The best Masahiko Nishimura’s comedy movies

In the year 1590, the mighty warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi is close to fulfilling his ambition of unifying all of Japan under his banner when he comes across unexpected resistance in the form of a floating fortress known as Oshi Castle. Narita Nagachika, a frivolous hedonistic fellow and unlikely candidate for the position of rebel general, finds himself in charge of defending the castle. His odds? An army of 500 men to combat Toyotomi Hideyoshi's army of 20,000.

In a studio at the foot of Mt. Fuji, Gaku Hamada is struggling to shoot a movie with a dog in the lead role. Enter a huge cast of veteran actor who get involved in misadventures while on set.

Masaatsu Naito (Kuranosuke Sasaki) successfully completes Sankin-kotai (required ritual to visit the shogun). On his way home, he hears that an insurrection by peasants has taken place in his hometown of Yunagaya. Masaatsu Naito knows that it is a counterattack by Matsudaira. He returns to Yunagaya, but finds that his castle is gone.

Ghiblies (pronounced with a hard "g" as in "gallop") is a short film aired during a TV special about Ghibli. It's about a fictional animation studio named "Ghibli" and the people who work there.

A husband and wife have been married for 50 years. For her birthday, the husband asks the wife what she wants for her birthday present. She replies that she wants a divorce. The wife's divorce announcement sends the entire family into chaos.

Several years after Shuzo settled his wife’s birthday-surprise divorce proposal (What a Wonderful Family, 40th), the Hirata family faces new problems. Ignoring his family’s worry that he is too old to drive, Shuzo takes his old schoolmate for a spin after carousing. Soon, a new disturbance arises for the Hirata family. Veteran director Yamada Yoji continues his comedy about the “perfect“ Japanese family turned upside down in chaos, laughters and understanding. This time, with an additional taste of death.

Saru is a talented young locksmith who unlocks any kind of lock. He is, however, a complete fool when it comes to women. One day a girl Mayumi asks him to open a safe full of stolen money. Knowing nothing about it, Saru takes the money briefcase with Mayumi and finds himself with yakuza gangsters and also police in hot pursuit.

A radio play is minutes away from airing at a Tokyo radio station. It is a weepy melodrama written by housewife Miyako, the winner of a competition run by the station. Suddenly, the hot-tempered lead actress Nokko decides she wants the name of her character to be Mary Jane and not Ritsuko. This leads to a chain of events which, live on-air, changes the play completely, taking it from an autobiographical fishing village romance to an ersatz American gangster drama cum disaster epic.

At the Hirata home, three generations of their family live together. A crisis ensues when one afternoon, housewife Fumie falls asleep and wakes up to find a thief has stolen her secret money she kept hidden in the refrigerator.

Shunnosuke Katagiri is a samurai and a bookworm. He receives a mission to help a daimyo move. With the assistance of Genemon Takamura and Oran, Shunnosuke Katagiri carries out his mission.

Residents in a town have a hard time due to the land tax and forced labor. 9 people, including Juzaburo Kokutaya (Sadao Abe), worry about the future of their town. They then set up a plan to save the town. The plan is to lend large amounts of money to han (historical term for the estate of a warrior) and distribute the interest annually to the residents, but if they're caught they will lose their lives.

Saya Suzuki (Emi Takei) is an ordinary employee working at a hotel. She falls in love with her elite boss Susumu Tsuge (Tadayoshi Okura). Through their romance, Saya Suzuki grows as a person.

During the reign of the eighth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate, the Yunagaya Domain in the Tohoku region is a small han. But at the han, there is a gold mine. Suddenly, Masaatsu Naito of Yunagaya Domain receives an order to perform Sankin-kotai within 5 days. Sankin-kotai is a custom that requires the daimyo to visit the shogun in Edo. Unfortunately, the time needed to visit the shogun in Edo for Masaatsu Naito is 8 days. Masaatsu Naito also learns he received the order because a high ranking government official wants the gold mine. Also, the expense for Sankin-kotai is high and the Yunagaya Domain is such a small han that it seems impossible to complete. Nevertheless, Masaatsu Naito begins an unexpected operation to complete Sankin-kotai in 5 days.

Biwako, a star actress, is the sole witness to a grizzly murder. After the cops persuade her to play the bait to catch the killers, two veteran detectives are assigned to protect her at all times. However, this also means that Biwako's new guardians have no choice but to deal with the overly-dramatic, hilarious, and sometimes harrowing ups and downs of her life.

Feudal lord Takuminokami Asano has been led to kill himself due to a scheme by Kozukenosuke Kira. Having no time to mourn his death, samurai Kuranosuke Oishi decides to take revenge on Kira, planning an attack with the help of accountant Chosuke Yato… but they don't have enough in their budget.