Japanese Coming-of-age Movies
by ruejaredponteras2001 | created - 03 Jul 2021 | updated - 7 months ago | PublicList of nostalgic Japanese movies I enjoyed.
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1. Chizuko's Younger Sister (1991)
120 min | Drama, Fantasy
Follows two sisters, one clumsy and ignored, the other a perfect child. After the latter dies in an accident, she returns as a ghost to guide her little sister.
Director: Nobuhiko Ôbayashi | Stars: Hikari Ishida, Tomoko Nakajima, Toshinori Omi, Tomoka Shibayama
Votes: 333
2. Love Letter (1995)
PG | 117 min | Drama, Romance
When exchanging letters two women discover new things about a man they knew.
Director: Shunji Iwai | Stars: Miho Nakayama, Etsushi Toyokawa, Bunjaku Han, Katsuyuki Shinohara
Votes: 11,011
3. Whisper of the Heart (1995)
G | 111 min | Animation, Drama, Family
A love story between a girl who loves reading books, and a boy who has previously checked out all of the library books she chooses.
Director: Yoshifumi Kondô | Stars: Yoko Honna, Issei Takahashi, Takashi Tachibana, Shigeru Muroi
Votes: 72,706
4. Let Me Eat Your Pancreas (2017)
115 min | Drama, Romance
A dying girl meets a nonchalant boy who found out her secret. She decided to fulfill her bucket list with none-other-than the boy who couldn't care less about the world.
Director: Shô Tsukikawa | Stars: Minami Hamabe, Takumi Kitamura, Shun Oguri, Keiko Kitagawa
Votes: 3,225
5. Go (2001)
122 min | Drama, Romance
Sugihara, born in Japan but with North Korean parents, falls in love with a Japanese girl after changing from a North Korean school to a Japanese school. His boxer dad teaches him boxing - skills used a lot.
Director: Isao Yukisada | Stars: Yôsuke Kubozuka, Kô Shibasaki, Tarô Yamamoto, Hirofumi Arai
Votes: 3,017
6. Hana and Alice (2004)
135 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When two best friends develop a crush on the same boy, they develop a plan to trick him into dating them.
Director: Shunji Iwai | Stars: Anne Suzuki, Yû Aoi, Tomohiro Kaku, Sei Hiraizumi
Votes: 4,912
7. The Murder Case of Hana & Alice (2015)
100 min | Animation, Comedy, Drama
Alice transfers to a new school, where students believe that one student per school year is cursed, whom they call Judas Iscariot. Alice is deemed the new Judas, but what happened to the former Judas?
Director: Shunji Iwai | Stars: Yû Aoi, Anne Suzuki, Shôko Aida, Sei Hiraizumi
Votes: 2,326
8. Forget Me Not (2015)
94 min | Drama, Romance
A high school student falls in love, but must document their time together to prevent forgetting. What will happen next?
Director: Kei Horie | Stars: Nijirô Murakami, Akari Hayami, Chiharu, Mickey Curtis
Votes: 609
9. Blue (II) (2002)
116 min | Drama, Romance
An introverted schoolgirl falls in love and starts a relationship with one of her classmates. Set in a small seaside town in Japan, the love of her life eventually leaves her for her boyfriend in Tokyo.
Director: Hiroshi Ando | Stars: Mikako Ichikawa, Manami Konishi, Asami Imajuku, Jun Murakami
Votes: 695
10. Norwegian Wood (2010)
Not Rated | 133 min | Drama, Romance
Toru recalls his life in the 1960s, when his friend Kizuki killed himself and he grew close to Naoko, Kizuki's girlfriend, and another woman, the outgoing, lively Midori.
Director: Anh Hung Tran | Stars: Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Rinko Kikuchi, Kiko Mizuhara, Kengo Kôra
Votes: 12,466 | Gross: $0.01M
11. A Silent Voice: The Movie (2016)
Not Rated | 130 min | Animation, Drama
A young man is ostracized by his classmates after he bullies a deaf girl to the point where she moves away. Years later, he sets off on a path for redemption.
Directors: Taichi Ishidate, Naoko Yamada | Stars: Miyu Irino, Saori Hayami, Aoi Yûki, Kenshô Ono
Votes: 101,448
12. Harmful Insect (2001)
92 min | Drama
Following the divorce of her parents, her mother's suicide attempt, and the rumors of an affair with her teacher, a lonely 7th grader starts skipping school in an attempt to find herself.
Director: Akihiko Shiota | Stars: Aoi Miyazaki, Seiichi Tanabe, Tetsu Sawaki, Ryô Amamiya
Votes: 951
13. Lonely Heart (1985)
112 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
Lonely 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 ... See full summary »
Director: Nobuhiko Ôbayashi | Stars: Yasuko Tomita, Toshinori Omi, Yumiko Fujita, Nenji Kobayashi
Votes: 387
14. Linda Linda Linda (2005)
TV-PG | 114 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A music group of girls need to learn to play a song before the school festival.
Director: Nobuhiro Yamashita | Stars: Bae Doona, Aki Maeda, Yû Kashii, Shiori Sekine
Votes: 4,492
15. Twenty-Four Eyes (1954)
Not Rated | 156 min | Drama
Schoolteacher Hisako Oishi forms an emotional bond with her pupils and teaches them various virtues, while at the same time worrying about their future.
Director: Keisuke Kinoshita | Stars: Hideko Takamine, Itsuo Watanabe, Makoto Miyagawa, Takeo Terashita
Votes: 2,833
16. Boy (1969)
97 min | Drama
A young boy reluctantly aids his swindling father in a threatening scam.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Fumio Watanabe, Akiko Koyama, Tetsuo Abe, Tsuyoshi Kinoshita
Votes: 1,884
17. True Mothers (2020)
140 min | Drama
A woman with an adopted child is contacted unexpectedly by the child's birth mother.
Director: Naomi Kawase | Stars: Hiromi Nagasaku, Arata Iura, Aju Makita, Reo Sato
Votes: 1,978
18. Tonda kappuru (1980)
106 min | Drama
Aspiring to be admitted to a good university and to become a lawyer, Tasiro Yuusuke, a tenth-grader from Kyushu, enrols in a prestigious high school in Tokyo. Plans are made for him to live... See full summary »
Director: Shinji Sômai | Stars: Shingo Tsurumi, Hiroko Yakushimaru, Mieko Harada, Mariko Ishihara
Votes: 123
19. Haruka, nosutarujii (1993)
165 min | Drama
"Haruka, Nostalgia" Ayase Shinsuke, a girl's novels writer, visits his hometown Otaru. In Otaru he meets a young man that mysteriously goes by his real name. Directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi
Director: Nobuhiko Ôbayashi | Stars: Hiroshi Katsuno, Hikari Ishida, Yôji Matsuda, Toshinori Omi
Votes: 72
20. The Tale of Iya (2013)
169 min | Drama
As a tunnel construction project threatens the natural order of one of Japan's last untouched regions, an old man and his granddaughter Haruna's humble lifestyle begins to influence the outlook of a man from Tokyo.
Director: Tetsuichirô Tsuta | Stars: Rina Takeda, Shima Ônishi, Min Tanaka, Hitoshi Murakami
Votes: 373
21. Crying Out Love in the Center of the World (2004)
138 min | Drama, Romance
While searching for his fiancee Ritsuko, Sakutarou rediscovers through flashbacks the void deep within him caused by the events from his high school days.
Director: Isao Yukisada | Stars: Takao Osawa, Kô Shibasaki, Masami Nagasawa, Mirai Moriyama
Votes: 3,896
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