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Layer One: Start Up
Iwakura Lain is the main character of the Serial Experiments Lain series, and the focus of the entire storyline. After receiving an e-mail from a supposedly dead schoolmate named Yomada Chisa, Lain is drawn into a world, called "The Wired". And it is ultimately because of this that her life changes, forever.
Lain is introduced to the audience in the first episode (Layer 1: Weird), and what we see is a fairly normal schoolgirl. Extremely introverted and quiet, Lain kept to herself a lot, often walking to school alone. Her features are those of a common girl: nondescript brown hair, eyes that were a deep brown and almost always avoiding eye contact. Her expression is unassuming, a person who disappears into the crowd. If not for her signature long brown lock at her side, she would look very much like a "background" character. Lain also seemed uninterested in the world around her; current trends were both a complete mystery and an indifference to Lain. She was very much isolated, in both the emotional and social sense. But even though Lain is the average girl, there is something about her eyes, something about her that pulls you in. Even from the passive nature that Lain radiates, there is something undoubtedly powerful about her presence.
This is Lain, in the earlier episodes of SEL. Why did they make the protagonist so passive, and almost lifeless at times? It is this extreme withdrawal from the world around her that catches the eye of a fellow schoolmate named Mizuki Alice (or "Arisu", alternatively) -- Alice becomes Lain's first friend, as she is determined to free Lain from her seemingly self imposed isolation. At first, Lain is hesitant -- Alice's group of friends were also hesitant to include Lain in their activities; Kato Julie ("Juri", alternatively) and Yamamoto Reika eventually gave in to Alice's appeals, and soon, Lain was invited to her first outing -- a night out at a local club, called Cyberia. (Layer 2: Girls)
Lain was still unsure about agreeing, but she went to Cyberia -- and it was apparent that "going out" was not an everyday occurence with Lain. Clothed in "normal" school girl clothes, she stuck out of the crowd; Cyberia was wild, dark, and somewhat seedy, an environment Lain wasn't used to. But when a man overdosed on Accela (a microchip-drug) and was shooting at people in Cyberia, Lain was unaffected; in fact, she seemed almost intrigued by the man's ravings.
"What right do you have...?! Who are you..?"
The man screamed, brandishing a gun, its red laser shaking uncontrollably. But Lain was unpreturbed; even when she heard the impact of the silenced bullet puncture the man's mouth, and felt his blood splatter on her face, she was unfazed. This was Lain. She was overcome with a sense of fear from the man, but fear gave way to calmness as she had uttered a single phrase before the man had shot himself...
"No matter where you are, everyone is always connected."
Was Lain really just a shy, introverted girl? Or was there something more, something deeper to her? This is Lain, in the beginning -- the image of the superego. But in the blink of an eye, she undergoes a metamorphosis that does more than merely change her...
(( back to internal diagnostic ))
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Marionette is © 2000-2007 Rose Panzo. SEL is © Yoshitoshi Abe, Chiaki J. Konaka, and its respective creators. Please do not reproduce the contents found here without permission.