Lain Iwakura

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12

“

No matter where you are, everyone is always connected.

„

“	Last Sunday, I went out with my family. We went to our relative's house in Fujisawa by train. All of us together. We left at the time I usually leave for school. On our way to the station, my mother noticed that she forgot something, so we went back to the house. It was the first time we went to their house in Fujisawa -- No. I was mistaken. We've been there several times. I just forget things sometime. Meeting my uncle and aunt. I greeted them saying "Nice to meet you" by mistake, and they laughed at me. I don't remember what happened while I was in the train. But I think I was hearing my father and mother talk quietly about the medicine all the way. I was hearing it absent-mindedly. Then I began to feel as if I were at school and I felt sick. I endured it all the way through. Meeting my uncle and aunt. I said "Hello." No. I said "Nice to meet you." Was my father and mother there? Last Sunday, I went out alone. I went to relative's house in Fujisawa alone.	„
	~ Short story in the An Omnipresence in Wired Artbook Page 7

Background

Lain Iwakura (岩倉 玲音 Iwakura Rein; also written as レイン, ｌａｉｎ, or れいん) serves as the central character of the series Serial Experiments Lain. She is a female character, looking around the age of 14 in the anime. Lain is visually recognized by her short, brown, asymmetrical hair, with a distinct lock held in place by a hairclip. Masami Eiri, driven by his ambitions to dominate reality, manipulates Lain for his own purposes.

ExpandThis dropdown contains the synopsis of Lain Iwakura’s story. Read at your own risk as you may be spoiled otherwise!

At the start of the anime, Lain is shy and unfamiliar with technology. She rarely checks her email and visibly struggles with discomfort when using her outdated children's NAVI. To cope with her anxiety, she wears a bear hat, similar to her bear suit, which offers her a sense of security in situations she finds intimidating. Lain's demeanor shifts noticeably once she acquires a more advanced NAVI. Online, she becomes far more confident and assertive. In the Wired, another version of her exists — often called "evil Lain" by fans. According to Lain in Layer 08, this persona embodies the aspects of herself that she despises. Despite her initial unfamiliarity with technology, Lain demonstrates remarkable intelligence. She quickly grasps the intricacies of the NAVI system and even assists the boss of the Men in Black in repairing his outdated device. In the manga, her talent extends to programming, as she modifies her plush dog, Bike-chan, to bark. Meanwhile, in the game, Lain develops an interest in psychology and uses her understanding to help her therapist, Touko Yonera, during her mental breakdown. Lain's relationship with her family is distant, with little communication at home. Her social life at school is similarly limited, though she gradually forms a bond with Alice Mizuki, Reika Yamamoto, and Juri Katou. Among them, Alice is the only one with whom Lain shares a genuine emotional connection. As the story unfolds, it is revealed that Lain is a manifestation of the human collective unconscious, shaped by the Wired. Each person holds a distinct perception of Lain, represented symbolically by the Lain mannequins in Layer 08. This fractured self-image drives Lain’s identity crisis, a central conflict of the anime. Ultimately, Lain comes to view herself as existing solely within the memories of others. By erasing herself during the reset, she effectively commits a form of self-annihilation. Although her data remains within the Wired, no one in the real world remembers her existence.

Appearance

• Looks:

Lain has the appearance of a 14-year-old girl with short brown hair and brown eyes. A distinctive feature of her appearance is a lock of hair tied with an X-shaped clip, which adds a unique touch to her otherwise simple hairstyle. Her facial expression often appears neutral or serious, fitting her introspective and reserved nature.

• Regular Clothes:

Lain’s most iconic outfit is her school uniform, consisting of a white dress shirt, a dark green skirt, and a red bow. She is frequently seen wearing this ensemble with a grey coat adorned with a badge, adding a formal and slightly military touch to her look. This attire is a staple in her everyday appearance, reflecting her normal teenage life.

• Special Clothes:

Lain is also shown in a variety of other outfits that represent different aspects of her life and experiences. She wears a simple white nightgown, as well as a brown bear onesie, offering a more relaxed, childlike appearance. Additionally, she dons several sweaters and sweatshirts, including a black turtleneck, a beige sweater with a bear beanie, and a white sweatshirt. These outfits give Lain a cozy and sometimes vulnerable look.

The brown bear outfit is meant to serve as a "shield" for Lain, mentally. With Director Ryutaro Nakamura stating that the bear motif was meant to be a way to shield her from confrontations or difficult conversations usually with her family. This is why at the end of the series when she speaks to her father, she finally takes the bear hoodie off.

It's also shown in the Siberia Club where Lain wears a hat with a bear motif on it.

• Video Game Outfit:

In the video game adaptation, Lain's appearance is slightly more intricate, reflecting the fantastical elements of her character. She wears a navy blue dress with a blue zigzagged zipper and a grey cape-like article of clothing, presenting a more sophisticated and surreal version of her look.

Personality

Lain IwakuraLain the WiredThird Personality

• Introverted and Shy: Lain is incredibly introverted, often struggling with social interactions and avoiding eye contact. She rarely speaks unless spoken to and feels uncomfortable in conversations, particularly with strangers or in group settings. Her limited number of friends reflects her difficulty forming close connections.

• Childlike Preferences: Despite her intelligence, Lain has a strong attachment to her childhood comforts. She collects toys and often uses them as a source of security when anxious, demonstrating a reliance on familiar objects to soothe her emotions.

• Sensitive and Self-Conscious: Although she appears indifferent, Lain is deeply sensitive to how others perceive her. She worries constantly about her actions and their impact on those around her, fearing rejection and abandonment. This heightened concern for others often leaves her emotionally vulnerable.

• Emotionally Dependent: Lain forms intense emotional attachments to those who show her kindness. She is fiercely loyal and devoted to her loved ones, experiencing profound heartbreak when they distance themselves. Her sense of self-worth is often tied to her relationships, leading her to question her value when alone.

• Loneliness and Fear of Isolation: Due to her difficulty connecting with others, Lain experiences frequent loneliness. Prolonged solitude exacerbates her mental health struggles, leading to extreme anxiety, depression, and even suicidal ideation. Her fear of being truly alone intensifies her desperation for companionship.

• Panic and Coping Mechanisms: When overwhelmed, Lain seeks comfort through familiar objects like her bear pajamas or Bike-chan. In extreme cases, she suffers panic attacks, curling up and becoming immobilized by fear. Though she longs for support, she often hesitates to burden others with her feelings.

• Intellect and Curiosity: Lain possesses a remarkable intellect and an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Her skills in both hardware and software are unparalleled, and she quickly masters complex subjects like philosophy, psychology, and sociology. However, her lack of interest in conventional education results in poor academic performance.

• Low Self-Esteem and Identity Struggles: Lain frequently perceives herself as abnormal and blames herself for the suffering of others. She experiences ongoing identity confusion, which leaves her emotionally fragile. However, once she gains clarity about her sense of self, Lain becomes significantly more at peace and accepting of who she is.

