If you liked
Shinseiki Evangelion
|
...then you might like
Serial Experiments Lain
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Eva and SEL share an arty execution and directorial style. Borrowing conventions from French New Wave and Art Film, both make heavy use of smash cuts, close-ups, and title cards/typography. They are rife with still, silent, meditative scenes. During the more introspective or trippy scenes, characters may be ripped from their surroundings and placed against abstract backgrounds. Storytelling tends toward "show don't tell", such as showing a character's subtle actions or facial expressions rather than using explicit dialog to indicate what they're thinking. This tendency to "show don't tell" can lead to more abstract storytelling, leaving more scenes up for interpretation. This could be the main pull for for those who prefer this kind of stylistic DNA in their media. Thematically, SEL and Eva both deal heavily with theme of human connection vs isolation. While Eva takes this on in a more overt psychological sense, SEL uses the mass adoption of the internet to entertain these themes. Though there may be computers and robots intertwined in these stories, they are both, ultimately, human stories.