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


Kingdom 5: The Clash of Souls
2026 · 2h 13m
country: Japan
Except for the state of Qin, the six rival states join forces to form an allied army led by military adviser Riboku. The allied army then targets Qin. Meanwhile, Shin of Qin jumps into the war that will determine the fate of Qin.


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.


Kagemusha
1980 · 3h
country: Japan
Akira Kurosawa's lauded feudal epic presents the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. When Shingen dies, his generals reluctantly agree to have the impostor take over as the powerful ruler. He soon begins to appreciate life as Shingen, but his commitment to the role is tested when he must lead his troops into battle against the forces of a rival warlord.


The Eternal Zero
2013 · 2h 24m
country: Japan
A brother and sister learn their biological grandfather was a kamikaze pilot who died during World War II. During their research into his life, they get conflicting accounts from his former comrades about his character and how he joined his squadron.


Rurouni Kenshin Part I: Origins
2012 · 2h 14m
country: Japan
In 1868, after the Bakumatsu war ends, the ex-assassin Kenshin Himura traverses Japan with an inverted sword, to defend the needy without killing.


Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
1983 · 2h 4m
country: Japan
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.


Saga of Tanya the Evil: The Movie
2019 · 1h 38m
country: Japan
The time is UC 1926. The Imperial Army's 203rd Air Mage Battalion led by Major Tanya Degurechaff has won the battle to the south against the Republic's stragglers. They expected to be given a vacation after returning victorious, but instead receive special orders from Staff HQ as soon as they get home. They are told that there were signs of a large-scale deployment near the Empire-Federation border. Faced with the prospect of a new major enemy, the desperate Empire fans the flame of war. Meanwhile, an international volunteer army spearheaded by the Commonwealth set foot in Federation territory. As they say, the enemy of an enemy is your friend. They suffer through misfortune purely out of national interest, and among them is a young girl. She is Warrant Officer Mary Sue, and she takes up arms hoping to bring the Empire, who killed her father, to justice.


Code Geass: Akito the Exiled 1: The Wyvern Arrives
2012 · 51m
country: Japan
The side story takes place in 2017 a.t.b., between the rise of the “Black Knights” organization and the return of the supposedly "dead" Zero. The setting is in Europe, where the European Union (E.U.) allied nations are being invaded by the overwhelming forces of the Holy Britannian Empire. On the verge of defeat, the E.U. army forms a special unit known as “W-0″, of which a young pilot named Akito Hyuga is a member. Leila Malkal , a former Britannian Aristocrat comes to the E.U.'s aid, commanding the “Wyvern” Knightmare corps comprised of Japanese teenagers. They recklessly plunge into a battlefield, where the survival rate is extremely low, at about 5% only. They fight for their freedom and for a "home" to which they can return.


The Sky Crawlers
2008 · 2h 1m
country: Japan
Youngsters called Kildren, who are destined to live eternally in their adolescence. The Kildren are conscious that every day could be the last, because they fight a war as entertainment, organized and operated by adults. But as they embrace the reality they are faced with, they live their day-to-day lives to the full.


The Human Condition I: No Greater Love
1959 · 3h 24m
country: Japan
After handing in a report on the treatment of Chinese colonial labor, Kaji is offered the post of labour chief at a large mining operation in Manchuria, which also grants him exemption from military service. He accepts and moves with his newlywed wife Michiko, but when he tries to put his ideas of more humane treatment into practice, he finds himself at odds with scheming officials, cruel foremen, and the military police.


Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection
2019 · 1h 52m
country: Japan
The story takes place several years after Lelouch's "Zero Requiem" plan. He gave up his life to save the world and protect the ones he loved. The day Lelouch vi Brittannia fell was the day this war-torn world found peace. Now, as his friends work to keep the peace, a terrorist attack could risk everything. Can the brilliant tactician outwit death and save them all? Or will Lelouch’s legacy fall here?


The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity
1959 · 2h 58m
country: Japan
Kaji, sent to the Japanese army labeled Red, witnesses cruelties in the army and revolts against the abusive treatment against a fellow recruit. He also sees his friend Shinjô defecting to the Russian border, and he ends in the front to fight a lost battle against the Russian tanks division.


Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin V: Clash at Loum
2017 · 1h 24m
country: Japan
Universal Century 0079. Humanity has turned even space itself into a battlefield, and the Principality of Zeon forces advance after wiping out half the world's population by carrying out the Operation British (colony drop). In response, the Earth Federation Forces mobilize their overwhelming fighting strength to regain the advantage. The complex intrigues of the Zabi family... Sayla Mass, as she contends with the whims of fate... Hamon and Ramba Ral, who is now a pilot in the Zeon forces... Amuro and Fraw, leading peaceful lives at Side 7... a dark shadow falls across them all. And the Zeon ace Char Aznable, driven by revenge, goes into action as the "Battle of Loum" finally begins.


