As confusing as the plot for this anime is, Lain is nonetheless

one of the best anime ever created. However, viewers who often

watched it loved to compare it to another great anime by the

name of Neon Genesis Evangelion, since both tend to go really

deep on both plot and character background. The truth is, both

series shouldn't be compared to each other; both have

completely different morals and meanings. But anyway, that's

not the point. So on to some miscellaneous stuff about Lain.

1) Serial Experiments Lain was awarded the Excellence Prize of

the 1998 Media Arts Festival by Japan's Agency for Cultural

Affairs. As quoted by them: "This work... explores the often

fuzzy borders between the Wired and the real worlds. We were

impressed with its willingness to question the meaning of

contemporary life as it depicted the development of the

computer and the ways in which real people live... the

questions this work asks are extremely philosophical and deep."

2) Serial Experiments Lain is part of the Triangle Staff and

Pioneer LDC. Pioneer America holds the distributing rights for

the domestic Lain, as they have released all 13 episodes on

four volumes, both VHS and DVD. The titles for each volume are

as follows: NAVI, KNIGHTS, DEUS, RESET.

3) The opening song for Lain was performed by a British group

by the name of BOA. BOA's members are: Jasmine Rodgers, Paul

Turrell, Lee Sullivan, Alex Caird, and Steve Rodgers.

Unfortunately, the opening song "Duvet" was the only song

performed by this talented group. Currently, BOA is signed

under Pioneer's record label, and their domestic US album

release Twilight is out now (officially released March 27,

2001).

4) Lain has four official soundtrack albums. The first is

Serial Experiments Lain Sound Track, a.k.a Lain OST 1. Music

was composed and performed by Nakaido "Chabo" Reichi. This is

not background music to the series, but rather, some of the

main theme songs used, such as "Lain's Theme." The second

album was Serial Experiments Lain Sound Track Cyberia Mix.

This one is also not background music, but contains original

songs and is mostly Techno-based. However, the CD does feature

some background music put as an original song (otherwise known

as remixes). Third is the "Duvet" single performed by BOA,

featuring cover art with Lain on it. Additionally, Pioneer

released a fourth CD plainly titled Bootleg. Bootleg is the

album which features all the background music used in Lain.

Included are also some production notes for each track number,

the running time, and a poster on the other side. All four

albums can be found at AnimeNation.com.

5) Between the year 2000 and 2001, Pioneer released the Serial

Experiments Lain DVD Lunchbox Set, which was an item that

contained all four volumes of the series on DVD, with an added

bonus of a BOA CD, all neatly packaged into a collectible Lain

metal lunchbox. This item is domestic, and can probably be

found at an anime store, however, the production of the

lunchbox set has been discontinued. In the end, after the

discontinuation, there were some leftover Lain lunchboxes, and

those have been put for sale at various anime retailers, both

online and offline. You can also find this item on E-Bay for

about an estimated price of $9 U.S. Speaking of DVD box sets,

there is another Lain box set that has been released in other

countries. This box set is not a lunchbox set, unfortunately.

Instead, all four DVD volumes are packaged into a sturdy

cardboard slipcase. You can also find this item on E-Bay, but

it is not domestic. Fortunately, the DVD is bilingual, which

means that it includes the English dub and the original

Japanese language track! Estimated prices for this item are

about $49-$60 U.S.

6) There are two Lain artbooks, which can be found at most

anime retailers as a Japanese import (also at anime

conventions). The first one is Visual Experiments Lain, and

features some original art as well as Lain concepts. Estimated

price is about $30 U.S. The second release was Serial

Experiments Lain: An Omnipresence in Wired, which is a

hardcover artbook, and by far one of the nicest artbooks to be

released. An Omnipresence in Wired features totally original

artwork, in beautifully rendered backgrounds and scenes.

Estimated price at most retailers is about $60 U.S. and up.