The best Yōko Minamino’s movies
We present our ranking of the best Yōko Minamino’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 Yōko Minamino.
SPEC: Zero
6.2/10
High school student Saya Toma (Erika Toda) lost her parents and younger brother in an airplane accident. Detective Akio Kondo (Yu Tokui) came and told her "your family has a high possibility that they were killed by people who have spec." That was the first time she heard of "spec". 6 years later, Saya Toma, who has never forgotten what the Detective said, decides to become a detective. She returns to Japan after receiving training by the FBI in the United States. Saya Toma is assigned to work unsolved cases in the Public Security Bureau. Meanwhile, because of Satoshi Chii's (Yuu Shirota) scheme, Juichi Ninomae (Ryunosuke Kamiki) considers Saya Toma his parents' enemy and tries to push her to the edge. Satoshi Chii's scheme has also caused Saya Toma and Juichi Ninomae to forget that they are brother and sister. The siblings are headed to a life-staking fight. A girl named Maho Ueno (Umika Kawashima) becomes involved in their fight. To protect Maho Ueno, Saya Toma uses "spec".
Dumbeast
6.3/10
How hard is it to kill an idiot? Just ask Kudo Kankuro! The acclaimed screenwriter brings his 2004 Kunio Kishida-winning stage play Donju (a.k.a. Dumb Animal) to the big screen in all its wacky tragicomedic glory. The one and only Asano Tadanobu sports a seriously nerdy bowl haircut to play the leading role of simple-minded novelist Dekogawa who has mysteriously disappeared. Dekogawa wrote an autobiography about his youth that reveals not only his past, but also some of his childhood friends’ best-forgotten secrets. In order to keep the skeletons in the closet, these buddies of yesteryear try to silence him permanently. But no matter how hard they try to kill Dekogawa, he just keeps coming back – because he’s simply too thickheaded to die!
The Rocking Horsemen
7.2/10
It is 1965. High-school student Takeyoshi Fujiwara hears "Pipeline" by the Ventures, and is mesmerized by their unique sound. With three friends, he forms a band called "The Rocking Horsemen." A warm and comic glimpse into high-school and small-town life in Japan in the 60's.
The Deep Red
6.5/10
Shinku is a compelling drama that focuses on the strange relationship that develops between two people who find their lives irrevocably changed as a result of a horrible multiple homicide. The first person traumatized is the lone survivor of the terrible family bloodbath, a girl who grows up to be a pretty college student. The second person affected by this heinous crime is the daughter of the murderer, a young girl who ends up becoming a tattooed bartender. A full decade after the crime, the killer is finally going to be executed, and the surviving member of the massacre decides to reach out and befriend the murderer's daughter. A tentative, odd sort of friendship blossoms between these two people, both of whom seem to have little in common personally, and every reason in the world for not wanting to meet. Yet they do, but not without reservations. And really, is this friendship quite what it seems? Or is it all part of some twisted plan for vengeance?
Sukeban Deka: The Movie
6.2/10
After the events of the TV series, the 18 year old Yoko Godai has abandoned her special agent Saki Asamiya name to return to her normal life, and is now studying for college entrance exams. However, she accidentally bumps into a young man named Kazuo Hagiwara trying to escape from a group of hitmen, and learns that he comes from Sanko Academy, a private school located in a remote island known as Hell's Castle. The school is ruled by a former revolutionary thought to be dead named Hattori who is trying to brainwash students into terrorists to help him stage a fascist coup d'etat in Japan.
In Blazing Love
An illustration of the tragic lives of geishas at a popular geisha house, Shinonomero. Shortly after being sold to a geisha house at age 5, Shizu is befriended by a fellow older geisha, Tsuru. After years of living and working together, Tsuru and Shizu manage to run the operations of Shinonomero as the proprietress and assistant. Despite vows to never to let their lovers come between them or Shinonomero, moments of weakness leave Tsuru and Shizu caught up in a web of betrayal and plunged into debt. With the guilt of losing Shinonomero to Udo, a yakuza who loaned them money, it is now up to young Shizu to redeem Tsuru’s honor and restore Shinonomero as their own.