In This Corner of the World
2016 · 2h 10m
country: Japan
Japan, 1943, during World War II. Young Suzu leaves her village near Hiroshima to marry and live with her in-laws in Kure, a military harbor. Her creativity to overcome deprivation quickly makes her indispensable at home. Inhabited by an ancestral wisdom, Suzu impregnates the simple gestures of everyday life with poetry and beauty. The many hardships, the loss of loved ones, the frequent air raids of the enemy, nothing alters her enthusiasm…


Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam - A New Translation III: Love is the Pulse of the Stars
2006 · 1h 39m
country: Japan
Universal Century 0087, Char Aznable has now become the leader of the AEUG. Scirocco, the man from Jupiter, schemes to seize control of the Titans. Haman, the Axis leader, is attempting to restore the Zabi family. Through politics and strategy, these three powers struggle for dominion over the Earth Sphere. The war builds to a deadly endgame around the space colony Gryps 2, which has been converted into a giant laser cannon. What destiny awaits Kamille at the end of the conflict? This is the final part of the Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam feature trilogy, which features enhanced animation and theme songs by GACKT.


The Place Promised in Our Early Days
2004 · 1h 30m
country: Japan
In a post-war alternative timeline, Japan is divided into the North, controlled by the Union, and the South, controlled by the United States. A mysterious high tower rises within the borders of the Union. Three high school students promise to cross the border with a self-built airplane and unravel the secret of the tower.


Mobile Suit Gundam 00 The Movie: -A Wakening of the Trailblazer-
2010 · 2h 3m
country: Japan
The year is 2314 AD, two years have passed since the defeat of the Innovades and the exposure of the A-Laws' crimes against humanity. The A-Laws have been abolished and their infrastructure integrated into the Earth Sphere Federation Army. However, the world's exposure to GN Particles has resulted in many people awakening as True Innovators. Celestial Being has returned to the shadows to rebuild and quietly observe the infantile peace. However, an abandoned probe from an expedition to Jupiter 130 years ago approaches Earth bringing a new crisis with it, one that threatens all of mankind. While Celestial Being begins their final mission to save humanity from an unimaginable threat, Gundam Meister Setsuna F. Seiei is about to discover the true purpose of his evolution as an Innovator. Aeolia Schenberg's plan has moved into its final stage...


Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam - A New Translation I: Heirs to the Stars
2005 · 1h 34m
country: Japan
Universal Century 0087. The Titans, a bellicose faction among the Earth Federation Forces, grows powerful and tyrannical, even using poison gas to suppress a civil unrest. Dissident soldiers from the same military stand against them, forming a resistance group called the AEUG. Kamille Bidan, a civilian student, gets entangled in this conflict when he impulsively steals the Gundam Mark II and joins the AEUG, running away from his home space colony. Then he begins to fight along with Char Aznable, a former Zeon ace pilot who has infiltrated the Earth Sphere for reasons of his own. This is the first part of the feature trilogy derived from the anime series Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, and features enhanced animation and theme songs by GACKT.


Future War 198X
1982 · 2h 5m
country: Japan
An American scientist constructs a laser satellite with hopes of preventing any nuclear conflicts from occurring. However, after a fatal error from both the US and the USSR governments, war breaks out and humanity faces a new bloodshed.


Kingdom
2019 · 2h 13m
country: Japan
Set in Qin Dynasty during the warring states period in ancient China. Shin was a war orphan. He has a dream of becoming a great general Shin has a fateful encounter with young King Eisei. King Eisei aims to unify all of China.


The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer
1961 · 3h 10m
country: Japan
After the Japanese defeat to the Russians, Kaji leads the last remaining men through Manchuria. Intent on returning to his old life, he faces great odds in a variety of different harrowing circumstances as he and his men sneak behind enemy lines.


Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin VI – Rise of the Red Comet
2018 · 1h 24m
country: Japan
On January 23, U.C. 0079, a decisive battle between Zeon and the Earth Federation begins at Side 5, or Loum. Though the Zeon forces are overwhelmingly outnumbered, their secret plan suddenly turns the tide of battle as they deploy a special assault regiment made up of humanoid mobile suit weapons, winning them a huge victory. Char Aznable of the Zeon forces produces particularly impressive results in his red mobile suit “Zaku II”, earning a promotion to Lieutenant Commander and the nickname "Red Comet." After the Battle of Loum, the Earth Federation Forces initiate Operation V to fight back against Zeon. At Side 7, young Amuro Ray is indirectly involved as he takes action to uncover the secret of the new weapon "Gundam." Meanwhile, as high officials of the Earth Federation and Zeon forces meet in Antarctica for early peace negotiations, a certain speech is broadcast from Luna II throughout the world...


Yamato
2005 · 2h 23m
country: Japan
Directed by Junya Sato and based on a book by Jun Henmi, "Yamato" has a framing story set in the present day and uses flashbacks to tell the story of the crew of the World War II Japanese battleship Yamato. The film was never released in the United States, where reviewers who have seen it have compared the military epic to "Titanic" and "Saving Private Ryan."


