Lain and Evangelion are intrinsically complex series. In both there is a strong presence of technology, which underlines the problematic relationship between individual existence and collective psychological archetypes of a symbolic order. These anime address topics such as the self, the body, the role of communication and the possibility of forging bonds. Lain is heavily intellectual from the outset and slow-paced through and through, while Eva only develops its conceptual core in the later episodes and is much more action-driven. Lain and Eva are prodigies of existential thought transmitted through a visual medium; and as such they go hand in hand.
A page for describing YMMV: Serial Experiments Lain. The scene in which ectoplasm starts emanating from Lain's fingers in Layer 01. The train suicide in Layer 01.
I've watched both of this anime and i think that anyone who has watched Neon Genesis evangelion should also watch serial experiments lain.The most common thing between these two anime is the psychological aspect.Both of them have a complicated history and also characters.Even if the history is not the same (of course) they both have to do with technology and future.Also the main character are almost the same,with big personality problems and duple personality sometimes.Also i think that in both animes the characters surrounding the main characters are problematic and difficult to understand. Revenge of the late 90s with these two unique pieces. Serial Experiments Lain is only similar to Neon Genesis Evangelion with the undertones, as well as the atmosphere and overall impression both series tend to leave with people. Evangelion will leave you somewhat shaken in what you consider to be 'normal' in the ways of human psychology, as well as taking you through a detailed unraveling of the main characters, whereas Lain will leave you wondering more about the duality of the self and the responsibilities associated with near God-Like power (something that the viewers of the End of Evangelion wish had been discussed with a certain character). Both have a haunting feeling that I associate with them, as Demolition D+ would say, an 'over your shoulder, God is watching' kind of feeling, an omnipotence hidden just beyond our view. If you enjoyed Eva, you'll enjoy Lain.
Both are seinen with striking visuals and deep social metaphors. The characters in both are haunting and entirely human. I found it very easy to connect with their decisions and actions, and never felt the story was being pushed somewhere it shouldn't. Both series end with somewhat startling epiphanies. Airtel My Plan Ad Ringtone Free Download.
If you don't find your self at least puzzling over the series as a whole and fitting pieces together from every episode, I'd be suprised. I've rewatched SE:L many many times and I always get something new out of it. Ghost in the Shell and Lain are essentially a parent work and its child, and they complement each other extremely well. It's very visible that Lain was thematically heavily inspired by Ghost in the Shell, and it certainly does an excellent job on expanding upon the basic ideas and concepts. Much longer running time than GITS allowed Lain to explore the implications of a connected and computerised world to a much further degree than GITS managed to do in its way too short feature length. GITS sacrificed a thorough explanation of its themes in order to achieve a little bit more conventional enjoyment (plot, action, etc) while Lain is an uncompromising avaunt-garde trip into the rabbit hole of personal identity in a connected world. GITS is a work that carefully balances standard cinematic execution against its underlying ideas; Lain takes those ideas to their logical extremes, using some pretty unconventional narrative and artistic methods in the process.
They're both excellent works of art in their own right. It's all about human spirit/soul & The Net, but: Paranoia Agent has more fragmented structure, often going sideways to tell your almost unrelated story just to keep with overall crazy style; and just playing with questions about spirit/soul, never getting serious; while Serial Experiments Lain has more solid structure, always staying on the way, with every episode submerging you deeper into the story; and not answering any question about spirit/soul, but makes you think about those questions yourself. Psychologically driven titles that focus on the main character's perspective as the line between reality and illusion disappears, leaving them to unravel a bizarre web of truths and deceptions. Both anime feature non-standard methods of storytelling so that the viewer is left guessing along with the protagonists, though enough is stated by the end for a conclusive ending to be reached.
They were also both made in 1998 and take place during 'the present', thus they both have a clear 90's stylization. It should be noted that Serial Experiments Lain is more slowly paced than Perfect Blue (especially as the later is an 80 minute movie versus a 12 episode TV series). Despite this their general plot progression is similar in many ways.
