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Neither the art style, nor the animation (which is good for the few action scenes and quite frugal otherwise), nor the soundtrack (which is not memorable but fits the setting and mood nicely) make or break this anime. This is the kind of series that is defined by the plot and characters.

The first half of this series was very enjoyable. There were well-written, interesting, multi-layered characters, and slowly an intriguing, plausible mystery was given shape. The show got more and more interesting all the way up until episode 13. In episode 13 the series makes a U turn and goes to hell in a handbasket ... very rapidly. Rin Shirogane is introduced, he is the central figure for the latter half of the series, and he is an antithesis to the quality writing in the first half. His literally only dimension is "I am a psycho and I've got a gun", and that is also the sole content of his every scene in every episode. The logic and consequences of actions disappear. While in the first half of the series the only weapons available to both sides were knives, in the last episodes the other side has military grade weapons and a helicopter. And the great down-to-earth mystery story we had in the beginning boils down into a dime-a-dozen "plot of a Secret Organisation" bullsh*t.

In the end nothing really made sense. Apparently the whole town was behind the robbery, succeeded, knew where the treasure freight car ended up in, had means to get to it -- and then did nothing with it. What?! And there was a large fake corporation looking for that treasure carriage for over ten years -- in a tiny town that had two possible places where it could be. OK! And the Secret Organization needed to keep things very hush hush to avoid any unwanted attention (because the treasure would be worthless to them if they could not get it unnoticed), so in the latter part of the series the Ginzame gang kept low profile by threatening the police, multiple shooting incidents, collecting dozens of criminals from other areas into the tiny town, arsoning the Tanokura mansion, and kidnapping people, one with a helicopter. Splendid! And the loving mother of Miyuki decides to make up for all her bad deeds by making her daughter motherless via suicide. Good for the character! And after "George" finally realizes who Mr Konishi is, he of course reveals it to him when Mr Konishi is holding a gun and they're in the middle of nowhere. Brilliant! And Mr Konishi's motivations for his actions (apart from returning to Kimujuku) make zero sense, he had nothing to gain with any of them. I could go on, but why bother. Just disappointed that the promise of sublime writing did not deliver in the end.

The first few episodes of Serial Experiments Lain build up a very intriguing mystery and the artistic vision is top-notch throughout, but in the end I felt the story did not fully deliver on its ample promises.

The story as a whole amounts to less than the sum of its parts because it is too incoherent and, crucially, does not really follow many of its ideas through. Leaving things open to interpretation is one thing, but I always succumb to ennui when curiosity is piqued and a sense of mystery is created with a myriad of seemingly inexplicable occurrences -- that in the end are just ... forgotten and left completely up in the air. Here, only the "main plot" -- Lain's own story and identity -- is resolved, and even that resolution is muddled with the needless hint about her being able to somehow have memories from the future as well. But most subplots, organisations, people... just fizzle away and are never given proper closure.

However, many of the story elements are exquisite. I liked very much the way several themes were handled, especially regarding the Internet (even predicting some aspects that did not really exist when this was released). I also greatly enjoyed the general disturbing undertone this series had throughout, as well as many individual scenes and story devices. Not the unprecedented masterpiece it could have been (and I thought it would be during the first episodes), but still both entertaining and genuinely original and visionary. 7.5/10

This one is hard to rate. On the other hand, this is visually an absolutely stunning creation. On the other hand, I disliked every aspect of the writing.

The artistic vision, animation and especially the background art are all sublime. Every frame is so gorgeous I found myself frequently pausing the film during the first episode just to take in and relish all the wonderful details. It's not exaggeration to say that almost each frame would work as an independent piece of art.

However, writing is on a completely different level. The plot is excruciatingly elementary, and the story is frankly quite tepid and stale. Characters are ... mere vague sketches, and their affections and actions -- or the lack of actions -- are not given any real basis. Not much happens, and the few things that occur are repetitive and mostly uninteresting. And to top it off, the film has the worst kind of non-ending to its non-story, not the interesting open kind but simply an annoying lack of closure to anything (that is rubbed in the viewer's face for full five minutes in the form of an inane song featuring a montage of the events just shown that came to nothing).

I am glad I saw this movie for its remarkable visual beauty, but the uninspired, pallid, insipid writing ruined it for me as a complete experience.

I started watching this for three reasons: 1) it's in a genre I usually enjoy, 2) it is highly rated, 3) it seemed to be more adult-oriented than most anime, leading to expectations of more mature and complex themes and somewhat realistic writing.

This is the first series I've so far watched where I disagree with the high rating and can't really understand it. This series did not meet my expectations at all, although it is not completely without merits. Animation is better than average and visually there are nice artistic choices from the director throughout. Music is mostly solid and often atypical in a good ... way. The setup is also very interesting and the story could go in multiple exciting directions.

Unfortunately the writing is all over the place, it never reaches the heights the setup would allow and steadily degrades throughout the series. The first arc of 10 episodes is OK-ish and manages to keep things mostly interesting, but it's a bit uneven and ultimately unrewarding (6/10). The second arc of 9 episodes is much less interesting, it's convoluted and detached, and starts to rely on miraculous events and characters acting in non-characteristic and illogical manner (4/10). And in the third arc every last ounce of logic is thrown out the window and the whole thing implodes into an utterly non-sensical puerile mess (2/10). Just like a good ending can uplift a story, the last arc is so bad it soils the whole series, making the total experience even worse than the sum of its parts.

I learned afterwards that this has originally been a visual novel with multiple routes and endings. This somewhat explains the many tonal and logical oddities of the plot and character continuity, but is no excuse for them; many good examples of similar adaptations exist. I wish I had stopped watching this after the first arc, the rest of the series was a complete waste of time.

PROS:
- Great animation, especially for a year 2000 title
- Great soundtrack that perfectly fits the series
- Highly original

CONS:
- It has no real plot
- Nothing makes sense at any point of the series
- All characters are far too sketchy and unreal to be taken seriously (and most of them got on my nerves like nails on a chalkboard)

All the things listed as cons are in the series clearly by design, not due to oversight. However, the things I enjoy most are skillfully crafted plots and interesting multilayered characters, so this was really not for me. It was impossible to feel any connection to any of the ... characters, and impossible to care about anything that happened during the series because there was no rhyme nor reason to any of it. But it was short (6 episodes) and unique enough to keep me watching the whole thing nonetheless, and the pros & sheer wackiness kept me mildly entertained throughout.

Tastes vary, and FLCL is certain to split opinions. I'd recommend at least giving it a shot, you can always drop it after the first episode if you find it's not your cup of tea (it stays the same).