Japan Synopsis
IZO
“The world never can be changed.”
Izo is an assassin in the service of a Tosa lord and Imperial supporter. After killing dozens of the Shogun's men, Izo is captured and crucified. Instead of being extinguished, his rage propels him through the space-time continuum to present-day Tokyo. Here Izo transforms himself into a new, improved killing machine.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Izo. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From KSS
Action + Drama in Japan
444 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Action and Drama genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Izo itself).
The 2003–2005 Japan Window
In the crowded 2003-2005 Japan release window, Izo sits at #218 of 298. The leaderboard below contextualises its neighbours.
The 2000s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 2000s in Japan, 1020 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Izo premiered alongside 95 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 95 other Japan films in 2004.
The 1622nd Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Audience Engagement
83 audience reviews — more than 73% of Japan films in our index.
Review volume (73th percentile) outruns trending popularity (50th) — a durable title with sustained audience attention.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Izo, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- rage · 2
- lord · 1
- captured · 1
- imperial · 1
- crucified · 1
- continuum · 1
- massacre · 13
- time · 8
- symbolism · 7
- japan · 454
- murder · 155
- samurai · 128
- tokyo · 78
- assassin · 47
- sword · 36
- space · 32
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #3,698 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (19th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is -0.8 points below the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Action productions specifically: #1,441 of 1,714 (top 84%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Japanese |
| Spoken Languages | Japanese, English |
| Production Companies | KSS, Excellent Film, Izo Partners, Office Kitano |
| Runtime | 2h 8m |
| Release Date | September 7, 2004 |
| IMDb | tt0377079 |