Barefoot Gen
1983 · 1h 23m
country: Japan
A story about the effect of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on a boy's life and the lives of the Japanese people.


Macross: Do You Remember Love?
1984 · 1h 54m
country: Japan
It is A.D. 2009 and the human race is caught in a war between giant humanoids, male Zentrans and female Meltrans. Returning from the edge of our solar system after making a space fold, the SDF-1 Macross makes the long journey back to Earth with survivors of South Ataria Island.


Kingdom 2: Far and Away
2022 · 2h 14m
country: Japan
It follows a young man who dreams of becoming a general and Ying Zheng, whose goal is unification.


cocoon - One Summer of Girlhood
2026 · 1h
country: Japan
San and Mayu attend an all-girls school on a warm and tranquil island. When war reaches their shores, they are ordered to help nurse the wounded in a military hospital hidden away in a cave. Amidst escalating death and brutality, the friends struggle to find solace in their fragile lives.


Wife of a Spy
2020 · 1h 54m
country: Japan
It’s 1940, and the population of Japan is divided over its entry into World War II. Satoko, the wife of a fabric merchant, is devoted to her husband but is beginning to suspect he’s up to something. Soon she allows herself to be drawn into a game in which she enigmatically conceals her intentions.


Kingdom III: The Flame of Destiny
2023 · 2h 9m
country: Japan
To defend their kingdom against a sudden invasion, a mighty general returns to the battlefield alongside a war orphan, now grown up, who dreams of glory.


Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?
2026 · 1h 56m
country: Japan
Vietnam veteran Allen Nelson returns with severe PTSD, winding up on the streets before crossing paths with Dr. Daniels of the Veterans Affairs who sets about trying to help him.


Macross Delta: Zettai Live!!!!!!
2021 · 1h 50m
country: Japan
Walküre and Delta Flight used music to save people from the Vár Syndrome, a previously unknown disease that made humans and others go berserk. However, they find themselves facing a new threat.


Area 88 Act III: Burning Mirage
1986 · 1h 35m
country: Japan
Shin Kazama, tricked and forced into flying for the remote country of Aslan, can only escape the hell of war by earning money for shooting down enemy planes or die trying. Through the course of the series, Shin must deal with the consequences of killing and friends dying around him as tries to keep his mind on freeing himself from this nightmare.


The (Silent) War
2019 · 2h 3m
country: Spain
Northern Spain, October 1944. Several groups of guerrilla fighters, former Republican soldiers exiled in France after the end of the Spanish Civil War, infiltrate the country in order to provoke a popular uprising against General Franco's dictatorship.


Story of a Prostitute
1965 · 1h 36m
country: Japan
Volunteering as a "comfort woman" on the Manchurian front, where she is expected to service hundreds of soldiers, Harumi is commandeered by the brutal Lieutenant Narita but falls for the sensitive Mikami, Narita's direct subordinate. Seijun Suzuki's Story of a Prostitute is a tragic love story as well as a rule-bending take on a popular Taijiro Tamura novel, challenging military and fraternal codes of honor, as seen through Harumi's eyes.


The Burmese Harp
1956 · 1h 57m
country: Japan
In Burma during the closing days of WWII, a Japanese soldier separated from his unit disguises himself as a Buddhist monk to escape imprisonment as a POW.


Isoroku Yamamoto, the Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet
2011 · 2h 15m
country: Japan
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (1884-1943) was the Japanese Naval commander who was given the order to attack Pearl Harbour, an order he was duty bound to obey which went against his own personal beliefs. While this infamous attack is a low point in Japanese and US history it wouldn’t have happened if the Japanese government had listened to Yamamoto in 1939 and searched for a more peaceful way to end their war campaign, proving his many ominous presages of the outcomes of the attack to come true.


Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Special Edition I: Celestial Being
2009 · 1h 39m
country: Japan
Like the Japanese Special Editions of other Gundam and Sunrise anime series, this is the first of three volumes that will condense the first 25-episode season of Gundam 00 into feature-length videos. They all feature some new animated sequences and some partially re-recorded dialogue.


YUKIKAZE
2025
country: Japan
Just 80 years ago, the peaceful sea was a battlefield. Soldiers continued to fight, dreaming of returning home, and their families continued to pray and wait for their safety. What stories were there in each of their lives, and what were they each thinking?


Shadow of Fire
2023 · 1h 35m
country: Japan
In the black market, a war orphan is confronted with the struggles of people living in the immediate aftermath of WWII.


Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt: December Sky
2016 · 1h 9m
country: Japan
During the One Year War of U.C. 0079, the Earth Federation and Principality of Zeon engage in a fierce battle at the "Thunderbolt Sector", a shoal zone in the former Colony Side 4 "Moore". After successfully infiltrating Zeon's sniper field, ace Federation pilot and jazz enthusiast Io Fleming is given control of the latest Gundam prototype.
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.
War films range from combat spectacle to anti-war argument, and often try to be both at once. The genre is a reliable index of how a country understands its own history.