Serial Experiments Lain/YMMV

• Non Sequitur Scene: That creepy alien's two appearences are never explained or even referenced.
  • You can arguably say its an example of Clap Your Hands If You Believe.
• Creepy Awesome: Lain, herself.
• Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory: See this, for one.
• Fan Dumb: Lainites predate Haruhiism by at least five years, and you don't want to get into an argument with one over this show. Trust us.
• Funny Aneurysm Moment: Certain ideas about the users of the Wired are eerily similar to the users of a very popular real-life imageboard.
• Hell Is That Noise: Pretty much everything. After watching this, you'll never hear humming telephone lines the same way again.
• Les Yay: The only two people Lain ever has any real connection to are Alice and, to a much lesser extent, Mika. Alice and Lain, however, are not related and occasionally have... shall we say, moments of intimacy that go far beyond mere friendship. Hell, Lain even tells Alice she loves her towards the end.
• Memetic Mutation/Narm: "Present day...present time! HAHAHAHAHAHHA!"
  • "Protocol 7 is expected to allow the seamless sharing of information, information that will be shared between the Wired and the real world. And now, the following message. Let's all love Lain. [Slasher Smile Let's all love Lain, let's all love Lain, let's all love Lain, LainLainLainLainLainLainLainLainL-l-l-l-l-l!"
• Paranoia Fuel / The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: During the title sequence, we see Lain being watched on television by people. She's staring back at them. Those people are you. She can see you.
• Stoic Woobie: Poor Lain.
• True Art Is Incomprehensible: So much so, that even the creators couldn't agree on what Serial Experiments Lain is supposed to be about.
• What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?: Just for starters, it's a severe Mind Screw, and there are references to Timothy Leary, and Fantastic Drugs...
• Woolseyisms in the Argentinian (Latin American) dub:
  • The word "Wired" was translated as "Nexus", partly because "Cableado" sounds kinda silly, partly because "Nexus" is more descriptive and fits the context much better.
  • Several parts were changed from vaguely prophetical nonsense to ominous prophetic awesome, such as the line that Lain says when confronting the drugged-up clubber in the second chapter.
  • Also, the distorted voice that says the title of the chapters was made creepier and scarier by a very large run.
• The Woobie: Lain herself.