Serial Experiments Lain/Religion

Religion
Season 1, Episode 4
Airdate	July 27, 1998
Production Number	04
Written by	Chiaki J. Konaka
Directed by	Ryutaro Nakamura
ADR Writer(s)	Gavin Glennon
ADR Director(s)	Lia Sargent
← 1x03 Psyche	1x05 → Distortion
Serial Experiments Lain — Season One

Religion is the fourth episode of Serial Experiments Lain.

Cast: Kaori Shimizu (Lain Iwakura), Ryunosuke Obayashi (Yasuo Iwakura), Rei Igarashi (Miho Iwakura), Ayako Kawasumi (Mika Iwakura), Yoko Asada (Arisu Mizuki), Chiharu Tezuka (Reika Yamamoto), Manabi Mizuno (Juri Kato), Kazuo Chikada (JJ), Takumi Yamazaki (Man in Black), Kuniko Yoshioka (S), Ayako Kurosaki (Woman's Voice), Keichi Igarashi (Young Boy A), Kenji Nojima (Young Boy B), Miki Ito (Baby Girl (Adult Voice)), Haruka Tsunezumi (Baby Girl (Baby Voice)), Kazuhiko Inoue (Man's Voice), Madoka Akita (Voices), Kazunori Sekine (Voices), Yumi Otsuda (Voices), Masafumi Yabe (Voices), Tamotsu Nishiwaki (Voices), Ari Morizumi (DJ),

Plot Overview

Another suicide has hit Lain's school, this time affecting another senior. According to rumors on the Wired, the string of suicides has been due to some kind of game being played by kids on the net. Intrigued by the possibility of being part of the conspiracy behind Chisa'a suicide, Lain further investigates the game while continuing to hack together her Navi to gain more control over the Wired. At Cyberia, Lain discovers that the game is called "Phantoma," but most adults wouldn't be interested in it.

Meanwhile, another senior is tracked down and apparently killed by the Phantoma game, this time persued by the pixilated image of Lain before being confronted by the little girl that drove the senior from earlier in the episode to suicide. He attacks the girl using an in-game weapon, but in reality has actually killed the real life counterpart of the girl. The boy explains to Lain that Phantoma is an illegal webgame that allows unrestricted exploration through the Wired. However, the game had linked with a childrens' online tag game. An online friend of Lain's explains that the linkage of the two games was likely the doing of the Knights, an underground secret society on the Wired.

Meanwhile, Lain's father warns her about the dangers of getting addicted to the Wired, but she dismisses him, saying that the Wired is no different from the real world and that she will be a part of the Wired just as she is in the real world soon. After logging into the Wired, the suited men appear again, this time targeting her room with lasers on their visors. She shouts at them to go away, which results in the mysterious destruction of one of their visors and the window in her room being warped. The men leave and Lain's navi announces, "Intruder interrupted."

Quotes

• Yasuo: I think that my little girl perhaps has become obsessed with the Wired. It's just an advanced vehicle for communication. Don't ever get it confused with the real world. Do you understand what I'm warning you about?
  Lain: You're wrong. The border between the two isn't so clear.