Top 25 Japanese Romance Movies as of 2018
A collection of the top 25 Japanese romance titles in my opinion. Will be updated as I watch more movies. I listed them in order starting from the best.
For my Korean romance movie list check out Top 40 Must See Korean Romance Movies as of 2016
For my Korean romance movie list check out Top 40 Must See Korean Romance Movies as of 2016
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25 titles
- DirectorSion SonoStarsTakahiro NishijimaHikari MitsushimaSakura AndôA bizarre love triangle forms between a young Catholic upskirt photographer, a misandric girl and a manipulative cultist.Not exclusively romance, but I think it deserves to be number 1 due to the breadth of life lessons and concepts covered in this almost 4 hour epic. If you don't like thinking too much while watching, this won't be the movie for you, but for everyone else this is perfect!
- DirectorTakehiko ShinjôStarsAoi MiyazakiHiroshi TamakiMunetaka AokiA photographer named Makoto travels to New York during Christmas to look for his best friend, Shizuru. The two first met when Makoto attended his university entrance ceremony. Due to his inferiority complex, Makoto tends to shy away other people but Shizuru managed to make him open up to her. Because of their friendship, Shizuru also ended up taking an interest in photography and the two often went to the forest to take pictures. Shizuru wants nothing else but to be by Makoto's side, so when he started liking another girl called Miyuki , Shizuru decided that she too will like Miyuki and becomes her friend. One day , Makoto asked Shizuru what present she'd like to receive for her Birthday. Shizuru , who wants to enter a photography competition, had an idea to take a picture of the two of them kissing in a forest. Makoto agreed to do this and the two kissed for the very first time. After that day, however, Shizuru disappears from Makoto's life.Aoi Miyazaki is absolutely adorable in this film
- DirectorNorihiro KoizumiStarsYuiTakashi TsukamotoKuniko AsagiKaoru has a sickness that hindered her to go out when the sun is up. Despite this sickness, she fell in love with a boy named Koji. If she decides to pursue her love, it will mean risking her life.
- DirectorNatsuki ImaiStarsYui AragakiHaruma MiuraYûko AsanoMika is a fresh high school student who starts texting a mysterious boy. She is shocked when he reveals who he is - Hiro, a delinquent attending her school. What she doesn't know is that Hiro isn't as bad as he seems.
- DirectorIsshin InudôStarsSatoshi TsumabukiChizuru IkewakiJuri UenoTsuneo is a university student working part-time in a mah-jong parlour. Lately the customers have been talking about an old lady who pushes a baby carriage through the streets. They say she is carrying something for a crime syndicate, and they wonder what it is she has in the carriage. Money? Drugs? One day, the owner of the mah-jong parlour sends Tsuneo out to walk his dog. A baby carriage comes rolling down a hill and crashes into a guard rail. The old lady asks him to look into the carriage, where he finds a young woman clutching a knife. This is how Tsuneo first meets the girl who calls herself Josée.18+
- DirectorTakehiko ShinjôStarsMao InoueMasaki OkadaNatsuki HaradaTakuma knows that his life is shorter than the others and he feels that his demise is getting near. He chose to stay away from the girl that he loves so that she can easily move on. What he didn't know is that he is under-estimating her.
- DirectorNobuhiro DoiStarsYui AragakiTôma IkutaNichola GrantThis is a love story of a couple over the span of 10 years. Kouhei fell in love with Sae at first sight and soon they became a couple. But they had to part as Sae aims to go to a college in Tokyo while Kouhei is an aspiring fisherman.
- DirectorJae-young KwakStarsHaruka AyaseKeisuke KoideRisa AiA lonely university student develops a romance with a beautiful interesting woman, who turns out to be a cyborg from the future.
- DirectorTakahiro MikiStarsTôma IkutaYuriko YoshitakaSôsuke TakaokaIt chronicles the love relationship between a boy called Motoharu Yano and a girl called Nanami Takahashi, starting from their teenage years and continuing during their early twenties.Also includes We Were There: True Love (This is a two part series)
- DirectorNobuhiro DoiStarsYûko TakeuchiShidô NakamuraAkashi TakeiA young woman returns from the dead to her guilt-ridden husband and son, but she cannot remember them.
