Movies like Onmitsu Doshin: The Edo Secret Police (1979)
The best movies like Onmitsu Doshin: The Edo Secret Police (1979) are Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973), Mr. Long (2017) and The Perfect Weapon (1991). If Onmitsu Doshin: The Edo Secret Police hooked you with its crime and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedTokyo Revengers (2021)7.8/10 from 237 votes
- NewestNemuri Kyoshiro (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseBattles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973)Also in Japanese
Battles 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 drama & 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 & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Perfect Weapon (1991)
Jeff, a young delinquent, is enrolled by his father in a kenpo school, in the hopes of teaching the boy some self-discipline. Years later, Jeff's mentor, Kim, is being threatened by one of the Korean mafia families. Jeff tries to help his old friend, but is too late to prevent Kim's death at the hands of an unknown hitman. Vowing revenge, Jeff takes on all of the families, using his martial arts skills to find the man who killed his friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Am Elizabeth Smart (2017)
The story of Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping and captivity, as told from her perspective.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRay Donovan: The Movie (2022)
A showdown decades in the making brings the Donovan family legacy full circle. As the events that made Ray who he is today finally come to light, the Donovans find themselves drawn back to Boston to face the past. Each of them struggles to overcome their violent upbringing, but destiny dies hard, and only their fierce love for each other keeps them in the fight.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wings of the Kirin (2012)
A man's body is found under the statue of a winged kirin in the Nihombashi area of Tokyo. A suspect named Yashima has a car accident and falls unconscious while he is attempting to run away. Yashima's lover Kaori comes from Fukushima and tells detectives that he is absolutely not a criminal. Meanwhile, Detective Kyoichiro Kaga's (Hiroshi Abe) investigates and uncovers a point of contact between the dead body and Yashima. A hidden fact of the victim is revealed which even his children did not know about...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
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 & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScum (1977)
Carlin is a new reform school inmate with a reputation as a hard case. The authorities encourage gang leader Pongo to humble Carlin, but Carlin overtakes Pongo as Daddy of the ward. The guards institute a reign of terror and neglect, with Carlin emerging as an unlikely leader.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe City of Lost Souls (2000)
Brazilian-Japanese gangster Mario rescues his Chinese girlfriend Kei as she's about to be deported from Japan. Desperate to escape, he hides in Tokyo's booming Japanese-Portuguese community and seeks passage from the country from a Russian mobster. To meet his price, they hold up a bigtime drug deal between the Chinese Mafia and the local Yakuza.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRainy Dog (1997)
A Japanese assassin stranded in Taiwan must take work from a local crime boss to make ends meet when suddenly a woman from his past delivers a son to him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSilverton Siege (2022)
After a failed sabotage mission, a trio of anti-apartheid freedom fighters ends up in a tense bank hostage situation. Based on a true story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTokyo Revengers (2021)
An unemployed man learns that his ex-girlfriend was murdered. He suddenly finds himself travelling through time to his middle school years and has chance to change the future and save the girl. He aims to rise to the top of the most brutal delinquent gang.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRedemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (2004)
Redemption tells the story of Stan "Tookie" Williams, founder of the Crips L.A. street gang. Story follows his fall into gang-banging, his prison term, and his work writing children's novels encouraging peace and anti-violence resolutions which earned him multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominations. After exhausting all forms of appeal, Tookie was executed by lethal injection.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEmpire (2002)
Big time drug dealer Victor Rosa is looking to get out of the game and sees his chance with a big deal with a new friend who happens to be a Wall St. stockbroker. Thinking this will be his chance to go out on top, Victor soon finds out that he's been double crossed and his last option is to get revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Enforcer (2022)
A noir thriller set in Miami, the film follows an enforcer who discovers his femme fatale boss has branched out into cyber sex trafficking, putting a young runaway he’s befriended at risk. He sacrifices everything to save the young girl from the deadly organization he’s spent his life building.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisK-20: The Fiend with Twenty Faces (2008)
In an alternate version of 1949 Japan in which World War II never happened, the Japanese capital of Teito is home to both an ultra rich upper class and the dirt poor masses. The city is thrown into a state of panic when a phantom thief called “The Kaijin (Fiend) with 20 Faces” (K-20 for short) begins to use his mysterious abilities to steal from the rich and give to the poor. One day a circus acrobat named Heikichi Endo (Takeshi Kaneshiro) is framed for K-20’s crimes and becomes determined to clear his name. He teams up with K-20’s next target, a wealthy duchess named Yoko Hashiba (Takako Matsu) and her detective fiancé (Toru Nakamura), to take K-20 down once and for all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons (1973)
Ogami Itto is challenged by a quintet of warriors, each armed with one fifth of Ogami's assassin fee and one fifth of the information he needs to complete his assignment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972)
Official Shogunate executioner Ogami Itto has been framed for disloyalty to the Shogunate by the Yagyu clan, against whom he now is waging a one-man war, along with his infant son, Daigoro.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell (1974)
With most of his family already dead at Ogami Itto's hands, Retsudo launches one final plot to destroy him, and when that fails, unleashes the fury of every remaining member of the Yagyu clan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe System (2022)
When a young soldier, newly returned from war, gets caught up in a drug bust, he is recruited by the authorities to go undercover in a notoriously dangerous prison in order to figure out what is really going on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKanei Chronicles (1991)
From all over Japan, the greatest warriors: Yagyu Jubei, Miyamoto Musashi, Araki Mataemon, and more came to test their blades in a tournament of swords. But behind the match a bloodthirsty plot is born. Tokugawa Yorinobu, a corrupt shogunate official plans to assassinate Shogun Iemitsu and take his place. With scheming samurai Yui Shosetsu and ruthless Negoro ninja leader Genyusai, he plans to incite a ronin uprising and cut a bloody trail across Japan, with terrifying Chinese gunboats to back his play. Matsudaira Izu-no-kami, councilor and friend to the shogun, along with master swordsman Yagyu Jubei and ninja master Hanzo Hattori must stop Yui Shosetsu and his army of ronin and ninja assassins from tearing the country in half and taking over the government!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
Kamui (2009)
A rebellious ninja in 17th century Japan takes refuge with a fisherman and his family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSword of Destiny (1960)
When master swordsman Mikogami Genshiro of the Ono fencing school returns to find that his ailing sensei has been murdered in the dead of night, he must find the culprit and exact revenge. His return sets off a series of violent incidents and incites a high ranked female skilled in sword to test his mettle after he unwittingly offends her. The ever delightful Misora Hibari co-stars with the great Tsuruta Koji in this exciting tale set in the earliest days of the Tokugawa shogunate. Lots of exciting swordfights highlight this entertaining motion picture!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
Nemuri Kyoshiro (2026)
Blue-eyed ronin Nemuri Kyōshirō is ordered to eliminate assassins targeting a senior official. A rosary links the plot to hidden Christians, drawing him into rival power struggles—and multiple factions trying to kill him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Samurai 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: Similar story and style · both drama & action
Worth the HypeMovies 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: Similar story and style · both drama & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSamurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island (1956)
A humble and simple Takezo abandons his life as a knight errant. He's sought as a teacher and vassal by Shogun, Japan's most powerful clan leader. He's also challenged to fight by the supremely confident and skillful Sasaki Kojiro. Takezo agrees to fight Kojiro in a year's time but rejects Shogun's patronage, choosing instead to live on the edge of a village, raising vegetables. He's followed there by Otsu and later by Akemi, both in love with him. The year ends as Takezo assists the villagers against a band of brigands. He seeks Otsu's forgiveness and accepts her love, then sets off across the water to Ganryu Island for his final contest.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKill! (1968)
A pair of down-on-their-luck swordsmen arrive in a dusty, windblown town, where they become involved in a local clan dispute. One, previously a farmer, longs to become a noble samurai. The other, a former samurai haunted by his past, prefers living anonymously with gangsters. But when both men discover the wrongdoings of the nefarious clan leader, they side with a band of rebels who are under siege at a remote mountain cabin.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKamen Rider Den-O The Movie: I'm Born! (2007)
With Gaoh having stolen the DenLiner and trapping the Imagins onboard, Ryotaro and Hana find themselves trapped in the year 2000 where they meet Ryotaro’s younger self, but Ryotaro is slowly forgetting everything having to do with Den-O! As Gaoh gets closer to his target, the only hope lies with Yuuto’s complex plans and a little bit of luck, or else time itself could fall victim to Gaoh’s evil desires!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
The Retired Samurai (1987)
Japan's greatest jidaigeki star, Mifune Toshiro is Shogun's Advisor Okubo Hikozaemon who must be coaxed out of retirement to save Shogun Iemitsu from danger. The elderly Hikozaemon has been belittled of late and has seemingly lost the will to live, much less the desire to assert himself and make Iemitsu listen to reason. The plot thickens when a lovely young woman enters the picture. Can she change Hikozaemon's mind, and thus alter the path of Japanese history? No longer a young man, can Hikozaemon gain the shogun's ear, and succeed in warning him of the evil plot to overthrow him?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Onmitsu Doshin: The Edo Secret Police?
The closest matches to Onmitsu Doshin: The Edo Secret Police are Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973), Mr. Long (2017) and The Perfect Weapon (1991). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Onmitsu Doshin: The Edo Secret Police?
Start with Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973), the closest match to Onmitsu Doshin: The Edo Secret Police.
What is the highest-rated movie like Onmitsu Doshin: The Edo Secret Police?
Tokyo Revengers (2021), rated 7.8/10 by 237 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Onmitsu Doshin: The Edo Secret Police?
Nemuri Kyoshiro (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Onmitsu Doshin: The Edo Secret Police?
Yes: Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973), Mr. Long (2017) and The Wings of the Kirin (2012).
How are movies similar to Onmitsu Doshin: The Edo Secret Police chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Onmitsu Doshin: The Edo Secret Police, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.