Dan Smith's Top 40 Japanese Films I've Seen
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- DirectorKinji FukasakuStarsTatsuya FujiwaraAki MaedaTarô YamamotoIn the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill one another under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
- DirectorShinsuke SatoStarsYô ÔizumiKasumi ArimuraMasami NagasawaA manga artist assistant is surprised by a zombie apocalypse.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsRyo IshibashiEihi ShiinaTetsu SawakiA widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsDaveigh ChaseSuzanne PleshetteMiyu IrinoDuring her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.
- DirectorTakashi ShimizuStarsMegumi OkinaMisaki ItôMisa UeharaA mysterious and vengeful spirit marks and pursues anybody who dares enter the house in which it resides.
- DirectorHideo NakataStarsNanako MatsushimaMiki NakataniYûko TakeuchiA reporter and her ex-husband investigate a cursed video tape that is rumored to kill the viewer seven days after watching it.
- DirectorShinsuke SatoStarsNoritake KinashiTakeru SatohKanata HongôAn middle-aged office worker encounters aliens and is gifted with alien technology and limitless powers.
- DirectorYôjirô TakitaStarsMasahiro MotokiRyôko HirosueTsutomu YamazakiSoon after buying an expensive cello, Daigo learns that his orchestra is disbanding. He moves back to his hometown with his wife, where he answers an ad for what Daigo thinks is a travel agency but is, in actuality, a mortuary.
- DirectorKiyoshi KurosawaStarsHidetoshi NishijimaYûko TakeuchiToru BabaTakakura is a former detective. He receives a request from his ex-colleague, Nogami, to examine a missing family case that occurred six years earlier. Takakura follows Saki's memory. She is the only surviving family member from the case. Meanwhile, Takakura and his wife Yasuko recently moved into a new home. Their neighbor, Nishino, has a sick wife and a young teen daughter. One day, the daughter, Mio, tells him that the man is not her father and she doesn't know him at all.
- DirectorHideo NakataStarsHitomi KurokiRio KannoMirei OguchiA mother and her 6-year-old daughter move into a creepy apartment whose every surface is permeated by water.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsChieko BaishôTakuya KimuraTatsuya GashûinWhen an unconfident young woman is cursed with an old body by a spiteful witch, her only chance of breaking the spell lies with a self-indulgent yet insecure young wizard and his companions in his legged, walking castle.
- DirectorMamoru HosodaStarsRiisa NakaTakuya IshidaMitsutaka ItakuraA high-school girl named Makoto acquires the power to travel back in time, and decides to use it for her own personal benefits. Little does she know that she is affecting the lives of others just as much as she is her own.
- DirectorMasaaki TaniguchiStarsRiisa NakaAkiyoshi NakaoMunetaka AokiA high-school girl acquires the ability to time travel.
- DirectorSion SonoStarsMitsuru FukikoshiDendenAsuka KurosawaThe lives of a bored suburban couple are changed forever when a seemingly nice old man gives their daughter a job at his fish store, and soon his gruesome hobbies are brought to light.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsTakeshi KitanoKippei ShînaRyô KaseThe boss of a major crime syndicate orders his lieutenant to bring a rogue gang of drug traffickers in line, a job that gets passed on to his long-suffering subordinate.
- DirectorNorio TsurutaStarsHiroshi MikamiNoriko SakaiMaki HorikitaA newspaper predicts the deaths of a man's (Hiroshi Mikami) family members and friends.
- DirectorMakoto ShinkaiStarsRyunosuke KamikiMone KamishiraishiRyo NaritaTwo teenagers share a profound, magical connection upon discovering they are swapping bodies. Things manage to become even more complicated when the boy and girl decide to meet in person.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsMayumi TanakaKeiko YokozawaKotoe HatsuiA young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle.
- DirectorSang-il LeeStarsKen WatanabeMirai MoriyamaAoi MiyazakiA grisly unsolved murder links three seemingly unrelated stories in three different Japanese cities.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsTakeshi KitanoTadanobu AsanoYui NatsukawaThe blind masseur/swordsman comes to a town in control of warring gangs, and while bunking with a farming family, he meets two women with their own agenda.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneMachiko KyôMasayuki MoriThe rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsFumi NikaidôTakehiro HiraHideaki ItôA popular high school teacher concocts an extreme plan to deal with the rise of bullying and bad behavior among the student body.
