Alice's Teacher
The young, handsome male teacher who is 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 scenarios.
| Alice's Teacher | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | |
| Family | |
| Occupation | Teacher |
| Affiliation | School |
| NAVI | |
| Debut | Layer 08 |
| Featured in | |
| Location | Shibuya |
| Voice Actor(s) | Ken Narita (Japanese),
Steven Blum (English) |
Episode 8 appearance and fan misunderstanding
The first time he appears is in 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 Konaka. The scene is not exactly the same as it appears in the anime.
Scenario
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.
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 end 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 episode 11. Alice, Juri and Reika 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 (YouTube) has mistranslated Reika's line, saying the teacher is going out with an 8th grader.
Episode 13 appearance
In 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
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.
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.