Best Japanese music movies
A curated collection of popular music movies from Japan.
On Your Mark (1995)
On Your Mark (1995)
Set in the future: Two men learn that a mysterious winged girl has been taken prisoner, and then decide that they must free her at any cost.
Nana (2005)
Nana (2005)
Two girls named Nana meet on a train to Tokyo. Nana K. aims to reunite with her boyfriend and Nana O. hopes to make it big in the music business. Despite their differences, the pair hit it off and become roommates.
Your Lie in April (2016)
Your Lie in April (2016)
Arima Kousei won numerous piano competitions while under the strict watch of his mother. He was known as the human metronome during that time. Since the death of his mother, Kousei has been unable to hear the sound of his piano. He then meets Miyazono Kaori through childhood friend Sawabe Tsubaki. Kaori plays the violin and has a free sprit. Since meeting her, Kousei is able to face the piano again. Meanwhile, Kaori holds a secret.
The Piano Forest (2007)
The Piano Forest (2007)
Amamiya Shu transfers to Moriwaki elementary filled with hope and ambition. But it doesn't take long before he gets picked on by the class bullies, and gets involved in a dare to play the mysterious piano in the forest.
Dance with Me (2019)
Dance with Me (2019)
Suzuki Shizuka is an office lady at a conglomerate who is hypnotized at a local amusement park and left under the spell. Now she is compelled to sing and dance whenever she hears any melody whatsoever. She heads back to the hypnotist for relief, but he is nowhere to be found. So Shizuka sets off on a journey around Japan to find him and break the spell.
Revue Starlight: The Movie (2021)
Revue Starlight: The Movie (2021)
The stage emulates life and compresses it, setting free skills learned over lifetimes in brief but dazzling displays for the amusement and judgment of others. For the performers, it is the ultimate risk, and some will rise while others must fall. Nowhere is this truer than at the Seisho Music Academy, where music, dance and real weapons all come into play in the creation of the next great Star. Karen and Hikari’s destinies have been linked since a childhood promise, but their journeys here have taken very different paths. Now, after Hikari leaves, Karen must discover who she is without her opposite, while Hikari must rediscover her own course. Nor are they the only girls who must reassess and change if they want to achieve their dreams, as the dance, magic, and swordplay continue!
COLORFUL STAGE! The Movie: A Miku Who Can't Sing (2025)
COLORFUL STAGE! The Movie: A Miku Who Can't Sing (2025)
Ichika is a high school musician who can enter a mysterious place called “SEKAI,” where she and her friends express their innermost emotions through music alongside Hatsune Miku. One day after giving a live performance, Ichika meets a new Miku that she has never seen before. No matter how hard this new Miku tries to sing, she struggles connecting with the hearts of her listeners. Miku must rely on the help of others to find a way to sing again.
Death Note: The Musical (2015)
Death Note: The Musical (2015)
A high school student who comes across a supernatural notebook, realizing it holds within it a great power; if the owner inscribes someone’s name into it while picturing their face, he or she will die.
Shelter (2016)
Shelter (2016)
Shelter tells the story of Rin, a 17-year-old girl who lives her life inside of a futuristic simulation completely by herself in infinite, beautiful loneliness. Each day, Rin awakens in virtual reality and uses a tablet which controls the simulation to create a new, different, beautiful world for herself. Until one day, everything changes, and Rin comes to learn the true origins behind her life inside a simulation.
Blue Giant (2023)
Blue Giant (2023)
High school student Dai Miyamoto has his life is turned upside down the day he discovers jazz. Picking up a saxophone and leaving his sleepy hometown for the bustling nightclubs of Tokyo, Dai will find that the life of a professional musician isn’t for the faint of heart, as he must confront what it truly means to be great.
Gauche the Cellist (1982)
Gauche the Cellist (1982)
Gauche is a diligent but mediocre cellist who plays for a small town orchestra and the local cinema in the early 20th century. He struggles during rehearsals and is often berated by his conductor during preparations for an upcoming performance of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony. Over the course of four nights, Gauche is visited at his mill house home by talking animals as he is practicing.
Love Live! The School Idol Movie (2015)
Love Live! The School Idol Movie (2015)
Although μ's, the defending champions of the school idol tournament, plans to dissolve their group after the graduation of their senior members, they receive news that leads them to holding a concert event! The 9 girls continue to learn and grow in this new and unfamiliar world. What is the last thing that these girls can do as school idols? With the clock ticking, what kind of meaning will the μ's members find in performing the most exciting live performance?
Electric Dragon 80.000 V (2001)
BECK (2010)
BECK (2010)
Yukio is your average high school student who spends his days going to class and avoiding bullies. That is until he meets Ryusuke, a guitar prodigy. Together with Taira, Chiba, and Saku they form the rock band BECK. As their popularity increases so does the danger as Ryusuke's past catches up with him.
