Serial Experiments Lain
Overview: Serial Experiments Lain is a story about a young junior high girl named Lain. In the begining of the series Lain is a very reclusive girl with very little friends. She has next to no knowledge of computers, despite having already completed a required course in school on them. She seems to have no interest with them until she recieves a mysterious e-mail from a classmate that had committed suicide nearly a week earlier. Lain is one of many girls to get the e-mail, but Lain replies, rather than assuming it's a horrible hoax.
From her friend Lain learns of another world of sorts, contained within "The Wired." The Wired is like a highly advanced form of the internet, and Lain is special to this world. She has a persona in this world at all times, a persona that crosses into the real world occasionally. Lain begins to discover the world of computers and the Wired, and along the way begins to learn who she truly is, and how powerful she can really become.
Lain goes through an incredible journey of a sci-fi/modern fiction sort that simply ecxels in all facets of storytelling. The story has great depth, is intriguing and the animation and music are well set to the moods of the scenes. The interaction with Lain and the other characters is often whimsical, sometimes casual, but always integral to the story, making this one of the best "thinking" stories I've ever seen.