In this way they often 'feel' similar at many points. Madoka and Lain both are seemingly normal girls thrust into a trippy, dark predicament.
Both pose some interesting and engaging social and psychological questions. They have a lot more similarities, but diving into these would bring up a lot of spoilers. I've heard a few people say that Madoka is a rip-off of Lain, touched up for mainstream consumption, however I feel like this is a short-sighted idea. While Madoka clearly does take heavy influence from Lain, the two pose very unique themes and styles.
That being said, you might find one a tad redundant after watching the other, but they are both excellent shows in their own right. Lain & Madoka are both shy but otherwise average 14 year-old girls who unknowingly possess a great hidden potential, and their shows follow their journeys in overcoming their uncertainties and discovering said potential. They both find themselves visiting an alternate & distorted dimension throughout their journeys. Certain plot events in each show are also markedly similar. It is quite likely that Serial Experiments Lain helped inspire Madoka Magica. It's worth noting that Lain faces mostly internal dilemmas while Madoka's troubles are mostly external, but as characters they are very similar and would likely follow similar paths in each other's stories if they swapped places.
Both shows involve a blend of cyberspace and the real world, and the main characters of both shows are grade school girls. While Serial Experiments Lain is darker, overall, and has more subversive, symbolic elements, questioning things about life, existence, etc. Dennou Coil evades all of that and just gives us some lighthearted adventures in the cyber world.
There is conflict introduced in Dennou Coil, but it's never quite as heavy handed about the thematic elements of it's story as Serial Experiments Lain is. We have 2 must-watch Sci-Fi/Mystery over anime here. If you watched and liked one of these, you definitely should take a look at the other. Dennou Coil is kinda like a modern version of S.E.L as it plays around with the technology used at the moment each was released. It is not as deep and thought-provoking, however, that does not mean it is inferior. What it lacks in symbolism compared to S.E.L is compensated with fun and heart-warming moments. It is also a lot easier to follow and understand the plot/character motivation, while still managing to be confusing and trippy as S.E.L at times.
A parallel world can be found in the universe of both anime, in which the Main Characters explore in order to discover more about their past, about the technology they're using, and trying to crack every mystery/conspiracy. I would say you have a bigger chance liking Dennou Coil if you enjoyed S.E.L as Dennou Coil aims for a bigger audience, while S.E.L is a pretty niche anime that not that many people tend to enjoy. The similarities are countless. Both series are slow-paced, psychological, complex, dark, surreal, weird, and mysterious.
Both deal with the supernatural, the human mind, things such as technology (in Lain) and science/medicine (in GH), and various personality disorders and issues. Also, in both anime, there’s the concept of alternate reality, extra-corporeal experiences, and what's real and what's not: even if not anyone can see it, there’s another world apart from the one we live in (in Lain, the real world & the Wired, in GH, the Apparent World & the Unseen World). In both Lain & GH there’s some kind of game (used respectively by Lain & Masayuki) which allows to enter another world. More similarities: in both series the protagonists are kids who have family problems; Miyako & Lain are both extremely quiet, cute, and basically emotionless; in both anime there are several scenes where the characters seem to stare directly at you with their big, deep eyes; both anime, despite their lack of blood and gore, have disturbing imagery and can be very creepy at times; the type of sounds and music and the way it’s used is almost the same; both anime have amazing OP themes. These anime also have the same director (Ryutaro Nakamura), scriptwriter (Chiaki Konaka), a lovely character design, and have overall the same atmosphere and mood. Both are one hell of a mind trip. Is the world we live in Real?
Serial Experiments Lain and Ghost Hound are two anime that trying to explore reality, the 'real' world and an alternate world; a world of matter and a world of form; through exploring the psychology of characters. Both anime have a very similar feel to them not only based on the themes they try to explore, but also they share the same character design, slow progression of plot and similar feel of seriousness. Even though both deal with existential theme, there's a contrast between their approaches. GH focuses more on the human brain and relating them to supernatural element, traditional beliefs and scientific knowledge. While SEL focuses on computer-based of world, Wired. At first glance Lain and Paprika might not seem very similar, Lain being very slow paced for the most part and Paprika being such a riot of energy.
