Japanese detective movies

List of the best Japanese detective movies selected by visitors to our site: The Third Murder, Stray Dog, Suicide Forest Village, The Snow White Murder Case, Kuroido Goroshi, Persona 3 the Movie: #1 Spring of Birth, Audition, The World of Kanako, Memoirs of a Murderer, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya.

In the top there are new films of 2021, a plot description and trailers for films that have already been released.

Markimdb: 6.7
Genredrama, crime, detective
CountryJapan
Duration01:43

Shigemori is a lawyer tasked with defending Misumi in a murder trial. Misumi has previous convictions for murder and has confessed to the crime, but evidence in the case leads to Shigemori having doubts about what really happened.

Markimdb: 7.8
Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective, film noir
CountryJapan

A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami’s own dark side.

Markimdb: 5.1
Genrehorror, detective
CountryJapan

One day a mysterious box arrived and a curse began to spread all over. The source of the box is 'Jukai Village'. The village is hidden in Jukai Forest, a suicide spot that once you enter it, you can never come out.

Markimdb: 6.9
Genredrama, crime, detective
CountryJapan
Duration02:06

Beautiful Noriko Miki works at a cosmetic company. One day, Noriko is murdered. People begin to suspect her co-worker Miki Shirono might have killed her. Television begins to cover her story. A TV show interviews Miki Shirono's colleagues, family, people from her hometown. Rumors turn into fear. Is she a wicked a woman?

Markimdb: 5.5
Genrecrime, detective
CountryJapan

March 1952, the only doctor in the village Shiba had found a dead body of Sanako. The cause of death is overdose of sleeping pills. Sanako had been suspected for killing her own husband so Dr. Shiba’s sister Kana is guessing that she has committed suicide due to being tormented by killing her husband. Everyone who was in Mr. Kuroido’s house is the suspect, including all the members of Kuroido family, butler, secretary, maids, etc. The Detective Suguro (Hercule Poirot) will investigate the case. Dr. Shiba will be assisting him. As things are searched by them, a shocking fact has been brought to light…

Markimdb: 6.7
Genrefantastic, action, adventure, cartoon, detective, anime
CountryJapan
Duration01:32

In the spring, male student Makoto Yuki transfers to Gekkoukan High School. However, as he heads to his new dormitory, listening to the music on his headphones, he is stopped. More precisely, time has stopped, and the people who were around him turn into coffins. Makoto learns that this period of time hidden between the minute of midnight is called the Dark Hour, a time when monsters called Shadows appear. Suddenly made the leader of his fellow classmates Yukari and Junpei by his upperclassmen Mitsuru and Akihiko, Makoto must learn empathy, his connection to his comrades, and the meaning of death. With the power of his Evoker aimed at his head, Makoto fights against the Shadows threatening to attack his world from the mysterious tower of Tartarus.

Markimdb: 7.1
Genrehorror, drama, detective
CountryJapan, South Korea
Duration01:53

Seven years after the death of his wife, company executive Aoyama is invited to sit in on auditions for an actress. Leafing through the resumés in advance, his eye is caught by Yamazaki Asami, a striking young woman with ballet training.

Markimdb: 6.5
Genrethriller, drama, detective
CountryJapan
Duration01:58

When Kanako, a model daughter and a brilliant student, disappears, her mother asks her ex-husband, a violent former policeman, to find her. As his investigation progresses, his idealized image of Kanako cracks: the girl hides a dark life that her father can not even imagine.

Markimdb: 6.8
Genredrama, crime, detective
CountryJapan

The movie begins in the year 1995 where there were 5 peculiar murder cases. The murderer would always get someone close to the victim to witness how he would strangle the victim from behind with a rope but he would let the witnesses go and speak to the media on how the murders happened. Ito plays the role of Makimura, the police detective who was in charge of investigating the serial murders but failed to catch the cunning murderer and his respected superior ended up being killed as well. 22 years later in 2017 when the case is nearing its statute of limitations, a man named Sonezaki claims to be the culprit for the 1995 murders and even publishes a book titled "Watashi ga satsujinhan desu" to talk about the cases. Despite the disgust towards Sonezaki's actions, the intensive attention showered on him via the media and SNS makes him become the talk of town.

