I recently finished watching Serial Experiments Lain for the first time. I've seen references to the show for years, but for whatever reason didn't feel motivated to give it a look until now. I can see why it's got a cult following- but I'm now finding myself wanting to get further immersed in a show that's decades past the point of being relevant. I'm sure all the memes and discussion points I'm stumbling upon have been thoroughly retreaded years and years ago.Has anyone else ever had the experience of getting into an anime long past the point of it having an active fanbase?
>>268275756I read the Higurashi VNs for the first time in Spring-Summer 2020. I knew nothing about the story and the characters other than I had faint memories from flash loops such as headstab.swf. I didn't know it was getting a remake anime, so I was positively surprised. I finished VNs before the anime started airing.Around 2021 I consumed a lot of 07th Expansion content and followed how the anime turned out. I remember how I anticipated Sotsu a lot, only to be left empty with the messed-up ending. Throughout Sotsu's airing, people were losing interest to the story and series as a whole. I felt that the entire fandom that the VNs and DEENime had built up was now crumbling. The last episode was the final nail in the coffin for the series.There are still many fans for Higurashi in Japan and West alike, but SotsuGou left a huge scar to the fandom. Even today Higurashi discussion on /a/ leans often towards SotsuGou and how bad it was. So while I was able to experience the sequel to Higurashi first-hand, I wasn't able to experience the old fandom
Don't forget.
Lain is an immortal piece of art that has an ever-growing population of fans. You can never be too late. Stuff like Lain and NGE ascend above anime as a genre and emerge as mandatory canon for anyone serious about the medium.
>>268275756I don't think it ever had an active fanbase
>>268275756Lain is great but it's hard to have an actual discussion about it on most spaces these days, nobody takes it seriously anymore
>>268275756>Has anyone else ever had the experience of getting into an anime long past the point of it having an active fanbase?I remember watching Haibane Renmei back in 2008, and even then the fanbase was pretty much dead. That is when it dawned on me: Nearly every anime that aired sub-2015 that doesn't get new content and isn't named Lucky Star is pretty much dead in 2024.
did the final version of the /a/ sings duvet ever release?
>>268278000I'm watching Lain for the first time out of respect for your digits.Currently on episode 3.It's really good.Bless you, anon.
>>268276740lol oh man I was right there with you as someone reading umineko and dipping into the higurashi anime with SotsuGou coming soon. Those threads were hilarious with all the dueling head canons and schizos scavenging the corpse for scraps, and then the fucking DBZ fight lmfao better than i could hope for during its peak although being part of the community while umineko was periodically releasing would've been fun, newer threads on it make my eyes glaze over
>>268276740>Throughout Sotsu's airing, people were losing interest to the story and series as a whole.Literally me. Fuck Higurashit.
what does this expression convey?
>>268281758>who's a good boy who's a good boy
I really, really want to hug Lain tightly and pat her head and ruffle her hair and buy her a large teddy bear and help her put a new Navi together.
>>268275756I caught a few threads 2-3 years ago before watching it at all (watched it in january this year) and there was some cool insight on it's productionhttps://desuarchive.org/a/thread/225965890/#225967450Here you go broLain is really good and she is really cute and the ending made me sad, but she was happy
I really should watch Lain one of these days but I want to give it the proper attention and I feel like I have so little time to do so right now. I feel for you with the dead fandom thing, as I watched Revolutionary Girl Utena for the first time last year and while there is a lot of good stuff written about it, that was all 20+ years ago. The threads on it here are few and far between and the discussion isn't great.
>>268283212Even if you don't intend to watch in the near future, get it while there's still decent seeds on good releases.
>>268275756>but I'm now finding myself wanting to get further immersed in a show that's decades past the point of being relevant.https://laingame.net/Some autist put an English translation of the Lain PS1 game online. Enjoy.