In times of stress, Lain’s alter-ego, known as "Lain of the Wired," may temporarily take control of her physical body. Unlike her timid self, this version is assertive, confident, and capable of displaying superhuman abilities. She is fearless and determined but not inherently malicious. This persona is also notably more comfortable in social situations, particularly during her visits to Cyberia, though the influence of mind-altering technology may contribute to her confidence. Lain of the Wired exists as a separate entity from Lain Iwakura, with their shared experiences only partially overlapping.

• Fearless and Assertive: While Lain of the Wired is not violent by nature, she has no hesitation in taking action when necessary. Her unwavering demeanor often leaves others intimidated, as she approaches situations with certainty and resolve.

• Detached from Humanity: Although she inhabits Lain’s body at times, Lain of the Wired primarily resides within the Wired. Her detachment from the physical world allows her to perceive information beyond human comprehension, contributing to her commanding presence.

A third personality, emerges due to external interference, particularly through the manipulation of the Knights. Unlike Lain of the Wired, this version is malicious and sadistic, exhibiting a cruel enjoyment of mischief and suffering. She has no moral reservations and is willing to manipulate or harm others without remorse.

• Manifestation of Corruption: This Lain thrives in the Wired, where her malicious tendencies are amplified. However, she can also influence and control Lain’s physical body, further destabilizing Lain’s fragile sense of identity.

• Conflict and Identity Crisis: The existence of these multiple personalities creates a fractured sense of self for Lain. The tension between her innocent, introverted nature, the assertiveness of Lain of the Wired, and the malevolence of Evil Lain leaves her deeply conflicted. Understanding and reconciling these personas becomes a central struggle, forcing Lain to confront the truth about herself and her role in both the real world and the Wired.

Relationships

Alice Mizuki

• Layer 01: Weird:

Alice asks Lain if she too got an email from the recently deceased Chisa. Lain notes that she's not very good with computers so she hasn't with Alice telling her she should at least check her mail once a day.

• Layer 02: Girls

Alice feels bad for Lain due to news being spread about a girl at Cyberia the other night that looked just like her. She defends Lain, telling others that it wasn't her. She offers to invite Lain to the club, telling her she'd have more fun if she was a little bit sociable.

Alice sends her a text, saying "Let's have fun at Cyberia tonight!" which Lain at first says she'll pass on. Alice later sends her a text saying "Lain, where are you? Everybody's waiting! You have to come!" Lain decides to go, calling Alice on the phone so she can give her directions to the place.

Alice and her friends comment on Lain's dress, with Alice telling her she'll dress her in more grown up clothes the next time they go to a place.

When a shooting happens in the night club, Lain is stuck in fear at the guy shooting, with Alice running back to get her.

• Layer 03: Psyche

After Lain experiences someone commit suicide before her eyes, she is traumatized and Alice stays next to her, holding her. She runs over to Lain during police questioning and apologizes saying it's all her fault that she had to experience that along with asking if she's okay. Lain can only respond with saying Alice's name. Alice cries while repeatedly apologizing to Lain and asking her to talk with her tomorrow. The next day Lain smiles at Alice to signify that she's feeling better. Later while talking Lain notices a letter in her locker that Alice thinks is a love letter with Lain immediately denying it, saying she has no idea what it actually is.

• Layer 04: Religion

Alice calls out to Lain who is weirdly more responsive and happy. With one of her friends even noting that she has changed and Alice having a concerned look. While they're walking together Lain explains more about what she heard over The Wired about the recent suicides, before asking if it's alright if she goes home to work on her NAVI. One of the friends say that she prefers the NAVI to them teasingly with Alice telling them to not talk like that to Lain.

Alice asks Lain to show her the NAVI once she's done. When Lain leaves she says to herself quietly that Lain has changed.

• Layer 05: Distortion

Alice calls over Lain to ask her about her hacking the giant titantron in the city. Lain looks confused, wondering what they're talking about.

• Layer 06: Kids

Alice confronts Lain about how it seems that she's going back to her old self lately. She and her friends try to ask her to hang out, but Lain says she's not alone and that everyone in The Wired comes to see her. Lain won't tell them what sites she's been hanging around with Alice being somewhat concerned. Though they go to hang out at the store later. When Lain notices kids reaching out their arms to the sky, she look sup and sees a version of herself from the Wired in the sky, Alice asks her what's wrong before looking up herself and seeing it too.

• Layer 07: Society

Alice is shown worrying as she sees Lain immersed in her phone. She goes to Lain when she's on the rooftop asking her if she's okay and telling her that she's been slipping again lately. She tells Lain that she and her friends have been taking her out with them to try and make Lain happy. She apologizes if she was never happy with them with Lain immediately interjecting and telling her that isn't it. Telling her she was having fun and she's had a great time. Alice grabs her hand and tells her that she's glad to hear it. Lain tells her thanks for worrying about her while Alice tells her that's what friends are for, before leaving.

• Layer 08: Rumors

Alice grabs the back of Lain's shoulder and asks her if she didn't do it, Lain is confused by what Alice is talking about. Alice when she's about to ask Lain if she did it, sees Lain nearly about to break down crying and says to just forget it, it couldn't have been her. Saying that she trusts Lain.

When being stared at by everyone, Lain texts Alice for help, Alice sends her a text later telling her to not worry about the Rumors.

Her evil personality soon takes over and reveals to Alice that she did indeed spread the rumor of her masturbating to the fantasy of her teacher, though Lain later deletes the information from reality, causing Alice and everyone to forget about it entirely.

• Layer 11: Infornography

When looking through all of her memories, Lain comes realizes most of the time she enjoyed her life was spending it with Alice.

She later appears in a weird alien state, telling Alice that she never peeked on her secrets or told anyone. She tries to tell Alice that another her did it, but she comes to terms with the fact that no matter how she tries to explain to Alice that she never told her, she'll never believe it. So instead, she'll make it as if it never happened. Working really hard to be able to do that. She proceeds to do this, with the next day Alice noticing no one remembers the rumor and seeing Lain make a weird smile.

• Layer 12: Landscape

Alice is in shock from what Lain was capable of doing, with Lain sending her a text during school saying "You should just erase bad memories". Alice tries to respond but can't.

Alice later goes to Lain's house to confront her, seeing the horrors within, such as Mika Iwakura being essentially brain dead. She comes across Lain sleeping in wires and asking her what she's been doing, Lain tells her nothing other then watching people.

Alice asks Lain why did she only leave her memories alone, asking her if she hates her that much.

Lain tells Alice that she didn't want to hurt her though Alice calls her a liar. Lain tells Alice though that she's still okay and that she was her friend even without connecting to her. Going further to say, she was her only friend, even without connecting with her. Telling Alice that she loves her, Alice tells her does she understand what she's saying with Lain telling her everything about being a program, and how all humans are just applications that in truth do not need bodies.

