Top 100 Japanese live action movies from the 80s
Widely regarded as the lost decade of Japanese cinema. Plagued by overbloated budgets, death croaks of the studio system and lack of artistic vision, there are still some gems to be found from this era. Selected out of 190 movies personally seen from this decade, here are my personal recommendations.
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- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTatsuya NakadaiAkira TeraoJinpachi NezuIn Medieval Japan, an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them and cause them to turn on each other...and him.
- DirectorKei KumaiStarsEiji OkudaKen WatanabeTakahiro TamuraDowned American fliers in WWII are vivisected by Japanese surgeons in cruel medical experiments.
- DirectorKôhei OguriStarsTakahiro TamuraMariko KagaNobutaka AsaharaIn post-War Japan, a boy from a noodle store-owning family befriends a neighboring boy living in poverty.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTatsuya NakadaiTsutomu YamazakiKen'ichi HagiwaraA petty thief with an utter resemblance to a samurai warlord is hired as the lord's double. When the warlord later dies the thief is forced to take up arms in his place.
- DirectorJûzô ItamiStarsTsutomu YamazakiNobuko MiyamotoKin SugaiWhen Wabisuke's father-in-law unexpectedly dies, the family goes through a series of events and occurrences as the funeral unfolds over three days in their home.
- DirectorYoshimitsu MoritaStarsYûsaku MatsudaJûzô ItamiSaori YukiJapanese parents hire a tutor for their foolish son and get a critic of their lifestyle.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsKen TakakuraChieko BaishôHidetaka YoshiokaA mysterious stranger appears at door of a farmhouse on a stormy night and asks for shelter.
- DirectorShinji SômaiStarsYuichi MikamiYûki KudôTomokazu MiuraThe movie takes place in the five-day period before, during and after a ferocious, seemingly liberating typhoon, which several students endure while marooned in their school gymnasium.
- DirectorShûji TerayamaStarsTsutomu YamazakiMayumi OgawaYoshio HaradaA surreal, isolated village sees its inhabitants gradually leave behind their mutual traditions and superstitions as they leave for the city. Among them are two cousins who love each other and who get into a quarrel with other villagers.
- DirectorMitsuo YanagimachiStarsKin'ya KitaôjiKiwako TaichiNorihei MikiThe villagers in a beautiful remote area of Japan are divided into the woodsmen, who worship the mountain goddess, and the fishermen, who worship the goddess of the sea. These traditions are threatened by a planned marine park. Tatsuo is a macho lumberjack who hunts boars and monkeys with the young Ryota. Tatsuo is married with two children, has four elder sisters, and is under pressure to sell the family land to the developers. When the fish pens are deliberately contaminated by oil, the fishermen suspect Tatsuo. Kimiko, an old girlfriend of Tatsuo, returns to the village to find money to pay off her debts. During the annual fire festival, Tatsuo becomes angry when the old traditions are not preserved.
- DirectorJûzô ItamiStarsKen WatanabeTsutomu YamazakiNobuko MiyamotoA truck driver stops at a small family-run noodle shop and decides to help its fledgling business. The story is intertwined with various vignettes about the relationship of love and food.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsTakeshi KitanoMaiko KawakamiMakoto AshikawaA violence prone police officer discovers that his colleague is trafficking drugs.
- DirectorSeijun SuzukiStarsYûsaku MatsudaMichiyo YasudaMariko KagaA 1920s playwright meets a beautiful woman who may be the ghost of his patron's deceased wife.
- DirectorKinji FukasakuStarsKeiko MatsuzakaMorio KazamaMitsuru HirataA lowly obsequious member of a movie star's entourage agrees to marry his boss's pregnant mistress so he can continue his feckless lifestyle. He then takes up dangerous work as a stunt man to support his new family. Duty and loyalty turn into something deeper.
