The Takashi Miike Project List (103/111 Done, Ongoing)

91. As the Gods Will (2015)

Takashi Miike directs a paranoid picture that plays out as a video game, with the protagonists having to overcome trials in order to progress to the next stage. However, the fact that those trials are presented by dolls that came to life (as the one with the Matrioska Dolls, in a hilarious concept), the permeating slapstick humor and the omnipresent bloodbaths, take the film in a whole other direction, similar to the usual Miike aesthetics. At points, it seems like the movie is trying to community a message regarding violence in society, but that is soon buried under violence and humor, in a film whose obvious purpose is simply to entertain all those cult followers of Miike and his style. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

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92. Yakuza Apocalypse (2015)

Despite having a few minor flaws present, there's plenty of other enjoyable elements throughout ‘Yakuza Apocalypse' which makes the film a highly entertaining entry in Miike's filmography. Dive right in if you're a fan of his other works or have a strong fascination with the horror/crime hybrids he created in the past, while those who aren't fans of this or find the flaws too overwhelming should heed caution. (Don Anelli)

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93. The Lion Standing in The Wind (2015)

The Japanese actor Takao Osawa was so moved by Masashi Sada's popular song “The Lion Standing in The Wind”, that he approached the songwriter with a suggestion of adapting it into a novel. Not only that Sada made Osawa's wish come true, but he also wrote the movie script based on the novel inspired by the song, thus, one would believe – completing the circle. “The Lion Standing Still” – all forms of it – is based on a true story about Koichiro Shimada (Takao Osawa), a Japanese doctor who in 1987, motivated by a long-time medical missionary in Africa Albert Schweizer, left the university hospital in Nagoya to join the research team of The Institute of Tropical medicine in Kenya, the country where he found his tragic end. It is indeed a story of big importance that deserves to be told, and yet it is difficult to comprehend what made Takashi Miike to seize for this project and turn it into something very unlike anything he ever directed before, or since. (Marina Richter)

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94. Terra Formars (2016)

The action scenes are quite stunning, benefiting the most from the special effects, despite some repetition. Furthermore, there are some moments of agony, as the ones with the tsunami of cockroaches, and those where the cockroaches attack en masse, which are quite impressive. The fact that some characters die very unexpectedly is a nice addition to the genre and actually adds to the nonsensical nature of the film, which also benefits the most from Miike's preposterous sense of humor. The explanations of the abilities of each bug are also a nice feature. “Terra Formars” is a very impressive adaptation, evidently directed to fans of sci-fi action, with all the good and the bad the notion entails. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

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95. The Mole Song: Hong Kong Capriccio (2016)

Miike directs a film that functions in a way that stays true to the original medium, as he manages to capture all of its preposterous, slapstick and fan-service nature. In that fashion, the movie moves at a frantic pace, with comedy, action, and sleaziness succeeding each other, at least when they are present on the screen, all together. This tactic becomes quite evident in a number of battle scenes where the main weapon is a toilet plunger, with the one between Reiji and a sexy assassin being the most outrageous. All of the characters are quite absurd, in terms of both writing and depiction, as the film parodies both police and Yakuza, occasionally in hilarious style. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

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96. Blade of the Immortal (2017)

“Blade of the Immortal”, like “13 Assassins”, belongs to the collection of Miike's calmer and more well-mannered movies, far from the wacky surreal ones. At the same time, don't expect a traditional chanbara. The plot is spiced up and enriched by touches of supernatural and frequent comedy shots and the parade of challengers on our heroes' path is a gaudy bunch of punks, totally oblivious of any historical consistency. (Adriana Rosati)

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97. JoJo's Bizzare Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable – Chapter 1 (2017)