Alice touches Lain's face and tells her she's wrong, despite not understanding what she's saying. She tells her how even with her body being cold, she is still alive, then grabs Lain's hand to touch her chest to feel her heart beating to show she's alive too. They both briefly laugh while Lain asks Alice why is it beating with Alice telling her because she's scared.

Eiri appears and asks Lain if she really does Alive, why does she not connect with her, trying to tell Lain to come with him so he can fix that issue. Lain refuses stating she doesn't understand God, removing everything from the wired yet telling him without that he couldn't have done anything. Asking him who gave him the right to control humanity. Alice watches in horror as the event between them play out.

• Layer 13: Ego

After Alice experienced this horrible scene, Lain tried to calm her down but Alice's mind broke from this, Lain realizing she yet again caused problems for Alice apologizes repeatedly before resetting the world completely into a world where she no longer exists.

Alice only gets a vague memory of Lain before forgetting about it as one cannot exist if no one remembers them.

Many years later, Lain re-emerges into the real world, Alice notices her on top of a bridge and goes to greet her as she feels she's seen her before. Lain ignores this and simply tells her nice to meet her as this is the first time they met, with Alice greeting her back before leaving.

Chisa Yomoda

• Layer 01: Weird:

Lain didn't know who Chia was at first, learning that everyone was getting emails from her even after she committed suicide. When Lain installs her first NAVI Computer, she gets emails from Chisa. Chisa mentions to Lain how she walked home with her just once, asking if she remembers this. Telling her she has only given up her body but she is still alive, wanting Lain to understand this. Along with telling her "God is here" within the Wired. She also briefly appears before Lain during her "hallucinations".

• Layer 11: Infornography

Lain meets Chisa in the Wired, telling her how she finally understands what she told her.

Though Chisa comes through a different light, telling her instead there's nothing easy about dying. This could imply that the Chisa speaking to Lain in Layer 01: Weird was actually Eiri Masami manipulating her or that Chisa came to realize that she what she said was wrong all along.

Miho Iwakura

• Layer 01: Weird:

Miho is a very apathetic mother to Lain and Mika. When Lain tells her mom that she got an email from a girl who killed herself last week she doesn't care at all, continuing to eat her food without replying.

• Layer 02: Girls

Lain views her mom kissing her dad, when her dad notices and greets her, the mom simply walks away without saying anything.

• Layer 03: Psyche

Lain tries to tell her mom about the traumatic experience she had at Cyberia, though the mom doesn't seem to care much, with Lain deciding not to tell her.

• Layer 04: Religion

Mika mentions to Yasuo and Miho that Lain is acting weird, with Yasuo noting that it's perfectly normal. When Mika leaves Miho asks Yasuo if she was right and he simply says yes.

• Layer 06: Kids

Miho notes how Lain's sister has been less outgoing lately while Lain has been the opposite, before saying "Speak of the devil" as Lain comes back home.

• Layer 08: Rumors

Yauso and Miho are sitting in the kitchen, mostly ignoring Lain even when she's having a crisis and asks them in a roundabout way how someone tells her she really isn't their daughter, nearly breaking down and crying. With their only real response being them staring directly at her with blank faces.

• Layer 09: Protocol

Yasuo and Miho are sitting on the couch, with Yasuo noting "It's almost over, isn't it? Finally." With Miho wanting to kiss him one final time.

It is revealed through Lain looking in her memories that she was brought to this family recently and given the memories that she was always with the family.

Yasuo Iwakura

• Layer 01: Weird:

Yasuo is the opposite to Lain's mother, being a father that cares about his daughter and is overall nice to her. He asks her what's wrong when she approaches him as this is a rare occurrence according to him. When she asks if he could buy her a Navi, he is both amused stating that she finally caught the bug, but he supports her and will get her a new Navi.

He is also the one that gave her a quote she stands by later "we are all connected". Telling her that she has nothing to be afraid of as even she can make friends on the WIRED, while questioning why her mother can't understand that. She tells him that there's a friend she wants to see with the NAVI.

• Layer 02: Girls

Yasuo buys the NAVI for Lain, telling her he'll set it up later, but for once Lain is direct and says she wants the NAVI set up now, he notices the look in her eye and proceeds to set it up for her immediately. After he finishes setting up her NAVI, he tells her that the NAVI is now hers and she can show it off to her friends.

• Layer 03: Psyche

Yasuo walks in to ask her how she's doing and how the NAVI is going, Lain proceeds to show him some item asking him if he knows what it is but he immediately dismisses it and leaves the room, she says that she thought he'd know but he claims he has no idea as he leaves the room.

• Layer 04: Religion

Yasuo watches Lain from outside her room as she is busy reading a manual to further upgrade her NAVI, having a concerned look. He lowers his head and closes the door without saying anything. Mika mentions to Yasuo and Miho that Lain is acting weird, with Yasuo noting that it's perfectly normal. When Mika leaves Miho asks Yasuo if she was right and he simply says yes.

Yasuo enters Lains room later and tells her how her and the Wired are getting along just fine now. He gives her a warning that the Wired is just a medium for communication and the transfer of information and to not confuse it with the real world. He asks her if she understands what he's warning her about but she claims he's wrong, and that the border between the two aren't all that clear. Lain claims she'll be albe to enter it soon in full range, full motion and translate herself into it.

Yasuo claims that even with a top of the line civilian Navi she wouldn't be able to, but Lain claims she can do it since she's modified her NAVI. She reassures him that "I'm still me." with him responding "Sometimes I wonder." and leaving her room.

• Layer 06: Kids

Yasuo enters Lains room to see it completely overtaken by the computer, he tries to call out to her but notices she's completely mesmerized in the Wired.

• Layer 08: Rumors

Yauso and Miho are sitting in the kitchen, mostly ignoring Lain even when she's having a crisis and asks them in a roundabout way how someone tells her she really isn't their daughter, nearly breaking down and crying. With their only real response being them staring directly at her with blank faces.

• Layer 09: Protocol

Yasuo and Miho are sitting on the couch, with Yasuo noting "It's almost over, isn't it? Finally." With Miho wanting to kiss him one final time.

It is revealed through Lain looking in her memories that she was brought to this family recently and given the memories that she was always with the family.

• Layer 10: Love

Yasuo confronts Lain in their house telling her this is goodbye. He tells her how she must have figured it out by now and their work here is finished. He tells her how he didn't do enough for her in the short time they were together along with that she's free to become anything she wants but she was always free. He also tells her that he wasn't given permission to say goodbye, but he loves her. Not that he enjoyed playing house, but he may have envied a being like her. He proceeds to walk away with a "Goodbye".

Lain tells him to wait and begs him to not leave her alone, with him telling her she is not alone and will never be, if she connects to the Wired, everyone will welcome her. That's the sort of being she was.