- DirectorKon IchikawaStarsYoshiko SakumaSayuri YoshinagaYûko KotegawaThe orphaned Makioka sisters look for a husband for their third sister, Yukiko, as the rebellious youngest sister, Taeko, is kept waiting her turn.
- DirectorHiroshi TeshigaharaStarsRentarô MikuniYoshiko MitaTsutomu YamazakiLegendary tea master Sen no Rikyu is faced with his warmongering lord's unrealistic pretensions.
- DirectorNobuhiko ÔbayashiStarsTomoyo HaradaRyôichi TakayanagiToshinori OmiA high-school girl acquires the ability to time travel.
- DirectorKaizô HayashiStarsMoe KamuraShirô SanoKoji OtakeAn aging silent film actress hires a private eye and his wacky but helpful assistant to track down her missing daughter, Bellflower. The two follow a succession of bizarre, obscure clues, until they track down the location of the kidnappers and the daughter.
- DirectorShinji SômaiStarsNoriko HayamiMinori TeradaKiriko ShimizuIn a fit of despair, Muraki decides to kill himself and a prostitute he has picked up. However, he loses his nerve and doesn't go through with it. Two years later he runs into her again.
- DirectorKaizô HayashiStarsHiroshi MikamiMoe KamuraJian XiuTwo brothers, Jinta and Wataru, are raised in a travelling circus. After an accident, Jinta decides to leave the circus and travels the countryside working as a con-man. After a run-in with a local gang of yakuza, he is invited to join their ranks, where he makes the mistake of falling for a boss's mistress. Wataru stays with the circus and works hard to regain its former glory.
- DirectorMasahiro ShinodaStarsHiromi GôShima IwashitaShohei HinoThe tragic story of Gonza, a handsome ladies man, set in the Tokagawa Period, a time in which appearences are very important. Gonza competes with Bannojo for the honor to perform the tea ceremony to celebrate the birth of an heir to the lord of their clan. To see the sacred tea scrolls Gonza promises to marry the daughter of the family which possesses them, even though he is unofficially engaged to another. When studying the scrolls with Osai, the mother of the house, Bannajo sneaks into the house and steals their obis and runs through the town proclaiming the two as adulterers.
- DirectorYoshimitsu MoritaStarsKenji SawadaKanako HiguchiNaoki SugiuraAn emotionless hit man is sent on a mission to a remote town. There he stays with a caretaker / driver / servant / doctor who is given minimal instruction over the phone by "the organization." A prostitute joins them. Death is inevitable, but whose?
- DirectorNobuhiko ÔbayashiStarsMiyoko AkazaTomoyo HaradaWakaba IrieA high school girl travels to the island of New Caledonia and has magical adventures.
- DirectorSeijun SuzukiStarsYoshio HaradaNaoko ÔtaniKisako MakishiA surreal period film following an university professor and his eerie nomad friend as they go through loose romantic triangles and face death in peculiar ways.
- DirectorJûzô ItamiStarsNobuko MiyamotoTsutomu YamazakiMasahiko TsugawaIf tax evasion is an art, wheeler-dealer Hideki Gondo is Rembrandt. And so, a determined taxing woman gets the tough assignment of trying to catch him.
- DirectorKazuo HaraStarsKenzo OkuzakiRiichi AikawaMasaichi HamaguchiA documentary following Kenzo Okuzaki, a 62-year-old WW2 veteran notorious for his protests against Emperor Hirohito, as he tries to expose the needless executions of two Japanese soldiers during the war.
- DirectorNobuhiko ÔbayashiStarsYasuko TomitaToshinori OmiYumiko FujitaLonely and love-struck, high-school student Hiroki pursues one girl but another one mysteriously appears in his life. Is she a figment of his lonely psyche, or real? An intricate triangle develops, and the viewer can't quite be sure what is happening until the whole story is neatly resolved at the end.
- DirectorShinji SômaiStarsKen OgataMasako NatsumeKôichi SatôA young man tries to overcome the hostility of his girlfriend's father, a tuna fisherman, by getting the older man to teach him the secrets of his dangerous trade.
