Like a geeked out version of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, Serial Experiments Lain brings us into a promising virtual realm called the Wired, slowly turning into a dystopian parallel universe.

Poignant and surreal, Serial Experiments Lain is a must watch for cyberpunk lovers. Directed by Ryutaro Nakamura, illustrated by Yoshitoshi ABe and written by Chiaki J. Konaka, this anime series made its debut on Japanese TV in 1998.

The plot revolves around a socially awkward 14 year old girl, named Lain Iwakura. Seemingly living a normal life in a stable household, Lain gets sucked into a series of supernatural events after she gets in touch with the Wired, which is similar to our modern version of the Internet. Her life takes a turn when she receives an e-mail from a classmate who earlier committed suicide

Blue-hued and slow-paced, the story tells the complications of a failed experiment by the late scientist Masami Eiri. In an attempt to connect all humans to the “shared unconscious”, Eiri creates Protocol Seven, a software system that runs through the Wired. This would reunite everyone’s consciousness into one and supposedly get rid of the need of having a “self” or a flesh identity.

The Wired is a cyber realm accessible to everyone, offering communication and networking services - but adepts, like the hacker group The Knights of the Eastern Calculus, use it to lure Lain into Eiri’s end goal of immortality and divinity. Like a never-ending fever dream, this anime blurs the line between reality and the virtual. After all, isn’t the cyber world also part of reality?

This sci-fi anime heavily insinuates philosophical and psychological concepts such as the ones pioneered by Carl Jung and Friedrich Nietzsche. Any questions revolving around the self and the ego float up during one of the 13 episodes of this series. Although ideas like God and the Schumann Resonance are discussed, Serial Experiments Lain reflects upon the meaning of humanity in solitude and isolation, the truth behind memories and the individuality of our perception.

In addition, the original soundtrack is notable, with the English band bôa’s hit song “Duvet” as an opening theme. Sometimes jazzy, other times shoegaze-y, Serial Experiments Lain’s soundtrack almost distracts the audience from the omnipresent electric humming in the background of every Lain episode, a characteristic of Lain’s universe.

Is Lain a girl or a god? Does humanity lack connection? Vivid in its stillness, Serial Experiments Lain leaves the audience dizzy with questions. The visuals being as entrancing as the plot, this eerie anime continues to expand its legacy with art books and a PlayStation video game.