The best Aki Maeda’s movies
We present our ranking of the best Aki Maeda’s movies. Do you love cinema? Or are you looking for a movie of your favorite actor to watch tonight? Surely you have some to see or that you did not know yet about Aki Maeda.
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
7/10
Godzilla has become a distant memory for Japan when the destruction of a US submarine raises alarms for Admiral Tachibana. His estranged daughter Yuri investigates the legend of the guardian monsters, who must rise to protect Japan against the vengeful spirits within Godzilla that seek to destroy both the nation and its people for the suffering they inflicted in the Pacific conflict.
The Cat Returns
7.1/10
Young Haru rescues a cat from being run over, but soon learns it's no ordinary feline; it happens to be the Prince of the Cats.
Battle Royale
7.5/10
In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
Battle Royale II: Requiem
4.6/10
It's three years after the events of the original Battle Royale, and Shuya Nanahara is now an internationally-known terrorist determined to bring down the government. His terrorist group, Wild Seven, stages an attack that levels several buildings in Tokyo on Christmas Day, killing 8000 people. In order for the government to study the benefits of "teamwork", the new students work in pairs, with their collars electronically linked so that if one of them is killed, the other dies as well. They must kill Nanahara in three days - or die.
Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris
7.1/10
With the Gyaos re-emerging, Gamera's ties to humanity have been severed with his bond to Asagi broken. Nagamine and Asagi investigate while an orphaned girl named Ayana discovers a new creature she names Iris. Nagamine and Asagi must reach Ayana before she takes her revenge on Gamera, who she blames for the death of her family.
Gamera 2: Attack of the Legion
7/10
A strange meteor lands in Japan and unleashes hundreds of insect-like "Legion" creatures bent on colonizing the Earth. When the military fails to control the situation, Gamera shows up to deal with the ever-evolving space adversary. However the battle may result in Gamera losing his bond with both Asagi and humanity.
Linda Linda Linda
7.5/10
Only three days before their high school festival, guitarist Kei, drummer Kyoko, and bassist Nozomi are forced to recruit a new lead vocalist for their band. They choose Korean exchange student Son, though her comprehension of Japanese is a bit rough! It’s a race against time as the group struggles to learn three tunes for the festival’s rock concert—including a classic '80s punk-pop song by the Japanese group The Blue Hearts called “Linda Linda”...
Pride
5.8/10
Based on the International Military Tribunal for the Far East of 1946–48, depicts Japanese prime minister Hideki Tojo (played by Masahiko Tsugawa) as a family man who fought to defend Japan and Asia from western colonialism but was ultimately hanged by a vengeful United States.
School Ghost Story G
6.9/10
A made-for-TV anthology horror film composed of four stories, two of which serving as prequels to the Ju-on series.
Burned in Akane
7 years ago, Yoichi died in a traffic accident. His wife Ryoko did not receive compensation from her husband's death. She has since raised her son Junpei by herself. Junpei is now a middle school student. Ryoko also cares for her father-in-law, who lives in a nursing home and she also runs a cafe. Her care is in a difficult situation due to Covid-19, while Junpei experiences bullying at school.
The Boy Who Saw the Wind
6.1/10
Amon is a boy who can control the wind. Branik, ruler of the Empire of the Golden Snake, wants Amon's power to complete the ultimate weapon and sends his troops to capture the boy. Amon, using his talents, manages to runs away with Maria, one of the People of the Sea. Together, they try to stop the Empire of the Golden Snake from destroying and conquering everything.
The Last Love Song on This Little Planet
4.5/10
Based on the Best Selling Anime Series "SAIKANO" Shy coed Chise (played by Aki Maeda from Battle Royale) is madly in love with high school athlete Shuji. The two share a bond which only intensifies when war breaks out in futuristic Japan. But Chise has a secret that - if revealed - would not only destroy her relationship but would also put her life at risk. Chise is not an ordinary teenage girl, she is actually the ultimate weapon of mass destruction, a genetically engineered cyborg built specifically for extreme military use. When she goes into battle, Chise strikes fear in everyone around her, including her own troops. Her boyfriend must never know.
Out of This World
6.9/10
Five young musicians, each harboring painful memories, are assembled to entertain American soldiers at an Enlisted Men's Club. Tensions emerge between the tenor saxophonist, a disillusioned ex-soldier, and a bitter GI whose brother was killed in the war. And when the band plays the prohibited "Danny Boy" during a birthday bash for a sergeant whose son Danny had died a year ago, everyone must confront a past they'd rather forget.
I Have Never Shot Anyone
6.1/10
Renji Ishibashi, starring in the movie for the first time in 18 years, plays a hero with two faces, a dull novelist and a legendary killer. Susumu Ichikawa, an obsolete writer with no manuscript at all, had another face - a legendary hitman. But the truth of the matter is... he had never shot a person. One day, he receives a murder request from a friend. Seeing this as an opportunity to achieve the ideal hard-boiled novel, he decides to hire a real hitman and demands that he report to him the assassination situation as it was.
Harami: White Fear
6.2/10
Motherhood
When pregnant Mia Sakaguchi falls from a staircase at the shrine, she is transferred to 1994 and immediately admitted to a mental institution, because no one believes her that she is from the future. There she is confronted with the shocking truth that the mentally ill are forcibly sterilized. In order to protect her unborn child, she tries to escape from the institution.
When a Tree Falls
A young couple is devastated when their son is killed by a falling tree during a windstorm. As the distraught father begins to look for answers into his son’s death, what appears to be a tragic accident turns out to have been the result of multiple blunders by multiple people.
Haunted School 3
6.8/10
Third installment of the "Gakko No Kaidan" series follows the trek of several elementary school students as they wander into an alternate world that exists on the opposite side of a school mirror. Nishida Naomi (the hapless teacher in "Gakko No Kaidan 2") returns as the teacher who accompanies the children on their journey into the surreal universe.
An Artist of the Floating World
6.2/10
In the face of the misery in his homeland, the artist Masuji Ono was unwilling to devote his art solely to the celebration of physical beauty. Instead, he put his work in the service of the imperialist movement that led Japan into WW II.
The Return
A samurai drama shot in 8K, The Return tells the story of an ailing outlaw who returns to his hometown after a 30-year journey. In the village of his youth, he decides to save a girl in dire straits.
