>>2220997lain and nge both try to attempt to give their viewer something much more novel than 99% of anime. after my first anime back in 2014 of fma I went from that to gainax and lain. I always felt a bit of a disconnect between myself and most anime fans because to me the only good anime was the 2deep4u shit and not hundreds of episodes of one piece and seasonal anime.
It is a damn shame because as much as I love lain it is kinda of shitty. Lains atmosphere and character design runs so the rest of the show can walk.
I think as nerd who live online, nge and lain are better tent poles to gather than most shitty anime.