Best Japanese Movies
This page is updated regularly. Subscribe, so you don't miss new recommendations. The list of "Best Japanese Movies" contains films with the following parameters. Style: serious, sincere, touching, atmospheric, masterpiece and inspirational. Plot: asian, love, death, family relations, friendship, coming of age, mother daughter relationship, female protagonist, children and rain. Genre: Drama, Animation and Fantasy. Country: Japan, USA and France.
Best Japanese Movies
TOP Movies: Our Little Sister (2015), Your Name. (2016), A Silent Voice (2016), Nobody Knows (2004), The Ring (2002), Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021), Shoplifters (2018), Fireworks (1997), Ring (1998), Departures (2008), After the Storm (2016), Like Father, Like Son (2013), Wolf Children (2012), Drive My Car (2021), Princess Mononoke (1997), Violet Evergarden: The Movie (2020), Confessions (2010), The Garden of Words (2013), Letters from Iwo Jima (2006).
List of Best Movies
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Genre: Drama, Family
Country: Japan
Duration: 127 min.
Story:
A story that revolves around three sisters who live in their grandmother's home and the arrival of their 13-year-old half sister.
Style:
touching, realistic, sincere, captivating, independent film ...
Plot:
teenage girl, sister sister relationship, teenager, orphan, japanese girl, family relations, sisters, stepsister stepsister relationship, responsibility, friendship, nurse, three sisters ...
Time:
2010s, year 2015
Place:
japan
Is relevant ?
315K
Genre: Animation, Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
High schoolers Mitsuha and Taki are complete strangers living separate lives. But one night, they suddenly switch places. Mitsuha wakes up in Taki’s body, and he in hers. This bizarre occurrence continues to happen randomly, and the two must ...
Style:
anime, sweet, touching, melancholic, romantic ...
Audience:
teens, date night, kids, family outing, teen drama
Plot:
time travel, body swapping, school, beautiful scenery, friendship, girl, love, destiny, teenager, schoolgirl, memory loss, boy ...
Time:
2010s, year 2016, 2020s, year 2013
Place:
tokyo, japan, east asia
Is relevant ?
Genre: Animation, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 130 min.
Story:
Shouya Ishida starts bullying the new girl in class, Shouko Nishimiya, because she is deaf. But as the teasing continues, the rest of the class starts to turn on Shouya for his lack of compassion. When they leave elementary school, Shouko and Shouya ...
Style:
anime, touching, sincere, romantic, sweet ...
Audience:
teens, kids
Plot:
teenager, bullying, disability, deaf, sign language, friendship, high school, japanese schoolgirl, japanese school, coming of age, deafness, suicide attempt ...
Time:
2010s
Place:
japan
Is relevant ?
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 141 min.
Story:
In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.
Style:
depressing, touching, serious, atmospheric, bleak ...
Audience:
kids, teens
Plot:
childhood, poverty, dysfunctional family, boy, young kid, innocence lost, children, child abandonment, brother brother relationship, tragedy, coming of age, family relations ...
Time:
year 2004, 2000s, 21st century
Place:
japan, tokyo, east asia, asia
Is relevant ?
373K
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
It sounded like just another urban legend: A videotape filled with nightmarish images, leading to a phone call foretelling the viewer's death in exactly seven days. As a newspaper reporter, Rachel Keller was naturally skeptical of the story, ...
Style:
scary, atmospheric, suspense, suspenseful, gloomy ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
supernatural, ghost, race against time, investigation, life is a bitch, death, supernatural horror, twists and turns, curse, macabre, journalist, female protagonist ...
Time:
year 2002, 2000s, 21st century
Place:
seattle, astoria oregon, fictional island
Is relevant ?
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Japan, France
Duration: 145 min.
Story:
A sweeping romantic epic set in Japan in the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.
Style:
sentimental, romantic, stylized, captivating, dramatic ...
Audience:
chick flick, teens, girls' night, teen drama
Plot:
love story, geisha, women, age difference, japanese culture, older man younger woman relationship, brothel, beauty, love and romance, orphan, young woman, mentor ...
Time:
1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 20th century, year 2005 ...
Place:
japan, asia, china, east asia, america ...
Is relevant ?
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 121 min.