• Layer 13: Ego

Yasuo is of the three characters to have a vague feeling of Lain being missing, checking the empty chair. As he was about to bring it up, he decided to forget about it.

When Lain is breaking down about being all alone and wondering why she's so sad, Yasuo appears and has a talk with her, telling her to take off the bear hoodie as she no longer needs it. He then tells her he'd like to make her tea along with other things before.

Mika Iwakura

• Layer 01: Weird

Her and Lain do not interact much. During a scene where Lain, Mika, and Miho are having dinner, she simply leaves after finishing without really talking with Lain.

• Layer 02: Girls

She enters Lain's room, thinking she was talking to an imaginary friend.

• Layer 03: Psyche

She walks into Lain's room seeing her work on her NAVI. She asks what she was doing and why she was dressed in only her white sundress. Lain proceeds to say "Welcome home, sis." acting different from her usual self.

• Layer 04: Religion

Mika mentions to Yasuo and Miho that Lain is acting weird, with Yasuo noting that it's perfectly normal.

• Layer 05: Distortion

Mika sees Lain standing in the middle of the street with running traffic, walking away asking what's her problem, before looking up at a giant TV titantron and seeing Lain's face appear on it. Mika asks Lain during dinner if she saw her at Shibuya with Lain looking at her confused, and Mika dismissing it entirely.

Lain asks her sister what's wrong when she sees her looking at the front door, with her claiming it's nothing and to forget it.

• Layer 07: Society

Mika enters Lain's room mumbling something which has Lain question what's wrong before she leaves, with Lain saying that she's been acting weird lately.

• Layer 08: Rumors

Lain encounters her in the hallway, mumbling to herself without saying much to Lain, she tries to call out to her but she gets ignored.

• Layer 09: Protocol

Mika is shown downstairs virutally braindead.

It is revealed through Lain looking in her memories that she was brought to this family recently and given the memories that she was always with the family.

General Information

Name: Lain Iwakura

Other Names: Lain, Lain the Wired (A name given to her alternate pesonality within the wired, she is able to take over Lains personality without needing a device the more the real world and the Wired starts to crumble)

Origin: Serial Experiments Lain

First Appearance: Serial Experiments Lain

Company: Triangle Staff

Creator

• Created By: Yasuyuki Ueda
• Written By: Chiaki J. Konaka
• Directed By: Ryūtarō Nakamura

Actor

• Japanese Voice Actor: Kaori Shimizu
• Spanish Voice Actor: Lucila Gómez
• English Voice Actor: Bridget Hoffman
• German Voice Actor: Manja Doering
• Italian Voice Actor: Perla Liberatori

Sex: Female

Sexuality: Likely Bi-Sexual (Lain seems to have feelings for her friend Alice Mizuki, declaring her love for Alice at during Layer 12: Landscape along with holding onto her, being willing to reset the world and remove herself from history to give Alice a happy life. She also shows minor attraction to Taro, who she went on a "date" with in Layer 09: Protocol, and at the end of the series, she manifested herself on his portable computer for a final goodbye to him)

Refers To Herself By

• First Personality: "Atashi"
• Second Personality: "Watashi"
• Third Personality: "Atashi" (When mocking the first personality)

Pronouns: She/Her

Handedness: Right-Handed (Lain is shown predominantly using her right-hand, for actions such as writing)

Age: Unknown (It is revealed through Lain looking in her memories that she was brought to this family recently and given the memories that she was always with the family, in actuality she's an executable program with a body that existed when the Wired itself existed, implying that she was the one that influenced Eisi Masami to do his plan in the first place when he first created the Wired), has the body of a middle school student

Birthday: Unknown

Time Period: Present Day, Present Time (The series repeatedly states this for the time period)

Timeline: Main Timeline (For anime), Alternate Timeline (For PS1 game)

Homeworld: The Wired (Lain was initially born in The Wired) Earth in the real world

Residence: The Wired in her true state, Setagaya City, Tokyo, Japan in the rea world

Story Role: Main Character

Legacy: Unknown Legacy (By the end of the series, Lain erases herself from history, thus no one knows about her)

Influence: World-Wide Influence (Lain reset the entire world, essentially stopping all of the bad events that occured during the course of the anime)

Language: Japanese

Ethnicity: Asian

Religion: Unknown

Classification: Student, The Legend of the Wired, The herorine of the Wired's fairy tales, A homunculus of artificial ribosomes, Software, An executable program with a body

Species: Artificial Humanoid (Lain is referred to as software, an executable program with a body)

State of Being: God (Lain reveals that Eiri Masami was merely an acting God who was waiting for the Wired to reach its current state, and Masami realizes there was someone that came up with the plan he laid out, with Lain being the person that was waiting, gaining full control over the world with the Wired in its current state)

Physiology: Humanoid Physiology

In-Universe Creator: Eiri Masami

Occupation: None

Affiliations: Miho Iwakura (adoptive mother), Yasuo Iwakura (adoptive father), Mika Iwakura (adoptive older sister), Alice Mizuki (close friend), Reika Yamamoto, Julie Katou, Tachibana General Laboratories, Eiri Masami

Enemies: Eiri Masami, Knights of the Eastern Calculus

Height: Unknown

Weight: Unknown

Status: Alive (Even after Lain reset the world and caused herself to never exist, she still existed within the Wired and could later manifest into the real world despite never existing)

Alignment:

• Childike Lain: Neutral Good (Lain is an average highschool student that likes to keep to herself, being far more reclusive. To help the world with all its problems, she erased herself from the world and gave everyone happier lives)
• Lain the Wired: Chaotic Good (Lain the Wired goes out of her way to look into weird phenomena and such and try to find ways to stop it, she shows great anger at Professor Hodgeson for how he used children in his experiments, she later complains about what the groups are doing, asking why they are using children for this)
• "Evil" Lain: Chaotic Neutral (The "Evil" Lain wishes to only spread information across the wired, information that those hold in secret from others, no matter how sensitive the information is without having any care)

Protection Level: Planetary Protector (To help the world with all its problems, she erased herself from the world and gave everyone happier lives)

Threat Level: Digital Threat (The "Evil" Lain wishes to only spread information across the wired, information that those hold in secret from others, no matter how sensitive the information is without having any care)

Potential

• Type of Potential: Limitless Potential
• Level of Potential: Limitless Potential
• Description: Lain is a God, with full control over reality through the Wired and the real world, thus she has no real limits on her potential.
• Limitations: Her only limitations are when she's unaware of her state of power.

