The Empire of Corpses

The Empire of Corpses (2015) is a dark Japanese sci-fi anime you can watch online on iFILM. In an alternate 19th century, science has cracked something it shouldn't have: human corpses are revived with a counterfeit soul and put to work as soldiers and laborers.

Medical student John Watson builds these reanimated "Frankensteins" himself, until government agents recruit him for covert work. Posing as an army doctor, he's sent into Afghanistan to track down the lost notebook of Victor Frankenstein, pages said to hold the formula for a genuine living soul. The deeper Watson digs, the harder it gets to tell where the man ends and the dead machine begins.

Directed by Ryotaro Makihara at Wit Studio, the film adapts the unfinished novel by Project Itoh, completed after his death by Toh EnJoe. That pedigree shows: it's steampunk wrapped around heavy questions about consciousness and grief, closer to bleak philosophy than to a popcorn adventure. Best for viewers who want their fantasy thoughtful and grim. Stream The Empire of Corpses online on iFILM.