A fourteen-year-old girl named Lain Iwakura receives an unsettling email from her classmate Chisa Yomoda, who recently took her own life. Despite being shy and inexperienced with technology, Lain opens the message and is immediately transported to a virtual world called Wired, which functions similarly to our understanding of the internet. As she navigates this new realm, Lain encounters enigmatic men known as the Men in Black who pose questions and seem to possess intimate knowledge about her. The line between reality and cyberspace becomes increasingly blurred, leading Lain to experience surreal and disorienting events that challenge her understanding of identity, consciousness, and perception. Written by Chiaki J. Konaka, Serial Experiments Lain is a psychological thriller series that follows Lain as she grapples with life-altering decisions that will impact both the physical world and Wired. Through her journey, Lain comes to recognize the profound implications of these two domains coexisting.
Serial Experiments Lain won the Excellence Prize in the 1998 Japan Media Arts Festival. It has been subject to commentary in the literary and academic worlds such as the Asian Horror Encyclopedia and The Problem of Existence in Japanese Animation by the American Philosophical Society.
In the anime "serial experiments lain," the protagonist, lain, is a 14-year-old girl who discovers her true identity throughout the story. initially portrayed as a reserved eighth-grader with minimal ...
The key designer of Protocol 7. While working for Tachibana Labs, he illicitly included code enabling him to control the whole protocol at will and "embedded" his own consciousness in the protocol. Co...
An 11-year-old boy who occasionally works for the Knights to uncover "the one truth." He is not yet a member of their organization and does not know all their intentions. Taro enjoys virtual reality v...
The individual has a strong interest in technology and online interactions. They collaborate with Eiri Masami at Tachibana Labs. Through subtle encouragement, they guide their daughter, Lain, towards ...
Alice is lain's closest friend and confidante throughout the series. she has a straightforward, sincere personality and is always there to help lain socialize, starting with taking her to a nightclub....
Chisa Yomoda is Lains classmate. Shes the one that initially gets Lain involved with the Wired....
Lains older sister, an apathetic 16-year-old student who casually picks on her little sisters habits and behavior. Mika is considered to be the only normal member of Lains family; she sees her boyfrie...