© 1998 Triangle Staff/PIONEER LDC

2nd Animation Division Excellence Award

serial experiments lain

Animated TV series

NAKAMURA Ryutarou (Director) [Japan]

Reason for Award

This work follows a junior high school girl, Lain, as she explores the often fuzzy borders between the wired and the real world. We were impressed with its willingness to question the meaning of contemporary life as it explored the development of the computer and the ways in which real people live. Much of the content is made up of down-to-earth school friendships and family relationships, but the questions this work asks are extraordinarily philosophical and deep.