Markimdb: 8
Genrefantastic, comedy, adventure, cartoon, detective, anime
CountryJapan
Duration02:36

It is mid-december, and SOS Brigade chief Haruhi Suzumiya announces that the Brigade is going to hold a Christmas party in their clubroom, with Japanese hotpot for dinner. The brigade members Kyon, Yuki Nagato, Mikuru Asahina and Itsuki Koizumi start preparing everything for the party, such as costumes and decorations. But a couple of days later, Kyon arrives at school only to find that Haruhi is missing. Not only that, but Mikuru claims she has never known Kyon before, Koizumi is also missing, and Yuki has become the sole member of the literature club. The SOS Brigade seems to have never existed, nor has Haruhi Suzumiya. No one in the school has ever heard about her… except for Kyon.

Markimdb: 4.9
Genrehorror, fantastic, thriller, detective
CountryJapan, USA

A group visits Saipan to search for locations for their company's newest resort. As they find what they think is the perfect spot, they discover a hidden bunker on the property which they decide to explore. However, they soon find out that curiosity can kill. As each member faces their most private secrets and the secrets of the bunker itself, the results lead to a most shocking conclusion.

Markimdb: 6.1
Genrehorror, thriller, crime, detective
CountryJapan
Duration00:40

A series of grotesque murder cases takes place on rainy days. Detective Hisashi Sawamura (Shun Oguri) works to catch the murderer like he has done with past cases, but he soon realizes the murderer's next target is his wife and son. A man in a frog mask is a suspect.

Markimdb: 7.9
Genrefantasy, comedy, melodrama, drama, cartoon, detective, anime
CountryJapan

The morning after his high school graduation ceremony, Araragi goes to the bathroom to wash his face but is struck by the sensation that his reflection is watching him. Touching the mirror, Araragi’s hand passes straight through and he is sucked into a mysterious world.

Markimdb: 6.1
Genrefantastic, action, comedy, adventure, cartoon, crime, detective, anime
CountryJapan

Master thief Lupin the Third is after the long-lost Gold of Babylon with the aid of his partners Jigen and Goemon. They trek the globe, unraveling clues and dodging the attentions of both the Mafia and the tenacious Inspector Zenigata. While Zenigata enlists a team of five beautiful and determined policewomen to lure Lupin the Third into handcuffs, the race is on. But an elderly drunken woman named Rosetta may be the key to solving the location of this fabulous, ancient treasure.

Markimdb: 7.1
Genrefantastic, action, thriller, cartoon, detective, anime
CountryJapan

Posing as lovers on vacation, Motoko and Batou work to try to stop a terrorist organization whose symbol is the Scrasath. Meanwhile, Togusa investigates a murder of a man who possessed a prosthetic leg manufactured by the Mermaid's Leg corporation.

Markimdb: 7
Genrehorror, fantastic, action, thriller, fantasy, adventure, cartoon, crime, detective, anime
CountryJapan, Italy, United Kingdom, Mexico, Spain
Duration01:43

A terrorist group invades a laboratory containing a deadly bacteria and destroys the lab with an explosion. They later announce via the internet they have gained possession of the bacteria and declare themselves to be the Red Siamese Cats, a terrorist group that was eradicated a decade ago.

Markimdb: 5.4
Genreaction, comedy, cartoon, detective, anime
CountryJapan

Seigi, a martial arts trained middle schooler, often feels driven to protect the weaker people around him. One day, he defends a homeless man against some punks, and the man gives him a strange tattoo on his palm in return. The tattoo is a secret weapon produced in the arms race between America and the Serinistan Kingdom. Seigi finds himself in over his head when a powerful girl, using the same secret weapon, violently pursues him in order to retrieve it. His skill at martial arts may not be enough to keep him alive, but will he be able to learn how to trigger the power of his tattoo in time?

