Anime Director Maki Ito (also known as Pierre Ito), recently revealed that his indie anime project lain: Protocol 7 hit its initial crowdfunding target of 2 million yen just one day after launching the project’s Campfire page on July 7. As of now, the project has gathered nearly 4.6 million yen, and with 54 days remaining until the campaign concludes, it appears to be steadily progressing toward its next milestone of 8 million yen.
Although it draws inspiration from the Serial Experiments Lain franchise, lain: Protocol 7 is an entirely unofficial and independent fan-made OVA. The full anime is projected to be about 60 minutes long, aiming to “bridge the Serial Experiments Lain of the 1990s with the reality of the 2020s,” examining the Wired in the age of AI. Regarding the legality of utilizing the Lain IP for such a substantial unofficial endeavor, the creators launched it in alignment with the series’ official fan creation guidelines.
The narrative of lain: Protocol 7 revolves around counseling sessions between school counselor Toko Mera and Lain Iwakura, who begins encountering peculiar events that blur the boundaries between the internet and reality – messages she never sent start popping up unexpectedly; an email arrives from a girl presumed to be deceased. Through these sessions, Mera slowly uncovers the truth behind the personal-log response-body experiment called “Protocol 7.”
Thanks to the project’s soaring popularity, the creators have already unveiled stretch goals for the campaign. Currently, the project is less than 500k yen away from reaching its first stretch goal at 5 million yen. Should they attain this target, the production team has pledged to develop a full visual novel based on the OVA’s script, featuring multiple branching endings that offer a fresh take on the animation’s storyline.