Waffling Taylors Goes To The Movies

Don’t forget to check out the other episodes in the series. Make sure to click here to see which movies we’ve already covered - we’re sure that you’ll love what you have to say.

Featured Image

We’d like to thank the amazing yurricanes for working with us to create the featured image for this episode. I think you’ll agree that it’s an amazing piece of art, and you should definitely check out their work

Players

Squidge

Jay

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Content Warning

Due to the nature of the movie we talk about in this episode, we’d recommend that you don’t listen to this one with little ones around. Whilst we don’t go into the detail, this movie does hit you in the feels hard. So be prepared for that, as we talk about the movie.

There’s also talk about nudity-without-any-actual-nudity

you’ll understand why when we get to it

towards the end of the discussion on the film; just to prepare you for that.

Please listen responsibly.

Show Notes

We’re back

AND WITH A SPECIAL INTRODUCTION FROM ME: RUSSELL COMPUTECH RODRIGUEZ GENERATION SIX POINT FOUR

… indeed.

And this time we wanted to cover the movie version of Parasite Eve. One thing to note about this movie is that the relationship it has with the games

as of right now: Parasite Eve, Parasite Eve II, and The 3rd Birthday

The relationship is has is that it’s based on a book by Hideaki Sena, and so are the games. Except that the games are more of a “what if” continuation from about the halfway point of the book. And that the movie only has the basic plot from the book.

So all three things (book, movie, and games) can be thought of as three separate universes:

A branching image showing the book at the root, with both the first game and movie as child items, then each subsequent game being a child of the first. This is meant to show that the movie and games are totally separate from each other, but still have the same parent.
A visual on how the book, movie, and games are related (i.e. not very)

In fact, we’ve already covered the book on this website way back in 2017. So we’d recommend giving that post a quick look-see, too.

Squidge's Avatar Squidge:

The mitochondria take control and become Instagram influencers - that’s the modern day equivalent

Thoughts Going In

Squidge is a big fan of the action RPG PlayStation title which was made, based on the book. The movie and the game entered pre-production at roughly the same time, and the teams behind both were unaware of each other. Indeed, Hideaki Sena was unaware of the game series until the early 2000s.

The production company behind the movie (Fuji TV) started production of the movie in January 1997, and was done 8 weeks later. The entire movie had a total cost of (in 1997 money) $900,000 - for context, Titanic had a budge of $200 million (again in 1997 money).

Interestingly, considering that it had a sizable budget, it was only released to Japanese theatres for one week. After which it went to VHS, and was exported to the West - starting the J-Horror craze of the late 90s and early 2000s

alongside Ringu and Ju-On: The Grudge

And it was just under a year after the movie came out that the first game was released. 1998’s Parasite Eve for PlayStation must have been in development from shortly before the movie started pre-production, which bears out quite well because a demo was shown off at E3 in 1997. As mentioned above, the movie and the games take two slightly different paths: where the movie is an attempt at retelling the story

with changes made, in order to make it more of a romantic film

The video game was a direct sequel to the book, with the main character (Aya Brea) being the daughter of Mariko Anzai

who is a junior high schooler in both the book and the movie

And Hidekai Sena - the author of the book - didn’t know about the games until the early 2000s.

The Cast

Because it might prove difficult to keep tabs on who is who, here is a list of the most important characters:

  • Dr. Toshiaki Nagashima; he is the protagonist

Squidge calls him Dr. Nutbar

  • Kiyomi Nagashima; this is Toshiaki’s wife
  • Sachiko Asakura; Toshiaki’s lab assistant
  • Mariko Anzai; a junior high school girl who needs a kidney transplant
  • Takatsugu Yoshizumi (aka Dr. Curtains) is the surgeon who will perform the kidney transplant
  • Whilst not a character, perse, Mitochondrial Eve will feature heavily in this movie

The Plot

Here’s a 10,000 ft view of the “plot”, as we see it:

  • A strange collage and a console boot sound
  • Bad CGI bird, is bad
A rather badly composited CGI hawk flies over a suburban Tokyo skyline
This CGI was the last thing to be created (click to enlarge)
  • Some science in the form of a lecture, all about Mitochondria
Squidge's Avatar Squidge:

It needs a good lubing up. Now that’s a phrase you don’t hear more often, "it needs a good lubing up"

  • Meanwhile it’s laundry day
  • A lesson on bacteria, for children who think that bacteria are yucky
    • But they love snails
    • Which are equally as yucky
  • And Mariko flings herself into a swimming pool
  • Dark synth and snail beheading
  • Playboy style candid images of Mitochondria
A packed lecture theatre, with Kiyomi looking on, as images of Mitochondria are shown
It’s shocking what they’ll get away with showing these days (click to enlarge)
  • Kiyomi plays “chase me” and a faraway kiss because reasons
  • And Toshiaki forgets their first anniversary
  • Ominous line is ominous
A close up of Kiyomi saying the line "I’ve waited so long for you…"
This seems important (click to enlarge)
  • Meanwhile there is science happening in the Bat Cave
  • But that’s not how you use a microscope
Squidge's Avatar Squidge:

Sensei and wise older person stroke’s his beard

  • Kiyomi drives home
  • “Do you think the Mitochondria have their own agenda”
  • Something terrible happens
  • There’s a bunsen burner and everything
Toshiaki and Asakura are doing some scientific things, with lots of specialist equipment. There is a Bunsen burner in the middle of the frame
See!? (click to enlarge)
Jay's Avatar Jay:

