The Terrifyingly Prescient ‘Serial Experiments Lain,’ 20 Years Later (2018)

I have been rewatching this wonderfully convoluted anime a few times every year for the last 10 years, it just tickles something in me.

I don't think it's really about the internet, technology just fits into a larger social commentary on the interconnected and flimsy nature of our functions manifesting themselves in maladaptive ways, from sub-cultures to religion and corporate culture. The show mostly frames this within themes of identity and connection.

That being said the show is purposefully open to interpretation, almost like it's a play on just giving you enough to create your own potentially distorted meaning.

The author completely missed the part where Lain became a god... Or how she erased herself from time and space because she could no longer relate to her friends and family. It reminds me more of Welcome to the NHK than Evangelion, honestly.