Markimdb: 7.3
Genreaction, melodrama, drama, detective, military, history
CountryJapan
Duration02:24

A young man Kentaro Saeki (Haruma Miura) keeps failing his bar test and does not know what to do any more. His older sister Keiko is a freelance writer. Kentaro and Keiko begin to search for information on their grandfather Kyuzo Miyabe (Junichi Okada) who dead in the special forces during World War II. Their grandfather Kyuzo Miyabe was terrified of death and obsessed with life. Why did he join the special forces? According to his fellow navy soldiers, Kyuzo Miyabe was a genius and also a coward. Kentaro and Keiko then discovers the shocking truth which has been sealed for 60 years.

Markimdb: 5.4
Genrefantastic, comedy, detective
CountryJapan

A high-school student Yoshiro has never got a spotlight in his life and spends his days aimlessly. What only shines in his life is a girl Sae at his school. Even if being completely disregarded by her, he still dreams of becoming her true love in the future. One day, he finds himself having a mind-reading psychic power. As he looks around, there seem more psychics born in the city, and somehow they are all virgins! One uses his psychokinetic power to fulfill his sexual desire or turns into a flasher using teleportation ability... On the arrival of the psychics like Yoshiro, the city gets gradually infested with the erotic terrorism evoked by a mysterious group. Knowing he has never got any attention from the girl of his dreams, Yoshiro determines to use his power to save the world from this steamy chaos and show off what he has got to the love of his life!

Genrethriller, crime, detective
CountryJapan

A kind man aspires to become a manga writer, but villains and evil deeds do not come easily to him, for he has little experience or natural inclination for them. Things take a surprise turn when he comes across a family who were described as idealized that are no more. He uses the real-life situation for his work.

Markimdb: 7.3
Genreaction, comedy, adventure, cartoon, crime, detective, anime
CountryJapan
Duration00:38

A yakuza boss hires Goemon Ishikawa, a modern day samurai, to protect him aboard his cruise ship casino. Everything goes sideways when the famous thief, Lupin the Third, tries to rob the vessel. Lupin's being hunted by a powerful and mysterious man: the so called “Ghost of Bermuda.” With Goemon's employer dead in the ensuing chaos, his honor is at stake, and the only way to preserve it is with blood. But this opponent is like no other, and to make things right, Goemon may need to sharpen not only his sword, but himself as well!

Markimdb: 3.7
Genrehorror, thriller, detective
CountryJapan
Duration01:36

Akane is a high school teacher who hears a rumor from her students that there is actual footage on the Internet of someone's suicide. The footage is said to drive anyone who sees it to also commit suicide. Akane does not believe the rumor at first, but when one of her female students dies after viewing the footage, she and her boyfriend Takanori are fatefully drawn into the horror that has been created by the man who appears in the suicide footage, Kashiwada. Kashiwada's intention is to create chaos in the world by bringing back Sadako and the power of her curse. Now Akane has to fight against Sadako and Kashiwada to save the lives of herself and Takanori.

Markimdb: 6.5
Genrethriller, comedy, drama, crime, detective
CountryJapan
Duration02:15

Based primarily on the first game in the series, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, the film focuses on rookie defense attorney Phoenix Wright, as he strives to protect his clients in various murder trials, including the death of his mentor, Mia Fey, and the accusation of rival prosecutor, Miles Edgeworth. Phoenix's greatest ally is Mia's younger sister Maya, a spirit medium whose body is posessed by Mia to communicate with him.

