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


Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie -Walpurgisnacht: Rising-
2026 · 2h
country: Japan
After the events of Rebellion, the world appears to be in balance—but that peace is fragile. As a new threat connected to Walpurgisnacht emerges, Homura Akemi is forced to face the consequences of her choices and question how far she is willing to go to protect Madoka.


Your Name.
2016 · 1h 46m
country: Japan
High schoolers Mitsuha and Taki are complete strangers living separate lives. But one night, they suddenly switch places. Mitsuha wakes up in Taki’s body, and he in hers. This bizarre occurrence continues to happen randomly, and the two must adjust their lives around each other.


Look Back
2024 · 58m
country: Japan
Popular, outgoing Fujino is celebrated by her classmates for her funny comics in the class newspaper. One day, her teacher asks her to share the space with Kyomoto, a truant recluse whose beautiful artwork sparks a competitive fervor in Fujino. What starts as jealousy transforms when Fujino realizes their shared passion for drawing.


Nun in Rope Hell
1984 · 1h 9m
country: Japan
A woman gets caught by the wife of her lover which results in a stabbing. Feeling guilty she runs away and joins a nunnery. But she soon discovers that several nuns and a well known author have turned the place into their own personal S&M playground.


On the Beach
1985 · 1h 7m
country: Japan
In a summer in Shonan village, Sumiko is the daughter of an important upper-class Shikishima family, she loves to paint pictures, is going through a cooling-off of an arranged marriage that did not work out. However, she feels attraction for Nishina a rough and obscene man ... On the other hand, the younger sister, Naomi Sumiko is envious of her sister for her beauty. Naomi feels ugly since all men seem to like Sumiko. Both sisters then become embroiled in a major problem in discovering the real intentions of Nishina, a man who hides behind a mask to rape women.


The Boy and the Heron
2023 · 2h 4m
country: Japan
While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother's tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy's mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the "long-awaited one."


Perfect Days
2023 · 2h 4m
country: Germany
Hirayama is content with his life as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo. Outside of his structured routine, he cherishes music on cassette tapes, books, and taking photos of trees. Through unexpected encounters, he reflects on finding beauty in the world.


Seven Samurai
1954 · 3h 27m
country: Japan
A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.


Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
1997 · 1h 27m
country: Japan
SEELE orders an all-out attack on NERV, aiming to destroy the Evas before Gendo can advance his own plans for the Human Instrumentality Project. Shinji is pushed to the limits of his sanity as he is forced to decide the fate of humanity.


Whisper of the Heart
1995 · 1h 51m
country: Japan
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."


A Silent Voice: The Movie
2016 · 2h 9m
country: Japan
Shouya Ishida starts bullying the new girl in class, Shouko Nishimiya, because she is deaf. But as the teasing continues, the rest of the class starts to turn on Shouya for his lack of compassion. When they leave elementary school, Shouko and Shouya do not speak to each other again... until an older, wiser Shouya, tormented by his past behaviour, decides he must see Shouko once more. He wants to atone for his sins, but is it already too late...?


Suzume
2022 · 2h 2m
country: Japan
Suzume, 17, lost her mother as a little girl. On her way to school, she meets a mysterious young man. But her curiosity unleashes a calamity that endangers the entire population of Japan, and so Suzume embarks on a journey to set things right.


In the Realm of the Senses
1976 · 1h 42m
country: Japan
A passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.


Younger Sister
1974 · 1h 32m
country: Japan
Akio's sister, Neri has separated from her boyfriend. They lived in Kamakura. She moves in with her brother. Her ex-boyfriend's sister, Eiko comes to see Neri. She wonders if the separation occurred due to her because the three of them used to live together. Eiko's brother has disappeared in the meantime.


THE RIBBON HERO
2026 · 1h 52m
country: Japan
When the monstrous Nergal devastates her kingdom, Princess Sapphire reawakens as the Ribbon Hero and fights to save her new home from the same dark fate.


Ran
1985 · 2h 40m
country: Japan
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.


Monster
2023 · 2h 5m
country: Japan
After an outburst at school involving her son, a concerned single mother demands answers, triggering a sequence of deepening suspicion and turmoil.


Door II: Tokyo Diary
1991 · 1h 22m
country: Japan
Ai is a call girl that makes good money for what she does but there’s always at risk no matter how good the money is.


Weathering with You
2019 · 1h 52m
country: Japan
The summer of his high school freshman year, Hodaka runs away from his remote island home to Tokyo, and quickly finds himself pushed to his financial and personal limits. The weather is unusually gloomy and rainy every day, as if taking its cue from his life. After many days of solitude, he finally finds work as a freelance writer for a mysterious occult magazine. Then, one day, Hodaka meets Hina on a busy street corner. This bright and strong-willed girl possesses a strange and wonderful ability: the power to stop the rain and clear the sky.


Cloud
2024 · 2h 4m
country: Japan
Ryōsuke Yoshii, an ordinary reseller, carelessly earns grudges by people and becomes entangled in a life-threatening struggle.


Attack on Titan: THE LAST ATTACK
2024 · 2h 25m
country: Japan
A colossal-sized omnibus film bringing together the last two episodes of Attack on Titan in the franchise's first-ever theatrical experience. After venturing beyond the walls and separated from his comrades, Eren finds himself inspired by this new truth and plots the "Rumbling," a terrifying plan to eradicate every living thing in the world. With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, a motley crew of Eren's former comrades and enemies scramble to halt his deadly mission. The only question is, can they stop him?


Memoirs of a Geisha
2005 · 2h 26m
country: United States
In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.


