Serial Experiments Lain wiki - User contributions [en]

Lain's Diary

2022-12-31T08:18:22Z

Navi: /* top */clean up, added stub, uncategorised tags, typos fixed: english → English, a item → an item

It was an item in the [[Serial Experiments Lain (game)]].

It has been translated to English and you could download the full diary here [http://www.mediafire.com/file/3u7qeer91t49c0u/Lain%2527s_Diary_B.pdf/file]

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Give some examples of cybernetic systems at play in specific visual texts. What metaphors of the body in contemporary society do they suggest? And to what commodity end are they marketed?

2022-12-31T08:18:00Z

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{{Underlinked|date=December 2022}}

<div style="float:right; font-size:100%; border:#A2A9B1 solid 1px;">__TOC__</div>
Creeber (2004) talks about the subjective form of contemporary television drama.

Give some examples of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetic cybernetic] systems at play in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_experiments_lain specific visual texts]. What metaphors of the body in contemporary society do they suggest? And to what commodity end are they marketed?

==Introduction==
Serial Experiments Lain explores the cybernetic system of Lain's modified body. The text suggests a desire to escape the hindrance that is the body in contemporary society. Lain's body is a working body within the productive system of capitalism, a gendered body that is coded with patriarchal historical discourses, a ‘sick’ body of Japanese youth that fails at social communication, and finally a cybernetic body that is a collection of interactive processes.(Pinsky, 2003: 133) As individual's and their bodies cannot be absent from their historical and cultural narratives, (Borer, 2002) Serial Experiments Lain presents us with the paradoxical nature of commodity culture. While fiction may offer us an escape from the body, or the possibility of inverting power relations, these utopic visions cannot be achieved under capitalism/patriarchy.

Serial Experiments Lain explores the evolutionary ramifications of becoming cybernetic, and thus offers a metaphor for current debates on the future of the species. By suggesting the irrelevance of the body, Lain promotes active individual consumption and a future that involves engaging increasingly with private entertainment media.

Conceptual tools from Deleuze and Guattari will be used to help to understand Serial Experiments Lain. Lain's character will be theorized as an autopoietic body without organs who exists in a different mode. Furthermore, Deleuze and Guattari's Re/Deterritorialization will be utilized to express the cyclical nature of Lain's existence and the wider system in which we all exist.

==The Body Politic==

In [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5Owi-sL2d8 Layer 13: Ego], Lain abandons her body in favor of becoming a cybernetic system that exists everywhere. What is the significance of Lain (as an adolescent girl) leaving her corporeal body? The ‘body politic’ is a productive body that serves a certain function, and a subjected body turned into an object of knowledge. (Foucault, 1975: 26–28) Lain's body is a useful force: Discipline increases the forces of the body (in economic terms of utility) and diminishes these same forces (in political terms of obedience). Discipline dissociates power from the body. (Foucault, 1975: 138) In the real world, Lain has little control over her body. She is made to study silently and productively in the uniformity of the classroom. The learning machine of the school ensures obedience and a better economy of time, while emphasizing hierarchy and supervision. Each individual is assigned a place, a desk to make the simultaneity of work possible. (Foucault, 1975: 147) Lain's time at school is a time of good quality where the body is constantly applied to its exercise. (Foucault, 1975: 151) Start at 7mins

This scene in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chPfqf1hpLg Layer 10: Love], emphasizes the uniformity and productivity of the classroom through the brown monochrome of the students. Arisu says to Lain “you’re not needed in the real world.” By the end of the series, Lain's body is no longer a useful economic body. The body is a social construction whose value depends on the context from which it resides.(Fingerson, 2006: 73) The female body, while devalued compared with the male body, undergoes more mutation and transformation. The disembodied, cybernetic future renders absent certain reproductive, fleshy characteristics of a woman's body. (Squires, 2000: 367) The status of the body is particularly important for teenagers, as girls learn that anything menstrual-related is of less value because it is synonymous with the powerless. (Fingerson, 2006: 73–79) As a working body and a female adoloscent body, Lain's physical existence is a burden. By becoming a cybernetic system, Lain is perhaps able to escape certain historical discourses encoded upon her body. Suggestions that Lain may have [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome asperger syndrome] due to her restricted ability to interact socially with friends and family, add yet another reason for Lain to escape her body. She is shy, wearing bear pajamas and a hat to shield herself from those around her and remain childlike. Lain is trapped inside a body that doesn't fit, and she feels alienated from that body. In the Wired, she can be powerful, bold, intuitive and assertive. According to an article published in [http://www.theage.com.au/world/tokyo-killer-posted-plans-on-internet-before-rampage-20080609-2nxu.html The Age] in light of the recent stabbing of seven people by a manga enthusiast, Japanese youth are increasingly alienated, lacking the skills to communicate with each other and express their feelings. This knifing rampage was labeled an ‘indirect suicide’ as the killer must have been seeking death himself. Lain's body is a metaphor for alienated youth everywhere who feel they belong somewhere else.

At the end of the series, Lain's body no longer exists physically in the real world. However, it is interesting that Lain is still represented by the image of her female adolescent body. While the physical body always remains located within historically specific discourses and practices, (Hallan, Hockey and Howarth, 2001: 66) does the imaginary body? Perhaps the imagined body doesn't carry the same historical weight as the real body. Lain says ‘[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_ueyDW_GEs I’m still me]’ but can this ‘me’ ever be separated from its origins? Cyber feminists believe it can as they hope to reject a science of origins and embrace multiple overlapping subjectivities (Hables Gray and Mentor, 1995: 229) Sadie Plant notes that patriarchy is ‘an economy, for which women are the first and founding commodities.’ (Plant, 2000: 266) Lain's nymph-like appearance is a source of pleasure or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_service fan-service], especially when fiddling with her Navi in a white nightie (see clip below). As [http://iblogmedia.wordpress.com/2008/05/25/cyborg-love-it-or-hate-it-it-is-there-with-you-it-is-there-in-you/ Screen Jam] notes when discussing Lain as a “gendered and territorialized” cyborg body, her naked teenage body is emphasized throughout the series. Most notably, Lain is sexualized at the end of each episode when her body is naked and connected to wires in true cyborg fashion. Also, this scene in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyxMvs_uIuU Layer 3: Psyche] depicts Lain (at 6.50 mins) wearing very little clothing to avoid static electricity.

The body itself is invested by power relations (Foucault, 1977: 24) The soul is the effect and instrument of the political anatomy; the soul is the prison of the body (Foucault, 1977: 29) By escaping her body, Lain is able to escape the power relations invested within it. Gendered power relations are often inverted in the Wired. A number of games depict grown men afraid and running away from little girls. In [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BQ3eeC68SI Layer 4: Religion],(at 5 mins) a man screams in agony at the sight of a small girl in a pink dress with pig-tails. Furthermore, Lain is worshipped as a God in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3ZMOv7OtaI Layer 6: Kids] and is the most powerful being in the Wired. Through the character of Lain we can envision an inversion of power relations. However, Lain's body is a sexualized teen body that is heavily coded with historical discourses, and packaged as a consumable commodity. Lain's body is the marketing point for the whole series. The series exists so firmly within commodity culture, that any attempt to envisage an escape or an inversion is immediately interrupted. This will be conceptualized in relation to Re/Deterritorialization later.

Cyberfeminists view the Net as an anarchic, self-organizing system where genders can be blurred and identities can become fluid. (Plant, 2000: 266–268) Lain demonstrates that identities can become fluid as we embrace multiple subjectivities in becoming cybernetic. It also demonstrates that perhaps we need a new paradigm to fit our new complex and contradictory existence.(Gonzalez, 2000: 61) However, the gendered discourses that encode our physical and imagined bodies are not as easily discarded. It seems that anything working from within the systems of capitalism and patriarchy (and it is pretty much impossible to work from without) cannot escape gendered discourses.

==Evolution==

The pre-millennial, apocalyptic moment of 1997 is transposed onto the body of Lain. Due to the destruction of the 20th century, Japan is a country distanced from its traditional history, and the sacrifice of children in Japanese anime is a common theme.(Napier, 2001: 199) The historical moment of 1997 is a moment where human bodies are vulnerable to threats of AIDS, cancer, nuclear war, overpopulation, environmental disasters and environmental destruction. (Springer, 1996: 27) If the physical future of the human species is questionable, then perhaps we need to adapt in order to survive. Lain advocates this need to adapt and ‘preserve human consciousness outside the body.’ (Springer, 1996: 27) In [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJYiWeiaG6U Layer 12: Landscape], the voice over says.. The body is nothing but a machine. If the physical limitations of the body restrict mankind's evolution, it would be as if the fall of the species called ‘man’ had already been decided by a God that didn't exist. We need to adapt for survival but survival has become suicide. (Springer, 1996, 27) Is this suicide or just existence in a different mode? It is a very interesting historical moment in which we live, as organic evolution is replaced or joined by ‘mechanical’ evolution. (Horner, 2001: 73) Looking at this in terms of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwinism Darwinism] means that new technologies have the potential to divide the species into two. (Horner, 2001: 76) There are those, like Lain and Chisa, who embrace cybernetics and realize the irrelevance of the body, compared to those who view the abandonment of the body in conjunction with the destruction of human beings. (Springer, 1996: 11) Furthermore, technology is hierarchical, and survival may depend on having the economic means to finance a cybernetic self.(Springer, 1996: 41–42)

Lain poses some interesting questions concerning the way in which human evolution is approached. Also in Layer 12, “God” takes on an anthropocentric view, whereby human's are the centre of existence and thus may exercise power over animals, plants or other humans who lack access to evolutionary technologies. Lain asks “God” the question “Who gave you those rights?” The dialogue between Lain and “God” in this scene perhaps acts as a metaphor for current dialogue over ethics concerned with technology. One example is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloning Cloning], where [http://library.thinkquest.org/24355/data/reactions/proconmain.html debate] exists over the ethics of making copies of organisms. One side says that cloning is like “playing God” and interfering with the natural process, while the other points to the scientific and medical benefits. A sense of ambivalence about the future survival of human beings emerges as a reflection of these debates. (Springer, 1996: 11) This current concern with the cybernetic can be placed within the context of an ongoing ontological concern with the nature of the self. (Squires, 2000: 362) Serial Experiments Lain seems to support new communications technologies that facilitate the eradication of public life, in favor of a new private life centered around television, video games and the internet.(Haraway, 2000: 306) Lain's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Serial_Experiments_Lain_media media products] (DVD, PlayStation game, manga) all promote consumption as an individual pastime. Bauman contends that even when consumers do share physical spaces of consumption, (shopping centres, concert halls, tourist resorts) there is little actual social interaction. (Bauman, 2000: 97) Lain's text evokes existence in a different mode where physical social interaction need not be feigned. Furthermore, new entertainment media look to more active opportunities for consumption as opposed to passive television watching. (Borer, 2002) A sense of liberation or community may be evoked through interaction with virtual worlds, fan sites etc.. Therefore, in its content and its existence as a consumer product in commodity culture, Serial Experiments Lain promotes active individual consumerism.

==Body without Organs and autopoiesis==

Lain can be conceptualized using Deleuze & Guattari's notion of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_without_organs Body Without Organs]. In [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BQ3eeC68SI Layer 4: Religion], the female voiceover that opens the episode says: I do not need parents. Humans are all alone. They are not connected to anyone at all. The full BwO rejects: ...any attempt to impose on it any sort of triangulation implying that it was produced by parents. (Deleuze & Guattari, 1983: 15)

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3vfBcH34xwU Family dinner] – 3.50-5 mins Lain's relationship with her parents lacks the warmth and openness that typically characterize familial relationships. Their house is minimalist, sterile and quiet. The family members find it difficult to communicate with each other and their faces, especially the mother's, are inanimate. The BwO is a witness of its own self-production and of its own engendering of itself. (Deleuze & Guattari, 1983: 15) Therefore, the BwO is also an [http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/t.quick/autopoiesis.html autopoietic] machine. It is a machine of self-creation that can engender and specify their own organization and limits. (Guattari, 1995: 39) Lain is an autopoietic body without organs. Lain can control and manipulate herself and her body through her interaction with the Wired. While this might suggest that Serial Experiments Lain advocates the irrelevance of the family, Lain's conclusion rests on the triumph of humanism over machinic and technological power. (Colman, 2003)

At 8 mins of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5Owi-sL2d8 this clip], Lain's father authoritatively says “Come, Lain.” As they talk, surrounded by the beautiful flame-coloured sky, the music evokes an emotional response as Lain realizes that she loves everyone. Perhaps then, rather than the dissolution of the family, it is just existence of love and relationships in a different mode rather than the traditional triangular parental relationship.

In Lain:

Everyone is connected

rather than no one, or just some people.

==Deterritorialization==

Deleuze and Guattari's ‘Deterritorialization’ (D) is of use in theorizing Lain's place in the cycle of commodity culture. D is the movement by which one leaves the territory. It is the operation of the line of flight. (Deleuze and Guattari, 1987: 508) Serial Experiments Lain adopts the discourse of cyborg theory and cyberfeminism through Haraway's eradication of boundaries. For example, the eradication of the boundary between the real world and the Wired, dead and living, physical and non-physical is broken down in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TbgGlSUEus this scene] when Lain talks to Chisa. (from 6 mins-7 mins)

The text thus leaves the territory of capitalism and patriarchy founded on binaries. This was elaborated on in an [[To What Commodity End are Concepts of the ‘Post-Human’ and the ‘Cyborg’ Marketed? Give screen and theoretical examples of each.|earlier post]]. The text is then reterritorialized: D may be overlaid by a compensatory reterritorialization obstructing the line of flight. (Deleuze and Guattari, 1987: 508) As Serial Experiments Lain exists within the systems of capitalism and patriarchy, a reterritorialization occurs on the ideal/fantasy of escape. Although it may be imagined that the binaries of patriarchy may be escaped through fiction, as a form of entertainment media that is made to be consumed, Lain exists within the system of capitalism. D is in turn inseparable from correlative reterritorializations. (Deleuze and Guattari, 1987: 509) In this context, R is associated with capitalism and capitalism is an inescapable force. The D, in this case, is said to be negative because there is always a R obstructing the line of flight. Lain helps us to understand the cyclical nature of the systems of capitalism and patriarchy under which we live and from which we can't escape.

==Conclusion==

Serial Experiments Lain offers several metaphors of contemporary society for us to ponder. The nature of machines and how they are packaged and marketed in commodity culture emphasizes the way almost everything exists for consumption. The inescapability of the body and our constant consumption of the body means it is concretely embedded in commodity culture and historical discourses. Even debate over the evolution of the human species is packaged as a consumable product. It seems as though commodity culture can only be escaped through an absolute Deterritorialization: D is absolute when if conforms to the first case and brings about the creation of a new earth, in other words, when it connects lines of flight, raises them to the power of an abstract vital line, or draws a plane of consistency. (Deleuze and Guattari, 1987: 510) I do not really believe that an absolute D is possible. As much as the utopic writings of cyberfeminists like Haraway are appealing, escaping commodity culture and the systems of capitalism and patriarchy in which it exists, is an impossibility.

==Bibliography==

Zygmunt Bauman (2000) ‘Time/Space,’ in Liquid Modernity, Cambridge: Polity, pp. 91–129

Michael Ian Borer (2002) ‘The Cyborgian Self: Toward a Critical Social Theory of Cyberspace,’ in Reconstruction Studies in Contemporary Culture, Vol. 2, No. 3, Accessed on 26 May 2008 from: [http://reconstruction.eserver.org/023/borer.htm]

Felicity Colman (2003) ‘The Sight of Your God Disturbs Me: Questioning the Post-Christian Bodies of Buffy, Lain, and George,’ in Refractory: a Journal of Entertainment Media, Vol. 3, Accessed on 5 June 2008 from: [http://blogs.arts.unimelb.edu.au/refractory/2003/06/26/the-sight-of-your-god-disturbs-me-questioning-the-post-christian-bodies-of-buffy-lain-and-george-felicity-colman/]

Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari (1987) ‘Deterritorialization,’ in B. Massumi (trans.) A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, London and New York: Continuum, pp. 508–510

Laura Fingerson (2006) Girls in Power: Gender, Body and Menstruation in Adolescence, Albany: State University of New York Press

Michel Foucault (1975) Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, Alan Seridan (trans.), London: Penguin

Chris Hables Gray and Steven Mentor (1995) ‘The Cyborg Body Politic and the New World Order,’ in Gabriel Brahm Jr. and Mark Driscoll (eds.) Prosthetic Territories: Politics and Hypertechnologies, San Francisco and Oxford: Westview Press, pp. 219–247

Felix Guattari (1995) ‘Machinic Heterogenesis’ in P.Bains and J. Pefanis (trans.) Chaosmosis: An Ethico-Aesthetic Paradigm, Sydney: Power Publications, pp. 33–59

Elizabeth Hallan, Jenny Hockey and Glennys Howarth (2001) ‘The Body in Death,’ in Ruth Holliday and John Hassard (eds.) Contested Bodies, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 63–77

Donna Haraway (2000) ‘A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology and Socialist Feminism in the Last Twentieth Century,’ in David Bell and Barbara M. Kennedy (eds.) The Cybercultures Reader, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 291–324

Susan J. Napier (2001) Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation, New York: Palgrave

Michael Pinksy (2003) ‘The Cyborg Body: Two Case Studies’ in Future Present: Ethics and/as Science, Madison: Farleigh Dickinson University Press, pp. 119–156

Sadie Plant (2000) ‘On the Matrix: Cyberfeminist Simulations,’ in Gill Kirchup, Linda James, Kath Woodward and Fiona Hovenden (eds.) The Gendered Cyborg: A Reader, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 265–275

Claudia Springer (1996) Electronic Eros: Bodies and Desire in the Postindustrial Age, Austin: University of Texas Press

Judith Squires (2000) ‘Fabulous Feminist Features and the Lure of Cyberculture,’ in David Bell and Barbara M. Kennedy (eds.) The Cybercultures Reader, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 360–373

(Source: [http://zoetv.wordpress.com/2008/06/10/final-essay/])

[[Category:Essays]]

Source Code

2022-12-31T08:17:05Z

Navi: /* Layer 01 */clean up, typos fixed: japanese → Japanese

There are at least three instances of source code being displayed in the [[Serial Experiments Lain (anime)|anime]].
==Layer 01==
A teacher is seen copying some C code onto the chalkboard in [[Layer 01]] just before Lain's fingertips begin to emit [[Paranormal Occurrences in Serial Experiments Lain
|ectoplasm]]. It features a yen symbol instead of a backslash in an escape sequence; this is because certain Japanese fonts render the backslash character as the yen symbol, such as the UD Digi Kyokasho font family. It is unclear whether or not this is intentional or holds any significance. Part of the code is not visible because the teacher is standing in the way. It reads as follows:

a='A'; b='B';
if(a>b) printf("%c>%￥n",/*teacher's head*/);
if(a==b) printf("%c=% // teacher's shoulders
if(a<b) printf("%c<%c // teacher's back
x=321; y=123;
==Layer 04==
[[File:System_console_source.jpg|300px|thumb|System Console]]

In [[Layer 04]], Lain's [[NAVI]] is shown with a "system console" window open with MIPS-ASM scrolling by.
==Layer 07==
[[File:Life.jpg|300px|thumb|CRowView.CL]]
[[File:Walker.jpg|300px|thumb|Afx-n-nPrv-View.CL]]

In [[Layer 07]], during class, Lain is surreptitiously working on her [[HandiNAVI]] instead of paying attention. For a few seconds, her NAVI's screen is visible, and we can see her rapidly scroll through two files of Common Lisp source code, named CRowView.CL and Afx-n-nPrv-View.CL. Text from both of the files are visible in the [[Serial Experiments Lain (game)|game]] as well, in the video file Dc1023, "communication."[http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm685015]

=== CRowView.CL ===

CRowView.CL contains code for John Conway's Game of Life.[http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/ai-repository/ai/lang/lisp/code/fun/life.cl] The [[Staff|creators]] probably selected this code because of its seemingly [[God|omnipotent]] implications (i.e. creating worlds and life).

=== Afx-n-nPrv-View.CL ===

Afx-n-nPrv-View.CL is the source for a code walker.[http://ftp.sunet.se/pub/lang/lisp/code/codewalk/walk/new_walk.cl] This was probably included for its tongue-in-cheek reference to [[Apple Inc. References|Apple]] in a section of code that is commented out.

== Related Pages ==
*[[Typographics]]
*[[Wikipedia:Conway's Game Of Life|Wikipedia page on Life.]]

[[Category:Technology]]

Knights of the Eastern Calculus

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Navi: /* top */clean up, typos fixed: highly- → highly

[[File:Knights of the eastern calculus heraldry.jpg|thumb|Knights of the Eastern Calculus]]

The '''Knights of the Eastern Calculus''' (often the '''Knights''') is a group of pseudonymous, notorious and highly skilled computer crackers.

They interact with [[Lain Iwakura]] in various ways, possibly trying to trick her into entering The Wired or join them. They use [[Taro]] to get to her. In some way, they are responsible for the use and distribution of the [[psyche]] chip, which somehow massively improves network performance despite being a CPU. Other technologies they are suspected of creating and/or distributing include [[KIDS]] and [[accela]].

One of them is very fat, and says "I'm better than all you bozos!", referring to the law-abiding computer security experts who try to shut the Knights down.

The Knights are assassinated by the [[Men in Black]], or commit [[Suicide in Serial Experiments Lain|suicide]], after Lain leaks their membership list onto [[The Wired]].

Their name is a reference to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_the_Lambda_Calculus Knights of the Lambda Calculus], a semi-fictional group of Scheme enthusiasts at MIT. Lambda calculus itself is a formalisation of computation - one of the most fundamental and powerful ideas behind the concept of a computer.

==Known Knights members==
*[[Shoko Masatsugu]]
*[[Masuoka Takuyoshi]]
*[[Freeter]]

== Trivia ==
* The name was inspired by a real hacker group, going by the name of '[[Wikipedia:Knights of the Lambda Calculus|Knights of the Lambda Calculus]]'.

[[Category:Conspiracy]]
[[Category:Characters]]

Serial Experiments Lain (anime)

2022-12-31T08:16:41Z

Navi: clean up, typos fixed: BluRay → Blu-ray, long distance → long-distance, middle class family → middle-class family, Conciousness → Consciousness, ’s → 's

[[File:Serial-experiments-lain-coverart.jpg|thumb|Strange events begin to occur as a withdrawn girl named Lain becomes obsessed with interconnected virtual realm of "The Wired".|right]]
'''''Serial Experiments Lain''''' is an anime series directed by [[Nakamura Ryuutarou]], original character design by [[Yoshitoshi ABe]], screenplay written by [[Chiaki J. Konaka]], and produced by [[Ueda Yasuyuki]] (credited as ''production 2nd'') for Triangle Staff. It was broadcast on TV Tokyo from July to September 1998 and has 13 [[episodes]]. [[Serial Experiments Lain (game)|A PlayStation game]] with the same title was released in November 1998 by Pioneer LDC.

The opening theme is [[Duvet]] and the ending theme is [[Tooi Sakebi]].

''Lain'' is influenced by philosophical subjects such as [[reality]], [[identity]], and [[communication]]. The series focuses on [[Lain Iwakura]], an adolescent girl living in suburban Japan, and her introduction to [[the Wired]], a global communications network similar to the Internet. Lain lives with her middle-class family, which consists of her inexpressive older sister [[Mika Iwakura]], her cold mother [[Miho Iwakura]], and her computer-obsessed father [[Yasuo Iwakura]]. The first ripple on the pond of Lain's lonely life appears when she learns that girls from her school have received an [[e-mail]] from [[Chisa Yomoda]], a schoolmate who committed [[Suicide in Serial Experiments Lain|suicide]]. When Lain receives the message at home, Chisa tells her (in real time) that she is not dead, but has just "abandoned the flesh", and has found [[God]] in the Wired. From then on, Lain is bound to a quest which will take her ever deeper into both the network and her own thoughts.

The anime series is licensed in North America by Funimation since 2010. Before that, it was licensed bye Geneon(previously Pioneer Entertainment) who released the series on VHS, LaserDisc, and DVD, as well as a restored Blu-ray edition. It was also released in Singapore by Odex. The video game, which shares only the themes and protagonist with the series, was never released outside Japan.

A remastered Blu-ray box set was released in Japan in 2009, and the US in 2012. It features the show redigitized to a 4:3 1080p format, with many CG sequences (such as the PRESENT DAY PRESENT TIME opening) re-rendered in higher quality.

The series shows influences from topics such as philosophy, computer history, cyberpunk literature and [[conspiracy]] theory, and it was made the subject of several academic articles. English language anime reviewers found it to be weird and unusual, with generally positive reviews. Producer Ueda said he intended Japanese and American audiences to form conflicting views on the series, but was disappointed in this regard, as the impressions turned out to be similar.
==Plot==
''Serial Experiments Lain'' deals directly with the definition of [[reality]], which makes its complex plot difficult to summarize. The story is primarily based on the assumption that everything flows from human thought, [[memory]], and consciousness. Therefore, events on screen can be considered hallucinations of Lain, of other protagonists, or of Lain fabricating the hallucinations of others. Story misdirection is central to the plotline; even the offscreen voices or narrations' information cannot be considered truthful. The series consists of a cross-reflection of philosophical themes instead of the traditional linear events depiction: episodes are called "[[:Category:Episodes|layers]]".

''Serial Experiments Lain'' describes "[[the Wired]]" as the sum of human communication networks, created with the telegraph and telephone services, and expanded with the [[Internet]] and subsequent networks. The anime assumes that the Wired could be linked to a system that enables unconscious communication between people and machines without physical interface. The storyline introduces such a system with the [[Schumann Resonances]], a property of the Earth's magnetic field that theoretically allows for unhindered long-distance communications. If such a link was created, the network would become equivalent to Reality as the general consensus of all perceptions and knowledge. The thin line between what is real and what is possible would then begin to blur.

[[Masami Eiri]] is introduced as the project director on [[Protocol 7]] (the next generation internet protocol in the series' timeframe) for major computer company [[Tachibana General Laboratories]]. He has secretly included [[Source Code|code]] of his own creation to give himself control of the Wired through the wireless system described above. He then "uploaded” his consciousness into the Wired and died in real life a few days after. These details are unveiled around the middle of the series, but this is the point where the story of ''Serial Experiments Lain'' begins.

Masami later explains that Lain is the artifact by which the wall between the [[virtual]] and [[material]] worlds is to fall, and that he needs her to get to the Wired and "abandon the flesh", as he did, to achieve his plan. The series sees him trying to convince her through interventions, using the promise of unconditional love, charm, fate, and, when all else fails, threats and force.

In the meantime, the anime follows a complex game of hide-and-seek between the "[[Knights of the Eastern Calculus]]", hackers who Masami claims are "believers that enable him to be a god in the Wired", and Tachibana Labs, who try to regain control of Protocol 7.

In the end, the viewer sees Lain realizing, after much introspection, that she has absolute power over everyone's mind and over reality itself. Her dialogue with different versions of herself show how she feels shunned from the material world, and how she is afraid to live in the Wired, where she has the possibilities and responsibilities of a goddess. The last scenes feature her erasing everything connected to herself from everyone's memories. She is last seen unchanged - re-encountering her old friend [[Alice Mizuki]], who is now married. Lain promises herself to look after Alice.

==Development==
===Production===
Serial Experiments Lain was conceived, as a series, to be original to the point of it being considered "an enormous risk" by its producer [[Ueda Yasuyuki|Yasuyuki Ueda]]. He explained he created Lain with a set of values he took as distinctly Japanese; he hoped Americans would not understand the series as the Japanese would. This would lead to a "war of ideas" over the meaning of the anime, hopefully culminating in new communication between the two cultures. Later, when he discovered that the American audience held the same views on the series as the Japanese, he was disappointed.

The Lain franchise was originally conceived to connect across forms of media (anime, video games, manga). Producer Yasuyuki Ueda said in an interview, "the approach I took for this project was to communicate the essence of the work by the total sum of many media products". The scenario for the video game was written first, and the video game was produced at the same time as the anime series, though the series was released first. A dōjinshi titled "[[The Nightmare of Fabrication]]" was produced by Yoshitoshi ABe and released in Japanese in the artbook [[Omnipresence in Wired|An Omnipresence in Wired]]. Ueda and Konaka declared in an interview that the idea of a multimedia project was not unusual in Japan, as opposed to the contents of Lain, and the way they are exposed.

In 2009, Yoshitoshi ABe announced a spiritual sequel to Serial Experiments Lain called [[Despera]] who will reunited many of the staff who worked on Serial Experiments Lain, including Chiaki J Konaka and Ryūtarō Nakamura.

==Reception==
Words like "weird" or "bizarre" are almost systematically associated to review the series by English Language reviews due mostly to the freedoms taken with the animation and its unusual science fiction, philosophical and psychological context. Despite the show judged atypical, the critics responded positively to the thematic and stylistic characteristics. It was praised by the Japan Media Arts Festival, in 1998, for "its willingness to question the meaning of contemporary life" and the "extraordinarily philosophical and deep questions".

In 2005, Newtype USA stated that the main attraction to the series is its keen view on "the interlocking problems of identity and technology". the author saluted Abe's "crisp, clean character design" and the "perfect soundtrack". It concluded saying that "Serial Experiments Lain might not yet be considered a true classic, but it's a fascinating evolutionary leap that helped change the future of anime."

In 2001, Lain was subject to commentary in the literary and academic worlds. The Asian Horror Encyclopedia calls it "an outstanding psycho-horror anime about the psychic and spiritual influence of the Internet" noticing the presence of horror lore (like ghost from train accident story) and horrific visuals.

The Anime Essentials anthology, Gilles Poitras describes it as a "complex and somehow existential" anime that "pushed the envelope" of anime diversity in the 1990s, alongside the much better known Neon Genesis Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop.

In 2003, Professor Susan J. Napier, in her reading to the American Philosophical Society called The Problem of Existence in Japanese Animation. Napier asks whether there is something to which Lain should return, "between an empty real and a dark virtual".

In 2020, the review-aggregation website website Rotten Tomatoes, classified Serial Experiments Lain as one of the 25 anime TV series that have been essential to the medium over the last five decades. ([https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/essential-anime-series/ source])

"Serial Experiments Lain helped usher in a new style of anime, of more digitally-produced shows with a glossy bloom and deeper, darker, complicated storylines. In the wake of Neon Genesis tearing up the typical anime playbook, Lain pursues a surreal, interior cyberpunk story about a withdrawn high school girl who receives an email from a classmate who has recently committed suicide. Questions of hyperreality, consciousness, and the everyday tangibility of cyberspace ensue. Lain is pretentious, symbolic, and absorbing – a prime example of a brave new world in anime."

Despite the general positive feedbacks, some negative critics stated the "lifeless" setting it had, how the last episodes failed to resolve the questions, and how the show relied so little on dialogue. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20110826092828/http://www.ex.org/5.2/25-anime_followup_lain.html source])

===Awards===
* Japan Media Arts Festival 1998: Excellence Prize ([http://archive.j-mediaarts.jp/en/festival/1998/animation/works/06an_serial_experiments_lain/ source])

==Trivia==
* Cyberia, a bar/disco frequented in the series is an allusion to the nonfiction novel by the same name by Douglas Rushkoff. The pun on "Siberia" is intentional. See also Gaia, the global brain in the same book.
** It was also the name of one of the earliest cybercafé franchises - which had a branch in Tokyo.
* Protocol 7 refers, probably, to the 7th Layer, the neurogenetic circuit, of the Eight Layers of Consciousness as proposed by Timothy Leary.
** And could also be a successor to the upcoming new internet protocol IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) (the current internet protocol is IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4)).
* NAVI, the trademark-turned-noun for computer in the series, is contracted from Knowledge Navigator, a term invented by Apple CEO John Sculley in his book Odyssey. It referred to a computer connected to a vast network where everyone was connected.
* Copland OS was an unreleased operating system by Apple Computers. See also System 7, its predecessor.
* Devices, in this context, refers to Marshal McLuhan's concept.
* Gaia, a global brain in Cyberia shares a common thread with the collective shared unconscious in Lain
* Earth Coincidence Control Office by John C. Lilly, a higher intelligence controlling the "coincidences" on Earth.
* Knights of the Eastern Calculus: The Knights of the Lambda Calculus are a semi-mythical, semi-serious, real-world group of hackers devoted to the use of the programming language Lisp.
* Tachibana Labs is a play on words on Apple Macintosh, (a type of Apple) itself being the name of a citrus fruit (the citrus tachibana)
* Layer ## at the beginning of each episode is said by Apple's Whisper voice in Mac OS text-to-speech software.
* Nezumi, the Knights-wannabe who carries a computer rig and accesses the Wired while he walks matches the description of a Gargoyle from Snow Crash, as do the MIB agents, who wear the same headgear (complete with laser sight) that Lagos was described as wearing.
* Close the World, Open the neXt. Compare NeXT and neXt. NeXT was the high-end computer company founded by Steve Jobs after his ouster from Apple. The Internet as we know it (that is, * the hypertext-based World Wide Web) was invented by Tim Berners-Lee on a NeXTSTEP computer.
* to Be continued, where Be uses the same colouring as Be OS used.
* hello (again), the text from an Apple advertisement, is used in an omake.
* What is Artificial Life? from ALIFE VI is quoted in text-form at several places.
* While it's debatable, Lain can be seen as an Expy of Rei Ayanami. This has been denied by writer Chiaki J. Konaka, who hadn't seen Neon Genesis Evangelion until after he'd written * * the fourth episode. This is not relieving.

{{Episodes}} {{AnimeCharacters}} {{Media}}

[[Category:Media]]

Alice 6

2022-12-31T08:16:13Z

Navi: clean up, typos fixed: 1960's → 1960s, sony → Sony

'''Alice 6''' is a 1995 live-action Japanese TV drama written by [[Chiaki J. Konaka]] and directed by his younger brother, Kazuya. It has a lot in common with ''[[Serial Experiments Lain]]''.

== History ==
In Japan in the mid 90's, a special breed of low-budget TV drama was born (and died). To those who even know of them, these shows are known as area code dramas, because for a certain time slot, several regions of Japan got their own unique drama that the other regions did not get to see, and each of these dramas was named after the telephone area code of its broadcasting station. The area code drama was the brainchild of Kenji Kasai (笠井一二, that's probably the wrong reading) of Antinos Records. (Antinos is the prefix 'anti' plus 'Sony' spelled backwards, purportedly.[http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A8%E3%83%94%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AC%E3%82%B3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A3%E3%83%91%E3%83%B3#.E3.82.A2.E3.83.B3.E3.83.86.E3.82.A3.E3.83.8E.E3.82.B9.E3.83.AC.E3.82.B3.E3.83.BC.E3.83.89])

''Alice 6'' is Area Code Drama 054. It was broadcast in Shizuoka by TV Shizuoka. It is also set in Shizuoka, and was shot at famous locations such as [[Wikipedia:Miho no Matsubara|Miho Beach]], [[Wikipedia:Sunpu Castle|Sumpu Park]], Tokiwa Park, and [[Wikipedia:Shuzenji Romney Railway|Niji no Sato]]. At least one episode makes references to Shizuoka lore.
[http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A8%E3%83%AA%E3%82%A2%E3%82%B3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89%E3%83%89%E3%83%A9%E3%83%9E]
== Characters and Cast ==
The drama is about six models, all of whom were played by real-life models then employed through the Tokyo talent agency, Spacecraft.[http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B9%E3%83%9A%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B9%E3%82%AF%E3%83%A9%E3%83%95%E3%83%88]
*Goto Miki （後藤　美姫）
Miki is the unspoken leader of the group, and if you're looking for a main character, she might be it. She's played by Yukiko Morikawa (森川友紀子), who had a fairly pronounced lisp.
*Masatsugu Shoko　（真次　祥子）
Shoko is the youngest member of the group, and the most Alice-like. She has a bad sense of humor. This is one of the first roles of Rina Komine (小嶺麗奈), who went on to become a pretty successful actress and model. In fact, she starred in a movie called ''August in the Water'' that very same year.[http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B0%8F%E5%B6%BA%E9%BA%97%E5%A5%88] This is the character after whom [[Shoko Masatsugu]] was named in the anime.
*Oh Reika　（王　麗華）
Reika carries a capacious bag with a seemingly endless supply of snacks, compared by her fellows to the magical pocket of [[Wikipedia:Doraemon|Doraemon]]. Played by Tomoko Okada (岡田智子). This character shares a name with [[Reika Yamamoto]] of the anime.
*Kato Juri　（加藤　樹莉）
Juri is envious of Miki, who has previously won auditions over her. Played by Yumiko Shimizu (清水由美子), who appears to be the only model out of the six who remains employed by Spacecraft nearly twenty years later.[http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B8%85%E6%B0%B4%E7%94%B1%E7%BE%8E%E5%AD%90] Shares a name with [[Juri Katou]] of the anime.
*Koga Michiru　（空閑　ミチル）
She's feisty and kind of loud. Played by Aiko Fujimoto (藤本愛子), who is perhaps most famous for her stint as an exclusive model for MC Sister.[http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A8%E3%83%A0%E3%82%B7%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B7%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC] According to a 2ch thread, Fujimoto quit modeling in the late 90's to become an office lady.[http://mimizun.com/log/2ch/zassi/1004317493/]
*Yomoda Chisa　（四方田　千紗）
A quiet girl who doesn't get much screen time. Played by Sachiko Miyahara(宮原祥子), who was also an MC Sister model.[http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%AE%AE%E5%8E%9F%E7%A5%A5%E5%AD%90] Same name as [[Chisa Yomoda]] of the anime.
*Kano Hikozaemon （狩野　彦佐衛門）
The bad guy. He represents several characters from the ''Wonderland'' pantheon all rolled up into one, including Cheshire Cat, White Rabbit, and even Carroll himself. Played by Shigeru Saiki (斉木しげる).