- DirectorNobuhiko ÔbayashiStarsSaburô BôyaIzumi HaraYasufumi HayashiSummer 1937 Japan begins a war with China. Militaristic moods are growing in the country. A group of Japanese schoolchildren do not understand the militaristic hysteria of adults.
- DirectorKichitarô NegishiStarsToshiyuki NagashimaJohnny OhkuraEri IshidaUrban sprawl and corrupt materialism have a devastating effect on farming families near Tokyo.
- DirectorHideo GoshaStarsYûko NatoriRino KataseJinpachi NezuA young woman is sold into the famous red light district brothel in Yoshiwara by her bankrupt father.
- DirectorJun IchikawaStarsHajime HanaYumi NishiyamaHitoshi UekiIn this downbeat, comedic portrait of '80s corporate Japan, a section chief and family man (Hajime Hana) fights off the gloom of his impending retirement by rekindling his youthful love of jazz music.
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsKen OgataSumiko SakamotoTonpei HidariIn a poor 19th century rural Japanese village, everyone who reaches the age of 70 has to climb a nearby mountain to die. An elderly woman is reaching close to her cut-off age during her last days with her family.
- DirectorGo TakamineStarsKaoru KobayashiChikako AoyamaJohn SaylesAfter learning the boss's daughter is a shape shifting pig, an Okinawa sugar cane worker aided by a forest spirit becomes a Robin Hood type getting arms for guerillas against both the US and the Japanese.
- DirectorKei KumaiStarsEiji OkudaToshirô MifuneKinnosuke NakamuraYears after the death of legendary tea master Rikyu, his disciple Honkakubo attempts to resolve the mystery of the master's death.
- DirectorKei KumaiStarsTatsuya NakadaiIchirô NakataniYôko AsajiIn 1949, Mr. Shimoyama, governor of Japan National Railroads, was found dead, run by train, after a mysterious disappearance. Officially it was considered suicide, but many suspected he was killed for some political conspiracy.
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsYoshiko TanakaKazuo KitamuraEtsuko IchiharaThe story of the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, based on Masuji Ibuse's novel.
- DirectorYasuo FuruhataStarsKen TakakuraChieko BaishôAyumi IshidaConstantly put to the test and faced with tragedy wherever he turns, can a man finally find solace and a modicum of love or rest with what is left of his hometown, his family, love or himself?
- DirectorShin'ya TsukamotoStarsTomorô TaguchiKei FujiwaraNobu KanaokaA businessman accidentally kills The Metal Fetishist, who gets his revenge by slowly turning the man into a grotesque hybrid of flesh and rusty metal.
- DirectorYoshishige YoshidaStarsRentarô MikuniChôichirô KawarasakiOrie SatôAn old woman has died and her widower with dementia confesses to killing her. After this, the story goes back in time to show the events leading up to her death.
- DirectorJun IchikawaStarsRyo TakayamaNeko SaitoNobuo NakamuraIn a world slowly overrun with technology the line between reality and virtuality begins to blur as not only the younger generation, but also the older one is becoming absorbed. Where the 'real world' could be drab and colourless, in contrast, the world of computers and games could be vivid and tantalizing. Could the characters, and the larger society, change this attitude?
- DirectorNobuhiko ÔbayashiStarsSatomi KobayashiToshinori OmiMakoto Satô9th-graders Kazuo (boy) and Kazumi (girl) take a tumble at a temple in a small seacoast town in Japan. Through supernatural intervention, their minds and bodies are switched, and the result is a touching and hilarious coming-of-age comedy as they attempt to survive the pressures of junior high school life.
- DirectorTôru MurakawaStarsYûsaku MatsudaMako MidoriAkemi MariA journalist steals a gun from a cop after killing him and goes on a spree of robbery and murder.
- DirectorNobuhiko ÔbayashiStarsKiwako HaradaNoriko WatanabeRiki TakeuchiAfter a failed romance, a temperamental young biker meets a carefree rural girl while riding through her island hometown and gets her obsessed about riding a motorcycle.
- DirectorChisho ItohStarsKeiko UemuraKenta KaiMidori KiuchiWhen Ryo arrives in Tokyo from the Aomori Prefecture he finds employment cleaning windows of high-rises. Pre-teen girl Kagari lives inside one of the buildings. Ryo and Kagari lock gazes for a moment. It is a moment when one can help the other, but also a moment when two persons who usually cannot communicate do.
- DirectorJun IchikawaStarsYasuko TomitaMichiyo YasudaKazue ItôSuzume moved in Tokyo where she will live in aunt's house, basically a geisha house. She have no interest in any social activity, nor any friendship with classmates. She's not into geisha life style too. When school is up to celebrate it's 100 year anniversary class have to prepare something for culture fest and, after chain of misfortune events, she decides to made it on stage with old dance, somewhat of her mothers legacy.
- DirectorToshio MatsumotoStarsYôji MatsudaShijaku KatsuraHideo MurotaA young man kills his bride on the day of his marriage and goes insane. He wakes up in an asylum with no memory, left in the hands of two mysterious doctors who relate his condition with his biological identity.
- DirectorToshio MasudaStarsKen OgataYukiyo ToakeTôru EmoriA fierce succession battle ignites at a newspaper company when the president passes away.
- DirectorKazuki ÔmoriStarsMasato FuruoyaRan ItôMasahiro MitsutaA medical student wonders if he's really cut out to be a doctor.
- DirectorYasuo FuruhataStarsKen TakakuraReiko ÔharaTokiko KatôEiji, also known as Choji, quits the shipyard to start Izakaya Choji (snack bar) with his wife Shigeko on the outskirts of Hakodate.
- DirectorYôjirô TakitaStarsYûya UchidaYumi AsôTakeshi KitanoKinameri is a moderately successful television journalist itching for a big scoop. So when a corrupt local businessman barricades himself in his house, of course he's going to be excited with things picking up.
- DirectorYoshitarô NomuraStarsTsunehiko WataseYukiyo ToakeMayuko WakamoriA five-year-old girl gets a tiny scratch on her finger while playing with mud in a marsh. After that, she suffers all kinds of horrible spasms including biting her tongue.
- DirectorHaruhiko MimuraStarsTsunehiko WataseYûko TanakaMikijirô HiraJapan in the 1940s. A high school boy went into a magic encounter with Ozuka Hana, a geisha (pub-girl) when he traveled through Amagi Pass. A mysterious murder took place afterwards, an Ozuka was held responsible. 40 years later, the boy, who became a printing shop owner, was visited by a retired policeman who came from Amagi Pass. The truth then started to reveal itself.
- DirectorYoshishige YoshidaStarsYûsaku MatsudaYûko TanakaTatsuo NadakaA retelling of Emily Bronte's tale of vengeance and obsessive love, set in medieval Japan.
- DirectorGakuryû IshiiStarsKatsuya KobayashiMitsuko BaishôYoshiki ArizonoAfter moving into a new house, a family starts acting crazier and crazier.
- DirectorHideo GoshaStarsKen OgataYukiyo ToakeYûko NatoriThe story of Iwago, a troubled Japanese man who has grave personal problems and strained relationships with his wife and step children.
- DirectorShinji SômaiStarsYuki SaitôTakaaki EnokiKiminori SeraA young girl gets adopted by a family that holds her like a slave and is later "freed" by a young man working for the family's company. 10 years later, she gets involved in the murder of one of her step-sisters.
