Changes

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''.

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.  Raise the plot (somewhat).

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 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''.

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. 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 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''.

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.  She speaks with another version of herself. Now Lain is a pure observer.   

 

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 . Raise the plot to the B-E axis.

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''.

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.

 

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.

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>