Skill Issue

Serial Experiment Lain: Episode 4.

The mom: [long pause] "Is she right?" The dad: [long pause] "Yes." The mom: [goes over to pat his head] The dad: [closes his newspaper and pulls her closer, looking grim]

Removed from the context of the preceding conversation, it reminds me of this meme:

Serial Experiments Lain - Episode 4.

Okay... I don't speak Japanese, but this strikes me as odd in more than just the content of the scene. I'm not sure if the mother *is* asking if the sister is correct that Lain is being weird, or if she's actually asking the dad to privately confirm the accuracy of his statement that things are totally normal. I think it's less:

Sister: Lain is being weird. [...] Mother: Is she right about that? Dad: Yes, she is.

And more:

Dad: it's perfectly normal. [...] Mother: Is that what you're going with? Dad: Yes, it is.

Serial Experiments Lain - Episode 4.

I was gonna make this a gif but I can't bring myself to remove the audio they clearly put a lot of work into.

This show does not do anything in half-measures, that's for sure. Including weird piles of wires.

Bonus: computer nerd encourages his kid to take an interest in computers and is excited when she gets curious, and then she almost immediately leaves him in the dust.

For contrast/recap/reference, when she originally asked for a new computer in episode 1:

Serial Experiments Lain - Episode 3.

Okay, I gotta say... I know this is from 1998, but I cannot tell if the people who made this actually had access to much tech. Like, were they the people who got in on the ground floor to a degree and were tinkering with stuff? Or were they making something about tech because they thought it was cool, but didn't have experience with it themselves? It seems like it could be either -- or maybe a mix, considering this wasn't made by just one person.

It just blows my mind that because she's worried about static, she is sitting there in a camisole or a nighty or something, but she has the tip of the screwdriver in her mouth.

Edit of Serial Experiments Lain - Episode 3.

This is very badly done because I couldn't hear the audio in the video editor I was using, but I did my best lol.

She's so creepy! It's amazing. I would have been in the car and down the street by the time she got across the room.

Serial Experiments Lain - Episode 3.

The Navi is the new computer he got her.

Serial Experiments Lain, Episode 3.

--

I removed the audio from this -- it's just a gif -- because I just wanted to focus on the expressions. It starts off with a long static shot, but I actually removed two whole seconds of static "Lain being terrifying" at the start, because it felt excessive.

TW: this clip (and this post) is referring to witnessing a suicide.

--

This is from episode 3 of Serial Experiments Lain, and it's exactly as weird as the rest of the show thus far. The other girls pressured Lain into coming out to a club because they said she was too uptight. The night they all went, a man had a drug-induced episode, shot people (?), and then committed suicide in front of everyone. All the other girls got picked up by their families, and Lain had to go home alone to an empty house with nobody to console or check on her. Also -- for the record, they're saying Arisu was the closest to the guy, but in reality, Lain was. She was steps away from the guy (and talking to him, it's a long story). The girls are asking if there was blood everywhere, and obviously there was -- even worse, it was all over Lain's face.

More gifs to redo!

This is from Ping Pong: the Animation!

It's an amazing show, and the amount of work put into the sound effects (sound design?) blows my mind.

These are from Haikyuu!!

I totally forgot to make a note of what episode or season these are from.