Full Metal Yakuza (1997)
May 12, 2004Yakuza Cyborg
An early work from Takashi Miike, an ultra-violent comic-book variant on RoboCop about a Yazkuza enforcer who is incarnated in a cyborg body and goes seeking revenge
Takashi Miike
Takashi Miike – Japanese director (b 1960- ). Miike has become regarded as a cult director. Miike made a name for himself in the early 2000s with films like Audition (1999), Ichi the Killer (2001) and Visitor Q (2001) that were celebrated by audiences because of the ultra-violent and taboo-defying extremes he pushed the material. His work vies between yakuza films, teen dramas and genre works (listed below).
Miike has been prolific since the early 1990s, putting out 3-4 films per year, sometimes twice that, although this seems to have slowed down after 2020. His films from the late 2000s onwards become much experimental and frequently eccentric in nature.
The Bird People in China (1998)
Oct 17, 2004Lost Culture
An early Takashi Miike film that forsakes his usual ultra-violence and surreal weirdness for a genteel road movie through backwater China to the discovery of a lost culture
Andromedia (1998)
Jan 21, 2025Teenage Girl Uploaded to the Internet
An early Takashi Miike film where a teenage girl is killed and her personality uploaded to the internet, having been conveniently backed up by her father on three cd roms!
Dead or Alive (1999)
Jun 28, 2003Gonzo Yakuza Film
A Yakuza film from Takashi Miike filled with ultra-violence and casual perversity before Miike goes nuts in a totally gonzo ending. Two unrelated sequels followed from Miike
Audition (1999)
Oct 6, 1999Twisted Love Story/Sadism and Torture
The film that made the world pay attention to Takashi Miike. Starting out as a seeming love story, this culminates in some of the most brutal and hard-to-watch torture scenes ever committed to film
MPD Psycho (2000)
Feb 23, 2021Split-Personalitied Detective vs a Body-Hopping Killer
Takashi Miike tv mini-series with a mind-bogglingly confusing plot involving a split personalitied detective, possession, a terrorist pop star and barcodes imprinted in eyeballs
Dead Or Alive 2 – Birds (2000)
Jul 8, 2003Gonzo Yakuza Film
Takashi Miike's Dead or Alive was a Yakuza film with a gonzo ending. In this sequel, Miike brings back the same two actors and makes it ALL gonzo
Visitor Q (2001)
Mar 21, 2010Catalogue of Perversions/Mysterious Visitor/Black Comedy
One of the key films in the cult of Takashi Miike that has been frequently banned for its taboo-defying outrages in which a mysterious visitor causes a family household to descend into perverse extremes
Ichi the Killer (2001)
Jan 7, 2006Sadism and Ultra-Violence
One of the key films upon which the Takashi Miike cult is based. Miike takes a nominal Yakuza plot based on a manga where he pushes the sadism and ultra-violence to a mind-boggling extreme
The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001)
May 5, 2007Gonzo Black Comedy
Completely madcap film from Takashi Miike, a black comedy about a family who run a guesthouse where the guests keep dying. This comes replete with musical numbers and Claymation sequences
Dead or Alive: Final (2002)
Mar 13, 2006Cyberpunk Dystopia/Androids
The third of Takashi Miike's Dead or Alive trilogy. While the previous entries are Yakuza films, this is an action film about androids set in Blade Runner-homaging Cyberpunk future
One Missed Call (2003)
Jul 25, 2004Haunted Cellphone Calls
Cult director Takashi Miike jumps aboard the J-horror fad of the 2000s and makes a Ringu copy that substitutes haunted videos for haunted cellphone calls. Two sequels and an English-language remake followed
Gozu (2003)
Jun 17, 2015Surreal Yakuza Film/Identity Exchange
The modern cinematic madman Takashi Miike makes a uniquely original work that starts out like a Yazkuza film, before taking a turn into the completely surreal and arriving at an admirably twisted ending
Three … Extremes (2004)
Aug 5, 2005Asian Horror Anthology
Standout horror anthology designed to highlight episodes from three Asian directors – Hong Kong’s Fruit Chan, South Korea’s Park Chan-wook and Japan’s Takashi Miike - all of whom are on top form
Zebraman (2004)
Sep 3, 2013Japanese Superhero
Head-scratching effort from Japan's Takashi Miike about a schoolteacher who gains superpowers after putting on a costume from his favourite superhero tv series. Miike never seems to be mounting a parody, while the film is too low-budgeted to ever work in terms of kick-ass superheroic action
The Great Yokai War (2005)
Dec 15, 2007War in the Realm of Japanese Spirits
Takashi Miike jumps aboard the mid-00s fad for secondary world fantasy films, creating a realm of spirits where he and his makeup and creature effects team go absolutely wild
Big Bang Love, Juvenile A (2006)
Nov 27, 2012Prison Murder Mystery with Surreal SF Elements
This is one of Takashi Miike's most incomprehensible films - what appears to be a murder mystery and gay love story set in a prison, along with random SF elements
YatterMan (2009)
May 19, 2011Anime TV Series in Live-Action/Gonzo Giant Robot Heroics
Takashi Miike conducts a live-action adaptation of a 1970s anime tv series with completely madcap results. The effect is like drowning in multi-coloured candyfloss flavoured with LSD
Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City (2010)
Jul 15, 2021Japanese Superhero
Takashi Miike makes a sequel to his earlier superhero film filled with his typically eccentric touches
Lesson of the Evil (2012)
Jun 19, 2014Psycho School Teacher
Cult director Takashi Miike makes a film about a teacher who goes on a shooting rampage through a school where Miike takes an unrestrained glee in the carnage
Over Your Dead Body (2014)
Feb 20, 2017Roles From a Play Haunt Their Actors' Lives
The most sustained film Takashi Miike has made in some time. In this case, he adapts Yotsuya Kaidan, the most famous of all Japanese ghost stories, which has been filmed multiple times, but rather than offer a straight telling also adds a layer where the story comes to replay itself among the actors in the play
Yakuza Apocalypse (2015)
May 8, 2016Gonzo Yakuza Vampire Film
Japan's Takashi Miike gained a cult with a series of films that went to extremes or crossed way over taboo lines; his films from the mid-2000s have become more experiments that produce a head-scratching "huh?". Case in point being this Yakuza vampire film that frequently feels like much of it was being made up on the spot
Terra Formars (2016)
Nov 18, 2019Mutated Insects on Mars
Takashi Miike delivers a completely madcap film about evolved cockroaches on Mars being fought by astronauts who take doses of mutagenic serum to give them insect-based super-powers
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable – Chapter 1 (2017)
Jul 25, 2023Manga Adaptation
The cinematic madman Takashi Miike takes on a live-action adaptation of one of Japan’s longest running mangas concerning high-school teenagers with powers and unique hairstyles
Blade of the Immortal (2017)
Nov 19, 2017Immortal Samurai/Manga Adaptation
Takashi Miike's 100th film, the adaptation of a manga about an immortal samurai. Miike bookends the film with awesome sequences with his hero battling hundreds of opponents but the film in between drags