Serial Experiments Lain

This four-disc boxset is quite literally a collection of the four discs that MVM had previously released one at a time, with nothing changed and no new extras apart from the stiff cardboard case that now houses them. So if you have the separate discs already, there is little point in getting this; but if you do not have them, it is the perfect way to watch the 13 episodes in their entirety.

The extras are the same as those on the original discs: several dubbing and subtitling options (the English-language dub is surprisingly good); 'concept art' comprising 18 design stills; a range of promotional trailers for the DVD, for television, as well as for the cd (featuring the title song, duvet, by Boa, who sounds like Dido) and the Playstation game; plus brief, truly bizarre trailer spots (entitled 'the weird') for the series.

Best of all, though, is the complete set of 'devices' that are appended to each episode. Far from being conventional previews, each 'device' focusses (in live-action close-up) on a different body part of Kaori Shimizu (who voices Lain). They have a teenage theme, they are strange and, in their voyeuristic way, not a little creepy - making them the ideal accompaniment to the series.