscurity, the show´s popularity depends of you