Lain Illustrations: AB# Rebuild An Omnipresence in Wired

by Yoshitoshi Abe

Who is Lain? Memory won't plot a straight path for any wanderers...and mother and father? Not to be found. A cherished toy doll may be a key, a curse, or a cryptic clue. A disembodied voice bounces off a child's bedroom wall, issuing mysterious directions. What do you believe? Where can you turn? There's talk on the streets, and it comes and goes in rapid bursts. Anything is possible during dreamtime, but the floor feels so real...until it all melts away into absolute darkness. Who is Lain? Can you crack the code alone? Lain is Lain.

Inimitable artistry binds together the jagged pieces of Lain, a mesmerizing tale of lost identity and shattered memories. A series fo blind visions and childhood fantasies whirl and weave with clipped conversation, floating questions, and the ever-present search for the who, what and where of the elusive Lain. A stunning visual playground shaded with both light and shadow, ABe's Lain is a triumph of design and an ever-growing puzzle.

Description from book jacket

Genres: Art, Manga, Science Fiction, Japanese Literature, Fiction, Comics Manga, Reference

154 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

A famous cover and character designer. Got a bearded dragon as a pet.

Reviews

[Parka · Rating 3 out of 5]

(More pictures at parkablogs.com)

This art book is for Serial Experiments Lain, an anime with a very complex plot on reality.

If you've watched the anime before, you probably remember the bleak, dark and seemingly apocalyptic style of art used. Colours are very limited which is quite apt for the anime. This book focuses on the character Lain and contains many full page illustrations, sketches and even a short manga section.

I thought the character design for Lain wasn't strong enough. The only distinctive part about here besides the disturbing eyes is probably her lock of hair by her left. Without that lock of hair, she's indistinguishable from another other typical manga style girls. And since the book is only about her, the variety feels rather limited.

The quality of art isn't as high as many of the Japanese art books I have. It's certainly not the type of book I'll find myself constantly referring to.

Right at the back is a short walkthrough on how the art was created as well as some photographs from the artist.

Yoshitoshi Abe Lain Illustrations is an average art book for me, maybe fans of the anime might appreciate more.

I highly recommend taking a look inside the book, if you can, before purchasing it.

[Jlawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Artbook for the haunting anime series Serial Experiments Lain, which is still one of my favorite series. There's beautiful paintings for each episode of the series, vhs/dvd release cover artwork, some manga sequences, including the full-color 'Nightmare of Fabrication' one-off, production work for the Playstation game version of the story, the super cute 'weather' series of sketches (a nice break from Lain's usual dark tone), and more. Throughout, ABe's style and the series' eerie atmosphere come through strong.

It's a Japanese publication, but like the series itself, English text is sometimes incorporated into visual compositions, especially in the episode-specific paintings, which underscore the series' themes of identity and human connection (through a dark cyberspace mirror). Some of these are conversation snippets or full mini-scenes - I particularly liked the little expansions of the story given through Lain's account of traveling to visit her aunt and uncle and the 'eating madeleines' scene with her dad.

There's also an revised edition of this book with more content (Rebuild An Omnipresence in Wired) that I want to eventually get.

[Aura Nomicaite · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a book of artwork related to Lain. The images are high quality and printed on quality paper, so they can also be used as references.

There's also a small manga section which is a nice small story, it goes more in the psychological horror genre of things.

It also has some dialogue/random text related to scenes in the game/anime.

It's 5 stars but only if you watched Lain and liked it enough to get something like this. Otherwise I think it's kinda boring. Abe isn't famous for his drawing skills.

[Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a companion to the thirteen-episode anime series than a standalone work, ABe's Omnipresence in (the) Wired is nonetheless a striking and accomplished collection of sketches, completed/colored illustrations, conceptual pieces, and cryptic outlines of the already-cryptic "layers" (or episodes). The true highlight, though, is the eighteen-page comic called "Nightmare of Fabrication," which perfectly expands upon some of the early imagery in the animation. I wish there were another couple of those. At the end, ABe provides some invaluable liner notes for nearly every preceding page, too. Remember: "No matter where you go, everyone's connected."
I should also note this art book brought my attention to ABe's fixation on wires, which is highly reminiscent of Terry Gilliam and his ducts in Brazil.

[Joyzi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a short story arc downloaded from mangaepub.com but because I have no background about Lain, I cannot really appreciate it.