Yet both challenge the meaning of reality and the role of perspective. In Lain and Paprika technology has permitted man to dismantle experience, uncovering a deeply disturbing world that deconstructs certainty in a fluid nexus of ambivalence. Lain's stress falls more on existential questions while Paprika deals more directly with the distorting power of dreams but both break the barrier of physical limitations as they capitalize the potential of anime to create truly bizarre and rewarding experiences.
The world of both series involves technology that deals with unusual experiences. These experiences have different results with the characters but most of them are out of this world. There's also a sense of surrealism that surrounds the origins of both series. The main female character becomes part of that and goes through experiences. These experiences taps into the consciousness and explores various ideas. Both series also have a conflicting plot that is twisted but has that sense of attraction for viewers especially those into the science fiction genre. I definitely giving both a shot and see what experiences you get out of them.
The idea that someone can immerse themselves in another world, almost like another dimension -- does that world become more real to them than the 'real' reality? Paprika and SEL both raise this question: Paprika in regards to dreams, and SEL in regards to a place called the 'Wired' (similar to our internet). However, differences to note are that this idea is not the focus of Paprika, although it is a feature of it.
Also, Paprika is (obviously) a movie, while SEL is an anime series. But all in all, if you enjoyed the concept of traveling in dreams, you will most likely also enjoy the concept of a second reality in SEL's 'Wired', and the existential questions raised by it. One of the best anime in a genres 'Sci-Fi' and 'Psychological'. From here and similarities of protagonists (which consist that they avoid the real world and consequently live in virtual, they have a constant desire to find in a network and as to understand in internal 'I'). In both anime it is a lot of riddles and the strange events occuring around of the main characters, (it strange messages come, them confuse in the street, they learn about those things, ' which, in their opinion, they did not make ', etc.) and in attempts to understand they all plunges into a chasm of eternal questions on a reality and its perception, memory and consciousness, the God and mankind as a whole more deeply. Both 'Kino's Journey' and 'Serial Experiments Lain' have a lot of similarities.
For one they are both directed by Ryutaro Nakamura, a master in Japanese animation, who continues to prove his expertize with the recent 'Ghost Hound' TV series for Production I.G.. Since both Lain and Kino are directed by Nakamura they focus a lot on 'atmposhere' and scenery, and have a lot of (what film critic Roger Ebert would call) 'pillow shots'. They never rush to the next scene they always relax, and animate small things, allowing you to think about what just happened.
They also use his style of text popping up ever now and then, to blend with the narrative of the story. They both also have many other similiarities due to the way the director handles his anime.
Tally Erp 9 Tcp Files Download. Both anime series are very philosphical and a psychological. They delve deep into these areas, and really become more then just throw away entertainment. They make (sometime blunt) statements about ourselves, this world, humanity different cultures, and many other concepts and ideas (the internet for example appears multiple times in Lain, and War comes up a lot in Kino's Journey).
They both are also partly very focused character studies. Kino's Journey delves a little into Kino as a character, while Serial Experiments Lain focuses on Lain deeply. There are also lots of similurities between both characters. Both series are 13 episodes long, very artsy and expermental, very sureal, and sometimes mess with your head a little (more in Lain). Both series are also very slow paced shows.
They both are dark series, that focus more on the darker side of humanity, although 'Kino' does study the lighter side of humanity at times. They both also have great opening themes, good ending themes, and very limited, yet useful use of background music and insert songs. I also find the animation in both of them to be underrated. Kinos goes for the simple yet beautiful look, while Lain goes for a more 'dark and edgy' look which work for each show.
I find Lain to have really good character designs and artwork, esecially given it's age. This is apprently overlooked by many reviewers which is sad. They notice the outdated CGI, but ignore the other very nice aspects of Lain's animation.