>>268275756>Has anyone else ever had the experience of getting into an anime long past the point of it having an active fanbase?For me, Mitsudomoe. With English translations being released every millennium, and the manga being finished, there's nothing really to talk about and threads that do pop up occasionally die very shortly. I just go through the archive to somewhat experience what it was like
>>268280362>>268283212The nice thing about Lain is that you can easily get through all13 episodes in a weekend, or pace it throughout a week if you want to take your time. >>268278247It's a satisfying sensation when you discover something that both feels of its time in ways, but also timeless. >>268283503Neat. I saw there was a PS1 game, but I unfortunately went ahead and spoiled some bits of the ending already for myself. Might still give it a look though. The premise of literally trying to do therapy for the sad bear girl is appealing, even if it seems destined to end poorly. Get some Zoloft for this kid.>>268281941I'm curious where the paternalistic feelings come from for some fans towards Lain. Is it just wanting to headpat the cute anime girl that's having a sad, or do people identify with seeing a teen's sense of identity expand and unravel through becoming terminally online. In other words, is there a sort of desire people have to give themselves the sort of nurture they didn't have available?
>>268275756>Has anyone else ever had the experience of getting into an anime long past the point of it having an active fanbase?Mai-HiME, Tenchi Muyo, Outlaw Star and Big O chads, arise!
there it is again. every two days someone just 'happens' to finish lain for the first time
>>268284663It seems like any time I look into a pre-2000 thread there's always people finishing the same shows over and over and over again too.
>>268284663Could it be the same person experiencing 48-hour amnesia? I guess that's not so bad. They get to constantly re-discover a show they're into.
>>268284624>Outlaw StarJust started that one last month.I like the aesthetic, but I lost my shit at the tonal whiplash in episode 8.>laborious space launch sequence>atmosphere is all about pseudo-realism and bureaucracy>high-intensity rocketry and sci-fi goodness>finally get into space>pirates attack>suddenly the ship maneuvers like a fucking submarine-shaped gundam with comical claw game robot armsI'll need to come back to it.
>>268284745Same deal with music. The good stuff is talked about and shared well after its premiers, and usually shared when anyone asks.The bad or really obscure stuff stays obscure.There really isn't a lot of good stuff in general, so you'll see a lot of repetition in any era window.
>>268284553>I'm curious where the paternalistic feelings come from for some fans towards LainShe's presented as lonely, vulnerable, and starved for affection, and a lot of anons (myself included) are at an age where the biological urge to have children makes us extra sensitive to characters like that. It's like the pure flip side to anons who become lolicons.
>>268275756I love this fucking show so much and it's not fair how Love Live killed it. There's a million Love Live derivatives. There's nothing else quite like this. Season 3 never ever...
>>268275756this was me with lucky star a few years ago. watched the entire anime multiple times and i can 100% say that konata is the most relatable and goofy. love her to bits
>>268275756>fandomswhy are zoomers obsessed with belonging?
>>268285503More like people are so afraid of going outside their comfort zone they'd just rather consume what other people consume so they can blame someone else when they feel weird.>why does X like Y so much? it was Z
>>268288010you used to be able to go outside and get a sense of community growing up with your fellow kids at the skate park or dog park or various youth activity centers but they all got bulldozed and replaced with more parking lots
>>268280362
>>268278685Lain threads were bump limit threads frequently like 10-15 years agoI think it used to somewhat be considered a hidden gemmy back then but now it's just a standard classic. Also the show somehow got a bad reputation by being associated with transgenders, like transgender people are often associated with heavy internet use/addiction and Lain is the poster-child of computer anime
>>268288844I wish those were still around so there would be less people here
I could have saved her...
>>268290288Did she died? I legitimately don't get it.
>>268290311In the PS1 game, she an heroes.In the anime she deletes herself from existence and (almost) no one remembers her. Either way, it breaks my heart.
>>268290387I remember her
not very on topic but what ever happened to /a/ sings duvet, did the organizer just forget? we recorded it nearly a year ago...