Story:
An unexpected love triangle, a failed seduction trap, and an encounter that results from a misunderstanding are the three episodes, told in three movements to depict three female characters and trace the trajectories between their choices and ...
Style:
psychological, disturbing, suspense, captivating, anthology ...
Plot:
love triangle, coincidence, women, encounter, lgbt, lesbian, multiple storylines, female protagonist, revenge, destiny, relationship problems, lifestyle ...
Time:
2020s
Place:
japan, tokyo
Is relevant ?
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 121 min.
Story:
After one of their shoplifting sessions, Osamu and his son come across a little girl in the freezing cold. At first reluctant to shelter the girl, Osamu’s wife agrees to take care of her after learning of the hardships she faces. Although the ...
Style:
independent film, sexual, art house, thought provoking, art film ...
Audience:
date night, teens, adult
Plot:
poverty, shoplifting, father son relationship, social realism, poor family, family drama, secret, theft, domestic abuse, beach, child abduction, husband wife relationship ...
Time:
2010s, near future
Place:
tokyo, east asia, japan, nebraska, sarajevo
Is relevant ?
33K
Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 103 min.
Story:
A police officer leaves the force in the face of harrowing personal and professional difficulties. Spiraling into a depression, he makes questionable decisions.
Style:
bleak, art house, lyrical, bloody, emotional ...
Plot:
yakuza, gangster, police, dying, samurai, loss, death, couple relations, life is a bitch, love and romance, loss of loved one, loss of partner ...
Time:
20th century, year 1997, 90s
Place:
japan, tokyo, asia, mount fuji
Is relevant ?
77K
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
A mysterious video has been linked to a number of deaths, and when an inquisitive journalist finds the tape and views it herself, she sets in motion a chain of events that puts her own life in danger.
Style:
suspenseful, atmospheric, disturbing, splatter, creepy ...
Audience:
teens, adult
Plot:
ghost, supernatural, investigation, macabre, curse, supernatural horror, urban legend, journalist, woman in danger, telephone call, danger, haunting ...
Time:
90s, year 1998, 20th century, 1950s
Place:
japan, asia, tokyo
Is relevant ?
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 130 min.
Story:
Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a ...
Style:
sad, philosophical, psychological, touching, thought provoking ...
Plot:
self discovery, funeral, father son relationship, pregnant wife, workplace, small town, character study, new job, small town life, heartwarming, music, melancholy ...
Time:
year 2008, 21st century
Place:
japan, asia, tokyo
Is relevant ?
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 118 min.
Story:
Ryota is an unpopular writer although he won a literary award 15 years ago. Now, Ryota works as a private detective. He is divorced from his ex-wife Kyoko and he has an 11-year-old son Shingo. His mother Yoshiko lives alone at her apartment. One ...
Style:
thought provoking, semi serious, sincere, melancholic, touching ...
Plot:
father son relationship, lottery ticket, gambling, slice of life, writers, private detective, easy woman, money problems, storm, divorce, family relations, lie ...
Time:
2010s
Place:
east asia, japan
Is relevant ?
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 121 min.
Story:
Ryota Nonomiya is a successful businessman driven by money. He learns that his biological son was switched with another child after birth. He must make a life-changing decision and choose his true son or the boy he raised as his own.
Style:
touching, disturbing, psychological, sincere, intense ...
Audience:
family friendly
Plot:
family drama, family reunited, boy, parents and children, architect, father son relationship, family relations, self discovery, moral dilemma, introspection, identity crisis, life turned upside down ...
Time:
year 2013, 21st century
Place:
japan, tokyo, asia
Is relevant ?
Genre: Animation, Drama, Family, Fantasy
Country: Japan
Duration: 117 min.
Story:
After her werewolf lover unexpectedly dies in an accident, a woman must find a way to raise the son and daughter that she had with him. However, their inheritance of their father's traits prove to be a challenge for her.
Style:
anime, heartbreaking, sweet, atmospheric, colorful ...
Audience:
family outing, kids, family friendly, adult
Plot:
werewolf, childhood, parents and children, children, single mother, wolf, female werewolf, death of father, supernatural, family relations, wilderness, school ...
Time:
2010s, year 2012
Place:
japan
Is relevant ?
