Editing Serial Experiments Lain (section)

{{Short description|1998 television anime series}}
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{{Use American English|date=January 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox animanga/Header
| image = Serial Experiments Lain DVD vol 1.jpg
| caption = First North American DVD cover, featuring Lain Iwakura
|genre = {{ubl|[[Cyberpunk]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-11-02/serial-experiments-lain-bd/dvd-box-delayed-4-months|title=Serial Experiments Lain BD/DVD Box Delayed 4 Months|website=[[Anime News Network]]|access-date=June 26, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180628122145/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-11-02/serial-experiments-lain-bd/dvd-box-delayed-4-months|archive-date=June 28, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>| [[Psychological horror]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.slashfilm.com/570700/serial-experiments-lain/|last=Motamayor|first=Rachel|title='Serial Experiments Lain' Is A Mind-Twisting Sci-Fi Anime About The Horrors Of The Internet|website=[[/Film]]|date=November 27, 2019|access-date=January 7, 2023|archive-date=January 7, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230107012742/https://www.slashfilm.com/570700/serial-experiments-lain/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="horror"/>|[[Techno-horror]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://otakuusamagazine.com/98-degrees-serial-experiments-lain/|last=Martin|first=Ian|title=1998's Serial Experiments Lain Predicted Our Modern Internet Demons|website=[[Otaku USA]]|date=September 24, 2018|access-date=January 7, 2023|archive-date=January 7, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230107012742/https://otakuusamagazine.com/98-degrees-serial-experiments-lain/|url-status=live}}</ref>}}<!-- Note: Use and cite reliable sources to identify genre/s, not personal interpretation. Please don't include more than three genres (per [[MOS:A&M]]). -->
|creator = [[Yasuyuki Ueda]]{{efn|Credited as "production 2nd".<ref>{{cite web|title=FRUiTS October (No.15_1st/Oct./1998)|url=https://www.cjas.org/~leng/fruits.htm|website=Cornell Japanese Animation Society|access-date=October 27, 2019|archive-date=January 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122195209/https://www.cjas.org/~leng/fruits.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
}}
{{Infobox animanga/Video
| type = tv series
| director = [[Ryūtarō Nakamura]]
| producer = {{ubl|[[Yasuyuki Ueda]]|Shōjirō Abe}}
| writer = [[Chiaki J. Konaka]]
| music = [[Reichi Nakaido]]
| studio = [[Triangle Staff]]
| licensee = {{english anime licensee
 | AUS = [[Universal Pictures Home Entertainment|Universal]]/[[Sony Pictures Home Entertainment|Sony]]
 | NA = [[Crunchyroll, LLC|Funimation]]
 | UK = [[MVM Entertainment|MVM Films]]
}}
| network = [[TX Network|TXN]] ([[TV Tokyo]])
| network_en = {{english anime network
 | CA = [[G4 (Canadian TV channel)|G4techTV]] ([[Anime Current]])
 | US = [[KQEH|KTEH]], [[TechTV]], [[Funimation Channel]]
 | ZA = [[Animax#South Africa|Animax]]
}}
| first = July 6, 1998
| last = September 28, 1998
| episodes = 13
| episode_list = 
}}
{{Infobox animanga/Game
| title = Serial Experiments Lain
| developer = [[NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan|Pioneer LDC]]
| publisher = Pioneer LDC
| released = November 26, 1998
| platforms = [[PlayStation (console)|PlayStation]]
}}
{{Infobox animanga/Manga
| title = The Nightmare of Fabrication
| author = [[Yoshitoshi Abe]]
| publisher = 
| published = May 1999
}}
{{Infobox animanga/Game
| title = //signal.
| developer = Team MJM
| publisher = 
| released = April 30, 2025
| platforms = [[Windows]], [[macOS]]
}}
{{Infobox animanga/Footer|portal=yes}}

'''''Serial Experiments Lain''''' is a Japanese [[anime]] television series created and co-produced by [[Yasuyuki Ueda]], written by [[Chiaki J. Konaka]] and directed by [[Ryūtarō Nakamura]]. Animated by [[Triangle Staff]] and featuring original character designs by [[Yoshitoshi Abe]], the series was broadcast for 13 episodes on [[TV Tokyo]] and [[TX Network|its affiliates]] from July to September 1998. The series follows Lain Iwakura, an adolescent girl in suburban Japan, and her relation to the Wired, a global [[computer network|communications network]] similar to the [[internet]].

''Lain'' features surreal and [[avant-garde]] imagery and explores philosophical topics such as [[reality]], [[Identity (social science)|identity]], and [[communication]].<ref name="laineva">{{cite journal|last=Napier|first=Susan J.|author-link=Susan J. Napier|date=November 2002|title=When the Machines Stop: Fantasy, Reality, and Terminal Identity in ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' and ''Serial Experiments Lain''|journal=Science Fiction Studies|volume=29|issue=88|pages=418–435|doi=10.1525/sfs.29.3.0418 |issn=0091-7729|url=http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/abstracts/a88.htm#Napier|access-date=May 4, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611205327/http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/abstracts/a88.htm#Napier|archive-date=June 11, 2007|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The series incorporates creative influences from [[computer history]], [[cyberpunk]], and [[conspiracy theories]]. Critics and fans have praised ''Lain'' for its originality, visuals, atmosphere, themes, and its dark depiction of a world fraught with paranoia, social alienation, and reliance on [[technology]] considered insightful of 21st century life. It received the Excellence Prize at the [[Japan Media Arts Festival]] in 1998.