Japanese astonishments
by oOgiandujaOo_and_Eddy_Merckx | created - 18 Jun 2021 | updated - 3 weeks ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Mr. Thank You (1936)
76 min | Comedy, Drama
A friendly bus driver and his passengers over the duration of one journey through the mountains to the nearest train station.
Director: Hiroshi Shimizu | Stars: Ken Uehara, Ryuji Ishiyama, Einosuke Naka, Michiko Kuwano
Votes: 1,274
2. Late Autumn (1960)
Not Rated | 128 min | Comedy, Drama
A widow tries to marry off her daughter with the help of her late husband's three friends.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Setsuko Hara, Yôko Tsukasa, Mariko Okada, Keiji Sada
Votes: 6,180
3. The Sword of Doom (1966)
Not Rated | 120 min | Action, Drama
Through his unconscionable actions against others, a sociopath samurai builds a trail of vendettas that follow him closely.
Director: Kihachi Okamoto | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Yûzô Kayama, Yôko Naitô
Votes: 12,078
4. Whisper of the Heart (1995)
G | 111 min | Animation, Drama, Family
A love story between a girl who loves reading books, and a boy who has previously checked out all of the library books she chooses.
Director: Yoshifumi Kondô | Stars: Yoko Honna, Issei Takahashi, Takashi Tachibana, Shigeru Muroi
Votes: 72,690
5. Tokyo Story (1953)
Not Rated | 136 min | Drama
An old couple visit their children and grandchildren in the city, but receive little attention.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Chishû Ryû, Chieko Higashiyama, Sô Yamamura, Setsuko Hara
Votes: 68,647
6. Angel's Egg (1985 Video)
Not Rated | 71 min | Animation, Drama, Fantasy
A mysterious young girl wanders a desolate, otherworldly landscape, carrying a large egg.
Director: Mamoru Oshii | Stars: Mako Hyôdô, Jinpachi Nezu, Keiichi Noda
Votes: 12,015
7. Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (2009)
TV-14 | 112 min | Animation, Action, Drama
In the face of increasingly bizarre and powerful Angel attacks, Shinji Ikari and his partner Rei Ayanami are assisted by two new pilots: the fiery Asuka Langley Shikinami and the mysterious Mari Illustrious Makinami.
Directors: Masayuki, Kazuya Tsurumaki, Hideaki Anno, Joe Fria | Stars: Kotono Mitsuishi, Megumi Ogata, Megumi Hayashibara, Yûko Miyamura
Votes: 24,901 | Gross: $0.13M
8. Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer (1984)
Unrated | 90 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
The night before the school festival, things seem to be repeating themselves. Gradually, all the world functions come to a stop, the only ones that are not affected are a select group of student friends.
Director: Mamoru Oshii | Stars: Fumi Hirano, Toshio Furukawa, Akira Kamiya, Kazuko Sugiyama
Votes: 2,229
9. Junk Head (2017)
100 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
In a distant future, humanity has lost its ability to reproduce. An expedition is sent to an underground city where artificial humanoids are still fertile.
Director: Takahide Hori | Stars: Takahide Hori, Atsuko Miyake, Yuji Sugiyama
Votes: 1,481
10. Labyrinth of Dreams (1997)
90 min | Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Bus conductor Tomiko falls in love with driver Niitaka, even though she also suspects him of being a serial killer who killed his female conductors after tiring of them.
Director: Gakuryû Ishii | Stars: Rena Komine, Tadanobu Asano, Kotomi Kyôno, Tomoka Kurotani
Votes: 999
11. The Girl from the Other Side (2022)
70 min | Animation, Fantasy, Mystery
Once upon a time, in a far, faraway place, there were two lands. The world was divided into an inner land and an outer land. People feared the outer land. Inhabited by eerie beings, the ... See full summary »
Director: Yutaro Kubo | Stars: Jun Fukuyama, Rie Takahashi
Votes: 623
12. The Whispering Star (2015)
100 min | Sci-Fi
A feminine android delivers packages to the scattered humans in the galaxy. With years to spare the android and us have time to contemplate what it is to be human.