== Episode Synopses ==
===Chapter 1: Alices in Woods===
Six girls are invited to a mysterious audition by Kano. All six of them get called back, and are brought to a forested area of Shizuoka for a photoshoot. There the staff ditches them, and Chisa disappears.
===Chapter 2: Towards the Wonderland===
Five models search for Chisa and become distracted by the appearance of a white rabbit. They become thoroughly lost while chasing it, but eventually Chisa appears as a giant. They follow her to some kind of abandoned city, or possibly just a factory. There they are magically whisked into a photoshoot performed by Kano. Kano disappears a la Cheshire, which frightens Juri and Michiru to such an extent that they feel compelled to flee. The remaining three models are magically whisked back to the clearing in which the bus is parked, where they change clothes and begin to relax but presently hear gunshots echo from the woods around them.
===Chapter 3: The Black Magic===
Of course, the three models decide to run towards the gunshot sounds, and are soon captured in a net trap laid by a band of feral children reminiscent of Peter Pan's lost boys. They are bound and led to the children's citadel or perhaps their pole structure, where they are tried and sentenced to death. Miki appeals the sentence, offering a display of black magic. The locals are impressed by her sorcery, but then Juri and Michiru run into the citadel/pole structure to rescue the other three, reverting the locals to their previous pissed off and death-dispensing attitude. Once they are good and rescued, the five models promptly fall down a hole.
===Chapter 4: Ama No Hagoromo===
The hole is some kind of magical wormhole which whisks them out to the ocean and changes their clothes at the same time. There they decide to take off their sashes and prance around on the beach for a while. After a good prance, they go to retrieve their sashes, but find them missing. Following the scent of roasting fish brings them to a fisherman who has stolen their sashes. The fisherman says he will not return the sashes unless they perform a variety show for his entertainment. They do, so he does. The five Alices then walk, a la [[Wikipedia:Doraemon|Doraemon]], through an Anywhere Door which presently appears. (This episode is a corruption of the [[Wikipedia:Hagoromo (play)|Hagoromo Densetsu]].)
===Chapter 5: The Dark Labyrinth===
The Alices find themselves in a long subterranean tunnel. The door disappears. They wander through the tunnel to a large cavern that contains a large Buddha statue. Each of the five models disappears one by one. Shoko, who has been having flashbacks to her childhood and generally doubting herself, is the last to disappear. '''/!\CONJECTURE/!\''' This episode ''might'' be loosely based on Lawrence Durrell's book of the same title. (end conjecture zone)
===Chapter 6: Another Me, Another World===
Reika has been whisked to a rural fishing town in the 1960s, where she finds a doppelganger of herself living a life she's never lived. She confronts the doppelganger and convinces her she is fake, and is then magically whisked back to the bus and joyously reunited with the waiting Shoko.
===Chapter 7: The Dome===
Miki, Juri, and Michiru come to in a terraformation dome on planet Reticle 19 in the Saggitarius star system. There they meet the dome's last inhabitant, Hecorne Kai, who awaits the return of his daughter Lunica. Miki does some sleuthing, mostly by directing questions at the dome's computer system, and finds out that '''WOAH HUGE SPOILERS''' wouldn't want to spoil that for you!
===Chapter 8: The Jabberwocky===
Shoko is magically whisked back in time to just before she took the audition, and then caught in a time loop a la ''Groundhog Day'', except she either doesn't remember her past loops or is in a state of severe denial about them (she professes a sense of deja vu in her internal monologues). The corruption of space-time eventually reaches such an extent that each door she tries in the audition building opens to a different time in her experience. Finally she opens a door to find Tweedledee and Tweedledum in a video editing room, but apparently one of them is under the impression they are supposed to be editing time. Shoko begins slapping random buttons on their editing rig and eventually gets the magical whisking treatment. (It's basically a thinly veiled review episode, very sly.)
===Chapter 9: Beauties and the Beast===
Five Alices wander through a fog to find a seemingly uninhabited mansion, where they make themselves at home and begin a [[Wikipedia:Daihinmin|Daihinmim]] tournament, except for Michiru who absolutely will not be put at ease until she has explored the dwelling. In her wanderings she finds the corpse of a woman and is captured by a badly disabled beast-man, who induces her to say random dictionary words until she says the magic words which lift the curses laid upon him. When she does, the corpse woman comes back to life and his beast visage transforms into that of Kano. The mansion then sublimates into fog around the Alices.
===Chapter 10: Girls In City===
The five models are separated in Shizuoka City, having been whisked magically yet again, and furthermore their memories have been taken away and replaced with new ones. They wander around and have various adventures and the Queen of Hearts makes an appearance and it's all very nice until they meet each other and suddenly regain their true memories and are whisked back to the forest, magically. Juri expresses discontent at the course of recent occurrences and runs off in a huff, getting magically whisked away in the process.
===Chapter 11: Rap Your Heels===
<s>I haven't watched this episode yet. Presumably, it brings about some kind of satisfactory climax and denouement to the series, because it's the last proper episode.</s> I watched this episode a long time ago. It's very nice, in my opinion.
===Epilogue: The Last Interview===
The Alice 6 cast answers interview questions and various behind-the-scenes film clips are played along with plenty of clips from the series proper as buffer.

== Songs ==
The opening theme is ''Jumpin' Flash'' by B☆KOOL.[http://mojim.com/twy104153x1x1.htm] The ending theme is ''Yoru no Kaerimichi'' (the night road home) by Coney Island Jellyfish.[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCKO0qSWXek] There are also many insert songs in the episodes, such as ''BABY, BODY, BEAT'', another single of B☆KOOL.[http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%E2%98%86KOOL] These songs were reused in various combinations as OP and ED themes to the other area code dramas.

== Similarities with ''Lain'' ==
The drama shares a lot of minutiae with ''Lain'', but overall the works are very different in their storylines and in their general mood, as ''Alice 6'' tends not to take itself as seriously as ''Lain''.

*Chisa disappears in the first episode and reappears, ghost-like, later on.
*''Alice 6'''s villain, Kano Hikozaemon, is similar to [[Masami Eiri]] in that he is a godlike character who controls the world around the Alices and messes with their minds.
*[[Identity]] crises, even more than in ''Lain''
*In one episode, the Alices lose their memories and have them replaced with new ones, which is not entirely unlike the [[Reset]].
*Sudden alien appearance and a reference to Roswell, and passing references to many other paranormal occurrences
*As stated already, both shows contain characters named Chisa, Juri, Reika, and Shouko, though their personalities are not the same.

== Fun Coincidence ==
*http://hellonavi.jp is a Shizuoka tourism site. Wow! Tell all your friends!

[[Category:Related Works]]

Serial Experiments: Lain as a Reflection of Modern Japanese Anxieties in the Digital Era

2022-12-31T08:16:08Z

Navi: /* top */clean up, added deadend tag, typos fixed: modern day → modern-day (2), 1990’s → 1990s, slow paced → slow-paced (5), ’s → 's (20)

{{Dead end|date=December 2022}}

Tribbett

''“But then where is the real me after all is said and done? Ah there is no real me, I guess that’s it. I only exist inside those people aware of my existence. But what about the me that I can hear talking right here and now, it’s me isn’t it? This me that’s talking . . . who is me, who’s me?”''

Serial Experiments: Lain is a revolutionary anime series from director Ryutaro Nakamura. The story follows Lain, a thirteen-year-old student living in Tokyo. This visually stunning anime tells a story in which the lines between the ‘real world’ and the ‘wired world’ (the world that exists in computers, through networks) are beginning to blur. But the series also asks serious questions that reflect the anxieties of modern Japanese living in the digital era. In Nakamura's version of modern-day Japan, Lain struggles to exist within the vastness of the digital age while trying not to loose her identity. These themes are a direct result of the tensions that have been building up for centuries in post war Japan. When Japan opened its doors to Westernization there was a huge collision between traditional Japanese culture and the ‘modern’ industrialized West. Like Pandora's box, this collision gave birth to serious issues, issues that stem from the Japanese need to reevaluate their position in the world and to consider what toll their rapid industrialization has taken on themselves. Japan today is the world leader in technology development, but at what cost?

At the beginning of every episode the viewer is met with the same distortions of modern Tokyo. Busy streets, bright lights, tall buildings, and the silhouettes of power lines all serve to emphasize the incredible industrialization of modern-day Japan. In addition, every episode contains countless frames of power lines looming over the city – the hum of their electrical current a constant reminder of the technological revolution and the existence of the wired. In this Tokyo a world has been created that functions much differently from the ‘real’ world. This world is referred to as ‘the wired’ and it is the world that exists in the flow of information across the worldwide network. In Serial Experiments: Lain a consciousness is forming on the wired and that consciousness is beginning to affect the events of the real world.

In the first episode, the viewer is introduced to Chisa Yomoto, a shy classmate of Lain's. Our introduction to Chisa consists of Chisa's swan dive from the top of a downtown skyscraper, leading to her quick and rather messy end. A few days later many in her class start receiving emails from her, including Lain. In the email sent to Lain, Chisa says that, “I have only given up my body, you see by sending you email I can use this system to explain to you that I am still alive.” This notion of being able to exist solely as a consciousness through technology is a fairly common theme in Japanese animation. Other series like Cowboy Bebop also explore this theme, in addition to features such as Ghost in the Shell. This theme speaks directly to the bizarre and complicated relations between what we consider ‘reality’ and the reality of the wired. Given the Japanese's cultural history this theme also relates to their notions of self and social interaction.

First consider the practical differences between the physical world and the world of the wired. In the wired there are no distinctions of social position, race, gender, age, level of education, etc. that are very important aspects of the Japanese social atmosphere. Dorinne Kondo speaks about these interpersonal relationships in her book Crafting Selves. Kondo points out that the Japanese have a system of interacting that is based on a hierarchical model. Ruth Benedict also asserts this in her book, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword in which she writes,

''Any attempt to understand the Japanese must begin with their version of what it means to ‘take one’s proper station.’ Their reliance upon order and hierarchy and our faith in freedom and equality are poles apart and it is hard for us to give hierarchy its just due as a possible social mechanism. Japan’s confidence in hierarchy is basic in her whole notion of man’s relation to his fellow man and man’s relation to the State. (43)''

Within the wired, there are no distinctions between individuals with which to base a hierarchical system on. It is there, on the wired, that the Japanese therefore are forced to exist outside of what they are comfortable with. Their identities, without having to conform to the tight social constrictions of the hierarchical system, become more individualized, more based upon a person's ‘true self’. Both Takeo Doi and Erving Goffman speak about this concept in their books. Goffman, in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, calls attention to the fact that whenever a person is forced to interact with another person, that person is putting on a performance, carefully analyzing every move they make in terms of how the other person will react or how the other person's image of them might change. This concept is related directly to the Japanese in Takeo Doi's book, The Anatomy of Self. Doi writes of the difference between the Japanese omote and ura. Loosely translated they can mean ‘façade’ and ‘inner truth’ respectively. As to the Japaneseness of these concepts Doi writes, “I think omote and ura correspond to the distinction between soto (outside) and uchi (inside) that is often prominent in the Japanese consciousness of human relations” (24). These concepts of façade and inner truth are intertwined heavily into the theory of the Japanese hierarchical social structure. But as we will see, the hierarchical structure dissolves when faced with the world within the wired. The wired then exists as a world in which identity is relative – where the need for ‘masks’ is nonexistent.

One of the stereotypes of the Japanese is their group-oriented mentality. We have already been introduced to this kind of mentality through the discussion of the Japanese social structure where all social interactions are based on a person's relative position in the larger social hierarchy. But there are other aspects of this group mentality that are also represented in Serial Experiments: Lain. The Japanese term amae is discussed in Takeo Doi's essay, Amae: A Key Concept for Understanding Japanese Personality Structure: “Amae is the noun form of amaeru, an intransitive verb that means ‘to depend and presume upon another’s benevolence’” (121). While this concept is perhaps not completely foreign to Americans, the fact that the English language lacks a word for such a concept shows that perhaps it is not as important a concept in the West than it is for the Japanese. Amae implies a natural and deep need for and reliance upon others, which is the backbone for all of the Japanese's interpersonal relations. This concept of amae is represented in many ways in Serial Experiments: Lain, namely in the family atmosphere, in Lain's relations to her peers, and in Lain's presence on the wired.

In his essay, Takeo Doi asserts that amae originally arises out of what a small child might feel toward their mother (123). It is therefore important to look at Lain's family situation. Lain is the youngest of two daughters in her family. Lain's father is a career man who probably works with computers. Lain's mother is a housewife who seems to be rather bored with life. The structure of the family is very typical of the Japanese household, while the relations within that structure turn out to be very atypical. While some of the stereotypical family dynamic is sacrificed for plot development and the representation of themes, there are still aspects of it that serve this argument. Lain from the beginning has been very shy and independent. As we see her relations to her parents, it is clear that she has very little if any feeling of amae for anyone in her family. Lain appears like a stranger in the family, doing her best to pretend to be her parents daughter. Lain's mother is perhaps the best example for our purposes here. She is seemingly in a state of detachedness from the world. She hardly ever speaks, and spends most of her time staring off into space. Her movements are very mechanical and her face is always expressionless. She seems to be so devoid of energy that often is the case that when she is spoken to she will not reply. It would be hard for anyone, especially a thirteen-year-old girl, to have a meaningful relationship with someone who lives this kind of non-existence, almost as if in a coma. What this means is that Lain has grown up in a household in which she was unable to develop her understanding of the hierarchical form of socialization. The small bit of understanding of this system that she may have had, she slowly looses as she dives deeper and deeper into the world of the wired where that kind of socialization is nonexistent.

Another result of Lain's dysfunctional family life is that she has also never felt part of a group. For the Japanese who define themselves by their relation to the group Lain is lonely and searching for a group that she can belong to. At school, the place one might expect most receptive to the formation of groups, Lain is shy and awkward and does not have any close friends. Lain therefore finds it easier to ‘fit in’ in the world of the wired, a world not controlled by the hierarchical socialization system. Lain therefore becomes a representation of the Western notion of individualism as she is alone in a world that functions within the parameters of a hierarchical group model of socialization.

Takeo Doi writes of this theory of individualism and its origins in his book, The Anatomy of Self, in which he says that, “the importance of the individual was generally recognized in the West only after the beginning of the twelfth century, and that until that time, the word individuum itself did not have the meaning it has today” (54). Doi then goes on to say that the so-called ‘discovery of the individual’ occurred “because of massive and rapid social change during this period. No longer able to seek behavioral norms outside of themselves, people in the West began to privilege personal experience” (54). This is the exact same situation that faced the Japanese at the onset of Westernization. The social norms of the Japanese were changing swiftly due to outside (i.e. non Japanese) influences, and many Japanese, unable to keep up, sought comfort and stability by turning to themselves and to individuality. Lain then seems to represent the individualistic result of the mass Westernization after the war. The question then arises of what will become of Lain (or of Japan) as the technological revolution sweeps through the country?

The issues dealt with in Serial Experiments: Lain are issues that arise from the emergence of technology in Japan. As John F. Embree writes in his book, Suye Mura: A Japanese Village, the Japanese have “a remarkable docility” (3). This ‘docility’ is understandable when one considers the Zen, Confucian, and Shinto influences on Japanese life. The lives of old men are often good representations of what we in the West might refer to as ‘the good life’. The old, freed from many of the social, economical, and political responsibilities they may have had in their youth, are freer to live life how they choose, at a slow and leisurely pace. This is clearly illustrated in many anime series, including Cowboy Bebop and Ranma ½. This desire to live a ‘peaceful’ existence has clear roots in Confucianism and has become a social ideal of the Japanese.

This ideal is reflected in the slow pace of Serial Experiments: Lain. The story unfolds slowly, carefully, going for minutes at a time with no dialogue. The stillness of life is represented to the fullest. But this has another purpose besides the naturalistic expression of real life. This slow-paced world of the real also stands as a blaring contrast to the fast-paced world of the wired. The wired is a world of high-speed communication, of confusion, hysteria, chaos, bright lights, and loud music. This is perhaps best illustrated by the club that Lain is brought to in the second episode: Cyberia. This club, as the name suggests, is a good representation of the technological boom in Tokyo. The club is populated with hackers and techno-punk teenagers. They dance to the loud sounds of electronic synthesizers and distorted noises with multi-colored flashing lights making the room glow. On top of this it is also here that we are introduced to the drug ‘accela’. Accela is a nano-mechanism that is said to stimulate the secretion of a synthetic neurotransmitter that speeds up the rate at which the brain can process information by a factor of 12. In this world technology is the fast-paced road to the future.

But one of the more important things to take note of in this contrast between the high speed world of technology and the slow-paced world of everyday life is the relevant importance of identity in each. Cyberia, as well as the wired are very crowded places, with an innumerable amount of people sending and receiving information. In some instances, when Lain enters the wired, her voice is practically drowned out by the other voices around her. In Cyberia, she is small and quiet in comparison to the loud music and the packed dance floor. It is in the world of technology in which Lain begins to loose her identity. In Lain's case, the fast-paced world of technology is quickly encroaching upon her rather dull life, and before long she is caught up in the tidal wave, with no way of escaping.

And this is exactly the problem that faced, and faces, Japan in the post-war era. When Japan was opened to the West, an insurgence of culture and technology flooded the country. There were now new Western ideas to challenge Japan's traditional modes of living. Besides the obvious issues of struggling to maintain a cultural identity, the Japanese also had to deal with the attacks on their culture made by Western individualism. The Japanese group oriented social structure found itself being questioned and reanalyzed by the very people that had supported it before Westernization.

A lot has changed in the fifty plus years since the war. Today, Japan is the world leader in the development of new technology. Since the bust of the early 1990s, the optimistic economy of Japan has been almost forgotten. But as Chris Anderson writes, “there is another Japan: Japan-as-metaphor. This is the Japan that represents hyper-modernism in all its dimensions, from advanced technology to individual alienation to urbanization run amok”. Technology, whether we like to admit it or not, minimizes real human contact. It is this ‘individual alienation’ that is the result of the digital era. Serial Experiments: Lain addresses these issues of technology and its effects upon the Japanese social structure. As Lain dives deeper into the world of wired, she slips away from the few real people in her life. She becomes increasingly alienated from her friends and the already pathetic relationship she has with her parents quickly dissolves. In the end, when Lain has fully embraced her technological pursuits, she has completely lost the ability to relate to and interact with her fellow humans.

The blurring lines between the physical world and the world of the wired in Serial Experiments: Lain are representative of the move from a rigidly organized hierarchical social system to one of almost chaotic individualism as a result of the Westernization of Japan. These are issues that the Japanese have had to deal with for decades now, either on a subconscious or on a conscious level. Through the example of Lain we have seen how concepts of self and group, omote and ura, and the individualization effect of technology, have affected and changed modern day Japan. The anxieties of the Japanese in the digital era become apparent when Lain asks, confused and alone, “Who is me, who’s me?”

By [http://mitchelltribbett.wordpress.com/ Mitchell K. Tribbett]

Source: [http://www.corneredangel.com/amwess/papers/lain_essay.doc|Source]

[[Category:Essays]]
[[Category:Fanworks]]

Typographics

2022-12-31T08:16:01Z

Navi: clean up, typos fixed: construcion → construction

[[File:Metaphorlize.jpg|right|thumb|390px|Example of Typographics]]
'''Typographics''' is defined in [[Visual Experiments Lain]] as a compound word comprised of the words ''type'' and ''graphic''. It is used to describe montage scenes of the [[Serial Experiments Lain|anime]] in which words float or scroll across the screen, usually in accompaniment to narration or [[crosstalk]], or during scenes in which [[Lain Iwakura]] is diving in [[the Wired]]. Such scenes were created by [[Ueda Yasuyuki]] using Adobe After Effects and other programs.

For the purposes of this article, typographics means any situation where text is used for primarily stylistic effects. Below, the text from a few of the scenes has been transcribed and sourced for the reader's interest. Reading the text probably won't contribute to your understanding of ''Lain'', because it's merely decorative or stylistic, having little to no relevance to the events of the scenes it appears in.

== Accela ==

In [[Layer 02]], there is a scene where a narrator explains the workings of [[accela]] while digital graphics are displayed. During this scene, small, nearly transparent blocks of text scroll up the screen. It comes from two distinct sources and reads as follows, with line breaks and typographical errors for the most part preserved:

Anti-VEGF
Humanized Monoclonal Antibody 
The anti-VEGF antibody is an inhibitor
of angiogenesis (blood-vessel growth)
that may hinder the growth of cancer tumors
by starving their blood supply. Genentech is
investigating this antibody in Phase II

Vascular endothelial growth factor
(VEGF) is a natural protein that promotes angiogenesis
(blood vessel growth).
VEGF couldpotentially benefit patients who have a
heart that is functioning but has a blocked blood
supply due to artherioscleroticcoronar

The above excerpt is from the web site of Genentech circa 1998.[http://web.archive.org/web/19990222022456/http://www.gene.com/Pipeline/pipeline.html]

Smart materials would be made of nanomachines,
typically microscopic—with features any size,
down to atomic dimensions. Such machines would
have more or less, the same components as macro,
or familiar "normal" sized machines with
recognizable gears,
bearings, motors, levers and belts... (except for all the nanocomputers). 
This is somewhat helpful to the engineer
designing smart materials with a myriad of
functions like shape changing and distributing
fluids and gas—say for environmental control in
a paper thin space suit that
actively moves with the body or Drexler's smart paint.
Open a can and splat some on a wall. The paint
spreads itself across the surface using microscopic
machines and changes color on command or
becomes a wall sized 3-D television... Then again,
the whole wall may as well be smart material changing
texture or windows on command. 
The point here... one can visualize the machines
needed to do such a job: little tractors with sticky
wheels, connection struts and cables to other
machines. Actually, most of this can be done today, only
on a much larger scale and at great expense
(this is where the novel economics of self replicating
machines plugs in). The transition for an engineer,
is using more machines with much smaller parts and
the luxury of vast computing power.
These differences yield more great utility. 
Gears made of Buckytubes are great
nanomachine components... Buckytubes are carbon graphite
sheets rolled into a tube (looks like tubes of chicken wire),
and are "like" carbon in its diamond form,
but with ALL available bonding strength aligned on one axis.
These tubes are stronger than diamond
fiber, and the strongest fiber possible with matter,
so we're starting out with real racehorse material.
Globus and Team designs are chemically stable,
very tough and varied in geometry, including gears mad
from "nested" Buckytubes or tubs inside of
tubes. Such a gear would be stiffer and suited for a "long"
drive shaft. And talk about performance...

It's difficult to determine the original source for this, or where it was published, but it appears to be from an article called "Nanotechnology: Magic of Century 21st," a kind of introduction to nanotechnology. [http://www.gubing.com/wbl/Docs/wf/nanotech.doc]

There is also a background image in this scene that originated from a site called Urban Diary. [http://www.cjas.org/~leng/readlist.htm#update]

== KIDS ==
During the scene in [[Layer 06]] where [[Professor Hodgeson]] explains [[KIDS]] to Lain, the following scrolls by in very small and difficult-to-read print:

Our initial body of utterances was collected
with a program that periodically called staff
members and asked them to say 5
names selected at random from 64 full
Japanese names (surname followed by first name).
Using this program, 684 utterances
were recorded from 47 native Japanese speakers
(3/4 of which were male) and tagged with the
utterance transcription.
The utterances were represented as Bark-scale
power spectra of 20 ms speech frames, Hamming
windowed at 5 ms shifts. The
utterances were time synchronously phoneme
labeled using their transcriptions in an
automated process. The results were
manually checked and adjusted to correct
any missegmentations. 
From this data we generated our initial models as
described above and used them to bring the automated
attendant system
online. The system, open to about 100 users,
ran as described in section 3,
and after some months we had collected over 350
additional utterances. The newly collected
utterances were briefly checked and a few
mislabeled ones were deleted. 
Even with the new utterances, this is not
a large data set (especially considering that
the task is multi-speaker, and recorded
over telephone lines), but we nonetheless
performed the following experiments to assess
the effects of incremental retraining.
The 350 new utterances were added in 4 stages
(preserving their temporal sequence) to the
initial set of 684 (e.g. 684+87,
684+175, ...). At each stage one third of
all the utterances were selected at random and
held out for testing. The remaining
two thirds became the training data,
from which a new set of models was made using
the three step procedure outlined
above. 
At each stage we made 2 tests. The first checked basic
recognition accuracy when new models were generated from the
expanded training data and the new testing data was
incorporated into the test set. The second used the new testing data
but no new training data in order to check how well
the original models generalized to unseen data.
These two tests were
conducted on both the models produced by embedded
k-means clustering (step 2 above) and on the
models after minimum
error training (step 3 above).
Results for these tests are shown in Figure 2.

The above is an excerpt from a journal article on the development of a computerized voice recognition telephone operator. [http://www.researchgate.net/publication/232642346_A_telephone-based_directory_assistance_system_adaptively_trained_using_minimum_classification_errorgeneralized_probabilistic_descent]

== Infornography ==
The following can be seen a few minutes into [[Layer 11]].
he principles and the organization o
where. This effort is truly interdiscip
ogy, chemistry and physics to comp
large part of Artificial Life is devote
s we know it - that is life on earth -
earch for principles of living system
rticlular subtrate. Thus, Artificial Lif
exploring artificial alternatives to a

described as attempting to underst
vel rules; for example, how the simp
lead to high-level structure, or the
etween ants and their environment
ior. Understanding this relatinoship
provide novel solutions to complex
ention, stock-market prediction, and

iving systems out of non-living part
l the areas of Artificial Life. At prese
two largely independent endeavors:
al building blocks of nature (carbon
sing the same principles but a differ
computer. The former explores the
ng to construct self-replicating mole
populations of self-replicating enti
eristics of different chemistries in su
us, both the biochemical and the co
hed light on the compelling questio

Then the scene changes and the scrolling text begins to repeat itself.

Life" is used to describe research int
some of the essential properties of
such systems that meet this criterio
nical—and these can be used to per
he principles and the organization o
where. This effort is truly interdiscip
ogy, chemistry and physics to comp
large part of Artificial Life is devote
s we know it - that is, life on earth -
earch for principles of living system
rticular substrate. Thus, Artificial Lif
exploring artificial alternatives to a

described as attempting to underst
vel rules; for example, how the simp
lead to high-level structure, or the
etween ants and their environment
ior. Understanding this relatinoship
provide novel solutions to complex
ention, stock-market prediction, and

iving systems out of non-living part
l the areas of Artificial Life. At prese
two largely independent endeavors:
al building blocks of nature (carbon
sing the same principles but a differ
computer. The former explores the
ng to construct self-replicating mole
populations of self-replicating enti
eristics of different chemistries in su
us, both the biochemical and the co
hed light on the compelling questio

ot only about the construction and
her artificial or natural; an impressive
rds the construction of adaptive aut
m the classical robotics approach, in
its environment and learns from thi
All of this is from a description of artificial life found on alife.org. [http://web.archive.org/web/19981201080413/http://alife6.alife.org/intro.html]

== External links ==
*[http://www.cjas.org/~leng/l-typo.htm The role of typographical elements in lain]

== Related Pages ==
*[[Metaphorize]]
*[[Source Code]]
*[[S]]
[[Category:Themes]]

Serial Experiments Lain Official Guide/Q&A

2022-12-31T08:15:58Z

Navi: clean up, typos fixed: suprised → surprised, then → than

This is the translation page for the '''Q&A''' section of the [[Serial Experiments Lain Official Guide|guide]] to the [[game]]. It doesn't make any earth-shattering revelations, but it might be useful to a Lain fan who is trying to play through the game. The same can be said for the entire guide, to be honest.

This is a free translation by fans, for fans. If you notice errors, feel free to edit it. Please don't use it in a scanlation or for making money somehow.

I'll add sub headers as I get each answer translated. Italicized text indicates a tl note.

Q's are all done, A's coming soon, maybe.

''Everything from here on is translation, unless it is italicized.''
== A guide to the mysteries of "lain" for the especially inquisitive player ==

This Q&A, divided into "game system part" and "game story part," attempts to explain things you might be unclear about once you've played the game. Though the "game story part" does not offer solutions to the mysteries interspersed throughout the story, the utmost has been done to provide something that can be taken as an interpretive example. In addition, there are supplementary notes on relevant data that may be beneficial to refer to.

== Game system part ==

=== Q: Why can't I play back this data block? ===
A:

As you play through the game, there will be occasions when you won't be able to open a file that you want to play. The reason for this is that your current version of Saisei-kun is not supported. A second possible reason is that you have not seen the ending enough times. For details, please refer to page 16 and page 53 of this manual.

'''Collect "Saisei-kun" and Version Up!'''

''Caption'': "Saisei-kun" are the data blocks labeled "SSkn." The game contains 6 of them.

=== Q: Why won't the number of data blocks increase? ===
A:

By playing back a data block, new blocks related to it will appear, so repeating this process should cause the blocks to increase. If the blocks still will not increase, the cause is that you have not completely played back all of the data. Observe the indicator the upper right of the playback window to ensure that you play the data to the very end.

'''Cancelling data playback before the end is prohibited!'''

''Caption'': Blocks that have been completely played back change to a blackish color. Be sure to check the color to tell them apart.

=== Q: I saw the ending but I don't really understand the story. ===
A:

There should not be anyone who plays back all of the data and reaches the ending without quite understanding the story. The story is a bit difficult, but if you want a system to help you understand a little better than try using the "keyword links" to gather information. If you use it effectively to progress through the story by each keyword, the information will become easier to manage.

''Caption'': Don't recklessly collect data at random. You could also take notes to help keep track of information.

== Game story part ==

=== Q: Why did Kyouko grow apart from Lain? ===

A:

Lain's primary school friend, Kyouko. After a certain time, their relationship became cold and distant, and the direct cause was likely Tomo-kun's letter. After Lain's classmate, Tomo-kun, transferred away, he wrote a letter to Lain only. When Kyouko found out, their relationship turned sour. Considering this, it's not unreasonable to think that Kyouko may have harbored feelings for Tomo-kun. It's like they say; women value love more than friendship.

''Caption'': A mere slip of paper was enough to destroy their friendship.

'''Refer to data blocks: Lda019, Lda024, Ld027, Lda028, Ekm006'''

=== Q: Are Lain and her family related by blood? ===
A:

In the game, there is a scene where Lain gives voice to doubts concerning her biological relation to her parents. Her face doesn't much resemble her mother's, and her hair is a different color. However, it's hard to base a theory of biological relation on those point alone. Still, it's also true that not enough of Lain's past was revealed. The least we can say at this point is that it's very suspicious.

''Caption'': Could it be that Lain's father, who looks after her so kindly, is living a lie?

'''Refer to data blocks Lda160, Lda163, Lda180, Lda188'''

=== Q: Where did Lain's father go? ===

A:

The father supposedly got divorced and left, breaking off contact, but one prominent theory is that he was killed by his wife. Things that support it are Lain's remark, "the room reeked of fresh blood," the fact that he doesn't try to contact even Lain whom he adored so much, and the reaction of Lain's mother when she sees the "father" Lain made. Taking all this into account, the theory is plausible.

''caption'': Lain's grief when her father left is not unjustified.

'''Refer to data blocks Lda153'''

=== Q: How good is Lain's visual acuity? ===

A:

When Lain's vision was tested, her visual acuity came in at 3.0, which was the highest that could be measured. (With visual acuity of 3.0, you can see stars during the daytime.) In addition, when Lain looked out Touko's window she said, "It looks purple beyond the mountains." Which probably means she was seeing into the stratosphere. At any rate, her visual acuity is abnormally high. In addition, she can see electromagnetic waves in the air, which well surpasses the limits of human ability. Maybe Lain really isn't a normal human being?

''Caption'': It seems Lain is thinking she doesn't want any special abilities.

'''Refer to data blocks: Cou019, Dc1039'''

=== Q: What triggered Lain's internal transformation? ===

A:

When Lain entered junior high school, her personality suddenly became cheerful, and she became slightly more active than before. Her visual and auditory hallucinations stopped almost completely, to the extent that Touko began to feel she no longer needed counseling. This change may have been due to her meeting Misato at school. Her presence allowed Lain to re-learn the joy of human fellowship, and provided her with the motivation to have confidence in herself. To Lain, with her strong desire for "connection" with others, Misato was undoubtedly an important presence.

''Caption'': In stark contrast to her former self, Lain became cheery.

'''Refer to data blocks: Lda064, Cou034, Cou047, Dia038'''

===Q: Why does Lain wear only her left sidelock long?===

A:

Upon encountering Lain for the first time, the first thing that one is likely to notice is her distinctive hairstyle. Lain's hairstyle is mostly short, but for some reason she allows only her left sidelock to remain long. It's not especially popular at school, nor is it a manifestation of Lain's fashion sense. When [[Touko Yonera|Touko]] casually asked her about it during a counseling session, Lain responded saying that it was in order to prevent herself from hearing the mysterious voices. According to Lain, auditory hallucinations seem to enter the left ear and exit from the right ear. Whether or not this actually did anything to make the auditory hallucinations go away is questionable, but it's not so different from when you or I carry around a charm for traffic safety. The sense of security that can be derived from things like this is likely much more important than their effectiveness.

''Caption'': The hairstyle for defense against auditory hallucinations is part of Lain's charm.

'''Files to reference: Cou027, Dia021'''

''Note: Lain's exact words in the file are much more vague than this Q&A's explanation, which never quotes her directly. She only says, "it goes in from the left, so maybe, it exits from the right," without specifying a subject (hallucinations) or an object (ears). This has been a source of confusion among the few western fans who are familiar with the game, and even some Japanese fans, as evidenced by [http://dic.nicovideo.jp/b/a/serial%20experiments%20lain/181- this nico thread.] Touko chooses not to take this peculiarity as evidence of mental illness, equating the hairstyle with a protective charm; see [[Wikipedia:Omamori]].''

=== Q: Who exactly is this "Mr Rabbit" character? ===

A:

A networker Lain met on the net, Usagi-san. He (she?) is the one Lain consulted about something when she was troubled by a malicious networker (whom we'll call "A"). He has a lot of knowledge of the net, and seems to have some hacker-like abilities. But who is he really? A prominent theory is that he is the same person as A, creator of the "Friend Pyramid Scheme Game." He might have been switching between posing as A and posing as Usagi-san, enjoying Lain's discomfort. When Lain wanted to get revenge on A, Usagi-san asked her to let him do it. It's possible that this was done in an attempt to evade her attack.

