Best Japanese Drama Movies of All Time

Akira Kurosawa · 207 min · Toho

A veteran samurai, who has fallen on hard times, answers a village's request for protection from bandits. He gathers 6 other samurai to help him, and they teach the townspeople how to defend themselves, and they supply the samurai with three small meals a day. The film culminates in a giant battle when 40 bandits attack the village.

Cast: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.6/10 on IMDb (397,770 votes), 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, 98/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Yuichiro Hayashi · 145 min

The fate of the world hangs in the balance as Eren unleashes the ultimate power of the Titans. With a burning determination to eliminate all who threaten Eldia, he leads an unstoppable army of Colossal Titans towards Marley.

Cast: Yuki Kaji, Yui Ishikawa, Marina Inoue

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AI verdict: Based on TMDb's aggregated score (8.7/10 on TMDb (225 votes)), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Isao Takahata · 88 min

The story of Seita and Setsuko, two young Japanese siblings, living in the declining days of World War II. When an American firebombing separates the two children from their parents, the two siblings must rely completely on one another while they struggle to fight for their survival.

Cast: Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Akemi Yamaguchi

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.5/10 on IMDb (383,582 votes), 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, 94/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Yasujirô Ozu · 137 min · Shochiku

Elderly couple Shukishi and Tomi Hirayama live in the small coastal village of Onomichi, Japan with their youngest daughter, schoolteacher Kyoko Hirayama. Their other three surviving adult children, who they have not seen in quite some time, live either in Tokyo or Osaka. As such, Shukishi and Tomi make the unilateral decision to have an extended visit in Tokyo with their children, pediatrician Koichi Hirayama and beautician Shige Kaneko, and their respective families (which includes two grandchildren). In transit, they make an unexpected stop in Osaka and stay with their other son, Keiso Hirayama. All of their children treat the visit more as an obligation than a want, each trying to figure out what to do with their parents while they continue on with their own daily lives. At one point, they even decide to ship their parents off to an inexpensive resort at Atami Hot Springs rather than spend time with them. The only offspring who makes a concerted effort on this trip is Noriko Hirayama, their widowed daughter-in-law, whose husband, Shoji Hirayama, was killed eight years earlier in the war. Following the vacation, each child comes to some conclusion of their general behavior toward their parents, not only on this trip but throughout their entire adult lives. For some, this realization may come too late.

Cast: Chishû Ryû, Chieko Higashiyama, Sô Yamamura

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.1/10 on IMDb (76,665 votes), 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, 100/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Masaki Kobayashi · 135 min · Shochiku{{sfn / Galbraith IV / 1996 / p=207

A samurai, Hanshiro Tsugumo, arrives at the house of the Iyi Clan with an unusual request. Due to his circumstances, he wishes to commit harakiri, ritual suicide, in the courtyard of the house. Turns out this is not such an unusual request: the clan has had such requests before, though the requestor's intentions weren't always honourable. The Clan elder tells Tsugumo the story of the last samurai who made the request and how that ended. Will he still go through with it?

Cast: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Ishihama, Shima Iwashita

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AI verdict: Based on TMDb's aggregated score (8.4/10 on TMDb (1242 votes)), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Akira Kurosawa · 88 min · Daiei Film

A priest, a woodcutter and another man are taking refuge from a rainstorm in the shell of a former gatehouse called Rashômon. The priest and the woodcutter are recounting the story of a murdered samurai whose body the woodcutter discovered three days earlier in a forest grove. Both were summoned to testify at the murder trial, the priest who ran into the samurai and his wife traveling through the forest just before the murder occurred. Three other people who testified at the trial are supposedly the only direct witnesses: a notorious bandit named Tajômaru, who allegedly murdered the samurai and raped his wife; the white veil cloaked wife of the samurai; and the samurai himself who testifies through the use of a medium. The three tell a similarly structured story - that Tajômaru kidnapped and bound the samurai so that he could rape the wife - but which ultimately contradict each other, the motivations and the actual killing being what differ. The woodcutter reveals at Rashômon that he knows more than he let on at the trial, thus bringing into question his own actions. But another discovery at Rashômon and the resulting actions from the discovery bring back into focus the woodcutter's own humanity or lack thereof.

Cast: Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.1/10 on IMDb (195,453 votes), 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, 98/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Akira Kurosawa · 143 min · Toho

Kanji Watanabe is a civil servant. He has worked in the same department for 30 years. His life is pretty boring and monotonous, though he once used to have passion and drive. Then one day he discovers that he has stomach cancer and has less than a year to live. After the initial depression he sets about living for the first time in over 20 years. Then he realises that his limited time left is not just for living life to the full but to leave something meaningful behind...

Cast: Takashi Shimura, Nobuo Kaneko, Shin'ichi Himori

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.3/10 on IMDb (100,520 votes), 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, 92/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Akira Kurosawa · 160 min

Japanese warlord Hidetori Ichimonji decides the time has come to retire and divide his fiefdom among his three sons. His eldest and middle sons - Taro and Jiro - agree with his decision and promise to support him for his remaining days. The youngest son Saburo disagrees with all of them arguing that there is little likelihood the three brothers will remain united. Insulted by his son's brashness, the warlord banishes Saburo. As the warlord begins his retirement, he quickly realizes that his two eldest sons selfish and have no intention of keeping their promises. It leads to war and only banished Saburo can possibly save him.