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 179 min.
Story:
Yusuke Kafuku, a stage actor and director, still unable, after two years, to cope with the loss of his beloved wife, accepts to direct Uncle Vanja at a theater festival in Hiroshima. There he meets Misaki, an introverted young woman, appointed to ...
Style:
poetic, slow cinema, art house, inspirational, relaxing ...
Plot:
infidelity, driver, japanese wife, stage play, snow, loss of wife, grief, audition, asian, amor, anton chekhov, car ...
Time:
2020s, 2010s
Place:
japan, hiroshima japan, tokyo
Is relevant ?
Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Country: Japan
Duration: 134 min.
Story:
Ashitaka, a prince of the disappearing Ainu tribe, is cursed by a demonized boar god and must journey to the west to find a cure. Along the way, he encounters San, a young human woman fighting to protect the forest, and Lady Eboshi, who is trying to ...
Style:
anime, stylized, atmospheric, captivating, exciting ...
Audience:
kids, family outing, teens, family friendly, adult
Plot:
wolf, human animal relationship, nature, friendship, mythology, forest, human spirit, moral ambiguity, good versus evil, princess, life & death, talking animal ...
Time:
16th century, near future, 20th century, 90s, year 1997 ...
Place:
japan, asia
Is relevant ?
Genre: Animation, Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 140 min.
Story:
The official website of the "Violet Evergarden" animated TV series announced an all-new animated film for the series on Monday that will have a simultaneous worldwide release in January 2020. Plot details are unknown.
Style:
anime, touching, serious, non-linear, melancholic
Plot:
girlfriend girlfriend relationship, mail, slice of life, alternate world, tragic love, love, fictional war, letter, social problems, love affair, sensuality, relationships ...
Is relevant ?
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
A psychological thriller of a grieving mother turned cold-blooded avenger with a twisty master plan to pay back those who were responsible for her daughter's death.
Style:
unusual plot structure, twisted, disturbing, visually appealing, mind twisting ...
Audience:
teens, teen drama
Plot:
vengeance, revenge, teachers and students, grief, japanese schoolgirl, dead daughter, teenage murderer, twists and turns, bullying, child murder, extreme, asian ...
Time:
2010s, 2000s, 21st century
Place:
japan, east asia, tokyo
Is relevant ?
Genre: Animation, Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 46 min.
Story:
Takao, who is training to become a shoemaker, skipped school and is sketching shoes in a Japanese-style garden. He meets a mysterious woman, Yukino, who is older than him. Then, without arranging the times, the two start to see each other again and ...
Style:
anime, touching, sweet, atmospheric, melancholic ...
Audience:
teens, date night, teen drama
Plot:
shoemaker, rain, age difference, youth, grownups, unlikely couple, overcoming, older woman younger man relationship, shyness, teenage life, teen angst, love and romance ...
Time:
2010s, 21st century
Place:
tokyo, japan, asia
Is relevant ?
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 141 min.
Story:
The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.
Style:
bleak, realistic, epic, contemplative, disturbing ...
Audience:
family outing, adult
Plot:
world war two, war, military, japanese history, battles, survival, anti war, japanese army, imperial japan, brutality, japanese military, violence ...
Time:
1940s, 20th century, year 2006, 2000s, ancient times ...
Place:
japan, asia, nebraska, tokyo
Is relevant ?
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
Twelve years after their beloved eldest son, Junpei, drowned while saving a stranger's life, Kyohei and Toshiko welcome their surviving children home for a family reunion. Younger son Ryota still feels that his parents resent that he isn't ...
Style:
serious, contemplative, realistic, touching, sincere ...
Plot:
family reunited, family gatherings, family life, generation gap, bereavement, dealing with death, reconciliation, parents and children, old age, generation, father daughter relationship, love ...
Time:
year 2008, 2000s
Place:
japan, east asia, asia
Is relevant ?
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 117 min.
Story:
When exchanging letters two women discover new things about a deceased man they used to know.
Style:
romantic drama, independent film, anamorphic, retro, sweet ...
Audience:
date night, girls' night
Plot:
true love, time travel, strong female character, asian, slice of life, loneliness, love story, erotica, asian prostitute, friendship, high school, mountain ...
