Movies like Kill!
If Kill!'s mix of samurai, yakuza and ronin stayed with you, start here. Each film below was picked from what Kill!'s fans love most, with the reason it belongs on this list.
- 1
Harakiri
1962 · Directed by Masaki Kobayashi · 135 min8.5
Why you'll like itWith Tatsuya Nakadai · Shares: samurai, ronin, jidaigeki · Also a Japanese action film · From the same decade (1960s)
Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce…
- 2
Yojimbo
1961 · Directed by Akira Kurosawa · 110 min8.1
Why you'll like itWith Tatsuya Nakadai and Eijirō Tōno · Shares: samurai, ronin, jidaigeki · From the same decade (1960s)
A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade.
- 3
13 Assassins
2010 · Directed by Takashi Miike · 141 min7.3
Why you'll like itShares: samurai, ronin, jidaigeki · Also a Japanese action film
A bravado period action film set at the end of Japan's feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country…
- 4
Rurouni Kenshin Part III: The Legend Ends
2014 · Directed by Keishi Otomo · 135 min7.7
Why you'll like itShares: samurai, jidaigeki · Also a Japanese action film
Shishio sets sail in his ironclad ship to bring down the government. In order to stop him, Kenshin trains with his old master to learn his final technique.
- 5
Rurouni Kenshin Part I: Origins
2012 · Directed by Keishi Otomo · 134 min7.5
Why you'll like itShares: samurai, jidaigeki · Also a Japanese action film
In 1868, after the Bakumatsu war ends, the ex-assassin Kenshin Himura traverses Japan with an inverted sword, to defend the needy without killing.
- 6
Seven Samurai
1954 · Directed by Akira Kurosawa · 207 min8.5
Why you'll like itShares: samurai, jidaigeki · Also a Japanese action film
A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and…
- 7
Ran
1985 · Directed by Akira Kurosawa · 160 min8.0
Why you'll like itWith Tatsuya Nakadai · Shares: jidaigeki · Also a Japanese action film
Shakespeare's King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan where an aging warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons.
- 8
Rashomon
1950 · Directed by Akira Kurosawa · 88 min8.0
Why you'll like itShares: samurai, jidaigeki
Four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.
- 9
Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie
2012 · Directed by Hayato Date · 109 min7.4
Why you'll like itAlso a Japanese action film
Sixteen years ago, a mysterious masked ninja unleashes a powerful creature known as the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox on the Hidden Leaf Village Konoha, killing many people.
- 10
One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island
2005 · Directed by Mamoru Hosoda · 91 min7.2
Why you'll like itAlso a Japanese action film
The Straw Hats visit a recreational island, run by Baron Omatsuri, who asks them to complete a series of ordeals if they wish to stay on the island.
- 11
Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie
1994 · Directed by Gisaburō Sugii · 102 min7.1
Why you'll like itAlso a Japanese action film
Bison, the ruthless leader of the international terrorist organization Shadowlaw, has been desperately searching for the greatest fighter on the planet for years.
- 12
Hunter x Hunter: Phantom Rouge
2013 · Directed by Yuzo Sato · 97 min7.1
Why you'll like itAlso a Japanese action film
One day, Kurapika spots a child who looks very similar to his childhood friend, Pyro. However, when he catches up to him, the boy steals Kurapika's eyes with some kind of magical power.