Markimdb: 4.9
Genrehorror, thriller, fantasy, cartoon, detective, anime
CountryJapan
Duration01:42

Kanazawa Nobuaki has transferred to a high school far from where he used to live. Due to an incident at his old school, Nobuaki is afraid of getting close to his new classmates and keeps himself at a distance, but he starts opening up because of a sports day inter-class relay. Then a single text message from someone calling themselves the "King" is sent to everyone in class. Nobuaki's classmates think it's a simple prank and don't take it seriously - but Nobuaki knows that a death game is about to begin, and struggles to oppose it...

Mark
Genrefantastic, fantasy, drama, cartoon, detective, anime
CountryJapan

Shingeki no Kyojin OVA that is bundled with manga volumes 24, 25, and 26. Several hundred years ago, mankind was nearly extinct because of the Titans. The Titans are big, have no intellect, hate people, and worst of all, they think of humans as food. The survivors of the humans built a very high wall to protect them from the Titans.

Markimdb: 5.2
Genrehorror, thriller, detective
CountryUSA, Japan, Thailand
Duration01:30

A newly married couple discovers disturbing, ghostly images in photographs they develop after a tragic accident. Fearing the manifestations may be connected, they investigate and learn that some mysteries are better left unsolved.

Markimdb: 6.4
Genrehorror, detective
CountryJapan

A man awakes to find himself trapped in a dirty, confined crawlspace. He barely has enough room to move. He also has no memory of why he’s there, or why he’s bleeding from a stomach wound. Apparently drugged, he occasionally ‘zones out’ of his surroundings as he tries to edge towards his way to freedom. But the more he explores, the more pain he has to endure, and the more frightening his predicament becomes.

Markimdb: 7
Genrefantastic, fantasy, drama, cartoon, detective, anime
CountryJapan

Chakuro is the 14-year-old archivist of the Mud Whale, a nigh-utopian island that floats across the surface of an endless sea of sand. Nine in ten of the inhabitants of the Mud Whale have been blessed and cursed with the ability to use saimia, special powers that doom them to an early death. Chakuro and his friends have stumbled across other islands, but they have never met, seen, or even heard of a human who wasn't from their own. One day, Chakuro visits an island as large as the Mud Whale and meets a girl who will change his destiny.

Markimdb: 6.5
Genredrama, crime, detective
CountryJapan

When 54 high school girls throw themselves in front of a subway train it appears to be only the beginning of a string of suicides around the country. Does the new all-girl group Desert have anything to do with it? Detective Kuroda tries to find the answer, which isn't as simple as he had hoped.

Markimdb: 5.3
Genrehorror, detective
CountryJapan
Duration01:45

In Japan, the daycare teacher Kyoko Okudera is convinced by her colleague and friend Madoka to visit her boyfriend Naoto Sakurai in the restaurant where he works instead of studying as planned. When the owner Mr. Wang answers his daughter's mobile phone, he receives a message telling him that he would die in an accident in the kitchen. This immediately comes true

Markimdb: 6.9
Genrehorror, thriller, drama, crime, detective
CountryJapan

Minami mistakenly kills a gangster associate of his named Brother. Almost as soon as the murder takes place, the body of the deceased man is gone, prompting Minami to conduct a search. While looking, he finds a mysterious isolated hotel where he decides to take a rest. Not only are the front desk clerks a bit strange, but even the ambiance feels unusual. Minami soon realizes he may have gotten more than he bargained for.

Markimdb: 5.7
Genrefantastic, detective
CountryJapan

Set in the year 2017, the Japanese government attempts to secretly control the DNA of its people. Ryuhei Kagura (Kazunari Ninomiya) is a top scientist in the field of DNA analysis. He works at the DNA analysis institution run by the National Police Agency. When the inventor of the DNA analysis system is murdered, Ryuhei Kagura's own DNA is found at the murder scene. Ryuhei Kagura becomes the prime suspect and then he becomes a fugitive. Veteran detective Reiji Asama (Etsushi Toyokawa) goes in pursuit.