Shoplifters
2018 · 2h
country: Japan
In the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already fragile existence begins to unravel. As the family grows attached to her, buried secrets surface, forcing them to confront the true meaning of love, belonging, and what makes a family.


Harakiri
1962 · 2h 15m
country: Japan
Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce in his suicide ritual. The senior counselor for the Iyi clan questions the ronin’s resolve and integrity, suspecting Hanshirō of seeking charity rather than an honorable end. What follows is a pair of interlocking stories which lay bare the difference between honor and respect, and promises to examine the legendary foundations of the Samurai code.


High and Low
1963 · 2h 22m
country: Japan
A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.


Ikiru
1952 · 2h 23m
country: Japan
Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.


MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM HATHAWAY The Sorcery of Nymph Circe
2026 · 1h 55m
country: Japan
Haunted by past trauma, Hathaway Noa is drawn to a mysterious girl named Gigi Andalucia, whose strange powers stir memories within him. While swayed by her cryptic words, he continues preparing for Mafty's mission -- the attack on the Adelaide Conference. Meanwhile, Kenneth Sleg of the Earth Federation Forces prepares a defense operation for the Adelaide Conference and a plan to eliminate Mafty and is approached by Handley Yoxon of the Criminal Police Organization with a secret proposal. As Hathaway and Kenneth pursue their respective goals, Gigi also sets off for Hong Kong to fulfill her own role.


The Cat Returns
2002 · 1h 15m
country: Japan
Young Haru rescues a cat from being run over, but soon learns it's no ordinary feline; it happens to be the Prince of the Cats.


Midori
1992 · 55m
country: Japan
After losing her parents, young flower selling Midori is put up by a fairground group. She is abused and forced to slavery, until the arrival of an enigmatic magician of short stature, who gives her hope for a better future.


When Marnie Was There
2014 · 1h 43m
country: Japan
Upon being sent to live with relatives in the countryside due to an illness, an emotionally distant adolescent girl becomes obsessed with an abandoned mansion and infatuated with a girl who lives there - a girl who may or may not be real.


The Wind Rises
2013 · 2h 6m
country: Japan
A lifelong love of flight inspires Japanese aviation engineer Jiro Horikoshi, whose storied career includes the creation of the A-6M World War II fighter plane.


Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning
2021 · 2h 18m
country: Japan
Before he was a protector, Kenshin was a fearsome assassin known as Battosai. But when he meets gentle Tomoe Yukishiro, a beautiful young woman who carries a huge burden in her heart, his life will change forever.


Roujin Z
1991 · 1h 20m
country: Japan
Mr. Takazawa, an elderly invalid who is cared for at his home by Haruko, a young nursing student, is chosen by the Japanese Ministry of Public Welfare to test the Z-001, a computerized hospital bed with robotic features that allegedly displays more efficiency and skills than any human nurse, but Haruko mistrusts a machine unable to consider human feelings.


Violet Evergarden: The Movie
2020 · 2h 20m
country: Japan
As the world moves on from the war and technological advances bring changes to her life, Violet still hopes to see her lost commanding officer again.


Drive My Car
2021 · 2h 59m
country: Japan
Yusuke Kafuku, a stage actor and director, still unable, after two years, to cope with the loss of his beloved wife, accepts to direct Uncle Vanya at a theater festival in Hiroshima. There he meets Misaki, an introverted young woman, appointed to drive his car. In between rides, secrets from the past and heartfelt confessions will be unveiled.


Confinement Escape: Beautiful Prey
1993 · 1h 5m
country: Japan
Ryoko, a cosmetics saleswoman, accidentally runs over a man, who turns out to be a serial rapist who escaped from a prison transport vehicle. Held captive inside her car by the bloodied man, she seizes an opportunity to escape. Wandering through the forest, she arrives at a mountain cabin where she is rescued by another man. However, he harbors twisted sexual desires of his own. Once discovered, he imprisons Ryoko too...


Oxen Split Torturing
1976 · 1h 20m
country: Japan
Two short stories set in Edo during the Shogun era. The first, during a time when Christians are persecuted vehemently, Iori falls in love with a young Christian girl. When she and her family are captured during a raid, his sadistic master takes her as his personal slave to torment Iori. The second follows Sutezo who, forced to serve the barbarous master of a brothel in order to repay his debts, befriends a young girl. Together, they both escape and struggle to get by on scams and petty theft.


The Boy and the Beast
2015 · 1h 59m
country: Japan
Kyuta, a boy living in Shibuya, and Kumatetsu, a lonesome beast from Jutengai, an imaginary world. One day, Kyuta forays into the imaginary world and, as he's looking for his way back, meets Kumatetsu who becomes his spirit guide. That encounter leads them to many adventures.


Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time
2021 · 2h 35m
country: Japan
In the aftermath of the Fourth Impact, stranded without their Evangelions, Shinji, Asuka and Rei find refuge in one of the rare pockets of humanity that still exist on the ruined planet Earth. There, each lives a life far different from their days as an Evangelion pilot. However, the danger to the world is far from over. A new impact is looming on the horizon—one that will prove to be the true end of Evangelion.


The Torture Club
2014 · 1h 37m
country: Japan
The "Torture Club" is an official after-school activity at the private school Saint Honesty Gakuen. Yuzuki has no idea about the club when she enrolls, and gets abducted by the club members and hauled off the club-room. There, she finds out that upper-class student Aoi, her secret idol, is in the club, and decides to join, but…
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.
Drama is cinema's widest category and its default setting — character, conflict, and consequence without genre machinery. It's where most awards conversation lives, and where directors go when the story is the effect.