Director: Sion Sono | Stars: Kenji Endo, Yûto Ikeda, Megumi Kagurazaka, Kôko Mori
Votes: 1,286
13. Crossroads (1928)
81 min | Drama
After falling in love with a courtesan, Rikiya is blinded by ash during a fight in a brothel. Believing the blindness permanent and his opponent dead, Rikiya goes back home to his sister. ... See full summary »
Director: Teinosuke Kinugasa | Stars: Akiko Chihaya, Junosuke Bandô, Yukiko Ogawa, Ippei Sôma
Votes: 460
14. Wings of Honneamise (1987)
Unrated | 121 min | Animation, Drama, Sci-Fi
In an alternative Earth, a young astronaut participates in a controversial fledgling space program.
Director: Hiroyuki Yamaga | Stars: Leo Morimoto, David Thomas, Mitsuki Yayoi, Heidi Lenhart
Votes: 5,761 | Gross: $0.06M
15. Shinjuku Triad Society (1995)
Not Rated | 100 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Amidst a Chinese and Japanese mafia war, a lawyer for the Chinese mob finds a rift forming between him and his corrupt police office brother.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Kippei Shîna, Tomorô Taguchi, Takeshi Caesar, Ren Ôsugi
Votes: 2,463
16. Sazen Tange and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo (1935)
92 min | Comedy, Drama
A man gets rid of a cheap pot without knowing it contains a map to a treasure. As word spreads, many join in hunting it.
Director: Sadao Yamanaka | Stars: Denjirô Ôkôchi, Kiyozo, Kunitarô Sawamura, Reizaburô Yamamoto
Votes: 1,237
17. The Only Son (1936)
Not Rated | 87 min | Drama
A widow sends her only son away to receive a better education. Years later, she visits him, finding him a poor school teacher with a wife and son.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Chôko Iida, Shin'ichi Himori, Masao Hayama, Yoshiko Tsubouchi
Votes: 4,042
18. Akira (1988)
R | 124 min | Animation, Action, Drama
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath who can only be stopped by a teenager, his gang of biker friends and a group of psychics.
Director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo | Stars: Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Tesshô Genda
Votes: 205,338 | Gross: $0.55M
19. The Eternal Breasts (1955)
106 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Fumiko, mother of two children and wife of an unfaithful man who shows a low self esteem, shares her family life with her asleep vocation as a poetess. The beginning of her successful ... See full summary »
Director: Kinuyo Tanaka | Stars: Yumeji Tsukioka, Ryôji Hayama, Junkichi Orimoto, Hiroko Kawasaki
Votes: 636
20. Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937)
86 min | Drama
The lives of two slum neighbors, one of a happy-go-lucky gambler and the other of a poor ronin, converge when the two get involved with the affairs of a powerful samurai official and his gangsters.
Director: Sadao Yamanaka | Stars: Chôjûrô Kawarasaki, Kan'emon Nakamura, Tsuruzô Nakamura, Chôemon Bandô
Votes: 2,300
21. Sanjuro (1962)
Not Rated | 96 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A crafty samurai helps a young man and his fellow clansmen trying to save his uncle, who has been framed and imprisoned by a corrupt superintendent.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Keiju Kobayashi, Yûnosuke Itô
Votes: 41,145
22. High and Low (1963)
Not Rated | 143 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An executive of a Yokohama shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Yutaka Sada, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyôko Kagawa
Votes: 53,241
23. Cat Soup (2001)
Not Rated | 34 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
A young anthropomorphic cat goes on a psychedelic journey with his sister in order to save her soul.
Directors: Tatsuo Satô, Masaaki Yuasa
Votes: 5,947
25. The Naked Island (1960)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama
A family of four are the sole inhabitants of a small island where they struggle each day to irrigate their crops.
Director: Kaneto Shindô | Stars: Nobuko Otowa, Taiji Tonoyama, Shinji Tanaka, Masanori Horimoto
Votes: 6,184
26. Dead or Alive (1999)
R | 105 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A yakuza of Chinese descent and a Japanese cop each wage their own war against the Japanese mafia. But they are destined to meet. Their encounter will change the world.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Shô Aikawa, Riki Takeuchi, Renji Ishibashi, Hitoshi Ozawa
Votes: 8,566 | Gross: $0.00M
27. Belladonna of Sadness (1973)
Unrated | 86 min | Animation, Drama, Fantasy
After being raped by an evil feudal lord and subsequently getting banished from her village, a peasant girl makes a pact with the Devil to gain magical powers and take her revenge.
