One of the more interesting anime to be released during the packed summer seasonal slate was Nyaight of the Living Cat , a show that stands out not only for its uniquely bizarre premise but also for the creative voices involved. One of those creatives is legendary Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike, who serves as the anime’s chief director. While his name may not be as well-known within the anime community, he is much more recognizable amongst cinephiles as a filmmaking auteur responsible for directing movies like Audition , 13 Assassins , and Visitor Q . As a film fan myself, seeing Miike’s name being attached to Nyaight of the Living Cat in such a prominent role is what originally got me interested in watching the series in the first place. Despite this being only the second anime Miike has helped develop, the director is certainly no stranger to anime or manga, as they both have played a substantial role throughout his career. RELATED: Could You Survive Nyaight of the Living Cat? Miike’s directorial style has largely been defined by his over-the-top and cartoonish depictions of ultraviolence and sexuality, which can often visually or tonally be evocative of similarly gory manga/anime, such as Hellsing , Berserk , and Devilman . Therefore, even if only a portion of Miike’s movies is based on manga or anime, it’s clear just how much both art forms have influenced his directorial voice and sensibilities. Considering that Miike’s filmography consists of over 100 movies (not an exaggeration), it can be a bit daunting to get into his work, especially for anime fans who don’t watch a lot of movies and aren’t sure where to start. Luckily, I have developed a list of five anime/manga-related projects spearheaded by Miike that serve as solid introductions to his body of work and are easily accessible. Miike has directed over a dozen live-action adaptations of anime/manga, but the five selected for this list are some of the only ones available via streaming or physical media. Anyway, without further ado, here are the five anime/manga-related projects from Takashi Miike you should watch if you enjoy Nyaight of the Living Cat : JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable – Chapter 1 Despite having the phrase “Chapter 1” in the title, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable – Chapter 1 is an adaptation of the fourth arc of the manga of the same name (and the third season of the anime ). The film follows a teenager with supernatural powers named Josuke Higashikata (Kento Yamazaki), who uncovers a series of murders committed in his hometown by a mysterious figure who can manipulate a water-like creature. With the help of his family and friends, such as Jotaro Kujo (Yusuke Iseya) and Koichi Hirose (Ryunosuke Kamiki), Josuke not only prevents further murders from occurring but also uncovers the people responsible for these crimes. Even though JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable – Chapter 1 is primarily made with fans of the source material in mind, I still recommend it as a standalone experience to anyone who enjoys Nyaight of the Living Cat and is looking for a tonally similar Miike project. At first glance, Nyaight of the Living Cat and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure don’t have much in common, with the former being an apocalyptic horror comedy and the latter being an action-adventure series with supernatural elements. However, what ultimately ties these two together is Miike’s ability to inject his personal brand of over-the-top absurdism and dark comedy into both projects’ settings and characters. RELATED: Takashi Hirano Dishes On Live-Action JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Both Nyaight of the Living Cat and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable – Chapter 1 are set in inherently goofy worlds. Yet the real comedic and entertainment value stems from the fact that the characters in both stories take these settings and their conflicts incredibly seriously, with no self-awareness of how absurd the situation is. In fact, many of the characters in Nyaight of the Living Cat analyze the threat of the cat hordes similarly to how characters in shonen anime thoroughly break down the attacks and special moves of their enemies. If you enjoy the silliness of Nyaight of the Living Cat and are looking for another anime/manga-themed project with a similar tone from Miike, then JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable – Chapter 1 is not a bad film to watch next from the acclaimed filmmaker. Admittedly, the lore and worldbuilding can be a bit of a hurdle for viewers unfamiliar with the JoJo manga and anime, as the movie’s opening 10 minutes only establishes the bare minimum knowledge needed to understand what’s going on. Thankfully, once you get past this issue, the film becomes more easily digestible and fully indulges in its hyper-stylized fights and cartoonish logic. As the Gods Will Based on the first arc of the supernatural thriller manga of the same name, As the Gods Will follows a high school student named Shun Takahata (Sota Fukushi) who, along with a handful of his classmates, is forced to participate in a series of high-stakes children’s games in which the losers are all killed in the most vicious and brutal ways. No one knows who is behind these games, how the participants were chosen, or why they are occurring, but in the end, none of these questions matter to the characters. The only priority for Shun and his classmates is to do everything they can to survive until they’re the last person standing. RELATED: R-Rated Trailer for Takashi Miike's "Yakuza Apocalypse" Goes Online Similar to JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable – Chapter 1 , As the Gods Will is another extravagantly over-the-top film for newcomers of Miike’s style and filmography to watch next if they are looking for something with a similar tone as Nyaight of the Living Cat . Similar to JoJo , As the Gods Will is embedded with a level of absurdism and silliness that stems from the various games the contestants participate in, such as an anthropomorphic cat doll eating the students and a giant bear ruthlessly killing anyone who tells a lie. However, unlike the previous entry on this list, this film leans closer to Miike’s filmmaking style and sensibilities, as all the deaths are depicted in the most bloody and gory ways possible. Onimusha Image via Netflix Onimusha is a unique entry because not only is this the only anime on this list, but it is also Miike’s anime directorial debut. Based on the Capcom video game series of the same name, Onimusha revolves around a group of warriors led by Musashi Miyamoto (Akio Otsuka) who are on a secret mission to hunt down demons that pose a threat to the country. Onimusha is not particularly plot-heavy, but it’s also clear that this is by design, as a lot of the show’s focus is on either the big action set pieces or the quieter moments in which the characters banter with each other. These elements are what make Miike’s other samurai action epics so great to watch anyway, so to see them here in anime