What are the Best Japanese Movies of 2025?
Cinema Escapist’s editors have crafted this list of the top 10 Japanese films of 2025, spanning numerous genres including anime, historical, horror, comedy, thriller, action, family drama, and more.
Our choices feature not only big-budget blockbusters, but also socially conscious independent films. In line with Cinema Escapist’s editorial mission, we’ve also intentionally tilted this list towards movies that have some degree of sociopolitical significance.
Scroll down, and find out more about the best Japanese movies of 2024!
If applicable, we’ve also included links to stream movies on services like Netflix—though exact availability may vary by region and is not guaranteed.
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10. Baka’s Identity
Japanese Title: 愚か者の身分 (Orokamono no Mibun) | Director: Koto Nagata | Starring: Takumi Kitamura, Go Ayano, Yuta Hayashi, Mizuki Yamashita | Genre(s): Crime, Drama, Suspense
In Baka’s Identity, director Koto Nagata delivers a searing indictment of Japan’s widening economic gaps, especially as it pertains to youths. The film is a gritty crime thriller that focuses on three men in Kabukicho who pose as women to scam lonely men. Popular stars Takumi Kitamura and Go Ayano star alongside breakout Yuta Hayashi as these three protagonists, who become a “found family” with echoes of Kore-eda’s Shoplifters.
Besides social commentary and solid acting, the most noteworthy part of Baka’s Identity is its Rashomon-like multi-perspective storytelling. The film shows the same three days from the different perspectives of its three leads, and reveals new layers of truth each time that it revisits the narrative. It’s a delicate but dynamic film that demonstrates high production values whilst containing social consciousness.
9. Blonde
Japanese Title: 金髪 (Kinpatsu) | Director: Yuichiro Sakashita | Starring: Takanori Iwata, Tamaki Shiratori, Mugi Kadowaki | Genre(s): Drama, Comedy
A sharp, socially conscious satire, Blonde is best described as a “coming-of-middle-age” drama with crowd-pleasing elements. The movie centers on a lazy 30 year-old junior high school teacher, whose life gets upended when his students all dye their hair blonde in order to protest overly strict school rules on student behavior. Along the way, the movie blends in critiques of not only Japan’s educational bureaucracy, but also age-related social pressures as well as Japan’s broader culture of conformity.
Interestingly, the school rules that Blonde focuses on have roots in reality. Such “black school rules” that restrict everything from hair color to underwear color have caused much grief amongst Japanese students over the years, and even inspired other movies like 2019’s Black School Rules. Public attention to said rules especially increased after a former student filed a lawsuit against her school in 2017 after being forced to dye her naturally brown hair black. Supposedly, Japan’s education ministry revised its guidance in 2022 to encourage schools to abolish such “black school rules”—though apparently, they are still enough in the public consciousness that Blonde can be resonant enough with film producers.
8. Bullet Train Explosion
Japanese Title: 新幹線大爆破 (Shinkansen Daibakuha) | Director: Shinji Higuchi | Starring: Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Takumi Saitoh, Non, Kanata Hosoda | Genre(s): Action, Thriller, Disaster
Bullet Train Explosion is an easily accessible and entertaining action movie that’s best described as the Hollywood movie Speed, but set on a Japanese Shinkansen bullet train. The movie centers on a group of characters who learn that the Shinkansen train they’re riding has a bomb on board, rigged to detonate if the train’s speed drops below 100 km/h. As the train barrels towards Tokyo, passengers, crew, and outside dispatchers must identify the bomber whilst ensuring the train does not blow up and kill everyone.
Fans of Train to Busan will find similar elements of inter-passenger struggles in Bullet Train Explosion. Those who enjoyed 2016’s Shin Godzilla, will probably also like Bullet Train Explosion—both movies are by the same director, and contain similar themes in critiquing Japan’s bureaucracy through action-packed cinematic narratives.
Stream this Japanese movie on Netflix.