'''Refer to: Lda044, Lda053, Lda060'''

=== Q: Did Misato not really exist after all? ===

A:

Lain's best friend, Misato. Kyouko investigated her but couldn't confirm her existence. As a result, she concluded Misato was a figment of Lain's delusions. However, if concepts and imagined things can be said to have "existence," then you might say that to Lain, Misato really did exist.

'''Refer to data blocks: Lda064, Cou042, Cou043, Dia033, Ere005'''

=== Q: What is the reason for the extraordinary evolution speed of the "father" Lain made? ===

A:

The "father" that Lain created very quickly evolved enough to able to recognize her. Perhaps it's due to the influence of some net invader. However, because there is so little information to serve as a clue, the identity and motivations of said invader remains a mystery.

'''Refer to data blocks: Lda208, Lda221'''

=== Q: Why are data related to Lain so incomprehensible? ===

=== Q: What caused the malfunction of "RML"? ===

=== Q: What kind of facility is "Tachibana General Laboratories"? ===

=== Q: Why did Yoshida and Takeshi break up with Touko? ===

A:

There were two men that Touko loved, and they each left her in turn. However, slightly unnatural elements can be observed in these events. First, that the timing at which the two left her was too convenient. Just when Touko was beginning to consider marriage in the near future, Takeshi suddenly got married to another woman, and then as if to compensate, Yoshida approached her. Then, as if gauging the exact time when Touko's feelings for him were developing, he also left her. It seems as if there's some hidden design behind these two events. Most likely, it was part of a plan to psychologically oppress Touko and draw out greater effectiveness from "RML." This is probably part of some scheme of Tachibana General Laboratories.

'''Refer to data blocks: Tda048, Tda060, Tda079'''

=== Q: Why did Professor Takashima have to commit suicide? ===

A:

Touko's boss at the research lab, Takashima. His sudden suicide surprised everyone involved with him. Points of doubt remain surrounding his death; it's hard to find a motive for him to commit suicide. Rather, it might be more accurate to say that he was ''made to'' commit suicide. Possible reasons for this might be to further isolate Touko psychologically, or to attempt to discover the secrets of the research laboratory, et cetera.

'''Refer to data blocks: Tda054'''

=== Q: Why did the high school girl(s) attempt suicide? ===

=== Q: What was that "other me" that appeared in Lain's hallucinations? ===

=== Q: What is the meaning of the corpse that was discarded in the street? ===

=== Q: What is the secret of the man in the sub-audio insert cuts? ===

''"Sub-audio insert cut" is the term used in the guide for the audio files that play automatically when the player idles without touching the controller for a while.''

=== Q: Is there a Site C in the game? ===

[[Category:Translations]]

Morizumi Ali

2022-12-31T08:15:52Z

Navi: clean up, typos fixed: Febuary → February

[[File:Present.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Ha ha ha ha ha!]]
'''Morizumi Ali''' (森泉アリ) is the owner of the voice that says "Present day, present time" and laughs at the beginning of each episode of the [[Serial Experiments Lain (anime)|anime]]. He is credited as "DJ."

He was born in Tokyo on February 7th, 1973, to an American father and a Japanese mother. He is a radio DJ in real life. He hosts a short radio show on InterFM called ''InterFM LLLLIVE!!'' in which he announces upcoming live music shows and promotional tours. He is the bassist of MONORAL, the band that performed the opening song of ''Ergo Proxy.'' He also played the bassist of YEN TOWN BAND in Iwai Shunji's 1996 film, ''Swallowtail''.
==Further reading==
* [[Wikipedia:Monoral|The Wikipedia page on MONORAL]]
* [[Wikipedia:InterFM|The Wikipedia page on InterFM]]
==See also==
* [[Chikada Wasei]], another DJ who did voice work for the anime.
[[Category:Staff]]

Layer 03

2022-12-31T08:15:44Z

Navi: /* Love Letter */clean up, typos fixed: preceeding → preceding

{{LayerInfo
|image = File:Layer_3.png
|layername = PSYCHE
|airdate = 1998.07.20
|maincharintro = [[JJ]]
|script = [[Layer 03 Script]]
|analysis = [[Layer 03 Analysis]]
|prevep = [[Layer 02]]
|nextep = [[Layer 04]]
}}
<div style="float:right; font-size:90%; border:#A2A9B1 solid 1px;">__TOC__</div>

==Short summary==
*The police interrogate [[Lain Iwakura]]
*A voice speaks to Lain on the train
*Lain finds a [[Psyche]] chip in her locker
*Lain sees the [[Men in Black]]'s car outside her home
*Lain goes to [[Cyberia]] and someone comments on how long they haven't seen her for
*Lain asks [[Taro]], [[Masayuki]] and [[Myu-Myu]] about the Psyche chip
*[[Mika Iwakura]] sees the MIB outside her door
*Lain modifies her [[NAVI]] with the Psyche chip

==Long summary==
===Leaving Cyberia===
In front of [[Cyberia]], police have arrived. 「LAINって子…聞いた事彼でしょう」(English: "This Lain kid, you've heard the word, innit?") Lain and Alice emerge. 「WIREDの…LAIN」(English: "In the WIRED, Lain")

[Psyche - Layer:03]

===Police Station===
Red laser beam. Blood puddle oozing. (Flashbacks.) Lain being questioned by a policeman at the station. The police comment that they have been unable to reach Lain's parents by telephone. Lain is confused about this. The police are concerned because they cannot reach anyone by telephone at Lain's house. As the interrogation continues Alice watches from an outer room.
====Alice====
She enters and apologizes to Lain. She grabs her hands and tells her it was her fault. Lain, confused, has trouble even speaking Alice's name, when she does, she sounds practically robotic. Alice is called by her mother to leave. The policeman tells Lain that she can go home.
===Empty Home===
As the police car carrying Lain pulls up to her house it is dark while many neighbors are lit. Lain notices the foyer empt. Her parents' bedroom is neat like it hasn't been used yet tonight. (Perhaps they're on a date.) Lain enters her bedroom, the glow of her computer monitor inviting. She sits down in front of her computer. She stares into the monitor. Cut. Lain is waking up at her computer. (It is not made clear whether she was using it, or whether she's aware of using it.) It's still night. She gets up and checks the house again. When she looks into her parents' bedroom again, a slight relieved expression seems to come to her face. (Maybe her parents have returned from their date or something.) She returns to her Navi and checks messages. No messages to Lain. Lain says "Good Night, Navi" and the Navi responds "Good Night, Lain." Lain seems to react to this. (Perhaps in Lain's mind this lends animacy to her Navi.) Lain falls asleep in her bearsuit.
===Late Morning===
Lain overslept. Her mother is in the kitchen washing dishes. A hearty breakfast on the table. She issues a wan admonishon to Lain about being late. Lain starts to ask about last night, but doesn't finish.
====Walking to school====
Walking to school, Lain notices a black sedan. A red dot appears from within. Lain's face seems to expresse surprise and fear. As Lain continues, the red dot moves in the same direction that Lain is going. Lain is taken aback and starts running.
====Train (of thought)====
On the train to school Lain hears a voice (hallucination) repeating ``Lain'' in beat with the oscilation of the passing wires. It says "Do you understand". Lain asks the disembodied voice "Who are you." The voice says "You are not alone." Lain gasps and stares out the window at the passing wires.
===School===
The girls are giggling about last night's murder `suicide.' July asks across the room whether Lain got in trouble last night. Reika reminds "It wasn't our fault." Alice looks towards Lain but is bombarded with questions about the gory details. They ask her to tell her about it and Lain flashes a smile and nod (happy that they got her to go out?) that Alice seems to reässure to Alice that Lain is alright.
====Class concept====
During class Lain is abstracted, doodling something spiralish. A voice is heard discussing the PSYCHE (it sounds like reading a news article aloud---another hallucination? or conscious imagination?)
====Tisa Interrupts====
Lain starts seeing a swrily tunnel under her doodle-swirl. The PSYCHE narration is interrupted by Tisa (or someone else of similar circumstance) talking about her suicide. Lain becomes distressed about this, looks at the classroon door where a Tisa-like person is standing, looking in to the classroom. As Tisa continues discussing her suicide, Lain's distress grows and she places her hands over her ears, squeezing but the voice doesn't stop. A distorted voice keeps asking "Who is Lain?"
====Love Letter====
Alice expresses concern about their lighthearted reactions to the murder `suicide,' to which Reika responds that it didn't feel real but like a movie or a TV show. July agrees and tells Alice not to take it too seriously. Meanwhile, Lain opens her locker and sees a small brown envelope on her shoes. Alice responds that she thinks its strange that they can't take it more seriously. She turns and says "Right Lain?" and then notices the letter in Lain's hand. Alice asks if is a love letter. Lain says "No, but maybe." Juri and Reika descend on her saying "Show me, show me." Reika takes the envelope from Lain and says "You shouldn't hide things like this from us." Alice chimes in "Stop it you're picking on her again." Reika opens the envelope and a small brown looking square comes out. No one seems to know what it is, including Lain.

Lain is walking home to the familiar electrical hum. She removes the small object from her pocket and looks at it. Suddenly she says "Psyche" and she just stands there and stares.

[Lainwashed Pseudofan here: I think there's supposed to be an ad-break here. It's roughly the middle of the episode, and the following scene is quite different from the preceding. In a certain sense, it seems that this is when the episode ''really'' begins, with what was before being a continuation of Layer:02. Thoughts?]

The scene changes to a PSYCHEdelic view of wires in the night. Several disembodied conversations are overheard, as if they are traversing over the wires we see. Female voice: "No, my voice mail was tapped! I can't believe it." Male voice: "There's no relevant information in the resume received. We're examining it for your company." Female voice: "I love kissing. Even by myself it makes me happy." Male voce: "After that silly incident with the kid and Accela the supplier got scared and now we can't hardly get any of them." Another male voice: "Psyche appears to be made in Taiwan and there is a rumor that it was designed by a group called Knights. But I'm not sure if the Knights really exist." Female voice: "Did you feel good while dying?" And now we see Lain sitting at her Navi. Male voice: "Yes. I felt like hugging myself with joy." Female voice: "No! There is someone in my room! A small child-like but wrinkled man is looking at me." The voice is crying. "Help me!" Lain watches on into a typical Navi screen. A different female voice says "I have a photograph taken when you were with your secret lover. If I take this to your company…" Lain turns away from the Navi screen and looks at the small device. We hear "Lain, why aren't you here yet?"

As she grips the device in her hand the Navi announces: "You have mail." Lain's father interrupts before she can read it. He asks if she has started using her new Navi, and then turns on the lights in her room. He asks if there is something wrong. Lain shows him he device she received. He says he does not know what it is. She implores "But Dad, I believe that you do." He says "I told you I don't know" and leaves.

It is later and we see Lain leaving her house. She sees the black car with the small red lights watching her again. Lain runs away. We see Lain in the city approaching the Cyberia Café. Lain tentatively enters the club. A man stops her and says "Lain, you haven't been here for a while." Lain looks at him. The man is surprised and says "You look too girlish today." He leaves to go back to his partying. Lain looks at a table in the corner where Taro, Myu-Myu, and Masayuki are seated. They are the three Lain ran into in the stairway the night before. Taro and Masayuki are teasing one another. Lain interrupts asking "Do you know what this is" showing them the device. Taro asks "isn't that the Psyche". Masayuki and Myu-Myu can't believe it. Masayuki asks "where did you buy it", but Lain just asks again what it is. Taro is shocked and says "With that you can gain access to the Wired perfectly, even with this" indicating his hand-held computer. Lain asks "How do I use this?" Myu-Myu cattily says: "How stupid!" Masayuki asks Lain if she will sell it. Taro retorts: "Idiot, you could never buy it." Taro then turns to Lain and asks "What is your Navi?" Lain isn't sure, but thinks it is the latest Tachibana model. The group is impressed.

Taro asks if she has worked on the inside of it and Lain nods her head "No." Masayuki asks if she's in second or third year of Junior High. Lain replies "Second." Masayuki points out that she should have studied information basics and tells her that the Navi layout is in her textbook. As Taro stares at Lain, Masayuki gives detailed instructions: "Connect this on the backside of the main processor board. It will re-rout the original information back to the processor and it will work automatically. Its easier than building a plastic model kit. Just be aware of static electricity." Lain smiles and thanks the boy. Now we hear Taro calling to Lain: "Wait a minute. Information is not free both in the Wired and the real world." Masayuki asks "How much, How much?" Taro continues: "Aren't you Lain?" Lain turns, surprised. Taro says "I saw you in the Wired once." Lain asks: "Me? In the Wired?" Taro responds: "But you look quite different. Its common to assume a different character in the Wired, but yours is quite the opposite." Myu-Myu says "Really?" Taro continues: "You were here when that stupid incident happened, weren't you." Then he asks: "What are you up to?" Lain responds "What can I do?" Taro says "Go out on a date with me." Taro says that he would rather go out with the wild Lain, though, instead of the current one. Lain turns angrily to him, but then Taro says "I'm just kidding! When ever you like." Myu-Myu jealously asks "What are you talking about?" But Taro says to never mind and beckons the group to leave. Myu-Myu snipes at Lain on her way out.

Outside, the next day, we see Lain's sister coming home from school. As she passes the black car, the red lights do not follow her. Mika sees two men standing on the doorstep. She asks what them men are doing there. "Who are you?" One man just responds "You didn't meet us." [Shades says "The Jedi Mind Trick!"] Mika says "What are you talking about? I'll call the police. [Shades: "Damn! The Jedi Mind Trick didn't work!!"] The other man asks "What for, we were never here," and they walk away. Mika is angry and tells her mom to call the police if the men come again. Mika heads upstairs and stops at Lain's open door. She looks in and asks what she's doing. Lain is seated on the floor in her underwear surrounded by pieces of her Navi. Mika asks again "What are you doing… dressed like that?" Lain tells here she has to avoid static electricity. Mika thinks that's silly. Suddenly the scene becomes static-like. A strangely happy Lain sits up in strobed action and says "Welcome Home, Sister!"
( [http://lain.angelic-trust.net/rumors-layer03.php Source] )

{{Episodes}}
[[Category:Episodes]]

The Problem of Existence in Japanese Animation

2022-12-31T08:15:37Z

Navi: /* top */clean up, added deadend tag, typos fixed: it’s → it's, ’s → 's (18)

{{Dead end|date=December 2022}}

S U S A N J . N A P I E R

Mitsubishi Professor of Japanese Studies

University of Texas at Austin

My talk today is on “The Problem of Existence in Japanese
Animation,” a title that sounds rather ambitious. Frankly,
when I was asked to speak at the American Philosophical
Society I was tempted to do something less far reaching—perhaps just
a quick capsule history of Japanese animation. After all, my mother
was an admirer of William James, a philosopher known for his belief
in pragmatism, and I myself grew up in the house that William and
Henry James built for their mother in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
However, it's not often that I have the chance to speak before such a
diverse and erudite group, so I decided to throw pragmatism to the
winds and instead explore some questions that have become increasingly intriguing to me as I have continued my research in animation. In
that regard, a more accurate, if more unwieldy, title for this talk might
be “How the Animated Medium Problematizes Existence or, at the
Very Least, Adds a Layer of Complexity to How We See Ourselves.”

I would like to think ﬁrst of all about the medium of animation
itself and our response to it. Paul Wells has said that “[a]nimation is
arguably the most important creative form of the 21st century ... it
is the omnipresent pictorial form of the modern era”(1). Wells's assertion may appear surprising to many of us in America. Unlike in Japan,
where animated ﬁlm is appreciated across the generations, as exemplified by the recent award-winning ﬁlm Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro
no kamikakushi), which was the highest grossing ﬁlm (including live
action and foreign ﬁlms) in Japanese history, animation is still regarded
largely as a children's medium in America. Indeed, many older Americans (including my friends and colleagues!) seem uncomfortable with
the notion of taking animation seriously as an art form.

Why is this? Part of the reason may be that, compared with Japan,
the West in general has not, until recently at least, been a particularly
pictocentric culture. The Japanese, on the other hand, have long possessed a pictorial narrative tradition. This began at least as early as the
tenth-century satirical picture scrolls (emaki mono) that depicted members of the aristocracy as frolicking beasts, and continued into the eleventh and twelfth centuries with scrolls that included both text and
illustration for the classic romance The Tale of Genji. By the eighteenth
century, the development of woodblock printing techniques created a
thriving illustrated book (kibyoshi) culture, in which tales of adventure,
romance, and the supernatural would be printed with texts topped by
illustrations that would often include dialogue by the various characters. These kibyoshi are considered by many Japanese scholars to be
the ancestors of the ubiquitous Japanese manga. Manga are often described as comic books, but they are quite different from what Americans would think of as comic books. More like graphic novels, they are
thick (sometimes telephone-book-sized) volumes, which depict anything
and everything—from mystery stories to etiquette lessons—and are
read by almost all the Japanese population from childhood through at
least middle age. In many cases manga are the direct sources for Japanese animation (anime) and many of the most popular anime narratives
also exist in parallel manga form.

In the West, the story is a different one. Narratives that put an
equal emphasis on print and illustration have usually been conﬁned to
children's books, apart from the occasional exception of someone like
William Blake and his ethereally illustrated poetry. Print culture was
considered serious and adult, even while mass production made comics
and cartoons easily available. Certainly by the twentieth century, comic
strip art and the related medium of animation were largely seen as
something for children, for hobbyists, or for light comic relief.

But there may be other reasons as well for Westerners’ lack of ease
with animation. A psychologist friend of mine has suggested that we
are psychologically less “defended” when we watch animation. In
other words, when we watch a live action ﬁlm, we have certain expectations that actions will progress in a “normal” format. For example, if
I throw a ball, I expect it to follow a reasonable trajectory, say, from
one end of the room to another, and then to bounce back. In animation, however, we might throw a ball and anything could happen. The
ball might triple in size, turn from blue to red, or burst into a bouquet
of ﬂowers. Animation challenges our expectations of what is “normal”
or “real,” bringing up material that may seem more appropriately housed
in dreams or the unconscious, and this can be a deeply disconcerting
process.

In Japan, and perhaps East Asia in general, such discomfort may
not be as strong. In my previous research on the fantastic, I found that
Japanese fantasy literature had a surprising number of examples in
which a protagonist was comfortable existing in a world in which reality and fantasy blended together, rather than having to decide between
the two of them. This approach may go back as far as early Daoism, as
in the story of the Chinese philosopher Chuang Tze, who dreamed he
was a butterﬂy but woke to wonder if, instead, he were a butterﬂy
dreaming he was a man. While Westerners might want to make a clear
distinction between boundaries of reality and dream, the East Asian
tradition allows for more ﬂuid boundaries.

Among young Americans, however, this attitude may be changing.
I ﬁnd that my students who, after all, have been raised on computers
and animated video games, sometimes enjoy animation more than live
action ﬁlm and, in general, seem very comfortable with concepts such
as virtual reality. Their comfort level with the non-representational
stands in marked contrast with that of many of my over-forty colleagues and friends, leading me to believe that we may be encountering
a genuine paradigm shift between the generations. At the risk of sounding grandiose, I would like to suggest that, especially among younger
people, the last decades have brought a new way of conceptualizing
reality, based on the notion that our environment is in a constant state
of mutability and ﬂux, and that the division between the world of
mutability, dreams, and the unconscious, and the hard-and-fast “real”
is an increasingly ambiguous one. Or, as Victoria Nelson asserts in The
Secret Life of Puppets, the materialist ethos is increasingly challenged
by a popular culture linked with new types of technology that “gives us
as rationalists permission to journey to the transcendental otherworld
as a fantasy experience without having to acknowledge a direct contradiction to our worldview” (21).

This is not a strictly new concept. As Gilbert Rose wrote more than
twenty years ago in The Power of Form, “modern conceptual models
[assign importance] to shifting boundaries rather than stable structures
[and] reality is no longer seen as a steady backdrop but is, instead,
viewed as a dynamic oscillation between ﬁgure and ground” (112).
This latter notion of “dynamic oscillation” seems particularly to link
with animation, a medium that is based on the principles of movement,
metamorphosis, and constantly shifting boundaries.

But the question of how “reality” is constituted is one that occupied Japanese art long before animation, speciﬁcally in the realm of the
bunraku or puppet theater that ﬂourished in Japan in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries. Unlike Western puppet theater, where the
manipulators are unseen, bunraku emphasizes the dynamic between
puppet master and puppet, and thus between the real and the unreal,
by having the manipulators of the puppets appear on stage swathed
entirely in black and working with the puppets (who are about a third
life-size and very realistically created) in full view of the audience.
Although, at ﬁrst, the viewer may have some difﬁculty concentrating
on the puppets, in a surprisingly short time one ﬁnds oneself ignoring
the men in black and ﬁnding in the puppets an uncanny mixture of real
and unreal that, as Roland Barthes explains in his essay on bunraku
in Empire of Signs, jeopardizes the “basic antinomy” between animate
and inanimate (58). Indeed, the puppets’ ability to cross the boundaries of real and unreal was recognized by the greatest of all writers for
the puppet theater, the playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon, who
stated apropos of his own work that “art is something that lies in the
slender margin between the real and the unreal”(quoted in Bolton,
745).

To better understand the uncanny dynamic between animate and
inanimate, we might look at Masahiro Shinoda's extraordinary live
action ﬁlm Double Suicide, a 1969 work based on Chikamatsu's Love
Suicide at Amijima (Shinju ten no Amijima). This work uses live actors
interspersed with their puppet counterparts to offer a fatalistic view of
love and hope in which human beings are as much puppets as are the
artiﬁcial dolls who double them. But perhaps an even greater achievement in the ﬁlm is the way that it presents a seamless intermingling of
the artiﬁcial and the human, leaving the viewer questioning what really
makes him or her differ from the puppet.

Of course Double Suicide is not an animated ﬁlm, but its highlighting of boundary crossing is one that is explicit or implicit in much of
the Japanese animation that appeared in the 1980s and 1990s, when
anime began to become an important force artistically (it had already
long been important commercially) in the Japanese entertainment industry. What Paul Wells says of animation in general is particularly applicable to the best of Japanese animation: “Many animations have the
tone, style, and surreal persuasiveness of the dream or nightmare, and
the imagery of recollection, recognition and half-recall” (71). Indeed, it
should be emphasized that, while much of anime is shallow commercial fare—as is the case with popular culture in general—at its best, the
medium produces work that is far more ambitious and exciting than
American animation.

I would like to conclude with three examples from recent Japanese
animation that problematize reality, each in very distinctive ways. The
ﬁrst is the aforementioned blockbuster hit Spirited Away, by Japan's
most famous animation director, Hayao Miyazaki. The reasons behind
the success of this ﬁlm are generally easy to understand. It is in certain
ways a quest/coming of age story about a young girl lost in a fantasy
world who must rescue her parents, who have been turned into pigs
after an orgy of consumption at a mysterious restaurant. The ﬁlm contains echoes of Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz, but it is
more disturbing than Wizard and ultimately more conventional than
Alice, since it allows for a traditional happy ending. Before that ending, however, we see a variety of boundaries being crossed: Chihiro,
the young heroine, and her family get lost on a short cut to their new
home and end up walking through a tunnel-like structure that opens
into an abandoned theme park (in itself a simulacrum of the “real”),
which in turn opens up to a bizarre fantasy realm dominated by a magniﬁcent old-fashioned bathhouse whose customers are gods or spirits.

The ﬁrst boundary crossing is of course the family's progress through
the tunnel, an action that can be seen as a voyage into the unconscious
or else a regression into infancy, since symbols of orality and anality
abound in the ﬁlm. The next boundary, the abandoned theme park, is
an even more intriguing image, since the father explicitly describes it
as a remnant of the economic bubble that Japan went through in the
1980s. The theme park suggests the artiﬁciality and ephemerality of
the bubble and, perhaps, the inevitability of its bursting. In contrast,
the ﬁnal boundary crossing, Chihiro's entrance into the genuinely fantastic bathhouse of the gods, can be interpreted as a rediscovery of the
vanishing culture of old Japan, a culture that is constantly in danger of
being soiled by both outside inﬂuences and internal corruption. It is
signiﬁcant that this culture is seen in ghostly and occasionally demonic
terms—evoking the fact that much of “Old Japan” has faded into
myth and folklore and can no longer be approached in reality. Furthermore, both the gorgeous fantasy imagery of the bathhouse and the
demonic nature of some of its residents underscore the role of the bathhouse as a site of the supernatural, resistant to the scientiﬁc materialism of Western modernity.

The disturbing and even threatening aspects of Spirited Away are
contained by the movie's happy ending, in which Chihiro does indeed
rescue her parents and they return unscathed to the real world (although
the ﬁlm includes a slightly supernatural tweak at the end, when the
family leaves the tunnel to ﬁnd their shiny Audi covered with dust and
leaves, implying a disconnect between real-world time and the time in
the bathhouse). In terms of its narrative, Spirited Away could potentially work as a live action ﬁlm but, as Wells maintains of animated
fairy tales, “the more surreal narrative dynamics and thematic complexities of many fairy tales require the more open vocabulary of animation to accommodate them.” The “open vocabulary” of Spirited
Away brilliantly evokes what Wells calls the “ethereal illusiveness” (71)
of dreams that stay with us for a long time after waking. Or, as Joe
Morgenstern, in his Wall Street Journal review of Spirited Away, puts it,
“There’s an afterglow of profound pleasure but also a sense of loss.”

While Spirited Away falls largely on the “dream” side of the animation continuum, my next example, Mamoru Oshii's ﬁlm Ghost in
the Shell contains elements of both dream and nightmare. Created by a
director clearly familiar with both Christian and Platonic concepts (in
fact Oshii considered attending seminary at one point), the ﬁlm is deﬁ-
nitely not for children. Much more intellectually challenging than most
American science ﬁction ﬁlms, Ghost in the Shell tells the story of a
female cyborg, Motoko Kusanagi, a government agent who, when not
tracking down cybervillains, spends her time ruminating about whether
she has a “ghost” (essentially a soul or mind). In the course of her
work she encounters a sentient computer program known as the Puppet Master, which she is supposed to capture and destroy. At the ﬁlm's
denouement, however, the Puppet Master convinces her to fuse with it/
him to create a new form of electronic offspring that will be “born in
the Net,” at the same time as it possesses a material existence.

Ghost in the Shell takes on many traditional science ﬁction tropes
(Arthur Clarke's 1953 novel Childhood's End also deals with the creation of a kind of Overmind), but the ﬁlm's extraordinary visuals,
combined with the complex three-dimensional character of Motoko,
allow for a fresh treatment of a complex subject. In perhaps the ﬁlm's
most memorable scene, Motoko, most of her torso blown away by a
deadly government assault, lies on the ﬂoor of a deserted glass building
preparing to receive the Puppet Master. The “camera” shifts to her
point of view as she gazes up at the building's glass dome and sees for
an inﬁnitesimal moment what appears to be a winged creature ﬂoating
toward her, accompanied by a drifting feather. The implication that
this is an angel is obvious but is never explicitly stated, leaving the
viewer with the feeling of having been offered a ﬂeeting glimpse into a
totally Other world. No doubt live action cinema could achieve something similar to this surreal moment, but I suspect that the materiality
of live action limning Motoko's battered torso and the shattered glass
of the building would undercut the scene's ethereal beauty.

My last anime example, Serial Experiments Lain (the title is in
English), also contains numerous evocative moments, but these moments
are more likely to evoke nightmares than dreams. Unlike the more
approachable (and intensively marketed) Spirited Away or the critics’
favorite Ghost in the Shell, Lain was far from being a megahit in
Japan, but it has attracted a cult following among viewers (both in Japan
and in America) who found its cyberpunk world to be a refreshing
challenge to reality. Lain begins with the haunting refrain (sung in
English over the credits) “I am falling, I am fading,” and, like Spirited
Away, it follows a young girl (Lain) whose journey into a liminal Other
world becomes a drama of self-discovery. In the case of Lain, however,
this is not a fantasy realm but rather the world of cyberspace, an environment she enters after her father gives her a fancy new computer that
becomes her gateway to the world of the Wired. Lain becomes more
and more involved in the Wired at the same time as the Wired seems to
begin impinging on outward reality. Doubles of Lain appear out of
cyberspace to wreak mayhem in the real world, turning her friends
against her and involving her in a vast conspiracy. Ultimately, Lain discovers that she herself is actually a piece of software and that, to save
the real world, she must retreat into cyberspace and erase any memory
of her material world existence. In the series’ ﬁnal scene the viewer
ﬁnds Lain trapped inside of what seems to be an old-fashioned, staticridden television set. Her ﬁnal words are “But you can see me any
time.”

Unlike Chihiro in Spirited Away or even Motoko in Ghost in the
Shell, Lain crosses a boundary from which she cannot return. But the
series also raises the question whether there is anything to which she
can or should return. The “real world” of the series, brilliantly animated in a ﬂat, affectless style that suggests its fundamental hollowness, appears equally unappealing. Perhaps, in a world that shifts
between an empty “real” and a dark “virtual,” being a piece of software is ultimately as satisfying as being human.

We may ﬁnd such suggestions disquieting or disconcerting, but
they can also be stimulating and challenging. In the twenty-ﬁrst century, an exclusively material existence is no longer something that can
be taken for granted. Other worlds such as the past, the supernatural,
cyberspace, or spiritual transcendence are penetrating its boundaries.
Whether we welcome such ﬂuidity or not, we can at least ﬁnd in Japanese animation an intriguing opportunity to explore these other territories in ways that are both aesthetically pleasurable and emotionally
and intellectually engaging.

Works Consulted

Barthes, Roland. Empire of Signs. New York: Hill and Wang, 1982.

Bolton, Christopher. “From Wooden Cyborgs to Celluloid Souls; Mechanical Bodies in
Anime and Japanese Puppet Theater.” positions 10.3 (2002). This excellent article
goes much deeper into the relation between bunraku and animation than I have
had the chance to do here.

Nelson, Victoria. The Secret Life of Puppets. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
Press, 2001.

Rose, Gilbert J. The Power of Form: A Psychoanalytic Approach to Aesthetic Form.

Madison, Conn.: International Universities Press, 1980.

Wells, Paul. Animation: Genre and Authorship. London: Wallﬂower Press, 2002.

For those of you interested in seeing any of the works mentioned here, Spirited
Away, and sometimes Ghost in the Shell, are available at your local Blockbuster. Double Suicide is available in video form from Sony and should be in any video store with
a good foreign ﬁlm section. Serial Experiments Lain is available as a DVD set from
Pioneer and at the various anime shops that are springing up around the country.

(Source: [http://www.amphilsoc.org/sites/default/files/490106.pdf])

[[Category:Essays]]

NAVI

2022-12-31T08:15:32Z

Navi: clean up, typos fixed: end result → result, it's → its

The Knowledge Navigator or '''NAVI''' for short are high-powered computers designed around accessing [[The Wired]] with ease. While some aren't pretty to look at they are unmistakably powerful. NAVIs can come in almost any shape or form.

==First Model==
Of the more common NAVIs, the first is the Child's NAVI. It is distinguished by its bright red shell and space saving design. It's primary purpose is to familiarize children of all ages with the computer so that they won't have to learn how to use one later in life. This gives companies the added bonus of not having to train their employees on how to operate a Navigator.

==Second Model==
The second is the common desktop model of the Knowledge Navigator. The computer is a single unit with a monitor built into the front of the box. While it's not as pretty or as space efficient as the Child's NAVI it is the most powerful consumer model on the market. Once assembled the NAVI is ready to connect to the Wired right out of the box. An added bonus to NAVIs are that, while you can use the keyboard and the mouse to maneuver within their OS, voice recognition and speech synthesis software comes preloaded to allow comfortable computer use... this feature is also included in the children's version of the NAVI.

Their power is greatly enhanced by a [[Psyche]] chip's access to [[Protocol 7]]. They use the [[Copland OS]].

==Third Model==
The third NAVI is a group of NAVIs in handheld form, or [[HandiNAVI]]. Most handheld NAVIs are designed with kids in mind, although adults use them as well. The first in this group is a rectangular model with the same bright red shell as the Child's NAVIs. It's under the hood power is comparable to a Child's NAVI but replaces the keyboard, and speech software with a stylus. It's primary function is an e-mail and chat device which includes live two-way audio transmission. The second handheld is almost identical to the previously described but has a different user interface replacing the stylus with a 'remote controlled car' style device and the small touch screen with VR glasses. The remaining handhelds are simply variants or customized models of the above two.

==Fourth Model==
Lastly, while pre-packaged NAVIs and handhelds are the most commonly used NAVIs, geeks and tech gurus enjoy building their own by themselves. Separate components can be purchased and assembled to create a NAVI that fits a given person's lifestyle or interest. While this is the preferred method of computer to those who are seriously delved into the arts of technology most homebrewed systems are not as powerful as their pre-packaged counterparts. This is because NAVIs that are pre-assembled are tweaked at the factory to provide maximum performance. It would take an absolute genius in the field of NAVI technology, and an enormous amount of money, to custom build a system that would out perform a top of the line consumer NAVI.

Under the hood hardware wise are the basics of any household computer. All high end NAVIs are designed to allow incredible amounts of upgrades and enhancements to the existing machine. This allows NAVIs to have longer lives preventing people from having to buy new ones every few years.

To compliment the vast technological innovations in the NAVI design is the Copland Operating System (OS). Copland OS, released by [[Tachibana General Laboratories]], is the result of many years of software engineering and study. It's predecessor, Communication Operating System, was the first OS to be used in the NAVI model line. After being successful with both the NAVI and its OS, Tachibana Laboratories released Copland using the 7th Generation Wired protocol, the newest generation of code created for accessing the Wired. 7th-Gen is still in use today. Copland earned its fame for leaping many technological hurdles and innovating on age old ideas giving Tachibana Labs the edge in the technological revolution. ([http://lainwire.tripod.com/ Source])

In the Latin American Spanish dub, NAVI is voiced by Mariela Álvarez.

==List of NAVI's==
*[[Alice's NAVI]]
*[[Children's NAVI]]
*[[HandiNAVI]]
*[[Iwakura Yasuo's NAVI]]
*[[Lain's NAVI]]
*[[Taro's NAVI]]
*[[The boss's NAVI]]
*[[Yonera Touko's NAVI]]

[[Category:Technology]]

Layer 02 Script

2022-12-31T08:15:22Z

Navi: clean up, added Empty section (1), underlinked tags, typos fixed: comfirm → confirm

{{Underlinked|date=December 2022}}

Back to [[Layer 02]]

==Japanese==
{{Empty section|date=December 2022}}

==English==
Voice: What are you scared of?

Voice: You'd better just try. giggle:

Title: GIRLS Layer 02

Text: Cyberia? I didn't want to be here.

Text: 10,000 yen? That's too expensive! The market price is about 4,000 yen.

Text: Although the process to obtain it is the same,

Text: It's not precisely a drug.

Text: We call it "Accela".

Text: I... felt accelerated.

Text: Come on, quickly.

Lain: No, It's not.

Lain: I haven't received any mail...

Lain: ...I don't know.

Mika: I thought that somebody was here.

Lain: Who are you talking about?

Mika: Lain's imaginary ...friend, or like that.

Mika: You will be late for school again.

Alice: Lain, good morning.

Lain: Good morning.

Reika: Look, it wasn't her.

Juri: But it was...

Lain: What?

Alice: Stop it. Don't you feel sorry for her?

Alice: It's nothing serious. Let's go.

Juri: But...

Alice: Don't talk about that anymore.

Lain: Did you receive any mails recently?

Lain: From Chisa?

Juri: Mail? Ah... No, not anymore.

Alice: Lain, did you receive the prank mail?

Juri: Is it true?

Lain: No, I was just curious.

Juri: I thought you did.

Reika: As you said, it really looked like her...

Reika: Lain, where were you last night?

Alice: I said no.

Reika: No, no.

Juri: But...

Lain: What?

Reika: Well.. last night, there was someone who looked like Lain at Cyberia.

Juri: I mustered my courage and went there for the first time last night.

Reika: It wasn't such a big deal.

Alice: You looked so tense. giggle:

Alice: Ah, it's a club. It's a place where young people gather at midnight.

Alice: There was someone who looked a little like Lain there.

