11. Harakiri ( Seppuku )
Year of Release: 1964
Overall Rating: 3.3 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Actors: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Ishihama, Shima Iwashita, Tetsurô Tanba
Plot: 17th-century Japan has entered a peaceful period - but it has also put thousands of Samurai out of work and into poverty. An elderly Samurai, looking to die an honorable death, approaches the home of a feudal lord to commit the ritual suicide hara-kiri. But when he hears the tale of his son-in-law - forced to commit the act in a barbaric fashion using a dull bamboo blade - instead of death, he seeks revenge.
12. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind ( Kaze no tani no Naushika )
Year of Release: 1984
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Anime/Family
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Actors: Shia LaBeouf, Alison Lohman, Mark Hamill, Mark Silverman
Plot: Far in the future the Earth has been devastated by the "Seven Days of Fire." Now only pockets of humanity survive and in one are, Princess Nausica? works to understand the toxic jungle while preventing war.
13. Tale of Princess Kaguya, The ( Kaguyahime no monogatari )
Year of Release: 2014
Overall Rating: 3.3 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Anime/Drama
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Isao Takahata
Actors: Chloë Grace Moretz, James Caan, Mary Steenburgen, Darren Criss
Plot: Based on the oldest surviving, and one of the most famous, Japanese folklore tales - an old man who makes a living selling bamboo comes across a princess, no bigger than his finger, in one of the plants. Named Kaguya, she grows and when she is of age, five suitors from five prestigious families come to propose. She requests five memorable wedding gifts - but each of the five men fails to bring her what she wants - then, the Emperor of Japan proposes as well.
14. Your Name. ( Kimi no na wa )
Year of Release: 2017
Overall Rating: 3.3 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Anime/Drama
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Makoto Shinkai
Actors: Ryûnosuke Kamiki, Mone Kamishiraish, Ryô Narita, Aoi Yuki
Plot: Two souls who couldn't be any further apart: Mitsuha Miyamizu is a girl living in a small mountain town where she yearns to get away from her small life, her father's electoral campaign and the superstitions that drive the community. Taki Tachiban lives a fast and busy life in Tokyo where he works part time at an Italian restaurant and strives for his dreams of becoming an artist or architect. When the two dream, a celestial bond causes them to switch bodies - and the possibilities and adventure it opens up will change their lives forever.
15. Castle in the Sky ( Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta )
Year of Release: 1986
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Anime/Adventure
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Actors: James Van Der Beek, Anna Paquin, Cloris Leachman, Mark Hamill
Plot: A young girl floats from the sky after a shady government agency and a band of pirates clash over a crystal she possesses. A young boy finds her and together they begin an exciting adventure that leads them to a Laputa - the castle in the sky.
16. Letters from Iwo Jima
Year of Release: 2006
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: War/Historical
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Clint Eastwood
Actors: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Hiroshi Watanabe, Tsuyoshi Ihara
Plot: The battle of Iwo Jima as taught from the Japanese point of view using culture as the difference between Americans and Japanese.
17. Girl Who Leapt Through Time, The ( Toki o kakeru shôjo )
Year of Release: 2007
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Anime/Drama
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Actors: Riisa Naka, Emily Hirst, Takuya Ishida, Andrew Francis
Plot: A young girl finds she has the ability to go back in time and at first uses this ability to her advantage. But as she soon finds out, altering fate has its own consequences and as she realizes this ability is only temporary she races to fix everything she has altered.
18. Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Year of Release: 2011
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: David Gelb
Actors: Jiro Ono, Yoshikazu Ono
Plot: 85-year-old sushi master Jiro Ono works in the basement of a Tokyo office building, meticulously crafting the perfect pieces to present at his restaurant Sukiyabashi Jiro. The documentary explores the relationship between him and his son (and sushi heir) Yoshikazu, as well as his life-long quest to develop the perfect piece of sushi.
19. Secret World of Arrietty, The ( Kari-gurashi no Arietti )
Year of Release: 2012
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Anime/Fantasy
MPAA Rating: G
Director: Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Actors: Will Arnett, Bridgit Mendler, David Henrie, Carol Burnett
Plot: Studio Ghibli takes on the classic tale of The Borrowers: The 4-inch tall Clock family live in secret, borrowing items from human residences to make their home. However, things change when daughter Arrietty is discovered.
20. High and Low ( Tengoku to jigoku )
Year of Release: 1963
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Thriller/Drama
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Actors: Toshirô Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyôko Kagawa, Takashi Shimura
Plot: An executive of a shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped and held for ransom.