It took no less than 15 rotoscope artists to make Miike Takashi's other-worldly film adaptation of Hiroko Araki's 4th part of the popular manga comic “JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable” to come to life. The mysterious giant entities in armoured bodies that come out of their “hosts” (and not only them!) are created with great precision and skills, worthy a big-budget production the artists were assigned for. It's the food for the eyes of all JoJo manga-series lovers. With its cult following, “JoJo's Bizarre Adventure” has an eager fanbase that offers the most obscure information on the internet surrounding its content. It turns out, one can even buy the soundtrack of the tunes played on Morio-Cho's main radio station in the animated TV series (2012-2016), among other trinkets. (Marina Richter)

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98. Idol x Warrior Miracle Tunes Episodes 1,2 (2017)

Apart from that, the intense colors, the glitter, the animation, the children music and the hyperbolic theatricality of the grown up actors really tried my patience (which is quite large, while I had no such issues with the rest of Miike's works for children, such as “Ninja Kids”). On the other hand, the costumes, the acting by Asaka Uchida as Kanon, Suzuka Adachi as Mai and Yuzuha Oda as Fukaand the overall presentation of the villains (in absurdly gothic style) work quite well for the series, and are the elements that deem it (somewhat) watchable. Not much more to say, this is a title only for hardcore Miike fans. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

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99. Laplace's Witch (2018)

The production values on the other hand, are on a very high level. Nobuyasu Kita's cinematography captures the various settings and particularly the ones in the snow and the lab exquisitely, through a cold and detached visage that serves the story in the most fitting fashion. Kenji Yamashita's editing connects the various arcs in a way that provides an interesting rhythm for the film, but his work also suffers from the narrative. “Laplace's Witch” is not one of the worst movies Miike has every directed, but for me it is something even worse: mediocre. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

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100. First Love (2019)

Miike's latest noir, gangland thriller “First Love” is undoubtedly a crowd-pleaser and – it must be said – probably will not go down too well with hard-core Miike's fans expecting total insanity. However, it is undeniably rather entertaining and it is worth relaxing, forgetting the educated expectations, and enjoying the measure and method in madness that director Miike and regular screenwriter collaborator Masara Nakamura have adopted this time. (Adriana Rosati)

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101. The Mole Song: Final (2021)

Enjoy the soft cooked pasta seasoned by all outwordly ingredients from Takashi Miike's action comedy kitchen, and remember that there are no limits to using whatever songs to the soundtrack of a film if you are convinced enough they would work. In the case of “The Mole Agent: Final”, the much loved Christmas Carol “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht” (Silent Night) is used as a birthday song, because – why not. May the giant manta ray be with you, and do not miss the opportunity the watch this film should the possibility presents itself! (Marina Richter)

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102. The Great Yokai War: Guardians (2021)

Watanabe did a magnificent job of imagining a completely new adventure that doesn't have much to do with the original script written by Miike and Mitsuhiko Sawamura (based on the novel by Hiroshi Aramata) for “The Great Yokai War”. With his vision of a troublesome chain of events happening long after the first big bloodshed, this a fantasy tale of a different kind. We are even willing to forgive him moments of confusion regarding the identity of some of the characters, because the whole package works. Just think of an army of fast-running Tanuki (Japanese Racoon dogs) led by the human-hating Gyobu Inumagi yokai (Takao Osawa) who's riding a fire-spewing motorbike to the beats of heavy metal music. Encore! (Marina Richter)

103. Midnight (2024)

Takashi Miike directs another audiovisual extravaganza, highlighting, once more, that when it comes to manga adaptations he is definitely among the top, if not the best. As such, through a frantic pace dictated by the intense editing, he manages to include a number of favorite tropes of the category, in an effort evidently aiming at entertainment (apart from showing what the iPhone can do). In that fashion, the short includes a car chase, a battle between a motorcycle and the rather high-tech taxi Midnight is driving, martial arts, beam guns coming out of toy bears, and as usually in films of the category, absurd humor and even more absurd characters and events. The inclusion of pages of the actual manga, which actually mirror what we are watching on the screen, the fitting heavy metal soundtrack and the end credits that show how the film was shot conclude the rather impressive short.