Lain: Yesterday, I was...

Alice: I think she can't have been Lain.

Alice: Because she was dressed very gaudily and angered very violently.

Reika: Yes, her character was also quite opposite.

Juri: But she looked like...

Juri: Well, how about we take Lain there tonight?

Reika: Are you trying to confirm it?

Alice: Stop it. You're making fun of her.

Reika: Lain, you might suddenly change when you go to the club.

Alice: Really, Lain might become more assertive.

Juri: Oh, yes! Let's go.

Reika: Maybe it'll be fun.

Alice: If you become more assertive, you'll be happier, right, Lain?

Commentary: Accela is a kind of a "intelligence supplement".

Commentary: When it enters the body, it oscillates at a particular frequency,

Commentary: regulated by its nano mechanism.

Commentary: It stimulates the secretion of a specific hormone.

Commentary: When the hormone is secreted, one's sense of time will be influenced,

Commentary: and one will feel that one's consciousness is accelerated.

Commentary: Aside from the conscious sense of time,

Commentary: the calculation speed of the brain will also be increased by about 2 to 12 times.

Commentary: This nano-mechanism will be dissolved by digestive juices after 1 day.

Commentary: But the effect is...

MobileNavi: Let's have fun at Cyberia tonight. From Alice.

MobileNavi: I won't go tonight.

Text: Humans are all connected.

Carrier: Is this your house?

Carrier: Good! This is your package. I'll take it down for you.

Carrier: Could you sign here?

Carrier: But... This one is great.

Carrier: Oh, thank you.

Carrier: Are all of these yours?

Lain: I don't know.

Carrier: Don't you know what this is?

Lain: ...

Carrier: This is the latest style of Navi. It's fully equipped.

Carrier: Such machine power lets you visit the wired freely with no trouble.

Carrier: I built one myself, but it's no match for this at all.

Lain: No, I don't know anything about this.

Carrier: Soon, you'll know it.

Father: Your new navi has arrived.

Mother: Please clean up soon. It's in the way.

Father: I'll set it up after dinner.

Father: Hmm... This navi is so powerful that I'd like to use it myself.

Lain: Dad, please set this up now.

Father: Oh. Why are you in such a hurry?

Lain: Please...

Father: Lain...

Father: I'll do it.

Father: Don't use children's Navi for too long.

Father: You should change to a superior system for more mature communications.

Father: Come on. Register with the machine.

Father: Talk to it.

Lain: Hello, Navi.

Navi: Authorized.

Father: Finally, this Navi is yours.

Father: You can show it off to your friends.

Father: Oops. Mika? What's up?

Lain: Navi, Did you receive my mail?

Navi: There is no mail for Lain.

MobileNavi: Lain, where are you? We're waiting for you. Be sure to come.

Text: Why don't you come here soon?

Alice: Turn right at the corner.

Alice: Go straight.

Alice: Can you see it?

Lain: Yes.

Alice: It's at the basement of the building.

Taro: Hey, you.

Myu-Myu: I can't pass.

Taro: If you do it like that, you'll be caught by the Information Surveillance Center soon.

Masayuki: Isn't it safe to just hack?

Myu-Myu: Later, at that Game Center...

Juri: You're late, Lain.

Reika: Normally, you'd be in bed at this time.

Juri: Lain, you should wear something for suitable for a nightclub.

Alice: How about we choose some adult clothes for Lain next time?

Reika: Are you sure they'll match her?

Alice: Reika!

Juri: In the end...

Alice: What?

Juri: The one we saw last night wasn't Lain.

Reika: I said so. Lain won't wear clothes like that, and won't speak so roughly.

Lain: Did she look that much like me?

Juri: Yes, I thought that she must be Lain.

Lain: So...

Alice: Lain?

Reika: Why is she hanging behind?

Alice: Reika, Take care of Juri, please.

Reika: Alice? Alice!

Boy: Don't look at me!

Alice: Lain! What are you doing? Run away now! Lain!

Boy: Go away!

Alice: Lain...

Boy: ...Ah...

Boy: Why did you make me do such a thing?

Boy: Do you have any right to make me do this?

Boy: I just wanted to clear my head.

Boy: I don't know. I have nothing to do with it. You are... like God.

Boy: I have nothing to do with it.

Boy: The Wired must not interfere with the real world.

Boy: I have nothing to do with it. Who are you?

Boy: I have nothing to do with it... I have nothing to do with it...

Lain: No matter where you go, everyone is connected.

(Adapted from [http://lain.angelic-trust.net/rumors/02girls_en.txt] and from memory. Originally translated by Keisuke Shindo.)

{{Episodes}}

[[Category:Scripts]]

Layer 09 Script

2022-12-31T08:15:19Z

Navi: clean up, added Empty section (1), underlinked tags, typos fixed: In July 4, 1947 → On July 4, 1947

{{Underlinked|date=December 2022}}

Back to [[Layer 09]]

==Japanese==
{{Empty section|date=December 2022}}

==English==
Voice: If you want to avoid pain, you should believe in God.

Voice: Whether you believe in him or not, God is always with you.

Title: PROTOCOL Layer 09

Narrator: On July 4, 1947, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_incident a strange flying object] dropped into a desert in New Mexico, USA.

Narrator: Even now, its identity has not been ascertained.

Narrator: Guesses became facts, and rumors became histories.

Lain: Who was it?

Lain: Who was it?

Narrator: In 1984, Jaime Shandera, a TV producer, received an undeveloped roll of film in a brown envelope from an anonymous person.

Narrator: In the film was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majestic_12 the MJ-12 document].

Narrator: It said that 12 people made a secret pact with an extraterrestrial under the President's direct orders.

Narrator: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roscoe_H._Hillenkoetter Roscoe Hillenkoetter], who was the director of the CIA when the Roswell incident happened, was the chief of the 12 people.

Narrator: It is well known now that [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman President Truman]'s signature was copied from another document.

Narrator: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vannevar_Bush Vannevar Bush], who was a Head of Department in MIT, was one of the 12 members of MJ-12.

Lain: Connect Wired.

Lain(wired): How can you make something that already happened not have happened?

Eye: Are you Lain? I see.

Lain(w): I don't know you, but you know me...

Eye: Information does not always flow both ways.

Eye: You have been here since the Wired was created.

Eye: You are free in here.

Lain(w): But that wasn't me!

Ear: I see, then, since when have we been here?

Ear: I know we didn't start existing at the beginning of this world.

Eye: That's nothing to be concerned about!

Eye: If something exists in memory, then it's part of a record.

Arm: What you said is groundless.

Arm: How old do you think Lain is? She's still a child.

Lain(w): Let's not talk about me right now-

Narrator: Vannevar Bush put forward a new plan to extend memories, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memex MEMEX], in 1945.

Narrator: It was a system to view information in microfilm on a translucent screen.

Narrator: He planned to compress information to access it quickly.

Narrator: Bush led the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project Manhattan Project] that produced an atomic bomb.

Narrator: He also made the foundations of multimedia at the same time.

JJ: You forgot this.

Lain: What?

JJ: You left this here yesterday.

JJ: I'll dump it if you don't need it.

Lain: Did I leave this?

JJ: That's what I said.

Narrator: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Lilly John C. Lilly] explored the human unconscious in an experiment with sensory deprivation by using drugs and an isolation tank.

Narrator: He thought that he was connected to something like an existence in space.

Narrator: He called the existence that led him ECCO, Earth Coincidence Control Office.

Narrator: After that, Lilly began to research dolphins.

Narrator: Dolphins can communicate over long distances in water using ultrasonic waves.

Taro: What?

Lain: I promised you.

Taro: What?

Lain: I'll go on a date with you.

Myu-myu: Really? Did you say that?

Taro: Did I promise?

Myu-myu: No, no.

Taro: Even if I did, I don't want to date with the current you, Lain.

Myu-myu: Idiot! Taro!

Lain: She is the same as me. I'm myself. I'm the only one.

Taro: Great!

Taro: You made this very well.

Taro: I see. This synchronizes the parallel processors.

Taro: It's not very neat, but you can keep extending it this way.

Taro: How do you cool this?

Lain: Taro.

Taro: Is this liquid carbon?

Lain: Sit there.

Taro: What?

Lain: You know what this is, don't you?

Taro: !

Lain: It was you, Taro, right?

Lain(w): You're one of the Knights, aren't you?

Taro: You're...the real Lain...

Lain(w): I'm not sure if there is another me in the Wired or not.

Lain(w): But in the real world, there is no me other than myself.

Lain(w): The only other me with a body only appeared in the club.

Lain(w): It would have been enough just to modify the memories of people who were there.

Taro: I can't...

Lain(w): Play track 44.

Father: It is drawing to a close...

Father: Finally...

Mother: So, before it's too late...

Mika: a.. e..

Mika: Pii Pii Pii... Understood.

Mika: Pii Pii Pii... Now transmitting. Pii Pii Pii...

Lain(w): Stop.

Taro: It wasn't me...

Taro: But I know that the data that JJ receives can have such effects.

Lain(w): If I install this chip, what will happen to me?

Lain(w): Would I commit suicide? Or would I go insane?

Taro: I don't know. I'm too young to be a formal member of Knights. I'm only...

Lain(w): What will this do?

Taro: It's [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-volatile_memory nonvolatile memory]. It will overwrite existing memories.

Lain(w): What kinds of memories?

Taro: I... I don't know...

Taro: Knights aren't just crackers, Lain.

Taro: Uh...

Taro: You're strange. That's why the Knights are interested in you.

Taro: Knights fight in order to make the only truth become real.

Lain: I don't understand. What's the only truth?

Taro: I've never been told, because I'm not a formal member of Knights.

Taro: But it's true. Truth is strong because it is true.

Taro: Truth is justice because it is true.

Taro: Don't you find it convincing?

Taro: Don't you also want such a truth?

Taro: I'm going back. Myu-myu will be jealous of you.

Lain: Taro, thank you.

Taro: You...

Taro: It's a date, after all. I'm a guy, so I had to do that.

Narrator: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Nelson Ted Nelson], who learned from heretic pioneers Vannevar Bush and John C. Lilly,

Narrator: made a plan for a digital library in orbit that can be used anywhere on earth through electromagnetic waves and a telephone network.

Narrator: It would be a utopia where every text from every culture will exist forever.

Narrator: It is called "Xanadu". Hypertext can make it real in this world.

Narrator: Ted Nelson will go down in history as a proponent of it.

Lain: Hello Navi.

Lain: Kachi Kachi...

Sound of machine: Memory check...

Lain: Kachi Kachi...

Lain: Was it me?

Lain(past): Yes, it was me.

Lain: Who were those people?

Lain(past): I don't know because I'm you.

Lain: It can't be true...

Lain: Everything must be a lie... Why did you do that?

Narrator: The earth itself has peculiar electromagnetic waves.

Narrator: There are always resonances between the ground and the ionosphere at 8 Hz in the ELF band. This is called the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schumann_resonances Schumann Resonance].

Narrator: It is the brain wave of the earth. But we still don't know how it affects humans.

Narrator: The human population on Earth is approaching the number of neurons in the brain.

Narrator: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Rushkoff Douglas Rushkoff] claims that it will awaken the consciousness of Earth itself by connecting humans to each other in a network.

Narrator: The network has quickly grown into a form like the neurons in the brain, so the Earth itself will become a neural network.

Lain: The only truth... God.

Deus: Yes, me.

Narrator: Eiri Masami was a chief research worker in Tachibana Labs.

Narrator: He caused the theory about Earth's neural network to progress.

Narrator: He advocated that every human's unconscious should be connected to a wireless network without devices through the Schumann effect.

Narrator: He added a function to use the Schumann Resonances to the 7th protocol code on his own discretion.

Narrator: When Tachibana Labs found out, they fired him.

Narrator: One week later, Eiri's corpse was found run over and killed on the railway on Yamanote line.

Newspaper: Mr. Eiri Masami

(Adapted from [http://lain.angelic-trust.net/rumors/09protocol_en.txt] and from memory. Originally translated by Keisuke Shindo.)

{{Episodes}}

[[Category:Scripts]]

Lain Iwakura

2022-12-31T08:15:16Z

Navi: clean up, typos fixed: fellow classmates → classmates, 11-14 → 11–14

{{CharacterInfo
|image = File:Lain.jpg
|gender = Female
|age = 14 ([[Serial Experiments Lain (anime)|anime]]), 11-14 ([[Serial Experiments Lain (game)|game]])
|family = [[Yasuo Iwakura]] (Father), [[Miho Iwakura]] (Mother), [[Mika Iwakura]] (Sister)
|affiliation = [[Knights of the Eastern Calculus]], [[Tachibana General Laboratories]]
|navi = [[Children's NAVI]], [[Handheld NAVI]], [[Lain's NAVI]]
|debut = [[Layer 01]]
|featuredin = [[Serial Experiments Lain (anime)|Anime]], [[Serial Experiments Lain (game)|game]], [[manga]]
|location = [[Lain's House]], [[Shibuya]]
|voiceactors = [[wikipedia:Kaori Shimizu (voice actress)|Kaori Shimizu]] (Japanese),
[[wikipedia:Bridget Hoffman|Bridget Hoffman]] (English), Lucila Gómez (Spanish)}}

'''Iwakura Lain''' (岩倉玲音 ''Iwakura Rein'', also rendered as レイン, ｌａｉｎ or れいん) is the main protagonist of the series. She is female, 14 in the [[Serial Experiments Lain (anime)|anime]], 11–14 in the [[Serial Experiments Lain (game)|game]], and of an unknown age in other works. Visually, she is characterized by her short, brown, asymmetrical hair, one lock of which is secured by a [[Lain's Hairclip|hairclip]]. [[Masami Eiri]], in his desire to conquer reality, uses her as a pawn.

== Personality ==
Across all the works in the ''Serial Experiments Lain'' series, Lain is portrayed as introverted, shy and quiet. Her preferences are also quite childish, and she possesses a large number of toys and other child-themed objects. She often derives comfort from these objects when she is afraid, akin to a security blanket.

When it comes to interacting with others, she often has trouble making eye contact and having fluent conversation, many exchanges with her classmates involving long pauses in her speech, and often looks visibly uncomfortable when asked questions. She usually does not speak unless spoken to and appears to find both talking to strangers and being the center of attention to be intimidating. Because of this, she has very few friends. However, on the Internet, Lain feels much more comfortable around people and is able to talk to them more easily, although she does not feel close to online acquaintances.

Generally, Lain appears to be indifferent to her surroundings, but she is actually very sensitive and worried about how others perceive her. As a result, Lain appears to be very concerned with her actions and how they affect other people, being terrified of being by herself or being universally rejected by everyone.

Due to her lack of close family or friends, Lain is often very lonely and can become unhealthily attached to anyone she feels treats her nicely, to the point of obsession. As a result, she often worries even more how people who know her perceive her and is quick to doubt herself and her friends; however, when she interacts with them, she feels elated and far more optimistic. If anyone she is close to leaves her life, Lain becomes heartbroken and worries about the others that remain. She is fiercely loyal to those she cares about and tries her best to care for them, although she often worries that she is not doing a good job of doing so. Terrible things happening to people, regardless of whether they are close to her or not, seem to deeply emotionally disturb Lain, often causing her to cry.

If Lain is completely alone, she becomes desperate and afraid of her own inner faults. In order to distract herself, Lain often throws herself into a specialization that interests her, such as programming or psychology and further isolated herself. However, extended periods of solitude cause Lain to begin to lose her mind, and she eventually neglects herself and becomes extremely depressed. It is possible that being left alone too long could result in her suicide.

When Lain is afraid, she will often want comfort from others, despite rarely approaching them directly, not wanting to burden them. If she cannot get comfort from other people, she will hide behind objects she designates as security blankets, like her bear pajamas, [[NAVI]], [[Bike-chan]], or [[Progenetis]]. If she is truly terrified or overwhelmed she will have what appears to be a panic attack of some kind, curling into a ball and shaking, apparently completely immobilized.

When it comes to Lain's specialization skills, she is extremely curious and hungry for information, avidly consuming information at astonishing speeds and learning very quickly. It does not take her long to become an expert on a subject, and she shows extreme prowess in both hardware and software, as well as aspects of philosophy, psychology and sociology. She appears to be able to analyze, recall and process data very quickly, working at high speeds and often doing several things at once. Many tasks that are difficult for experts are easy for her. Despite appearing to be highly intelligent, Lain is an extremely poor student, having a difficult time paying attention in class.

Lain seems to consider herself to be abnormal and often blames herself for bad things that happen around her or the troubles of loved ones, becoming easily depressed. She also often feels isolated from society and alone, and seems to want to fit in more than anything, but her shyness and social anxiety often gets in the way. Lain is also very easily embarrassed, which further worsens her low self-esteem and shyness. She often struggles with her [[identity]] due to the circumstances around her, a struggle that often confuses and frightens her.

When Lain finally feels that she has discovered her identity, she is at peace and seems to be quietly content with herself, her previous self-doubts becoming minimal.

=== Other Personalities ===

Lain's personality becomes another matter entirely when her alter-ego, the so-called "Lain of the Wired", steps into Lain's flesh body to act directly in the real world. In times of extreme stress, Lain's disembodied self might briefly inhabit her flesh body, suddenly causing a surge of confidence and brashness backed up by superhuman power. This personality appears fearless and ruthless, but not cruel (not to be confused with [[Evil Lain]], the spinoff identity created by the Knights' hacking). She is also much more socially comfortable in this state, although this social comfort level seems to come and go coincident with Lain's visits to Cyberia, where unusual mind-altering technology exists. This "Lain of the Wired" personality also exists independent of Lain Iwakura the human; they seem to only share experiences part-time.

Yet a third personality also exists, apparently resulting from outside tampering upon both of the others. This third personality, is a cruel, inhuman prankster, and is apparently comfortable committing both mischief and murder. Like Lain of the Wired, it exists primarily in the Wired but is also capable of inhabiting and controlling Lain Iwakura's human body on occasion.

== Anime Biography ==
At the beginning of the anime, Lain is technologically illiterate and extremely shy. She hardly even checks her email and is visibly uncomfortable when doing so. While operating her old [[children's NAVI]], she puts on a bear hat. This, like her [[bear suit]], provides comfort to her and helps her face situations that she is intimidated by.

Lain's behaviour changes when she gets a proper [[NAVI]]. When online, she behaves much more confidently and assertively. Another Lain, commonly referred to by the fandom as "evil Lain", already exists in the Wired and, according to Lain in [[Layer 08]], acts like the part of Lain that she hates.

Lain appears to be highly intelligent and has a range of skills. The anime shows her learning extremely quickly how a NAVI functions and can even help the [[boss]] of the [[Men in Black]] repair his extremely old NAVI. Also, the [[manga]] shows some of Lain's skills in programming, as she modifies her plush dog, [[Bike-chan]], to be able to bark. In the [[Serial Experiments Lain (game)|game]], Lain becomes interested in psychology and is able to use that knowledge on [[Touko Yonera]], her therapist, when she becomes unstable.

She is quite distant from her [[family]] and rarely speaks at home. At [[school]], she is similarly quiet, although she begins to hang out with [[Alice Mizuki]], [[Reika Yamamoto]] and [[Juri Katou]]. Of the three, only Alice seems to have any real emotional connection with her.

Lain is revealed to be the product of the human collective unconscious that took form in the Wired. This means that there is a different image of Lain in each person's mind, represented by the chattering Lain mannequins in [[Layer 08]]. This led to Lain's [[identity]] crisis that forms a major plot point in the anime.

Lain considers herself to be a being that exists only in the memories of others, so when she edits herself out during the [[reset]], it is almost a form of suicide - although the Wired itself still retains her data, there are no people who truly remember her.

{{AnimeCharacters}} {{GameCharacters}} [[Category:Characters]]

The Real Verses the Virtual

2022-12-31T08:15:11Z

Navi: /* top */clean up, added deadend tag, typos fixed: thirteen year old girl → thirteen-year-old girl, , → , (3), based off of → based on

{{Dead end|date=December 2022}}

When we look back to when computers first became popular, they were seen as a way of organizing information. Then the internet was formed allowing people to share this information and to communicate. People began using the internet to communicate to the point that virtual societies were created. Some people have become so attached to the virtual world that they begin to feel as if the virtual is more real than reality. This is a thought that is explored in two science-fiction movies: The Matrix and Serial Experiments: Lain.

The first movie is The Matrix . Everyone has seen this movie and most have discussed the basic concepts to great lengths. The Matrix is a fairly typical product of the science-fiction genre. The technologically savvy young man is faced with a problem that threatens society as we know it and, through the help of the not-as-computer-savvy chic dressed in leather, realizes he is the "messiah" that must save humanity.

The Matrix poses the idea that our reality is actually created, a hallucination used to distract the masses from the true reality of the Matrix. The Matrix also gives the idea that everyone has the potential to be godlike, to control our own lives, but for some reason we choose not to realize this potential. Perhaps it is more power and responsibility than we are ready to handle. Maybe this is why people like to play SIM games. People are able to live "lives" in a virtual reality that they are able to manipulate. People get to play God but do not have to take their actions seriously because its not affecting the real world (Turkle 71). It also makes some wonder if the internet is becoming the new reality.

Serial Experiments: Lain has many similarities to The Matrix, but a great deal more differences. It is an anime that takes place in the "present day, present time" but is based on a mirror of our society. This thought-provoking series presents several questions to the viewers which allow their thoughts to travel on tangents to deeper questions about our interactions with people and the internet.

The film series is about a thirteen-year-old girl who is technologically ignorant, but when her "father" buys her the best computer on the market, she increasingly finds herself seduced by the virtual (an advanced version of our own internet) and quickly becomes more and more obsessed with exploring the internet. As she spends more time in the virtual world, she begins to form an alter ego and becomes alienated from those of the real world. However, when Lain begins to notice a correlation between the events in the virtual with those of the real, she also begins to realize that she has the power to influence these events. The more time she spends in the "Wired" the more powerful she becomes over both realities. In the end she must give up all of her physical belongings, including her body, and completely submerse her consciousness within the "Wired" to save those she cares about in the real. Essentially, Lain becomes God of the "Wired" and the physical world and must reset reality.

The film is quite vague and only ever alludes to certain ideas, but the idea here is that the growing network of peoples' consciousness in the virtual world is becoming so complex and dense that it is forming its own spirit. It just happens that the spirit is taking form in Lain. But is there any possibility of this ever happening? Are people like cells, where if they grow into dense groups, that they could possibly form a whole greater than its parts? Can a virtual collective consciousness ever manifest into its own spirit?

This issue of alienation that forms from people engrossing themselves in the internet is a real problem. Japan is one of the most technologically advanced nations and it has one of the highest suicide rates. This problem is even addressed in the series when a "Wired" junkie throws herself off a building. This begs the question can people survive in the virtual? In the film series, Lain's only true friend is her classmate that she interacts with mainly in the real world. This leads to another question: Are the friendships that we form inside the virtual as valuable as those we form in the real? Lain knows that everyone is connected in the "Wired" but she realizes that these virtual connections are weak and superficial. According to Sherry Turkle, author of Life on the Screen, the computer "evokes both physical isolation and intense interaction with other people" (60). The only true relationships are the physical, face to face relationships.

How can people claim that the friendships they form over the internet are valid when everyone is hiding parts of their identity? This series also touches on the alter egos that people form in the virtual world. In both films, people are dissatisfied with their real lives so they escape to a virtual reality. Do computers help us find an alternate side to our personalities or do they just let us escape from who we truly are? People believe that through the cloak provided by the internet, they can be themselves in the virtual world. However, rather than just being themselves, people often choose to portray themselves as something they are not. Is this not putting on the same kind of façade as one does in the physical world? Also, wouldn't a person's awkward social habits and personality flaws still exist in the virtual reality? After all these are undeniable, unchangeable parts of who we are. I believe the internet is just a false solution to problems in our realities.

Both movies are intending to make viewers question the authenticity of their experiences and their existence. Earlier, when I was talking about the Matrix, I mentioned that the Matrix asked the question of is the internet becoming the new reality? In Serial Experiments: Lain, the question is a little different. It asks which reality is more real, the virtual or the physical one? In Lain, the answer is neither. They exist and evolve together.

==Bibliography==

Cyberpunkreview.com. "Serial Experiments: Lain." Feb. 26, 2006 [http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/movie/decade/1990-1999/serial-experiments-lain].

The Matrix . Dir. Andy and Larry Wachowski. Perf. Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburn. Warner Home Video, 1999.

Serial Experiments: Lain. Dir. Ryutaro Nakamura. Pioneer Entertainment, 1998.

Turkle, Sherry. Life on the Screen . New York : Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, 1995.

(Source: [http://www.appstate.edu/~tb52236/tanithclasswebpage.html])

[[Category:Essays]]

Devices

2022-12-31T08:15:07Z

Navi: clean up, typos fixed: BluRay → Blu-ray

[[File:Device-4.png|thumb|right|''device#04 EAR'']]
The '''Devices''' were short video clips featuring Kaori Shimizu talking or walking around or just standing there staring into the camera. The Devices were played at the end of each episode in lieu of next-episode-previews. They were also released as special features with certain Blu-ray or DVD releases of Serial Experiments Lain.

Each clip focused on a different part of Shimizu's body. The point was to liken parts of the body to computer hardware. This calls to mind the claims associated with [[Psyche]], that is, to allow the user to access [[the Wired]] without the use of a device; the implication is that the true meaning of deviceless access is to abandon the flesh itself.

== List of Devices ==
*device#01 EYE
*device#02 MOUTH
*device#03 HAND
*device#04 EAR
*device#05 TONGUE
*device#06 FOOT
*device#07 NOSE
*device#08 HAIR
*device#09 UTERUS
*device#10 BODY
*device#11 HEART
*device#12 FACE

== See also ==
*[[Weather Break]]

== External links ==
*[http://www.cjas.org/~leng/device.htm Explanation: "devices" sequences in ''lain'']
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnParltNVF0 Devices on YouTube]

[[Category:Media]]

Ryuutarou Nakamura

2022-12-31T08:15:02Z

Navi: clean up, typos fixed: in June 29, 2013 → on June 29, 2013, 11-13 → 11–13 (2)

[[File:nakamura-r.jpg|thumb|266px|right]]
'''Nakamura Ryuutarou''' (中村隆太郎) was the director of [[Serial Experiments Lain]]. Among other things, he also directed ''Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World'' and ''Shinreigari: Ghost Hound'' (also with [[Chiaki J. Konaka]]). He contracted pancreatic cancer and passed away on June 29, 2013. His illness and death indefinitely postponed the progress of Despera, a project on which he was collaborating with [[Yoshitoshi ABe]] and Chiaki Konaka.

==List of Works==
===Director===
* Tomcat's Big Adventure: Director, Script, Storyboard, Composition (1992)
* The Life of Guskou Budori: Director, Script (1994)
* Legend of Crystania - The Motion Picture: Director (1995)
* Legend of Crystania (OVA): Director (1996)
* Serial Experiments Lain: Series director, Director (1998) (Eps 1, 2, 12, 13), Storyboard, Continuity (Eps 5, 6, 8, 11–13), Continuity Direction
* Colorful: Director, Storyboard, Episode Director (1999) (1-4,12,14,16)
* Sakura Wars: Series director, Continuity (2000)
* Kino's Journey: Director, Storyboard, Episode Director (2003) (ep 1, 2, 5)
* Rec: Director, Storyboard, Episode Director (2006)
* Kino's Journey -Country of Illness- For You-: Director (2007)
* Ghost Hound: Director (2007)
* Jūgo Shōnen Hyōryūki Kaizokujima DE! Daibōken: Director (2013-Posthumous)
* Despera: Director (Suspended)
===Other===
* Takarajima: Key Animation (1978–79)
* The Rose of Versailles: Key Animation (1979–80) (eps 24, 26–40)
* Ashita no Joe 2: Key Animation (1980–81)
* Unico (movie): Art (1981)
* Space Adventure Cobra - The Movie: Animation (1982)
* A Journey Through Fairyland (movie): In-Between Animation (1985)
* They Were Eleven (movie): Storyboard (1986)
* Patlabor The Mobile Police (OAV 1): Storyboard (1988) (eps 2, 4)
* The Great Adventures of Robin Hood: Storyboard (1990) (eps 14, 20, 25, 31, 33, 40, 47)
* Legend of Heavenly Sphere Shurato: Storyboard (1991)
* Lupin III: "Steal Napoleon's Dictionary!": Storyboard (1991)
* Kikou Keisatsu Metal Jack: Storyboard (1991) (ep 30)
* Tenku Senki Shurato: Storyboard (1991)
* Tekkaman Blade: Storyboard (1992) (eps 12, 19, 25, 30)
* Popolocrois (game): Animation Movie Director, Story Board & Game Art (1996)
* Magic User's Club: Storyboard (1999) (ep 3), Episode Director (ep 3)
* Love Hina: Key Animation Episodes 13, 18 (2000)
* Final Fantasy: Unlimited: Episode 2 Director/Storyboard (2001)
* Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Storyboard (2002) (ep 5), Episode Director (ep 5)

==External links==
*[[Wikipedia:Ryūtarō Nakamura]]
[[Category:Staff]]

Come to the Wired

2022-12-31T08:14:58Z

Navi: clean up, typos fixed: don’t → don't (25), … → ... (6), isn’t → isn't, You’re → You're (2), she’s → she's, There’s → There's (2), It’s → It's (6), ’s → 's

{{VNProject}}

= Second Draft (ain) =
==Scene 0.==
''Black screen. Words, center, type in''


'''「死ぬ時？」'''
'''“What was it like when you died?”'''

''Fade out.''

==Scene One, Classroom, Day.==
''Ambient hushed whispers. Image, sheet of paper with class play, in moonspeak. [Can be legitimate, like Love-Suicide at Amajima, or we could just stick text from scenario experiments lain in].''

I don't know why, but I can't seem to do anything right.

It was only a minor role in a class play. I had one line. Just one.

But I couldn't say it. My time came to say my line, but I couldn't make a sound.

Everyone was staring at me. Waiting for me. The play couldn't go on until I gave the main character his cue.

I started shaking. My heart raced.

I wanted to cry.

Why did this have to happen to me, at such a crucial moment? I just needed to say this simple line. They needed me to—

The next line came without me saying anything. They moved on somehow. The play continued without me.

They all left me behind.

''Black''

'''At that moment, I understood.'''

''Montage of scenery of Chisa highlighted alone in various scenes of her being isolated, being bullied, perhaps, sitting by herself at Cyberia, walking home alone, perhaps entering an empty house, loop until ending of text in bold below.''

'''It's always been like this.'''

'''They don't need me.'''

'''The world doesn't need me.'''

''Fade to black, while still looping. After black, stop looping.''

'''Chisa:''' “I’m sorry…”

==Scene Two, Bedroom, Night.==
''Image, Chibi-Navi login screen. Ambient noise from computer fans.''
(「だれ？」
“Who are you?”
四方田千砂
ｃｈｉｓａ　ｙｏｍｏｄａ)

I have another life. On the Wired.

I can talk to people there. It's easy, hiding behind a screen. I don't get nervous. I can find people who are like me, and even make friends with them.

On the Wired, nobody knows who I am. I don't need to stay silent, afraid of saying something wrong. There are no consequences to my mistakes. Nobody hates me there.

''Image, screen, perhaps some BBS or Futaba-based imageboard.''
(名無しさん　Ｎｏ．　７８
Anonymous
＞＞７３
すごい！乙！！
You're so cool! Thanks!!
名無しさん　Ｎｏ．７９
Anonymous
＞＞７３
神！大きにありがとう！
You're amazing! Thanks so much!
ヨモ田さん　Ｎｏ．８０
Yomoda-san
＞＞７８
＞＞７９
どういたしまして。喜んで手伝った。＾_＾
It's nothing. I'm glad I could help. )

I was useful there.

''Image, screen, imageboard''
(ヨモ田さん　Ｎｏ．　３２
Yomoda-san
誰もあたしのことわからない。クラスにいる少女たちにクラッブへ連れて来られたけど、あたし、踊れらないから取り残された。
あたしの存在は惨めね。
Nobody understands me. I was taken to a club by some girls in my class, but I can't dance, so they left me behind.
My existence is wretched, isn't it?
名無しさん　Ｎｏ．　３３
Anonymous
＞＞３２
ひどい！かまわない、ヨモ田さん！そう言った人々は友達じゃないよー
How mean! Don't worry about it, Yomoda-san! People like that aren't friends!
名無しさん　Ｎｏ．　３４
Anonymous
＞＞３２
ワイヤードに来ればいいの。私たちはヨモ田さんがわかる！
You should come to the Wired. We understand you, Yomoda-san!
ヨモ田さん　Ｎｏ．　３５
Yomoda-san
＞＞３３
＞＞３４
そう？聞いてくれて本当にありがとう。
Is that so? I really appreciate you listening to me.)

They care about me there.

They want me there.

I can be myself in front of them, and I don't need to worry about them hating me at all. I can speak my mind without freezing up or wanting to cry.

I belong there.

==Scene Three, Streets, Late Afternoon.==
''Image, streets, include bloody shadows. Ambient waan waan waan 50MHz hum.''

There's a girl from another class.

Lain Iwakura.

She never talks to anyone. That means she's quiet, like me. I think she might be lonely, too.

Like me.

I walked home with her today. We never said a word to each other, but I felt somehow connected to her.

Even though she and I never spoke, I felt comforted. It was a familiar feeling that I couldn't place at first, but then I realized—

For some reason, being with lain felt just like being on the Wired.

''Image, lain profile view from her left, expression rather blank and forlorn.''

I feel like she belongs there too, just like me. I don't know how, but I feel like she would be happy there.

I want to be her friend. But I can't talk to people in a place like this.

If only she was on the Wired, we could be happy together. We could connect, and we wouldn't have to hide or walk home in silence.

...But I’ve never seen her use a NAVI before.

I wanted to tell her, ‘Come to the Wired as soon as you can,’ but I didn't say anything.

I don't know why, but I can't seem to do anything right.

==Scene Four, Bedroom, Night.==
''Image, screen, closeup of some words on the screen. Ambient computer noises.''
(ここに神様がいるよー)

Today, I heard something interesting on the Wired.

'''God is here.'''

The Knights say that God lives in the Wired. He is omnipresent, just like the Wired. He sees everything and knows everyone. He connects all of us by being connected to all of us Himself.

He loves all of us.

...I wonder...

If he truly can love someone like me.

Someone who is useless and awkward and unable to talk to anyone.

''Image, screen, some sort of group chat client. IRC or similar chat client.''
([02:04:01] バイトル：ワイヤードへ来さえすれば神様があなたを愛する。
[02:04:44] ヨモダ：それじゃ、永遠にここにいたい。)

'''Knight:''' He will love you as long as you come to the Wired.
'''Chisa:''' I want to be here forever, then.

''Image, screen, details on the Psyche processor, maybe a close up of part of ab# layer 03''

They told me about the Psyche processor.

They said it would let me enter the Wired without needing a NAVI.

...They told me about abandoning the flesh.

''Image, screen, chat client again.''
([04:23:43] ヨモダ：本当にただ一つ方法？怖そう・・・
[04:25:01] 大正電氣娘：うん。他の方法無い。何しろ、リアル・ワルドにあなたは必要ないって言ってたね。
[04:31:23] ヨモダ：そう・・・必要ない。)

''Chisa:'' Is that really the only way? It sounds scary...
''Knight:'' Yeah. There's no other way. You said that the real world doesn't need you, anyway, didn't you?
''Chisa:'' Right...it doesn't need me.

==Scene Five, Empty Corridor, Late afternoon.==
''Silence''

Even knowing what I had learned last night, I went back to school as usual.

I was alone, as usual.

Waiting.

I didn't talk to lain today, either. I just couldn't. I was too afraid.

I'm pathetic. Here I'm nobody at all.

But there I can be somebody. I can work to my fullest potential. I can become someone worthy of God's Love.

I belong there, in the Wired.

''Black, words, centered.''
(「あたしは――こんなところにいなくてもいいの――」)

'''Chisa:''' “I…would be better off not being in a place like this…”

==Scene Six, Front hall, evening==
''Image, open package with a Psyche processor nearby. Should be something like an envelope.''

