The best Hirofumi Arai’s comedy movies

In an era where aliens have invaded and taken over feudal Tokyo, a young samurai finds work however he can.

News about the disappearance of panties is still being covered every day. Kyosuke (Ryohei Suzuki) still wears Aiko Completo's (Fumika Shimizu) panties to battle evil. Meanwhile, Aiko has mixed emotions and decides to get her panties back. Kyosuke suffers from the loss of Aiko's panties and disappears, but his biggest enemy yet is about to materialise...

Slacker Ichiko gets into a fight with her younger sister and begins to live on her own, working the late shift at a 100 yen shop. On her way home, she passes a gym and meets middle-aged boxer Kano who trains there in silence...

Sugihara, a Japanese-born, third-generation Korean teenager struggles to find a place in a society that will not accept him.

Prosecutor Kohei Kuryu takes charge of a case with a foreign embassy possessing the key to solve the case. Due to the extraterritoriality involving the case, the investigation has not gone anywhere. A crisis then ensues. Kohei Kuryu and his office attempt to extract the truth behind the wall of the embassy.

A young girl named Kiki (Fuka Koshiba) must leave her home for a year to begin training in witchcraft. She leaves on her broom, but first says goodbye to her friends and family. Kiki then begins her new life with her trusted cat Jiji.

To the average person, psychic abilities might seem a blessing; for Kusuo Saiki, however, this couldn't be further from the truth. Gifted with a wide assortment of supernatural abilities ranging from telepathy to x-ray vision, he finds this so-called blessing to be nothing but a curse. As all the inconveniences his powers cause constantly pile up, all Kusuo aims for is an ordinary, hassle-free life—a life where ignorance is bliss. Unfortunately, the life of a psychic is far from quiet. Though Kusuo tries to stay out of the spotlight by keeping his powers a secret from his classmates, he ends up inadvertently attracting the attention of many odd characters, such as the empty-headed Riki Nendō and the delusional Shun Kaidō. Forced to deal with the craziness of the people around him, Kusuo comes to learn that the ordinary life he has been striving for is a lot more difficult to achieve than expected.

Moritaka Mashiro (Takeru Satoh) doesn't want to follow in the path of his uncle who worked as a manga artist, but ultimately died because of exhaustion. Moritaka Mashiro figures he will graduate from school and work at an office. Things change though when falls in love with a girl at school. The girl, who hopes to become a voice actress, tells Moritaka they can marry, but only after they both achieve their dreams. Moritaka then teams up with fellow classmate Akito Takagi (Ryunosuke Kamiki) to publish their first manga.

Koroki is a 35-year old man who admires Japanese singer-songwriter Tamio Okuda and aspires to live like him. He works as an editor at the lifestyle magazine "Mare," where he meets Akari Amami, a mischievous fashion press writer, and falls in love with her at first sight.

When Mutta was 12-years-old and Hibito was 9-years-old the two brothers saw what they thought was an UFO flying towards the moon. They made a pact then to become astronauts and one day fly into space together. Fast forward to the year 2025. Older brother Mutta (Shun Oguri) works as for an automotive company and his younger brother Hibito works as an astronaut. Although Mutta failed to follow through on his childhood promise, after losing his job, he receives a phone call from Hibito which reignites his childhood dream of flying into outer space ...

Set one year after the drama series "Moteki." 31-year-old Yukiyo Fujimoto (Mirai Moriyama) doesn't have money, dreams or a girlfriend. He has left his job at a staffing firm and is attempting to start a new life by working as a writer for a news site. Suddenly, Yukiyo experiences "moteki" - a period when a man becomes suddenly popular with woman. Cute magazine editor Miyuki (Masami Nagasawa), pure and naive office worker Rumiko (Kumiko Aso), beautiful shop assistant Ai (Riisa Naka) and beautiful, but tough co-worker named Motoko (Yoko Maki) all become interested in Yukiyo. He tries to calm down, but is shaken by the interests of these women.

When a gold ingot and a severed human head are discovered in a small provincial town, the rush to solve the curious case wavers between tragic and darkly humorous.

A major advertising festival is held each year to determine the best television commercial in the world. A rookie ad man at a big advertising company named Otan is selected as a judge on the festival jury. Meanwhile, a coworker also named Ota (although the Japanese characters are slightly different) poses as his wife so that he can attend an open party which is held nightly. Knowing that he’ll get fired if his company doesn’t win the Grand Prix, he’s forced to resort to a variety of desperate tactics.

Set within the fictional city of Mahoro, Keisuke Tada runs a "benriya" - a general problem solver for hire. His assistant is his former high school classmate Haruhiko Gyoten. A big crisis then occurs for them.

Naoki works as a not so popular host at the host club Akegarasu in Shinagawa, Tokyo. His repayment day is coming soon and he has prepared 10 million yen to pay off his debt. Naoki has a party with his co-workers to celebrate this event, but, when he wakes up the next night, he finds that his money is all gone. Naoki asks his co-workers at the club about his money, but all of them say they didn't see it. Did Naoki dream he had 10 million yen? If He doesn't get the money soon, he will be thrown into the bottom of Tokyo Bay. Naoki can't trust anyone.

Hard-working Yuria runs a small printing company. Despite her best efforts, she can’t seem to attract the attention of Kazunari, a polite yet aloof client who is more interested in flirting with Mako, Yuria’s ditzy younger sister and employee. Meanwhile, Kazunari has his hands full with Takuji, his rough-hewn brother who was recently released from prison and is crashing at his apartment.

Takuji Kameoka is a 37-year-old bachelor whose occupation is a “miscellaneous actor”. His only interest is drinking. One day he falls in love and his boring life begins to change. The film is based on the book “Actor, Takuji Kameoka” by Akito Inui, a five-time nominee for Japan’s most prestigious literary prize, the Akutagawa Prize. Satoko Yokohama, a much-admired up-and-coming newcomer, directs the film and we can immediately tell that she is a special talent, with a unique understanding that flows through to her actors and crew.

Up-and-coming manzai stand-up comedy duo Emi-Abi has lost consummate funny man Unno (a surprisingly touching Tomoya Maeno) to an accident, leaving conceited straight man Jitsudo (Ryu Morioka) to contend with his diminished career prospects as a bland, pretty face entertainer. Guided by his manager Natsumi (Haru Kuroki), who demonstrates stronger comedy chops than her own star, Jitsudo comes to learn the circumstances of his friend's passing, as well as the life-and-death stakes of a career in comedy. Demonstrating a careful balance of tone across tragedy and deadpan and gross-out humor, writer/director Kensaku Watanabe expands "Emi-Abi"'s hilarious premise into a strikingly assured meditation on artistic rivalry and self-actualization.