7. Brand New Landscape
Japanese Title: 見晴らし世代 (Miwarashi Sedai) | Director: Yuiga Danzuka | Starring: Kodai Kurosaki, Kenichi Endo, Mai Kiryu, Akiko Kikuchi | Genre(s): Drama
If you’re looking for a film that captures the soul of contemporary Tokyo, Brand New Landscape is a 2025 Japanese movie to look out for. The debut feature from 26-year-old Yuiga Danzuka—the youngest Japanese director ever selected for Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight—is a quiet masterpiece of urban alienation set in Tokyo’s Shibuya ward.
The film follows Ren, an introverted delivery driver who attempts to reconcile with his father—a famous architect—after his mother’s death. Danzuka uses this broken family dynamic as a way to critique Japan’s “scrap-and-build” culture of constantly demolishing and redeveloping buildings, implying that the alienation between Ren and his father mirrors the alienation that Tokyo experiences when historical buildings and indigent residents are cleared away for soulless new developments.
Brand New Landscape contains stunning visuals, particularly for anyone into urban scenery. The movie evokes Edward Yang and Yasujiro Ozu with its depictions of the looming Tokyo cityscape, making the city itself a character in its meditative drama.
6. Renoir
Japanese Title: ルノワール (Renoir) | Director: Chie Hayakawa | Starring: Yui Suzuki, Lily Franky, Hikari Ishida, Ayumu Nakajima | Genre(s): Drama, Coming-of-Age
Following her acclaimed 2022 movie Plan 75 (which made our best Japanese movies listicle for that year), director Chie Hayakawa returns with Renoir, a tender exploration of childhood grief set against the frenetic backdrop of Japan’s 1980s economic bubble. The film follows 11-year-old Fuki (played by newcomer Yui Suzuki), who copes with her father’s (played by veteran actor Lily Franky) terminal illness by retreating into a private world of telepathy and supernatural fascination, all while her mother is consumed by her demanding job.
Reminiscent of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Nobody Knows, Renoir anchors its narrative on a riveting child performance, avoiding melodrama in favor of a quiet, impressionistic realism. Hayakawa uses this intimate portrait of a family to critique the cost of Japan’s constant obsession with productivity, showing how this obsession can suppress healthy expressions of grief.
5. Chainsaw Man: Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc
Japanese Title: 劇場版チェンソーマン レゼ篇 (Gekijōban Chainsaw Man Reze-hen) | Director: Tatsuya Yoshihara | Starring: Kikunosuke Toya, Tomori Kusunoki, Reina Ueda, Fairouz Ai | Genre(s): Animation, Action, Dark Fantasy
We at Cinema Escapist aren’t the most enthusiastic about the numerous anime franchise blockbuster adaptations that have come to clog Japanese box offices in recent years. However, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc seems still worth highlighting. While the movie delivers the explosive gore expected of its shonen manga roots, it also transcends the genre to become a poignant exploration of exploited youth, and retains the geopolitical themes of its source material.
Those familiar with the Chainsaw Man manga series should know that this movie adapts the manga’s “Bomb Girl” arc, which chronicles protagonist Denji’s relationship with Bomb Girl Reze. For those not familiar with the original manga, Denji is an impoverished teenager who gains the ability to change parts of his body into chainsaws, and joins a government agency focused on combating “Devils” that pose a threat to Japan.
Just like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc blends its kinetic violence with a critique of state-sponsored dehumanization, and depicts children as disposable tools of Cold War geopolitics; the franchise is set in a world where the US and Soviet Union are still at odds. The movie is a visual tour de force that blends action with smarts, and unsurprisingly became one of the highest grossing Japanese films of 2025.
4. Two Seasons, Two Strangers
Japanese Title: 旅と日々 (Tabi to Hibi) | Director: Sho Miyake | Starring: Shim Eun-kyung, Shinichi Tsutsumi, Yumi Kawai | Genre(s): Drama
Two Seasons, Two Strangers was one of Japan’s more critical successful movies on the international art house festival circuit in 2025, with wins like the prestigious Golden Leopard at 2025’s Locarno Film Festival. Adapting two 1960s manga by Yoshiharu Tsuge, the movie utilizes an innovative “film-within-a-film” structure. Its first half focuses on the summertime seaside encounter between two youths, while its second half centers on the Korean screenwriter of the first half’s story, who travels to a wintry mountain village in order to cope with writer’s block.
