This is one of those shows people find excuses for being horrendous just because it touches on some interesting philosophical or psychological concepts. As if that excuses horrible storytelling, nonexistent characters with no arcs whatsoever, poor animation, awful pacing and a dozen other problems this show has. It's just not in any way a compelling narrative.
To all of those who liked the show, answer me this - what is Lain like? She is kind of introverted, I guess. Anything else? No? You sure? What personality traits does she have? Nothing? And this is the protagonist we're talking about. That's what I mean when I say this show has no characters. They are all just vessels, marionettes, twisted and turned by writers to make whatever choice is needed for the nonsensical plot to progress.
Frames hang around for too long and are constatly recycled. It's slow-paced, but that seems to be a consequence of a low budget forcing a super-low framerate instead of actual authorial intent, especially as it isn't used in any meaningful way.
The show does indeed touch on some really smart themes, but none of them are fully realized or actually lead anywhere. You can forget about drawing any sort of conclusion, clear or not, from this. Because it is so vague, people seem to project a lot of meaning onto it, despite it carrying none on it's own. You'll hear stuff like "It asks bold questions and provides no easy answers" when in reality it doesn't explore the implications of various answers at all and can barely formulate something resembling a question in the first place.
To all of those who liked the show, answer me this - what is Lain like? She is kind of introverted, I guess. Anything else? No? You sure? What personality traits does she have? Nothing? And this is the protagonist we're talking about. That's what I mean when I say this show has no characters. They are all just vessels, marionettes, twisted and turned by writers to make whatever choice is needed for the nonsensical plot to progress.
Frames hang around for too long and are constatly recycled. It's slow-paced, but that seems to be a consequence of a low budget forcing a super-low framerate instead of actual authorial intent, especially as it isn't used in any meaningful way.
The show does indeed touch on some really smart themes, but none of them are fully realized or actually lead anywhere. You can forget about drawing any sort of conclusion, clear or not, from this. Because it is so vague, people seem to project a lot of meaning onto it, despite it carrying none on it's own. You'll hear stuff like "It asks bold questions and provides no easy answers" when in reality it doesn't explore the implications of various answers at all and can barely formulate something resembling a question in the first place.