The survival game movie genre has never shown signs of cooling down among movie fanatics. Brain hacking games that require intense mental competition, intelligence, strategy, and have a life-or-death nature always bring extraordinary attraction. It would be a mistake if we did not mention the Japanese survival film genre, which is considered the origin of the survival game film genre in Asia. Join Top Share in taking a look at the 11 best Japanese films about survival!
1 The Werewolf Game: Villagers Side
The Werewolf Game: Villagers Side - Nguồn ảnh: Bilibili
The Werewolf Game: Villagers Side
The Werewolf Game: Villagers Side is a movie about Airi (Nanami Sakuraba) who is a high school girl. On her way home from school, she was kidnapped. When she woke up, she found herself and 9 students also kidnapped to a strange place. They are forced to participate in the werewolf game and must survive to the end. Airi receives the villager card, she is forced to find those who carry the wolf card and execute them before it is too late. However, frightened by the deaths of her friends killed and executed by wolves, she is gradually losing her composure as suspicion prevails.
Director: Izuru Kumasaka
Screenwriter: Ryo Kawakami, Izuru Kumasaka, Miyako Narutono
Actors: Nanami Sakuraba, Taiga Nakano, Seika Taketomi
Duration: 110 minutes
Number of episodes: 1
Status: Completed
Genre: Horror, suspense, death
Year of release: 2013
Country: Japan
2 Zero: The Bravest Money Game
Zero: The Bravest Money Game. Photo source: Facebook The Art of Fil-ming
Trailer Zero: The Bravest Money Game
Zero: The Bravest Money Game is a film about Zero Ukai (Shigeaki Kato), a middle school teacher at a private academy. In life, he is a kind person and helps the weak. Zero Ukai participates in a survival game. The game takes place at an amusement park under construction. Those participating in the game must risk their lives, but the winner will receive 100 billion yen. The participants can be friends or enemies at any time. With his kindness, can Ukai survive to the end?
Director: Syunpei Maruya, Satoru Nakajima
Screenwriter: Nobuyuki Fukumoto, Shinji Obara
Actors: Nanami Sakuraba, Taiga Nakano, Seika Taketomi
Duration: 55 minutes/episode
Number of episodes: 10
Status: Completed
Genre: Horror, suspense, death
Year of release: 2018
Country: Japan
3 Cinderella Game
Cinderella Game - Photo source: Facebook Ninpuu Sentai Hurricanger VN
Trailer Cinderella Game
Cinderella Game - is a movie about Sana Haitani (Kasumi Yamaya) who is a member of an idol group. She is pursuing the dream of her deceased sister, who always wanted to become a top idol. Unfortunately, Sana's idol group has disbanded. She was then kidnapped and taken to a deserted island with other female idols. What awaits her are card battles. If she wins the card battle with the other kidnapped female idols, she can become a top idol. But, if Sana loses, she will die.
Director: Hayato Kano
Screenwriter: Junpei Arai, Ami Inagawa
Actors: Kasumi Yamaya, Miku Yoshida, Meiku Harukawa
Duration: 77 minutes
Number of episodes: 1
Status: Completed
Genre: Death Game
Year of release: 2016
Country: Japan
4 Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler
Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler - God of Cards Kaiji - Photo source: Fphim.tv
Trailer Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler
Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler- tells the story of Kaiji Ito (Seiji Okuda), who cannot find a stable job because the country is in a recession. Kaiji's endless misery continues until he receives a surprise visit from a loan shark named Endo, who wants to collect on the outstanding debt that Kaiji carelessly signed over to his former colleague. Endo offers Kaiji two options - either spend ten years paying off this outstanding debt, or board the gambling ship. The rest of the movie takes place on this mysterious ship, where Kaiji must overcome games to receive a reward of a huge amount of money.
Director: Toya Sato
Screenwriter: Mika Omori
Actors: Seiji Okuda, Toshio Nakatani, Naoto Fujimura
Duration: 129 minutes
Number of episodes: 1
Status: Completed
Genre: Death Game
Year of release: 2009
Country: Japan
5 Battle Royale
Battle Royale - The War of Survival - Photo source: The New York Times
Trailer Battle Royale
Battle Royale - is a science fiction film depicting the time when the Japanese government passed the "BR Act" to limit juvenile delinquency throughout the country. One year later, Shuya's (Fujiwara Tatsuya) class organizes a field trip, after which they are gassed and taken to a deserted island. It is explained to the class that their class has been chosen to participate in the annual Battle Royale created by the Act: they have three days to fight to the death until there is a final winner; Bomb necklaces will kill opposing students or those standing in the "danger zone". Each student is given food, a map, furniture, and a random weapon.
Director: Fukasaku Kinji
Screenwriter: Fukasaku Kenta
Actors: Fujiwara Tatsuya, Maeda Aki, Yamamoto Taro
Duration: 113 minutes
Number of episodes: 1
Status: Completed
Genre: Death Game, Science Fiction
Year of release: 2000
Country: Japan
6 Tag
Tag - Photo source: Kenh14
Trailer Tag
Tag - is about a quiet high school girl named Mitsuko (Reina Triendl) who survives a wind that blew through her school's open-top bus, cutting the others on board in half. The wind relentlessly chased her and killed all the other girls she came into contact with. Then, she accidentally entered a high school campus and hid here. But she is constantly targeted by mysterious ghosts such as the pig-faced groom and the gun-wielding teacher. Who is behind this mysterious series of events? Let's follow Mitsuko's journey in the devil game!
