Takashi Miike has directed more than 100 films, and if "First Love" is any sign, he has no interest in slowing down – or getting any less insane.

The latest from the prolific Japanese director (though he’s probably already released a new one by the time this posts) captures a giddily coked-up, blood-soaked live-action crime cartoon that’s also peculiarly … life-affirming? At my particular screening, a fellow viewer let out a charmed "Aww!" near the end (not a spoiler), an unexpected reaction considering the movie opens with a blinking severed head laying in the street and only gets more deranged and violent from there. Even more unexpected? This sweet, strange plasma-splattered speedball of a movie totally earned it.

Punching his way through a successful but emotionless smalltime boxing career, Leo (Masataka Kubota, Miike’s "13 Assassins") takes a bad loss and even worse news after his latest fight: He has a brain tumor and only weeks to live. He takes this death warrant as an opportunity to fight for others in his final days, helping a stranger named Monica (Sakurako Konishi) in trouble.

A good deed … that only brings more bad news for Leo, as she ends up being a call girl addict cast as the patsy for a deadly drug heist by a corrupt cop and a green gangster, dropping him right in the middle of a night of chaos between several rival gangs, assassins and, because why not, a wronged dealer’s unkillable crowbar-wielding girlfriend seeking vengeance. Heads roll, bullets fly and also Monica keeps seeing the underwear-clad ghost of her father – because heaven forbid there’s a normal moment in this pitch black journey into ketchup-covered slapstick.

But actually, please forbid too much sanity from "First Love" because Miike and screenwriter Masa Nakamura’s unpredictable plot of gnarly goofball madness is the whole fun of the film. At one moment, it’s a tense bit of underworld pulp; the next, an eerie haunted thriller as a specter evaporates into a tiny apartment; the next, a hilarious dark comedy action cartoon as our young wannabe Yakuza (Shôta Sometani) heals multiple gunshot wounds with meth. By the time "First Love" transforms into a literal cartoon, it’s both a laugh-out-loud surprise and yet somehow totally exactly what makes sense in this glorious nonsense – captured with kinetic but steady control by Miike. 

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Miike keeps a firm hand on the fun shenanigans. While "First Love" is undoubtedly nuts, it’s just one many undoubtedly nuts movies on his immense resume – including the film adaptation of the legal comedy video game "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney," the infamously violent "Ichi the Killer," and "The Happiness of the Katakuris," a musical horror comedy about a bed and breakfast where guests keep dying. Just two years ago he made another kooky Heinz factory, "Blade of the Immortal," his last major international release – so of course he has a strong grip calibrating the film’s unexpected tonal shifts, not to mention a clear, clean but still energetic and cool visual grasp on the escalating violent confrontations.

But what truly ties "First Love" together is the oddly sweet relationship between Leo and Monica. While Monica may literally see ghosts, both of them are haunted – the call girl by her past, the boxer by his seemingly non-existent future – but together, surrounded by insanity, they move toward coping with their wounds. Kubota and Konishi play both their young innocents with a precious hurt and winning quiet cuteness, while Miike lets their delicate scenes together breathe. Their growing appreciation for life and their connection – sure, romantic but also just human – gives "First Love" a winsome soul and heartbeat under all the spewing arteries elsewhere in the plot.

As for that plot, don’t particularly get married to following it closely. From the first moment, Nakamura weaves a convoluted pulpy web of mobsters and motives, with some characters popping up by the end that you weren’t even sure were involved in the first place. But as confusing as it can occasionally be, that’s also a built-in part of the "First Love" ride; after all, our heroes are overwhelmed and confused outsiders, so it only fits the audience would along with them. 

But the chaos isn’t just purposeful; it’s a whole lot of fun. So just enjoy the mania – especially as the Sometani’s over-his-head gangster falls further into villainy, creating a howlingly entertaining performance perfect for this loony toon – and enjoy the rare film that can effectively combine a kind, heartwarming tribute to embracing life with a grandma getting punched directly to the face. 

"First Love": *** out of ****

"First Love" will screen at the Milwaukee Film Festival on Thursday, Oct. 24 at 9:45 p.m. at the Oriental Theatre.