Codex Statistics

Grade: S+

Tier: 10-B physically, Much Higher with her powers. Can ignore conventional durability with her powers

Cardinality: Unknown

Dimensionality: 3-D

Power Source: Protocol Seven

Attack Potency: Average Human level physically (Lain is a 14 year old highschool girl), Much Higher with her powers (Unleashed a massive heat wave explosion that burned everyhting in the gym behind her). Can ignore conventional durability with her powers (Lain can control the informational data of the real world, doing things like deleting memories entirely making everyone forget events ever happened. Lain explains this as her turning something that did happen into something that didn't. Lain completely destroyed the boundary between the Wired and the real world, allowing her to completely undo events that occured. Lain's ability to appear anyplace allows her to do things like spawn herself right within one's mind, causing them to mentally break down and die. Completely changed the world to be a world where she no longer existed and reseted everything)

Durability: Average Human level. Immortality makes her extremely difficult to kill (The Real World's Lain Iwakura is merely a hologram of the Lain from The Wired, never even having a body to begin with thus any effect or death done to her body means nothing, as her true self is within the digital world of the Wired. Even after Lain reset the world and caused herself to never exist, she still existed within the Wired and could later manifest into the real world despite never existing)

Striking Strength: Average Human Class

Lifting Strength: Average Human Class

Travel Speed: Average Human Speed

Attack Speed: Average Human Speed

Reaction Speed: Average Human Reactions

Stamina: Average in her human state, Limitless in the state of the Wired (Lain has no biological functions and thus cannot truly tire as her human body is merely a hologram of her true self)

Range: Standard Melee, Planetary through Protocol Seven (Lain completely destroyed the boundary between the Wired and the real world, allowing her to completely control reality, where the Wired is Eiri Masami's wireless worldwide neural network where all humans are plugged in at the unconscious level without the need for any device, encoding the Schumann Resonance Factor and inserting it into the 7th-gen Wired Protocol, the Schumann Resonance is based off the idea that Earth has its own specific electromagnetic waves, between the ionosphere and the Earth's surface, there is constant resonance at a frequency of 8Hz in the ELF band, giving these "Earth Brain Waves" to humanity, attempting to awaken the concsiousness of the Earth itself through networking all humans), reaches up to Low Multiversal through the use of Protocol Seven (As Lain completely destroyed the boundary between the Wired and the real world, allowing her to completely control reality, allowing her to do things like deleting memories entirely making everyone forget events ever happened, turning something that did happen into something that didn't, allowing her to completely undo events in the world, such as the rumor spread about her best friend Alice)

Intelligence: Cosmic Intelligence unconsciously (Lain has a full control over reality, even during the start of the series. The Wired is noted to be "Lain's world" where she can do whatever she wants, becoming even more intuned after she completely destroyed the boundary between the Wired and the real world, allowing her to completely control reality. Lain's control spawns from being created by Eiri Masami's wireless worldwide neural network where all humans are plugged in at the unconscious level without the need for any device, encoding the Schumann Resonance Factor and inserting it into the 7th-gen Wired Protocol, the Schumann Resonance is based off the idea that Earth has its own specific electromagnetic waves, between the ionosphere and the Earth's surface, there is constant resonance at a frequency of 8Hz in the ELF band, giving these "Earth Brain Waves" to humanity, attempting to awaken the consciousness of the Earth itself through networking all humans. It is noted by Taro in the night club who seems to have some knowledge on Lain being a scattered part of the god in Wired that she is having the Wired interfere with reality)

Knowledge: At least Master level (During the time between Layer 03: Psyche and Layer 04: Religion, Lain learned how to modify her NAVI, being mentioned as "being into that hacky stuff". Rebuilt her entire computer room in a short timeframe, after it exploded in the previous episode), Omniscient level unconsciously (When asking a doll to tell her a story, the doll asks her what kind of story and Lain responds with a story she does not know, the doll proceeds to state there is nothing that Lain doesn't know thus she cannot tell a story that doesn't exist)