Cast: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.2/10 on IMDb (150,674 votes), 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, 97/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Akira Kurosawa · 143 min

A wealthy businessman is told his son has been kidnapped and he will have to pay a very large sum for him to be returned safely. It is then discovered that his son is safe at home: the kidnapper took his chauffeur's son by accident. The kidnapper says this makes no difference: pay up or the child dies. This leaves him with a moral dilemma, as he really needs the money to conclude a very important business deal.

Cast: Toshirô Mifune, Yutaka Sada, Tatsuya Nakadai

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.4/10 on IMDb (70,373 votes), 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, 90/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Akira Kurosawa · 110 min · Kurosawa Production / Toho

Sanjuro, a wandering samurai enters a rural town in nineteenth century Japan. After learning from the innkeeper that the town is divided between two gangsters, he plays one side off against the other. His efforts are complicated by the arrival of the wily Unosuke, the son of one of the gangsters, who owns a revolver. Unosuke has Sanjuro beaten after he reunites an abducted woman with her husband and son, then massacres his father's opponents. During the slaughter, the samurai escapes with the help of the innkeeper; but while recuperating at a nearby temple, he learns of innkeeper's abduction by Unosuke, and returns to the town to confront him.

Cast: Toshirô Mifune, Eijirô Tôno, Tatsuya Nakadai

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.2/10 on IMDb (141,960 votes), 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, 93/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Makoto Shinkai · 106 min · CoMix Wave Films

Mitsuha is the daughter of the mayor of a small mountain town. She's a straightforward high school girl who lives with her sister and her grandmother and has no qualms about letting it be known that she's uninterested in Shinto rituals or helping her father's electoral campaign. Instead she dreams of leaving the boring town and trying her luck in Tokyo. Taki is a high school boy in Tokyo who works part-time in an Italian restaurant and aspires to become an architect or an artist. Every night he has a strange dream where he becomes...a high school girl in a small mountain town.

Cast: Ryûnosuke Kamiki, Mone Kamishiraishi, Ryo Narita

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.4/10 on IMDb (385,171 votes), 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, 81/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Kazuya Tsurumaki · 87 min · GAINAX / movic

After the defeat of the final Angel, Shinji Ikari falls into a deep depression. When SEELE orders the JSSDF to make a surprise attack on NERV's headquarters, Gendo Ikari retreats down into Terminal Dogma along with Rei Ayanami, where he begins to advance his own plans for the Human Instrumentality Project. Eventually, Shinji is pushed to the limits of his sanity as he is forced to decide the fate of humanity.

Cast: Megumi Ogata, Megumi Hayashibara, Kotono Mitsuishi

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AI verdict: Based on TMDb's aggregated score (8.3/10 on TMDb (1901 votes)), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Hideaki Anno · 101 min · GAINAX / Production I.G

Originally a collection of clips from the Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series, Death was created as a precursor to the re-worked ending of the series. Rebirth was intended as that re-worked ending, but after production overruns Rebirth became only the first half of the first part of The End of Evangelion, with some minor differences.

Cast: Megumi Ogata, Megumi Hayashibara, Yuko Miyamura

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AI verdict: Based on TMDb's aggregated score (7.4/10 on TMDb (512 votes)), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Yoshifumi Kondo · 111 min · Studio Ghibli / Nippon Television Network Corporation

Shizuku lives a simple life, dominated by her love for stories and writing. One day she notices that all the library books she has have been previously checked out by the same person: "Seiji Amasawa."

Cast: Yoko Honna, Issey Takahashi, Takashi Tachibana

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AI verdict: Based on TMDb's aggregated score (7.9/10 on TMDb (2349 votes)), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Naoko Yamada · 130 min · Kyoto Animation

The story revolves around Shôko Nishimiya, a grade school student who has impaired hearing. She transfers into a new school, where she is bullied by her classmates, especially Shôya Ishida. It gets to the point where she transfers to another school and as a result, Shôya is ostracized and bullied himself, with no friends to speak to and no plans for the future. Years later, he epicly sets himself on a path to redemption.

Cast: Miyu Irino, Saori Hayami, Aoi Yûki

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.2/10 on IMDb (137,111 votes), 78/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Isao Takahata · 119 min · Studio Ghibli / Tokuma Shoten

Taeko Okajima, an office worker living in Tokyo, embarks on a trip to her sister's rural home for the safflower harvest. As she travels by train, memories of her childhood resurface, including her first crush and experiences with puberty. Upon arrival, Taeko reflects on these memories with her family, sharing stories that reveal her past struggles and relationships.

Cast: Miki Imai, Yoko Honna, Toshiro Yanagiba

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AI verdict: Based on TMDb's aggregated score (7.4/10 on TMDb (1278 votes)), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.