Movies like The Notorious Bored Samurai 4 (1990)
The best movies like The Notorious Bored Samurai 4 (1990) are Samurai Marathon (2019), Chûshingura (1962) and Rurouni Kenshin: The Final (2021). If The Notorious Bored Samurai 4 hooked you with its action and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
The Notorious Bored Samurai 4
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSeven Samurai (1954)8.5/10 from 4,461 votes
- Newest11 Rebels (2024)Released 2024
- In JapaneseSamurai Marathon (2019)Also in Japanese
Samurai Marathon (2019)
When feudal lord Itakura Katsuakira decides to prepare his samurai troops for the onslaught of modernization by having them compete in a marathon, his independent-minded daughter Yuki secretly joins the race.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChûshingura (1962)
After their lord is tricked into committing ritual suicide, forty-seven samurai warriors await the chance to avenge their master and reclaim their honor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRurouni Kenshin: The Final (2021)
In 1879, Kenshin and his allies face their strongest enemy yet: his former brother-in-law Enishi Yukishiro and his minions, who've vowed their revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRan (1985)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisWhen the Last Sword Is Drawn (2003)
Kanichiro Yoshimura is a samurai and family man who can no longer support his wife and children on the low pay he receives from his small-town clan. He is forced by his love for his family to leave for the city in search of higher pay to support them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSamurai Assassin (1965)
Japan, 1860. The men of the Mito clan, victims of the Ansei purge, anxiously prowl around the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle with the intention of assassinating Naosuke Ii of Hikone, tairō of the Tokugawa shogunate and responsible for their misfortune.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action
Worth the HypeMovies like this11 Rebels (2024)
When the brutal Boshin War breaks out in Japan, a group of inmates on death row unite to defend a fortress against the Imperial army.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTenchu! (1969)
A ronin desperately seeks a way out of financial straits; he allies with the Tosa clan under the ruthless leader Takechi, who quickly takes advantage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRurouni Kenshin Part I: Origins (2012)
In 1868, after the Bakumatsu war ends, the ex-assassin Kenshin Himura traverses Japan with an inverted sword, to defend the needy without killing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTaboo (1999)
Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering on a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGojoe: Spirit War Chronicle (2001)
Benkei, a master fighter and killer, vows never to take another life after his conversion to Buddhism. His faith in pacifism, however, is shaken and ultimately broken by the attacks from a trio of fighters known only as the demons. Taking up his sword once more, he sets out to end their murderous terror.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKamui (2009)
A rebellious ninja in 17th century Japan takes refuge with a fisherman and his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSamurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple (1955)
After years on the road establishing his reputation as Japan's greatest fencer, Takezo returns to Kyoto. Otsu waits for him, yet he has come not for her but to challenge the leader of the region's finest school of fencing. To prove his valor and skill, he walks deliberately into ambushes set up by the school's followers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRurouni Kenshin Part II: Kyoto Inferno (2014)
Kenshin has settled into his new life with Kaoru and his other friends when he is approached with a request from the Meiji government. Makoto Shishio, a former assassin like Kenshin, was betrayed, set on fire and left for dead. He survived, and is now in Kyoto, plotting with his gathered warriors to overthrow the new government. Against Kaoru's wishes, Kenshin reluctantly agrees to go to Kyoto and help keep his country from falling back into civil war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1952)
A fugitive lord and his six retainers disguise themselves as monks to bluff their way through a hostile checkpoint.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSamurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1954)
Struggling to elevate himself from his low caste in 17th century Japan, Miyamoto trains to become a mighty samurai warrior.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNew Tale of Zatoichi (1963)
Wishing to find peace, Zatoichi travels to his old village but only finds trouble when he ends up in a love triangle and finds old scores have followed him home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBuddha 2: The Endless Journey (2014)
2500 years ago, in India, Siddhartha was born as a prince of the Shakya clan, but he gives up his position as a prince to see the world. He meets a strange boy named Assaji, who can predict the future, a monk with only one eye and Depa. Siddhartha continues traveling. Siddhartha is overwhelmed by the sufferings he witnesses around him. Meanwhile, Prince Ruri of Kosara begins his attack on the Shakya clan. Second Buddha movie from Tezuka Productions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisZatoichi: Darkness Is His Ally (1989)
Older, wiser but still a wandering loner, the blind, peace-loving masseur Ichi seeks a peaceful life in a rural village. When he's caught in the middle of a power struggle between two rival Yakuza clans, his reputation as a deadly defender of the innocent is put to the ultimate test in a series of sword-slashing showdowns.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSister Street Fighter (1974)
