The following list is effectively a shrine to genre and storytelling in Japanese cinema (with nods to mediums like literature to videogames which make up as much the cycle of this type of cinema in influences and that influenced by it).
This list will include horror, thriller and suspense, mystery, psychodrama, and sci-fi which is less like Star Wars and more introspective, unconventional or like Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989).
Melodrama, period drama, crime, chambara, fantasy and pinku (softcore) films which fit the above template will be included. Genres inherently of Japanese storytelling like their distinct take on cyberpunk and ero-guro will immediately be added. Certain subject matter, like Kenji Mizoguchi's Street of Shame (1956) and Shohei Immamura's Pigs and…
The following list is effectively a shrine to genre and storytelling in Japanese cinema (with nods to mediums like literature to videogames which make up as much the cycle of this type of cinema in influences and that influenced by it).
This list will include horror, thriller and suspense, mystery, psychodrama, and sci-fi which is less like Star Wars and more introspective, unconventional or like Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989).
Melodrama, period drama, crime, chambara, fantasy and pinku (softcore) films which fit the above template will be included. Genres inherently of Japanese storytelling like their distinct take on cyberpunk and ero-guro will immediately be added. Certain subject matter, like Kenji Mizoguchi's Street of Shame (1956) and Shohei Immamura's Pigs and Battleships (1961), while in films that are not pulp material in the slightest would also qualify as they tackle difficult and controversal subjects that follow the best of Japanese genre cinema of following stories and characters which would be viewed as "sorbid" by conservative society.
There's no distinction between live action and animation. Sadly I can't add television in the posters below, but if any stand out they'll be added.
Action films will not be included barring exceptions which blur into other genres or are distinct enough to qualify. Simply because I've realised action scenes in films are my least favourite thing unless they're well done, the sign of laziness when a car chase or an explosion happens rather than something that gets my blood pumped.
While this list is more an emphasis on pulp cinema (and anime), there will be "high art" films added. Vengeance Is Mine (1979) by Shohei Immamura is one of the best dramas ever made in any language, but not only does it work as a gripping crime thriller based on a true case, but its psychosexual subplot with Immamura's obsession with human behaviour fits alongside the pulp films perfectly. Likewise, Kenji Mizomuchi's Ugetsu (1954) is for the most part another of his exceptional period dramas but is also known for its supernatural subplot.
Bonus reading and viewing material will be included as I can. Obviously, it takes longer to read a book than watch a film but individuals who are profound influences on Japanese cinema like this or fit these categories in certain novels/manga - Edogawa Ranpo, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, manga authors like Osamu Tezuka to Kazuo Koike, Haruki Murakami etc. - will be included at the bottom.
Recommendations are welcome. I will list all the films I think fit these categories even when I've yet to see them. Once I have, and they still qualify, I hope to have at least a sentence next to each one if not a review.
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Series of Worthy Mention
- Paranoia Agent (2004)
- Requiem for the Darkness (2003)
- Serial Experiments Lain (1998)
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Books/Manga:
Currently reading: N/A
- Beast in the Shadows by Edogawa Rampo (1928)
- The Black Lizard by Edogawa Rampo (1934)
- The Woman in the Dunes by Kōbō Abe (1962)
- Uzumaki by Junji Ito
