"Real World"

For class yesterday, we read the first chapter of Coming of Age in Second Life & this first chapter reminded me of my favorite anime, Serial Experiments Lain, which I watched during junior high. That's about... 7 or 8 years ago. Anyway, here's the opening of the anime:

Before I talk about the anime itself & its relation to the book, I'd like you to know that this anime was in fact broadcasted in 1998. When I watched it, I thought it was way ahead of its time & even now, it still is. Like Snow Crash, it's a possible future.

The anime itself is hard to summarize. At most, it's confusing. You won't get what the story is really about when watching it for the first time. Maybe the 2nd or 3rd, possibly 4th time you'll get it. Many things go on in this anime--from aliens to government conspiracies & etc., but it revolves around the "The Wired" (based on the idea of "connections" literally -- WIRES do appear a lot in the anime), which I believe is that anime world's term for "online/internet/etc." The story begins with Lain, the lead character, getting an email from a dead girl who committed suicide just the week before. From then on, she starts to develop an interest in "The Wired" and begins to immerse herself in it (literally--In the Lain world, it's being *in* "The Wired" -- not "on" it).

Many of the issues discussed in the first chapter of Coming of Age in Second Life also shows up in this anime. Things such as the issue of identity. During her time in "The Wired" Lain discovers that there is another "her," who is not her (though that is questionable). It is true that "online," a person's personality might change, but there's also those who take up fake identities of other "real" people, which is a problem Lain runs into (again, literally). Terms are another important aspect to this anime. Computers are called "Navi" and what is presumably the Internet is called "The Wired." Words like the "Real World" also show up in the anime. It also addresses possible issues that might appear in the future, such as the boundaries between what is real & what is "The Wired" becoming merged & confused over time (that seems already to be a problem now, especially with how much time is spent "online" while traveling through the "real world" -- FB in class or online games in class as an example). Another possible issue is the widespread and easy access to information (which may or may not be "fact") that is provided via "The Wired," so rumors or misunderstandings begin (we see that through FB, twitter, etc.). Stalking is also an issue which is present today & appears in the anime. There is also the topic of online games becoming too real & portable (there are portable "Navis") that confusion with the real world leads to tragedies--something that might just be a problem in our future. Basically, it addresses everything that we are experiencing now.

I guess what amazes me most is that this anime was way before its time & still is. Much of our technology still has yet to reach the state of that in Serial Experiments Lain.

BUT, I don't want to spoil too much of this anime... so, here's a clip to get you started (it's probably one of my most favorite episodes):

It's a pretty short anime--13 episodes.

Some extra info: It was also based on a short (several pages only) manga by ABE Yoshitoshi--http://per.hedbor.org/lain/aoiw/

This page contains scans from the artbook for Serial Experiments Lain, but starting with scan 52, you can read the comic.

Which reminds me, probably the most appealing thing about "The Wired" (our "online/Internet") is that it has the possibility of making a person "omnipresent" (Facebook is again, another example)--the ability to know everything (well, almost everything) that is going on is just such a... power trip, I guess. Well that's about it.

Linh My Tran (86636087)