Japanese films, Q2 2025: the quarter in review

A 175-minute film released on June 6 by Toho. Born into a yakuza family and taken in by a distinguished kabuki family, Kikuo (Ryo Yoshizawa) competes with the family's son Shunsuke (Ryusei Yokohama) as he walks the path toward the pinnacle of his art over half a century. Based on Shuichi Yoshida's novel, it was directed by Lee Sang-il from a screenplay by Satoko Okudera. Ken Watanabe, Mitsuki Takahata, Shinobu Terajima and Min Tanaka co-star. It cost 1.2 billion yen to make and premiered on May 18 in the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes, ahead of its release.

On November 24, with 17,377,390,000 yen, it passed Bayside Shakedown 2 (17.35 billion yen) to become the highest-grossing Japanese live-action film of all time. By the end of January 2026 it had reached 19.55 billion yen, second at the Japanese box office for 2025, and on February 15, 2026, it became the first Japanese live-action film to pass 20 billion yen (20.83 billion yen as of June 2026). As Japan's submission for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards, it made the shortlist, and it became the first Japanese film nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. At the 49th Japan Academy Film Prize, it won the top award in 10 categories including Picture of the Year, and it also won Best Film at the Blue Ribbon Awards and placed second in the Kinema Junpo Best Ten.

Released worldwide on Netflix on April 23. A bomb set to explode if the train drops below 100 km/h is planted on the Hayabusa No. 60, bound for Tokyo from Shin-Aomori, and conductor Kazuya Takaichi (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) fights to protect the passengers. A sequel to Junya Sato's 1975 Toei film The Bullet Train, it was directed by Shinji Higuchi. Kanata Hosoda, Non, Takumi Saitoh and Machiko Ono co-star.

It reached No. 2 on Netflix's global Top 10 for non-English films in the weeks ending April 27 and May 4 and stayed on the list for five weeks, with a peak of 12.3 million views in a single week and a total of 29.7 million views across those weeks. In Japan it was No. 1 for four consecutive weeks, from the week ending April 27 through the week ending May 18, and it spent 11 weeks in Japan's Top 10 in 2025 alone.

Released on April 25 by Toho. Based on Shinichiro Yuki's collection of mystery short stories, one of which, "#Kakusan Kibo," won the short story prize at the 74th Mystery Writers of Japan Awards, it was directed by Keisuke Toyoshima from a screenplay by Noriaki Sugihara. Motoki Ohmori of Mrs. GREEN APPLE and Fuma Kikuchi of timelesz star, with Ayami Nakajo, Amane Okayama and Hideaki Ito in the cast.

Its gross of 2.12 billion yen is second only to Kokuho among Japanese live-action films released in the second quarter.

Released on June 13 by Toho. After Yoshie (Masami Nagasawa), a housewife who lost her five-year-old daughter, brings home a doll resembling her daughter from an antique market, strange things begin to happen to her family. An original work conceived, written and directed by Shinobu Yaguchi, it features Koji Seto, Tetsushi Tanaka, Ken Yasuda and Jun Fubuki.

Ahead of its Japanese release, it won the grand prize at the 45th Porto International Film Festival (Fantasporto) in March 2025, and it grossed 1.91 billion yen in Japan. Masami Nagasawa received an Award of Excellence for Leading Actress at the 49th Japan Academy Film Prize.

Released on June 13 by Warner Bros. Japan. An original film based on true events, it depicts DMAT (Disaster Medical Assistance Team) medical staff responding aboard the cruise ship Diamond Princess, where a COVID-19 cluster broke out in February 2020. Kosai Sekine directed from a screenplay by Jun Masumoto, and the cast includes Shun Oguri, Tori Matsuzaka, Sosuke Ikematsu, Yosuke Kubozuka and Nana Mori.

It grossed 1.71 billion yen and placed second in Kinema Junpo's readers' Best Ten for Japanese films. It also received a Special Award at the Fujimoto Awards.