Li Mansei is a martial-arts champion turned undercover agent. When he is captured by a drug lord, his sister Li Koryu turns to his former martial-arts school, including the powerful Sonny Kawasaka, for help in the inevitable battle royale.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSure Death 5 (1991)
Fifth movie in the Hissatsu (Sure Death!) Series. At the behest of a corrupt bureaucrat, a mysterious band of murderers wage a bloody battle against three deadly assassins.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & action
Ask This of Rikyu (2013)
Sen no Rikyu (Ebizo Ichikawa) is the son of a fish shop owner. Sen no Rikyu then studies tea and eventually becomes one of the primary influences upon the Japanese tea ceremony. With his elegant esthetics, Sen no Rikyu is favored by the most powerful man in Japan Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Nao Omori) and becomes one of his closest advisors. Due to conflicts, Toyotomi Hideyoshi then orders Sen no Rikyu to commit seppuku (suicide). Director Mitsutoshi Tanaka's adaptation of Kenichi Yamamoto's award-winning novel of the same name received the Best Artistic Contribution Award at the 37th Montréal World Film Festival, the Best Director Award at the 2014 Osaka Cinema Festival, the 30th Fumiko Yamaji Cultural Award and the 37th Japan Academy Film Prize in nine categories, including Best Art Direction, Excellent Film and Excellent Actor.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & history
Kenpu Renpeikan (1944)
Near the end of the shogunate in Japan, Katsura Shogoro and his fellow samurai from the southwestern domain of Choshu enter the dojo of Saito Yakuro, the famed Shindo Munen Ryu swordsmen of Renpeikan in Edo. Katsura is initially not welcomed by the other, senior dojo followers. Undeterred, he focuses on improving his skill not only in swordsmanship but also learning how to repel the foreign British and American ships that threaten their domain.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history & drama
Seven Samurai (1954)
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 the villagers provide the soldiers with food.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Hidden Fortress (1958)
In feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidden in the mountains.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & action
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisA Color Print of Edo (1939)
The Color Print of Edo is a 1939 black and white Japanese silent film with benshi accompaniment directed by Kazuo Mori. It is a cheerful period drama, sprinkled with comical scenes and tells the story of a loyal and handsome Edo period servant who fights to help his older brother marry the woman he loves. The star of this film, Utaemon Ichikawa, gained enormous popularity for his portrayal of a cheerful and chivalrous man.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & action
Samurai Vendetta in Iga (1997)
Matauemon Araki (Kotaro Satomi) is a sword teacher in Yamatokoriyama. He heard from his brother-in-law Kazuma Watanabe (Koyo Katagiri) that Kazuma's father was killed by someone. The murderer was named Matagoro Kawai (Jinya Sato) who was the nephew of his close friend Jinszaemon Kawai (Isao Natsuyagi). He came to help Kazuma who is not good at swords and chase Matazaburo.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & history
Bored Hatamoto: The Mysterious Demon Palace (1955)
In Kyoto, a samurai named Boredom Otoko, Saotome Mondonosuke , appears and helps a woman being chased by a spy named Genshichi. Unfortunately, the woman is shot and killed. Later, Genshichi explains that the woman was a member of a band of thieves, and because she was let go once, the police officer, Genjuro Mazaki, was demoted to a desk job. Consumed by guilt, Boredom Otoko...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & history
Sekigahara (2017)
The background to and depiction of a watershed battle in Japanese history, at Sekigahara in 1600, when Tokugawa Ieyasu's Army of the East defeated the Army of the West of Ishida Mitsunari. The story includes the intrigues and shifting loyalties of the various retainers, family members, and samurai.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMumon: The Land of Stealth (2017)
Raised suckling poison arrows among the sparring Iga ninja factions, Mumon is a carefree 16th-century mercenary. When the ninja council makes a power play to defeat the young Nobukatsu Oda struggling to step into his father’s warlord shoes as they expand rule across the country, Mumon jumps into the fray to satisfy his new bride Okuni’s demand that he make good on his promises of wealth. Yet Mumon soon finds what is worth fighting for beyond money or nation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Notorious Bored Samurai 4?
The closest matches to The Notorious Bored Samurai 4 are Samurai Marathon (2019), Chûshingura (1962) and Rurouni Kenshin: The Final (2021). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Notorious Bored Samurai 4?
Start with Samurai Marathon (2019), the closest match to The Notorious Bored Samurai 4.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Notorious Bored Samurai 4?
Seven Samurai (1954), rated 8.5/10 by 4,461 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Notorious Bored Samurai 4?
11 Rebels (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like The Notorious Bored Samurai 4?
Yes: Samurai Marathon (2019), Chûshingura (1962) and Rurouni Kenshin: The Final (2021).
How are movies similar to The Notorious Bored Samurai 4 chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Notorious Bored Samurai 4, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.