STAHP! The science that you’re doing is killing her via remote control

  • Kiyomi has a horrific traffic accident, and it hits you in the feels

we skipped over this part in our discussion, because feels

  • The transplant committee break every rule in the book
  • “I’ll give you the kidney, if you give me her liver”

Toshiaki’s expertise is using Mitochondria to re-grow damaged liver cells

which is why he wants his wife’s liver

  • Hollywood cliche 437: it only rains when it’s sad
  • Flashback: it’s Christmas, yo!
  • “Kiyomi” can be read “Christmas eve”, and they meet on Christmas Eve!
Kiyomi explaining that the characters used to spell her name can also mean "Christmas Eve"
Coincidence? (click to enlarge)

Side note from Jay about the “Christmas Eve” thing

Kiyomi mentions that her name can also be read as “Christmas Eve”. This is another example of goroawase (or Japanese wordplay)

I mentioned this back in my blog post about Segata Sanshiro

You see there’s a Japanese word 聖夜 which is pronounced “Seiya”, and means “Christmas Eve” or “holy night”. The first character in this word “聖” can be read as either:

  • Sei
  • Kyo
  • Mi

Hideaki Sena hooked into this when he was creating the original character of Kiyomi for the novel, and gave her a name which literally had the same meaning as the day that Toshiaki meets her. This would give Toshiaki a strong connection between that day and Kiyomi. A subtle “they were destined to be together, since they met on a day which is written the same way as her given name.”

This would have been a not-so-subtle thing for the Japanese audience. There are lots of things like this throughout Japanese media to this day. For instance, it’s the reason why Japanese actors and singers will often list their blood types on their websites and resumes - it is believed that a person’s blood type can tell you a lot about their character.

  • Dr. Curtains gets the kidney
  • There’s an awful tie
  • Toshiaki goes full mad scientist
  • Resident Evil-like music
  • Mariko is uphappy
  • A bloodied handprint
An ominous shot of a hospital corridor, with a set of double doors in the centre of the frame. The double doors have windows at about shoulder height, and one of the windows has a bloodied handprint smeared down it
Seriously, what!? (click to enlarge)
  • We are the snails

sing it with me! And Eve’s the Hawk now!

  • There’s so much water around in this hospital
  • Tummy bulges
  • “Simba!” in the samples
  • Asakura is possessed by the Mitochondrial goop
A close up of Asakura’s ear, just before she becomes possessed by the Mitochondrial goop
The more I think about it, the more this looks like a practical effect (click to enlarge)
  • Shenanigans are afoot
  • Eve is all over the floor
A shot of the Mitochondrial goop, after being spilt on the floor of the lab. It resembles an angry face
What a mess. Wait! Is that a face? (click to enlarge)
  • Suddenly Kiyomi is back… from the dead
  • Nudity-without-any-actual-nudity

you’ll see what I mean

  • Tea and cake… and revelations!
  • Asakura gives a TED talk
  • Western actors with AMAZING. ACTING. TALENT.
An audience member at a talk before Asakura’s stands up and asks a series of questions. It looks as though he is reading the script
Is that a script in this guy’s hand? (click to enlarge)
  • It starts raining on the stage
  • An old man is set on fire
  • Mariko is flung about by some unspoken force
  • Everyone rushes to the hospital
  • Is it The Blob or is it Eve?
  • Nurse flambé and Morticia Addams’ing their way through a hospital
  • A security system from the 1960s
Takatsugu (aka Dr. Curtains) uses a security system to search the hospital for Eve. The security system seems far from high tech and resembles something you might find in an 1960 science fiction film
It’s a Unix system. I know this (click to enlarge)
Jay's Avatar Jay:

It’s curtains for Dr. Curtains

  • Roof party!
  • Divergence from the book
  • Love saves the day
Squidge's Avatar Squidge:

The roof, the roof. The roof is having an abnormal atmospheric chemical reaction

CONGRATULATIONS BOYS. THE MOVIE WAS TWO HOURS AND TEN MINUTES. YOUR REVIEW WAS ONE HOUR, SIXTEEN MINUTES, AND FIFTY-EIGHT SECONDS. NO SINS FOR YOU TODAY.

How Would We Rate It?

We don’t usually rate games or movies, in fact we have never done that. And this was a conscious decision that we made early in the life of the site

we discussed this with Chief on one of his early episodes

But we needed to figure out a way to tell you all whether we think you should watch this movie or not. Normally we would rely on three ratings across three categories, which are:

  • Love it (best)
  • Try it
  • Fling it into a tree (worst)

Across these categories:

  • As a generic, action-horror movie

    talk about being specific

  • As a video game movie
  • As a Parasite Eve the video game movie

However, as this isn’t really a video game movie, we decided to do something a little different. We decided to pose the question: would you recommend this movie? And our answers were:

Squidge's Avatar Squidge:

If you don’t mind a good dollop of the feels, then it’s a good laugh; but at no point is is campy. As nuts as the idea of the film is, it still maintains that seriousness throughout.

Jay's Avatar Jay:

I would say that, if you have a few hours to kill that you should read the book first. You’ll understand the characters and their motivations a little better. You will understand the story that is being told so much more than if you just watch the movie.

Music

Links to the music used in the podcast can be found below. Definitely check them out, because they're amazing tracks by awesome musicians.

All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners. Please see the above list for copyright details pertaining to music used.

Games Covered

We mentioned 4 games in this podcast. In the following order, those games where: