Movies like Thugs of Shinjuku (1970)
The best movies like Thugs of Shinjuku (1970) are Belly (1998), House of Bamboo (1955) and The Protector (1985). If Thugs of Shinjuku hooked you with its crime, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBranded to Kill (1967)7.2/10 from 266 votes
- NewestAll the Devils Are Here (2025)Released 2025
- In JapaneseCharacter (2021)Also in Japanese
Belly (1998)
Tommy Bundy and Sincere are best friends as well as infamous and ruthless criminals and shot-callers in the hood. Respected by many but feared by all. As the police are closing in on them and new players are looking for a come up, will their reign last?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHouse of Bamboo (1955)
Eddie Kenner is given a special assignment by the Army to get the inside story on Sandy Dawson, a former GI who has formed a gang of fellow servicemen and Japanese locals.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Protector (1985)
Billy Wong is a New York City cop whose partner is gunned down during a robbery. Billy and his new partner, Danny Garoni, are working security at a fashion show when a wealthy man's daughter, Laura Shapiro, is kidnapped. The Federal authorities suspect that Laura's father is involved with Mr. Ko, a Hong Kong drug kingpin, so the NYC police commissioner sends the two cops to Hong Kong to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisCharacter (2021)
A kind man aspires to become a manga writer, but villains and evil deeds do not come easily to him, for he has little experience or natural inclination for them. Things take a surprise turn when he comes across a family who were described as idealized that are no more. He uses the real-life situation for his work.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAll the Devils Are Here (2025)
After a heist, four criminals lay low in a remote safehouse, waiting for orders. As paranoia builds, one thing becomes clear — the real threat may not be outside, but among them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCity Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes (2019)
When gorgeous model Ai Shindo finds herself stalked by mysterious men, she comes to Ryo and his crew for protection. While he tries to hunt down the potential assassins (and maybe score a little nookie in the process), he ends up catching wind of a superweapon shipment landing in Shinjuku very soon. Could the two be connected? And with City Hunter on the case, will Tokyo survive the night?!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Colt is My Passport (1967)
A gang lord hires Kamimura, a hit man, to take out a rival boss who's gotten greedy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSiberian Education (2013)
The story of a gang of children growing up in a community of banished criminals, in a forgotten corner of the former Soviet Union. This community rejects the world outside. The only law it obeys… is its own. Against this backdrop two best friends, Kolyma and Gagarin, gradually become fierce enemies as they find themselves on opposite sides of the strict code of honour of the ‘honest criminal’ brotherhood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBattles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973)
Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hitman and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog Katsutoshi Otomo draws our series' hero, Shozo Hirono, and the other yakuza into a new round of bloodshed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMr. Long (2017)
Long is a Taiwanese killer known for his sword skills. After Long fails a Tokyo mission, he moves to a small town where no one knows about him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIn Too Deep (1999)
Drug lord Dwayne Gittens rules Cincinnati with an iron fist. No wonder he's known as "God" on the streets. Determined to break Gittens' stranglehold on the city is undercover cop Jeffrey Cole. But as Cole takes on an assumed identity to penetrate Gittens' criminal empire, he makes a disturbing discovery -- he kind of likes being a gangster.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDead or Alive (1999)
Ryūichi and his small gang of Triad vie for control of the Japanese underworld in a crime-ridden Shinjuku quarter while Detective Jojima tries to bring it down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBranded to Kill (1967)
After botching his latest assignment, a third-ranked Japanese hit man becomes the target of another assassin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKillers (2014)
A psychotic executive triggers a journalist's dark side, and they begin to form a strange bond through the internet.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPanic (2000)
Alex is going through a midlife crisis and it has become a very difficult time for him. His marriage is struggling, he's worried about his son, and his job of killing people for his family has become the most stressful part of his life. He seeks the help of a therapist and meets a woman in the waiting room that he connects with.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWinged Creatures (2009)
A psychotic man opens fire in a diner, murdering numerous people before killing himself. The survivors struggle in different ways following this horrendous event: a doctor doubts his own instincts and elects to use an experimental medical procedure on his wife, while a gambler believes he's on a lucky streak. A waitress begins engaging in promiscuous sex, and a young girl whose father is among the dead gains unexpected fame.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisSailor Suit and Machine Gun (1981)
A high-school girl inherits a declining yakuza organization, which seeks to repair its fortunes under her leadership.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Virtuoso (2021)
Danger, deception and murder descend upon a sleepy town when a professional assassin accepts a new assignment from his enigmatic boss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisBlood Ties (2013)
Two brothers, on either side of the law, face off over organized crime in Brooklyn during the 1970s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAccident Man (2018)
Mike Fallon, the Accident Man, is a stone cold killer. When a loved one is murdered by his own crew, Fallon is forced to avenge the one person who actually meant something to him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYakuza Ladies: Decision (1998)
Kasuga’s husband gets arrested for a murder of his beloved protégé. She and her family investigate and find out he was trapped by greedy Nagoshi, the boss of their rival yakuza family. She has to make a decision to revenge Nagoshi.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Ruthless Gambler (1969)
Unlike traditional gangster movies, it is a gangster swashbuckler that mixes romance and humanity with a yakuza lover as the main character. A young man who heard that his former boss was killed is imprisoned by slashing his family's minions, and his lover is tortured by the enemy, but rescued by the imprisoned young man's nemesis.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Japan's Top Gangster (1973)
A boy born in a poor village in Tokushima spends his days idly until a chance meeting sets him on the road to becoming boss of Japan's largest gang. This epic film is the first part of greatest true-life series based on autobiography of the Yamaguchi-gumi's third leader, Taoka Kazuo.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Shinjuku's Number One Drunk-Killer Tetsu (1977)
After serving 10 years in prison for murdering a rival boss, Tetsu is appalled to see his yakuza family overgrown and dysfunctional upon his release.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
A Modern Yakuza: Three Decoy Blood Brothers (1971)
When a large crime syndicate seeks to invade Gifu's underworld, three brothers and their yakuza family are the only ones that stand in their way.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Operation Plazma in Osaka (1976)
Amidst Japan's postwar economic boom, yakuza factions in Osaka fight for survival when Japan's largest crime syndicate plans a hostile takeover.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
The Story of a Man Among Men (1984)
During the Showa era, a young yakuza survives war and injury and rises to become a clan boss with the help and respect of his sworn brothers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Gamblers and Racketeers (1964)
Komatsu Takioka is boss of a Yakuza group rival to Masakichi Kijima boss of the Kikuya group which supports the town vendors unlike Takioka, who will stop at nothing to undermine the vendors and take over the territory. Masakichi will do all he can to protect and support the people. Ryutaro Kijima is senior son to Masakichi, though disowned, he keeps interest in the family from a distance. He will be there for his father and his hot tempered younger brother Katsuo, if they should need his loyal help.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
A Yakuza Goes Home (1970)
Shimamura & Mineko return to Kamagasaki in Osaka. In their return Shimamura quickly finds himself defending a lady in distress. During the skirmish he bumps into his old buddies who turns him on to the "new" goings on in town, Shimamura is angered to discover a Chinese triad organization has overthrown their gang, a situation they must reverse. Now he and the old gang finds themselves putting their lives on the line defending the honor of the "Yakuza Way", the locals of Osaka, even Japan!!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Scoundrel (1968)
Shimamura is a violent street thug who joins the yakuza & is merciless & unscrupulous on his rise, lacking any sense of either duty or chivalry. When imprisoned, he is repeatedly transferred from one prison to another, because no one can handle him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Like Thugs of Shinjuku and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Thugs of Shinjuku?
The closest matches to Thugs of Shinjuku are Belly (1998), House of Bamboo (1955) and The Protector (1985). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Thugs of Shinjuku?
Start with Belly (1998), the closest match to Thugs of Shinjuku.
What is the highest-rated movie like Thugs of Shinjuku?
Branded to Kill (1967), rated 7.2/10 by 266 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Thugs of Shinjuku?
All the Devils Are Here (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Thugs of Shinjuku?
Yes: Character (2021), City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes (2019) and A Colt is My Passport (1967).
How are movies similar to Thugs of Shinjuku chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Thugs of Shinjuku, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.