|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Layer Three: Conflict
There is a constant struggle that Lain fights -- and it's not just one. Plagued with the knowledge that a doppelganger of herself -- Lain of the Wired -- is creating mischief on the Wired, Lain is stuck with a label that she had no hand in creating. Ever since episode 2 (Layer 2: Girls), there was a definite sign that her image was a sign of power and of fear -- the man who had shot himself in Cyberia recognized Lain (or her doppelganger), claiming she had "no right" to make him do anything. Alice and the girls thought they had seen Lain at Cyberia as well, but they had dismissed it because the Lain they saw was the complete opposite of the Lain they knew. In episode three (Layer 3: Psyche) the first lines are about a girl named "Lain" on the Wired, and she is known by J.J. (Cyberia's resident DJ) and a kid named Taro (one of a trio of children who are regulars at Cyberia) tells Lain that he wants to have a date with the "wild Lain" - even though she had only been to Cyberia once prior to that visit. As the episodes go by, these "Lain" sightings become more frequent. But what was happening? As Lain comes closer and closer to meeting her doppelganger, more and more damage is done. Already plagued by the knowledge of Lain of the Wired, her life begins to break down around her.
Lain's very existence is put to the question many times in the series. All the anchors of her life were one by one, being taken away -- in episode 5 (Layer 5: Distortion), Lain begins to question her family, asking in a soft voice if her parents where really her parents. In episode 7 (Layer 7: Society) Lain is taken to Tachibana Labs by the Men in Black, with the promise of all her questions finally being answered. What happened instead was she was the complete opposite of finding answers. Lain was bombarded by questions from a strange man: when was her parent's birthdays? Did she ever recall celebrating her own? How did her parents meet? On and on the questions came, and with tears streaming down her face, Lain suddenly realized that she didn't know the answers to these seemingly simple questions.
Why didn't she know these things? It was because in reality, her family wasn't hers to begin with. The Iwakura family were simply a group who acted as Lain's family, until she had grown up enough to fend for herself. They had always known what she was -- and Lain, being stripped of family and identity could only stammer that it was all a lie. She had to have a real family. She was real. Wasn't she? And we can only watch in sympathetic silence as Lain's family leaves her, and her father sneaks back to the house to say goodbye to Lain.. and to tell her that he really did love her.
But even more devastating to Lain was when she had found out about Alice's secret -- and she was accused of being the one to tell everyone about it. In actuality, it was Lain of the Wired who had spied on Alice and who had started it all -- but Alice, having seen Lain's doppelganger, believed it was Lain who she saw. Feeling betrayed and hurt that Lain would do something so low, she cuts herself off from Lain, the most hurtful thing that could happen to Lain. Not being able to bear seeing Alice so hurt, Lain does everything in her power to set things right.
Lain knew that her presence in the Wired was extremely strong; when she had visited Dr. Hodgeson (Layer 6: Kids), he commented on her strength of presence in the Wired, and the talking mouth (Lain insults it, calling it "Cheshire Cat") told her that most people are only limited to having one "real" body part on the Wired. It is revealed in episode 7 (Layer 7: Society) that Lain is a program that was created by Tachibana Labs to correct the coding that Masami Eiri had slipped into the 7th protocol. But all that mattered to Lain was that Alice had become a helpless victim in all of Lain's conflicts. Alone, stripped of family and humanity, Lain became isolated yet again. Left with only the Wired, she connected and fought to find a way to correct things for Alice.
Ultimately, she realized that the only way to save Alice was to sacrifice herself; Lain realized that a person or an act was "real" only because they existed within someone's memory.. delete the memory, and the act or the person never existed. It was because of Lain that Alice was hurt; if she could erase her memory from everyone, she could reset everything wrong that had ever happened, and Alice would never be hurt. Eiri's argument had been that Lain had always existed on the Wired, an omnipresent being who had always seen everything and had access to people's memories, and through this, Lain deleted herself, freeing Alice from the anguish of her secret.
Sadly, Lain's conflict was only resolved by her sacrificing herself. Her existence was what set everything wrong, and only by deleting her memory from everyone could everything truly be set right..
(( back to internal diagnostic ))
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.