There are some differences however between the two that are important. Since 'Kino's Journey' was made 5 years after 'Serial Experiments Lain', I find in 'Kino' Nakamura to be much more focused and clear to where he is going then in 'Lain'.
'Lain' is rought around the edges a little, but 'Kino' is very polished. Also 'Kino's Journey' is simple (and easy to follow) and very easy to understand, yet brilliant, while 'Serial Experiments Lain' is very difficult to understand, hard to follow, very complex, and hard to digest. Still I'd suggest 'Kino's Journey' to any 'Serial Experiments Lain' fan, and vice versa. They both are really good anime series that all anime fans should watch at least once. Both give the viewer a creepy feeling due to their slow pace and dark atmosphere.
There is very little dialogue so it leaves their story open to interpretation, and many believe them to have religious undertones. They are quite old and the art is similar, with rather realistic character designs and strange yet beautiful backgrounds at times. However, Serial Experiments Lain is an anime where technology is almost omnipresent, while Tenshi no Tamago is a movie that takes place in a world that seems not to have any.
But despite these differences, I think their mysterious side makes them really similar. Although SEL is much, much darker than Summer Wars, and the moral of the story is very different, plot-wise, they are surprisingly similar.
They are both sci-fi anime (although Summer Wars is also slice-of-life and romance), and feature a world where everything revolves around something very similar to what we call the Internet. In Summer Wars, that thing is called OZ, and in SEL, it is 'the Wired'. When I saw how in the world of Summer Wars, you could select avatars and travel inside the system, and especially when they emphasized how much the real world was tied to OZ, I immediately thought of SEL. Most importantly, both anime feature a certain disturbance in the system caused unintentionally by the main character. So all sci-fi lovers, go watch SEL if that part of Summer Wars piqued your interest!!
On a side note, a similar system is displayed in Psycho-Pass. However, it is not the focus of the anime and appears for such a brief amount of time that I didn't think it deserved its own recommendation. However, it is very, very similar to the system displayed in Summer Wars.
Both GitS and SEL tackle the themes of the melding of humanity and machinery/computers, although they approach the concept in very different ways. SEL focuses on a single girl, and her exploration and gradual absorption into the world of 'the Wired' (AKA the internet). It's semi-futuristic, and very very creepy.
It's also somewhat more psychological than GitS. GitS is centered around on a group of cops who deal primarily with computer and cyborg related crimes. It's more action oriented than Lain, and at least as good. It's done by Production I.G., so the animation is amazing, and blends 2D and 3D pretty much seamlessly. Each episode and the series as a whole are ingeniously plotted.
They're both great anime, and if you like one, you'll probably like the other. Both are psychological, mindfuck, thriller, and for a mature audience. Both creep you out, keep you wondering about what’s happening, and mess up your brain. Both anime, in a way or another, deal with mysteries, split personalities, paranoia, and deaths. Both have intricate plots, a dark atmosphere, and very few light-hearted moments.
Both anime even have a non-conventional god.:-D Even though in Higurashi there are several protagonists and in SEL the only main character is Lain, in both anime the girls protagonists are young and cute, but actually hide something and can be scary at times. Higurashi is way more violent and bloody, but Lain also has some creepy moments.
Both are awesome and unique anime. Both shows explore human connection, consciousness and memory in relation to identity and what comprises a human being, though with slightly different approaches. Both include a heavy dose of symbolism and social commentary, masterful characterization and give off a similar vibe. Even though they're complex and layered, both shows present a human story as genuine as possible.
Kaiba focuses more on world exploration and Lain more at philosophy and both have many different layers to them, but both are executed masterfully. If you liked one, you'll most probably like the other too. Both contain extensive and exhaustive commentary on a particular modern social phenomenon: in Lain's case, it is on internet personae and the nature of the online world itself, while NHK explores the world of Otaku and anime fandom, as well as those with crippling internet addictions, 'hikkomori', and other people whose daily existence is hampered by paranoia.
