Top Japanese Movies


The Top Japanese Movies List is calculated by overall movie ratings and members' "Top Japanese List". Lists are calculated daily.

31. Whisper of the Heart ( Mimi wo sumaseba )

Year of Release: 1995
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Anime/Drama
MPAA Rating: G
Director: Yoshifumi Kondo
Actors: Youko Honna, Kazuo Takahashi, Takashi Tachibana, Shigeru Muroi
Plot: A young girl who reads a lot of fairy tales has a typical life, but something is missing. One day, on a whim, she follows a cat riding a train - this leads her to a chance meeting with a young boy who dreams of being a violin-maker and his grandfather's antique store where a statue of a cat gives her inspiration to follow her own dream: to write.

32. Godzilla Minus One ( Gojira -1.0 )

Year of Release: 2023
Overall Rating: 3.4 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Action/Adventure
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Takashi Yamazaki
Actors: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yûki Yamada, Hidetaka Yoshioka
Plot: In post-war Japan, the country and its people struggle to recover from the fallout of war. And yet something much more devastating and dangerous arises - a monster born from the atomic age that only brings about more death and destruction.

33. Hidden Fortress, The ( Kakushi-toride no san-akunin )

Year of Release: 1958
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Action/Adventure
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Actors: Toshirô Mifune, Misa Uehara, Minoru Chiaki, Kamatari Fujiwara
Plot: A princess and her top general travel in secret across enemy territory with a caravan of gold in hope of rebuilding her kingdom. Two greedy peasants, unaware of their origins, accompany them in hopes of getting some of their gold.

34. Late Spring ( Banshun )

Year of Release: 1949
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Yasujirô Ozu
Actors: Chishû Ryû, Setsuko Hara, Yumeji Tsukioka, Haruko Sugimura
Plot: A young woman cares for her father, a widower. While those around her try to convince her to get married, she is happy where she is in life and doesn't want to leave her father.

35. Kagemusha

Year of Release: 1980
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Drama/War
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Actors: Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kenichi Hagiwara, Jinpachi Nezu
Plot: When a powerful warlord dies, it is up to a low-born thief, who looks exactly like the late lord, to take his place. With this power comes a great burden and the facade cannot hold up forever.

36. Dersu Uzala

Year of Release: 1975
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Adventure/Drama
MPAA Rating: G
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Actors: Yuri Solomin, Maksim Munzuk, Svetlana Danilchenko, Vladimir Kremena
Plot: A Russian military officer betrays Dersu and must take responsibility to a tragedy. He takes it upon himself to give Dersu a rifle which could give insight to the end of the film.

37. Paprika

Year of Release: 2007
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Anime/Sci-Fi
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Satoshi Kon
Actors: Megumi Hayashibara, Tôru Furuya, Kôichi Yamadera, Katsunosuke Hori
Plot: A new device allows scientists to delve into a patient's dreams to help them analyze their problems, but when a techno-terrorist steals the new technology no one is safe, and soon the line between dreams and reality begin to blur.

38. Ghost in the Shell ( Kôkaku kidôtai )

Year of Release: 1996
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Anime/Action
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Mamoru Oshii
Actors: Mimi Woods, Richard Epcar (as George Richard), William Knight (as William Frederick), Tom Wyner (as Abe Lasser)
Plot: In the year 2029 the world has become completely information oriented and the world's worst criminals are hackers. Section 9 is formed is formed to combat these criminals, made up of cyborgs with the ability to access any network. When a rogue virtual agent, The Puppet Master, is released it must be destroyed before it gets out into the real world.

39. Boy and the Beast, The ( Bakemono no ko )

Year of Release: 2015
Overall Rating: 3.3 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Anime/Action
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Actors: Shôta Sometani, Kôji Yakusho, Aoi Miyazaki, Suzu Hirose

40. Chungking Express ( Chung hing sam lam )

Year of Release: 1994
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Mystery/Comedy
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Kar Wai Wong
Actors: Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Valerie Chow, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Lee-na Kwan
Plot: A story of two cops and two stories all of which are told in beautiful splotches of color. Takes place in Hong Kong in the early 1990s.

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