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Powers and Techniques

During the SeriesEnd of Series

Social Influencing (Social Status; Throughout the series, Lain becomes a figure talked about much on the Wired, with many calling her powerful, her metamorphosis, her will, her power, the light in her eyes, and her existence), Multiple Personalities (Multiple Personalities; Lain suffers from having multiple personalities, one that is a childlike Lain who wears bear outfits and is overall soft-spoken, another that is called "Lain the Wired" a more direct Lain with knowledge over computers, being far more adult-like and mature, she is able to take over Lains personality without needing a device the more the real world and the Wired starts to crumble, and an "evil Lain" which hosts her more sadistic side, who reveals all the things people have done around the world and posts it online. Multiple Selves; There exists both a version of Lain in the real world and one in the Wired), Hacking (During the time between Layer 03: Psyche and Layer 04: Religion, Lain learned how to modify her NAVI, being mentioned as "being into that hacky stuff". Uploaded an emulator of her Navi into her own brain, subjecting herself to the information across the entirety of The Wired), Cosmic Intelligence, Observation (The collective unconscious is an existing concept in Serial Experiments Lain, it allowed Eiri Masami to become God as he had worshippers. Where even as long as one being still believes in him, he can stay God), Existence Continuity (Even after Lain reset the world and caused herself to never exist, she still existed within the Wired and could later manifest into the real world despite never existing, somehow the Wired itself still exists too despite Eiri Masami never making it), Alternate Replacements (The version of Lain in the real world is a body or a "hologram" of her being in the Wired, having always existed in the Wired. The Real World's Lain Iwakura is merely a hologram of the Lain from The Wired, never even having a body to begin with), Immortality (Digital Immortality; The Real World's Lain Iwakura is merely a hologram of the Lain from The Wired, never even having a body to begin with thus any effect or death done to her body means nothing, as her true self is within the digital world of the Wired. Life and Death Immunity; Beings Like Eiri and Lain in the Wired have their entire thoughts, history, memories, and emotions stored within it allowing the death of their physical body to be meaningless), Eiri Masami killed himself in the real world yet lived on in the Wired, being able to have some influence on reality and being referred to as "God"), Reality Warping (Lain has a full control over reality, even during the start of the series, she shows unconscious uses of it such as when she told everyone to be quiet in the train, causing them all to stop talking. The Wired is noted to be "Lain's world" where she can do whatever she wants, becoming even more powerful after she completely destroyed the boundary between the Wired and the real world, allowing her to completely control reality. Lain's control spawns from being created by Eiri Masami's wireless worldwide neural network where all humans are plugged in at the unconscious level without the need for any device, encoding the Schumann Resonance Factor and inserting it into the 7th-gen Wired Protocol, the Schumann Resonance is based off the idea that Earth has its own specific electromagnetic waves, between the ionosphere and the Earth's surface, there is constant resonance at a frequency of 8Hz in the ELF band, giving these "Earth Brain Waves" to humanity, attempting to awaken the concsiousness of the Earth itself through networking all humans. It is noted by Taro in the night club who seems to have some knowledge on Lain being a scattered part of the god in Wired that she is having the Wired interfere with reality. Lain's control over the Wired and real world is returning humanity back to when they were all connected), Multipresence (Lain exists in both the Wired and the Real World at the same time, being the reason for why she notices weird hallucinations, such as seeing someone be hit by a train, viewing entities that could travel through objects in the real world. She saw her sister's Wired form where even her real world sister couldn't see her. Lain is shown to have a form in the WIRED, having a blue light around her), Omnipresence (Conscious Mind; The real world and the Wired are attached end to end allowing one with their consciousness in the Wired to exist anywhere as they can send their consciousness anywhere they want regardless of where their body is. Lain is noted to be omnipresent within the Wired, wherever anyone is, wherever they go, Lain has always been there, noted again by Eiri Masami that Lain is omnipresent and scattered throughout the Wired. Lain herself notes when she's in the Wired, she's everywhere), Omniscience (Unconscious Omniscience; When asking a doll to tell her a story, the doll asks her what kind of story and Lain responds with a story she does not know, the doll proceeds to state there is nothing that Lain doesn't know thus she cannot tell a story that doesn't exist), Telepathy (Lain telepathically spoke to JJ through the Wired to ask him about a net game the kids were playing. Telepathically spoke to a person stuck between the real world and the Wired), Psionics (Lain's collective power as God of the Wired is even greater then the combined power of KIDS, a program where Professor Hodgeson amplified the power of children's latent psi abilities), Telekinesis (Lain being annoyed from the two men watching her, yelled "go away" causing a massive telekinetic wave to destroy one of their devices), Immersion (Lain is able to translate her real world form into the wired, where even highly experienced computer users can only translate as much as their mouth while most others can only translate ears), Durability Negation (Lain's ability to appear anyplace allows her to do things like spawn herself right within one's mind, causing them to mentally break down and die), Existence Erasure (Reset the entire world back to before many important characters died, erasing her own existence from the timeline in the process), Electromagnetism Manipulation (Lain completely destroyed the boundary between the Wired and the real world, allowing her to completely control reality, where the Wired is Eiri Masami's wireless worldwide neural network where all humans are plugged in at the unconscious level without the need for any device, encoding the Schumann Resonance Factor and inserting it into the 7th-gen Wired Protocol, the Schumann Resonance is based off the idea that Earth has its own specific electromagnetic waves, between the ionosphere and the Earth's surface, there is constant resonance at a frequency of 8Hz in the ELF band, giving these "Earth Brain Waves" to humanity, attempting to awaken the concsiousness of the Earth itself through networking all humans), Collective Unconscious Manipulation (Lain's powers over reality allows her to raise the collective unconscious to the conscious level), Boundary Manipulation (Lain completely destroyed the boundary between the Wired and the real world, allowing her to go anyplace she wants to and control reality as she sees fit), Data Manipulation, Information Manipulation, Causality Manipulation, & Memory Manipulation (Lain can control the informational data of the real world, doing things like deleting memories entirely making everyone forget events ever happened. Lain explains this as her turning something that did happen into something that didn't. Lain completely destroyed the boundary between the Wired and the real world, allowing her to completely undo events that occured), Space-Time Manipulation (Reset the entire world back to before many important characters died, erasing herself from the timeline in the process), Perception Manipulation & Plane Manipulation (Lain can have one exist in both the WIRED and the rea world at the same time, having them view the Wied even when they destroy their NAVI. Lain completely destroyed the boundary between the Wired and the real world, allowing her to completely control both worlds as she sees fit), Technology Manipulation (Took over the titantrons in the streets in Tokyo, having them go to static and show her face), Weather Manipulation (Lain's collective power as God of The Wired is even greater then the combined power of KIDS, where KIDs could part the clouds as a version of Lain appeared before everyone as a divine being in the real world, despite her doing things like taking over the titantrons in the streets in Tokyo, having them go to static and show her face), Fire Manipulation & Explosion Manipulation (Unleashed a massive heat wave explosion that burned everyhting in the gym behind her), Mind Manipulation & Empathic Manipulation (Lain's control over the world made it where all across the world are beginning to love Lain. Lain's powers can control the impulses in one's brains to block out the unpleasant impulses and have them only experience happy ones, or vice versa).

Resistance to Information Analysis (Despite Lain being a popular figure through the Wired, no search results can be found on her), Mind Manipulation (Uploaded an emulator of her Navi into her own brain, subjecting herself to the information across the entirety of The Wired and only felt tired from consuming this much information)

All previous powers and abilities, Acausality (Causality Immunity), Personal Nonexistence & Immortality (Amortality; Even after Lain reset the world and caused herself to never exist, she still existed within the Wired and could later manifest into the real world despite never existing)

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Equipment

Children's NAVI

The NAVI that Lain Iwakura uses at the start of the anime appears only in Layer 01. She checks her e-mail on it and finds a message from Chisa Yomoda, a girl from her school who had recently committed suicide. The message implies that Chisa still exists within the Wired.

This early NAVI has a design reminiscent of the 20th Anniversary Macintosh, featuring a compact and sleek appearance.

When using this NAVI, Lain wears her distinctive bear suit, which she puts on before logging in.

Handheld NAVI

The HandiNAVI, also known as the Portable NAVI, is a tablet-style device used for accessing the Wired. Both Alice Mizuki and Lain Iwakura own one, and according to Visual Experiments Lain, they use the same model. As the series progresses, Lain's HandiNAVI undergoes extensive modifications, adapting to her evolving connection with the Wired.

Alice's HandiNAVI is personalized with a dolphin keychain attached to its strap. Additionally, Taro possesses a HandiNAVI uniquely designed to resemble a toy gun.

Lain's NAVI

Layer 02Layer 03Layer 06

For most of the anime, Lain Iwakura uses a new NAVI purchased by her father at her request in Layer 01. She receives it from the Delivery Man in Layer 02 and quickly begins customizing it to enhance her access to the Wired.

In Layer 03, Lain obtains a Psyche processor from JJ, which she later installs in her NAVI. This upgrade allows her to connect to the Wired without the need for a physical device, further blurring the lines between her digital and physical presence.

Over time, Lain's NAVI undergoes extensive modifications, expanding until it dominates her entire room. The system eventually includes an advanced cooling mechanism, numerous holographic and standard screens, and an intricate web of cables. A pressure gauge on the cooling unit is notably marked with "mebious.co.uk," a URL that was later registered by a fan of Serial Experiments Lain.

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Notable Techniques

Protocol 7

An Internet Protocol developed by Masami Eiri. It was later altered to enable direct connection to the Wired via the Earth's natural electromagnetic field—the Schumann Resonances—without the need for a NAVI. This function is made possible through the use of the Psyche chip, which serves as an interface between the human mind and the Wired.

It is through this protcol that Lain herself was born.

Deleting

A memory deletion, this was used by Lain in both Layer 08 and Layer 11 to delete the bad memories of Alice's secret being spread.

Everyone's memories of the event were deleted asides from Alice in Layer 11, which Lain explained she did this out of not wanting to connect with Alice as she loves her.

