In the TV series Lost, we see a character named Desmond Hume residing in an underground facility, driven borderline insane by the monotony of his daily routine. Desmond is required to regularly enter a series of numbers on a computer every 108 minutes. While nothing as redundant occurs in The Bunker, the game’s tone, setting, and non-linear storytelling feel directly inspired by a show like Lost.
The Bunker, developed by Slendy Interactive in partnership with Wales Interactive, begins in a post-nuclear war era with the birth of our protagonist, John. He’s born in an underground shelter that houses less than 60 people. However, we quickly flash forward 30 years later to find John alone with his mother. Thus the central mystery reveals itself: what happened to everyone else?
An Alarm Sounds
What separates Slendy Interactive’s first outing from other titles is its aesthetics: everything is live-action. With a runtime of roughly 90 plus minutes, you essentially have yourself a movie. Now the industry hasn’t mastered manipulating a real human being completely. The Bunker is simply a point-and-click thriller, but is still impressive for a developer’s debut game. Unless you’re slow to select the next location and make John stand around looking clueless, the gaming experience itself doesn’t distract from the cinematic quality.
Adam Brown’s John looking rightfully terrified
In the midst of John’s daily routine, an error message indicates a system failure somewhere in the facility. This is where the conflict and John’s unease begins. He hasn’t traversed from his floor with his mother much, if ever. Visiting other floors to resolve a mechanical problem sets his nerves off. Actor Adam Brown‘s performance, especially his facial expressions, effectively communicate John’s dread with his predicament.
Repressed Memories
As you take John along on his mission to repair the electrical and air filter systems, Brown moves timidly along each darkened hallway. With each floor you explore, a seemingly repressed memory rears its ugly head. We begin to see what unfolds with the shelter’s previous occupants via flashback, culminated in the game’s final moments. It’s as disturbing as it is gratifying.
Actress Sarah Greene plays John’s mother and she covers every range of human emotion fathomable by the game’s end. However, I’m intent on avoiding spoilers, so I’ll reference these specifics no further. If you ever throw up your hands during The Bunker‘s story, which can take a stretch to get into, be assured there’s absolutely a pay-off.
Lesser Demons
Outside of our two leads, the minor characters deliver their lines in a most uncomfortably wooden fashion. Then at certain points where John is simply standing in a hallway, the musical score swells as if hinting at a big reveal or jump scare, but nothing comes.
John’s mother portrayed by Sarah Greene
Mechanically speaking, the game is ultimately not intended to be any sort of challenge. It’s rather unfortunate though, as glimmers of a Quick Time Event (QTE) appear all-too briefly. However, the average gamer will pass these QTEs with flying colors and then some.
Despite any criticisms I levy against The Bunker, the story and high production value compel you to forgive them. This feels like a full-fledged Hollywood production but occasionally the actors arbitrarily stop and wait for a button click. They even filmed this in a real decommissioned bunker. This pays off as it makes your environment feel legitimately previously occupied.
It might be too early for declarations, but I’m predicting this title could see the same success as last year’s live-action mystery game Her Story.
Grade: B
REVIEW | Salt and Sanctuary
PAX South 2019: Splitgate Arena Warfare, World of Horror, JackQuest, and Disjunction
PAX South 2019: Jump Force, Skellboy, A Fold Apart
REVIEW | Spider-Man PS4
Review | Re-Exploring No Man’s Sky Next
REVIEW | Downward Spiral: Horus Station
First, a message from your friendly (excuse the pun) neighbor-hood Totoro, as an apology for the bomb I’m about to drop on you.
More things I have learned today: A tablet computer does not an artist make. Art by me.
In my apartment, Totoro is a frequent topic of discussion. I kind of assume that Totoro is a frequent topic of discussion in households everywhere, but just in case he isn’t, I would like to impart some wisdom upon which this discussion has recently stumbled: Totoro has some dark-ass roots.
I wish I were talking about his hair color here, but I am not. In fact, there are two different origin stories that I’ve been researching obsessively since I heard about them, attempting desperately to prove that My Neighbor Totoro, the film that brought Totoro into existence, is nothing more than a really adorable movie about some really adorable kids and their really adorable forest-spirit friends.
Unfortunately, I have learned two new… let’s call them origin stories, for lack of a better term… that would argue the contrary. In order to keep you from seriously going off the deep end, I will present them in a two part post — one today, one tomorrow, that reveals some of the darker edges around Totoro’s furry belly.
Part One: “The Sayama Case” or “Are Mei and Satsuki dead?”
