The Serial Experiments Lain “Weird Exhibition” VRChat Event

In June of 2024, the Japanese company Anique announced a new project: The “Weird Exhibition” (Japanese: Weird展), a new online-only event themed around Serial Experiments Lain and hosted in the game VRChat.

We are pleased to announce the “Weird Exhibition: Welcome to the Wired,” an online event where you can relive the eerie world of “serial experiments lain.”

The event was created to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Serial Experiments Lain, and was stated to have over 25,000 attendees while open. As a special bonus, a new key visual was drawn by Yoshitoshi ABe for the event. (The header image of this post!)

Using VRChat, attendees of the exhibition could walk through a virtual museum created by Anique in collaboration with NBCUniversal. The museum featured an art gallery, sculptures, videos, and even a virtual merchandise display.

A screenshot of the English guided tour event, 2025-01-10

The exhibition received multiple updates while live, introducing new rooms and exhibits for three consecutive weeks.

While open, the exhibition also featured multiple live tours, where a guide would walk attendees through the exhibits and inform them about the various exhibits and scenes of Serial Experiments Lain.

Another event hosted during the exhibition was live broadcasts of the Serial Experiments Lain anime in VRChat. Attendees could sit in front of a virtual screen and watch the anime together, available in both English and Japanese subtitles.

Exhibition Dates

Opening Date: June 20, 2024 20:00 JST
First Update: June 24, 2024 20:00 JST
Second Update: July 8, 2024 20:00 JST
Closing Date: August 18, 2024 20:00 JST

Exhibition Areas

Note: Each area title and photo was taken from the Anique Weird Exhibition website, dated 2024-06-21.

Area 1 – 不気味な通路 / Weird Corridor

The first area of the exhibition unveiled by Anique was a hallway featuring “eerie scenes carefully selected from the main story.”

Area 2 – ディスプレイタワー / Display Tower

The second area announced by Anique was a “massive 3D object made of PCs. The screens display various scenes featuring Lain.”

Area 3 – 通学路 / School Route

The third area announced by Anique “features the famous school route from the series.”

“Experience the eerie shadows, and crecreated settings that maek you feel like you’ve stepped into lain’s world.”

Area 4 – 展覧会Shop

A virtual gift shop was the final room of the exhibit. It allowed users to view an array of merchandise available for purchase. Initially, this room displayed the digital goods released on Anique’s Booth store. Later, when the Weird Exhibit was re-opened, the new physical merchandise was also displayed here.

Area 5 – 玲音の部屋 / lain’s Room

Added: 2024-07-01 20:00 JST

The first area added to the exhibition was Lain’s bedroom, on July 1st at 20:00 JST. It featured Lain’s Navi, bed, plushies, and a number of scattered papers for attendees to interact with.

Area 6 – ワイヤードの部屋 / Wired

Added: 2024-07-01 20:00 JST

At the same time as Lain’s bedroom, a representation of The Wired was added to the exhibition. It features a number of displays for attendees to interact with, providing information about events relating to the anime. Additionally, a minigame in the center of the area allowed players to view and interact with a number of storyboard papers from the original animation production team.

Area 7 – AI lain レポートの部屋 / AI lain Report Room

Added: 2024-07-08 20:00 JST

During the second wave of updates to the exhibit, the AI Lain Report Room was added. This room featured a large computer setup in the center of the room, with the walls covered in exhibits in a museum-like layout.

Each panel displayed statistics or information about the AI Lain project, including the various update reports published during the length of the experiment.

Area 8 – フォトブース / Photo booth

Added: 2024-07-08 20:00 JST

The final piece added during the second wave of the exhibit’s updates was a virtual photo booth. This booth allowed attendees to take photos with four different backgrounds:

A purple background with a fence, moon, and power lines
- This is the background art from the Navi DVD cover
A train scene background
- This appears in Episode 1 of Lain, at approximately 5:47
A Club Cyberia background
- This appears in Episode 2 of Lain, at approximately 17:49
An outdoor power line background
- This appears in Episode 1 of Lain, at approximately 21:21

Exhibition Tours

Tours of the exhibition were available for both English and Japanese audiences. On the Anique website, the following Japanese tour dates were announced:

ツアー第1回: 2024/06/21 21:00 JST
ツアー第2回: 2024/06/28 21:00 JST
ツアー第3回: 2024/07/05 21:00 JST
ツアー第4回: 2024/07/12 21:00 JST

Exhibition Anime Showing Sessions

The Serial Experiments Lain anime was broadcast at the exhibition during the following showtimes:

Episode 1 – Episode 3: 2024/06/20 20:00 – 2024/06/24 19:59
Episode 4 – Episode 6: 2024/06/24 20:00 – 2024/07/01 19:59
Episode 7 – Episode 9: 2024/07/01 20:00 – 2024/07/8 19:59
Episode 10 – Episode 13: 2024/07/08 20:00 – 2024/07/15 19:59

Exhibition Merchandise

During the exhibition, Anique released both digital and physical merchandise in collaboration with NBCUniversal.