Wired and Real World Assimilation

After all of Lain's personalities converge into a single, unified self, she dissolves the boundary between the real world and the Wired. This act renders all forms of technology across the Universe inert in her presence.

With this power, Lain achieves a form of omnipresence, extending her existence into the consciousness of all sentient beings. This presence induces an overwhelming, and at times irrational or obsessive, compulsion in others to love her.

All Reset Return

The reset is a pivotal event that takes place during Layer 13. In order to undo the harm she caused—particularly to her friend Alice Mizuki—Lain Iwakura decides to erase her presence from the world and reconstruct reality without herself in it.

As a result, those whose lives had been entangled with Lain's returned to ordinary existences. The Men in Black became construction workers, Masami Eiri remained a discontented employee of Tachibana General Laboratories, and Alice matured into a well-balanced young woman.

Only two individuals retained any trace of Lain's existence: her surrogate father Yasuo Iwakura, and Alice, the friend who mattered most to her.

Following the reset, Lain reappears to an older Alice, unchanged in age, suggesting her continued presence outside conventional reality.

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Other

Standard Tactics:

• Initially: Lain is not aware of her powers thus she will use them unconcsiously.
• Lain the Wired: Lain the Wired uses her NAVI for collecting information and data about various effects, being aware of there being a version of herself within the Wired.
• End of Series: Lain is fully aware of her powers, being able to control reality, erase memories, etcetera.

Weaknesses

• Initially: Lain is initially not aware of her powers. Along with this, the Wired and the real world were bordered, so Lain could not use her powers in the real world as much as she can near the end of the series. Though once she breaks the border between both worlds, she gains full access.
• Multiple Personalities: Lain possesses multiple personalities and near the end of the series nearly loses her sense of self, having Lains take over while she is at times stuck within The Wired. This sense of self has her question if she's really herself.
• Identity: Lain constantly questions her self of sense, even at the end of the series when she erased herself, she questioned if there was ever a real her or not, and questioning who exactly is the her talking right now.

Trivia

• As noted earlier, Lain wears the bear costume as a shield her from confrontations and difficult conversations, this is shown many times throughout the series.
  • In Layer 01: Weird when she wants to ask her dad if he could buy her a new NAVI, she wears the full bear pajamas, only having the hoodie off.
  • In Layer 02: Girls when she wants to ask her dad to set up the NAVI immedieatly, she is wearing he full bear pajamas.
  • In Layer 02: Girls, she wears a hat with a beat motif on it while entering a night club, a place she originally didn't want to go too until Alice repeatedly asked her.
  • In Layer 09: Protocol, Lain is seen wearing her full bear hoodie while huddled on her bed, not understanding her sense of self anymore. Seeing an alien-like creature looking outside he door.
  • In Layer 09: Protocol, Lain the Wired is shown to have her bear hoodie off as she confronts people in the Wired questioning how she was able to erase people's memories.
  • In Layer 13: Ego Lain is seen wearing her bear hoodie while speaking to Yasuo, who tells her to take it off as she no longer needs it, effectively ending her needing the bear costume to shield herself from confrontations and difficult conversations.
• Lain notes in Layer 04: Religion that she does not play network games.
• Whenever Lain is working on her computer she has less clothes on to avoid electricity and be safer, this was a popular urban myth in the 90s.
• Layer 04: Religion is the start of Lain on screen having her personality changed, being more happy-go lucky.

Themes

Serial Experiments Lain follows many different themes throughout the series, all of these themes associate and relate with Lain Iwakura herself as everything and everyone is connected with her and through Protocol Seven.

Identity

A central theme throughout the Serial Experiments Lain franchise is the exploration of Lain Iwakura's identity. Throughout the anime, Lain demonstrates multiple personalities and often appears in two places at once, implying the existence of more than one version of herself.

• To Herself:

Lain repeatedly questions her own existence with phrases like "Who am I?" and tries to reassure herself with "I am myself!" as a way to assert her identity. However, given that she is a creation of the human collective unconscious, born from the Wired, it is only natural for her to take on different forms and identities as perceived by each individual who interacts with her. A particularly striking scene in Layer 08 depicts a multitude of chattering Lain mannequins, symbolizing all the versions of Lain as seen through the eyes of other people.

• Others:

Lain will usually hear other voices asking about her. An example is in Layer 03: Psyche, where she hears voices repeatedly saying "Who is Lain?".

Death

Death is another theme throughout the Serial Experiments Lain series, a lot of the series plot kickstarts from Layer 01: "Weird" where Yomoda Chisa committing suicide and sending emails to people despite being dead. Posing the question what exactly happens when one dies with Lain asking Chisa through spekaing to her NAVI why did she die. Chisa communicating through Lain's Navi notes that she never died, she just abandoned her flesh.

Lain also sees a person jump in front of a train and kill themself, with them making both a happy and horrified face.

In Layer 02: Girls Lain goes to a night club where a boy shoots two of the patrons, and after seeing Lain starts having a mental breakdown with Lain simply saying "No matter where you are, everyone is always connected." setting him off enough to kill himself.

In Layer 03: Pscyhe, Lain hears an old women talk about how it didn't matter if she was there or not in the real world, and when she realized that she was no longer afraid of losing her body.

Memory

Memory plays a central role in Serial Experiments Lain. Lain Iwakura demonstrates the ability to alter reality by modifying people's memories, particularly in Layer 08 and most prominently during the reset.

A well-known quote from Lain that reflects this theme is:

A memory is only a record. You just have to rewrite that record.

This concept is further emphasized in the Visual Experiments Lain entry for Layer 07: Society. Presented as a journal entry by Lain, the passage highlights the fragmented and unreliable nature of her recollections. The text, preserved with its original grammatical mistakes, reads:

Last Sunday, I went out with my family.
We went to our relative's house in Fujisawa by train. All of us together.
We left at the time I usually leave for school.
On our way to the station, my mother noticed that she forgot something,
so we went back to the house.
It was the first time we went to their house in Fujisawa--No. I was mistaken.
We've been there several times. I just forget things sometime.
Meeting my uncle and aunt. I greeted them saying "Nice to meet you" by mistake,
and they laughed at me.
I don't remember what happened while I was in the train.
But I think I was hearing my father and mother talk quietly about the medicine
all the way.
I was hearing it absent-mindedly.
Then I began to feel as if I was at school and I felt sick.
I endured it all the way through. Meeting my uncle and aunt,
I said "Hello." No, I said "Nice to meet you." Was my father and mother there?
Last Sunday, I went out alone.
I went to relative's house in Fujisawa alone.

What begins as a straightforward recollection of a family trip becomes increasingly uncertain. Lain first questions whether she had visited the house before, then feels disoriented as if she were at school rather than on a train. She misremembers how she greeted her relatives and ultimately concludes that she went alone, casting doubt on the entire account.

The ambiguity of the event illustrates how unreliable memory can distort reality and challenge the perception of truth.