It arrived today. I found it on my desk when I got home.

There was a note.
''Image, typed note.''
(早くワイヤードに来てー
待ってる。)

“Come to the Wired as soon as you can.”
“We’re waiting.”

''Fade to black''

==Scene 0.2==
''Slowly fade in words from before.''

'''「死ぬ時?」'''
'''“What was it like when you died?”'''

''Below, type in slowly.''

'''「痛かった（笑）」'''
'''“It hurt. Heehee.”'''

[[Category:VN]]

Interviews

2022-12-31T08:14:35Z

Navi: clean up, typos fixed: Bluray → Blu-ray

This page aims to be a comprehensive list of recorded staff '''interviews''' related to [[Serial Experiments Lain]], and transcriptions or descriptions of events attended by ''Lain'' staff, and supply sources for those interviews, digital or print.

Most, if not all, of the English interviews listed below are on the MisceLAINeous interview page.[http://www.cjas.org/~leng/interview.htm] Here, dead links have been replaced with web archive links.
==English or English Translated==
===1998===
*FRUiTS
October 1998 
English: [http://www.cjas.org/~leng/fruits.htm] 
Interviewee: [[Ueda Yasuyuki|Yasuyuki Ueda]]

===1999===
*Lain talk live
February 27, 1999 
Interviewees: Nakamura, Ueda, Konaka, [[Yoshitoshi ABe|Yoshitoshi Abe]], Takahiro Kishida, Hiroyuki Kakudou (who worked on [[Layer 09]]'s documentary film portion [http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%A7%92%E9%8A%85%E5%8D%9A%E4%B9%8B]), Akira Takemoto, etc. 
English:[http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~fz9y-nikr/English/laintalklive.html] 
Japanese:[http://web.archive.org/web/19990909171725/http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~fz9y-nikr/lain_talklive.html] 

*Animerica
October 1999 
Interviewees: Ueda, Nakamura, Konaka 
English only: [http://www.cjas.org/~leng/pubs.htm#animer]

*HK Magazine
Winter 1999 
Interviewee: Konaka 
English: [http://www.konaka.com/alice6/lain/hkint_e.html] 
Japanese: [http://www.konaka.com/alice6/lain/hkint_j.html] 
Note: Published in French. 
Note: This interview was translated from Japanese by the same guy who wrote about Lain Talk Live above. ''Cool!''

===2000===
*Otakon 2000 panel
August 5, 2000 
Interviewees: Ueda, Abe 
English only:[http://www.cjas.org/~leng/o2klain.htm] 

*A Fan's View
August 4–5, 2000 
Interviewees: [[Wikipedia:Bôa|Bôa]], Ueda, Abe 
English only: [http://web.archive.org/web/20080720003729/http://www.fansview.com/2000f/080400a.htm], [http://web.archive.org/web/20080518045729/http://www.fansview.com/2000f/080500c.htm], [http://web.archive.org/web/20081205031307/http://www.fansview.com/2000f/080500d.htm] 
Note: the second link is an account of the same Otakon 2000 panel as above.

*Anime Jump
August 2000 
Interviewees: Ueda, Abe 
English only: [http://web.archive.org/web/20060510030705/http://www.animejump.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=32&page=1], [http://web.archive.org/web/20060510030644/http://www.animejump.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=33&page=1]

*The Anime Colony online chat
August 2000 
Interviewees: Ueda, Abe 
English only: [http://www.cjas.org/~leng/lainchat.htm]

*Zigzag Asia
''Date unknown'' 
Interviewee: Abe 
English only: [http://web.archive.org/web/20020806194901/http://www.zigzagasia.com/zza/anime/features/index.html] 
Note: this is more about ''NieA_7'' than ''lain''

===2001===

*Anime Central 2001
May 11–13, 2001 
Interviewee: Abe 
English only: [http://web.archive.org/web/20080829125127/http://www.fansview.com/2001/animecentral/051201b.htm]

*Anime Expo 2001
Summer 2001 
Interviewee: Konaka 
English only: [http://www.cjas.org/~leng/konaka.htm]

==Japanese Only==
=== 1998 ===
*AX Magazine
August 1998, October 1998 
Japanese only: [http://www.cjas.org/~leng/pubs.htm] 
Interviewees: [[Nakamura Ryuutarou]], Kaori Shimizu, [[Chiaki J. Konaka]] 
Note: It's unknown if other issues of AX contained interviews of ''lain'' staff. These are listed because fragments of staff interviews are clearly visible in the scans of these issues on MisceLAINeous.

=== 1999 ===

*What is "lain"?
Interviewees: Ueda, Konaka 
Japanese only: [[Visual Experiments Lain]], page 2

*Digital Effects and "NAVI" System
Interviewees: Junji Nakahara, Tomokazu Tokoro 
Japanese only: Visual Experiments Lain, page 24

*Opening and Ending Themes
Interviewees: [[Wikipedia:Bôa|Bôa]], [[Reichi Nakaido|CHABO]] 
Japanese only: Visual Experiments Lain, page 72

*Sound Direction, Effects, and Design
Interviewees: Youta Tsuruoka, Kouji Kasamatsu, Akira Takemoto 
Japanese only: Visual Experiments Lain, page 74

*Film Direction & Design
Interviewees: Nakamura, Kishida 
Japanese only: Visual Experiments Lain, page 76
=== 2000 ===

* That Of ''Lain'' Which Couldn't Be Spoken Of Until Now
（今だから話せる『lain』のあれ） 
Interviewee: Ueda 
Japanese only: [http://web.archive.org/web/20010408055252/www.t-staff.co.jp/lain_ueda_int.html#_=_] 
Note: The date of its publication is unknown. 2000 at the latest, but it could have been as early as 1998.

===2010===

*Lain 12 Years Later (12年目のlain)
August 30, 2010 
Interviewees: Ueda, Abe, Konaka 
Japanese only; interview included in the 2010 reissue of [[Scenario Experiments Lain]] 
Note: maybe this should be translated as "lain turns 12"? i don't know, it's literally "lain of the twelfth year"

*serial experiments lain|REUNION
November 2010 
Interviewees: Ueda, Abe, Konaka, Shimizu, Akihisa Okuda, Hiroshi Saitou, Youichi Senzui, Tetsuro Satomi, Burger Suzuki 
Japanese only: [http://gigazine.net/news/20101123_serial_experiments_lain_event_part1/], [http://gigazine.net/news/20101126_serial_experiments_lain_event_part2/] 
Note: This was an event held at Cine Libre Ikebukuro in Tokyo to promote the release of the Blu-ray Box|RESTORE.[http://page.freett.com/m_utsumi/lainfo.html] It seems like most of the people on stage were random animators who had nothing to do with the production of ''Lain'', unless I'm just bad at finding credits. And one of them was named Burger! But my best guess is that they were the people involved in the restoration process.

==Other==

===2002===
*Mangaes
March 2002 
Interviewee: Abe 
Spanish only: [http://web.archive.org/web/20031202201420/http://www.mangaes.com/seccion.php?seccion=entrevistas&resena=00001]

[[Category:Media]]

Serial Experiments Lain Ultimate Fan Guide

2022-12-31T08:14:31Z

Navi: /* top */clean up, typos fixed: aswell → as well

[[File:Sel-ultimate-game-book.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Fan guide cover]]
The [[Serial Experiments Lain]] Ultimate Fan Guide is an guide to the anime written by Lucien Soulban and first published by Guardians of Order Inc. in 2002. It contains mainly summaries of the various episode as well as a general information about the people, places and organizations in the anime along with some artwork and concept art. It also features some source material for the BESM (Big Eyes Small Mouth) Pen&Paper roleplaying game. BloodBerry from the [[thewired.info]] is working on a scanning of the book and the first part (featuring the summaries), a link can be found on their site.

{{Media}}
[[Category:Books]]

Mebious.co.uk

2022-12-31T08:14:28Z

Navi: clean up, typos fixed: russian → Russian, guage → gauge

[[File:Mobious.co.uk.png|right|thumb|350px|Taken on March 4th, 2016]]
[[File:Mebious.co.uk.png|right|thumb|350px|mebious.co.uk appears on a pressure gauge]]
In the [[Serial Experiments Lain (anime)|anime]], a website whose url appears on a pressure gauge on [[Lain Iwakura|Lain's]] computer. In the real world, it is the website that is arguably the central hub on the Lain online community; several websites, including this one, have come from its visitors.

Mebious is known to have inane comments, random numbers and, periodically, text in Russian.

Despite the challenges such a chaotic environment poses, several people have managed to make contact through the site, and interact more in other places on the internet (to the annoyance of some of them).

It is a hobby of Mebious users to attempt to track down the website's creator, who is known to be called "Tadzio Troman-Taylor" (aka monkiesnake). He is notoriously difficult to find information about in comparison to Internet users.

==Input fields==
There are input boxes for text and images, labeled "in_txt" and "in_img", respectively. When an input fails, the "in_txt/img" button turns from green to red.

===Text===
10 lines of text are displayed at a time. Each row can have a maximum of 48 characters.

Some characters in each line of text randomly turn into symbols that look like the character in question. This only affects lower-case letters. This allows text to remain legible but makes it difficult to follow URLs.

Text may eventually reappear as part of the background image (bg_out).

===Images===
Those new to Mebious often have trouble with image uploading.

It is possible that there is a limit to the total file size that one user can attempt to upload per day. This means that if the limit is exceeded on the first attempt, then no images can be uploaded that day.

To be confirmed:
*What is the file size limit? (From the source code: name="MAX_FILE_SIZE" value="262144")
*Which filetypes are supported? (I believe jpg/png)

Images are randomly distorted, turned green and placed in the background.

Like text, images may eventually reappear as part of the background image.

==History==
In the middle of 2010, the first of now-familiar Russian spam waves appeared.

Sometime in 2010, a suicidal person appeared on Mebious. Several people (or perhaps just one, it is impossible to know for sure) encouraged him or her to commit suicide, and some other group tried to convince them not to. This caused much controversy amongst the users. Someone claiming to be the same person appeared about a year later, stating that they had entered therapy and was doing better.

In early 2011, a troll who posted in ALL CAPS spammed Mebious. This incident has since been resolved.

On the 8th of November 2011, a spammer appeared, posting a URL amongst nonsensical combinations of English words. This incident has not yet been resolved. (May have cleared up now - Feb 2012)

In October 2012, someone decided to start frequently posting the word "lewd", for apparently no reason.

In late September 2013 www.mebious.mobi starting redirecting to www.mebious.co.uk. The reason is unclear and as of October 10 mobi is down.

Since October 2012 to October 2013, Russian spam overwhelms the site. Many people find the site prior to watching SEL resulting in less than relevant posting. In addition, the site was linked to several forums and imageboards across the internet during the year, compounding the issue.

In late November 2016, the site went down for several days due to extreme spamming exceeding the site's allocated resources. This spamming also occurred on [[mebio.us]], posted by a mentally unstable former community member that posed as a woman in Finland.

On November 12, 2021, the Serial Experiments Lain (PlayStation game) Discord released a recreation of mebious written in Common Lisp titled “nmebious.” An instance of the website has been created at [https://lovelain.net/ lovelain.net]. The GitHub is also open for others to deploy their own instances.

==Projects==
*[[Lain Visual Novel Project]]

==External links==
*[http://www.mebious.co.uk Mebious.co.uk], the site in question
*[http://www.mebious.mobi Mebious.mobi] ([[Mebious.mobi|article]]), a website inspired by Mebious.co.uk and has additional functions such as music upload.
*[https://github.com/ad044/nmebious nmebious], a recreation of Mebious in Common Lisp
[[Category:Themes]]

Serial Experiments Lain (game)

2022-12-31T08:14:24Z

Navi: clean up, typos fixed: in November 26, 1998 → on November 26, 1998, November 26, 1998 → November 26, 1998, (2), Offical → Official

[[File:Lain_PS1.jpg|thumb|Serial Experiments Lain is a video game release for the PlayStation on November 26, 1998, two months after the last episode of anime.|right]]
Released on November 26, 1998, for the PlayStation, the [[Serial Experiments Lain]] game consists mostly of pieces of information collected in a random order that allow the player to piece together [[Lain Iwakura]]'s story.

There is guidebook for this game titled [[Serial Experiments Lain Official Guide]].

==Summary==

The player controls a Lain avatar and navigates a hierarchical system of computer files. The events of the game follow Iwakura Lain and her psychiatrist Yonera Touko. The following is a rough summary of the game's events as related by Keisuke Shindo. [http://www.cjas.org/~leng/lainpsx.txt]

*Lain (11) begins to visit Touko (27) because of hallucinations.
*Touko teaches Lain about psychopathology.
*Lain has a friend named Kyoko, who she has a falling out with going into junior high school.
*Lain enters junior high, gaining a friend named Misato and an interest in computers and networks.
*Lain's father disappears under mysterious circumstances, and she programs an AI into a robotic replacement of him.
*After 3 years of counseling, Touko thinks Lain has no more problems.
*Touko begins to diagnose Lain again after finding out from classmates of Lain that Misato does not actually exist.
*Lain programs her father into the Wired and destroys its robotic body, subsequently beginning to program her own personality into the Wired.
*Touko experiences frustration over her lack of mobility at work. Her boss kills himself.
*Touko experiences relationship difficulties, getting dumped by two men in succession.
*Touko becomes emotionally unstable and Lain begins to diagnose her.
*Lain meets her Wired entity and kills her physical self.
*Lain appears before Touko and kills her, absorbing her personality into the wired.

==Characters==
[[Lain Iwakura]]
An apparently ordinary girl with a highly introverted nature and low self-esteem. At age 11, she begins to see and hear hallucinations, most prominently a double of herself. As a result, she sees a therapist at Tachibana General Laboratories. Lain also proves to be adept at psychology and computer science. Most of all, she is unbearably lonely.

[[Touko Yonera]]
Recently graduated from an American university, Touko serves as Lain's counselor and psychiatrist. She is a new employee at Tachibana Research Center, and Lain is her very first client, establishing quite a good relationship with her.

[[Makino Shin'ichirou]]
An ordinary office worker who encounters Lain online. Impressed with her abilities, he provides news, data and computer parts for her.

[[Tomo]]
A boy in Lain's elementary school class that Lain has a crush on.

[[Kyoko]]
A girl in Lain's elementary school class that Lain is somewhat friendly with, who treats Lain like a younger sister.

[[Mayu]]
A friend of Kyoko's.

[[Kaori]]
A girl in Lain's elementary school class that tries to be friendly with everyone.

[[Yasuo Iwakura]]
Lain's father. He and Lain are very close and he treats Lain very kindly, often buying her presents. He is a businessman that occasionally needs to travel.

[[Miho Iwakura]]
Lain's mother. She and Lain are on slightly less good terms, and she is a bit harder on Lain than her father. She still treats Lain very well and looks after her when she needs help. She is a housewife.

[[Misato]]
Lain's (imaginary) friend in her middle school class. Getting along extremely well, Lain and her do all sorts of things together, at least in Lain's memory. Misato is an ideal girl, able to play the violin beautifully, paint exquisitely, and is also very beautiful and elegant.

[[Harumi]]
Touko's longtime friend. She rather abruptly gets married.

[[Kanako]]
Touko's longtime friend. She's a hardworking woman trying to become a publisher.

[[Takeshi]]
Touko's boyfriend, met while studying abroad. He works at Tachibana General Laboratories alongside Touko. Their relationship is very platonic.

[[Yoshida]]
Touko's other lover. He works at an exercise equipment manufacturing company that visits Tachibana General Laboratories from time to time. He is popular with women.

[[Professor Takashima]]
Touko's boss. A well-meaning man that often dumps chores on Touko, impeding her research. Touko hates him.

[[Mr. Rabbit]]
A friend that Lain made online. He teaches her how to hack.

[[Shock Spammer]]
A malevolent user online that sends encrypted shock images to Lain's inbox, such as images of a dead infant and a dead woman.

[[Progenetis]]
Lain's father. After the disappearance of Father, Lain begins to make artificial replacements of her friends and family, starting with Father.

[[Bike-chan]]
A stuffed toy dog that allegedly has been Lain since her birth. Lain seems to view it as a friend.

[[The Other Self]]
A hallucination of another Lain that appears nude. She is the reason that Lain starts seeing Touko.

[[CLN-1]]
An unnamed woman in a school-girl's uniform that shoots her boyfriend in public.

==File System==
The game's interface is designed to be somewhat similar to a database, apparently called the "life instinct function" or "lif", which appears to be located on a server at [[Tachibana General Laboratories]]. The name of the database could hint that it is serving the purpose of keeping lain alive somehow. The database is divided into two Sites: Site A and Site B. Site B is locked when the player begins the game, and can only be unlocked by finding updates hidden in the files. Each file in the site contains an invisible version number. The version of the player's in-game media player must be greater than or equal to that number in order to play the file. The media player can be updated by finding various upgrades hidden in the files.

Located within the database are several different filetypes:
*'''Lda''', standing for lain's_DIARY in game, is a collection of 237 diary entries written by Lain over the course of roughly three years. The diary was given to Lain by Touko early into the counseling sessions as a place to confide her often negative and personal feelings. Interestingly, there is an image included in the game of Touko giving Lain a physical book, but the diaries themselves have evidence to show that the diaries are electronic. It is possible that Lain writes the diaries and then records herself reading them.

*'''Tda''', or TOUKO'S_DIARY, is a collection of 92 diary entries written by Yonera Touko over the course of roughly two years.

*'''Cou''', or COUNSELING_REC. is a collection of 53 recordings of counseling sessions between Lain and Touko. While the earlier sessions had Touko acting as a counselor to Lain, in the final recordings the roles are reversed after Touko becomes unstable. Lain acts as a counselor using her wide knowledge of psychology from independent study.

*'''Dia''', or DIAGNOSIS_CLN## is a collection of 48 diagnoses by either Touko or Lain regarding their patient's behavior and actions to be taken as a result. Touko's recordings bear the designation CLN_01 (referring to Lain) and Lain's bear the designation CLN_00 (referring to Touko). The final recording is done by both.

*'''TaK''' is a series of 181 recordings of a single sentence each by either Lain or Touko, seemingly addressing the player. These sentences are often random questions. Unlike other filetypes, which are mostly presented in chronological order by level number, these files are presented in two apparently parallel chronologies, one consisting of the recordings by Lain (TaK001-TaK121) and the other by Touko (TaK122-181). There is no label for this filetype, but the Serial Experiments Lain Official Guide calls them "Talk" files.

*'''Ekm''' is a series of 6 recordings of conversations between Lain and Kyoko. The label for this filetype is "DATA of CLN01", but the Serial Experiments Lain Official Guide calls these files "Extra Kyoko's Memory". These files only exist on Site A.

*'''Ere''', or RESEARCH_"Ky" and RESEARCH_"Ka" is a series of 10 interviews between Touko and some of Lain's classmates regarding Lain. The Serial Experiments Official Guide calls these files "Extra Research". These files only exist on Site B.

*'''Eda''' or RESEARCH_"Ma" is a series of 4 counseling sessions between Makino and possibly Professor Takashima, and 1 news report. The fifth file has the designation NEWS_SHOW. The Serial Experiments Lain Official Guide calls these files "Extra Data". These files only exist on Site B.

*'''Sskn''' or SaiSei-kun is a collection of freeware upgrade apps for the game's movie playing tool. Each successive update unlocks more content. There are seven upgrades available. The designation for these files is "mT up-date App."

*'''P2-''' or POLY-TAN PARTS are pieces of a virtual bear model named Poly-tan. Collecting all parts unlocks some files, according to the Serial Experiments Lain Official Guide. There are 6 in all, all of which are located on Site A.

*'''GaTE''' is a series of network applications that are needed to proceed from Site A to Site B. There are 4 in all.

*'''Dc1''', or DATA of CLN## is a series of 57 animated video files, mostly of Lain. While the numbers do go up to 058, Dc1029 is missing. Unlike the other filetypes, these files are presented in mostly random order, Site A containing the first 28 and Site B containing the latter 29. Each video file has its own name. Interestingly, the name "drive" is used twice. It is unknown who filmed these files or for what purpose, or whether there was even a cameraman at all. While some files have a distinctly handheld look to them or are clearly for the purpose of filming a counseling session, others are far more unusual; some appear to be hidden cameras, others appear to be professionally edited to show a series of events from a certain angle, and still others appear to be impossible or difficult shots, like aerial shots or shots of Lain in a bathroom mirror with no visible camera behind her. The CLN number, or client number, varies occasionally, but for most of the files is CLN01, or Lain. A few files in Site B use the designations CLN00 (Touko) or CLN-1 (a seemingly unnamed woman). The missing file, Dc1029, appears to be located between Site A and B, and its contents are located in the short manga "[[The Nightmare of Fabrication]]". The Serial Experiments Lain Official Guide calls these files "Dcl".

*'''Env''' or network voices? is a series of 12 files that contain nothing but static and assorted voices. The server data for all these files are corrupted. These files are extra content and are not part of the regular game. All of these files are located on Site A's Level 0.

*'''Xv0''' is a collection of unused video clips. These files are extra content and are not part of the regular game.

*'''Xa''' is a collection of miscellaneous audio. Most of these files contain Touko in an apparent state of distress, though the first and last files contain Lain's voice. These files are extra content and are not part of the regular game.

==Connections between the game and the anime==
This game explains many elements in the [[Serial Experiments Lain (anime)|anime]] that are taken for granted or left unexplained. It can be considered an alternate timeline to the anime, perhaps one where Lain is incarnated into a different environment.

*Lain's haircut

In the game, it is revealed that Lain cut her own hair. The longer lock of hair where she clips her [[Lain's Hairclip|hairclip]] is meant to prevent something that "enters from the right" from "going out through the left". Not much is known about the context of this statement (at least to the English-speaking fandom), but it has been theorised that Lain's hairstyle wards off demons or prevents her memories from disappearing.

According to the [[Serial Experiments Lain Official Guide|guide]], Lain's mysterious statement is referring to her [[crosstalk|auditory hallucinations.]] See [[Q&A]] for more information.

*The chip from [[Layer 09]]

This may be the same in nature as the machine that [[Touko Yonera]] received from [[Tachibana General Laboratories]].

*Shared [[:Category:Themes|themes]]

As part of the same franchise, both the game and the anime cover topics such as the reliability of [[memory]] and the nature of existence and [[reality]].

==Translation==
Access to the fan translation at [https://laingame.net/ laingame.net]

As the videogame has never been officially translated, a team of fans has fan translated the entire game in English and made the nodes easily browsable. Project began in 2008 and the translation was released in 2014.

A long time passed after a team of volunteers decided to remake the game from the ground up using web technologies (React, three.js, WebGL) making the whole game playable in the web browser. Work on [https://github.com/ad044/lainTSX lainTSX] started solo by ad044 since August 2020, and on 13 September 2020 help was gathered from community. Decision to recreate the game in the browser made the translation, especially the integration of the subtitles easier, and gave the opportunity to smooth the gameplay and the animation using a better framerate and overall timing.

{{Media}}
[[Category:Media]]

Becoming God

2022-12-31T08:14:10Z

Navi: /* top */clean up, typos fixed: didn’t → didn't (9), there’s → there's, … → ... (13), isn’t → isn't, that’s → that's (6), You’ve → You've (5), He’s → He's (2), I’m → I'm (12), They’re → They're, ’s → 's (7), Foregorund → Foreground

{{VNProject}}

[[Category:VN]]

Chapter 1
----

“UNTITLED (VISUAL NOVEL EXPERIMENTS LAIN) (WIP)”
By: Anonymous

INTRODUCTION
The scene opens with the main character waking up. He is staring at the room's ceiling. There is the hum of a fan motor and the flowing air.

MC: Another unfamiliar ceiling?
No...

This is my room.

Why...

---
An Alarm Begins to sound and the view changes to a loft room from behind a Kotatsu. A monitor with Copland OS running can be seen on a desk.
---

NAVI: Good morn- (The NAVI's greeting is interrupted.)

MC:I'm awake!

Not sure if I'm alive though.

Messages!

NAVI: There are no messages for- (The NAVI is again interrupted)

MC: Wonderful, I can step into the office without losing an ear or two.

FACELESS VOICE:
>SE:white noise in the background<

“It is such a nice day to serve God isn’t it?”

MC: Huh?

NAVI: There are n-

MC: Shut up!

I’ve got no time to lose my mind before work. I'm behind as it is!
Working for Tachibana Labs is enough!

Now where did I put my keys...

---
There is a quick shot of the door and the sound of it creaking open and closing.
---
The scene is now in a grey cubicle. A monitor running Copland OS is seen on the desk along with office stationary. The occasional phone can be heard ringing in the background, Distant keys click profusely.
---

TGL EMPLOYEE: Good morning!

MC:Good morning.

I didn't get any messages, what happened? Did Eiri-san descend from Paradise and finish all the late commits?

EMPLOYEE:
Haha, that's a little too soon. The nutcase only killed himself last month. We could’ve really used him though. We’ve got more problems than solutions lately.

Anyways, Lead says he cleared your plate. You've really dodged a bullet. He's been forcing us to drink ‘Coffee’ as punishment all morning.
He said something about you doing a special assignment, Wetware division. Didn't you get a message?

MC: I haven't heard a thing.

EMPLOYEE:
Well you better see him before Lead thinks you're back on the job.

MC: Yeah, will do.

:The scene fades a bit:

MC (IN THOUGHT):

The boss? I’ve never so much as seen him since my interview 7 years ago.

Even weirder, Wetware? A special assignment? Am I being transferred? No, I’ve never even dissected a frog. How could I work in Wetware?

Whatever, I'll get some answers.

But first, coffee.

---
The scene opens in a luxurious office, a deep brown mahogany decorates the walls and furniture of the office, a couch is upholstered a dark green and a lamp sits atop the desk. A holographic interface running Copland OS floats on the desk.
The silhouette of a tall intimidating blonde man with an executive cut and a jet black American cut suit stands behind the desk glancing out the window. He stands at attention and his hands are behind his back at his waist. His back is facing the ‘camera’
The perspective is from a seat in front of the desk.
---

MC:I’ve been told to see you about an assignment sir. I haven't received any kind of message...

BOSS: Take a seat.

Yes, I'm transferring you to Wetware, I'm told there's a task that suits someone of your... Competence.

MC: I don't know the first-

BOSS: You don't have to. I don't know the details. This comes from even higher up. I'm just responsible for a little paperwork.

MC: When is this supposed to happen? Where is the Wetware division?

BOSS: Tomorrow, a car will pick you up from your apartment in the morning.

---
The scene is in the MC's loft again.
The screen on the desk is dark.
:SE:Cicadas stridulate in the background.
---
FACELESS VOICE:
>SE: White noise in background<

Waaake up.

MC: *Yawn*

I must be dead...

Nothing can hurt this much in the morning and still be considered alive.

---
There is a knock at the door.
>:SE: Knocking<
---

MC: The reaper is so much more polite than my landlord.

WAIT A MINUTE!

What time is it?! I must have slept in.

Oh NAVI... You have failed me for the last time.

I'll be out in a minute!

---
Two men sprites of the MIB's stand in the foreground. The background is the front of a Black Toyota Century. They're wearing strange eyepieces with a laser-sight. (They can be recognized as the MIB; Lin Sui-Xi and Karl.)
---

MC: You're my ride right?

MIB (KARL): Yes, we’re here to escort you. Step into the car.

---
Scene opens with the sounds of wheels passing over gravel.
A landscape of Sakura trees passes by; the perspective is from the right rear passenger behind a black tinted window.
---

MC: How far is this place?

Do I have to get there everyday?

MIB (LIN): We'll be there soon.

I don't think that will be expected of you.

---
The car stops with the sound of the brakes bringing the car to a halt.
>SE<
---

MIB (KARL): We’re here. We’ve been instructed to bring you back with the package or not at all.

MC: Whoa, what package?

MIB (LIN): Don't ask too many questions. It's bad for your health. *He takes a drag from a cigarette*

MC: Right.

---
The scene stands before a 3 storey tall concrete and glass office complex, it stands solitary and there is no one outside.
A few footsteps are heard as the scene fades into a reception area. It appears very sterile. Like a doctor's office.
In the Foreground: A very professional looking young woman sits at a desk typing on a small NAVI monitor. It partially obscures her.
---

MC: Hello?

RECEPTIONIST: She speaks in a dead tone: Tsubaki-san will see you now.

*She glances past him*

MC: Uhh...

---
A black-haired man in a white lab-coat quickly enters the foreground. He bears a neutral expression.
---

TSUBAKI: You must be the transfer.

MC: That's correct, I'm supposed to work in Wetware?

TSUBAKI: That's not entirely correct, for the time being...

*He glances at the receptionist*

Let's continue this on the way shall we?

---
The scene changes to a hallway and the sound of footsteps is heard.
>SE<
---

TSUBAKI: Now, that's better.

Officially, you're under employment of Tachibana Lab's Wetware division. You'll receive the same payroll as our specialist technicians while you carry out your task.

MC: My task?

TSUBAKI: Yes of course, better to show you.

---
The ding of an elevator call is heard
And the scene briefly switches to the inside of the elevator
---

---
Tsubaki inserts and turns a key into the panel while pressing a button below the rest without a number.

The same ding is heard and the scene resembles a wide Operating Room. Gurneys line the walls and beside them are IV stands. Numerous medical paraphernalia can be seen.

In the center of the room stands a large vat of green fluid. It bubbles and this can be heard. Inside the tank is the silhouette of a slim humanoid figure.
---
MC: Whoa.

TSUBAKI: Impressive isn't it? It is the culmination of years of work by Eiri and The Knights, The most valuable project in human history.

MC: What?

Who? I...

Who again?

How?

I'm in the dark here.

TSUBAKI: None of that's really relevant to you. I'll brief you and the specimen will be released to your custody.

MC: Okay but... Wait, wait, what exactly do you do here?

I thought I was picking up a package. What is this “specimen?”

TSUBAKI: This is Wetware. If it can be done with biology we make it happen. Anything.

MC: So, that thing in there... That's a cyborg? A clone?

TSUBAKI:The specimen is an synthetic lifeform bonded to the form of a human being.

It was but an anomaly drifting in the Cyberspace of the Wired and saved by Eiri. He gave it form.

We brought it to life.

To call it by some ridiculous science-fiction moniker does not do our work justice.

We prefer to call her... Lain.

MC: When did I step into wonderland...

Lain, Like rain?

TSUBAKI: No, I take it you have never studied Russian before?

MC: Of course not.

TSUBAKI: It means Online. She was discovered in Russian networks and found among their domains and thus she is named.

MC:You expect me to deliver that thing?

TSUBAKI: No, you are to be her Handler.

----
END OF CHAPTER 1

Chiaki J. Konaka

2022-12-31T08:04:57Z

Navi: clean up, typos fixed: wikipedia → Wikipedia

[[File:Konaka.jpg|thumb|266px|right]]
Chiaki Konaka is the sole scenario writer and series composer for the [[Serial Experiments Lain (anime)|Serial Experiments Lain anime]] and [[Serial Experiments Lain (game)|game]]. For the anime, he also did digital effects processing of film clips used in [[Layer 07]] and [[Layer 09]]. According to [[Visual Experiments Lain]], he was originally going to school to become a film director, but after using a word processor for the first time he changed fields to script writing, specializing in horror and fantasy. He is known for his dark storylines and for using cyberpunk themes in his work, and often shows Lovecraftian and (especially) Carrollian influences. Examples of these include ''Ghost Hound'', ''Texhnolyze'', and ''Malice@Doll''. Besides anime, he has also written for live-action television and tokusatsu.

== List of Work ==
=== Anime ===

* Air Gear: Series composition, script
* Armitage III: Screenplay
* Astro Boy (2003): Script
* The Big O: Screenplay, script
* Birdy the Mighty: Screenplay
* Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040: Screenplay
* Catnapped!: Screenplay
* Despera: Script
* Devil Lady: Script (episodes 1–5, 8, 12, 18, 25–26), series composition
* Digimon Adventure 02: Scenario (episode 13)
* Digimon Tamers: Series composition, script (episodes 1–3, 7, 13–14, 23–24, 34–35, 41, 44–45, 49–51)
* Futari Ecchi: Script
* Gasaraki: Script
* GeGeGe no Kitarō (1996): Script (Episode 89 only)
* Ghost Hound: Series composition, screenplay
* GR: Giant Robo: Series composition
* Hellsing: Series composition, script (episodes 1–6, 8–9, 11–13)
* Magic User's Club: Script (eps 2–6), novelization (1,2,5,6)
* Malice@Doll: Script, original story
* Parasite Dolls: Script
* Princess Tutu: Script (4, 9, 22, 23)
* RahXephon: Screenplay (episodes 11–12, 17–18, 24–25)
* RahXephon: Pluralitas Concentio: Screenplay
* Serial Experiments Lain: Miniseries composition, script
* Shadow Star: Series composition, script (eps 1–3, 12–13)
* Texhnolyze: Series composition, script, scenario (episodes 1–4, 6, 12, 20–22)
* Vampire Princess Miyu: Script (ep 20)

=== Television dramas ===
* Ultraman Tiga
* Ultraman Gaia
* Ultra Q: Dark Fantasy
* Ultraman Max
* Cthulhu Mythos
* Cthulhu's Strange Record
* Insumasu wo Oou Kage (a Japanese television adaptation of The Shadow Over Innsmouth)
* "Terror Rate", a short story included in Volume 2 of the Lairs of the Hidden Gods anthology (Kurodahan Press: ISBN 4-902075-12-1)

=== Novel ===
* Marebito (also screenplay of 2004 feature film)

==Trivia==
*He himself the middle initial "J", evoking the Christian name "John", due to him being born to parents who were members of the Anglican Church, but he does not identify as Christian. He began using the middle initial at the age of 12, when he began making 8 mm films; he patterned the style after Western names such as [[Wikipedia:Charles M. Schulz|Charles M. Schulz]].
*He has a hobby of designing dolls. He made dolls for ''Lain'' and other works he was involved in, such as ''The Big O'' and ''Malice@doll''.
*His younger brother, Kazuya Konaka (小中和哉), is a film and TV director. They have collaborated on a few projects, including ''Alice 6'' and the 1992 drama ''Kuma-chan''.
*He makes digital music, which can be heard on his web site.
*Prior to doing SEL, he wrote the 1995 television drama ''[[Alice 6]]''.
*He also wrote the scenario of ''Alice in Cyberland'', a 1996 PlayStation game, as well as an OVA animation of the same name. The game is described on ja.Wikipedia as a combination gal game and adventure game. Its main characters are called Alice, Juri, and Rena.
==External links==
*[http://konaka.com/ Personal site]
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20031220124515/http://www.konaka-dolls.com/img/lain/productinfo.html Web archive page of his Lain dolls]
[[Category:Staff]]

Alice's Teacher

2022-12-31T08:04:36Z

Navi: clean up, typos fixed: end result → result

{{CharacterInfo
|image = File:Alice's teacher.jpeg
|gender = Male
|age =
|family =
|occupation = Teacher
|affiliation = [[School]]
|NAVI =
|debut = [[Layer 08]]
|featured in = [[Serial Experiments Lain (anime)|Anime]]
|location = [[Shibuya]]
|voiceactors = [[Wikipedia:Ken Narita|Ken Narita]] (Japanese),
[[Wikipedia:Steven Blum|Steven Blum]] (English)
}}

The young, handsome male teacher who is [[Alice Mizuki|Alice's]] heartthrob. Though he appears 3 times in the [[Serial Experiments Lain|anime]], he has no name, and is referred to only as 教師 (teacher) in the [[Scenario Experiments Lain|scenarios]].

== Episode 8 appearance and fan misunderstanding ==

The first time he appears is in [[Layer 08|Episode 8]]. Fans of Serial Experiments Lain often misinterpret this scene as a real lovers' tryst between Alice and the teacher, but it was intended to be a fantasy of Alice's that wasn't really happening. The rumors about Alice that [[Evil Lain]] started were not about an affair between Alice and the teacher, but about Alice's crush on him.

Below is a translation of the scene as it appears in the Scenarios, including footnotes by [[Chiaki J. Konaka]]. The scene is not exactly the same as it appears in the anime.

