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Series · 1998

Serial Experiments Lain

Close the world. txen eht nepO.

Kaori ShimizuYoko AsadaAyako Kawasumi
Serial Experiments Lain poster
6 Jul 1998First aired
1Season
12BBFC rating
8.2TMDB score of 10

The series

Lain—driven by the abrupt suicide of a classmate—logs on to the Wired and promptly loses herself in a twisted mass of hallucinations, memories, and interconnected-psyches.

Episodes

Season 1 · 13 episodes · 1998

Highest rated this season: episode 8, “Layer:08 – RUMORS”, 8.6 out of 10 on TMDB.
  1. Episode 16 Jul 199824m

    Layer:01 – WEIRD

    8.1 / 10

    Lain Iwakura, a shy, 13-year-old schoolgirl, receives an email from a schoolmate after her suicide. Is it a prank? Lain doesn't feel horror, but curiosity.

  2. Episode 213 Jul 199824m

    Layer:02 – GIRLS

    8.1 / 10

    Classmates Alice, Julie, and Reika wonder if that was Lain they saw at the nightclub Cyberia. To find out, they invite Lain to go with them to the club.

  3. Episode 320 Jul 199824m

    Layer:03 – PSYCHE

    7.8 / 10

    Alice, Julie, and Reika are minor celebrities in their class after they witness a shooting at The Cyberia. Lain is given a black-market chip for her computer, but it seems she is also being followed.

  4. Episode 427 Jul 199824m

    Layer:04 – RELIGION

    8.2 / 10

    Some players of a Wired game called PHANTOMa are dying suspicious deaths. Lain investigates, but her growing interest in the Wired worries her father, as well as classmates Mika and Alice.

  5. Episode 53 Aug 199824m

    Layer:05 – DISTORTION

    8.3 / 10

    Lain receives cryptic messages about existence, God, and a coming prophecy. Meanwhile, Mika's world changes in ways both surreal and hyperreal.

  6. Episode 610 Aug 199824m

    Layer:06 – KIDS

    8.5 / 10

    Young children are acting strangely, arms outstretched and silently staring at the sky. A shocking vision suddenly appears in the skies; it looks like Lain! Determined to get to the bottom of this, Lain's investigations finally bring her t…

  7. Episode 717 Aug 199824m

    Layer:07 – SOCIETY

    8.5 / 10

    As the Knights activities make the evening news, a strange man named Nazumi wanders the city with machines strapped to his body. People on the WIRED are asking: ""Who is Lain"". Meanwhile, the two MIB agents take Lain to the Techibana offi…

  8. Episode 824 Aug 199824m

    Layer:08 – RUMORS

    8.6 / 10

    Still shaken by the information she received from the Men In Black, Lain discovers that she is being blamed for spreading an ugly rumor in the WIRED. Is what the MIB said is true; is she another person in the WIRED? Or is she doing it hers…

  9. Episode 931 Aug 199824m

    Layer:09 – PROTOCOL

    8.5 / 10

    A documentary about Roswell gives Lain some valuable information about the pioneers of the WIRED. Later, at the Cyberia, J.J. tells Lain that she left something the day before and hands her an envelop with the Knight's logo on it. The enve…

  10. Episode 107 Sep 199824m

    Layer:10 – LOVE

    8.1 / 10

    Lain struggles with her identity. Is she a human being, or just a hologram? And are the Knights responsible for the Evil Lain? Lain decides to deal with the Knights once and for all.

  11. Episode 1114 Sep 199824m

    Layer:11 – INFORNOGRAPHY

    7.7 / 10

    Alone and frightened, Lain immerses herself in the WIRED, processing the events of the past few weeks and searching for the truth of who she is.

  12. Episode 1221 Sep 199824m

    Layer:12 – LANDSCAPE

    8.2 / 10

    Troubled by what she saw, Alice decides to visit Lain at home and find out what is going on. Meanwhile, the two MIB agents receive a terrible shock and Eiri reveals his real motive for removing the barrier between the real world and the WI…

  13. Episode 1328 Sep 199824m

    Layer:13 – EGO

    8.5 / 10

    The world is crumbling, people are dying and Alice's sanity is threatened. To save humanity, there is only one thing Lain can do; she must make the ultimate personal sacrifice.

Cast

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