Director: Eiichi Yamamoto | Stars: Aiko Nagayama, Chinatsu Nakayama, Masaya Takahashi, Masakane Yonekura
Votes: 7,768 | Gross: $0.11M
28. Ikuta no kita (2021)
64 min | Animation
North is everywhere solitary. Here is all North. This is a record of the people I met in the North. However, my memory is fragmented and does not get the point at all. Now I'm starting to ... See full summary »
Director: Kôji Yamamura
Votes: 74
29. Tokyo Tribe (2014)
R | 116 min | Action, Musical
In an alternate Japan, territorial street gangs form opposing factions collectively known as the Tokyo Tribes. Merra, leader of the Wu-Ronz tribe of Bukuro crosses the line to conquer all of Tokyo. The war begins.
Director: Sion Sono | Stars: Ryohei Suzuki, Young Dais, Nana Seino, Shunsuke Daitô
Votes: 3,647
30. Dead Leaves (2004)
Not Rated | 55 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Two aliens awaken on Earth with no recollection of their past and embark on a devastating crime spree but are sent to an infamous lunar penitentiary named Dead Leaves.
Director: Hiroyuki Imaishi | Stars: Kappei Yamaguchi, Takako Honda, Yûko Mizutani, Mitsuo Iwata
Votes: 4,415
31. The Great Killing (1964)
Not Rated | 118 min | Action, Drama
A Shogunate Elder connives to rule Japan by making his puppet, the Shogun's brother Tsunashige, the next Shogun. The best strategist in Japan, Yamaga, leads a plot to stop the Elder, but ... See full summary »
Director: Eiichi Kudô | Stars: Takayuki Akutagawa, Kôtarô Satomi, Chôichirô Kawarasaki, Mikijirô Hira
Votes: 395
32. Woman in the Dunes (1964)
Not Rated | 147 min | Drama, Thriller
An entomologist on vacation is trapped by local villagers into living with a woman whose life task is shoveling sand for them.
Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara | Stars: Eiji Okada, Kyôko Kishida, Kôji Mitsui, Hiroko Itô
Votes: 22,717
33. Assassination (1964)
104 min | Action, Crime, Drama
In 1863, when Americans warships approach Japan, a enigmatic ronin becomes a important figure in a complex game of power between the Shogunate and the empire.
Director: Masahiro Shinoda | Stars: Tetsurô Tanba, Shima Iwashita, Eiji Okada, Isao Kimura
Votes: 969
34. Grass Labyrinth (1979)
40 min | Short, Fantasy, Romance
A young man, haunted by his past, travels the land in search of the lyrics to a lullaby his mother used to sing to him.
Director: Shûji Terayama | Stars: Hiroshi Mikami, Takeshi Wakamatsu, Keiko Niitaka, Yasumi Nakasuji
Votes: 745
35. Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
Not Rated | 124 min | Drama
In medieval Japan, a compassionate governor is sent into exile. His wife and children try to join him, but are separated, and the children grow up amid suffering and oppression.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyôko Kagawa, Eitarô Shindô
Votes: 18,238
36. Patlabor: The Movie (1989)
Unrated | 100 min | Animation, Action, Crime
The screwball cops of Special Vehicles Section 2 Division 2 must investigate and stop a spree of rampaging construction robots.
Directors: Mamoru Oshii, Kôji Sawai | Stars: Toshio Furukawa, David Jarvis, Doug Erholtz, Mîna Tominaga
Votes: 5,620
37. Dead or Alive 2: Birds (2000)
Not Rated | 97 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Two contract killers cross paths in the middle of the same job and realize they are childhood friends.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Shô Aikawa, Riki Takeuchi, Noriko Aota, Edison Chen
Votes: 4,093
39. Jumping (1984)
7 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
A small child takes small leaps, which progress into huge bounds over buildings, forests and continents.
Director: Osamu Tezuka
Votes: 1,313
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