Favorite Japanese movies, anyone?

[LittleGaijin]

I had a thread in the old forums about this, so I decided to bring it over here as well! I love watching movies, and I watch a lot of Japanese movies ― but, it's hard for me to find new ones! Let's share our favorite Japanese movies, or share all the ones you've seen before! Someone is bound to suggest something new and amazing to watch!


All the ones I've seen! (That I can remember!)
(I've seen all the Ghibli movies!)
Departures
Still Walking
Nobody Knows
I Wish
Hana yori Dango F
Norwegian Wood
Quill
Waterboys
I Give my First Love to You
Koizora
The Great Happiness Space
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Shall we dance?
G@me
Rabu Kon (Lovely Complex, Live Action)
Hana and Alice
Nana 2

But my favorites are...!
Hanamizuki
Kimi ni Todoke (Live Action)
I Give my First Love to You
Honey and Clover (Live Action)
My Darling is a Foreigner
Umizaru
Howl's Moving Castle
コクリコ坂から

[Jade]

I can't remember all the ones I've seen off the top of my head, but I'm pretty fond of

• Liar Game: The Final Stage
• 逆転裁判/Phoenix Wright
• Crows Zero
• Paradise Kiss
• Suicide Club
• 電車男/Densha Otoko

I've seen a few of the Ghibli movies, and my favourite is Spirited Away/千と千尋の神隠し.

[LittleGaijin]

I watched the Paradise Kiss anime, and I think I kept telling myself that I was gonna watch the movie too―but I never did it!! Ughh! The ending will probably make me mad if it's anything like the anime though...

Crows Zero with my husband Oguri Shun right? Was it any good??

[Jade]

I liked it♥ I don't remember much about the plot though, tbh. （;´▽｀A`` It's been a long time since I've watched it.

[wes1378]

Really Little Gaijin!?!? That's all the Japanese movies you have seen? It's strange that you have seen so few, and yet it's more strange you can list them all. lol Well, I haven't heard very much Japanese pop music and I think you are seriously steeped in that stuff.
I LOVE Japanese movies there are so many really great ones. I used to mainly watch the Feudal period films and Toshiro Mifune was my favorite. In recent years I have enjoyed exploring many other Japanese film styles. I have even discovered I like some Anime thanks to Miyazakisan.
For right now I am going to stick with "The Taste of Tea". If you haven't seen it then get it.
I just finished watching the Anime series Kenichi on Netflix. It was sooo fun!

[LittleGaijin]

wes1378 LOL oh man, that reply! 

Thank you so much for joining the new site! How are you liking it? 


I actually watch more Japanese dramas than movies, so that's why I didn't include dramas and television shows to this thread! I thought that the lists would be too big! I might've seen more movies than this, but I can't remember! I'd really love to watch more though! I don't have much time to sit through 15-20, one hour long episode dramas anymore! Definitely steeped in J-Pop though, since I can listen to it while working!!

I think I watched Taste of Tea before on Netflix!! But that little girl SEVERELY creeped me out the entire way through! I couldn't stop thinking "is she half American/British? She doesn't seem full Japanese...what's going on?" and when I wasn't thinking that, I couldn't understand the point of the movie! A friend even walked in on me watching it, and asked if all the characters were on some sort of drugs. LOL! Definitely a creative, artistic film though! Very interesting! 

I just looked up Toshiro Mifune! He was in a movie called "Stray Dog," and the pictures on Google peaked my interest! I wonder if that movie is good?

[MidoriAbby]

I, like Anna, really like Japanese movies but I haven't watched all that many either. ^^; I've watched most of the ones on Anna's list- the one's I haven't, コクリコ坂から and I Give my First Love to You (I know everyone's seen this one, I'm late to the party LOL)
My favorites overlap a lot, but Hanamizuki is my main number one favorite as well, along with any Gibli movie whatsoever.

[LittleGaijin]

Guuuuuurrrrllll, you need to watch コクリコ坂から and I Give my First Love to You! You would LOVE them!

Kokuriko became my favorite Ghibli movie since watching it! It's just so... very real, and very sentimental! Too many amazing feels from this movie, way too many! "I Give my First Love to You" though... it wasn't exactly the best film ever made, and the morals of the movie were kind of lost. Let's just say that you won't fall in love with Okada Masaki's character completely. His character is very real, and full of desperation which makes him very believable as a character, but... he does a couple things that eventually made me throw my book at the computer screen.

　　 (frown)

[MidoriAbby]

I will definitely put them both on my must-watch list!

[shiori]

Chonmage Purin is my current favorite
Favorite Ghibli is definitely The Cat Returns

[birdbird]

Up on Poppy Hill
Howl's Moving Castle
My Neighbor Totoro
Nausiica
Castle in the Sky
The Cat Returns

I will be watching maybe two Japanese movies for my film classes, Anna.

[LittleGaijin]

Up on Poppy Hill! コクリコ坂から！ That's my favorite Ghibli!

What Japanese movies will you watch in film? I'm so insanely jealous of your film major... get me that job serving coffee to film makers, please! Don't forget about the little people! LITERALLY. 


We should get together and watch Japanese movies sometime!
And then talk about them afterwards like hard-ass movie critics!

[wes1378]

Little Gaijin,
If you are new to Toshiro Mifune I might start with the Samurai Trilogy. These are about Musashi Miyamoto who is the author of the book 五輪書, Go Rin No Sho (The Book of Five Rings). These classic old Japanese movies are very enjoyable to me. They are often catagorized as Martial arts movies, but that does not describe them. They are cultural historical moves. Many of the classic old Japanese films are based on the critical battles in Japanese history that shapped the present nation.
1954-56 Samurai Trilogy
1954 Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto
1955 Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple
1956 Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island

Is there anyone, by the way, who has not seen Shogun. This movie is a must see. The book is a fun read too, but it is a long story and will cut into language study time. ; )

[Jacob]

ナルトが好きだ。

[LittleGaijin]

Hey, thanks for all the suggestions wes1378!

I'm thinking about finding some of these movies, and giving them to my dad for Christmas so that we can watch together! (My dad's very much into old Japanese movies, and is a bit of a Japanese history buff.) I remembered when I first took on the alias "LittleGaijin," and when I showed my dad my blog―he said "oh, so little foreigner?" - I was so surprised! He showed me a book, and said that he learned the word from James Clavell's Shogun series (specifically the second book, I believe, titled as "Gai-Jin"), and he's been trying to get me to read these books ever since!! 

Maybe I'll read the books, and then watch the movie! 


EDIT: Jacob, I used to watch Naruto when I was in middle school! It is sooo popular!