25th anniversary (2023): Ueda's Layer 3301 statement and AI lain launch
No full-length 25th anniversary interview with the original staff was found online; the anniversary mostly produced press statements. In the June 2023 release announcing the alternate reality game Layer 3301: De-Cipher, made by Anique with the digital-collectibles studio Kasagi, Ueda wrote that he could not yet tell how much fans would enjoy puzzle solving and treasure hunting, but hoped it would build a connection with long-time fans that does not stay inside the virtual space of the internet. He hoped it would also be a new challenge for anime culture as a whole, and said his wish as creator is for serial experiments lain to stand for an experimental spirit not bound by fixed values or economic agendas. Access was to be through a digital item called a 'protocol key'. In September Anique opened AI lain, a video-call style chatbot supervised by Ueda that was trained on Lain's personality in the anime and on Kaori Shimizu's 1998 recording tapes, framed as a six-month continuous experiment in which users would help raise a newborn Lain. In October the ARG was cancelled, with Anique saying it would focus on AI lain. A 50-page lain special in the magazine CONTINUE Vol. 85 (Ohta Publishing, 18 December 2024, cover by ABe) includes a dialogue interview between Ueda and ABe; the publisher lists the issue at 120 pages, on sale 18 December 2024, with the special starting on page 4; the dialogue is not in the free online preview, and no excerpt was found online.
- No long 2023 staff interview was found online
- Ueda supervised both the ARG and AI lain
- He framed lain as an experiment free of fixed values and money motives
- AI lain used Shimizu's 1998 recordings for Lain's voice
- Layer 3301 was announced in June and cancelled in October 2023
- CONTINUE Vol. 85 (2024) has a 50-page special, contents unverified?
Sources: news.mynavi.jp · note.com archived · cinra.net