On-Gaku: Our Sound (2020)
On-Gaku: Our Sound (2020)
A bored trio of high school delinquents start a rock 'n' roll band together. They have no skill, money, or even a full set of drums, but are determined to jam out and impress their only friend.
The Liar and His Lover (2013)
The Liar and His Lover (2013)
Set within music field, this film depicts a love story between a 25-year-old sound engineer and 16-year-old high school student Riko, who posessess a gifted voice. 25-year-old sound engineer Aki is a member of popular band "Crude Play," but right after the band decides to make their major record debut Aki quits the band. But, Aki provides his music to Crude Play under the name of producer Soichiro. Aki begins to date Riko, whose father runs a fruit and vegetable shop. Riko doesn't know about Aki's background, but she likes to listen to him hum. Riko is in a band herself, with childhood friend Yuichi and Sota. One day she is scouted by producer Soichiro.
The Colors Within (2024)
The Colors Within (2024)
Totsuko is a high school student with the ability to see the 'colors' of others. Colors of bliss, excitement, and serenity, plus a color she treasures as her favorite. Kimi, a classmate at her school, gives off the most beautiful color of all. Although she doesn't play an instrument, Totsuko forms a band with Kimi and Rui, a quiet music enthusiast they meet at a used bookstore in a far corner of town. As they practice at an old church on a remote island, music brings them together, forming friendships and stirring affections.
Nana 2 (2006)
Nana 2 (2006)
Two girls with the same name but very different personalities share an apartment in this sequel to Nana. The rising fame of Nana Osaki's band, the Black Stones, is beginning to take a toll on the best friends' relationship. Meanwhile, Nana Komatsu struggles to make sense of her love triangle with Black Stones' guitarist Nobu and rival group Trapnest's bassist Takumi.
Love Live! Sunshine!! The School Idol Movie Over the Rainbow (2019)
Love Live! Sunshine!! The School Idol Movie Over the Rainbow (2019)
After the idol group Aqours has won the final Love Live! contest, its remaining members prepare to enroll at a new school only to run into some unexpected trouble while the former members go missing on the way to their graduation trip. Separated, the girls begin to realize the value of their friendships as they attempt to find a solution to their various crises.
25th Anniversary Studio Ghibli Concert (2008)
25th Anniversary Studio Ghibli Concert (2008)
Concert held on August 4, 5 and 6, 2008 at the Nippon Budōkan hall in Tokyo to commemorate both the Japanese theatrical release of Ponyo (2008) and the 25 years of musical collaboration between composer Joe Hisaishi and filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki.
Adam by Eve: A Live in Animation (2022)
Solanin (2010)
Solanin (2010)
Meiko Inoue is a recent college grad working as an office lady in a job she hates. Her boyfriend Taneda is permanently crashing at her apartment because his job as a freelance illustrator doesn't pay enough for rent. And her parents in the country keep sending her boxes of veggies that just rot in her fridge. Straddling the line between her years as a student and the rest of her life, Meiko struggles with the feeling that she's just not cut out to be a part of the real world.
Nodame Cantabile: The Movie I (2009)
Nodame Cantabile: The Movie I (2009)
Chiaki is an aspiring conductor who faces the challenge of leading an orchestra which is made up of substitutes. Nodame gives her support to her beloved as she works hard towards achieving her dream to pass a promotion exam at their music conservatory. Will Chiaki be able to revive a broken down orchestra and launch his musical career? What will become of Nodame and Chiaki's relationship?
We Are Little Zombies (2019)
Nodame Cantabile: The Movie II (2010)
Nodame Cantabile: The Movie II (2010)
Nodame and Chiaki mutually decide that it would be for the best if they parted ways for a while so Nodame can practice for an upcoming competition. However, when things don’t go her way, she gets impatient and depressed. While Nodame is away, Chiaki’s former pianist Rui Son returns to take her place. To make matters worse, Rui and Chiaki are set to play the song Nodame dreams of playing with Chiaki herself: Ravel’s “Concerto in G Minor”.
Afro Samurai Pilot (2007)
Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku (2020)
Too Young To Die! (2016)
Sound! Euphonium: Ensemble Contest (2023)
Sound! Euphonium: Ensemble Contest (2023)
Awaiting new club leader Kumiko is the Ensemble Contest, and the school's preliminary competition to determine the representative team to participate. Kumiko tries her best to make it to the preliminaries without incident, but the concert band club is so large that there seems to be no end to the problems. And as club leader, she finds herself busy consulting on all sorts of matters. While the other members are deciding on their teams, Kumiko herself hasn't even decided which she will join...