Groundbreaking Japanese Films for AAPI MonthLike this list

20 items

• Akira

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  Clandestine army activities threaten the war-torn city of Neo-Tokyo when a mysterious being with powerful psychic abilities escapes his prison and inadvertently draws a violent motorcycle gang into a heinous web of experimentation. As a result, a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Godzilla

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  The film that started it all. With multi-film collection, watch the 1954 Japanese version, along with Godzilla: King of the Monsters!, the 1956 American reworking.

• Seven samurai

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  Tells the story of a sixteenth-century village whose desperate inhabitants hire seven out-of-work warriors to protect them from invading bandits. The Seven Samurai story has had countless adaptions and reboots, both Westernized and not.

• Your Name

  Kimi No Na Wa

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  Mitsuha and Taki are two total strangers living completely different lives. But when Mitsuha makes a wish to leave her mountain town for the bustling city of Tokyo, they become connected in a bizarre way. The animated film that put director Makoto…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Godzilla Minus One

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  In postwar Japan, a disgraced kamikaze pilot returns to his obliterated house after witnessing an unbelievable attack on Odo Island. This powerful reboot of the franchise became the first non-English film to win an Academy Award for Best Visual…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Spirited Away

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  When a young girl gets trapped in a strange new world of spirits, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free herself and rescue her parents. This award-winning Ghibli film was the highest-grossing film in Japanese history for 19…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Ugetsu

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  Set in 16th century Japan, a period of bloody civil war, the film is rooted in the postwar psyche of 1950s Japan. It focuses on an ambitious potter haunted by a beautiful ghost and a farmer who dreams of becoming a samurai.

• Gate of hell

  [Jigokumon]

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  In the midst of epic, violent intrigue in twelfth-century Japan, an imperial warrior falls for a lady-in-waiting; even after he discovers she is married, he goes to extreme lengths to win her love.

• タンポポ

  Dandelion

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  The tale of an eccentric band of culinary ronin who guide the widow of a noodle shop owner on her quest for the perfect recipe.

• Audition

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  A widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition for a phony film, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all and the widower becomes drawn into her sadistic and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Perfect Blue

  パーフェクトブルー

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  Mima quits her career as a pop singer to try her hand as an actress on a detective/murder mystery television program. Then her life falls apart as reality and hallucinations merge into a terrifying netherworld where innocence is lost and dreams turn…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Kwaidan

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  Featuring colorfully surreal sets and luminous cinematography, these haunting tales of demonic comeuppance and spiritual trials, adapted from writer Lafcadio Hearn's collections of Japanese folklore, are existentially frightening and meticulously…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• My Neighbor Totoro

  Tonari No Totoro

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  See the film that inspired Ghibli's notorious mascot. Two young sisters spend a summer in the Japanese countryside with their father. The children's strange new home turns out to be a wonderland filled with creatures and a trio of furry woodland…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Rashomon

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  A riveting psychological thriller that investigates the nature of truth and the meaning of justice, widely considered one of the greatest films ever made.

• The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

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  Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthralls all who encounter her, but ultimately she must confront her fate, the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Late Spring

  Banshun

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  A critically-acclaimed drama that follows a widowed father who forces his adult daughter to marry against her wishes. Beloved as one of the best films by director Yasujirō Ozu.

• Grave of the Fireflies

  火垂るの墓

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  Follows the story of Seita and his younger sister Setsuko, newly orphaned children struggling to survive the Japanese firebombs during World War II. This devastatingly beautiful animated film is both powerful and horrific.

• Cure

  Kyua

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  A detective tries to solve a series of murders with a supernatural connection. Considered by many as the progenitor of Japanese horror media in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

• Battle Royale

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  The film that many claim inspired The Hunger Games novels. In the near future, the economy has collapsed, unemployment has soared and juvenile crime has exploded. Fearful of their nation's youth, the Japanese government passes The BR Law: Each year,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Ring

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  A group of teenage friends are found dead, their bodies grotesquely contorted, their faces twisted in terror. Reiko, a journalist and the aunt of one of the victims, sets out to investigate the shocking phenomenon, and in the process uncovers a…Read moreRead more of this annotation