Digital Merchandise

Digital, VRChat-based merchandise was released on Anique’s Booth.pm shop on June 20th, 2024.

Digital Phone Case 3D Models

A digital phone case featuring Serial Experiments Lain art was created, for use in VRChat as a prop or accessory. An archived version of the Booth.pm page is available here.

3 different types of digital phone case were available on Anique’s Booth shop:

Type A: VHS/LD/DVD jackets lif.03
Type B: scenario experiments lain the series front cover
Type C: lain for game Play Station cover

Each phone case type cost 500 JPY and could be downloaded immediately after purchase.

Fun Fact: There was a defect in the texture of the Type A and Type B phone case 3D models. An updated model was made available on June 21st, meaning the incorrect model was available for less than one day. Source

Digital Acrylic Keychain 3D Models

A set of digital keychains featuring art from the Serial Experiments Lain Weatherbreak series was created for use in VRChat as a prop or accessory. An archived version of the Booth.pm page is available here, however the Internet Archive did not capture images of the keychains. As such, they have been included above from my own personal archive.

4 different styles of keychain were available on Anique’s Booth shop:

Type A：岩倉玲音(傘ver.)
Type B：岩倉玲音(NAVI ver.)
Type C：岩倉美香
Type D：岩倉康男

In English, this is:

Type A: Lain Iwakura (Umbrella Version)
Type B: Lain Iwakura (NAVI Version)
Type C: Mika Iwakura
Type D: Yasuo Iwakura

Physical Merchandise

Physical merchandise was not available during the initial phase of the exhibition. However, a full Weird Exhibition collection was released during the re-opening of the Exhibition in November, 2024. This information will be included in a future post, titled “Serial Experiments Lain ‘Weird Exhibition’ Re-Opening”.

Exhibition Giveaway Campaigns

As part of the exhibition event and celebration of the 25th anniversary, Anique and the official @1998_lain Twitter account organized a number of giveaway events.

It appears across all 4 giveaways, a total of 120 “real tickets” were given away, with 30 winners selected per giveaway.

Campaign 1 – “Take and share a photo to win a real ticket!”

Official Title: “Campaign 1: 写真を撮影&シェアしてリアルチケットをゲット！”

Start Date: 2024-06-21
End Date: 2024-07-01 20:00 JST

The first phase of the ticket giveaway was officially launched June 21, 2024.

“We have created exhibition ticket-themed goods (4 types in total). We will randomly select winners from those who post photos of our exhibition. Here is the exclusive design for the first week!”

“Commemorative Ticket Campaign Details: Visit by 7:59 PM on the 24th, take a photo, post it with #WeirdCampaign, and register using the form below for a chance to win a commemorative ticket. 30 winners will be notified via X messages on the 25th.”

The form for this giveaway was titled 【Weird展】記念チケット抽選応募フォーム, and is still available on the Internet Archive.

Campaign 2: “30,000 people in celebration! Post a message to Lain and get a real ticket!”

Official Title: “Campaign 2: 3万人記念！ lain へのメッセージを投稿してリアルチケットをゲット！”

Start Date:
End Date: 2024-07-04 23:59:59 JST

After surpassing 30,000 total visitors, a second ticket-based giveaway was announced:

“Now we have over 30,000 visitors! Thank you for your visit! Please post your message to Lain with [#lain25th] by July 4th, 23:59! We will give exhibition tickets to 30 people who have registered in the application form!”

The form for this giveaway was titled 【Weird展】 3万人達成記念チケット抽選応募フォーム, and is still available on the Internet Archive.

Campaign 3: Mystery Real Ticket Lottery?

Official Title: Unknown

Start Date: 2024-07-01
End Date: ?

Unfortunately, the Internet Archive did not capture the Anique website’s content while the third ticket giveaway was live. Despite this, there is evidence that a third real ticket lottery took place due to announcements published by the @1998_lain Twitter account.

Campaign 4: “Take & share photos to get a real ticket! (Final)”

Official Title: “写真を撮影&シェアしてリアルチケットをゲット！第4回 (Final)”

Start Date: 2024-07-08 20:00 JST
End Date: 2024-07-15 20:00 JST

The final giveaway during the original exhibition period. The instructions were as follows:

“Take a photo at the AI lain Report Room or MetaPri and post it on X with #WeirdCampaign.”

The form for this giveaway was titled 【Weird展】記念チケット抽選応募フォーム, and is still available on the Internet Archive.

Event Conclusion

The first iteration of the Weird Exhibition event officially concluded on August 18th, 2024 at 20:00 JST.

As a thank you to visitors, the official Serial Experiments Lain Twitter account posted a thank you image featuring various messages from attendees. This image has been included below.

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