Discover the best of Japanese cinema, film, and television

Discover the definitive list of popular and critically-acclaimed movies and TV shows from Japan. Find your next binge-watch, streaming on Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Prime Video, and other top services!

The cinema of Japan

Japanese cinema is a giant of the art form, a culture with two powerful, legendary hearts: the masterful legacy of its live-action filmmakers and the world-conquering magic of its animation. The nation’s cinematic golden age gave the world the legendary Akira Kurosawa, whose epic samurai films like Seven Samurai became a global cinematic language, influencing everything from westerns to sci-fi. Yet this same era produced the quiet, profound humanism of Yasujirō Ozu, a master of the gentle family drama. It is a cinema of incredible range. But Japan also has a brilliantly playful and terrifying side. It is the nation that unleashed Godzilla, inventing the entire 'kaiju' or giant monster genre. In the 90s, it reinvented horror with the chilling psychological dread of J-Horror classics like Ring (Ringu), whose influence is still felt today. Its most powerful global cultural export is undoubtedly anime. The art form reached sublime heights with the breathtaking films of Studio Ghibli and the visionary Hayao Miyazaki. What was once a niche interest has become a dominant global culture, powering countless beloved television series and blockbuster films that captivate audiences of all ages. What makes Japanese cinema so endlessly fascinating is this perfect harmony between ancient tradition and startling innovation, between the quietest human moment and the most spectacular fantasy.

Best Japanese series

  • Poster for Death Note

    Death Note 2006

    Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects—and he’s bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But will Light succeed in his noble goal, or will the Death Note turn him into the very thing he fights against?

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  • Poster for Attack on Titan

    Attack on Titan 2013

    Many years ago, the last remnants of humanity were forced to retreat behind the towering walls of a fortified city to escape the massive, man-eating Titans that roamed the land outside their fortress. Only the heroic members of the Scouting Legion dared to stray beyond the safety of the walls – but even those brave warriors seldom returned alive. Those within the city clung to the illusion of a peaceful existence until the day that dream was shattered, and their slim chance at survival was reduced to one horrifying choice: kill – or be devoured!

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  • Poster for Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

    Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 2009

    Disregard for alchemy’s laws ripped half of Edward Elric’s limbs from his body and left his brother Alphonse’s soul clinging to a suit of armor. To restore what was lost, the brothers seek the Philosopher’s Stone. Enemies and allies – the corrupt military, the Homunculi, and foreign alchemists – will alter the Elric brothers course, but their purpose will remain unchanged and their bond unbreakable.

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  • Poster for One-Punch Man

    One-Punch Man 2015

    Saitama is a hero who only became a hero for fun. After three years of “special” training, though, he's become so strong that he's practically invincible. In fact, he's too strong — even his mightiest opponents are taken out with a single punch, and it turns out that being devastatingly powerful is actually kind of a bore. With his passion for being a hero lost along with his hair, yet still faced with new enemies every day, how much longer can he keep it going?

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  • Poster for Cowboy Bebop

    Cowboy Bebop 1998

    In 2071, roughly fifty years after an accident with a hyperspace gateway made the Earth almost uninhabitable, humanity has colonized most of the rocky planets and moons of the Solar System. Amid a rising crime rate, the Inter Solar System Police (ISSP) set up a legalized contract system, in which registered bounty hunters, also referred to as "Cowboys", chase criminals and bring them in alive in return for a reward.

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  • Poster for Naruto

    Naruto 2002

    Naruto Uzumaki, a mischievous adolescent ninja, struggles as he searches for recognition and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the village's leader and strongest ninja.

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Best Japanese movies

  • Poster for Spirited Away

    Spirited Away 2001

    A young girl, Chihiro, becomes trapped in a strange new world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious transformation, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free her family.

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  • Poster for Your Name.

    Your Name. 2016

    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.

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  • Poster for Howl's Moving Castle

    Howl's Moving Castle 2004

    Sophie, a young milliner, is turned into an elderly woman by a witch who enters her shop and curses her. She encounters a wizard named Howl and gets caught up in his resistance to fighting for the king.

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  • Poster for My Neighbor Totoro

    My Neighbor Totoro 1988

    Two sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits of the forest. When the youngest runs away from home, the older sister seeks help from the spirits to find her.

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  • Poster for Princess Mononoke

    Princess Mononoke 1997

    Ashitaka, a prince of the disappearing Emishi people, is cursed by a demonized boar god and must journey to the west to find a cure. Along the way, he encounters San, a young human woman fighting to protect the forest, and Lady Eboshi, who is trying to destroy it. Ashitaka must find a way to bring balance to this conflict.

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  • Poster for Godzilla Minus One

    Godzilla Minus One 2023

    In postwar Japan, Godzilla brings new devastation to an already scorched landscape. With no military intervention or government help in sight, the survivors must join together in the face of despair and fight back against an unrelenting horror.

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