In the final episode, Yasuo Iwakura alludes to Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time by suggesting that he and Lain should enjoy tea with madeleines. This reference draws a connection to the novel’s exploration of voluntary and involuntary memory.

Digital World

The digital world and its impact on the adolescents is another factor to the series. Lain starts off having little knowledge about computers and the NAVI but as the series goes on she stays completely hooked to her computer.

Lain's personality becomes more open when she's within the digital world, likely in reference to how one's personality is more open and outgoing when they are speaking to others on the internet.

Communication

Communication serves as a major theme in Serial Experiments Lain, particularly within the anime. The Wired functions as a central medium of communication, leading many characters to believe that it renders in-person interaction obsolete.

At the start of the anime, game, and manga, Lain Iwakura is portrayed as deeply isolated. However, over the course of the anime, she begins to form connections—most notably with Alice Mizuki—and gradually opens up to others through the Wired. Despite Masami Eiri’s efforts to convince her that physical reality holds no value, Lain comes to understand—through Alice and her father Yasuo Iwakura—that having a physical presence and the ability to speak face-to-face remains essential.

This understanding gives deeper meaning to the series’ conclusion. The reset becomes Lain’s ultimate sacrifice, made by someone who only briefly understood what it meant to live with a body, yet chose to give that up for the sake of others.

Crosstalk

Crosstalk is the term Chiaki J. Konaka uses to describe the phenomenon where several voices overlap in conversation. It features prominently in the Serial Experiments Lain anime, first appearing in Layer 03. These scenes typically signify Lain’s presence within the Wired, reflecting moments when she conducts research or listens in on conversations.

A subtle instance of crosstalk may appear earlier in Layer 01. While riding the train, Lain hears garbled voices, even though no one nearby seems to be speaking. This suggests that Lain has an innate sensitivity to the Wired’s signals—an ability that becomes fully realized after she installs the Psyche chip in Layer 03. In the scenario notes for Layer 01, Konaka likens this moment to the early experiences of the protagonist in the 1981 film *Scanners*, who hears intrusive voices before learning to control his telepathy.

Crosstalk scenes in the anime are often paired with stylized typography.

In the game, this ability is more overt. Lain can hear voices transmitted through phone lines and electromagnetic signals, with the first clear instance occurring in Cou020. When left idle, the game sometimes shifts to audio clips of crosstalk layered over imagery of telephone poles and power lines.

Family

Family holds significant thematic weight in Serial Experiments Lain, particularly in the anime.

Lain Iwakura's interactions with her family are noticeably strained. She speaks with them in a detached, uneasy manner, and even their conversations with each other feel stilted and unnatural. This discomfort signals that her family may not be what they seem—a truth confirmed in Layer 10, when it is revealed that Lain’s family is artificial. Despite this, her "father" Yasuo Iwakura shows genuine care for her before leaving, providing one of the few moments of warmth.

The anime also briefly explores another family, the Masatsugu household, made up of Shoko Masatsugu and her son Shou. Unlike Lain’s family, they appear close, bonding over a shared interest in video games. Their story ends tragically in Layer 10, after the collapse of the Knights of the Eastern Calculus leads to Shoko's death.

Throughout the series, the idea of family is presented not as a safe haven but as another uncertain construct. This subversion reinforces the anime’s broader themes of instability in reality and the fragility of human connections.

God

In Serial Experiments Lain, the concept of God is explored through varying definitions—ranging from a being who is simply omnipresent and acknowledged by at least one believer, to a fully omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent entity. These perspectives are embodied by characters like Masami Eiri, who claims to be the God of the Wired, and Lain Iwakura, who eventually attains a godlike state herself.

A key moment regarding the idea of God is found in Visual Experiments Lain, on the Layer 04 Religion page. In an interview with Lain, she hesitantly acknowledges the existence of a God in the Wired:

[...God.] --What god? [The God of Wired.] --There's a God of Wired? You believe that? [(silence)] --Answer me. [...There is if I believe there is...] --That answer isn't good enough. [...There is...a God...] --All right, fine. The God of Wired is the god of the top level of the real world hierarchy--in other words, a being that controls the entire world. Is that right? [...Who are you?]

The interviewer is implied to be Eiri in disguise, mirroring the method he uses in Layer 05 to manipulate Lain via the likenesses of her parents and other figures.

Lain’s statement—"There is if I believe there is"—is not just avoidance, but a deeper commentary on the nature of belief within the Wired. This becomes especially significant in Layer 10, when Eiri claims he is no longer God because all his followers have died. Lain counters this, saying there is still one believer left: herself. This implies that Eiri’s divinity is entirely dependent on her belief, highlighting the subjective and constructed nature of divinity in the world of the Wired.

Misconceptions

Lain's friend being named "Arisu"

Some subs take names pronounciation of Alice's name as exactly how her name is spelled, calling her "Arisu", however this is just a japanese-accent of saying the name "Alice" as r and l are the same in Japan.

The Wired is an Upper Layer of the Real World

This belief comes from Layer 05: Distortion where Masami Eiri in the form of Lain's mom, Miho Iwakura, explains to Lain that is is reasonable to see the Wired as an upper layer of the real world.

However Lain once having full control later in the series reveals the Wired is not an upper layer of the real world, reconfirming it to herself in Layer 13: "Ego".

Lain's effects only work under those put under Protcol Seven

This belief comes from the explanation given for how Masami Eiri created Proctol Seven, where all humans were plugged in at the unconscious level without the need for any device, encoding the Schumann Resonance Factor and inserting it into the 7th-gen Wired Protocol, however, this does not mean one that doesn't follow Schumann's Resonance Factor or isn't under Protocol Seven would be unaffected.

The Schumann Resonance is based off the idea that Earth has its own specific electromagnetic waves, between the ionosphere and the Earth's surface, there is constant resonance at a frequency of 8Hz in the ELF band, giving these "Earth Brain Waves" to humanity, attempting to awaken the concsiousness of the Earth itself through networking all humans, so as long as one has any form of electromagnetic waves, they would be affected by this, though it extends even further. Lains powers allow herto turn something that did happen into something that didn't, completely destroyed the boundary between the Wired and the real world, allowing her to completely undo events that occured, events are abstract, non-physical pieces that would not be bound by electromagnetism, yet Lain is still completely able to influence them.

Furthermore, even after Lain reset the world and caused herself to never exist, she still existed within the Wired and could later manifest into the real world despite never existing, still having full control and being able to use her powers, this should be something impossible as Eiri Masami was made to have never made her or Protocol Seven, thus it shouldn't exist.

Codex Statistics Questions

Q: Shouldn't Lain's range only be planetary as Protocol Seven is a device on a global scale??

A: While Protocol Seven's influence is only across the planet, it allows Lain to reach into alternate universes and undo events universally, hence the reason for why her range is worded the way it is.

Battle Records

VictoriesLossesInconclusive

None.

None.

None.