>>268290387Why did she do it?
>>268291489It's complicated. Basically, her death allows other people to control her Wired/reality-warping powers. In the game, these other people succeed in their manipulative schemes and convince her to commit suicide, whereas in the anime she realizes what's happening and deletes herself from history so that no one can ever know of the possibility for such a thing to occur.
>>268290446yeah thats what im wondering, we had a complete version of the animation floating around but i never saw the actual song be uploaded, plus there are new a sings projects going on now
>>268291768the draws animation is on youtube, easy to find. but I think he must have forgot to compile it because it would be on the same channel if it was done
>>268275756I also finally got around to watching Lain, what a wild ride. Even all this time after its release I found it very poignant and I'm glad I stopped putting it off. I'd be really curious to see how younger people interpret this nowadays.
>>268292471i'm pretty zoomer and lain got me into animanga. it kind of changed what i assumed about the medium. it's still probably my favourite and lain is a really tragic character that has stuck with me for a long time.
>>268292562Nice man, that's really cool to hear. I was worried that some of the 90's mindset in it might not be appreciated or considered dated. I personally agree with the poster earlier who said it felt "of its time but also timeless".
>>268291733I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. It's good either way, but I'd be interested in seeing what sort of direction the show would take if Lain wasn't God, but instead a full-blown human girl going through some shit. Making her a blossoming God is still neat, but it pulls some of the relatability away from her experience. >>268292471I imagine it strikes a chord with young people that feel an increasing paradoxical intensity of closeness and isolation from others the more they dive into being online. And at the risk of igniting a fire, I agree with >>268290117 saying there's probably some trans people that relate to a lonely teen exploring their sense of identity through the internet.
>>268275756https://desuarchive.org/a/thread/258359423
>>268286436I miss the old /jp/ Kawakami general threads that it and Owari no Chronicle spawned as the LNs were being translated by Js06 in between his work on Kamachi's LNs.
>>268298934We can't go back.
>>268300830but how do we go forward? i don't enjoy anything nowadays nor do i know how to spot a (potentially) good community
>>268275756Maybe Shiki? It has been a decade, though it does still see a thread every now and again. That said, I don't feel much difference in the viewing experience, it's just a good story, then and now. Perhaps this is simply because it never had much of a fanbase, hence the viewing experience is similar. Btw, the threads have been archived - quite nice to look back at them. It's a pretty great anime maaaaaaaan
>>268301349The artbook is cool too
I hear you OP. Being a fan of YKK now is suffering. At leas they're finally releasing the manga in English now.
>>268286436What pisses me off even more is we'll never get an English translation official LN, Kawakami would make some serious dosh, sci-fi is experiencing a comeback in the West.
>>268284462from what ranger series?
b
>>268301557Is the translation good?
>>268305155It's pretty good. The shading is kinda what kills it, a lot of stuff is darker than it needs to, but I think they might have changed that in the more recent printings.
>>268275756>Has anyone else ever had the experience of getting into an anime long past the point of it having an active fanbase?Lain even has it's own 4chan clone on the internet it's not dead at all in fact it's most alive than ever for whatever reason
>>268275756what is there to discuss? it's a good show but not really much to say
>>268307297I've posted on lainchan off and on for years. Cozy board but recently it's begun to attract "those" people.
>>268290117>lain>hidden gemin what universe
>>268276740Are you excited for 07’s Silent Hill?
>>268301729As in the one in the image? I have no clue, don't know anything about Tokusatsu
One issue I have with new anime is that there aren't stuff like Lain or Eva or Cowboy Bebop coming out. New in this case I'm talking about stuff 2016 and onwards.
>>268312607What does "like Lain or Eva or Cowboy Bebop" even mean. Cowboy Bebop isn't anything like the other two from what I remember, and Lain and Eva aren't really that similar to each other outside of being vaguely philosophical in nature.
>>268313655I mean like really good anime originals, creative and interesting.
