The 2010s have been a decade of almighty change for the film industry, as streaming giants rewrote the rules of engagement, Disney conquered the box office, and China threatened to overtake the United States as the world's biggest market.
At first glance, it has been a lucrative period for the domestic movie industry, too. The revival that started in the 2000s has shown little sign of flagging. The Japanese box office hit a record high of ¥235.5 billion in 2016, and home-grown films have consistently out-grossed imports every year since 2008.
There are Japanese movies from the past decade that critics will remember fondly. Occasionally, these were also the films that people actually went to see, although most of them made little impact at the box office, playing instead to the hardcore faithful on the country's shrinking independent cinema circuit.