My roommate came home the other day and told me a story he had heard from a classmate who happens to be from Japan. “So My Neighbor Totoro is apparently based on a real-life murder case of two little girls, and Totoro is supposed to be a spirit of death.” Well, we live in the age of the internet, so my instant reaction was to google “Totoro based on a true story”. Go ahead, google it. Back?
At the time of writing this article, that search garnered 645,000 results. The sources are from all over the world, in English as well as Japanese, and stories range from “MIYAZAKI WROTE TOTORO AS A MESSAGE OF DEATH” all the way to “Well, isn’t this quite the coincidence **wink wink**” In order to save you some time and offer you what I think is the best explanation, I have broken my findings into two sections:
The Case
The Sayama Incident refers to the details surrounding a 1963 murder case which took place in Sayama City, Japan, 
wherein a teenage girl named Yoshie Nakata was kidnapped and later found dead. While a man was eventually convicted of the murder, many sources still contest his guilt in the case. Kazuo Ishikawa, the man arrested, is a member of the Buraku minority, which is often discriminated against because of their status as laborers. Most of the information online about the Sayama Incident is split into two categories: sites contesting Ishikawa’s guilt, and those relating the case to Totoro.
There are some reports that Yoshie’s sister, after finding her body, returned home driven crazy by the sight of her murdered sibling. Others state that the family, which included three boys and two other girls, was being raised by a single father while their mother was hospitalized for a brain tumor. If these facts were true, and I can not verify nor deny them with any certainty, then they would certainly strengthen the case for Miyazaki drawing inspiration from the Sayama Incident. Without these facts, however, the ties are loose where they do exist.
The Theory
What most of these theories boil down to is this: Totoro is a harbinger of death. Mei dies first, like Yoshie in the Sayama Incident, and when Satsuki goes looking for her sister, her own meeting with Totoro dooms her as well. Adding to this idea are the theories that the movie is told in a non-linear fashion and that the girls die early on. The final scene is supposed to be a flashback to the beginning of the movie, before their mother was checked into the hospital. Furthermore, the scene where the girls and the troupe of Totoros create the giant tree in their backyard and sit in its branches, their father is actually writing a story about his children who have already died. As he imagines the story, he sees it manifest outside his window.
According to certain Totoro fan sites, when Yoshie’s sister returned from finding her body in the woods, she was rambling about a raccoon creature, and a cat monster, which inspired both Totoro and the Cat Bus. I have not been able to find any factual reports or exact quotes. Instead, I have found other, more plausible explanations of both Catbus and Totoro’s origins. The catbus is definitely inspired by the Japanese legend of the Bake-neko, or a cat which has gained magical powers to transform and transport the dead into the after-life. and Totoro is in some part based on Japanese racoons or Tanukis–with or without the tragic insanity of Yoshie’s sister.
The only part of the theory that I believe holds water in relation to catbus is the fact that, once Sataskui sets out to find her sister, his destination changes simply to “Mei” rather than a real location. This might indicate that Mei is nowhere in this world, and in order to find her they will have to traverse over to where she can be found.
While watching the movie again yesterday, I’m not sure how much of the theory I actually believe, although if the
translations and other cultural explanations on my.opera.com are accurate, I might be more willing to see the sinister side of a movie that otherwise just makes me smile. Granny’s character can see Mei and Satsuki long after Mei runs into the forest the first time, and Kanta (who we prefer to call the Maytag man) continues to interact with them while they wait in the rain.
Miyazaki’s comments on the film have also run contrary to elements of this theory. While some argue that the statues sitting behind Mei while she is lost are indicators of her death, Miyazaki has explained that they were actually spirits which he used to illustrate the fact that she is safe and will find her way home.
While there are definitely similarities between the the Sayama Incident and elements of Totoro, without more hard evidence or comments from the filmmakers I don’t know that there’s enough of a case to actually claim that the movie is entirely based on the real-life events. The next theory, regardless of which version you want to believe, is incontestably tragic and very real.
Don’t forget to check out Two New Ways to Watch Totoro (You Won’t Like Either One): Part Two, when I will share with you the saddest origin story you ever did hear. (Hint: It has to do with the end of World War II. From the Japanese perspective.)
Colorado Anime Fest Wrap Up
Viz Media Announces Free Streaming Anime!
Sub Cultured is Headed to Colorado Anime Fest!
Aniplex of America to Stream New Slice of Life Comedy, Slow Start, on Crunchyroll in January 2018
Nan Desu Kan 2016 – Recapping Rocky Mountain’s Biggest Anime Convention!
