The 40 most popular 1980s japanese movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


My Neighbor Totoro
1988 · 1h 26m · JP
Two sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits of the forest. When the youngest runs away from home, the older sister seeks help from the spirits to find her.


Warriors of the Wind
1984 · 1h 35m · JP
After a global war, the seaside kingdom known as the Valley of the Wind remains one of the last strongholds on Earth untouched by a poisonous jungle and the powerful insects that guard it. Led by the courageous Princess Nausicaä, the people of the Valley engage in an epic struggle to restore the bond between humanity and Earth.


Kiki's Delivery Service
1989 · 1h 43m · JP
A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.


Castle in the Sky
1986 · 2h 5m · JP
A young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle.


Ran
1985 · 2h 40m · JP
Shakespeare's King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan where an aging warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons.


Akira
1988 · 2h 4m · JP
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.


Kagemusha
1980 · 3h · JP
A feudal epic presenting the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. The impostor becomes comfortable living his life among nobility, but his responsibilities to his station grow more demanding the longer he occupies it.


Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies
1986 · 50m · JP
The great King Gurumes is searching for the Dragon Balls in order to put a stop to his endless hunger. A young girl named Pansy who lives in the nearby village has had enough of the treachery and decides to seek Muten Rōshi for assistance. Can our heroes save the village and put a stop to the Gurumes Army?


Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
1983 · 2h 4m · JP
Island of Java, 1942, during World War II. British Major Jack Celliers arrives at a Japanese prison camp, run by the strict Captain Yonoi. Colonel John Lawrence, who has a profound knowledge of Japanese culture, and Sergeant Hara, brutal and simpleton, will witness the struggle of wills between two men from very different backgrounds who are tragically destined to clash.


Vampire Hunter D
1985 · 1h 20m · JP
In a far-future time ruled by the supernatural, a young girl requests the help of a vampire hunter to kill the vampire who has bitten her and thus prevent her from becoming a vampire herself.


The Ballad of Narayama
1983 · 2h 10m · JP
In a small village in a valley everyone who reaches the age of 70 must leave the village and go to a certain mountain top to die. If anyone should refuse they would disgrace their family. Old Orin is 69. This winter it is her turn to go to the mountain. But first she must make sure that her eldest son Tatsuhei finds a wife.


Guinea Pig: Mermaid in the Manhole
1988 · 58m · JP
An artist dealing with the grief of his wife leaving him finds solace in painting the squalor of the sewer. He discovers a trapped mermaid, whom he brings home to heal. Her condition worsens, and she asks the artist to paint her before she dies.


Virus
1980 · 2h 36m · JP
Scientists in Antarctica desperately try to find a cure to a military virus that was released in a plane crash and has wiped out the rest of the world.


Angel's Egg
1985 · 1h 11m · JP
In the ruins of a strange city, a young girl takes care of a large egg she holds carefully in her arms. She bonds with a boy who is searching for a bird he saw in a dream.


Urusei Yatsura: Remember My Love
1985 · 1h 33m · JP
The third film finds Ataru transformed into a pink hippopotamus, which sends Lum chasing after the wicked magician responsible, with catastrophic results. With Lum gone, her friends decide that there is no reason to remain, and so Tomobiki slowly returns to normal. The highlight of the film is a high speed chase scene with an angry Lum flying after the mysterious Ruu through the city at night and into a hall of mirrors (and illusion ). Ataru's true feelings for Lum are probably more obvious in this film than any of the others.


Urusei Yatsura: Lum the Forever
1986 · 1h 33m · JP
While performing in a student film, Ataru cuts down Tarozakura, a large, ancient cherry tree. Strange things begin to happen all across Tomobiki: a mountain appears out of nowhere, spring changes to winter, and Lum loses her powers, while those around her act as if she doesn't exist.


Lupin the Third: The Legend of the Gold of Babylon
1985 · 1h 40m · JP
Lupin squares off with two criminal families and Inspector Zenigata's new female patrol to track down a hoard of biblical-era treasure.


Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone
1989 · 41m · JP
In order to wish for immortality and avenge his father, Garlic Jr. collects the dragon balls, kidnapping Goku's son Gohan in the process. Goku, Kami, Piccolo, and Krillin unite to rescue Gohan and save the world from being sucked into a dead zone.


