The world of horror manga is stepping into uncharted territory. A cult classic from the 1980s is being brought back to life, but not in the way anyone expected. Hideshi Hino’s 1986 horror manga Living Corpse is getting a movie adaptation, and the entire projectโfrom the script to the animation to the voice actingโhas been created by artificial intelligence.
This announcement has sent ripples through the entertainment world, sparking a heated debate among fans, creators, and industry watchers. Some see it as a fascinating experiment, while others view it as a troubling development for creative industries.
What is the Living Corpse Movie About?
The upcoming film is an adaptation of the one-volume manga Kaiki! Shiniku no Otoko, known in English as Living Corpse. The story follows a man who is literally a walking corpse. He struggles to find acceptance from the people and places he encounters, who cannot come to terms with his undead existence. It is a eerie and psychological horror story typical of Hideshi Hino’s work, which often explores themes of bodily horror and social alienation .
The movie is being produced by Hino Production and is scheduled to premiere in Japanese theaters in July 2026. It will have a runtime of 70 minutes. Interestingly, the dialogue in the film will be entirely in English . A special presentation of the movie is also planned for April 29, 2026 in Japan .
The AI-Driven Production Process
This is where the project breaks new ground. Director Takeshi Sone, known for the hit live-action film One Cut of the Dead, has taken a completely technology-driven approach to filmmaking. According to reports, Sone used ChatGPT to write the entire screenplay. The artificial intelligence did not stop there .
The animation and visuals were generated using AI, based on digital models of real people from the director’s circle, including his wife. Even the character voices were not recorded by actors in a traditional studio. Instead, they were generated by AI, trained on the voices of real individuals .
The Unusual Voice Cast
The “voice cast” for Living Corpse is one of the most talked-about aspects of the production. Because the voices are AI-generated, the people credited are not performing in the traditional sense. Rather, their voices have been used as the foundational data for the AI voice models .
The list of people whose voices were used includes:
- Hiroshi Tamura (actor)
- Shigeru Saiki (actor)
- Hinako Saeki (actress)
- Shirล Sano (actor)
- Gล Rijลซ (director and actor)
- Junji Ito (legendary horror manga creator)
The inclusion of Junji Ito, the master of horror manga known for works like Uzumaki and Tomie, has added another layer of complexity to the story. While he is not creatively involved in the film, his association with the projectโeven in this technical capacityโhas drawn significant attention .
Fans Are Deeply Divided
The reaction from the public has been anything but quiet. On social media and fan forums, the announcement has sparked intense discussion. The core of the debate revolves around the use of AI in a creative medium that many people hold dear.
Some fans are approaching the project with curiosity. They see director Takeshi Sone, who has a reputation for creative and low-budget filmmaking, as the right person to experiment with this new technology. For them, it is an interesting “what if” scenario, and they are waiting to see the final product before passing judgment.
However, a larger portion of the fanbase has expressed disappointment and concern. Many feel that using AI to write a script and generate voices takes the soul out of storytelling. Horror, as a genre, relies heavily on human emotion and atmosphere, and fans worry that an AI-generated film will feel hollow and lack the personal touch of a human creator.
There are also significant ethical concerns. The use of AI to replicate voices, even with permission, opens up a complicated conversation about the future of acting and voice work. If a film can generate a performance using an actor’s voice without them physically performing, what does that mean for the profession? The fact that Junji Ito’s name is attached in this way has also left some fans feeling uneasy, as it blurs the line between endorsement and mere data contribution .
The Bigger Picture: AI in Entertainment
The Living Corpse movie is not happening in a vacuum. It arrives at a time when AI’s role in creative industries is a major topic of discussion worldwide. Just days before this announcement, a UK sales firm at the European Film Market was branding its projects with a “No AI Used” label, calling for a global industry standard to clearly mark AI-free content. This shows that there is a growing movement within the industry to push back against AI integration .
Hollywood and other entertainment hubs have been grappling with the same issues. The use of AI in writing and animation was a major sticking point during recent labor disputes. Living Corpse is now the first Japanese feature-length film to fully embrace AI, making it a test case for how the technology might be used in the future .
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Release and Streaming Information
For those wanting to see the results of this experiment, here is what is known about the release.
Japan: The film will have a special screening on April 29, 2026, before its wide theatrical release in July 2026 .
USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and India: As of now, no international distribution deal or streaming platform has been announced. The initial release plans are focused on Japan. International fans eager to watch the movie will likely have to wait for news of a festival screening, a wider distribution deal, or a potential streaming release later in 2026.
The Team Behind the Technology
The production is led by director Takeshi Sone, with Hiroki Terai serving as producer. Terai has been producing independent AI films since 2023, indicating that this project is part of a longer exploration of the technology’s capabilities. The digital models for the AI-generated characters were based on Kyลko Hoshino, Yasushi Hoshino, and Yลซrei .
As July 2026 approaches, all eyes will be on this small horror film. Whether it is seen as a groundbreaking step forward or a cautionary tale, Living Corpse is already making history as Japan’s first fully AI-generated movie.
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