Markimdb: 7.8
Genrefantastic, action, thriller, fantasy, comedy, drama, musical, adventure, family, cartoon, detective
CountryUSA, South Korea, Spain, Japan, Mexico

Two years after the events of "Change Your Mind", Steven (now 16 years old) and his friends are ready to enjoy the rest of their lives peacefully. However, all of that changes when a new sinister Gem arrives, armed with a giant drill that saps the life force of all living things on Earth. In their biggest challenge ever, the Crystal Gems must work together to save all organic life on Earth within 48 hours.

Markimdb: 6.1
Genrehorror, action, thriller, fantasy, drama, crime, detective
CountryJapan

Three people in Tokyo take a surreal voyage of self-discovery through memory and nightmares. "O" intends suicide while talking on a cell-phone with a stranger he meets on line who plans a simultaneous suicide. Events take a horrifying turn. Keiko Kirishima is a cool, seemingly emotionless police detective, brilliant but off-putting. She's faced with two mutilated corpses who appear to have killed themselves, but she's not sure. A cell-phone number links the deaths. She calls on Akumu Tantei, a poor and suicidal young man who has the ability to enter people's dreams. He's reluctant to help. His past haunts him. A subconscious duel of terror and blood awaits the three.

Markimdb: 7.2
Genrefantasy, comedy, cartoon, detective
CountryCzech Republic, Slovakia, Japan
Duration01:49

Eugene, an aging man, leads a double life – one real, the other in his dreams. He goes to see a psychoanalyst, who tries to interpret the meaning of his dreams. Eugene finds a way of entering his dream-world at will and finds out about his childhood and what really happened to his parents.

Markimdb: 7.4
Genrehorror, thriller, crime, detective
CountryJapan

A wave of gruesome murders is sweeping Tokyo. The only connection is a bloody X carved into the neck of each of the victims. In each case, the murderer is found near the victim and remembers nothing of the crime. Detective Takabe and psychologist Sakuma are called in to figure out the connection, but their investigation goes nowhere...

Markimdb: 5.1
Genrehorror, thriller, detective
CountryJapan
Duration01:30

This Japan production spins-off the story of the first Paranormal Activity film by having the ghost from the first film follow a student back to her homeland after a visit to San Diego where she is tragically injured during a car accident. Back home in Japan, she is cared for by her brother, Koichi, who begins to suspect that something is amiss when his sister's wheelchair begins to move on its own. From there, the picture takes on the usual candid cam shocks of the series. Tokyo Night is notable for being an official part of the franchise (it was released in Japan two days before Paranormal Activity 2's release in the States), even though the U.S. has yet to see an official release.

Markimdb: 6.2
Genrehorror, fantastic, action, adventure, cartoon, detective, anime
CountryJapan
Duration01:37

BSAA Chris Redfield enlists the help of government agent Leon S. Kennedy and Professor Rebecca Chambers from Alexander Institute of Biotechnology to stop a death merchant with a vengeance from spreading a deadly virus in New York.

Markimdb: 8
Genrefantastic, action, thriller, cartoon, detective, anime
CountryJapan
Duration02:04

Childhood friends Tetsuo and Kaneda are pulled into the post-apocalyptic underworld of Neo-Tokyo and forced to fight for their very survival. Kaneda is a bike gang leader, and Tetsuo is a member of a tough motorcycle crew who becomes involved in a covert government project called Akira. But a bloody battle ensues when Kaneda sets out to save his friend.

Markimdb: 6.6
Genredrama, crime, detective
CountryJapan

Tanaka is going through a tough time trying to support his younger sister Mitsuko, recently arrested and hold up in jail. As an investigative reporter, he immerses himself into a story about a shocking murder case gone cold; a family was brutally murdered a year ago and the case remains unsolved.

Markimdb: 7.7
Genrehorror, thriller, detective
CountryUSA, Japan
Duration02:43

Chris and his girlfriend Rose go upstate to visit her parents for the weekend. At first, Chris reads the family's overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never could have imagined.