Night on the Galactic Railroad
1985 · 1h 48m · JP
Lonely and awkward, Giovanni struggles with his sick mother, absent father, and an afterschool job that isolates him from his peers. But on the night of the Festival of Stars, he is magically transported onto a celestial train with his only friend, Campanella. Together, they embark on an extraordinary journey through the galaxy, encountering mysterious characters and grappling with life's deepest questions.


Guinea Pig Part 2: Flower of Flesh and Blood
1985 · 42m · JP
A woman kidnapped in the dead of night awakens in a grisly dungeon, where her deranged assailant prepares her body for a morbid ritual.


Cyborg 009: Legend of the Super Galaxy
1980 · 2h 10m · JP
An anime film for the second Cyborg 009 anime TV series.


Godzilla vs. Biollante
1989 · 1h 45m · JP
After the previous Godzilla attack, a miniature arms race ensues to collect his cells. Concerned over Godzilla's possible return, the Japanese government uses the cells to create a new bio-weapon, ANEB (Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria). They seeks the aid of geneticist Genshiro Shiragami, who's experiments result in a new mutation.


Tomorrow's Joe 2: The Movie
1981 · 1h 52m · JP
It has been six months since the tragic accident in Joe and Rikiishi's fight. Joe believes he has overcome Rikiishi's death and decides to make a comeback. Joe does make a successful comeback by scoring 5 KO's by body blows. Joe is then given a shot at the national title as a means by the boxing commission to put him down. The champion, Tiger Ozaki makes use of Joe's habits and ends up making Joe's corner throw in the towel. Joe is afraid to throw punches at the face because of what happened to Rikiishi. Youko, Joe's love interest and the owner of the gym where Rikiishi trained at recruits a world ranked boxer from Venezuela, Carlos Rivera, to get Joe back on his feet and pursue his boxing career to the regional and world ranks.


Lupin the Third: Bye Bye, Lady Liberty
1989 · 1h 37m · JP
Foiled repeatedly by the predictions of Interpol's supercomputer, Lupin has settled down. His partner Jigen asks him to pull one last heist: recover the Super Egg, a massive diamond hidden somewhere inside the Statue of Liberty.


Tampopo
1985 · 1h 55m · JP
In this humorous paean to the joys of food, a pair of truck drivers happen onto a decrepit roadside shop selling ramen noodles. The widowed owner, Tampopo, begs them to help her turn her establishment into a paragon of the "art of noodle-soup making". Interspersed are satirical vignettes about the importance of food to different aspects of human life.


Fifth Movement
1981 · 1h 55m · JP
When a broadcasting company takes away its financial support from a symphony orchestra, some of the members refuse to admit defeat. The first violinist returns to his home and manages to get the orchestra back together for a grandiose performance, saved at the last minute by their original conductor -- and boding well for the future of the die-hard musicians.


Urotsukidōji: Legend of the Overfiend
1989 · 1h 45m · JP
Legend has it that the human race is not the only dominant civilization living on Earth. Two other races exist in this world: the Makai (a demon race) and the Jujinkai (a half-man, half-beast race). Once every 3,000 years, a supreme being known as the Choujin (Overfiend) will emerge and bring balance to all three realms on Earth. In present-day Japan, after 300 years of endless searching, a Jujinkai named Amano Jyaku has discovered the presence of the Choujin inside high school slacker Tatsuo Nagumo. But now, Amano, along with his sister Megumi and their sidekick Kuroko, must protect Nagumo and his new girlfriend Akemi Ito from the Makai, who believe that Nagumo is not the Choujin, but an evil entity bent on destroying all living beings on Earth.


Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
1988 · 2h · JP
In UC 0093, the Federation has recovered from its defeat and has created a new anti-colonial special forces unit to deal with rebel forces: Londo Bell. Elsewhere in space, Char Aznable reappears out of self-imposed hiding with a declaration that he now commands his own Neo-Zeon movement, and intends to force the emigration of Earth's inhabitants to space by bringing about an apocalypse.


