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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 1 Book 2 Film 3 Video games 3.1 Parasite Eve 3.2 Parasite Eve II 3.3 Parasite Eve 3

Title Parasite Eve

The English edition of Parasite Eve.
Author	Hideaki Sena
Original title	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.

Parasite Eve
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.

Main article: Parasite Eve

Main article: Parasite Eve II

There were rumours floating around the internet that Parasite Eve 3 was in the potential planning stages. However, most of these rumours were consigned to online discussion forums that contained threads populated by fans expressing interest in and theorizing ideas for a third installment of the game. Despite the modest critical reception of Parasite Eve 2 and possibly punctuated by Square essentially absorbing then-partnered company Electronic Arts into its corporate structure in 2002, the release of a third installment seems unlikely although it has never been officially discussed nor dismissed.

v • d • e Parasite Eve video games

Parasite Eve • Parasite Eve II Aya Brea • Melissa Pearce • Mitochondria Eve • Neo-Mitochondrial Creatures • Minor characters Parasite Eve (book) • Parasite Eve (film)