Japan, 6 July 1998-28 September 1998
1 series, 13 episodes, average
colour, 4:3
Japanese
A Japanese animated science fiction television series directed by Ryutaro Nakamura. Thirteen episodes were broadcast on TV Tokyo between 6 July 1998 and 28 September 1998. The series predates The Matrix (1999) but shares some of the same narrative concerns.
Plot Summary
Schoolgirl Chisa commits suicide and a week later her classmates begin receiving emails, apparently from her. One of the girls, Lain, investigates and learns that Chisa killed herself because she no longer believed that she needed a physical body and can live in “The Wired”, a virtual-reality that now contains all communications networks and the sum of human knowledge. As she digs deeper Lain becomes embroiled in a war between a group of hackers known as the Knights of the Eastern Calculus and the sinister Tachibana General Laboratories who have developed and now lost control of Protocol Seven, a new internet protocol for use in “The Wired”. She also makes a startling discovery about who she really is…
Credits
Crew
Directed by: Ryutaro Nakamura
Triangle Staff, Pioneer LDC
Executive Producers: Akihiro Kawamura, Taro Maki
Produced by: Yasuyuki Ueda, Shojiro Abe
Written by: Chiaki J. Konaka
Animation Directors: Masahiro Sekiguchi (episodes 1, 7, 9, 13), Yoshihiro Sugai (episodes 2, 10), Yuichi Tanaka (episodes 3, 5, 8), Yuji Takahashi (episodes 4, 6), Takahiro Kishida (epispde 12), Yasuhide Maruyama (episodes 11, 13)
Director of Photography: Takashi Azuhata
Editors: Takeshi Seyama, Tsuyoshi Imai
Music by: Reichi Nakaido
Sound Director: Yota Tsuruoka
Cast
Kaori Shimizu (Lain Iwakura)
Ayako Kawasumi (Mika Iwakura)
Rei Igarashi (Miho Iwakura)
Ryunosuke Ohbayashi (Yasuo Iwakura)
Yoko Asada (Alice Mizuki)
Ari Morizumi (JJ)
Ayako Kurosaki (woman’s voice)
Chiharu Tezuka (Reika Yamamoto)
Fumihiko Tachiki (commander)
Haruka Tsunezumi (baby girl)
Hikaru Miyata (Professor Hodgson)
Jin Yamanoi (middle-aged man)
Jouji Nakata (man in black 2)
Kazuhiko Inoue (man’s voice)
Keichi Igarashi (child)
Links
See also
The Matrix (1999)
Welt am Draht (1973)
Episodes
Weird (6 July 1998)
Girls (13 July 1998)
Psyche (20 July 1998)
Religion (27 July 1998)
Distortion (3 August 1998)
Kids (10 August 1998)
Society (17 August 1998)
Rumors (24 August 1998)
Protocol (31 August 1998)
Love (7 September 1998)
Infornography (14 September 1998)
Landscape (21 September 1998)
Ego (28 September 1998)