- DirectorKeisuke YoshidaStarsGô MoritaGaku HamadaAimi SatsukawaGetting two stories in one, Himeanôru depicts the story of co-workers where one of them is gunning to make a cafe's waitress his. When the co-worker visits the said cafe to see the waitress his friend is yearning for, he also meets an old class-mate he has not seen in some time. In a twist and transition the waitress tells the visiting co-worker that she is being stalked by a man. That man is none other than the old class-mate.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneEijirô TônoTatsuya NakadaiA crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsTakeshi KitanoClaude MakiOmar EppsA Japanese gangster is exiled to Los Angeles where his brother lives with a small but respectable multi-racial gang, who he inspires to expand their influence.
- DirectorYoshifumi KondôStarsYoko HonnaIssei TakahashiTakashi TachibanaA love story between a girl who loves reading books, and a boy who has previously checked out all of the library books she chooses.
- DirectorIsao TakahataStarsTsutomu TatsumiAyano ShiraishiAkemi YamaguchiA young boy and his little sister struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsYôji MatsudaYuriko IshidaYûko TanakaOn a journey to find the cure for a Tatarigami's curse, Ashitaka finds himself in the middle of a war between the forest gods and Tatara, a mining colony. In this quest he also meets San, the Mononoke Hime.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsTadanobu AsanoNao ÔmoriShin'ya TsukamotoAs sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of achieving.
- DirectorTetsuya NakashimaStarsTakako MatsuYoshino KimuraMasaki OkadaA 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.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTatsuya NakadaiAkira TeraoJinpachi NezuIn Medieval Japan, an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them and cause them to turn on each other...and him.
- DirectorKei IshikawaStarsSatoshi TsumabukiHikari MitsushimaKeisuke KoideAn investigations on murder didn't reach to any results, until a journalist discover new information that get on the trail of the criminal.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsTakuya KimuraHana SugisakiSôta FukushiCursed with a life of immortality, a samurai is tasked by a young girl to help avenge the death of her father. Based on the manga series by Hiroaki Samura.
- DirectorMamoru OshiiStarsRinko KikuchiRyô KaseShôsuke TaniharaThe Kildren, a group of eternally young fighter pilots, experience the sudden loss of innocence as they battle the enemy in astonishing dogfights above the clouds.
- DirectorMakoto ShinkaiStarsKenji MizuhashiYoshimi KondouSatomi HanamuraTold in three interconnected segments, Takaki tells the story of his life as cruel winters, cold technology, and finally, adult obligations and responsibility converge to test the delicate petals of love.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsSumi ShimamotoMahito TsujimuraHisako KyôdaWarrior and pacifist Princess Nausicaä desperately struggles to prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and their dying planet.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsYasuo YamadaEiko MasuyamaKiyoshi KobayashiA dashing thief, his gang of desperadoes and an intrepid cop struggle to free a princess from an evil count, and learn the secret of a treasure that she holds part of the key to.
- DirectorMakoto BesshoKentarô MizunoKen'ichi ShimizuStarsRyô KatsujiAoi MiyazakiYûko KotegawaIt is 300 years into the future. Earth's environment had been devastated by mankind's own foolish plans and humankind is beleaguered by the sentient forests which they have awoken. The world balance is tipped when a young boy named Agito stumbles across a machine that glowed in a strange blue hue inside a forbidden sanctuary. The machine, which has preserved a beautiful girl named Tula from the past, is activated. Tula has a "mission" that had been entrusted to her by the past ...
- DirectorMizuho NishikuboMamoru OshiiStarsAtsuko TanakaIemasa KayumiAkio ÔtsukaA cyborg policewoman and her partner hunt a mysterious and powerful hacker called the Puppet Master.
- DirectorMakoto ShinkaiStarsMiyu IrinoKana HanazawaFumi HiranoOn a rainy morning in Tokyo, 15-year-old Takao, an aspiring shoemaker, decides to skip class to sketch designs in a beautiful garden. This is where he meets Yukari, a beautiful yet mysterious woman. They strike an unlikely friendship.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsTakeshi KitanoMaiko KawakamiMakoto AshikawaA violence prone police officer discovers that his colleague is trafficking drugs.
- DirectorGorô MiyazakiStarsSarah BolgerChris NothAnton YelchinA group of Yokohama teens look to save their school's clubhouse from the wrecking ball in preparations for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsTakeshi KitanoKayoko KishimotoRen ÔsugiNishi leaves the police in the face of harrowing personal and professional difficulties. Spiraling into depression, he makes questionable decisions.
- DirectorShûsuke KanekoStarsTatsuya FujiwaraKen'ichi MatsuyamaAsaka SetoA battle between the world's two greatest minds begins when Light Yagami finds the Death Note, a notebook with the power to kill, and decides to rid the world of criminals.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsHitoshi TakagiNoriko HidakaChika SakamotoWhen two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother, they have adventures with the wondrous forest spirits who live nearby.