Miyake uses this duality to masterfully explore the nuances of modern loneliness and the quiet labor of artistic creation. The result has echoes of Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo; Two Seasons, Two Strangers rewards patience with profound emotional resonance, though it firmly plants itself in indie art house territory with little ambition for broader appeal.
3. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle
Japanese Title: 劇場版「鬼滅の刃」無限城編 | Director: Haruo Sotozaki | Starring: Natsuki Hanae, Akari Kito, Hiro Shimono, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka | Genre(s): Animation, Action, Dark Fantasy
A followup sequel to 2020’s massive blockbuster hit Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train, 2025’s Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle smashed box office records yet again as the #1 grossing Japanese movie of the year, solidifying the Demon Slayer franchise’s legendary status in Japanese media.
The movie adapts from the already hugely popular Demon Slayer manga franchise and focuses on efforts of the protagonist Demon Slayer Corps attempting to fight their way out of a multi-dimensional stronghold called the Infinity Castle. Like its predecessor Mugen Train, Infinity Castle is a visual spectacle that seamlessly blends 3D CGI with 2d swordsmanship, and explores themes of duty and vengeance. While we at Cinema Escapist would prefer Japanese cinema to diversify beyond manga franchise sequels, it’s hard to ignore the cultural impact that Infinity Castle has created.
2. Exit 8
Japanese Title: ８番出口 (Hachiban Deguchi) | Director: Genki Kawamura | Starring: Kazunari Ninomiya, Nana Komatsu, Yamato Kochi, Hikakin | Genre(s): Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Based on a viral indie hit video game, Exit 8 is yet more proof that video games can be the seeds of high art, whilst also not sacrificing entertainment value. This psychological thriller follows “The Lost Man” (Kazunari Ninomiya), a salaryman who becomes trapped in an infinitely looping subway corridor. To escape, he must spot “anomalies” in his environment—or be “reset” back to Exit 0 of the corridor.
Exit 8 transcends its puzzle-solving premise to offer a bleak, poignant meditation on the monotony of modern corporate life; its endless sterile hallway serves as a frightening metaphor for the soullessness of Japan’s emphasis on social conformity. Anchored by Ninomiya’s pitch-perfect performance and a pulsing score by Yasutaka Nakata, the film builds suffocating tension without relying on cheap jump scares. With plaudits from major international festivals like Cannes and Sitges, Exit 8 stands out as a masterclass in immersive horror that will leave you eyeing your morning commute with newfound suspicion.
1. Kokuho
Japanese Title: 国宝 (Kokuho) | Director: Lee Sang-il | Starring: Ryo Yoshizawa, Ken Watanabe, Ryusei Yokohama, Shinobu Terajima | Genre(s): Drama, Period, Historical
Our selection for the #1 Japanese movie of 2025 is Kokuho, whose name literally translates to “national treasure”. This film is not merely a drama about theater; it is a sweeping, operatic dissection of the post-war Japanese soul. Centering on as a yakuza orphan who infiltrates the insular world of kabuki theater, the film charts a fifty-year rivalry with his master’s heir in a storyline that evokes the Chinese classic Farewell My Concubine.
Visually, Kohuko is a feast of brocade and blood, yet beneath the spectacle lies a sharp critique of a society obsessed with lineage over merit. Ken Watanabe anchors the cast with Oscar-worthy gravitas, bridging the gap between the violent underworld and the refined stage. As both a record-breaking box office phenomenon and Japan’s official submission for 2025’s Best International Film Oscar, Kokuho stands unrivaled as the best Japanese film of 2025—a mesmerizing meditation on the heavy price of artistic immortality.
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