For those who are not in the know, Serial Experiments Lain is one of those anime's that break the mould. More David Lynch than Sailor Moon, the series chronicles the life of a thirteen year old japanse girl named Lain Iwakura following the suicide of a school friend. As the series progresses the viewers are slowly drawn into a bizarre and completely surreal tale that is simply a work of art. Lain is one of those shows where only repeated viewing begins to unveil the depths of the storyline - which draws upon a wide array of topics from the birth and development of the internet to the history of the Knights Templar.
When I learned that Guardians of Order - arguably the best developers of anime related products in the industry - were planning on publishing an "ultimate fan guide" to one of my most favourite anime shows (next to Weird Anime Excel Saga) I couldn't get a hold of the book soon enough.
I was to be sorely disappointed.
Overview
It is undeniable that the book is very attractive to look at. Packed with some excellent screenshots from the series, it certainly is a lush product with 80 pages in glossy full colour - and approximately 10 pictures per page. The back of the book is 30 odd pages of black and white "redrawn" concept sketches (I'll get to these soon) and "roleplaying" advice section.
The Good
It's Lain.
Oh and some of the research about the Internet and some of the hidden (and not so hidden) nods towards the show's creators love for all things Apple are very informative. Also there are some nice explanations of obscure references within the series as well.
The Bad
Filling 55 pages with nothing but pictures and a blow-by-blow recounting of a series that is only 13 episodes clocking in at 25 minutes each is quite frankly insulting. Considering that it
is a
fan guide, I'd say that it would be reasonable to assume that the reader is familiar with the series. Also considering that these synopses don't add anything onto what is seen on the screen - it is a waste of valuable space.
The opening of the summaries segment even begins with an admission that due to the nature of the series, that all the information contained within is conjecture. But isn't it suppossed to be the "Ultimate" guide? Not a particularly inspiring start.
What about attempting to get interviews with some of the creators? Ask them what they intended?
Next up - character descriptions. These are some of the most poorly analysed character bios I have seen in any film or television guide. several miss key events that occur within the show - and in some cases even contradict comments made in the summary section within the book. Internal contradiction is a very bad sign.
Much like the Tenchi Universe Resource book - of which I had issues over the poor character analysis within that product - there was a habit of over analysing and mis-analysis of certain characters. Lain's father and mother are demoted to nothing but souless automatons - completely ignoring the blatant references that are made connecting Lain's father to certain later revelations within the series.
There is also a locations section that redefines the term "stating the obvious." Thank-you GOO for informing me that the Cyberia club is a basement nightclub - would never have guessed it by watching the show. But to then extrapolate through ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE IN THE SHOW that it was "possibly" involved in contraband and illegal marketeering is absurd. If the writer or researchers had been listening clearly Myu Myu and Taro mention that there is an arcade on the upper level - Taro even mentions that he'll go there later and beat Myu Myu at a game.
Furthermore, most of the observations about the Knights seem to completely miss the mark. The series actually explains their motivations - as well as those of the "Tachibana" man.
Finally there is the ridiculous roleplaying segment at the end of the book. Naming only two characters - Lain and Masami Eiri - using the "everyone else is average so we don't need to list them" excuse is silly. To add to this is the later commentary that essentially Lain does not translate well into a roleplaying environment seems to make the entire exercise futile. Strangely, this segment had some useful information within it - but certainly not enough to justify the purchase.
Also, there are 9 pages of redrawn conceptual art - it looks as if someone traced it out of another book - that really serves no purpose except to fill the final pages.
In Summary
There is absolutely nothing of value in this book. Everything that was of any interest in the book can be found with a simple google search. Any Lain information is available on the far superior Lain resource site:
http://www.cjas.org/~leng/lain.htm#intro
The author shows no knowledge of how to perform a close reading of a media text and makes some truly wild assumptions that while he is welcome to make them - Lain is after all one of those shows that leaves much to the viewer to decide - certainly have no right being in a book claiming to be the Ultimate Fan Guide. I happen to study Media and Technoculture and could have done a better job!
My biggest complaints are that considering the book is aimed at people who have watched the show - it offers absolutely nothing. Especially by printing 55 pages of what is simply useless filler material. We've seen the series thank-you we don't need to read a detailed summary that has no genuine annotations! While a summary is a good idea it needs to only be 10-12 pages long. A discussion of the themes and concepts of the series would have been far more helpful. Maybe even looking at the archetypes that each character represents would have been useful as well. But we get none of this.
This is quite simply the biggest waste of money I have ever spent. I would warn everyone against buying anything in this series of products if this book is an indication of what the other books in the line are going to be like - a simple attempt to milk more money out of anime fans without having to go to the lengths of producing a complete roleplaying game.
This book is simply a lazy half-hearted cash in.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!
Better off buying the next John Wick D20 adventure than this. At least you'll get a good laugh.
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