Director: Sion Sono
Screenwriter: Sion Sono
Cast: Reina Triendl, Mariko Shinoda, Erina Mano
Duration: 85 minutes
Number of episodes: 1
Status: Completed
Genre: Death Game
Year of release: 2015
Country: Japan
7 As The Gods Will
As The Gods Will- Photo source: Ly Thanh Co
Trailer As The Gods Will
As The Gods Will - is a movie about high school student Shun Takahata (Sota Fukushi) who spends most of his time playing violent video games. One morning at school, he was complaining that his life was boring as usual, suddenly the teacher's head was blown off and a talking Daruma doll appeared, Shun and the rest of the class were forced to participate. into a deadly game Daruma-san ga koronda, in which students are killed one by one if detected moving. After surviving, Shun was forced to participate in other games with high school students across Japan. Who is behind this?
Director: Takashi Miike
Screenwriter: Hiroyuki Yatsu
Actors: Sota Fukushi, Kamiki Ryuunosuke, Hirona Yamazaki
Duration: 117 minutes
Number of episodes: 1
Status: Completed
Genre: Death Game
Year of release: 2014
Country: Japan
8 Alice In Borderland
Alice In Borderland. Photo source: BlogAnChoi
Trailer Alice In Borderland
Alice In Borderland - is a Japanese science fiction horror series. The film revolves around people trapped in a land parallel to the current city of Tokyo but long abandoned. Here, they must try to pass each game that challenges their lives. When winning, each person is given an additional number of days to survive and must continue to participate in new games to have more time to survive, but if they lose, they will die on the spot. In this seemingly lifeless space, how should they escape?
Director: Sato Shinsuke
Screenwriter: Watabe Yoshiki, Kuramitsu Yasuko, Sato Shinsuke
Actors: Yamazaki Kento, Tsuchiya Tao, Morinaga Yuki
Duration: 50 minutes/episode
Number of episodes: 16/ 2 parts
Status: Completed
Genre: Science Fiction, Drama, Drama
Release year: 2020 & 2022
Country: Japan
9 Da Capo Shimasen Ka
Da Capo Shimasen Ka - Photo source: Beef Daily
Trailer Da Capo Shimasen Ka
Da Capo Shimasen Ka - is a film about eight men and women who are deeply in debt and have no motivation to continue living. Eight people with different worries are approached by a mysterious man named Ninomiya, an agent of Mr. X, please come play "game of life and death" at an ancient hotel. After each game, one person will die but those who are still alive will receive a lot of bonuses. In particular, Mr. X also infiltrated into one of the eight of them. Mr. Who is X? What is the purpose of the game? Who is the last survivor?
Director: Ueda Jin, Ouchi Takahiro, Matsuura Takeshi
Screenwriter: Akimoto Yasushi, Hokimoto Shinya, Tsuruga Rei, Ohta Morinobu
Actors: Takeda Tetsuya, Inoo Kei, Makita Sports
Duration: 55 minutes/episode
Number of episodes: 10
Status: Completed
Genre: Horror, suspense, death
Release year: 2023
Country: Japan
10 The Werewolf Game: The Beast Side
The Werewolf Game: The Beast Side - Photo source: Bilibili
Trailer The Werewolf Game: The Beast Side
The Werewolf Game: The Beast Side - tells the story of 10 high school students including Yuka Kabayama (Tao Tsuchiya) who are suddenly led to a room and have to play a werewolf game. Yuka Kabayama has the wolf tag. She must hide that secret and kill each player with the villager card. Yuka Kabayama is so excited by her challenge, she has to trick the others so they don't get suspicious and execute her. A girl who looks weak but is willing to kill to live, can she survive to the end and escape the game?
Director: Izuru Kumasaka
Screenwriter: Ryo Kawakami
Actors: Tao Tsuchiya, Aoi Morikawa, Misato Aoyama
Duration: 112 minutes
Number of episodes: 1
Status: Completed
Genre: Horror, suspense, death
Year of release: 2014
Country: Japan
11 Kakegurui
Kakegurui - Photo source: Facebook Film studio
Trailer Kakegurui
Kakegurui - là bộ phim kể về Học viện Tư nhân Hyakkaou, là một học viện dành cho những con bạc, được thành lập cách đây 122 năm. Cấp bậc học sinh trong trường không dựa vào thành tích học tập mà dựa vào thắng thua cờ bạc. Người thắng sẽ chủ còn kẻ thua thành nô lệ, mất một phần cơ thể hoặc mất mạng. Thành tích của học viên được xếp loại dựa trên số tiền ăn được từ cờ bạc. Bộ phim mở đầu khi Yumeko Jabami (Minami Hamabe), một học viên mới chuyển đến học viện, người đang tìm kiếm sự hưng phấn trong các trò chơi may rủi.
Đạo diễn: Tsutomu Hanabusa
Biên kịch: Mizuto Takano, Tsutomu Hanabusa
Diễn viên: Minami Hamabe, Mahiro Takasugi, Aoi Morikawa
Thời lượng: 120 phút
Số tập: 1
Tình trạng: Hoàn thành
Thể loại: Kinh dị, hồi hộp
Năm phát hành: 2019
Quốc gia: Nhật Bản
