Takashi Miike has 98 directing credits to his name. Yes, 98, and he’s certainly not going to be slowing down to catch a break anytime soon. In fact he’s just signed on to direct an adaptation of the manga series Blade of the Immortal.
Hiroaki Samura’s 30-volume manga follows the unkillable samurai Manji, who will have his immortality curse cured if he can kill 1000 criminals. Takuya Kimura will star as Manji, so he’d better start practicing his sword skills.
When it comes to samurai, Miike knows his shit. He previously helmed the fantastic 13 Assassins (sadly strongly edited for its US release) and the much praised Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai. He’s now finishing work on the sci-fi horror Terraformers. also based on a manga series
Blade of the Immortal will be released in Japan in 2017, by which time Miike would probably have several more movies in development. And it will be violent. Very violent. He is, after all, Takashi Miike.