Serial Experiments Lain-Volume 4: Reset (1998)

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General		Extras
Category	Anime	Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-Device #11: Heart; Device #12: Face; All Devices Theatrical Trailer TV Spots Trailer-CD; Playstation Gallery-Concept Art Trailer-X; Gasaraki; Neon Genesis Evangelion Trailer-Martian Successor Nadesico; Blood: The Last Vampire; Akira DVD Credits
Rating
Year Of Production	1998
Running Time	71:30 (Case: 100)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Ryutaro Nakamura
Studio Distributor	Pioneer LDC Madman Entertainment	Starring	Kaori Shimizu Ryunosuke Obayashi Rei Igarashi Ayako Kawasumi Yoko Asada Chiharu Tezuka
Case	Click
RPI	$34.95	Music	Reiichi Nakido

    Serial Experiments Lain is a Japanese animated science fiction series examining the blurring of the lines between the traditional world and the Wired.

    The series starts with the apparent suicide of a young school girl. Shortly after this tragic event, her classmates receive a number of emails appearing to come from the dead girl. Lain is an eighth grade student who has little experience with computers and the online world, the Wired. After receiving the strange email she decides to investigate further and quickly finds herself pulled into a world she knows little about. Young gamers are committing suicide at an increasing rate, a new drug hits the streets and a covert group of hackers all seem to be connected.

    This disc contains the final three episodes from the thirteen part series. This series is extremely entertaining but many viewers may find that it does not initially make much sense. As the series progresses different parts of the story will begin to fall into place and by the end it will all become clear.

    I have included a very short description for each episode but as these may contain some very minor spoilers you may wish to skip directly to the Transfer Quality section.

layer 11: INFORNOGRAPHY
    This episode begins with a quick flashback detailing the story so far. Lain also visits Arisu to try and help her with the vicious rumours that surround her.

layer 12: LANDSCAPE
    Lain is able to see the consequences of her attempt to help Arisu and must deal with them. The men-in-black find out who they have been working for and receive their payment. Lain must confront the god of the wired and determine how he came into existence.

layer 13: EGO
    During the final episode Lain finally accepts what she really is and what her positions in both worlds must be.

Video

    This is an excellent high quality transfer with very few artefacts present throughout.

    The full frame transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is exceptionally sharp throughout but a number of scenes are very soft. These same scenes are also very soft in the Region 1 transfer, so this would appear to be intentional. During the few dark scenes, such as in Lain's bedroom or in the street at night, excellent levels of shadow detail may be seen and this faithfully reproduces the original animation.

    The colour palette appears slightly muted, washed out and subdued. During the scenes at Cyberia, bright vibrant colours are displayed. As Lain becomes increasingly detached from the physical world, the colours of this world become more muted. This colour choice works well with the animation and helps to emphasize the different worlds

    No MPEG artefacts were detected during the transfer.

    A small number of aliasing artefacts were detected during the transfer. Some examples of these artefacts may be seen at 2:54, 3:04, 19:45, 30:36 and 35:44. Each of these artefacts are very small and are only minimally distracting to the viewer.

    A number of very minor film artefacts may be seen during the transfer, such as at 34:08 and 34:17. These artefacts are all very small and are never distracting to the viewer.

    A single set of yellow English subtitles are provided with this transfer. These subtitles are easy to read and appear to be consistently accurate. During the episodes, there are a small number of occurrences where English subtitles are burned into the image. These subtitles appear in white and are used to translate Japanese characters also on screen. The Region 1 version of this disc also has these same subtitles burned into the image.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The dialogue is clear and easy to understand at all times.

    As this is an animated feature, there are the expected obvious problems with audio sync for each soundtrack. A single audio dropout was detected during the Japanese audio track at 36:59.

    The music for this series is by Reiichi Nakido and this works well with the on-screen action whilst never drawing attention to itself. The distinctive opening title music is provided by Boa and is quite enjoyable.

    The surround channels are not utilized during the transfer. Some low frequency information, such as the humming of power lines, is included in this soundtrack.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The animated menus are presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

Device 11-13

    This short collection of clips follows each episode and examines different human design influences for the character of Lain.

Australian Trailer (0:30)

    This short trailer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

TV Promotion (0:25)

    This short trailer for the Japanese release is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

CD Promotion (0:19)

    This short promotion for the Cyberia mix soundtrack is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Playstation Game Promotion (0:19)

    This short promotion for the related Sony Playstation game is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Concept Art

    This is a collection of 18 different character and location sketches. These sketches continue the series that have been seen on previous discs in this series.

Trailer: X (1:44)

    This trailer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Trailer: Gasaraki (1:31)

    This trailer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Trailer: Neon Genesis Evangelion (1:08)

    This trailer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a musical Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Trailer: Martian Successor Nadesico (1:31)

    This trailer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Trailer: Blood The Last Vampire (1:02)

    This trailer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Trailer: Akira (1:15)

    This trailer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.66:1 with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Easter Egg (0:06)

    Two drawings of Lain and her father at a Navi may be viewed by highlighting the word lain in the main menu.

The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• Non-credits closing sequence
• Additional 20 seconds of promotional material featuring short clips for both the opening and closing musical tracks
• Pioneer Trailers

The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

• Australian Promotion
• Madman Trailers

    Unusually, the Easter egg included on this disc is found on the third disc in the Region 1 release. As both versions of this DVD appear to be nearly identical, I would have no preference for either version.

    Lain is an interesting and unusual series that should appeal to all anime fans.

    Like each of the previous releases in this series, the video transfer is of excellent quality and displays very few artefacts.

    The Japanese and English audio tracks should appeal to fans of both dubs and subs.

    The concept art and collection of marketing material is interesting and will appeal to fans, but the exclusion of textless opening and closing sequences for the series is a little disappointing.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall