Kumi Mizuno

An NHK documentary about the talented actresses who have portrayed the beautiful, intelligent and resourceful heroines of the long running series. Features interviews with Kumi Mizuno, Keiko Mari, Yumiko Shaku, and Megumi Odaka. Also featured are never before seen 8mm home movies shot by producer Tomoyuki Tanaka on the sets of classic Toho films.

Kei Omori did not have anything he wanted to do with his life. Without any specific reasons, he enrolled in a special nursing school. After his graduation, he begins work at a small-size multi-functional facility as a care worker. He has a hard time communicating with the elderly people with dementia. For the first time, he is placed in charge of 79-year-old Keiko Hoshikawa who has dementia. With the help of the staff and trial-and-error, he develops a relationship with Keiko.

Broadcasted stage adaptation of The Human Vapor by Toho & NHK.

Humanity final rids themselves of Godzilla, in-prisoning him in an icy tomb at the South Pole. Years later all is peaceful until various monsters emerge to lay waste to Earth's cities. Overwhelmed, humanity is seemingly saved by a race of benevolent aliens known as Xiliens. But not all is what it seems with these bizarre visitors. If humanity wishes to survive they must reluctantly resurrect their most hated enemy, Godzilla.

6.4/10
5%

Decades after the original, a new Godzilla emerges in Tateyama. The Japanese government commission a new defense measure. A cyborg Godzilla, made from the remains of the original monster that devastated Japan in 1954.

6.7/10

A wealthy matriarch is kidnapped by a gang of three. She is insulted by the amount of money they propose to demand as ransom, and a strange interchange of roles takes place.

6.7/10

A collection of deleted scenes and bloopers from the library of Toho Studios films, including several films from the famous Godzilla franchise.

1980 Japanese film distributed by Shochiku.

A youthful film depicting the sexual awakening of a boy who has just entered adolescence and his heartbreaking romance during the summer holidays with a young sprightly girl.

6.3/10

Aboard a night ferry in the Inland Sea, Masaaki Kagari (Akira Kobayashi), a young tough, who supplies hostesses to night spots, encounters Yuko, his ex-sweetheart. He considers himself a private underworld sort of policeman-in the com- munity of such women. Yuko, now a bar proprietress, is under the protection of Tahei Daigo, a sinister gang boss who in his quest for chances of good investments abroad plans to offer young girls to rich foreigners. Asked to gather attractive girls by Yuko, now Tahei's puppet, Masaaki collects many only to find them mysteriously missing...

A yakuza member embarks on a trail of revenge for his murdered boss. Senzo, the successor of the Mita Family, searches for the man bearing a tattoo of a dragon who is said to be responsible for the death of their former leader.

7.4/10

In Hong Kong an International Secret Police (ISP) Agent is murdered while investigating ZZZ, a group bent on assassinating the Prime Minister of Buddhabal. ISP Agents Carter and Kitami are assigned to the case. When the Prime Minister arrives in Tokyo for a friendship visit, Carter and Kitami are on hand to protect him. On hand, too, are assorted ZZZ blackguards. Several attempts on the Prime Minister's life fail, until finally the ZZZ introduces a new device designed to eliminate not only the Prime Minister but the ISP Agents as well: THE KILLING BOTTLE, then, is a pocket-sized container filled with a substance that can expand to thousands of times its size and throttle its victim, then disappear leaving only the corpse.

6.3/10

Famous for his coin tossing when capturing criminals, an Edo detective, Heiji, launches an investigation into the mysterious murder of his friend Seigoro.

6.3/10

After being caught in a storm in the south seas, several teenagers and thief arrive on an island where natives have been enslaved by a terrorist organization. They also discover a sleeping Godzilla and decide to wake him up to aid in their plan to free the natives.

5.5/10
5.7%

Gaira, a humanoid sea beast spawned from the discarded cells of Frankenstein's monster, attacks the shores of Tokyo. While the Japanese military prepares to take action, Gaira's Gargantua brother, Sanda, descends from the mountains to defend his kin. A battle between good and evil ensues, leaving brothers divided and a city in ruins.

6.3/10

Mysterious aliens known as Xiliens arrive from Planet X and ask Earth's people to help them save their world from "Monster Zero". In exchange for borrowing Godzilla and Rodan, the Xiliens offer a cure for cancer. Sent on the expedition are astronauts Glenn and Fuji who discover Monster Zero is none other than King Ghidorah.

6.4/10
6%

During WWII, a human heart taken from Dr. Frankenstein's lab and is kept in Japan where it gets exposed to the radiation of the bombing of Hiroshima. The heart grows in size, mutates and eventually becomes an indestuctable humanoid. Later, a reptilian monster goes on a rampage. Eventually the Frankenstein creature and the reptile face off in a terrible battle.

5.5/10

In the third installment in the "Kokusai himitsu keisatsu" series, agent Jiro Kitami investigates the mysterious disappearance of a prominent scientist. Edited into Woody Allen's "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" along with the 4th film in the series, "Key of Keys".

6.2/10

The sixth film of the desperado outpost series directed by Takashi Tsuboshima

Set at the end of the Siege of Osaka this film follows the exploits of several members of the defeated Toyotomi clan as they cope with the post battle chaos and the persecution of the Shogun's army. Five samurai decide on different fates when it becomes clear that their side is being destroyed. One wants to attack the enemy head on in a final honorable death. Another decides to commit hari-kiri but wants to find a glorious view to do it. His close friend, the "coward", just wants to run and give up the life of a samurai. The final two set their own castle on fire to garner favors from the enemy and therefore avert their own death during the massacre of all defeated soldiers as

7/10

An adventurous and daring sailor sets sail to the castle of an ailing king to stop an evil premier, hungry for power and wealth, from succeeding the throne and marrying the king's beautiful daughter. Along the way, with the help of some courageous rebels and a lustful wizard, he must overcome the powers of a bewitching witch, a band of ruthless pirates, and the castle's Imperial guards. He must also free those kidnapped into slavery and restore the king's reputation.

6.4/10

A brave, highly principled warrior resigns his post as a body guard to the head of a powerful clan after he learns that his employers have been smuggling arms to the enemy. The remaining samurai try in vain to coerce him back, but their efforts are thwarted by crooked warriors who launch an attack...

6.9/10

Five vacationers and two crewmen become stranded on a tropical island near the equator. The island has little edible food for them to use as they try to live in a fungus covered hulk while repairing Kessei's yacht. Eventually they struggle over the food rations which were left behind by the former crew. Soon they discover something unfriendly there...

6.5/10

The final film by Yuzo Kawashima.

6.6/10

Agent Jiro Kitami attempts to stop a smuggling ring from shipping arms to Vietcong guerrillas.

6.7/10

The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (becoming ronin) after their daimyo (feudal lord) was forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka, whose title was Kōzuke no suke. The ronin avenged their master's honor after patiently waiting and planning for over a year to kill Kira. In turn, the ronin were themselves forced to commit seppuku for committing the crime of murder.

7.6/10

Soldiers on the front lines in China during World War II are besieged by guerrilla attacks and attempt to destroy an enemy fort.

Tells the story of Shintaro, a lawyer who quits his job to work at a camera factory, and his love adventures.

In 1980, a giant planetoid named Gorath is discovered to be on a collision course with Earth. Even though it is smaller than Earth, its mass is huge enough to crush the Earth and destroy it. A mission sent to observe Gorath is destroyed after all the orbiting ships are drawn into the planetoid. A later mission is sent to observe and the crew barely leaves before suffering the same fate. However Astronaut Tatsuo Kanai is left in a catatonic state due to his near death experience. The Earth's scientists then come up with a desperate plan to build giant rockets at the South Pole to move Earth out of Gorath's path before it is too late.

5.9/10

Toho-produced crime drama involving the drug trade.

5.5/10

Story of romance and rivalry between two ad agencies vying for the same account with a pharmaceutical firm.

6.6/10

Four fishermen friends are caught up in a piracy plot.

An employee at an oil cartel (Mihashi) is haunted by an act years before when he euthanized a fellow soldier when the two were adrift at sea during the Pacific War. Matters are complicated further when he falls in love with the soldier's younger sister (Tsukasa).

Yuzo Kayama plays the protagonist, a whale-hunting cannon manufactuing supervisor, whose brother is an automobile tester for Komatsu Motors which has a fatal accident. As his brother investigates the "Accident" with his old college friend (makoto Sato), now a reporter... They stumble across murder, espionage and cover-ups. High-class night club, femme fatale, and a "Blueprint of Murder" all adds up to a bigger plot then first expected.

7/10

An early Okamoto yakuza film, though it's not in the Underworld series (along with The Last Gunfight and The Big Boss) despite being alternatively known as "Death of the Boss." While Okamoto did not write this film and took on the project because he was assigned and "just doing [his] job" according to an interview with Chris Desjardins in Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film, he did express a general excitement about working in action cinema (which shows through in this film's energy.) I have no plot to share, unfortunately, so I'll just add a few more screencaps than usual to make up for it.

6.5/10

In "The Other Woman" the children of a distinguished professor find that the woman they have come to regard as their racy and slightly disreputable Ginza aunt is really their mother.

7.1/10

Taut thriller about a too-perfect criminal case against an ex-convict that makes a nosy detective suspicious.

6.3/10

Japanese neo-noir crime drama movie directed by Jun Fukuda

Follow-up to Desperado Outpost (1959) sees Japanese soldiers seeking the flag of a defeated regiment in China.

7.3/10

Chuji Kunisada returns to his home village to find that Jubei Matsui, the corrupt magistrate, has been responsible for virtually destroying Kunisada's family. A final tragedy leads Kunisada to join with a band of rogues living in the forest in robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, always with an eye toward avenging himself on Magistrate Matsui.

6.4/10

The legend of the birth of Shintoism. In Fourth Century Japan, the Emperor's son Ouso expects to succeed his father on the throne, but Otomo, the Emperor's vassal, prefers Ouso's stepbrother, and conspires to have Ouso die on a dangerous mission he has contrived. But Ouso prevails in the mission and returns to his father's castle under a new name, Prince Yamato Takeru. Otomo plots to have the Prince sent into even greater danger, but Otomo is unaware that the gods have favored the Prince and the outcome is far from what any of them expected.

6.6/10

The story is about the social problems faced by Japan's indigenous Ainu, mostly centered on the reactions of the characters to their oppressed state.

7.3/10

On a post-war peaceful day in Japan, Toyomatsu Shimizu, a barber as well as a good father and husband, is suddenly arrested by the Prefectural Police as a war criminal and sued for murder.

7.4/10

Fifth entry in the Company President Series.

Historical drama about a sleepy-eyed ronin.

A war widow with a young boy manages a farm with her bossy mother-in-law. When a reporter comes to interview her, the two begin an affair. He turns out to be married and won't leave his wife. Her older brother tries to marry off his children and hang on to/ extend his farm through an advantageous marriage in the face of threatened land confiscation and the desire of his children to get comfortable urban jobs instead of the backbreaking work in the paddy fields under parental control.

7.6/10

A study of uneasy relationships among the inhabitants of a tiny rural community.

6.1/10

A unique black comedy set in Ginza Cinepathos, a long-established movie theater that closes at the end of March 2013 while being familiar to movie fans with its retro appearance and unique lineup. Unique guests visiting the theater draw a human pattern during breaks.

6.8/10
7.3%

The Mads force another Godzilla movie on Joel and the Bots. In this one, a group of friends are shipwrecked on an island guarded by a crab monster named Ebirah while Godzilla sleeps in a nearby cave. The Bots meet Mothra on the Hexfield and the Mads start re-thinking the structure of their experiments.