- DirectorYoshimitsu MoritaStarsYûsaku MatsudaMiwako FujitaniKaoru KobayashiDaisuke (Yusaku Matsuda) is supposed to be out looking for a respectable job and equally respectable wife. He is 30 years old and devotes his attention to music and literature; his family is wealthy and can support his interests. When his friend Hiraoka (Kaoru Kobayashi) returns with his wife Michiyo (Miwako Fujitani), problems arise.
- DirectorYûsaku MatsudaStarsYûsaku MatsudaRyo IshibashiSatomi TezukaThe story of Kaze; where he comes from and where he is going, nobody knows. A man without a real name and past, and without memory.
- DirectorYasuo FuruhataStarsKen TakakuraAyumi IshidaHisamitsu NakamuraShuji was once a feared member of the Yakuza crime syndicate, but he's reformed his ways, abandoned his old life and left the city for a small coastal fishing town where he's become an honest fisherman.
- DirectorMitsuo YanagimachiStarsJinpachi NezuKumiko AkiyoshiJirô YabukiThe film opens with the drowning deaths of farmer Yukio's two sons. Their deaths send him on a course of self-destruction.
- DirectorToshiya FujitaStarsKenji SawadaMasatoshi MurakamiShiori SakuraIn what turned out to be the final work of Toshiya Fujita, we follow the titular revolver as it passes, coincidentally or deliberately, from owner to owner and home to home bringing misery, curse or surprise to its then current owner. By following the gun the viewer meets its owners and gets to know their lives in a nondescript middle-class Japanese town. As it happens, an evil lies dormant in the hearts of some and a vile instrument can awaken it.
- DirectorKon IchikawaStarsMomoe YamaguchiTomokazu MiuraKeiko KishiKoto is a 1980 film directed by Kon Ichikawa starring Momoe Yamaguchi and Tomokazu Miura in an adaptation of Yasunari Kawabata's story The Old Capital.
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsKen OgataMitsuko BaishôChun-Hsiung KoA Japanese immigrant in 1901 Hong Kong wishes to become a simple shopkeeper. Fate soon intervenes, allowing him to mix adventure and fervent patriotism with greed.
- DirectorJunji SakamotoStarsHidekazu AkaiHaruko SagaraYoshio HaradaA Japanese boxer stages a dramatic and dangerous comeback after suffering brain damage in the ring.
- DirectorTôru KawashimaStarsShôji KanekoEiko NagashimaKôji KitaRyuji tries to quit yakuza and spend a decent life with his wife Mariko and daughter Aya, but as he's used to getting easy money, it'd become hard for him to work hard and get little. Eventually he's back to where he belongs.
- DirectorKihachi OkamotoStarsGô RijûYû FujikiIchirô ZaitsuA young man gets thrown into detention after an episode of sexual assault and soon meets several impostors in the same situation.
- DirectorKazuki ÔmoriStarsKaoru KobayashiKimie ShingyôjiKai AtôA student travels back to Kobe for the summer. Once there, he meets his friend Rat, hangs on the usual place, listening to the Beach Boys and meets a mysterious twin girl.
- DirectorYoshitarô NomuraStarsKaori MomoiShima IwashitaAkira EmotoThe story follow a court case of a woman accused of having killed her husband.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsShôji FurutaTakako MikiYasuko YagamiOn 6 August 1945, in the city of Hiroshima, a small itinerant troupe of actors led by Sadao Maruyama fell victim to an atomic bombing. Kaneto Shindo collects evidence of this tragedy and reconstructs the events of August 1945.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsKeiju KobayashiNobuko OtowaIchirô ZaitsuHaru, an aging scriptwriter, has isolated himself somewhere in the woods of Nagano to work on his first novel. As the last surviving member of his kin, he intends to chronicle the family he grew up in.
- DirectorHideo GoshaStarsTatsuya NakadaiShima IwashitaKôichi SatôDuring the Meiji era, a brutal prison warden terrorizes convicts sentenced to forced labor to build the roads needed to open up the territory in the icy wilderness of Hokkaido.
