This time on my Fictional Spectrum series, I am spotlighting the protagonist in Serial Experiments Lain.
What is it about Lain that makes me feel she is on the spectrum? First of all, she rarely looks at anyone who is talking to her. She always has this faraway, distant look. As a child, I did the same thing. My mom, not knowing how normal this is for someone like me, helped me to outgrow this behavior, but I still have my moments.
Lain has few friends. Sure there are three girls who talk to her, but only one of them, Alice, seems the friendliest. The others don’t even seem like they’d socialize with Lain if she didn’t.
Lain catches on to her new computer quickly, with very little help from others. It’s an obsession for her. I can identify with this, as I have several obsessions, ranging from anime to sci-fi. In Lain’s case, her obsession causes her to be more detached. Her entire life is literally online and it begins to blur her perception of reality.
To me, Lain shows us why we should not leave people like her in their own world and not help them. Because she was not encouraged to come out of her shell, she retained her shell and became more detached from society.
This anime is a great story and I think it’s neat that it has a seemingly autistic protagonist. I highly recommend this series to my readers.
Aspie Catholic 
The Autistic spectrum is not fiction.
That’s not why I gave my series that title. I gave it that title because I’m looking at fictional characters who possess autistic traits. I’m sorry that it gave you the wrong idea.