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While Japanese production companies and studios have traditionally stood against AI agents training on anime and manga, they have also embraced the idea of integrating Artificial Intelligence into production workflows. This was headlined by the controversial release of the AI-generated anime Twins HinaHima in 2025.
Now, in the same vein, a cult horror manga from the 1980s is set to receive a live-action film adaptation created almost entirely through artificial intelligence.
On Feb 13, Hino Production announced that Hideshi Hino’s 1986 horror manga Living Corpse (Kaiki! Shiniku no Otoko) is being adapted into a 70-minute feature film produced using generative AI.
The movie is scheduled for an official unveiling on April 29 ahead of a theatrical release in July.
Director Takeshi Sone is helming the production alongside producer Hiroki Terai. Sone has been pioneering the use of artificial intelligence in independent film production since 2023 to bypass traditional budgetary constraints and explore new creative frontiers.
The production team confirmed that the film’s screenplay was developed using ChatGPT, while a suite of AI tools, including Sora, Veo, Kling, Higgsfield, Domo, Dreammachine and Runway, were employed for generating the footage for the film.
In addition to these, the movie utilized Midjourney, Flux, Nanobanana, Seedream, Lovart, Freepik for image generation and Suno for the musical score.
The film’s voice cast features a mix of veteran actors and industry icons, including Shiro Sano, Hinako Saeki, Shigeru Saiki, and Hiroshi Tamura, all of whom have had their voices replicated through AI. This is significant in itself as it is the first ever movie in Japan to do so.
Perhaps most surprising to fans is the inclusion of legendary horror manga creator Junji Ito, whose voice will also be featured in the film. Ito, in the past, had mentioned that his biggest fear was Artificial Intelligence taking over and replacing manga artists in the industry. Given those statements, the presence of his AI-synthesized voice in the movie is quite contradicting.
Despite being an entirely Japanese production, the film will feature English-language dialogue.
AI Audio research company ElevenLabs was in charge of the voice synthesis for the upcoming adaptation. This move comes within months of ElevenLabs’ partnership with major Japanese talent agency 81Produce, realizing many fans’ fears of the widespread replacement of human performers with synthetic alternatives.
Meanwhile, the visual “actors” appearing on screen are also AI-generated models replicated after real life people, including Hino’s own wife Kyoko Hoshino and Hino himself (under his real name Yasushi Hoshino).
Check out the trailer of the live-action adaptation below:
The original Living Corpse manga debuted in 1986 and remains a staple of the “ero-guro” (erotic grotesque) genre for which Hideshi Hino is famous.
The story follows a man who survives a horrific accident only to find himself slowly rotting away while still conscious, struggling to maintain his humanity as a literal living corpse wandering through a society that fears him.
DH Publishing originally brought the work to English-speaking audiences in 2004 as part of its “Hino Horror” series.