NHK, although still difficult to watch at times, has the greater level of 'entertainment value', although neither is exactly 'light viewing' and both contain some very disturbing parts. Tone-wise, NHK is noticeably more humorous and dialogue-heavy, while Lain is the more self-consciously 'abstract' of the two.
At its heart, welcome to the NHK is a show about isolation and loneliness- the symptoms of being a hikikimori. I'm glad to see that everyone else has recommended other well known shows that have a main character with a screw loose, and I certainly recommend those on their own. However, I think that another series you might consider picking up if you want something more similar to the darker parts of this show is serial experiments lain. It's complicated and hard to understand, but I think that welcome to the NHK is good a place as any to start. Nothing alike.
But SE Lain was one of the first animes that came to my mind when I began watching Le Portrait de Petit Cossette. Even though their feels grow apart after the first episode of Petit Cossette, they both start in this intriguing way that make you sink right into the story, in their own 'confusing' ways. Lain's focus is more towards a slow paced, mysterious, sci-fi(the internet).
While Le Portrait de Petit Cossette clearly focus more on the horror(blood) and morbid romance. Despite all differences, they are both dark, intriguing series that pay close attention to the characters' thoughts and 'insanities', ones that might even trigger your own;). Lain and Blame! Are kindred spirits of the extremely trippy kind: machines blending with humanity, dialogues that throw the viewer off, a supra-reality of a cybernetic nature, intense imagery with distorted scenes and deliberate usages of static serve to create a very bizarre environment that takes the meaning of surreal to a whole different level. With this said, Lain is more consistent and offers enough to work on in terms of hermeneutics while Blame! Is almost narrative free and extremely confusing.
Jigoku Shoujo incorporates similar psychological thriller elements, along with more dark philosophical themes. It is less cryptic than Lain, but that can be said of nearly all anime. It goes more into individual stories than the story of the protagonist and explores the question of 'what could any one person possibly do to another that would make the victim choose to sacrifice their soul in order to get rid of their antagonist?' The philosophical themes focus around revenge, the human soul, and suffering instead of technology, its implications for humanity, and the human consciousness; however, the dark and philosophical nature remains. Both are cyberpunk titles that have a similar protagonist who holds an intensely introspective and diffident persona. Both of these protagonists struggle with issues of identity in an online environment.
Both are found trapped in cyberspace to a large extent. Both deal with a cyber-entity that is omniscient and holds questionable motives. Elements of.Hack//SIGN seem directly inspired by Lain and both incorporate an emotional bond between the protagonist and a special friend with even a brief scene touching on this in.Hack//SIGN which appears to be directly influenced by one of Lain's scenes. If you enjoyed watching hacking related stuff, this is another anime for you.
Battle Programmer Shirase, also known as BPS (yes I know, very creative) is a hacker just like Lain. Both of them are very professional at hacking. But BPS is a little bit different from Lain due to the fact that BPS has more comedy in it while Lain is quite serious. Both of these anime is underrated maybe because it is a very old series, but don't let the animation bother you, let the mindblowing plot suck you as you watch these amazing anime thus you'll be enjoying it.
Both are surreal stories of a girl with powers initially unbeknownst to them that can alter reality. In both there are odd familial relationships, unusual supporting characters, and philosophical questions of one's purpose in life. The premise of Serial Experiments Lain concerns the Wired (the Internet) transcending physical and psychological boundaries, whereas Sasami-san@Ganbaranai concerns the use and stewardship of divine power per Japanese mythology. Both girls are computer savvy, and they both frequently affect the world around them in ways they don't always expect and with sometimes devastating results. Both are very philosophical and discuss meaning of life from a very unusual perspective.
Both use a lot of symbolism, have story lines that similarly reveal a little information step by step keeping the most important to very end. The title structure is similar in a way that it involves terms defined by the anime. Ah yes, most importantly, they both are very much based on historical facts. Finally, the last similarity is that you have to read a lot to fully understand the anime. For Gilgamesh - The Epic of Gilgamesh, for Lain - the history of computer science and some other things. I would indeed recommend both to all who likes things complicated (like me:) ).