format is a major reason why fans of Nyaight of the Living Cat who are interested in learning more about Miike’s filmmaking voice should make Onimusha their next viewing experience. This director has made over 100 films, and naturally, a filmography that large will consist of movies that tend to fall within some of the same categories. In the case of Miike, two common ones repeatedly appear: over-the-top horror movies and gritty samurai historical epics. These groups couldn’t be more different in terms of genre and tone, and yet Miike’s ability to effectively pull off such distinct types of movies is what makes Miike such a household name in the filmmaking world. Therefore, it’s almost poetic that Miike’s two directorial anime efforts also fall into those two genres. RELATED: Onimusha: Way of the Sword Brings Capcom's Series Back in 2026 Nyaight of the Living Cat succeeds at translating Miike’s ability to use dark comedy and a cartoonish tone to establish an absurdist and over-the-top setting within the anime format. Onimusha successfully achieves the same effect, but with another aspect of Miike’s style: creating hyper-stylized sword fights and action scenes involving multiple combatants. Both anime represent two aspects of Miike’s narrative and filmmaking interests, with Nyaight of the Living Cat being more in line with his other horror comedies, such as The Happiness of the Katakuris and Visitor Q , and Onimusha mirroring his samurai movies like 13 Assassins and Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai . If Nyaight of the Living Cat is your introduction to how Miike tackles goofy tones and horror comedy, and you want to dive deeper into the director’s massive body of work, Onimusha will serve as a similarly solid introduction but for Miike’s approach to samurai action. These are very different anime, but that difference has largely defined the director’s filmography. Blade of the Immortal Image via Tubi An adaptation of the manga of the same name and Miike’s 100th film, Blade of the Immortal follows an ageless samurai named Manji (Takuya Kimura) who is recruited by a young orphan girl named Rin (Hana Sugisaki) to kill the samurai responsible for her father’s death. Along their quest for revenge, they slowly develop a big brother/little sister relationship that ultimately becomes the heart of the story, a la The Last of Us or Heavenly Delusion . Throughout the film, we see how Manji and Rin grow and develop as they spend more time together, with the former slowly regaining his humanity and the latter getting a new parental figure to guide her after losing her mother and father. The movie is just as much about the characters and the bonds they form with one another as it is about samurai fights. If you enjoyed Nyaight of the Living Cat , particularly its emphasis on fleshing out its characters, then Blade of the Immortal may be the Miike film to watch next. RELATED: Exploring How English Manga Get Made with Blade of the Immortal's Editor Despite how silly the characters of Nyaight of the Living Cat are or how little self-awareness they seem to possess, the show still takes the time to flesh them out by revealing their backstories and personal connections with cats. It’s the type of character development I wouldn’t have expected from an absurdist horror comedy like this, so the fact that it’s in here at all is a welcome surprise and adds an extra layer of engagement to the anime overall in terms of feeling for the characters when they’re running from the cats. Blade of the Immortal is a great Miike film to watch next if you found this specific aspect of Nyaight of the Living Cat compelling, as the movie goes even further with the character dynamics. Blade of the Immortal is similar to Onimusha in that the film’s primary focus is making the sword fights and action spectacle as coordinated and stylized as possible. However, the movie’s combat sequences are only as effective as they are because Miike takes the time to develop Manji and Rin properly as characters. Blade of the Immortal is filled with quieter scenes of the two leads talking to and strengthening their relationship with each other, so whenever an action scene breaks out, we become so much more invested because of that personal connection to the characters whenever they’re thrust into these dangerous situations. Blade of the Immortal and Nyaight of the Living Cat may be antithetical stories in terms of tone, genre, and intent, but they are nonetheless cut from the same cloth in terms of their emphasis on developing characters, their relationships, and histories. Ichi the Killer Based on the manga of the same name, Ichi the Killer is about a psychotic, sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer named Kakihara (Tadanobu Asano) who hunts down an equally disturbed, yet sexually repressed man named Ichi (Nao Omori), who is manipulated by his handler into killing various members of yakuza factions. If there’s one movie in Miike’s entire filmography that best represents his filmmaking sensibilities, directorial style, and narrative interests, it would be Ichi the Killer . The film fully indulges in all of Miike’s signature trademarks, resulting in a movie that is one of, if not the most, brutal and gory films Miike has ever directed. It’s so violent that it was censored in several countries. It’s also one of Miike’s best and well-known movies, and that alone is enough of a reason to watch. While Nyaight of the Living Cat is much more lighthearted, it and Ichi the Killer are not that different from each other. They both share similarly goofy and over-the-top tones in which the characters take their cartoonish worlds and conflicts with deadpan seriousness. Yet despite this parallel, Ichi the Killer is by far the more extreme of the two projects, as it pushes its inherent silliness and absurdity to its absolute limit using extreme violence and cruelty, such as people getting sliced in half or a character cutting off a part of their tongue. Nyaight of the Living Cat is much tamer by comparison, especially since it’s trying to be a comedy more than anything. Nonetheless, if Nyaight of the Living Cat is your introduction to Miike and you want to watch something that best represents his voice as a director and the types of films he’s best known for, then Ichi the Killer is the movie for you. RELATED: Latest Trailer for Takashi Miike's "Lesson of the Evil" I believe that if someone wants to get into a director’s body of work but doesn’t know where to begin, then they should start with their most famous films. If they end up liking those movies, then they should continue going through their filmographies and picking up their more obscure or lesser-known movies. In the case of Takashi Miike, Ichi the Killer is by far his most well-known anime/manga-related film and is the perfect movie from him to watch to get an idea of whether or not you will connect with his art that isn’t in anime format. Its indulgence in showcasing the most graphic and horrific imagery may put some people off, but as far as live-action anime/manga adaptations go, it is one of the best and is absolutely worth your time.