>>268275756>I'm now finding myself wanting to get further immersed in a show that's decades past the point of being relevant.Story of my life; I am incessantly late to the party and left feeling like I missed out on everything cool that happened when any given work was more recent.
>>268275756i think it's kind of funny how most people, probably by pure accident, see the oxymoron in having a huge strong internet fanbase for serial experiments lain - like the whole point of the show is don't get obsessed with impersonal computer minutia, so it's so unbelievably fitting that lain isn't as discussed to death as other "classics" from its time
>>268290387
I miss monthly wixoss threads, even though the game cane out in english we havnt had one really since 2017/8. It just had its 10th anniversary with a new PV and manga by Okada dropping and nothing..
>>268285227>filtered by the most realistic part and not literal chinese magicwut.
>>268309658Maybe it's relative to other stuff.
>>268307297>LainchanOh, that's interesting. How long has it been around for? Was it part of the initial wave of 4chan spinoffs from back in the day (7chan, etc.)? It's a near curiosity to find imageboards that sprout up over such specific theming. >>268315411>the whole point of the show is don't get obsessed with impersonal computer minutiaI agree, but I also think that message gets a bit mixed. Lain deep-diving into the internet/Wired brings her as much liberation as it does loneliness. If I had one broad criticism for the show, it's that it blurs its focus by biting into so many heady themes and concepts. But that's also part of its appeal.
Do fellow l/a/inons recommend Ghost Hound also by the Nakamura/Konaka duo?Also Despera when? or ever?
>>268321061How about you gain some agency, retard?
>>268321276Gotta love 4chan's hostility, is what makes this place its' charm.That being said, I just wanna know anons' opinion and also get the conversation going, otherwise there's very little to discuss about a series that came out 26 years ago.So, kindly suck my cock and fuck off.Also Lain is love.
>>268321341>is what makes this place its' charmAh you are ESL. Go back to twitter.
>>268321454Seethe harder, I speak many languages, thanks for pointing that out, made a typo, big fucking deal.>implying I browse TwitterTry again, schizo.
damn this show is so deep and crazy, I can't wait to talk about how cool and deep lain is, no one understands esoteric lain trannies like us
>>268318378>Was it part of the initial wave of 4chan spinoffs from back in the day (7chan, etc.)?i think so
Did you shitpost on mebious.co.uk?
>>268321527>made a typoNo, you just talk like an ESL zoomer.
>>268315508So that no one could gain control of her reality bending powers and distort the world. Also to protect her friend, which is what she really cared about.
>>268275756Technically still has an active western fanbase but it's just a shadow of what it once was. It was never as big as say SAO or JJK but is still disheartening to see how interest in it has dimmed over the years.
>>268275756I got into Hellsing a few years ago, there's occasional threads here but it's usually just stupid powerlevel crap like "who could beat Alucard".Also there's absolutely fuck all for merch which sucks because the character designs are really cool.
>>268275756its basically impossible to even discuss this now, crazy how it dropped off so hard, the only remnant of it's former glory is the video of the full OP on youtube that's been there since 00's and has like over 10 million views
>>268323715It got pulled off all streaming platforms when Funimation's license expired.
>>268323715I might be the only person in the world but I liked the author's new schizo double isekai show with the twink necromancer boy
>>268278690zoomers only watch seasonal shit
>>268275756Its so depressing watching something amazing that released decades ago and you feel like you have no one to talk about it with. Making a thread most of the time isnt enough.
>>268324466that had a pretty devoted following of about 40 people here when it was airing. hopefully it gets more seasons
>read something great>not only is it old but it's not fully translatedA double discussion killer. Though Tokimeki Tonight had new content in 1999, 2013, 2015, and there's a currently running sequel manga, so it's not like lack of new content is the main reason. It doesn't even seem like anyone has cared much about it in Japan for a while either since so much of the fan art is just various different versions of the visuals from the ending of the anime. At the same time it's popular enough to have an art exhibit running for over a year at this point so I have no idea.
