Omnipresence in Wired

An Omnipresence in Wired is the Serial Experiments Lain artbook that was released only in Japan in 1999. A heavily modified version, ab# rebuild, was released in 2006 in both Japan and the United States.

It contains illustrations by Yoshitoshi Abe, some of which feature text by Chiaki J. Konaka. The manga The Nightmare of Fabrication is included.

Note that any of the following information regarding the 2006 version is obtained from the hardcover English edition by Digital Manga Publishing. If you have the softcover edition, or the Japanese edition from Wani Magazine, please feel free to edit this page with information on them.

Contents

Under construction lol

an omnipresence in wired (1999)

The cover of the first edition as it appears with the plastic slip cover. The slip cover is transparent and marked with the title and white shading. The cover itself has only the picture of lain.

Page No.	Contents	Description
001	Title page	The title of the book with a bunch of identical pictures of lain, except with different photoshop effects added to them.
002	Contents	The book's contents page. Most of the data in this table is taken from this page. Except the descriptions.
003	Introduction	A few paragraphs by ABe, with a translation, talking about his concept of Lain's existence and how it was manifested in his creative process.
004	the original layers	See Layers (illustrations) for more info.
046	VHS/LD jackets (lif.)
052	sound track cover (CD)
055	hair cut
056	pre-image
058	posters & others
066	game illustrations
078	special issue "the nightmare of fabrication" (DC1029)	Untranslated in this edition. See Manga for more information.
097	sketches (monochrome)
118	about the layers (AB with CJK)	Untranslated. Abe and Konaka having a conversation about the Layers illustrations. The title of each Layer illustration is listed with the magazine issue it was originally published in.
122	about all of the illustrations	Untranslated. An index of comments by Abe about every illustration in the book and information on where each of them was originally published.
127	history of AB	Untranslated. A paragraph of general information about Abe, then a "general chronology" of events in his life starting in 1993 when he entered college, then a "fragile goods chronology" listing every computer he'd owned since 1990 (I think?)
The book has a total of 128 pages.

yoshitoshi ABe lain illustrations: ab# rebuild an omnipresence in wired (2006)

The 2006 edition has a cardboard slip cover (pictured). The actual cover is dark blue and unadorned except for the title and the words "Hello NAVI."

Note: The pages are not numbered, so this might not be very useful. This book doesn't even have a contents page.

Page No.	Contents	Description
001	Title page	A picture of Lain on a semitransparent piece of paper.
005	01 touch of illustration	Various illustrations paired with their rough sketches, pre-effects images from a few of the layers with their coloring altered
040	02 comic	the nightmare of fabrication (DC1029) (translated of course)
063	03package illustration : DVD+LD+CD
076	04 others : game+poster+etc
091	05 layer	The aforementioned layer illustrations.
122	06 pencil drawing + step by step	Corresponds with monochrome sketch in original book.
141	07 personal	Color photos by Abe, and a "short history" of Abe beginning in 1993
149	Liner notes	corresponds with "about all the illustrations" in the original book. Has the page number of the illustrations being described, but if you count the pages you'll always end up a few pages off.
This book has a total of 153 pages.

Differences between the two editions

What Rebuild has that the original does not have

• Two new illustrations and their rough sketches
  • Lain under an overpass
  • Cover illustration
• Pre-effects images of some of the Layers
• Step-by-step for the Layer 02: Girls illustration

What the original has that Rebuild does not have

• Chibi Chibi Lain
• Looker illustrations
• Gekikare! A Sales Promo Ad By Dame-Dame Lain (comic originally from a doujinshi called Tareme Paradise 5)
• Many of the rough, conceptual sketches in the monochrome sketch section

Other miscellaneous differences

Layer text: In Rebuild, the text of the Layer illustrations were re-translated and of course the English was re-typeset, sometimes in completely different positions. A typesetting error was introduced in Layer 11. In some of the illustrations the Japanese text was also re-typeset, and in some cases completely removed. The Rebuild translation is perhaps better than the original's in general, but the typesetting looks better in the original as it's styled to blend with the image. In Layer 09, the patch of code floating to the right of lain was replaced with different code. Excepting the Layer images, there is no Japanese text to be found anywhere in the English version of Rebuild.

Pencil Sketches: As stated above, there are many rough sketches in the original Omnipresence that don't appear in Rebuild. However, those sketches that do appear in Rebuild are generally much larger, showing more detail.

Conclusion

Each has images the other doesn't have. They're both nice and you should get them both.

Serial Experiments Lain media

Anime • Game

Books

Omnipresence in Wired • The Nightmare of Fabrication • Serial Experiments Lain Official Guide • Serial Experiments Lain Ultimate Fan Guide • Scenario Experiments Lain • Visual Experiments Lain

Music

Duvet (opening theme) • Tooi Sakebi (ending theme) • Serial Experiments Lain OST • Serial Experiments Lain: Cyberia Mix • serial experiments lain BOOTLEG • LPR-309 • Cyberia Layer 2 • Cyberia Layer:03 • Twilight