Parasite Eve series
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Parasite Eve is the name of a Japanese novel by Hideaki Sena, first published in Kadokawa Horror Bunko, which has been adapted into a 1997 film and a 1998 video game for the Sony PlayStation by Squaresoft. A sequel to the game was released in 1999, also for the PlayStation.
The story of the novel and movie revolve around a geneticist whose research in mitochondria causes him to take extreme measures to revive his wife, and eventually leads to the creation of a new threat to all mankind. The scientific basis for the story is the endosymbiotic theory: mitochondria were originally free-living bacteria, which coevolved with host cells to become mutually interdependent. The fictional premise is that mitochondria are able to rebel and to develop unusual capabilities. In addition, scientists traced mitochondrial DNA, which is inherited matrilineally, to a single woman in Africa. They dubbed her, "Mitochondrial Eve." This report appeared in "Nature" in 1987.
In reality, roughly 99% of the original mitochondrial genome has been lost or transferred to the host cell nucleus, so their evolutionary potential is actually very limited. It is far more likely that full-fledged symbiotic bacteria would rebel (as occurs, less spectacularly, in pathogenic E. coli strains).
Contents |
[edit] Book
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| The English edition of Parasite Eve. | |
| Author | Hideaki Sena |
|---|---|
| Original title (if not in English) | Parasaito Ibu |
| Translator | Tyran Grillo |
| Cover Artist | Chip Kidd |
| Country | 1995 Japan 2005 United States |
| Language | Japanese, translated into English |
| Genre(s) | Science Fiction, Horror |
| Publisher | Vertical, Inc., New York |
| Released | 1995 Japan |
| Released in English | 2005 |
| Media Type | Hardcover |
| Pages | 319 |
| ISBN | ISBN 1-932234-19-5 |
The original book, Parasite Eve, was written by Hideaki Sena, and became the first winner of the Japan Horror Novel Award. It was later translated into English by Tyran Grillo working under Vertical Inc. and released in America during December 2005 [1]. The translation quality of the novel's scientific phenomenon was considered to be very well handled by the fans, however, there have been multiple complaints regarding the quantities of typos and misused words in the first edition of the translated book. It is yet to be seen whether a second edition will be released to fix these errors.
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[edit] Film
| Parasite Eve | |
|---|---|
 US DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Masayuki Ochiai |
| Written by | Ryoichi Kimizuka Hideaki Sena (novel) |
| Distributed by | ADV Films (US) |
| Release date(s) | 1997 Japan 2001 US |
| Running time | 120 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese with English subtitles |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Tagline: It's not a virus...it's evolution.
Summary: Toshiaki Nagashima is a biologist who is doing major research on mitochondria. When his beautiful young wife is left brain-dead following a car accident, he secretly extracts mitochondria from her liver cells and begins tampering with them in a desperate attempt to revive her. The mitochondria take on a life of their own and begin seizing control of the laboratory attendants, spawning a terrifying new species that eventually threatens to take over the world.
In 2001, ADV Films released the original Japanese movie on DVD in the United States. The movie does not contain an English dub track and its subtitles are hardsubs, unusual for an American release.