>>268324466The isekai part ruined it
>>268325294It's such an easy sell in Japan.
>>268325294I kind of liked how it was double isekai. Wasn't very well explained how modern day could match all the magical bullshit though. Yeah sure the gigachad supercop knows karate, how is that supposed to work against a Level 100 Wizard? Weird.
>>268323349Wasn't it just a lack of adaptations? I remember the first two seasons of railgun and the first season of index was very popular - Wasn't there a large gap afterwards?
>>268328268It was bad adaptations. No adaptations you could at least keep hope. The absolute garbage of Index S2 and S3 killed it all. Railgun S3 was actually good though.
>>268327007Did it do well in Japan? The sexo zombie vampire assassin girl seems like the type to make anything popular.
>>268301349besides the weird gay scene in one ep, i liked it
>>268321061I remember Ghost Hound being alright, but i havent seen it in years
>>268329136IMO it started really strong but fell apart near the end
>>268275756How the hell did I end up doing the same thing as you at the same time?
>>268328268Mismanagement in general. As if a shitty third season that came 7-8 years too late with subpar animation wasn't enough there's also the manga adaptation skipping two arcs entirely and despite doing a better job at adapting subsequent arcs it's at least 10 years behind the source material. Add to that the hugely popular spin-off (Railgun) is currently in a flashback arc because the editor doesn't want to move the story forward because he says he doesn't want to touch LN stuff out of fear of readers feeling lost as the effects of the main story on the world pretty much burst the bubble in which the spin-off has been taking place. And if that wasn't enough not one or two but three singers for the OPs retired and one even passed away.
>>268329926Imagine what could've been. Damn.
>>268323715I remember getting into this show around 2010 or so, and even by then it seemed like its moment had long passed. I think this is the only anime I ever started watching on a whim with absolutely no familiarity of that turned out to be good. Loved the interweaving narrative and resistance to having protagonist.
>>268329926Should the editor be moving it forward or is he right to keep the bubble from bursting?
>>268309068Yeah it has the weird combination of trannies and schizos but it seems to have a serious group of people overall not like the sharty or other 4chan clones it is slower tough very slow actually>>268318378>Oh, that's interesting. How long has it been around for? Was it part of the initial wave of 4chan spinoffs from back in the day (7chan, etc.)? It's a near curiosity to find imageboards that sprout up over such specific theming. I think it's been online for years not sure of when ort why it was created but it does has enough fans to make it's own chan.
>>268333392Isaac and Miria are the kind of characters I would usually find annoying but for some reason I love the.
>>268311050Not really. I've lost my interest in R07's writing. For me, Umineko was great and RGD was awesome, but his writing has gone downhill since Higurashi Outbreak. Alongside SotsuGou, all the new Higurashi manga (GouMeguri, Reiwa, Oni) don't have the same feeling as old Higurashi. I remember how I looked forward to new Meguri chapters, hoping it will fix the messy Sotsu ending. But it felt incomplete to me, Eua just fucks off when Satoko quits doing bad stuff, and Hanyuu is forgotten. The build-up for the Meguri ending was better than Sotsu's, but deep inside I feel like overall the Sotsu ending was better than Meguri's, at least Sotsu had some connection for Umineko in the end.Considering R07 is just sitting on Ciconia Phase 2, with no release date in horizon, I don't have much anticipation for 07's Silent Hill. It might come out eventually
>>268286072I get similar feelings towards the Komeijis from Touhou. They're not depicted as vulnerable, but they don't seem to have parents around. Probably because they're considerably older than what their appearance would suggest. Too bad I can't post about wanting to adopt them without lolicons talking about all the ways they'd fuck them and everybody else telling me they're older than me.
>>268325191because its a shoujo from the 1980s
carry on posting, schizofaggots
>>268329294This. The creepy atmosphere of the first episodes was great, but when they started making it funny woah look I’m floating haha bullshit it lost everything that made it good.Why is there literally zero good horror/creepy anime?
