# What is the best Takashi Yamazaki movie?

> Nostalgic Showa-era tearjerkers share this list with war dramas, manga adaptations, CGI cartoons and giant-monster spectacle, plus one film that has only just reached theaters.

*By YPB Team · Published November 8, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-takashi-yamazaki-movie*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Always: Sunset on Third Street** — score 1000/1000
   A 2005 adaptation of Ryohei Saigan's manga set in 1958 Tokyo as Tokyo Tower rises, winner of the Japan Academy Prize for Picture of the Year.
2. **Godzilla Minus One** — score 990/1000
   A 2023 Toho film set in postwar Japan that won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, the first Godzilla film to win an Oscar.
3. **Godzilla Minus Zero** — score 832/1000
   Yamazaki's sequel to Godzilla Minus One, released in Japan on November 3, 2026 and in North America on November 6, 2026.
4. **The Eternal Zero** — score 757/1000
   A 2013 adaptation of Naoki Hyakuta's novel starring Junichi Okada as a Zero fighter pilot, winner of the Japan Academy Prize for Picture of the Year.
5. **Lupin III: The First** — score 524/1000
   A 2019 film that was the first fully 3D computer-animated feature in the Lupin III franchise.
6. **Juvenile** — score 443/1000
   Yamazaki's 2000 debut feature, a family sci-fi adventure about a boy who befriends a small robot named Tetra.
7. **Parasyte: Part 1** — score 443/1000
   A 2014 live-action adaptation of Hitoshi Iwaaki's manga starring Shota Sometani as a student whose right hand is taken over by an alien parasite.
8. **Fueled: The Man They Called Pirate** — score 443/1000
   A 2016 drama based on Naoki Hyakuta's novel inspired by Idemitsu founder Sazo Idemitsu, starring Junichi Okada.
9. **Dragon Quest: Your Story** — score 443/1000
   A 2019 computer-animated film based on the video game Dragon Quest V, written and chief-directed by Yamazaki.
10. **Parasyte: Part 2** — score 443/1000
   The 2015 conclusion of Yamazaki's two-part Parasyte adaptation, released five months after the first film.
11. **Always: Sunset on Third Street 2** — score 349/1000
   The 2007 sequel that returns to the same Tokyo neighbourhood in 1959 and opens with a fantasy sequence of Godzilla attacking the city.
12. **Stand by Me Doraemon** — score 349/1000
   A 2014 computer-animated Doraemon film co-directed with Ryuichi Yagi, winner of the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year.
13. **Stand by Me Doraemon 2** — score 349/1000
   The 2020 computer-animated sequel co-directed with Ryuichi Yagi, built around Nobita's wedding day and his late grandmother.
14. **Destiny: The Tale of Kamakura** — score 349/1000
   A 2017 fantasy based on Ryohei Saigan's manga, starring Masato Sakai as a mystery writer living in a Kamakura full of spirits.
15. **Always: Sunset on Third Street '64** — score 238/1000
   The 2012 third film in the series, released in 3D and set in 1964 as Tokyo prepares to host the Olympics.
16. **The Great War of Archimedes** — score 238/1000
   A 2019 drama starring Masaki Suda as a mathematician drawn into the Imperial Navy's debate over building the battleship Yamato.
17. **Returner** — score 0/1000
   A 2002 sci-fi action film starring Takeshi Kaneshiro as a hitman who teams up with a girl from the future to stop an alien war.
18. **Space Battleship Yamato** — score 0/1000
   A 2010 live-action adaptation of the anime series, starring Takuya Kimura as Susumu Kodai.

Tags: movies, directors, japan, godzilla, takashi yamazaki