- DirectorNobuhiko ÔbayashiStarsSatomi KobayashiKisuke YamashitaToshie NegishiAfter reading a newspaper article about a town being destroyed in a fire, Eguchi begins to recall the summer he spent there writing his thesis. It's a beautiful canal town, the "Venice of Japan." As he arrives, he is greeted by the daughter of the Kaibara household, Yasuko. The rest of her family seems mysteriously absent. On his first night, Eguchi hears the stifled sound of crying. He attempts to find the source, and is soon drawn into the conflict that is tearing the family apart. While he likens the town to a dream, some of the inhabitants do not share his feelings. There is a sense of being stuck in time, with ruin and death the only future.
- DirectorKinji FukasakuKoreyoshi KuraharaStarsBunta SugawaraKeiko MatsuzakaKôichi SatôThe story of Shinsuke, a young man who lives through a stormy life as a poverty-stricken coal miner.
- DirectorBanmei TakahashiStarsRyûdô UzakiKeiko TakahashiMisako WatanabeAn ardent culture-vulture youth, previously charged for the murder of a woman when he was young, plans to hold hostage a local bank.
- DirectorToshiharu IkedaStarsMari ShiratoKentarô ShimizuJun EtôWoman is avenging the death of her husband in this slightly supernatural drama.
- DirectorJûzô ItamiStarsNobuko MiyamotoRentarô MikuniMasahiko TsugawaRyoko Itakura returns as the government tax agent willing to tackle the toughest cases. This time she takes on a fanatical but lucrative religious cult run by a vile lecher.
- DirectorNobuhiko ÔbayashiStarsMorio KazamaKumiko AkiyoshiTsurutarô KataokaA recently divorced writer is reunited with the ghosts of his parents who died when he was a boy. However, every time he sees them he loses more life energy. Now, he must choose between starting a new life or staying forever in the past.
- DirectorMasayuki SuôStarsMasahiro MotokiHonami SuzukiKen OhsawaYohei, a punk rocker, has to become a Buddhist monk in order to inherit a mountain temple. Yohei though initially rebelling against the tough monastic discipline learns to adjust. Then his girlfriend shows up, enticing him to return to his rock 'n' roll roots.
- DirectorToshio GotôStarsKô NishimuraJunzaburô BanMihoko FujitaAfter an old man is attacked by a bear in the snowy mountains of northern Japan, he vows to hunt down the marauder.
- DirectorShin'ichirô SawaiStarsHiroko YakushimaruYoshiko MitaMasanori SeraYoung college student Shizuka is given the opportunity to act in a stage play with professionals. Shizuka is willing to go to great lengths to master this role of a lifetime, but as the plot unfolds, she realizes that real life events are beginning to parallel events in the play.
- DirectorKôhei OguriStarsJun HamamuraTokie HidariTami HonA film about the substantial population of Koreans living in Japan, and the love affair between Kayako, a Japanese girl, and Im, a Korean.
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsShigeru IzumiyaKaori MomoiMasao KusakariNear the turbulent end of the Edo era, a man returning to Japan after exile in America searches for his wife and becomes swept up in the current of revolution in this incisive period drama from the great Shohei Imamura.
- DirectorSoo-Kil KimStarsTamotsu IshibashiGen KodamaYoriko Dôguchi2 almost inseparable friends. The talented painter recognized by all decided to leave the town where they live and become an artist and the shy poet who only sees his future in his mother's business.
- DirectorHideo GoshaStarsShima IwashitaRino KataseAkiko KanaWhile her husband is in prison doing time, Tamaki, the wife of a yakuza capo, runs her spouse's gang with an iron hand. Meanwhile, Makoto, her younger sister, marries a member of a rival band after being raped by him. The two sisters, united by blood ties but married to enemy yakuzas, will ultimately have to decide whose side they're on.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsTerutake TsujiNobuko OtowaKazuki MinabuchiBlack Board tells the story of middle school bullying taken to the point of homicide.