>>268341279>Why is there literally zero good horror/creepy anime?Pet shop of horrors had good atmosphere in my opinion. Hell girl as well. but anyways I don't really quite get horror since I no longer get scared by everything so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
>>268341475For me it’s not about getting scared (jumpscare shit is trash for example, so is gore shit), it’s about the oppressive atmosphere, about feeling things, I like when media uses creative ways to create a creepy atmosphere.Lain does so from time to time, and to a lesser extent other stuff like Haruhi and Madoka. But anime that actually try to be creepy as their primary aim are very rare and often shit
>>268341653Oh and obviously Eva has moments as well, forgot to mention that.Guess that just tends to overlap with psychological anime.
>>268341653Well try the 2 I've mentioned I guess. >Lain does so from time to time, and to a lesser extent other stuff like Haruhi and MadokaI get Lain but not Haruhi(for Madoka there is of course the shaftism of having all those empty places and the sense of loneliness, are you talking about that?)
>>268341279>>268341653sounds like you don't want horror. mainstream horror works are inherently corny.you want hard sci-fi like the animatrix, blame. shit like that.there's far more serious sci-fi works than serious horror works. Especially if you start including manga.
>>268341745For Madoka I’m mostly thinking of witch labyrinthsFor Haruhi, you have some scenes in the movie but also the endless eight is very good at this and does so while being cheerful most of the time, despite there being something obviously wrong
slop
>>268275756Lain should be rational enough to figure out that breakfast is unnecessary and cereals are especially terrible.
>>268331685Really hard for me to visualise how popular it could have been under better management but at least there would be more merch.>>268335360I could see where he was coming from at first because the spin-off's main character starts to become more and more involved in the main story so Railgun could have continued at first but without its titular MC which is of course not ideal but her screen time has greatly diminished during this current arc so they might as well could have moved the story forward for the same result. Past a certain point however I really don't see how the spin-off could not only fit in the timeline but also still tell the story as if nothing had happened so it would have to end. The problem would be, other than killing the cash cow, is that it would feel more like an axe than a proper conclusion since some plot bits introduced in the spin-off carry over to the main story which would leave those unanswered.
Lain needs shota dick inside her loli manko
>>268275756Now you must rewatch in one under the influense of LSD for the full experience .Let's all love Lain.
>>268275756Nipple slip bait
>shinjiruined
>seetherruined
>>268275756Wait a minute I seen this art before. There was one where she masturbated so loud.
>>268344480What if by experimenting she could discover one that is great and will humanity into a new era of breakfasts?
>>268337732Same! I'm also not sure why they're charming instead of grating. I like how they both feed into each other's manic optimism regardless of the circumstances. They also more so than any other characters bumble forwards blindly into amazing fortune, rewarded for being unquestioningly self-assured. But before this thread dies, I got a few questions about Lain that I'm curious to know if people have answers for:>Why does Karl profess his love for Lain? Where did that come from? Was it romantic love, or more of a general adoration?>Why does evil Lain exist? I get how Wired Lain could be a representative of how people may feel more confident or assertive with an online presence. Is evil Lain supposed to be reflective of people being more likely to engage in trolling when given the tools and anonymity of the internet? >What's the deal with Lain's sister? Does she play any role other than adding to the veneer of family?
>>268354678Karl's love for Lain is romantic. He's first introduced as being creepy, but as the series progresses he is presented as more friendly. I think him being portrayed as such is meant to convey him as lonely. The show is aware that his love for Lain is most certainly inappropriate in multiple ways. There's the obvious age difference but also the fact that Karl is basically a stalker with minimal social bonding, and also that his involvement in Lain's life is work related therefore his emotions should be kept in check. I personally believe they wanted to characterize Karl as as not just isolated, but also emotionally stunted which is why he has feelings for Lain.