A Morning of Farewell
5.6/10
Sawako worked as an emergency physician at a university hospital. Due to to a situation, she returns to her father Tatsuro's home in Ishikawa Prefecture. She then begins to work at the local Mahoroba Clinic. She works with the clinic director Toru, Nurse Mayo and staff Seiji. Seiji, who worked with Sawako at the university hospital, followed her and works with her again. Mahoroba Clinic provides home healthcare to patients. Sawako visits the patients' homes and provides treatment there. At first, she has a hard time due to the different system. She becomes acclimated to the different system and finds a way to deal with the patients, their lives, and their families. --asianwiki
Fukuzawa Yukichi
5.2/10
Fukuzawa Yukichi opens a school for samurai, who aim to learn Dutch language, most common for overseas trading. But when he was in Yokohama he learned that English language is one way more global one. His struggle against patriarchal mindset leads his school to become one of the oldest universities in Japan.
Midwinter Camellia
7.1/10
Yasuo Furuhata directs this romantic yakuza flick based on a book by popular romance novelist Tomiko Miyao. Set in 1932, the film centers on Peony (Yoko Minamino), a geisha who was forced into the business at a young age by her dissipated father.
There Goes Benio, the Smart Girl
Benio, a peppy tomboy, is surprised to learn that she has been secretly betrothed by her grandfather to a young officer named Shinobu Ijuin. Because of his family’s noble status, Benio must first undergo rigorous training to learn how to be a proper bride and wife before she can marry. However, because of her vivacious personality, this proves to me more challenging than anyone imagined.
Nemuri Kyōshirō 3: The Man with No Tomorrow
6.3/10
In the continuing adventures of Nemuri Kyoshiro, noted film actor Tamura Masakazu stars again as the red-haired ronin with foreign blood in his veins. The son of a foreign missionary and a samurai's daughter. His mother died when he was a child, and he was forced to bury her himself, praying that her soul would rest in peace. He became an expert at swordsmanship, despite being in the shadow of isolation and nothingness, and walks the bloody path of destruction carrying his only friend, a razor sharp sword made by the Master, 'Peerless Masamune' to go with his unique Full Moon Sword style. After being accused of being a government spy, he falls ill and accepts the aid of a prostitute who nurses him back to health. As he prepares to leave the Chief Retainer of the Akita Clan asks him to help save the clan from an evil plot. Kyoshiro's deadly full moon cut will have to come into play against many who seek his life!
Run Ichiro Run
6.9/10
Various individuals named Ichiro undergo life-changing events while being inspired by the baseball player Ichiro. A heartwarming movie about the people who root for the baseball player Ichiro, and their struggles to make their own dreams come true.
Shibuya Story
Biopic of yakuza Noboru Ando, based on his autobiography.
Hold Me and Kiss Me
4.3/10
Keiko’s life is turned upside down when she discovers that she has been infected with HIV. As she struggles to cope with the situation and resist the infection, she finds new friendship and companionship with a journalist named Miyuki and a man named Akira.
Ooku Saishusho
Kume tries to protect her husband Tokugawa Yoshimune and their three children from the schemes of the inner palace of Edo Castle.
Snowland Revisited
6.5/10
Kunio Shibano was bankrupted. He visits a snowland spa area to commit suicide. But he meets Geisha Moeko, and she gives him power to face life one more time...
Hissatsu shimatsunin
A former assassin is drawn into a conspiracy which leads him to return to his old ways, endangering his brother who suspects that something is afoot...
Mitabi no kaikyô
Tales of the Bizarre vol. 3
The Stupid Teacher
A hearful fantasy movie based on the autobiographical screenplay by Nobuhiko Oobayashi with a topnotch cast that includes Tomokazu Miura, et al. It was shown at the Yuubari International Fantasy Film Festival in 1998. It's an extra story of the "Onomichi Trilogy" which illustrates his own life. It opened September 2000.