=== Scenario ===

<tt>INT. Alice's Room * 
Alice sits before her desk. 
A tall, young teacher stands behind her, reaching his arms around to embrace her. 
Her face is flushed, eyes shut. 
With his palm on her cheek, the teacher turns her head back slightly. 
Alice's lips move invitingly with the expectation of a kiss. 
The teacher gazes at them. 
Alice opens her eyes and looks at the teacher with an uncertain expression. 
The teacher slides his palm along Alice's cheek to trace her lips with his fingers. 
Alice looks frightened.


TEACHER *
''(soft voice)'' Do you think it's right to do this kind of thing with your teacher?

ALICE 
It's... not right...

TEACHER 
If it's not right, why are you doing it?

ALICE 
Because... I... want to... ''(gasps)''

Alice turns to look behind her. Quietly sitting on her bed, is Lain.* 
Alice is sitting in her own chair. There is no teacher behind her. 
He was never there in the first place.

Alice's left hand was under the desk. She slowly raises it above the desk. 
Lain just stares intently.


ALICE 
So it was you... Lain...

''Lain whispers close at Alice's side.''
LAIN 
''(whispering)'' Hey... Did you hear? Did you hear who Alice Mizuki likes? Did you hear who she thinks about while she does dirty stuff?

ALICE 
... ''(Turns face away)''

''Lain is still there in front of her.'' 
ALICE 
So you were the one who spread the rumors.

LAIN 
... ''(smiling)''

ALICE 
Were you watching me like that all along!? The things I do in secret, the times I don't want anyone to know about!

''Lain smiles.''

ALICE 
You're so...

''Alice is enveloped by noise, and disappears.''

</tt>

=== Footnotes ===
* This is the only scene in the series that I personally called for revisions for, writing with a lot of uncertainy and doubt. The thing you least want others to see. The pain of it being seen, and the pain of the one who sees it. I concluded that this was the only way to write it, but it still took a lot of courage. And when I finally decided to write it, Alice's role in the story finally fell into place. At the after recording for episode 7, I said to Yoko Asada, "Alice's part is about to become much more difficult to play. Please do your best!"

* The scene was so deeply thought out, yet it contains lines that could never be broadcast on TV. We couldn't arrive at a good compromise. The result was that, without changing the visuals, the conversation of Alice and her (imaginary) teacher was cut from the broadcast version. It was included in the home video release, so essentially the only difference between the broadcast and home video versions is this scene.

* [''TL note: In this scene, Lain's name is written as "lain," in alphabet letters.''] The writing of "lain" is merely a way of helping to tell the difference between the roles in the after recording script. At this point in the story, only three personalities have appeared: 玲音 (childish, late-blooming personality), レイン (aggressive personality, typified by Lain of the Wired) and "lain" (devilish personality). But of course these are not all that comprise the being "lain" (including Goddess "lain").

== Episode 11 appearance ==
The teacher appears briefly at the end of [[Layer 11|episode 11]]. Alice, [[Juri Katou]] and [[Reika Yamamoto]] are standing by the [[school]] gates talking, and Alice sees the teacher talking to the gate guard. Reika says, "Oh, that teacher? Rumor has it that he's going out with a 9th grader!"

The Funimation release ([https://youtu.be/uVzCNdwuiqQ?t=20m34s YouTube]) has mistranslated Reika's line, saying the teacher is going out with an 8th grader.

== Episode 13 appearance ==
In [[Layer 13|Episode 13]] after the [[Reset]], Alice and Lain run into each other on a pedestrian overpass in an unspecified portion of the city.

The teacher is with Alice, and they appear to be a couple.

Below is an excerpt from the scenarios, with footnotes by Konaka.
=== Scenario ===
<tt>EXT. City Street at Twilight 
It's Alice. She's in her 20's, and has grown up beautifully. 
She's arm in arm with... that teacher. 
The two are in love. They'll probably be married before long. *


ALICE 
(Laughing) Fine, but I get to do whatever I want with the bedroom curtains.

Alice suddenly grows thoughtful, looking ahead. 
MAN 
What's the matter?

ALICE 
That girl...

Where Alice is looking... there stands Lain.

MAN 
Someone you know?

Alice 
I'm not sure...

Alice lets go of the man's arm and goes to Lain. 
Alice has gotten taller. She bends over to look Lain in the eye.


ALICE 
Hello.

LAIN 
H, hello

ALICE 
Have we met before? We have, haven't we?

LAIN 
...

ALICE 
Hmm. Did you go to the school where I was a student teacher? No, that's not it. Let me think...

LAIN 
It's nice to meet you.

ALICE 
Huh?

LAIN 
''(smiling)'' * This is the first time we've met.

ALICE 
''(puzzled)'' Really? ''(smiling)'' It's nice to meet you. I'm Alice. Great name isn't it? ''(sarcastic smile)'' Kinda embarrassing though. What's your name?

LAIN 
... Lain.

ALICE 
Lain...

The teacher walks over. 
MAN 
So it's someone you know?

ALICE 
Nope, seems like I was imagining things. Well, goodbye Lain. Who knows, maybe we'll meet again somewhere, some day.

''The couple walk away from Lain, waving their hands.''

LAIN 
That's right... We could meet at any time, Alice...*

Lain waves back awkwardly. 
Lain stands among the moving crowd. 
Then, the crowd disappears. 
Finally, the city also disappears, and Lain is left alone. 

</tt>

=== Footnotes ===
* One more thing I said to Asada-san before episode 8's recording. "Alice will be happy in the end."
* Kaori-chan's acting was great here...
* The last word "Alice" here was removed at my proposal.
{{AnimeCharacters}}

[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Translations]]

All I Ever Needed To Know In This Fragile Layer Of Existence We Call The Real World I Learned From Serial Experiments Lain

2022-12-31T08:04:24Z

Navi: clean up, typos fixed: don’t → don't (2), you’re → you're, it’s → it's, womens → women's

{{Tone}}

Welcome to the one and only AIENTKITFLOEWCTRWILFSEL page! The only page on the net where the title is a run-on sentence! Well, that's not really true, but it's the only page whose title is a run-on sentence that doesn't suck! Although again, that might be subject for debate. Look, just start reading before I make myself look like even more of an idiot, OK? Although I really don't think I have any sort of claim to sanity after making something like this. It is a little difficult to make a list of definitive laws about a series where, in order to maintain honesty, any statement must be ended with an "I think." As in "Lain made all their memories go away... I think," or "The game the kids were all playing actually was important... I think." Still, for better or worse, here it is.

1) Sometimes, the only thing worse than being depressed and alone is NOT being depressed and alone.

2) [[Cyberia|Hip clubs]] can be more trouble than they're worth.

3) Drugs are bad. Especially if they look like [[Accela|machines]].

4) Playing tag can be a REALLY bad idea.

5) [[NAVI|Computers]] are cool. Big computers are cooler. Computers that fill an entire room are beyond cool.

6) They aren't your real [[Family|parents]].

7) She isn't your real sister (especially if she does nothing but make modem noises).

8) There is only one me, and [[Identity|I am me]].

9) No there isn't.

10) The [[MIB]] do exist, and one of them is a crazy Asian guy. The other has a Lolita Complex.

11) [[God]] is a [[Masami Eiri|disgruntled computer programmer]] (probably from Microsoft).

12) God is also in five pieces and held together with duct-tape.

13) If you visit your friend's house for the first time and everything is covered with blood, cords, and water, get the hell out of there before God decides to try and kick your ass.

14) Wherever we go, we'll always be connected.

15) Sometimes there isn't anywhere on Earth you can run to.

16) [[Knights of the Eastern Calculus]] are evil. Very evil. They look down women's skirts! And they play videogames with their children! Evil evil!

17) [[Taro|Kids]] [[Masayuki|in]] [[Myu-Myu|bars]] know everything about computers. And they're always at the same table. Just accept that.

18) Evil twins can totally screw up your social life.

19) But it's OK, because you can just make everyone [[Memory|forget]] it ever happened.

20) When outside, shadows are made up of a weird splotchy red pattern. However, normal people can't see it. Simply accept this.

21) If you're going to summon the devil on the [[the Wired|internet]], bring your quake cheatcodes. If you're going to summon God, bring a mop.

22) The only certain thing in "life" is that [[Bear suit|teddy bear pajamas]] will never go out of style.

23) When entertaining guests, take the wires off your lip.

24) "I love you" is just another way of saying "Goodbye, this never happened."

25) Don't listen to peer pressure, especially when a high caliber pistol appears in your hand and a boy you don't know is telling you to press the trigger with your thumb.

26) Don't be afraid, everything will be all right.

27) The best way to exist is not to.

28) Someone is watching you. [[Conspiracy|Always]].

29) Your friends are not your friends. Your family is not your family. Your body is not your body. Your mind is not your own.

30) Forget number 26.

31) We are all software. Even worse, we're all freeware with no warranty, no manual, and an interface that even God has a hard time using.

32) If you're gonna die, make sure to send emails out about how you're not really dead.

33) If you see MIB standing outside your house, be afraid.

34) Accept that you're everywhere and know everything. It'll make things a lot easier when God tells you later in a mirc-esque chat..

35) Never accept mail from strangers.

36) [[Reality]] is just like the wired, minus the computer.

37) Don't try to kill your twin, it usually won't work.

38) If you get an email from a dead person, don't tell anyone about it.

39) If you need a new computer, don't worry about it because [[Tachibana General Laboratories|the company]] will almost immediately send you the newest model.

40) If the telephone lines start dripping blood, be concerned.

41) Don't be so quick to tell someone "We're all connected".

42) Don't stick computer parts in your mouth, especially if they erase your memory.

43) Don't try to impress bored housewives with your computer knowledge; they may know more than you think.

44) Don't tell God that maybe he isn't really God, he'll go nuts.

45) If your [[Shoko Masatsugu|mom]] doesn't show up after telling her it's her turn to play, go check on her.

46) If you find yourself sitting in the middle of a busy street, don't worry the cars will go around you.

47) Avoid men in black suits, men in ducktape, kids in bear suits, and boys playing video games like the plague.

48) Don't be judgmental; everyone is connected (So the guy who picks his nose in gym class is a part of you...EEWW!)

49) Remember to update your software, you never know when your connection might go bad (How would you update a human being anyway?)

50) If your internet connection doesn't work you have the option of jumping off a building to get the " Full experience" (NOT RECOMMENDED)

51) The NAVI is your friend, The NAVI is your pal.

52) The truth is out there.

53) Pray that god doesn't decide to quit his job or get fired.

54) You have a twin.

55) and she's looking for you.

56) Everything can be classified by "Layers"

57) Your mother isn't your real mother, your father isn't your real father, your sister is a human modem, and your dog is probably working for the government.

58) Be paranoid, they're watching you.

59) they are also manipulating you.

60) If you vaguely remember mysterious girls who appear on your internet connections, don't worry, your memory has been erased.

61) Creepy little girls who stand away from crowds are usually very powerful beings.

62) And you probably knew them, personally.

63) Affairs with Adult teachers are a bad idea.

64) Not just in the world of lain, but the real world too.

65) Don't give anyone anything, it can probably be used against you.

66) The answer to the Wired riddle is "forty-two."

67) Always get your portable navi upgraded. It saves time.

68) Never trust anything found at Roswell.

69) Or anything American.

70) For that matter, just don't trust.

71) No one with a friend named [[Alice Mizuki|Alice]] has a Normal life.

72) Love is never having to speak to your spouse, unless your daughter freaks out.

73) She's not your kid, or at least she wasn't until the update.

74) Taro is a lot like life. It has what you want, but you have to make it happy with you to get it, and it always wants you to be what you're not...

75) You are what you aren't you just are. Not.

76) If the clouds break and you see your face appear, take notice.

77) If your daughter suddenly begins building a computer while in her night gown, be concerned.

78) Scratch that, she's not REALLY your daughter.

79) If a friend of yours catches you masturbating, it's probably not really them, but their alter internet personality.

80) Wait, no, it was ANOTHER of their personalities, not the internet one but the evil one.

81) Be interested if an alien opens the door to your room. At least ask him if he would like to come in.

82) Be afraid if you see the reflection of a little girl in your laser-goggle thingies. Be very afraid.

83) [[Lain Iwakura|Small girls]] with a single braid in their hair are all-powerful God's. Accept it.

==Sources==
Taken from [http://web.archive.org/web/20090829113407/http://geocities.com/the_hfil/Features/all_lain.html here]
[[Category:Media]]
Back to [[Fanworks]]

Yoshitoshi ABe

2022-12-31T08:04:02Z

Navi: clean up, typos fixed: 42-12 → 42–12

[[File:830px-Yoshitoshi Abe 20070520 Epitanime.jpg|thumb|266px|right]]
'''Yoshitoshi ABe''' is the character designer for [[Serial Experiments Lain]], as well as other popular anime, such as Niea_7 and Haibane Renmei. [[Ueda Yasuyuki]], who came up with the original concept for ''Lain'', invited him to come work on the project after seeing his art online. Abe was a senior in art school at the time. A collection of his art for the series was released as [[Omnipresence in Wired]], which features the short manga, [[The Nightmare of Fabrication]].

One of his recent project is a series called Despera, set in 1930s Japan, with a main character named Ain who looks very similar to [[Lain Iwakura]].

He has contributed to the doujinshi works of a circle called Mutekei-Fire, under the pen name AB.

A Japanese-language periodical featured him in 2010. ''Eureka'' no. 586, vol. 42–12, 10 October 2010, subtitled ''The Necessary yoshitoshi ABE'', contains essays and reviews about him, interviews of him, color illustrations, 18 glossy pages of color works and pencil sketches, including works he did in art school, and a 28-page manga called "Where the Rain Falls" (雨の降る場所　''ame no furu basho'') that was originally printed in ''Afternoon Shiki-shou'' in 1994.

He may be found on many online communities, such as Twitter or YouTube, usually with a screenname of Abfly, or similar.

==List of Works==
===Anime===
* Serial Experiments Lain (1998) (original character design)[6]
* NieA 7 (2000) (original character design, scenario)[6]
* Haibane Renmei (2002) (original creator, original character design, series composition, screenplay)
* Texhnolyze (2003) (original character design)
* Welcome to the N.H.K. (2006) (original character design)
* RErideD: Derrida, who leaps through time (2018) (original character design, screenplay for episodes 4, 8, and 10)
* Despera (TBA) (original character design)
===Music===
* Love Song (2005) (cover art and booklet illustrations)
===Video games===
* Wachenröder (1998)
* Phenomeno (2012)[7]
===Printed works===
* '''Dōjinshi'''
** Furumachi (August, 1996)
** Shooting Star (December, 1996)
** White Rain (July, 1997)
** Sui-Rin (August, 1998)
** Charcoal Feather Federation (Haibane Renmei) (December, 1998)
** T.Prevue Version 0.9 (August, 1999)
** Faces (December, 1999)
** K.S.M.E (July, 2000)
** Sketches (December, 2000)
** NieA Under 7 - Under (August, 2001)
** Haibane Renmei - The Haibanes of Old Home (Ch.1) (August, 2001)
** Haibane Renmei - The Haibanes of Old Home (Ch.2) (December, 2001)
** Haibane Renmei - Haibane Lifestyle Diary (August, 2002)
** Haibane Renmei - The Haibanes of Old Home (Extra) (December, 2002)
** Ryuu Tai (July, 2003)
** Not Found (December, 2003)
** Haibane Renmei - Kyakuhonshuu - Volume 1 (August, 2004)
** Haibane Renmei - Kyakuhonshuu - Volume 2 (December, 2004)
** Haibane Renmei - Kyakuhonshuu - Volume 3 (December, 2004)
** Miscellaneous (December, 2004)
** GRID. (August, 2005)
** Haibane Renmei - Kyakuhonshuu - Volume 4 (December, 2005)
** Haibane Renmei - Kyakuhonshuu - Volume 5 (December, 2005)
** Yakkyoku no Pochiyamasan (December, 2005)
** Haibane Renmei - Kyakuhonshuu - Volume 6 (August, 2006)
** Yakkyoku no Pochiyamasan 2.0 (August, 2006)
** Yakkyoku no Pochiyamasan 3.0 (August 19, 2007)
** f.p.o. (Fixed Point Observation) (August 17, 2008)
** Ryuhshika (August 17, 2008)
** Yakkyoku no Pochiyamasan 4.0 (December 30, 2008)
* '''Artbooks'''
** Serial Experiments Lain - An Omnipresence in the Wired (May, 1999)
** Visual Experiments Lain
** Essence (May, 2001) *Released in the US*
** NieA Under 7 - Scrap (July, 2001)
** Haibane Renmei - In the Town of Guri, in the Garden of Charcoal Feathers (December, 2003)
** yoshitoshi ABe lain illustrations - ab# rebuild an omnipresence in the wired (Japan: December 2005; US: April 2006)
** Gaisokyu (August, 2007)
* '''Manga'''
** Ame no Furu Basho (debut) Afternoon (April 1994)[8]
** NieA Under 7 (Vol. 1) (June, 2001)
** NieA Under 7 (Vol. 2) (August, 2001)
** All You Need Is Kill (December, 2004)
** Ryushika Ryushika (2009)
* '''Contributions'''
** Mutekei Fire - Tarame Paradise Doujins
** Mutekei Fire - Great Pictorial Guide of Uki-Uki in the World Doujins
** Mutekei Fire - Tokimeki Shitsumon Bako Doujins
** Range Murata - Flat
** Range Murata - Rule - Fa Documenta 003
** Range Murata - Robot - Volume 1-9
** Range Murata - Robot - Volume 10 with "U.C.O."
** Foo Swee Chin - Muzz Doujins 1-2
** Akai Kiba (Red Fang) - Volumes 1-4
** Hell Girl, episode 13 - sketches and wallpaint
** Cover Illustrations
** Kami no Keifu Novels 1-3
** Welcome to the N.H.K.
** Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge
** Chojin Keikaku (bunko edition only)
** Slip Manga Collection
** All You Need is Kill
* '''Misc.'''
** "AB Note" yoshitoshi ABe Sketchbook (GoFa 2003)
** "GoFa Portfolio Collection A" 20 A4 Prints (sold by GoFa at AX2003 - 100 made)
** "GoFa Portfolio Collection B" 20 A4 Prints (Sold by GoFa at AX2003 - 100 made)
** "Kaira" Wani Magazine Comics Special (July, 2008

==External links==
*[https://www.patreon.com/abfly His Patreon] - Active as of November 2021
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20000123030355/http://www.people.or.jp/~ab/index.html His old homepage] (web archive) - it was likely this site or something similar that led Ueda to Abe.
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20020604080921/http://web.ffn.ne.jp/~ab/ Another old homepage] (web archive) - Be sure to skip around on the timeline on these archived sites.
* A total of 44 early (mid to late 90's) images by Abe: [http://www.taremeparadise.com/maindata/ab_cg1j.html] [http://www.taremeparadise.com/maindata/ab_cg2j.html] [http://www.taremeparadise.com/maindata/ab_cg3j.html] [http://www.taremeparadise.com/maindata/ab_cg4j.html]
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20120630053425/http://homepage.mac.com/abworks/ His new homepage] (also web archive)
*[http://abworks.blog83.fc2.com/ ABlog]
*[http://www.codeartstudio.org/artists/artist.php?id=12 This page] (Russian) contains links to some of his Mutekei-Fire doujin works, among other things.
* [http://2chan.us/wordpress/2010/05/30/afternoon-four-seasons-award-shiki-sho-information-notable-recipients-list/ A helpful blog post] about ''Afternoon Shiki-shou'' that is more or less a translation of the [http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/アフタヌーン四季賞 Japanese wikipedia page.] Abe was a summer 1994 runner-up.
[[Category:Staff]]

Layer 12 Script

2022-12-31T08:03:51Z

Navi: clean up, added Empty section (1), underlinked tags, typos fixed: existance → existence

{{Underlinked|date=December 2022}}

Back to [[Layer 12]]

==Japanese==

{{Empty section|date=December 2022}}

==English==

Lain: I see. I've never know it.

Lain: This world is so simple.

Lain: I had felt that this world is only fearing and too wide...

Lain: But now I understand. I feel very easy...

Voice: I said so.

Title: LANDSCAPE Layer:12

Julie: Hahaha. No, Lain!

Reika: You said brazenly, Lain.

Alice: Lain...

Lain: But, it's true.

Julie: I've never heard such a thing.

Alice: ...What does it mean?

Reika: Don't hesitate...

Reika: Well, Julie.

Julie: What?

PocketNavi: You can rewrite unpleasant memories.

Alice: Really...

Alice: Really?

Reika: ...

Julie: But...

Lain: Human can really exist only inside of other human's memory.

Lain: So, many kinds of I were there.

Lain: Not many I were there. But I was only inside of many people.

Taro: I see!

Myu-myu: Who are you talking to?

Masayuki: What happened?

Taro: Hahaha...

Taro: I kissed with angel.

Masayuki,Myu-myu: What?

Myu-myu: Taro?

Voice: Lain, Lain, Lain...

Voice: Lain, Lain, Lain....

Lain: ...

News: After this adaptation of the Protocol 7, the wired and the real world

News: will share information seamlessly.

News: Next news. Love Lain. Love Lain. Love Lain...

Text: Lain Lain Lain Iwakura Lain...

Text: Iwakura Lain Iwakura Lain Lain...

Text: Iwakure? Lain Iwakura...

Eiri: All of the functions of human's flesh can be described into words by

Eiri: terms of materialism.

Eiri: Flesh is only an engine.

Eiri: If the physical limitation of the flesh limits the evolution of

Eiri: mankind, humans are like be forced to end their race by a god that

Eiri: actually doesn't exist.

Eiri: Information inside humans is not only what they got by themselves since

Eiri: they had their consciousness.

Eiri: Humans have been connected with their ancestors, and form a human race.

Eiri: And they have received information from their ancestors.

Eiri: But, they are just a data if they are not shared.

Eiri: Human can evolve by themselves.

Eiri: In order to do so, they have to know their actual structure.

Eiri: Do you think what you actually are?

Eiri: Human's have been already connected. I just restored them.

Eiri: You did cause it. So you may do anything you want.

MIB2: Haven't you stopped it?

MIB2: Why things came to this? Certainly we did our job.

MIB1: Not only our client thought that the playing of secret society by

MIB1: computer maniacs was burdensome.

MIB2: What do you mean?

MIB1: Our client have been communicated with Eiri.

MIB1: No, they may have controlled by Eiri.

MIB2: Stop to talk about Eiri. He is already dead.

MIB1: He is not dead.

MIB1: In fact, he has nothing to do with the existence of his flesh.

MIB2: Is this our reward of our job? Have we been taken in?

Man: You may interpret this how you like.

MIB1: You say that we should escape. Where should we go?

Man: Well, somewhere there is no electric wire, and no electromagnetic wave

Man: from satellite.

MIB2: There must be no such place on earth!

Man: You have to find such a place if you want to escape.

MIB1: What will happen?

MIB1: What will you do by connecting the wired and the real world without

MIB1: using devices.

Man: Something wonderful. I'm looking forward to see it.

MIB1: What...?

MIB2: Ahhhhhh!

MIB1: What happened?

MIB1: What are you seeing?

MIB1: ...

MIB1: Ahhhhhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

Alice: Lain?

Alice: cough:

Mika: Pee pee pee... Gaaaa.

Mika: Pee pee pee... Gaaaa.

Alice: ..... No.....

Alice: .............

Alice: Is this Lain's room?

Alice: Lain?

Alice: Lain!

Lain: A... Li... Su?

Alice: What did you do?

Lain: Nothing. I was only watching.

Alice: What?

Alice: I... I thought that I've got crazy.

Alice: But it's not. Why did you left only mine?

Alice: Why did you left only my memory?

Alice: Why? Why only I have to remember the painful memory?

Alice: Do you hate me so much? Lain?

Alice: I can no longer bear this...

Lain: No, Alice...

Lain: Because I don't want to make you sad...

Alice: No... You did do this...

Lain: Alice was all right.

Lain: You became my friend even though I didn't connect to you.

Alice: What are you saying?

Lain: Only Alice is my friend... I don't need to connect to you...

Alice: Connect? What do you mean?

Lain: I and everybody...

Alice: No...

Lain: I love Alice.

Alice: Are you sure what you are talking about?

Lain: Humans have been all connected in their unconsciousness.

Lain: I'm just reconnecting them.

Alice: Did you do it, Lain?

Lain: I do nothing.

Lain: Nothing to do with which "I" was true, there and here.

Lain: But I was.

Lain: I'm a program to break the barrier between the real world and the wired.

Alice: Lain is a program...

Lain: Alice and others are also just applications.

Lain: In fact, you don't need the flesh.

Alice: No.

Alice: I 'm not sure. But I think you are wrong.

Alice: Your body is so cold, but alive.

Alice: Mine is also... Here.

Alice: ...Doki Doki. An onomatopoeia of heartbeat:

Lain: ....Doki Doki.

Lain,Alice: Doki Doki...laugh:

Lain: Why? Why?

Alice: Because I'm scared. My heart is beating because I'm scared.

Lain: But Alice is laughing.

Alice: Yes. But I'm scared. I've been scared.

Alice: I wonder why.

Lain: Why...

Eiri: She is afraid to lose her flesh.

Eiri: You can control the emotion by modifying the impulses of the brain.

Eiri: You can refuse unpleasant impulses.

Eiri: You can choose only pleasant and comfortable things.

Lain: Really?

Alice: Lain, Are you talking to somebody?

Eiri: Lain, if you love her, why not you connect to her?

Lain: I don't know.

Alice: Lain! Who are you talking to?

Eiri: You have a little bug.

Eiri: No problem. I'll debug you for a long time. Come on Lain.

Alice: Ahhhhhh!

Lain: I can't understand about you, God...

Alice: ...Are you talking to God?

Eiri: What can't you understand, Lain?

Lain: You could make the wired free from the devices.

Lain: Telephones, TV, network... You could nothing without them.

Eiri: Yes, they were born with human's evolution.

Eiri: The most evolved person have rights to evolve them...

Lain: Who gave you the rights?

Eiri: !?

Lain: A program to synchronize to the peculiar resonance of the earth in

Lain: the Protocol 7.

Lain: And it makes "the group of unconscious" into consciousness.

Lain: Did you really invent it by yourself?

Eiri: What are you saying? It can't! It can't!

Eiri: Do you say that there is true God!?

Lain: As you already lost your flesh, you can no longer understand it.

Eiri: No! I'm almighty! I made your flesh in this real world!

Eiri: I gave you a flesh and absolute ego who were dispersed in the wired, And!

Lain: If I were so, what are you?

Eiri: I'm not! I...

Eiri: Ahhhhhh....

Lain: Wired is not an upper layer of the real world.

Eiri: What do you mean...?

Lain: Yes, you were a god in the wired. But, before the wired appeared...

Lain: You were only a proxy god of someone who were waiting for the appearance

Lain: of the wired.

Eiri: Proxy? Noooooo!

Alice: Ahhhhh! Nooooo!

Lain: Alice!

Eiri: Gwwwoooooo!

Lain: You said that your flesh is not necessary.

Alice: Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

Alice: ...........

(Adapted from [http://lain.angelic-trust.net/rumors/12landscape_en.txt] and from memory. Originally translated by Keisuke Shindo.)

{{Episodes}}

[[Category:Scripts]]

Suicide in Serial Experiments Lain

2022-12-31T08:03:45Z

Navi: /* top */clean up, typos fixed: commiting → committing

[[File:Suicide.jpg|right|thumb|350px]]
Suicide is a common occurrence in [[Lain Iwakura]]'s world. The first suicide the viewer sees is the death of [[Chisa Yomoda]] by jumping from a building at the very beginning of [[Layer 01]]. The most common reason for doing so is to "abandon the flesh" and pursue an existence on the [[The Wired|Wired]] alone.

After the members of the [[Knights of the Eastern Calculus]] are exposed in [[Layer 10]], they either commit suicide or are assassinated by the [[Men in Black]].

[[Masami Eiri]] appears to have committed suicide by jumping in front of a train in order to become [[God]] in the Wired.

It is debatable whether Lain herself can be considered to have committed suicide at the end of the [[Serial Experiments Lain (anime)|anime]]. She erases her own existence, including her past, in order to fix all the damage she has dealt to the world, but she still clearly exists in the Wired and, at one point, manifests in front of a grown-up [[Alice Mizuki]].

In the [[Serial Experiments Lain (game)|game]], Lain commits suicide by shooting herself through her mouth.

The concept of "abandoning the flesh" is popular in the Lain fandom and is something of a meme or inside joke between fans. On [[Mebious.co.uk]], for example, people occasionally encourage each other to ascend to the upper level of [[reality]], the Wired, and post about it after they have succeeded. A 2010 incident on Mebious involving an actual suicidal person led to controversy as while there were those who tried to talk the person out of committing suicide, there were those who encouraged it. A year later, someone who claimed to be the original poster stated they were doing better and had entered therapy.

[[Category:Themes]]

Weather Break

2022-12-31T08:02:51Z

Navi: clean up, typos fixed: the the → the

[[File:Ueda_break.jpg|thumb|An image in the style of Weather Break that was never broadcast. Featuring [[Ueda Yasuyuki]] ]]'''Weather Break''' (ウェザーブレイク) is a series of illustrations by [[Yoshitoshi ABe]] that were used in the end cards for the [[Serial Experiments Lain (anime)|anime]]. They have been printed in the [[Omnipresence in Wired|Omnipresence]] and [[Visual Experiments Lain]] books. They appeared after the first 12 episodes for a short moment and were preceded by the phrase 「次回をお楽しみに。」(''jikai wo otanoshimi ni,'' "look forward to next time"). The images were purposely weather-themed to lead in to the 15-second TV Tokyo weather forecast segment, which immediately followed SEL's time slot.

===List of Weather Breaks By Episode===
The following list contains transcriptions of the text in the Weather Break images, with English translations as they appear in ''Omnipresence: AB# Rebuild'', where available.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Episode!!Subtitle!!Japanese text!!Translation!!Notes
|-
|[[Layer 01]]||WEIRD||colspan="2" style="text-align:center"|[no Japanese text]||Makes no reference to weather.
|-
|[[Layer 02]]||GIRLS||明日の天気はどうなるの？||rowspan="3"|[no official translation available]||amateur translation: How will tomorrow's weather be?
|-
|[[Layer 03]]||PSYCHE||レッツ！　ウエザーブレイク♥||amateur translation: Let's! Weather Break <3
|-
|[[Layer 04]]||RELIGION||夏だから、白熊さん．．．だめ？||amateur translation: It's summer... so a polar bear's no good? (Lain is wearing a white bearsuit in the image.)
|-
|[[Layer 05]]||DISTORTION||ザ・直訳　おてんき　こわれてる？||the weather is broken?||This image has the subtitle "THE LITERAL TRANSLATION," which the translator didn't bother to translate. Lain has misinterpreted the English noun "break" as the Japanese verb for "to break."
|-
|[[Layer 06]]||KIDS||ザ・曲解！　ウェザ〜　ブレイク||WEATHER BREAK||Again, the translator left out the subtitle, "THE KYOKKAI" (Kyokkai means distortion (probably no coincidence that that's the title of layer 05) or misinterpretation).
|-
|[[Layer 07]]||SOCIETY||牛さん　飛び出て　ゲイトウェイ？　えへっ(^.^;||[no official translation available]||amateur translation: A cow popping out of a gateway? hehe :`) (Lain is wearing a cow suit this time, in an obvious allusion to Gateway computers. This one also has nothing to do with weather.)
|-
|[[Layer 08]]||RUMORS||雨と　無知||RAIN AND IGNORANCE||This is a pun. The phrase on the image is pronounced the same as 飴と鞭, literally "candy and whip," the Japanese version of carrot-and-stick, the twin motivating forces of promise of reward and threat of punishment.
|-
|[[Layer 09]]||PROTOCOL||明日はタレとげとげ　'''うに'''　です||[no official translation available]||amateur translation: Tomorrow is saucy, spiky sea urchin. (The pun: tare toge toge uni = hare tokidoki ame, or sunny with occasional rain. The small text on the bottom appears to be about sushi, but is mostly unreadable.)
|-
|[[Layer 10]]||LOVE||岩倉家　二階は何をする人ぞ　娘はともかく　ナビ　が心配　−ヤスオ||The Iwakuras: Up there on the second floor, who knows what goes on? I wonder about my daughters, yes, but I'm more worried about the NAVI... -Yasuo||This picture is probably a sequel to the Layer 08 picture.
|-
|[[Layer 11]]||INFORNOGRAPHY||波浪（ａｇａｉｎ）ざざーん||HIGH SEAS (again) crash||This is another pun, on the classic [[Apple Inc. References|Apple]] phrase Hello (again). With Japanified pronunciation, the English word "hello" has the same pronunciation as 波浪 (''harou'', waves). The image depicts very stormy weather.
|-
|[[Layer 12]]||LANDSCAPE||レッツ！　'''ウェザーブレイク'''　ブレイク！！次のコーナーの予報は、明日、もしくは昨日の天気になることもありますのでご注意ください。ウソです　きっとあたるさ大丈夫♥||LET'S! '''WEATHER BREAK!''' BREAK!! Please be aware that the following info may possibly be tomorrow's, or perhaps yesterday's, weather. Just kidding||This is obviously a reference to the [[Net News]] broadcast in Layer 05, when the announcer issued a similar disclaimer of chronological uncertainty. Also, the translator neglected to translate the last part: "my prediction will surely come true, it's alright <3"
|-
|[[Layer 13]]||EGO||colspan="2" style="text-align:center"|[no Japanese text]||Evidence in Visual Experiments Lain suggests that the end card from episode 1 was reused in 13, though it's not explicitly stated.
|}

==External Links and Related Information==
*[http://home.att.ne.jp/theta/kolmu/pages/who/lets_weather/index.html 『レッツウェザー・ブレイク』] (''Let's Weather Break'') contains enlargeable images of the end cards. The description at the top of the page supplies the information concerning SEL's time slot being immediately prior to the weather report. It also reports anecdotes of fans being frustrated at not having adequate time to view the images as they aired, since they disappeared so quickly.
*[http://www.amy.hi-ho.ne.jp/masuda/anime/lain/lain.html LAIN] (site's title) contains pictures and descriptions of the end cards. The images can be viewed through Internet Archive.[http://web.archive.org/web/19990908235756/http://www.amy.hi-ho.ne.jp/masuda/anime/lain/lain.html] It should be noted that this site contains at least one mistake: Device #02 is Mouth.
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=MkR5D1tzUZI YouTube video of all the end cards]

==See also==
*[[Devices]]
[[Category:Media]]
[[Category:Translations]]

Omnipresence in Wired

2022-12-31T08:02:46Z

Navi: /* yoshitoshi ABe lain illustrations: ab# rebuild an omnipresence in wired (2006) */clean up, typos fixed: etc → etc.