Time:
90s
Place:
japan, hokkaido
Is relevant ?
Genre: Crime, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 126 min.
Story:
Light Yagami finds the "Death Note," a notebook with the power to kill, and decides to create a Utopia by killing the world's criminals, and soon the world's greatest detective, "L," is hired to find the mysterious ...
Style:
anime, serious, rough, suspenseful, atmospheric ...
Audience:
teens, boys' night, kids
Plot:
investigation, serial killer, vigilantism, supernatural, supernatural ability, rivalry, mind game, vigilante, youth, notebook, investigator, interpol ...
Time:
year 2006, 21st century
Place:
japan, tokyo, asia
Is relevant ?
Genre: Horror
Country: Japan
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
A mysterious and vengeful spirit marks and pursues anybody who dares enter the house in which it resides.
Style:
scary, psychological, disturbing, creepy, cult classic ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
ghost, supernatural, haunted house, afterlife, social worker, panic, haunted by the past, family problems, woman in danger, investigation, haunted, curses spells and rituals ...
Time:
year 2002, year 2000, 21st century
Place:
japan, asia
Is relevant ?
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
A boy falls in love with his junior in a Kyoto college club, and struggles daily to be noticed by her. However, she is naïve and unsophisticated and is completely indifferent to him.
Style:
anime, sweet, light, feel good, entertaining ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
theatre play, binge drinking, summer, party, drinking, fall in love, love, youth, friendship, hopes, love and romance, escapades ...
Time:
2010s
Place:
japan
Is relevant ?
Genre: Animation, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 81 min.
Story:
A retired pop singer turned actress' sense of reality is shaken when she is stalked by an obsessed fan and seemingly a ghost of her past.
Style:
surreal, suspense, adult animation, anime, suspenseful ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
murder, serial killer, mentally unstable, stalking, obsession, actor's life, actress, twists and turns, psychopath, rape, losing-it hero, woman in danger ...
Time:
20th century, 90s, year 1997
Place:
japan, east asia, asia
Is relevant ?
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 75 min.
Story:
Haru, a schoolgirl bored by her ordinary routine, saves the life of an unusual cat and suddenly her world is transformed beyond anything she ever imagined. The Cat King rewards her good deed with a flurry of presents, including a very shocking ...
Style:
anime, sweet, humorous, atmospheric, feel good ...
Audience:
kids, family outing, pre-teens
Plot:
imaginary kingdom, cat, human animal relationship, rescue, friendship, talking cat, prince, furry, family relations, disorder, mischievous children, magic ...
Is relevant ?
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
A group of dated appliances find themselves stranded in a summer home that their family had just sold decide to, a la The Incredible Journey, seek their young 8 year old "master". Children's film which on the surface is a frivolous ...
Style:
entertaining, talky, witty, semi serious, humorous ...
Audience:
kids, family outing, family friendly, preschool, horror for children
Plot:
friendship, on the road, greed, happy ending, rescue, escapades, toys, missing person, danger, radio, technology, secrets ...
Time:
80s, 20th century
Is relevant ?
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Country: Japan
Duration: 86 min.
Story:
Two sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits of the forest. When the youngest runs away from home, the older sister ...
Style:
anime, feel good, atmospheric, sweet, touching ...
Audience:
family outing, family friendly, kids, toddlers, preschool
Plot:
children, friendship, magical, magic, countryside, sisters, child protagonist, parents and children, young heroes, sister sister relationship, hospital, teaching the ways of the world ...
Time:
year 1988, 1950s, 20th century, 50s
Place:
japan, asia
Is relevant ?
Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
Led by a strange dream, scientist Aki Ross struggles to collect the eight spirits in the hope of creating a force powerful enough to protect the planet. With the aid of the Deep Eyes Squadron and her mentor, Dr. Sid, Aki must save the Earth from its ...
Style:
computer animated, anime, adult animation, exciting, atmospheric ...
Audience:
kids, teens, boys' night, adult
Plot:
alien, space station, post apocalypse, alien invasion, dystopia, space, battles, cyberpunk, scientist, military, space travel, save the world ...
Time:
future, 2000s, 21st century
Place:
new york, arizona, tucson arizona
Is relevant ?
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