🎬 Japan's Golden Week and the Film Industry 🎬

Japan has a special holiday period called Golden Week, a stretch of four national holidays at the end of April and beginning of May that turns into a 7 to 10-day break. 

The name itself came from the film industry. 

A studio executive described this holiday period as "golden" after a film performed unexpectedly well, borrowing the term from broadcasting's "golden time," meaning peak viewing hours. 

The name was never official, but it caught on, and ever since, the film industry has treated Golden Week as the biggest stage of the year. 

Major titles like the Detective Conan series are released during this period every single year, drawing audiences of all ages.

🏆 Japan's Box Office No.1 Each Year: 2020–2025 🏆

Year	No.1	Box office
2020	Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train	¥40.7 billion
2021	Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time	¥10.2 billion
2022	One Piece Film: Red	¥20.3 billion
2023	The Super Mario Bros. Movie	¥14.0 billion
2024	Detective Conan: The Million-Dollar Pentagram	¥15.8 billion
2025	Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle	¥40.2 billion

A few patterns jump out from this list. 

All six years were topped by anime films. 

When you look at Japan's all-time box office rankings, anime dominates even more clearly. 

Seven out of the top ten films of all time are animated.

Remarkably, Demon Slayer holds both 1st and 2nd place in Japan's all-time box office history. 

Mugen Train (2020) at ¥40.7 billion and Infinity Castle (2025) at ¥40.2 billion are both from the same franchise, released five years apart.

Detective Conan is a perfect example of year-in, year-out consistency. 

Released every Golden Week without fail, Conan almost always finishes in the top 3 at the box office for the year and rarely falls outside the top 5. 

It isn't always the biggest film of the year, but it is perhaps the most reliable one.

As for live-action films? They almost never crack the top 3. Japan's box office belongs to anime. 🎌

⭐️My Pick⭐️

If I had to choose one film from this list, it would be Shin Evangelion.

I'll be honest: I saw it four times in the cinema.

Evangelion is a series that started back in 1995 as a TV anime, and it completely changed what anime could be.

Dark, psychological, and deeply personal, it wasn't just entertainment.

It was director Hideaki Anno working through his own depression on screen, and it became a cultural phenomenon unlike anything Japan had produced before.

But the plot almost isn't the point.

What makes this film extraordinary is what it represents: a cathartic finale to a 26-year story, made by a director who had to fight through personal crisis just to finish it.

Anno himself said he no longer understood his main character Shinji, and that he had grown closer to the father instead.

For anyone curious about why anime is taken so seriously in Japan, not just as entertainment but as genuine art, Evangelion is the place to start.

And this film is the ending it always deserved. 🙏

Japan's box office tells a clear story: anime isn't just popular here, it's a cultural force. 

Which Japanese anime film is your favourite? 🎌

Jirō