Originally introduced in the anime series Serial Experiments Lain, Lain Iwakura is a middle school student with a tenuous grip on reality, who eventually becomes obsessed with the The Wired, an internet-analogous virtual space accessible using Navi computers.
In the original anime, an email from a supposedly dead classmate leads Lain to integrate her mind further and further into her Navi, increasing her power and potential actions within the Wired. As she begins to physically enter the Wired, different versions of herself begin appearing, entirely out of her control. As Lain begins to question the benefits of the Wired, her other selves spread out, causing her to quickly become omnipresent and revered within the Wired.
The PlayStation game, also named Serial Experiments Lain, follows an alternate version of Lain. To treat hallucinations she is experiencing, Lain is enrolled into therapy, where she begins to learn about the human psyche. Upon the disappearance of her father, Lain creates an AI program to behave as her father did, later experimenting with an AI version of herself. Upon realizing that her program works, Lain destroys her physical self, fully integrating with the Wired, where she acts as the guide for the game's Navi-inspired operating system.
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