- DirectorKinji FukasakuStarsKen OgataAyumi IshidaMieko HaradaIn the 50s, the complicated life of a popular writer who must share his life with his family, his numerous mistresses and his work. Adapted from autobiographical story by Kazuo Dan, who published it a few months before his death.
- DirectorKichitarô NegishiStarsHiroko YakushimaruYûsaku MatsudaLisa AkikawaA private detective and a college student find themselves in hot water while investigating the murder of a night club owner.
- DirectorEiichi KudôStarsYûsaku MatsudaHyôe EnokiMari HenmiBJ is a relatively unknown blues singer who scraps some bars in Yokohama. He does not earn much with it and to make ends meet he also acts as a private detective.
- DirectorNobuhiko ÔbayashiStarsBengalMasako MotaiYasufumi HayashiThe film is based on true events. It centers around Shunzo, a popular greengrocer who lives in a city near Tokyo. His life, and that of his wife, Michi and their two children, undergoes a dramatic change when he encounters Li, a poor college student from China.
- DirectorYôjirô TakitaStarsTakeshi KagaKaori MomoiHiromi IwasakiComedy about a family and their obsession for making money.
- DirectorYôichi HigashiStarsYôsuke NatsukiReiko ÔshidaHiroaki MurakamiIn the wilderness of Hokkaido, the story of a couple in their 30s and a couple in their 20s is drawn, and the subtle emotions of the two men and women are depicted with intense Eros and delicate images under the theme of marriage exchange.
- DirectorHideo GoshaStarsKen OgataKimiko IkegamiAtsuko AsanoThe loves and tragedies of a geisha in 1933 Japan.
- DirectorKazuyuki IzutsuStarsShinsuke ShimadaRyûsuke MatsumotoBang-ho ChoFollowing a stint in reform school, Ryu returns to his home, the Minami area of Osaka, accompanied by his friend Ko. He's greeted by his friends, Chabo and Ken. They seek to forge their own path through a multitude of rival gangs.
- DirectorKon IchikawaStarsYutaka MizutaniToshiyuki NagashimaRie NakaharaThere is a shooting at a small bookstore in town. When the police arrive they find three victims two of whom have already died. One of the dead uttered something strange before dying. The criminal has fled the scene. Coincidentally, one of the victims is the girlfriend of one of the policemen.
- DirectorKichitarô NegishiStarsYûji HonmaYuki NinagawaEiko NagashimaA working class young man, Tetsuo, who distrusts all rich people, falls in love with a girl, Chika, from an affluent family. He has a difficult time, but love survives despite the problems.
- DirectorSadao NakajimaStarsKen'ichi HagiwaraYumiko FujitaMichiko KohnoThe culturally isolated, nomadic Seburi people of western Japan are the subject of this tragedy about a few of the community's members who especially experience difficulties as modern Japan encroaches on their world. The setting is World War II, and conflicts have already arisen when the military police come to take Seburi men away into the army. Still following their own customs that can be harsh at times, and are particularly cruel to women (women must give birth alone and unaided, a woman's adultery is punished by burying her up to her neck in the earth and then leaving her for days), the Seburi are mainly treated with fear and animosity by the non-Seburi townspeople of the region. Along with the hardships arising from cultural clashes, nature's own vagaries present other challenges to the Seburi -- who still lived in tents until the 1950s. Winter avalanches and snowstorms cause as much havoc as the tensions engendered by the slow encroachment of the modern world.
- DirectorKon IchikawaStarsSayuri YoshinagaMitsuko MoriBunta SugawaraThe life of Kinuyo Tanaka, who has played in many Kenji Mizoguchi's films.
- DirectorNoboru TanakaStarsMasato FuruoyaMisako TanakaKumiko ÔbaAn emotionally distraught young man goes on a violent killing spree after his tuberculosis keeps him from serving in World War II and is frowned upon by his fellow villagers.