'''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|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)===
[[File:Omnipresence in wired.jpg|300px|thumb|right|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.]]
{| class="wikitable"
! style="text-align:left;"| Page No.
! Contents
! Description
|-
|001
|style="text-align:center;"|Title page
|The title of the book with a bunch of identical pictures of lain, except with different photoshop effects added to them.
|-
|002
|style="text-align:center;"|Contents
|The book's contents page. Most of the data in this table is taken from this page. Except the descriptions.
|-
|003
|style="text-align:center;"|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
|style="text-align:center;"|the original layers
|See [[Layers (illustrations)]] for more info.
|-
|046
|style="text-align:center;"|VHS/LD jackets (lif.)
|
|-
|052
|style="text-align:center;"|sound track cover (CD)
|
|-
|055
|style="text-align:center;"|hair cut
|
|-
|056
|style="text-align:center;"|pre-image
|
|-
|058
|style="text-align:center;"|posters & others
|
|-
|066
|style="text-align:center;"|game illustrations
|
|-
|078
|style="text-align:center;"|special issue "the nightmare of fabrication" (DC1029)
|Untranslated in this edition. See [[Manga]] for more information.
|-
|097
|style="text-align:center;"|sketches (monochrome)
|
|-
|118
|style="text-align:center;"|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
|style="text-align:center;"|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
|style="text-align:center;"|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?)
|-
|colspan="3"|The book has a total of 128 pages.
|}

===yoshitoshi ABe lain illustrations: ab# rebuild an omnipresence in wired (2006)===
[[File:Serial_Experiments_Lain_Illustrations.jpg|300px|thumb|right|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.''
{| class="wikitable"
! style="text-align:left;"| 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.
|-
|colspan="3"|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.
<center>{{Media}}</center>
[[Category:Books]]
[[Category:Merchandise/Collectibles]]

The Shape of "Serial Experiments Lain"

2022-12-31T08:02:41Z

Navi: clean up, added orphan, underlinked tags, typos fixed: aren’t → aren't (3), ’s → 's (17)

{{Multiple issues|
{{Underlinked|date=December 2022}}
{{Orphan|date=December 2022}}
}}

The rejected anthropology master's thesis of the author Kurt Vonnegut posited that all stories could be plotted on a two-dimensional graph, with two axes: the G-I axis and the B-E axis.<ref>This would do for literature what Descartes did for algebra, collapsing the study of stories into the study of the mathematical properties of their shapes, as Descartes merged algebra and geometry by collapsing the study of shapes into the study of their functions, and by collapsing the study of functions into the study of their shapes.</ref> One extreme of the G-I axis is “good fortune”; the other extreme is “ill fortune”. By the same logic, the B-E axis lies between “beginning” and “ending”.<ref>Note that this is different from the “plot arc” or “diagram” commonly taught in elementary literature classes: the “plot arc” merely measures the speed and excitement of the action, while the shape of a story measures the good and ill fortune of its (main) characters.</ref>

Let us begin by drawing the two axes. Draw a sideways T, making the vertical axis the G-I axis, and the horizontal axis the B-E axis. We will call the intersection of the B-E and the G-I axes “Normality”. Let us start the plot at Normality.

Let us define “good” and “ill fortune” as those of [[Lain Iwakura|Lain]].<ref>Inquisitive readers (spoiler alert!) might ask which version of Lain we are using. This is a completely reasonable question to ask, as a big part of the series focuses on the complex interplay between the different personalities of Lain. But since we are expected to view the world from her perspective, we will use the timid “real-world” Lain.</ref> And let us define happiness as inherently implying “good fortune”.<ref>It naturally follows that its loss, or the danger of its loss, is “ill fortune”. Also, the converse is not necessarily true. For that reason, the first few minutes of Layer 1 (depicting Chisa’s suicide) do not matter for our purposes, as Lain is not immediately revealed or known to the audience at that point.</ref>

We first see Lain walking to school (on strange ground!), taking the train,<ref>The train suddenly stops; this will be important later.</ref> and arriving at school. Her only friend, Alice, tells her about Chisa's suicide, and berates her about not checking her email regularly.<ref>Is getting to know the Wired good or bad for Lain? This is a manifestation of the philosophical question “was civilization an improvement for mankind?”—one that is a main theme of the series. I suppose we shall have to act on the definition that happiness is always good (even if it is only in the short run) and plot it according to that.</ref>

When Lain gets home, the first thing she does is turn on her computer, to find a message from Chisa. They exchange a few words. We see that Lain is expressionless—she is simply curious.<ref>It is impossible to tell just from her face whether she is apprehensive about the future or any other emotion that could help us determine to which direction to depart from the B-E axis. But we must diverge from it, because it is abnormal to receive an e-mail from a dead person.</ref> In view of the later circumstances, however, I would definitely ''move the plot below Normality towards Ill-Fortune''. Loss of control over one's personal life is not a pleasant thing for anyone to experience, least of all when it is caused by a person who is supposed to be dead.

The next day, Lain is sitting in English class when she drifts away. She sees the words on the blackboard become “Come to the Wired quickly,” and is teleported to a railway crossing where she is unable to prevent a four-eyed person with long hair from killing themselves on the track. She is startled by her teacher, who catches her crying and sweating, no doubt having fallen asleep in class. ''Lower the plot'', as the combination of the nightmare and the rude awakening afterwards would cause undesirable emotional disturbance (as well as off-screen untoward consequences) in Lain.

On her way to school the day after that, she encounters Alice alongside Reika and Juri. Reika mentions that they saw a girl like Lain in a club called Cyberia the previous day. Alice proposes offhand that it would be good to invite Lain to go to Cyberia with them that night. This is bound to raise a little bit of excitement in every person, if for nothing else, then for the novelty of it. ''Raise it to just below the B-E axis''.

Lain's father helps to set up her new NAVI of which the delivery boy had previously expressed admiration. ''Raise it above the B-E axis'', because one always feels exhilaration when one has something unfamiliar to explore, as a tourist has in a new city.

When Lain arrives at Cyberia, the girls tease her for not wearing “grown-up” clothes.<ref>This will either not produce an effect viewed at this scale or appear only as a minute jog. Depending on the width of your graphing tool, you may or may not choose to graph this downward shift.</ref> Immediately after, the sound of glass shattering is heard, and Juri falls after a second gunshot.<ref>As there is no blood, she is presumably simply in shock.</ref> As Reika struggles to carry Juri, Alice rushes to help Lain. Thinking that Lain is immobilized by terror, Alice tries to pull Lain away. Instead, Lain confronts the shooter, says “Everyone is connected,” and he shoots himself.<ref>Admittedly it is possible for normally timid people to become assertive when their lives are threatened, but judging by the reactions of her friends, this is not the “real-world” Lain.</ref> I would ''raise the plot'', because Lain has gained power, which she can use to make herself happy. While this power may later prove disastrous, it is only when Lain discovers it that it, so to speak “goes south”.

The police detain and interrogate Lain, but upon finding that Lain is too shaken to offer any useful information, they call her house and allow her to go home.

The next morning she wakes up having overslept. When she gets to school, she finds that the whole school is curious about Reika, Alice, and Juri because they witnessed the incident in Cyberia. Lain opens her locker, but is accosted by Juri, who spies an envelope in the locker. Without asking Lain, Juri opens the envelope and what seems like a computer chip falls out. She is disinterested (she was expecting a love note) and walks away.

That evening, Lain asks her father if he knows what the chip is. He does not, although Lain believes he does and presses him about it. Lain goes to Cyberia, where some children tell her that it is a very powerful processor that will allow full access to the Wired for every device to which it is mounted. ''Raise the plot.''

After a scene showing a person running from a little girl, we once again see Lain in her room. She has upgraded her computer into an intricate system with multiple monitors. She receives a new message from her father. He tells her that he has asked some of his colleagues about the chip, and gives her instructions as to how to install it. Lain also investigates a game that children have been playing, and in the process is warned about the dangers of letting the Wired become mixed up with the real world.

We see two dots on Lain's face. Suspicious, Lain gets up and looks out the window, seeing two people with laser pointer headsets near a car. She shouts “Go away”. Their headsets break and they are pushed away by the force, and they drive away crestfallen. ''Raise the plot''.

Lain hears someone going on a monologue about how humans have ceased to evolve. When asked who he is, he replies “I am God.” Lain is stunned. Later, Lain is sitting in her room. She asks a doll opposite her to “tell me a story I don’t know.” The doll responds with “I can’t do that because something you don’t know about is something that doesn’t exist”. Lain insists, so the doll says “an event cannot happen without a prophecy.” When Lain asks who makes prophecies, the screen fades to black.<ref>A series of these visions occur after that to Lain: projections of the doll, her mother and father, and a mask that uncannily resembles Darth Vader. They all present different viewpoints on the relation between the real world and the Wired.</ref>

As Mika (Lain's sister) walks down a street, she sees Lain's face projected onto a giant video screen. Shortly after, she sees Lain standing alone in the street with cars swerving to avoid her.<ref>Mika sees visions that lead to her breakdown: a napkin with the words “Hell is full so the dead walk the earth” written in red, a stall door with “Fulfill the prophecy” written all over it in red, and a drink spilling forming that phrase. We are not told what “the prophecy” is, or why this is pertinent to the whole story, nor do we know who even did this to her, or whether these objectively occurred. Later she will fade away and be replaced by another version of herself.</ref> The next day Lain is told of the incident by her classmates; she cannot remember it.<ref>It should be noted that the first mention of the phrase “fulfill the prophecy” is when Alice, Reika, and Juri are sitting in a restaurant discussing spam mail. Alice mentions receiving some, suspecting it to be from the “Knights”.</ref> Perhaps here is the point where the trend towards “good fortune” reverses, so ''lower the plot''.

Lain sees a boy with his arms raised toward the sky. She thinks nothing of it, but after school that day when Lain is out shopping with her friends the boys reappear. The clouds also part to reveal a naked figure of Lain.<ref>In the Chinese (subtitled) version, the full body of Lain is shown (although without any marked sexual features to be spoken of), whereas in the American version, only Lain’s face is shown. Ironically, this is one of the only examples of things that are less censored in China than in the United States.</ref> At this point, Lain ought to realize that her powers are now beyond her control, so ''lower the plot''.<ref>Granted, for the purposes of this graphing exercise, happiness axiomatically translates to good fortune. But I also mentioned that “the converse is not necessarily true”, meaning good fortune is not only happiness. Although Lain may feel pride at seeing her figure in the air, it is painfully clear to the audience that she did not do that and that she is incapable of controlling her powers. Damocles may have wielded a lot of power; but with the sword dangling over his head, he did not have a lot of time to feel happy without his thoughts drifting to the sword again.</ref>

Lain connects to the Wired. As she is still looking for information on the kids’ game, a solitary, giggling mouth pops up next to her. Lain refers to him as “Cheshire Cat”. The Cheshire Cat tells her that the game was invented by a Professor Hodgeson, and suggests she see him. When Lain sees Professor Hodgeson, he is lying on a reclining chair in a Romanesque villa facing clouds. He is evasive at first, but when pressed admits that it was part of an experiment to harness children's supernatural power, and he expresses indifference towards the fate of the children involved. When Lain screams “That’s enough”, he vanishes from view—both from the real world and the Wired. ''Lower the plot until it touches the B-E axis''. Lain should realize by now that the Wired is not all pink-frosted cupcakes and unicorns.

When she finally retires from the Wired into the safety of her own computer system, she sees two laser dots—the men in black are back! Determined to remove them once and for all, she goes outside, but they simply say “Get down”. After that, her computer system explodes. Before Lain can accuse them of having done it, they say “It wasn’t us. It was the Knights,” before silently driving away as always. ''Lower the plot below the B-E axis''. Lain is now a target for the Knights, as they see her as a threat.

Lain climbs to the rooftop of her school, and is spacing out looking outside, when Alice comes to her. Alice apologizes for making her uncomfortable, and Lain thanks her for caring and says that she is not. ''Raise the plot'', as Lain has seen that her one true friend still cares for her.

When Lain walks home from school that day, she is surprised to see the black car still parked in the street in front of her house. The men in black step out of the car and invite her to come with them. Although they claim that “this is a request,” their blithe tone indicates otherwise. She is taken to some sort of research laboratory, so she can help a worker fix their computer, which she does easily. They ask her a few questions about her background.<ref>When Lain asks them back about theirs, they defensively state that they “have no names”. However, when the blond-haired agent tries to pull Lain back, the workman stops him by sternly pronouncing “Karl!” In the official canon, one of the men in black is German, and the other is Chinese.</ref> She cannot answer those, grows frustrated, and shoves her way out of the room. ''Raise the plot''.

At home, Lain tries to talk about that to her parents, but they aren't interested. Rumors are also flying around campus about Alice being in love with a teacher. Lain accesses the Wired in class.<ref>What exactly are the technical details of accessing the Wired? In the later episodes of the series, the Wired is depicted as a full environment no different from the real world. If so, how can Lain remain in her seat or speak without drawing the attention of her fellow classmates? The author of this work believes that when Lain speaks she does so by typing in words, with modifiers to express tone of voice much like how in Wiki-markup there are modifiers to express bold, italic, etc. But the guess of the imaginative reader is as good as anyone’s, including mine.</ref> When she returns, she finds that both her classmates and her teacher are watching her, ''a la'' Inception. This is not because she has been accessing the Wired in class, but because the words “Lain is a peeping tom” are all over the Wired. ''Lower the plot''.

After that, “evil Lain” is revealed to be the culprit that spread the rumors. The “wired” Lain at one point has a wrestling match with “evil Lain”. Since they are equal, neither can defeat the other. “Wired Lain” pulls out her trump card: she erases everyone's memories of the rumors. But none of it matters for our purposes, as we have defined Lain as “real-world” Lain.

When all is said and done, Lain has disappeared from everyone's memories.<ref>Logically this should not happen; she deletes her memories, not her existence.</ref> She is unable to interact with her friends. “Evil Lain” walks up to her, giggling at the tragedy which she has brought upon herself. A duplicate Lain goes to Alice and her friends, and seems to be happy with them. ''Lower the plot''.

Lain goes to Cyberia. The DJ there tells Lain she left something there yesterday.<ref>Strangely, she is visible to those around her now…?</ref> It turns out to be a chip.<ref>This sequence is interspersed with what seems to be snippets from a documentary about alien conspiracy theories. Vannevar Bush’s “memex” is mentioned, even though from its description in his original article “As We May Think…” it would be far outclassed by the modern internet. An alien opens the door, then swiftly closes it again in one scene; the alien is heavily popular-culture influenced and never reappears. Possibly, the series is stating that the effect of the Wired merging with the real world is that if enough people wish for something to happen, it will happen. Also, “Schumann resonance” is mentioned; it is alleged to be an extremely low electromagnetic frequency that spreads easily throughout the Earth’s lower atmosphere, and it was the subject of several proposals to use it for the dissemination of messages, including one by the (in-universe) Eiri Masami.</ref> Lain asks some children what the chip is, and convince a young boy to go home with her. Once there, Lain plays some music that hypnotizes him into speaking the truth, but he genuinely does not know since he is not a full member of the Knights. When he is about to leave, he suddenly kisses Lain full on the lips. ''Lower the plot''.<ref>After that Lain connects to the Wired on her NAVI. She sees herself being “introduced” to her parents and Mika. Disturbingly, when her father is shown to bring Lain to her room, the door opens behind Lain sitting at the computer. Has her NAVI gained the power to go back in time and superimpose what was then to what is now? A computer powerful enough to figure out causality and calculate its inverse could conceivably do that. After all, physics has four fundamental forces, like mathematics has four fundamental operations, to which all forces and operations (respectively) and their inverses could be reduced.</ref>

Lain goes outside. She looks up, and sees Eiri Masami, the God of the Wired, in the flesh. He has been stitched together with tape,<ref>Why should he need to be stitched up if he is dead and has assumed the form of a disembodied spirit visible only to Lain? This is not unique to this particular scene: many times, incorporeal people or things assume the attributes and limitations of their corporeal cousins. Is this a commentary on how the human mind is incapable of truly perceiving supernatural things, without putting them under a human mold?</ref> because he committed suicide by lying on a railway track, and letting a train run over him. Eiri claims that objectively there is no god, but anyone who can affect the Wired and has believers is a god in the Wired<ref>The author of this work agrees with him in this respect. A god without believers is simply a demon to be feared and fought against. But this inherently unstable equilibrium will be resolved either by people believing in the unbelieved-in god or creating a new god out of whole cloth to oppose the demon. Like human tyrants who oppress their citizens under the guise of fighting evil, this new god might set all manner of catastrophes upon its believers, and the believers would still remain unfazed, simply because they believe. The best example is, of course, the Old Testament Jews, who (or at least whose literate prophets and priests) viewed every catastrophe their God failed to protect them from as either as a test of their faith or as a punishment for falling away from it, an attitude still held by many fundamentalists today.</ref>

Lain goes to school, where her teacher orders them to stand up and bow.<ref>So China took ''this'' from Japan as well?</ref> But there is no chair or desk in her place, and when the teacher passes out the test she passes it straight through her. Lain is surprised.<ref>Wasn’t she surprised when she passed right through the door? Or, if she opened the door, weren’t her other classmates surprised when the door appeared to move by itself?</ref> Alice turns and whispers to her, “the real world doesn’t need you.” ''Lower the plot''. Lain is saddened. When she gets home, her family is gone. Her father comes in and all but reveals the fact that he was not her real father. Bidding her farewell and wishing her good luck in the Wired, he departs. ''Lower the plot''.

Outside, the sky is multicolored and crisscrossed with wires. Voices emanate from the sky, all addressed to Lain. ''Raise the plot''. The Wired (represented by the wires) is her oyster. In an empty Cyberia, (presumably busted by a police raid because of controlled substances) Lain somehow releases the information of all members of the Knights, and they are purged on the orders of an unknown employer, two of whose agents are the men in black. The men in black pay a visit to Lain. They do not kill her, both because they believe she is under the protection of God, and because they love Lain.<ref>Illogically, all that contact with the Wired has not led them to subscribe to any of the beliefs held by Wired citizens. Like O’Brien in 1984, they shut their mind to it either for professional reasons, or because it simply does not matter to their opportunistic selves. They do not believe in God; they spare Lain because they fear the supernatural.</ref> ''Raise the plot (somewhat)''.

Lain is faced with Eiri Masami after she leaves her house. Eiri Masami claims that she was an artificially created organism. Lain refutes all of his allegations with a simple and effective “Lie”. When Eiri continues to demand Lain “abandon the flesh”, she roars at him, literally pushing him away. ''Lower the plot''.

After Lain reviews all the events of the previous episodes, Eiri Masami once again tells her that “you are software, not hardware,” and that she is an .exe file given a living body. When she is walking down the street, Chisa (the girl that killed herself kickstarting the events of the series) comes to her. Lain understands her. Eiri Masami hands her a laser pistol and tells her to kill herself with it so she can finally abandon the flesh. Lain refuses. ''Lower the plot''.

Lain appears in Alice's room, giggling. Lain says she has many forms and that a different form of her spread the rumors that she was in love with a teacher. She also concedes that Alice is unlikely to believe this, but she is telling the truth. ''Lower the plot''. Off-screen, she erases all memories everyone has of this rumor, except Alice's.<ref>In the series, this is expressed by Alice coming to school and finding all her friends know nothing about the rumors. When they encounter Lain, Lain smiles at Alice in a mischievous fashion.</ref> ''Raise the plot by half as much as it was lowered''.

While Alice is talking with her friends, Lain makes what she did clear (if she didn't make it clear enough by smiling) by sending “You can erase unpleasant memories”. Also, Lain explains that “the many versions of herself” were simply perceptions of herself by many people. After that, a television reporter repeats “Let’s all love Lain” over and over again. Alice comes to Lain's house. It is in a mess, but she makes it up the stairs to Lain's room. Lain emerges sleep deprived and bound in computer wire. Alice tries to remonstrate with Lain and ask her why she only kept Alice's memories of the rumors. ''Drastically lower the plot.'' Lain goes on to say that everyone is a program, and they don't need their flesh. Alice grabs Lain's wrists, and remarks on how nervously their hearts are beating. They laugh. ''Dramatically raise the plot.'' But Eiri Masami busts in, invisible and inaudible to Alice. He says that since he created Lain, he is all-powerful over her. Lain seems to mock him for giving someone else a body while giving up his own. This provokes Eiri enough. He forms into a purple tentacled monster and tries to strangle Lain and Alice. ''Heavily lower the plot''. But he tips over too many parts of Lain's computer, so they fall over and crush him. Lain and Alice scramble out by the skin of their teeth. ''Greatly raise the plot''.

After Lain and Alice are saved from the purple tentacled monster, Lain apologizes for all she has done to Alice. She resets the world without her. ''Lower the plot to rock bottom''.<ref>This is bound to be the most controversial direction I will make in the whole exercise. Although she has resisted the attempts of both Chisa Yomoda and Eiri Masami who tried to persuade her to kill herself and live on in the Wired, she ends up annihilating her physical presence by resetting the world without her. Even though she had come to realize the value of maintaining a physical body after the purple beast was defeated, she still has no choice but make the world start over again. This is a sign of powerlessness, so opposite to good fortune. But one could make quite easily a case for the opposite, that it should be raised sky-high, since no one laughs at Lain, she does not have to worry about social interactions, and she is omniscient.</ref> She speaks with another version of herself. Now Lain is a pure observer.<ref>This begs the question of whether it is truly possible to be a pure observer. How can one read a book, for example, without having a corporeal presence to open it and turn its pages? How can one access a website without sending a request to its server?</ref>

Lain speaks with her father. He says “Lain, you don’t need to wear that anymore,” meaning the bear pajamas. He says “Next time I’ll make some good black tea.” The tea party adjourns sine die without any food or drink being served.<ref>This bears a striking similarity to the “Reconciliation with a Father-Figure” stage of the Hero’s Journey. An attempt to compare “Serial Experiments Lain” to the Hero’s Journey should probably be made the subject of another paper altogether.</ref> ''Raise the plot to the B-E axis.''

Lain visits Alice. She has now become an adult. Alice recognizes her, though she cannot remember from where. Lain comments “I can see you anytime.” She follows through with “I will always be with you. Always,” ending the series.<ref>Presumably, she has the power to travel through time and space instantly and at her will, like Eternity in Isaac Asimov’s “The End of Eternity”. After she reset the world, she probably just hit the metaphorical spacebar skipping the metaphorical 10-billion-year long cutscene preceding what would be her first introduction to the Wired if she existed. How did the 6 billion people on Earth (in 1998) handle the reset? Did everything just go black and start over with them coming out of their mother’s womb, but with faint traces of their previous lives?</ref>

How can the plot we have drawn be best described? It does not neatly conform to any of the eight standard shapes of stories, befitting its status as an avant-garde anime. At the beginning it resembles the “Man in Hole” shape, while later it starts to seem like the “Cinderella” shape. By the end we have drastic changes in Good- and Ill-Fortune<ref>Consequently, we also obtain another definition for the “plot arc”: The derivative of a story plotted on the B-E/G-I axes. That is, when the plot arc is high, change in Good- and Ill-Fortune are also high. Due to insufficient time and skills, the actual production of the graph is left as an exercise to the reader.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Essays]]

To What Commodity End are Concepts of the ‘Post-Human’ and the ‘Cyborg’ Marketed? Give screen and theoretical examples of each.

2022-12-31T08:02:31Z

Navi: clean up, added deadend tag, typos fixed: Subsequently → Subsequently,, playstation → PlayStation, tv → TV, … → ..., it’s → it's, ’s → 's (7), 292-294 → 292–294

{{Dead end|date=December 2022}}

Creeber (2004) talks about the subjective form of contemporary television drama.

To what commodity end are concepts of the ‘post-human’ and the ‘cyborg’ marketed? Give screen and theoretical examples of each.

==Introduction==

In its exploration of the concept of the ‘cyborg,’ Lain offers a form of escape to its audience. This is an escape not only from mundane lives, but also from the binaries and distributions of power that constrain and define social life. Thus the cyborg may imply progressive or utopian visions that offer an escape from partriarchy/capitalism.

Cyborg imagery can suggest a way out of the maze of dualisms in which we explained our bodies and our tools to ourselves. (Haraway, 2000, 316)

In the body of the cyborg, dominance itself becomes a shifting and unstable field. The cyborg questions the very boundaries that designate power relationships. (Pinksy, 2003: 120)

Donna Haraway emphasizes the confusion of boundaries implied by the concept of the ‘cyborg.’ As they are everywhere and invisible, modern machines change the notion of physical and non-physical, while the separation between human and animal has never been entirely convincing anyway. Haraway also envisages the cyborg as a creature in a ‘post-gender world’ where the boundary between male and female is confused. (Haraway, 2000: 292–294) Haraway argues for pleasure in the confusion of such boundaries. Lain offers this pleasure as it questions the distinction between physical/non-physical, the real world/the Wired and the body/mind/soul. The text subsequently offers escape through the confusion of boundaries.

In layer 06 “kids,” Lain appears in the sky, her body breaking through the clouds and shining down like a God with majestic music forming the soundtrack. This scene not only suggests breaking down the boundaries between physical and non-physical (how can she be in two places at once?) but also suggests a shift in distributions of power. Lain, an adolescent girl, is portrayed as a powerful God while kids on the street raise their arms upwards as if worshipping her.

(it's a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3ZMOv7OtaI long clip] so start is at around 7 mins for this bit)

Lain may also offer escape through its assertions about the irrelevance of the body and the possibilities of the virtual world. Four minutes into the previous clip, Lain is floating in a colourful, borderless space as she laughs and talks to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_the_Lambda_Calculus the Knights]. Perhaps this is a comment on the eradication of ‘public life’ and real communities as they are replaced by virtual worlds and television addiction. Lain becomes increasingly addicted to the Wired and even takes her HandyNAVI to school. Haraway contends that technologies are producing modern forms of ‘private life’ that can also facilitate a science fiction escape from the planet (and its destruction). (Haraway, 2000: 306) In week 6, we spoke about television replacing real communities with shows like Buffy and Friends. Television and the internet can facilitate a feeling of belonging and impression of community that may not be found in real life. (Bauman, 2000: 99) In this way TV/internet become an extension of the self, [http://screenmachine.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/week-6-serial/ televisual/internet becomings].

Although Lain may offer some form of escape from the dualisms of capitalism and patriarchy, it remains a commodified product. The text bombards the audience with information and a convoluted situation that is difficult to grasp. Subsequently, this technique results in addiction to the serial, as audiences need to buy the DVD set in order to watch the show repeatedly. A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Experiments_Lain_%28game%29 play station game] (the creators of the game prefer to refer to it as a ‘Psycho-Stretch-Ware’ rather than a game) has also been created so audiences can continue to understand Lain's world.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU6doWDwQBg This ad] for the PlayStation game further emphasizes this idea of escape in the eradication of boundaries. The flashes say ‘no nation, no race, no freedom...’ evoking a utopian cyberspace. The kinds of products that extend from Lain, as well as the show itself, also emphasize consumption as an individual pastime. (Bauman, 2000, 97)

The connection to Apple computers emphasizes an undeniable product placement. These include the use of the slogan ‘Think Different’, the resemblance of Lain's NAVi and HandyNAVI to Apple products and the use of Apple's “Whisper” that comes with Mac OS. The connections are explained thoroughly [http://www.cjas.org/~leng/apple-lain.htm here]. Lain also extends to a manga, [http://www.bitbear.com/cyberia/lainost.htm soundtracks] and five [http://www.bitbear.com/cyberia/merchand.htm art books].

This demonstrates that there is no escape from capitalism. As Adorno and Horkheimer say ‘something is provided for all so that none may escape.‘ Consumers are classified, organized and labeled so that each is provided for. ‘The public is catered for with a hierarchical range mass-produced products of varying quality, thus advancing the rule of complete quantification.’ (Adorno and Horkheimer, 1993: 32)

Jennifer Gonzalez questions the likelihood of cyborgs being able to exist free of the constraints already imposed upon humans and machines.(Gonzalez, 2000: 61) As a text that may have progressive or utopian implications, Lain works within the systems of capitalism and patriarchy.

So although Lain and ‘cyborgs’ are perhaps marketed at those seeking escape, none may escape. How Bleak!

==Haraway update?==

Perhaps it is worth considering then, how useful Donna Haraway's [http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Haraway/CyborgManifesto.html cyborg manifesto] might be now, and whether it needs updating. Writing in 2002, [http://reconstruction.eserver.org/023/borer.htm Michael Ian Borer] criticizes Harraway's utopian visions, labeling them ‘otiose as an analytical resource.’ Her conceptualization of the cyborg as a human-machine hybrid implies, according to Borer, that technology and humanity exist independently of each other. This misunderstanding leads to the belief that cyberspace is an ‘other-than-human’ entity, but in a practical sense it cannot function independently or without ‘human intervention and facilitation.’ (Borer, 2002) Perhaps this is why Haraway's theory is difficult to utilize when considering the inescapability of commodity culture and patriarchy. The separation of humanity from technology can facilitate the separation of new cybernetic systems and cyborgs from their historical origins. Thus a progressive/utopian cyborg society can be imagined. However, it is important not to forget the interrelationship between technology and humanity, which is emphasized by Borer's concept of the cyborgian self.

Understanding the cyborgian self as a conceptual, dialectical synthesis of technology and humanity...(is) a more cogent and appropriate optic for understanding the everyday uses of contemporary technology. (Borer, 2002)

The usefulness of the cyborgian self lies in its ability to be conceived as more than a physical synthesis of human and technology. It expands the concept of the ‘cyborg’ and it is interesting to think about whether the cyborg, as it is imagined by Haraway, is already out of date.

==References==

Donna Haraway (2000) ‘A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology and Socialist Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century,’ in The Cubercultures Reader. Eds David Bell and Barbara M. Kennedy. London: Routledge, pp. 291–324

Jennifer Gonzalez (2000) ‘Envisioning Cyborg Bodies: Notes from Current Research,’ in The Gendered Cyborg: A Reader. Eds. Gill Kirkup, Linda James, Kath Woodward, Fiona Hovenden. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 58–73

Michael Ian Borer (2002) ‘The Cyborgian Self: Toward a Critical Social Theory of Cyberspace,’ in Reconstruction Studies in Contemporary Culture, Vol. 2, No. 3, Accessed on 26 May 2008 from [http://reconstruction.eserver.org/023/borer.htm]

Michael Pinsky (2003) ‘The Cyborg Body: Two Case Studies,’ in Future Present: Ethics and/as Science Fiction. Ed. Michael Pinsky. Madison: Farleigh Dickenson University Press, pp. 119–156

Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer (1993) ‘The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception,’ in The Cultural Studies Reader. Ed. Simon Durling. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 29–43

Zygmunt Bauman (2000) ‘Time/Space,’ in Liquid Modernity. Cambridge: Polity, pp. 91–129

(Source: [http://zoetv.wordpress.com/2008/05/25/serial-experiments-lain/])

[[Category:Essays]]

VKK 320: Decoding Virtual Culture in the Media - a case-study of Serial Experiments Lain

2022-12-31T08:02:24Z

Navi: clean up, added deadend tag, typos fixed: actual fact → fact, wikipedia → Wikipedia (4), can’t → can't (2), fourteen year-old girl → fourteen-year-old girl, 1990’s → 1990s, … → ... (2), Enlightment → Enlightenment, Isn’t → Isn't, superceded → superseded, ’s → 's (40), enviroment → environment, 967-998 → 967–998 (7), the the → the

{{Dead end|date=December 2022}}

Katherine Caromba & Karlien van Heerden

Department of Visual Arts

Dr. A du Preez

17 October 2007

==Introduction==
Serial Experiments Lain (1998) was an animé series broadcast on TV Tokyo from July to September 1998 and was released in conjunction with a Play Station game with the same title. The animé was directed by Ryutaro Nakamura, with original character design by Yoshitoshi Abe. The screenplay was written by Chiaki J. Konaka, with the animé produced by Yasuyuki Ueda for Triangle Staff (Serial experiments Lain – Wikipedia the free encyclopedia 2007).

The series consists of thirteen episodes (described as “layers”) which deal with theme of the merging of the real world with the virtual realm and the central character Lain's search for identity in this unstable environment. Lain struggle with the realisation of the self in this dystopian vision of reality that is set in our “present day, present time”.

Communication is a central theme throughout the show, and most of the characters are extremely lonely and alienated from the rest of the world. People try to connect through the virtual realm (the internet is called the “Wired” in the show's terminology), but this is eventually discredited as a way of creating authentic relationships .

Technologies like virtual reality and nanotechnology are explored, along with the post-modern condition of alienation, paranoia, and identity crisis. While the series has many of the characteristics of science fiction and cyber-punk, post-humanist thought is eventually rejected when material concerns are superseded by an underlying concern with spiritual transformation and Enlightenment; making Lain a modern rewriting of Jesus Christ.

==Plot Overview==
The character of Lain Iwakura is a singularly unassuming fourteen-year-old girl who appears initially as a normal, albeit introverted, junior-high school student. However, her everyday concerns of family, school work and friends quickly become overshadowed by a series of inexplicable events. As Lain begins to become aware that the borders between the real and virtual are eroding, she begins a process of transformation that makes her question the reality of her seemingly normal existence.

From the beginning the series, Serial Experiments Lain (1998), resists a clear distinction between real and virtual, with many scene's taking on a dream-like hallucinatory feel emphasized by the story's deliberately slow pace. Initially the series has the uneasy tone of a typical horror, with Lain receiving e-mail from her classmate, Chisa Yomoda, several days after she has committed suicide. When Lain questions Chisa's motive for suicide, she replies that “God is here” – in the Wired, leading Lain “down the rabbit hole” and into the virtual world.

Interestingly, Layer 01: “Weird” (an anagram of “Wired”) introduces many of the themes that later become central to the show. While Lain's family does not initially appear to be dysfunctional there is a strange tension between the family members which foreshadows the eventual breakdown of the family unit. Also introduced is the character of Arisu (Alice in the English version) who will become Lain's only true friend and the one enduring connection she form with the real world.

When we are first introduced to Lain she has no interest or knowledge about computers. But this all changes when she receives Chisa's e-mail, and prompts her to ask her father for a new Navi (short for “navigator” the series's term for “computer”). When she receives a state of the art Navi she initially has no idea how to use it, but over the course of show she begins to modifying and upgrading it until it becomes a technological monstrosity. The comfort of a child's room is replaced by a disarray of technological components that turn the room into a chaotic laboratory.

But while Lain becomes more active in the virtual world, more focus starts to fall on her in the real world as well. A strange man starts watching her, a westerner his status as an outsider is confirmed by his otherness.

When Arisu and her friends think they see Lain at a nightclub they decide to invite along on their next outing. The club, “Cyberia”, introduces the world of youth cyber-culture and is a trigger for Lain's growing interaction with others. We are also confronted the mystery of a possible other Lain, a doppelgänger figure whose existence Lain was unaware of. This other Lain, we learn, is far more outgoing than the shy introverted character we have been introduced to, with none of the naïve and childish qualities of the ‘real’ Lain.

The episode climaxes when a man whose consciousness has been altered by the drug-like nano-mechanism, Accela (short for acceleration), starts shooting people in the club. When he starts ranting that “the Wired can’t be allowed to interfere with the real world”, Lain reacts uncharacteristically by walking up to him and in a different voice asserts that “no matter where you go, everyone is connected”. Shocked he turns the gun on himself.

Despite Lain's father's assurances that there is nothing to be scared of online, because the Wired is simply a medium for communication, this incident proves that interaction with the Wired can have consequences in the real world. Lain however becomes increasingly entangled with the virtual world. She receives the psyche chip in her locker, a device enabling her to immerse her full consciousness into the Wired through her Navi. In the Wired Lain is now aware of overlapping voices of users which become a collective unconscious, symbolized by a constant hum. These constant rumors become presentiment of events that will occur later; an alien figure dressed in red and green, the Knights of the Eastern Calculus, and Lain of the Wired are all mentioned as legends of the Wired. These myths of the Wired become reality as the borders between fantasy and reality become increasingly fragile.

Lain is asked whether she has already gotten inside the Wired, leading her to probe the Wired in more depth. With this increased mastery of technology Lain begins to acquire almost divine abilities; she seems able to move her consciousness at will. In contrast when Lain's sister is also confronted with the dislocating effects of the Wired, she has no control over the process and eventually and loses her soul in the shadowy realm of the Wired.

Lain uses her abilities to investigate and becomes aware of a game, Phantoma which was responsible for the deaths of several people. This incident seems to be the work of a mysterious group called the Knights. It is later revealed that the Knights are actually related to the Knights’ Templar; however, their true intentions remain a mystery throughout the series. What is clear is the fact that the Knights become identified as Lain's followers, adding to her status as a god-like being.

Delving deeper into the Wired Lain finds herself at the center of what can be called a cult. She notices the random presence of children with their arms raised to the sky in worship. These seemingly isolated events are revealed to revolve around her when a vision of a naked and exposed Lain parting the clouds appears in the sky above a busy intersection (Figure 1).

In search of answers Lain enters the Wired and meets Professor Hodgeson, known as the “child-killing scientist”, due to the tragic results of his work. Hodgeson's work; the Kensington experiment, was an attempt to harness the latent para-psychological abilities of children, but the large amount of energy unleashed triggered an explosion which killed all the children involved. Although the professor had tried to destroy all his research the experiment was now being reproduced without the use of laboratory equipment, with children being manipulated to participate in the experiment as form of game.