Markimdb: 6.7
Genredrama, crime, detective
CountryJapan
Duration01:57

In a valley, with a dense growth of trees, a baby is killed. The baby's mother Satomi is arrested as the prime suspect. The police also learn that Satomi is involved in a romantic relationship with her next door neighbor Ozaki. The information was provided by the neighbor's lover Kanako. Meanwhile, magazine reporter Watanabe, who is covering the story, discovers the shocking fact that Ozaki was involved in a rape case 15 years ago. Even more shocking, the victim in the rape case is Kanako.

Markimdb: 6
Genrefantasy, detective
CountryJapan
Duration01:59

In this adaptation of the popular eponymous mystery novel by Keisuke Matsuoka, Paris provides the gorgeous backdrop for a grand intrigue involving the world’s most iconic artistic treasure: the Mona Lisa. Minds will be blown, puzzles will be solved, but will a 500-year-old curse be removed?

Markimdb: 4.9
Genrehorror, thriller, detective
CountryCanada, France, Japan, USA
Duration01:35

Heather Mason and her father have been on the run, always one step ahead of dangerous forces that she doesn't fully understand, Now on the eve of her 18th birthday, plagued by horrific nightmares and the disappearance of her father, Heather discovers she's not who she thinks she is. The revelation leads her deeper into a demonic world that threatens to trap her forever.

Markimdb: 6.6
Genrehorror, fantastic, comedy, detective
CountryUSA, Japan
Duration02:35

    A college student relives the day of her murder over and over again as she tries to discover her killer's identity.

    Markimdb: 5.4
    Genrefantasy, melodrama, detective
    CountryJapan

    "A world" - After graduating from a university, close friends Takashi Tsurug and Tomohiko Miwa begin work at a company which does brain research. One day, Tomohiko introduces Mayuko Tsuno as his girlfriend. Takashi is stunned. When he was a university student, Takashi saw Mayuko Tsuno every day on the train opposite from the one he rode. He became attracted to her back then. "B world" - When Takashi Tsurug wakes up, his girlfriend Mayuko Tsuno makes breakfast as usual at his apartment. His friend Tomohiko Miwa introduced him to Mayuko and they have lived happily as a couple. Everything seems to be going smoothly, but Takashi begins to have doubts. Tomohiko, who worked with him at the same company, disappears and he can't discern if his memory is real or imaginary.

    Markimdb: 5.2
    Genrefantastic, crime, detective
    CountryJapan
    Duration01:32

    An environmental analyst is asked by the police to determine if two deaths by hydrogen sulfide poisoning are an accident - or a murder. But when he meets a young woman at both sites, a scientific mystery begins.

    Markimdb: 6.5
    Genreaction, comedy, cartoon, crime, detective, anime
    CountryJapan

    Ryo Saeba works the streets of Tokyo as the City Hunter. He's a "sweeper" and with his sidekick Kaori Makimura, he keeps the city clean. People hire the City Hunter to solve their dangerous problems, which he does with a Colt Python. When Ryo's not working on a case, he's working on getting the ladies, and Kaori must keep him in check with her trusty 10 kg hammer.

    Markimdb: 5.9
    Genrethriller, melodrama, crime, detective
    CountryUnited Kingdom, Japan, USA

    Tokyo, Japan, 1989. Lucy Fly, a foreigner who works as a translator, begins a passionate relationship with Teiji, a mysterious man obsessed with photography.

    Markimdb: 6.2
    Genrefantasy, melodrama, detective, biography, history
    CountryChina, Japan, Hong Kong
    Duration02:03

    During the Late Tang Dynasty, a manor is invaded by a demon cat and a sense of unrest befalls the capital of Changan. A poet is charged with investigating the case and meets up with a monk. The two work together and pull apart the thread of clues to reveal a history of truths leading to the events.




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