- DirectorNaoto KumazawaStarsHayato IchiharaJuri UenoYû AoiIncompetent film set gopher Tomoya finds out that the girl he loved has died in a plane crash, after he e-mails a picture of a rainbow to her. While her family sets off to retrieve a body, he recalls the love affair they never really had.
- DirectorHiroshi IshikawaStarsAoi MiyazakiHidetoshi NishijimaHiromi NagasakuA high school student named Yu has a crush on one of her classmates, Yosuke. The boy spends most of his time sitting outside and playing his guitar, and Yu sits nearby and listens. One day, however, a terrible tragedy occurs, and the two do not see each other again for many years.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsMiho KannoHidetoshi NishijimaTatsuya MihashiThree stories of never-ending love.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsClaude MakiHiroko ÔshimaSabu KawaharaThe lives of a young, hearing-impaired and gloomy couple are fulfilled after the boy holds interest in surfboarding.
- DirectorShunji IwaiStarsMiho NakayamaEtsushi ToyokawaBunjaku HanWhen exchanging letters two women discover new things about a man they knew.
- DirectorIsao YukisadaStarsTakao OsawaKô ShibasakiMasami NagasawaWhile searching for his fiancee Ritsuko, Sakutarou rediscovers through flashbacks the void deep within him caused by the events from his high school days.
- DirectorTakehiko ShinjôStarsKeiko KitagawaOsamu MukaiShunji IgarashiA chance encounter leads Yukari, a burnt out high school student, to a group of dedicated fashion design students. She becomes their model for their graduating exhibition and discovers her talent for modeling.
- DirectorNaoto KumazawaStarsMikako TabeHaruma MiuraMisako RenbutsuA girl that resemble "Sadako" of the movie Ring is being feared by her classmates. She is avoided by everyone.While everyone is avoiding her, the popular boy Shota Kazehaya befriends her, and their love begins to grow.
- DirectorJun'ichi MoriStarsYôsuke KubozukaKoyukiTakashi NaitôA young man named Teru, mentally altered by a childhood injury, runs a laundry and falls for Mizue, a lonely young woman with internal scars.
- DirectorShunji IwaiStarsTakako MatsuSeiichi TanabeKazuhiko KatoIn spring, a young girl leaves the island of Hokkaido to attend university in Tokyo.
- DirectorNorihiro KoizumiStarsTakeru SatohMasataka KubotaTakashi SorimachiA love story between a famous 25-year-old songwriter, who keeps his identity hidden from the public, and a 16-year-old high school student who possesses a gifted voice.
- DirectorTakahiro MikiStarsTakumi KitamuraMasaki SudaTôko MiuraA salesman named Kosuke Okuda happens to meet Mao Watarai, a friend from his middle school days. Back then Mao was bullied, but now she is an attractive woman. Kosuke and Mao fall in love and decide to marry, but Mao has a secret.
- DirectorNaoto KumazawaStarsMikako TabeHaruma MiuraMisako RenbutsuA girl that resemble "Sadako" of the movie Ring is being feared by her classmates. She is avoided by everyone.While everyone is avoiding her, the popular boy Shota Kazehaya befriends her, and their love begins to grow.
- DirectorAmiy MoriStarsErika TodaKazuki KatôMitsuru FukikoshiNatsuki takes care of her young autistic brother. She then meets her old childhood friend and falls in love, unfortunately he suffers from a serious illness.
- DirectorAkihiko ShiotaStarsKeiko KitagawaRyô NishikidoJun FubukiTsukasa got into a severe car accident when she was a high school student. She still suffers from the effects of that accident, with memory impairment and needing to use a wheelchair. Tsukasa falls in love with taxi driver Masaki. Even though they have difficulties, they try to make a happy family together, but they encounter another serious situation.