Lain becomes aware that the man stalking her is not an ordinary pedophile but rather part of a larger organization. Their methods of surveillance become increasingly technological and the watchers themselves take on almost cyborg-like characteristics (Figure 2). It is revealed that these men are working for the General Tachibana Laboratories which are trying to take back control of the Wired.

The introduction of these “men in black” is the beginning of a larger exploration into conspiracy theory which is combined with real events as a historical backdrop to the series. Documenting this “history” the series takes on the conventions of a documentary in an ironic comment on the supposed rationality of the media. The result is a complex interaction between real and alleged truth, in which the viewer is unable to distinguish between reality and fiction.

The show's timeline begins with the 1947 Roswell crash and the discovery of a secret treaty between aliens and humans, which exposed Veneer Bush as one of the signatories. Bush was head of MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering, and was responsible for the development of the MEMEX memory expansion concept. What Bush envisioned was the rapid compression and access of information even before the advent of computers and had already created the basis for our current multi-media.

John C. Lilly was another cult pioneer investigating the collective human unconscious by conducting sensory deprivation experiments using Native American narcotics and isolation tanks. Lilly believed his experiments connected him to cosmic entities by way of a communication network. Ted Nelson studied under these two pioneers and proposed a giant electronic library called Xanadu, in satellites in stationary orbit, which could be used at any terminal on earth via radio and phone lines.

The earth has its own electromagnetic-waves called the ELF Band which maintains a constant resonance between the ionosphere and the earth's surface dubbed the Schumann Resonance. The extent of this constant resonance on the human brain is unknown. The show proposes that since the human population is reaching the amount of neurons in a brain, it might be possible for the consciousness of the earth itself to awaken, when all the humans on earth become collectively networked.

The narrative of the series follow shortly after these ”historical” events when Masami Eiri encodes the Schumann Resonance into the newly developed Wired protocol (Protocol Seven). Although Eiri dies mysteriously a few days later, his consciousness lives on and his memories are encoded into the neural network of the Wired. Eiri appears before Lain claiming to be her creator and God. Eiri constantly attempts to manipulate Lain, trying to persuade Lain to abandon her body and serve him. As Lain realizes that her family is only an illusion she is forced to question her place in the world and her true identity.

This, however, becomes increasingly difficult as Lain becomes aware of the existence of her multiple selves, in particular three distinct “Lains” come to our attention (Figure 3). The Lain of the real world is shy and child-like the opposite of the “advanced” Lain who is more mature, assertive and questioning. The third, “evil”, Lain is a collection of her worst traits, and tries to harm Lain and all those around her. As her different selves come into conflict Lain tries desperately to rewrite memories and events, but with unintended consequences, becoming further alienated from the world she creates.

To try and escape this reality Lain finds refuge in the artificial love of the Wired where the users adore her as a god, while her physical body becomes immersed in technology (Figure 4). Abandoned by her family and separated from the rest of the world it is only Arisu who cares if Lain exists in the real world. Arisu saves Lain when she reminds her of the importance of her body as proof that she is really alive.

By challenging Eiri's assertions that Lain is merely software, Arisu manages to sever his hold on Lain. Lain confronts this so-called “God” by questioning his rights to control the flow of information in the Wired and his status as an absolute being. When Eiri asks “you mean there is a God after all” Lain dismisses him saying “with no body you can’t understand”. In one last attempt to control her Eiri tries to reform his body, but the result is a mass of bodily flesh which he struggles to control (Figure 5). Now mortal, he dies a permanent death.

To put everything back to the way it should have been Lain erases herself from memory. There is a sense of waking up from a dream as all the characters (including those who died) become normal people living everyday lives. Even Eiri is now only a frustrated business man.

But with reality restored Lain now has no purpose and nowhere to go. She remains alone in the purgatory of an empty Wired, mocked by another self. Lain finally overcomes the temptations of her other self and transcends to the heavens where she sits with her “Father” at a hovering table, restoring a sense of family and the domestic (Figure 6).

The final scene shows Lain still as an adolescent while Arisu is now an adult. She promises herself to always watch over Arisu. Lain's transformation is complete.

==Imagery==
The style of the animé is minimalist; having the effect of turning everyday objects into symbols. While in the beginning of the series Lain's strange experiences seem to be the result of her own subjective experience, we later come to understand them as a reflection of a higher reality with Lain perceiving what others can't.

In particular shadows occur as a leitmotif throughout Serial Experiments Lain (1998) to represent the Wired - another level of reality that exists parallel to our own, lurking behind the domesticity of Lain's suburban existence. When Lain leaves her house in the morning, her path is crossed by the shadows of power lines and there is an ever-present electronic hum. This scene becomes symbolic of how Lain unconsciously traverses the boundaries between the real and virtual worlds (Figure 7).

The shadows appear to have depth with blotches of red (symbolizing blood) and blue. The effect creates a contrast with the white background they are set against. These splashes of color can be seen as a reference to the gaseous clouds of outer space, with alien conspiracy becoming a theme later on in the show.

But by far the most important source of symbolism throughout the series is the Bible. In this Biblical meta-narrative the story takes place during the End of Days with Lain as the second coming of Christ and Eiri as the serpent. Eiri is a false god who continually attempts to manipulate Lain. He offers her knowledge and power - the fruits of temptation (The Holy Bible 967–998).

In the book of Acts, prophecies are made about the End of Days that relates to events in the show. The book states that people will prophesy, see visions and that God will show wonders in the heaven above. Lain's sister is confronted with the ideas of an impending prophesy which must be fulfilled (The Holy Bible 967–998).

When Lain appears in the clouds, she is praised and worshiped as if holy. Lain is characterized as Jesus at many other instances during the course of the series, often appearing with a heavenly glow (Figure 8). During the last part of the series, as Lain becomes so immersed in the Wired that she physically surrounds herself with the wires and technological devices, she comes to resemble the tortured figure of Jesus (Figure 4). The series ends after Lain finally transcends, to be immortal with her father in heaven.

There are also references to several other Biblical narratives. In class, Lain witnesses the words forming on the blackboard, beckoning her to “come to the Wired”. This encounter can be related to Biblical narrative when God used his fingertip to write on a stubborn King's wall.

The ever-present pylons are a reference to the tower of Babel. The Wired is the upper-layer of the real world, becoming a metaphorical tower linking reality with heaven, creating the potential to connect to a Higher Reality. But, as in the Bible, the natural order of things is disturbed and people are punished.

The series also places the same importance on child-like qualities as the Bible with Lain depicted as the ideal; innocent, without fear and without questions. In contrast, most adults in the series appear to be unenlightened and incapable of belief.

When Lain looks at her own shadow she sees a swirling cloud in the center of her being (Figure 9) which later oozes as smoke from her fingertips, a reference to the soul and the concept of chakra with the fingertips being seen as energy points (Figure 10). Similarly, God does not take on a physical form in the series, but rather appears as a swirling mass of colour similar to some depictions of the Wired (Figure 11).

Lain's transformation is an archetypical spiritual narrative of death and rebirth, and the series has also been influenced by other sources. In Hindu religion, transformation is realized through re-incarnation. This cyclical process is reflected in the structure of the show itself with the plot developing in layers of subjective experience instead of concrete events (Jivanam 2007).

As the realm of the collective unconscious the Wired can be interpreted as a type of dream-world, which threatens to become a nightmare for those who become caught up in it. Lain's eventual mastery of the dream world makes her a shaman-like figure able to traverse the worlds and reflects the Hindu idea that the Divine being can be reached more successfully when one is asleep or through meditation (Horsely [sa]).

As Lain herself is transforming, these changes are mirrored by her changing environment. Initially, Lain's room is clean, sunny, orderly and free of complication. Her soft toys represent the comfort she seeks when in confrontation with her family. The room however is seen as cold, isolated and unwelcoming, depicting her loneliness. As the story unfolds, Lain's darkening room becomes overwhelmed with technological apparatus which adopts an ironically organic, womb-like quality (Figure 12). This reflects how the Wired becomes a source of comfort for Lain as her family structure is torn apart.

==Serial Experiments Lain as a Post-Modern Narrative==
Serial Experiments Lain (1998) has many the characteristics of post-modernism and rejects a traditional binary world view, challenging oppositional concepts of child/adult, man/woman inside/outside, self/other, and fantasy/reality. In particular the question of the location of the self is dealt with throughout the series, with Lain continually questioning who or what her ‘authentic’ self is and whether this self requires the central location of a body.

Hayles (1993: 69–91) has argued that in post-modernism the fundamental dialectic of presence and absence is replaced by one more concerned with pattern and randomness. Analyzed in these terms Serial Experiments Lain (1998) the fact that Lain is supposedly the physical embodiment of the larger consciousness of the Wired becomes of central importance, signifying the crucial point in which randomness acquires order.

Serial Experiments Lain (1998) is also typically post-modern in its use of multiple inter-textual references, and in much the same way that compressed information was inserted into the Wired these often function on an almost subliminal level. In addition to Biblical references there are also references to Alice in Wonderland, Free Mason symbolism and theory, Apple product placements and even a reference to Proust.

==Virtual Culture Themes in Serial Experiments Lain==
===Virtual Reality===
In Serial Experiments Lain (1998) is an excellent example of the depiction of virtual culture in the popular media. In the series technology has advanced to the point where people are able to fully immerse themselves in the Wired, while the body stays in an artificial coma, making the Wired perhaps the ultimate expression of virtual reality.

Theorists however, stress that the reality of virtual technology has been greatly exaggerated by the popular media. Michael Heim (1993: 109–128) states the following: "VR is not a state of consciousness or a simulated drug trip. VR is an emerging field of applied science".

It is understood that Virtual Reality is not only a technology, but also an experience that relates to the idea of the “organic” human. The experience of virtual reality is so to speak a sense driven “application”. It is an interactive system. The three "I's" of Virtual Reality are immersion, interactivity and information intensity (Heim 1993: 109–128).

One paragraph in Heim's The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality (1993: 109–128) gets to the crux of his argument. Firstly Heim insists on finding the “true” meaning of the subject. He lists the extensive misconceptions or half-truths on Virtual Culture. Finally a concept on the subject is formalized:

“When we look for the essence of a technology, we are engaging in speculation, but not in airy speculation. Our speculation involves where we plant our feet, who we are, and what we choose to be”

(Heim 1993: 109–128).

Technology is a certain aspect of development and life as we know it. It is interesting to see the apparent connection between the human and a technological device. The “basic” human by nature has a will, a sense of freedom, an ability to choose and a need to distinguish and identify him- or herself. Through Virtual Reality we win games and confirm our status as powerful, able, humans. We choose to watch a film, we interact with it on a virtual level as we can not be a part of the film, the making, the narrative etc. itself. We find identity in Virtual Reality as it does not oppose us and question us. We make our mark by formulating an opinion on the film, being the next “high score”, and developing a sense of god-like superiority. Humans have created virtual reality and an indirect confirmation that technology is not “taking over the world”.

On a more practical level virtual Reality is a technology that convinces us that we are actually in another place than which we consider to be real or current. Our ideas on direct or sensory experiences are virtually realized in for example a technologically advanced device. We are presented with the question of superficiality and ignorance to what may be real. When watching a film, the reader ever so often “remember” that he or she is watching a film, and that it is construed or not real. It relates more to the idea of narrative and fiction than the idea of a science that simulates reality. Virtual reality on the other hand is a “trickster”, taking up the essence of human experience in a new, “not real” real manner. Our bodies may be confused, as nerve-ends do not necessarily process a “why” for a reaction or feeling. You are for example not, in fact in a forest, but when you are through a technological device you are virtually exported to a forest, while in reality sitting in a lab, or arcade, or living room handling a shiny stick and a button – having the same or similar experience as that of being in an actual forest. In film, one is aware of where you are watching the film, who is sitting next to you, the acting skills etc. Virtual Reality makes you believe something that is not entirely current or present or in fact, real.

This is where one asks the question what is real, does it really matter if we can not touch the subject. There are also numerous questions that may arise in terms of social and religious aspects. We make a turn into spirituality; God can not be touched. On a very basic level, God is felt or even simulated. We are physically separated from a God, and the experience is in fact, virtual. Again we question what is real. Has Virtual Reality become the substitute for not only sensory input, but also God? And has God in turn become virtual?

It is these questions that form the basis of the fictitious Wired of Serial Experiments Lain (1998) with the plot centered on how the Wired, the virtual realm, becomes increasingly entangled with the real world. The series is made all the more believable because as an animé it takes place in an artificial realm. For example, in the show's credits we see Lain trying to reach out to people through television and computer screens. The realization that Lain is also trying to reach out to us, implicates the viewer as part of the show's events. In much the same way that real history and fiction are combined in the series.

Communication in itself becomes a core theme of the series as Lain discovers her ability to communicate on a mass-scale, within her community and ultimately the world. Director Nakamura wanted to show the audience - and particularly adolocent viewers - "the multidimensional wavelength of the existential self: the relationship between self and the world" (Serial experiments Lain – Wikipedia the free encyclopedia 2007).

Interestingly Ueda, the producer of Serial Experiments Lain, has commented that he was disappointed the response of American audiences to the series, saying that:

“what I hoped to see between American and Japanese reactions to Lain is a war-- war of ideas... because through conflict of ideas, you understand yourself better, and you gain insight on the culture of your opponent. I don't so much want Americans to interpret Lain exactly as Japanese fans do, as I want them to hold on to their own point of view, and in doing so, establish conflict, and hopefully, new communication.”

(Lain Men: Yasuyuki Ueda 2000).

For Lain communication through the Wired becomes an important strategy to cope with her loneliness, by allowing her to connect with other people. In the beginning of the series Lain connects to the Wired in an attempt to communicate with Chisa Yomoda, despite the fact that they had been unable to form a friendship in the real world. Lain's father asserts that “In this world, whether it is here in the real world or in the Wired, people connect to each other, and that is how societies function” but ironically the characters of the show become dependant on the Wired for any form of connection whatsoever. This leads Lain to question her sense of self-worth as she starts to believe that she only exists in the memories of others.

As Lain becomes entranced by the Wired she must ultimately realize the artificiality of this form of connection created within the virtual community – as opposed to an authentic love which is only possible by interacting in the real world. The different variations of love become another theme of the series, even being the title of an episode. Phiphilia, or philanthropic love, describes Lain's love and concern for Arisu. Storge refers to the love between parent and child, and is conspicuously absent from Lain's family setting. However this deficiency is eventually remedied when Lain receives Agape, perfect love, from her true, divine, “Father”. Their conversation is enlightening:

Lain: Dad, do you know?

Lain's Father: What?

Lain: I...Everyone, I...

Lain's Father: You love them?

Isn't that right?

(Lain begins to cry)

(Serial Experiments Lain 1998)

The depiction of Eros, erotic love, in the series is more complex. Serial Experiments Lain (1998) has virtually no erotic content except for a strangely clinical scene in which Arisu masturbates, and yet despite this the series has an almost constant sexual tension. Lain is increasingly seen as being the object of the male gaze with an implied sexual awakening taking place as she becomes more mature.

The “mature” Lain usually wears a revealing slip-like dress (Figure 13) and is also seen wearing only a baggy jersey. Ironically the “real world” Lain's bear pajamas (Figure 14) also serve to enhance her nymph-like aspect by contrasting her innocence with her maturing sexuality.
Hamilton (1997: [sp]) describes the allure of the virtual idol, and comments that “Depriving access to the viewer acts to increase the allure of the figure while ensuring the player that the idol's innocence remains intact.” Similarly the Rorikon (Lolita-style) genre, although infamous for portraying young girls in explicitly sexual situations, take great pains to present the characters was innocent and virginal before they are deflowered (Hammilton 1997: [sp]).

In this sexual fascination is only one manifestation of the power Lain holds over her followers with the chant of “Let’s all love Lain” take on a manic tone. Reality takes on a tyrannical quality, forced onto the minds of others. A misguided attempt to compensate for her own lack of self-love, Lain unconsciously starts causing the world to revolve around her, and the connections she forms on the of the Wired becoming hopelessly one-sided relationships (Figure 15).

In constast Lain's relationship with Arisu is the only one which is real. Because Lain never connects to Arisu they are both able to maintain their individuality, and when Lain changes events Arisu's memories are the only ones she can not bring herself to alter.

===Post-Humanism===
Our obsession with the bridging of humans and technology has been longstanding, as well as an ongoing relation. It has, however, grown and evolved into an advanced discourse of scientific research. It is said that the human is becoming more robotic and the machine or robot has become more “human” (Haraway 1991). The aim: immortality.

In an interview with Hayles on post-humanity she says the following;

“Recent research programs in computer science, cognitive sciences, artificial life and artificial intelligence have argued for a view of the human so different from that which emerged from the Enlightenment that it can appropriately be called "post-human." Whereas the human has traditionally been associated with consciousness, rationality, free will, autonomous agency, and the right of the subject to possess himself, the post-human sees human behavior as the result of a number of autonomous agents running their programs more or less independently of one another.”…”Intelligent agent programs are being developed using "emotional computing" techniques that allow these artificial systems to respond to unexpected situations in ways that more closely resemble human responses.”

(An interview/dialogue with Albert Borgmann and Katherine Hayles on humans and machines 1999)

Once again, we see the shortening of the metaphorical bridge between the “organic” human and the machine. The idea of Post-humanity is centers around that which comes after humanity. This is not referring to transcendence, the Sublime or the traditional idea of a heaven. Post-humanity is concerned with humanity. It is not as concerned with our souls as with our bodies and how the body and the self are constructed, altered and ultimately advanced. The strive is not only for longevity, but also for perfection is evident.

Within Serial Experiments Lain (1998) this post-humanist perspective is articulated in the character of Eiri who comments that:

“All the functions of the human body, without exception, can be put into words and described in materialistic terms. The body is nothing but a machine. If the physical limitations of the body restrict mankind’s evolution, it would be as if the fall of the species called “man” had already been decided by a God that doesn't even exist.”

(Serial experiments Lain 1998)

What is interesting about this speech is that Eiri, despite believing that matter flows from thought, still describes the body in materialistic terms, going so far to describe Lain as “software”. A worldveiw in which physical reality is dismissed but a higher Truth is never acknowledged – in other words, it is the post-humanist worldveiw in which only the mankind and its quest for power are ever seen as important.

Despite Eiri, Lain eventually comes to understand the importance of the body, as a vehicle preserving the sanctity of the soul. So that while the Wired makes Lain god-like, it is only through the body that Lain is able to experience God herself.

It is because of this underlying conern with the spiritual that the series does not fall easily into the cyberpunk genre. Sterling (2003) comments that cyberpunk strives to show that there are "no sacred boundaries to protect us from ourselves”, in contrast Serial Experiments Lain (1998) is concerned with little other than the sacred. Similarly while cyber-punk focusses on the transgression of binaries like inside/outside, man/machine Lain eventually restores a natural order.

Colman (2003: [sp]) misinterprets Serial Experiments Lain (1998) by analyzing it in terms of a post-humanist technological narrative. She argues that because Lain still appears as an adolescent at the end of the series, while her friends have aged, Lain has discarded her corporeal body because it causes the censorship of the Wired's possibilities. Colman also quotes Lain out of context saying “You and everyone else are all just applications, you don’t need bodies, understand?” ignoring the fact that Lain later revises her opinion during that same conversation (Colman 2003: [sp]).

It seems as though Colman, sharing Nietzsche's revolt in ‘relio-moral idiosyncrasies’, has tried to rewrite the religious content out of the series. Analyzed in terms of a political agenda Serial Experiments Lain (1998) is criticized because by Lain restoring order at the end of the series, she also re-establishes the capitalist status-quo (Colman 2003: [sp]).

==Conclusion==
The Serial Experiments Lain (1998) is an excellent example of the possibilities of both animé and television in general. On-screen text, dialog and symbolic imagery to create a multi-layered viewing experience which elegantly combines philosophy with a fictional narrative. Made in the 1990s alongside Neon Genesis Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop, Serial Experiments Lain was one of a generation of animé that pushed the boundaries of the medium. And yet Lain remains the least well known of the three, being described as “weird” almost systematically in English-language reviews (Serial experiments Lain – Wikipedia the free encyclopedia 2007). Despite this, Serial Experiments Lain (1998) is a fascinating and open-ended series with considerable scope for academic analysis.

==Sources Consulted==
An interview/dialogue with Albert Borgmann and Katherine Hayles on humans and machines. 1999. The University of Chicago Press. Available:
[http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/borghayl.html] Accessed 10 October 2007

Colman, F. 2003. The sight of your God disturbs me: questioning the post-Christian bodies of Buffy, Lain, and George. Refractory: A Journal of Entertainment Media 3: [sp].

Hammilton, R. 1997. Virtual Idols and Digital Dolls. Bad Subjects 37: [sp].

Haraway, D. 1991. A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century. [O]. Available:
[http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Haraway/CyborgManifesto.html] Accessed on 10 October 2007

Hayles, K. 1999. How we became posthuman: virtual bodies in cybernetics, literature and informatics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Heim, M. 1993. The metaphysics of virtual reality. New York: Oxford University Press.

Horsely, J. [Sa]. Gnosticism reborn: the Matrix as shamanic journey. [O]. Available:
[http://www.mindmined.com/public_library/nonfiction/jake_horsley_gnosticism_reborn.html]
Accessed: 16 October 2007

Jivanam, A. S. 2007. Beyond death, astral life. [O]. Available: [http://www.himalayanacademy.com/resources/books/lws/lws_ch-35.html].
Accessed on 24 August 2007.

Lain Men: Yasuyuki Ueda. 2000. [O]. Available:
[http://www.animejump.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=32&page=1]
Accessed: 16 October 2007

Serial experiments Lain. 1998. [Television programme]. Pioneer LDC, TV Tokyo & Tatsunoko Pro.
Broadcast : 1:15, 6 July - 28 September 1998, TV Tokyo.

Serial experiments Lain – Wikipedia the free encyclopedia. 2007. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Available:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Experiments_Lain]
Accessed: 16 October 2007

Sterling, B. 2003. "Cyberpunk in the Nineties." [O]. Available:
[http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/cyberpunk_in_the_nineties.html]
Accessed: 16 October 2007

The Holy Bible: New International Version. 1993. New York: HarperTorch.

(Source: [https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ARiz7M8Mddm8ZGRkNnd4NjhfNGNnYmg2a2d4&hl=en_US])

[[Category:Essays]]

Kyoko

2022-12-31T08:00:41Z

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{{Construction}}

[[File:Kyoko and Mayu.png|thumb|Lain watching Kyoko and Mayu walk the halls.]]
She is the childhood friend of [[Lain Iwakura]] in the [[Serial Experiments Lain (game)|game]], and Lain is slightly jealous of her because she believes Kyoko is cuter and more popular than her. Lain begins to notice how Kyoko had been hanging out with her friend, [[Mayu]] more, rather than Lain. The two have a falling out, seemingly because Lain received a letter of drawings from [[Tomo]]. Later, Lain's counselor [[Touko Yonera]] meets with Kyoko to find out more about Lain and Lain's friend, [[Misato]].
[[Category:Characters]]
{{GameCharacters}}

Paranormal Occurrences in Serial Experiments Lain

2022-12-31T08:00:35Z

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[[File:Lainplasma.jpeg|200px|thumb]]
There are multiple instances of Paranormal occurrences in [[Serial Experiments Lain]].

==Ectoplasm==

The first instance of a paranormal occurrence the viewer sees is in [[Layer 01]] when Lain is in class, the board becomes blurry, and outlets open in her fingers with ectoplasm emitting from them.

==Aliens==

[[File:aliendude.png|200px|thumb]]

Another instance of this is in layers 09 and 11. In the first appearance, in [[Layer 09]], the alien appears in front of Lain and has grey skin, a small body, with long arms and an over-sized head. It's eyes are large, almond-shaped, and dark. In the second appearance, in [[Layer 11]], it appears in the room of [[Alice Mizuki]], with the same body but with the face and personality of Lain. In conceptual drawings featured in the Serial Experiments Lain DVD boxset, the alien with Lain's face and personality that appears in front of Alice is called “Glain,” as in Grey+Lain. In both layers, the aliens are wearing green and red striped sweaters, which is likely a reference to the film [[Wikipedia:A Nightmare on Elm Street|A Nightmare on Elm Street]].

==Roswell incident==

The Roswell Incident is a real life paranormal occurrence which is mentioned in [[Layer 09]]. Learn more about it [[Wikipedia: Roswell Incident|here]].

{{Uncategorized|date=December 2022}}

Shimizu Kaori

2022-12-31T08:00:29Z

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[[File:Kaori-shimizu.jpg|thumb|266px|right]]
'''Kaori Shimizu (清水香里)''' was born on May 21, 1983, in Tokyo, Japan. She is known for her work on the [[Serial Experiments Lain]] (1998) anime as the Japanese voice actor for [[Lain Iwakura]]. She also played voice actor roles in Babel (2006) and Inuyasha (2000).
==External links==
*[[Wikipedia:Kaori Shimizu]]
[[Category:Staff]]

Ueda Yasuyuki

2022-12-31T08:00:23Z

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[[File:Yasuyuki-ueda-6208.jpg|thumb|266px|right]]
'''Ueda Yasuyuki''' (上田耕行) is the producer of [[Serial Experiments Lain]]. He stylizes his name as yasuyuki ueda and is sometimes credited as Production 2nd. In the game credits, the one credited as dango is probably him as well. He came up with the original concept and story for the [[Serial Experiments Lain (game)|game]] and the [[Serial Experiments Lain (anime)|anime]] and enlisted the aid of other staff members, [[Chiaki J. Konaka]], [[Nakamura Ryuutarou]], and [[Yoshitoshi ABe]].

==Animes Involved In==
* Phantom Quest Corp. (1994), Assistant Producer
* Hyper Doll (1995), Producer
* Magical Project S (1996), Assistant Producer
* Tenchi the Movie 2: The Daughter of Darkness (1997), Production Supporter
* Serial Experiments Lain (1998), Original Concept & Story, Producer[1]
* Nazca (1998), Producer[2]
* The Legend of Black Heaven (1999), Music Producer
* Amazing Nurse Nanako (1999), Producer[3]
* NieA 7 (2000), Producer[4]
* Hellsing (2001), Executive Producer[5]
* Haibane Renmei (2002), Producer[6]
* Texhnolyze (2003), Producer[7]
* Koi Kaze (2004), Producer
* Ergo Proxy (2006), Music Producer
* Hellsing Ultimate (2006), Producer
* Shigurui: Death Frenzy (2007), Producer
* Rideback (2009), Producer
* Danganronpa: The Animation (2013), Executive producer[8]

==Lain blog==
Ueda kept a promotional blog during the time ''Lain'' was being restored in 2009-2010 for Pioneer's Blu-ray Box|RESTORE.

Archive link: [http://web.archive.org/web/20101226100424/http://blog.geneon-ent.co.jp/graphid/]

[[Category:Staff]]

KIDS

2022-12-31T08:00:18Z

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[[File:KIDS Prototype.jpeg|300px|thumb|Hodgeson explains KIDS to Lain in the [[Layer 06|similarly titled episode]].]]

The KID System or [[Wikipedia:RAS syndrome|KIDS System]] is a psychotronic device that harnesses and amplifies the power of children's latent psi abilities. It was created by [[Professor Hodgeson]] for the Kensington Experiment that occurred around 15 years prior to the present day, present time events of ''Serial Experiments Lain''. After the Kensington Experiment's disastrous results, Hodgeson destroyed the machine and deleted its schematics, but the [[Knights of the Eastern Calculus]] somehow recovered the data. The original KID system used peripherals called Outer Receptors to collect the psi, but the Knights redesigned the system to work without Outer Receptors.

KIDS is the title and focus of [[Layer 06]], when the collective power of the children successfully summons a giant image of [[Lain Iwakura]] into the sky, and the Professor discusses his experimental findings with Lain (as a metaphor of Lain researching the KIDS effect online).

In [[Scenario Experiments Lain]], a footnote states that the Kensington Experiment was modeled after the [[Wikipedia:Philadelphia Experiment|Philadelphia Experiment]].

[[Category:Technology]]
[[Category:Conspiracy]]

Serial Experiments Lain Collector's Edition

2022-12-31T07:57:13Z

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Serial experiments lain collector's edition is a special edition of the anime series released in Spain<ref>https://en.todocoleccion.net/cinema-films-dvd/lain-serial-experiments-ed-coleccionista-limitada-serie-completa~x150877190</ref> (by Selecta Visión) and France. Only 1500 copies were produced. It includes 5 DVDs featuring the 13 layers of the anime, the American release of [[Serial Experiments Lain: Cyberia Mix|Cyberia Mix]] and extra content: upgrades for TV and cd, opening and ending without text, interviews with the staff, a copy of [[The Nightmare of Fabrication]], and a 'CoplandOS manual' which includes illustrations and layers guide.
[[File:Lain_Collector's_Edition.jpg|thumb|Collector's edition box]]
[[File:Lain_Collector's_Edition_contents.jpg|thumb|Contents]]
[[File:Lain_Collector's_Edition_booklet.jpg|thumb|CoplandOS manual]]
[[File:Lain_Collector's_Edition_poster.jpg|thumb|Lain poster]]
== External links ==
* [https://qorg11.net/vid/Lain%20Upgrades%20for%20CD.webm Lain Upgrades for CD]
* [https://qorg11.net/vid/Lain%20Upgrades%20for%20TV.webm Lain Upgrades for TV]
== References ==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Merchandise/Collectibles]]

Laingame.net

2022-12-31T07:56:52Z

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[[File:Laingame Homepage.png|thumb|right|laingame.net homepage as of 27 Jan 2022]]
[http://laingame.net Laingame.net] is a website centered around [[Serial Experiments Lain (game)|Serial Experiments Lain game]] for the PlayStation 1. First it was an additional help for the psx.lain.pl PDF translation, which was hard to navigate while playing on an emulator. Later it became a go-to place to play the lainTSX recreation of the game written for web technologies.

The website includes multiple lain related experiences:
* Official lainTSX deployment (though lainTSX is separated from laingame)
* Old, simplified version of laingame, prior to lainTSX remake.
* lain-bootleg-bootleg, download page for the recreation of the lain bootleg game.

== History ==
* October 2016, the website is founded, intended to host scraped contents of Lain PSX game.
* 29 March 2021, lainTSX releases, and is deployed on the website, and the previous "non-interactive" version of laingame becomes the ''simplified version''.
* August 2021, a new design for the simplified version is created.

{{Uncategorized|date=December 2022}}

Miho Iwakura

2022-12-31T07:56:19Z

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{{CharacterInfo
|image=File:Iwakura_Miho.jpg
|gender=Female
|age=38
|family=[[Yasuo Iwakura]], [[Mika Iwakura]], [[Lain Iwakura]]
|affiliation=[[Tachibana General Laboratories]]
|navi=None
|debut=[[Layer 01]]
|featuredin=[[Serial Experiments Lain (anime)|Anime]], [[Serial Experiments Lain (game)|Game]]
|location=[[Lain's House]], [[Shibuya]]
|voiceactors=[[wikipedia:Rei Igarashi|Rei Igarashi]] (Japanese),
[[wikipedia:Petrea Burchard|Celeste Burch]] (English), [[Silvia Aira]] (Spanish)}}

'''Iwakura Miho''' (岩倉美穂) is a woman in her 30s. She acts as surrogate mother to [[Lain Iwakura]]. She acts as Lain and Mika's apathetic stay at home mother. Miho is completely indifferent to the lives and feelings of her daughters. She seems to legitimately hate Lain going so far as to refuse to interact with her for more than a few seconds. Miho is completely unconcerned about the well-being of her youngest daughter Lain and her eldest in [[Layer 05]]

{{AnimeCharacters}}
{{GameCharacters}}

[[Category:Characters]]

Key Frames

2022-12-31T07:54:44Z

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These are all of the key frames Takahiro Kishida made before they started production on [[Serial Experiments Lain]]
<gallery mode=slideshow>
Proto-ft.jpg|Lain and her teacher alone in a classroom
Proto-1.jpg|First scene where, a couple witness a suicide
Proto-2.jpg|Lain looking out of a subway window
Proto-3.jpg
Proto-4.jpg|Lain's fake severed head in the wire
Proto-5.jpg
Proto-6.jpg|Iwakura Miho
Proto-7.jpg
Proto-8.jpg|Iwakura Mika
Proto-9.jpg
Proto-10.jpg|Masamoto Shoko suicide scene
Proto-11.jpg|WTF IS THIS. Maybe someone putting an outlet plug in their mouth, symbolizing a physical connection to the wired (?)
Proto-12.jpg|Eiri Masami
Proto-13.jpg
Proto-14.jpg
Proto-15.jpg
</gallery>

[[Category:Media]]

Evil Lain

2022-12-31T07:54:26Z

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[[File:Evil-lain.png|right|thumb|300px|SMUG FACE]]
She is one of the three forms of [[Lain Iwakura]]. She is one of the [[Knights of the Eastern Calculus]] creation. This version of Lain is horribly cruel and Lain's voice actress even purposely voiced her like an evil villain. Evil Lain kills without any concern for human life; in fact it almost seems that she enjoys it as it show in [[Layer 07]]. She's seen laughing at the Wannabe Knight implying she knows that she is going to kill him. She has no fear of death either, finding it amusing when Lain is “committing suicide”.

The most important thing to note about Evil Lain is Lain Iwakura's line of dialog in which she states that Evil Lain is “all the parts she hates about herself”. This means pretty clearly that Lain at least shares some THOUGHTS with Evil Lain, if not the outright desire to cause chaos. She's the result of the Knight's desire to create a clone of Lain and sabotage any ideas she was getting in her head that would go against the Knight's own objectives.

[[Category:Characters]]

Touko Yonera

2022-12-31T07:53:49Z

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{{Construction}}

{{CharacterInfo
|image = File:Artbook_Touko.png
|gender = Female
|age = 27
|family = Unknown
|affiliation = [[Tachibana General Laboratories]]
|navi = [[Yonera Touko's NAVI]]
|debut = [[Serial Experiments Lain (game)|Serial Experiments Lain PSX game]]
|featuredin = [[Serial Experiments Lain (game)|Serial Experiments Lain PSX game]]
|location = [[Tachibana General Laboratories]], Touko's Apartment
}}

'''Yonera Touko''' (米良柊子, also romanized as '''Yonera Tohko'''), is a 27-year-old psychiatrist employed by [[Tachibana General Laboratories]]' psychology department. In the [[Serial Experiments Lain (game)|Serial Experiments Lain PSX game]], she is [[Lain Iwakura]]'s psychiatrist, and the lover of [[Takeshi]] and, later, [[Yoshida]]. She is driven to suicide by Lain shortly before Lain's suicide and assimilation into [[the Wired]]. Her boss is [[Professor Takashima]] and she hates him because he dumps chores onto her.

Before she returned to Japan to work at Tachibana General Laboratories, Touko lived in the USA.

{{GameCharacters}}
[[Category:Characters]]

Serial Experiments Lain Lunchbox

2022-12-31T07:52:55Z

Navi: /* top */clean up, added orphan, underlinked tags, typos fixed: dvd → DVD (2)

{{Multiple issues|
{{Underlinked|date=December 2022}}
{{Orphan|date=December 2022}}
}}

[[File:Lain_lunchbox_1_front.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Front of the first Serial Experiments Lain lunchbox]]
[[File:Lain_lunchbox_1_back.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Back of the first Serial Experiments Lain lunchbox]]
[[File:Lain_lunchbox_2_front.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Front of the second Serial Experiments Lain lunchbox]]
[[File:Lain_lunchbox_2_back.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Back of the second Serial Experiments Lain lunchbox]]
[[File:Lain_lunchbox_2_side1.jpg|thumb|right|350px|First side of the second Serial Experiments Lain lunchbox]]
[[File:Lain_lunchbox_2_side2.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Second side of the second Serial Experiments Lain lunchbox]]
There were 2 Serial Experiments Lain lunchboxes that were released in 2001, The second is the more rare of the two. The lunchbox originally came packaged with the 4 disc DVD collection, a cd of Bôa's "[[Duvet]]", as well as 4 limited edition stickers, one for each DVD.

[[Category:Merchandise/Collectibles]]