A Taxing Woman
1987 · 2h 8m · JP
Intrepid tax investigator Ryoko Itakura sets her sights on the mysterious and philandering Hideki Gondo, a suspected millionaire and proprietor of a thriving chain of seedy hourly hotels, who has for years succeeded at hiding the true extent of his assets from the Japanese authorities. Itakura and Gondo soon find themselves engaged in a complicated, satirical battle of wits.


Guinea Pig: Devil's Experiment
1985 · 43m · JP
Masked thugs torture an innocent woman in increasingly brutal ways.


Valis: The Fantasm Soldier
1987 · 3m · JP
Yuko Asou is a Japanese student from the late 1980s who must protect three different kingdoms - our own land, the land of the Spirits, and Vecanti, the world of dreams - by using a mystical sword called Valis.


Mystery Train
1989 · 1h 46m · JP
In Memphis, Tennessee, over the course of a single night, the Arcade Hotel, run by an eccentric night clerk and a clueless bellboy, is visited by a young Japanese couple traveling in search of the roots of rock; an Italian woman in mourning who stumbles upon a fleeing charlatan girl; and a comical trio of accidental thieves looking for a place to hide.


Venus Wars
1989 · 1h 42m · JP
The new frontier of Venus has degenerated into a dystopia ravaged by the civil war between Ishtar and Aphrodia. Bubbly reporter Susan Sommers arrives in the capitol of Aphrodia just before it's captured by Ishtar. She falls in with a bunch of teen-agers who live for a sort of motorcycle version of Roller Derby. Daredevil rider Hiro and his friends reluctantly join the struggle to free Aphrodia from the invaders. Not surprisingly, Hiro proves an ace at piloting the mono-cycles that are the Aphrodians' secret weapon in the key battle.


Saint Seiya: Legend of Crimson Youth
1988 · 1h 15m · JP
The Sun God Abel returns to life, bent on punishing the humans and cleansing Earth from their presence. When Athena joins him, leaving humans to their fate, the Bronze Saints must defend the world in their greatest battle yet.


Tetsuo: The Iron Man
1989 · 1h 7m · JP
A "metal fetishist", driven mad by the maggots wriggling in the wound he's made to embed metal into his flesh, runs out into the night and is accidentally run down by a Japanese businessman and his girlfriend. The pair dispose of the corpse in hopes of quietly moving on with their lives. However, the businessman soon finds that he is now plagued by a vicious curse that transforms his flesh into iron.


Royal Space Force - The Wings of Honneamise
1987 · 2h 1m · JP
On a future Earth, war between the Kingdom of Honneamise and its rival, The Republic, is inevitable. As evolving technology creates new ways to wage war, a small group seeks to propel mankind into space in their world’s first spaceflight program. For astronaut candidate Shirotsugh Lhadatt, it’s a personal odyssey as he grows from an aimless young man into a leader willing to put everything on the line in order to move the human race forward and away from the brink of Armageddon.


Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland
1989 · 1h 35m · JP
A little boy whose dreams transcend reality is sucked into his own fantasy, which is everything he has dreamed of, until he unleashes an old secret that may not only destroy this perfect dream world but reality itself.


The Return of Godzilla
1984 · 1h 43m · JP
After a fishing boat is attacked, the sole surviving crew member realizes it is none other than a resurrected Godzilla. However, efforts to bring the story to light are suppressed by the Japanese government amid growing political tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, who are both willing to bomb Japan to stop the monster.


Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle
1987 · 45m · JP
Goku and Kuririn are given an assignment by Kame-Sen'nin: "Retrieve the sleeping princess from Lucifer and I will take you as my students." But the mission proves to be more perilous than originally thought.


Door
1988 · 1h 34m · JP
Yasuko, a housewife, lives in an urban high-rise apartment with her husband Satoru and her son Takuto. Annoyed by spam calls and door-to-door salesmen, Yasuko slams the door on a salesman’s hand when he tries to squeeze a flyer through the apartment's chained front door. He leaves, but the next day, her nightmare starts.
The 1980s codified the blockbuster — high concept, wide release, heavy merchandising — while home video quietly built a second life for films that flopped in theaters. Practical effects hit their peak just before CGI arrived.
Japanese cinema gave the world Kurosawa's samurai epics, Ozu's domestic dramas, Godzilla and the kaiju film, and the J-horror wave that Hollywood spent the 2000s remaking. It also sustains the most developed animation industry on earth.