Lan Hikari

"Jack in, MegaMan.EXE! Execute!"

- Lan

Lan Hikari, known in Japan as Netto Hikari (光 熱斗), is the human protagonist of the Mega Man Battle Network series. During the first half of the series, he is eleven years old and a fifth grader at ACDC Elementary School, but has his twelfth birthday and enters the sixth grade during the epilogue of Mega Man Battle Network 3. His NetNavi is MegaMan.EXE.

Lan is the son of the world-renowned scientist Dr. Yuichiro Hikari and his wife Haruka Hikari. For most of the series, Lan's greatest wish is to become a famous Net Battler, though at the end of the series he decides instead to become a Net Researcher like his father before him. Despite his connections to the Electopian government and SciLab (through his father), Lan still counts as a civilian, and his activities in the series cause him to clash with Net Battler Eugene Chaud, who initially treats him as an interference in Official affairs.

Lan appears in the video games, anime, and various graphic novel series, where he and MegaMan battle against various global criminal organizations, including the net-mafia Gospel, the Dark Chip syndicate Nebula, and the various incarnations of the terrorist organization World Three. As a character, Lan is distinguished by the three firsts for the MegaMan franchise: he is the first human protagonist, the first character to share protagonist status with another (in this case with the eponymous MegaMan.EXE), and the first protagonist to be a non-combatant, though this final distinction is dispensed with in the anime adaptation, where Lan is given the ability to use Cross Fusion and personally enter combat. In the games and manga, Lan is strictly MegaMan's Operator, and his role is strictly combat-support, feeding MegaMan Battle Chips, strategies, and power-ups.

Personality
Lan is outgoing, headstrong, and has a strong sense of justice, though he is often lazy, often sleeping in causing him being late to prior engagements (even if he is the one who set them up), and is a poor student in school, much to Ms. Mari’s frustration and despite MegaMan’s nagging, though he has the highest grades in Virus Busting. Lan enjoys sports such as soccer and inline skating, which is shown in his preference to skate wherever he goes. He is shown to have a large appetite, often indulging when food is around.

As an operator, Lan is able to concentrate in a way he cannot bring himself to do in other situations, and is quick to jump into action to save the day while others panic, even at his own risk. He has a keen sense of deduction, though he often has a simplistic way of looking at things. Despite his aptitude for Net Battling, Lan’s ego and arrogance often lead to him making careless mistakes which sometimes put people he cares about in danger.

His simple outlook on life also leads to several other problems, such as his emotional vulnerability, which has been exploited. Late in the third game, his vanity and then his trust are both abused in succession, and he is left believing that he is guilty for putting thousands of lives in danger, including his father's, causing him to fall into depression. When he finally arises, his worldview is tempered with a better understanding of evil.

History
Lan was born little more than a decade prior to the events of the Mega Man Battle Network series to Yuichiro Hikari and Haruka Hikari, along with his older twin, Hub. However, Hub suffered from a fatal heart condition known as HBD, and died early on in life before Lan would know of him, though he would live on, unbeknownst to Lan, as MegaMan.EXE. His grandfather, Tadashi Hikari, also died early on, though Lan knew of him.

Mega Man Battle Network
Lan and MegaMan make their debut in Mega Man Battle Network, the first game in the Battle Network series, as well as its remake Rockman.EXE Operate Shooting Star.

Mega Man Network Transmission
In this game, Lan’s last name is mistakenly spelled as “Hikaru”, which is another word for light.

Mega Man Battle Network 2
The summer after WWW’s defeat, Lan encounters the Net Mafia Gospel, who begins to terrorize the internet.

Mega Man Battle Network 3
A few months after Gospel’s defeat, Lan goes up against a revived WWW, who are attempting to resurrect the proto-Internet, Alpha.

Rockman.EXE Phantom of Network
TBA

Mega Man Battle Network 4
Sometime after WWW’s defeat, Lan participates in the Red Sun/Blue Moon Tournament while battling the mysterious Dark Chip Syndicate Nebula.

Mega Man Battle Network 5
A month after Nebula’s apparent defeat, the organization returns, kidnapping Lan’s father as well as the PETs of his friends.

Rockman.EXE Legend of Network
TBA

Mega Man Battle Network 6
After Nebula’s defeat, Lan moves to a new town, Cyber City, and battles a third iteration of the WWW.

In the series epilogue, Lan achieves his goal of becoming a scientist from SciLab. He marries Mayl, and lives with her in his old house in ACDC Town; together they have a son named Patch.

Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge
Lan is one of six playable characters in MegaMan Battle Chip Challenge, a non-canon game in the series.

Mega Man Star Force 2
Lan makes an indirect cameo in Mega Man Star Force 2 when a Battle Network game is inserted in the w-gate slot of the Nintendo DS, which will unlock a bonus sidequest that will send Geo Stelar and Omega-Xis around the world collecting Lan's diary entries, which refer to events following the series epilogue in the sixth game. In one of Lan's diaries, he mentioned his bond with MegaMan, and how it has granted them an "almost miraculous power" that helped them pull through hard times. Lan puts forth his research on this power at SciLab and calls it the "Link Hypothesis". He believes that bonds contain an incredible power and that it will benefit the world. Lan also holds true to the belief that future generations will be able to use it to create an even brighter future for all. This is a reference to Geo making good use of this power to its full potential, which is known as Link Power in Mega Man Star Force 2.

Rockman.EXE WS
Netto is the main character of RockMan.EXE WS, a loose retelling of the first two seasons of the anime, alongside MegaMan.

Rockman Xover
Lan appears as a Battle Memory in Rockman Xover.

Onimusha Blade Warriors
Lan appeared alongside MegaMan in Onimusha Blade Warriors.

Anime
Lan, alongside MegaMan, is the protagonist from the anime MegaMan NT Warrior, which loosely adapts the events of the video games with signifanct deviations.

Manga
Lan is also the protagonist of the manga, again with MegaMan

Battle Story Rockman.EXE
TBA

Design
Lan stands at 142.8 cm and has brown eyes and untidy brown hair, which he keeps out of his face with a bandana bearing the Hikari family symbol. His upper-body attire consists of a white long-sleeved shirt with black squares on the elbows under an orange vest. From the waist down, he wears black shorts with yellow stripes on the sides, black ankle-socks, and orange shoes with black stripes. He carries detachable roller blades that allow him to instantly modify his shoes. He will often be seen with his backpack.

He almost always carries his PET with him, and the later versions usually come with a pouch or a strap to carry it with.

Etymology

 * Netto and Saito are puns on the words "Net" and "Site", which are loanwords used in Japan for the internet and individual websites. Lan and Hub’s English names are references to "Lan" and "Hub", which are both networking terms.
 * "Hikari" is the Japanese word for "light". Lan’s Last name, as well as the Hikari family as a whole, is a parallel to Dr. Light from the classic series, though Dr. Light himself appears as Tadashi Hikari.

Trivia

 * Lan's favorite food is curry. In the fourth game, he samples Flave's five-star curry and manages to insult the chef by declaring he prefers his mother's. In the MegaMan NT Warrior manga (Ryo Takamisaki), Lan's favorite food is his mom's Curry Rice.
 * During the finals of the N-1 Grand Prix in the anime, Lan defies Chaud's attempt at calculating odds by declaring that math is his worst subject.