Japan Synopsis
キッズ・リターン
“We haven't even started.”
Shinji and Masaru spend most of their school days harassing fellow classmates and playing pranks. They drop out and Shinji becomes a small-time boxer, while Masaru joins up with a local yakuza gang. However, the world is a tough place.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Kids Return. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From Bandai Visual
Drama + Crime in Japan
203 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Drama and Crime genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Kids Return itself).
The 1995–1997 Japan Window
Kids Return holds position #55 of 142 Japan films in the 1995–1997 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
The 1990s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 1990s in Japan, 447 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Kids Return premiered alongside 42 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 42 other Japan films in 1996.
The 1078th Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Audience Engagement
189 audience reviews — more than 85% of Japan films in our index.
Review volume (85th percentile) outruns trending popularity (62th) — a durable title with sustained audience attention.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Kids Return, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- flashback · 28
- bullying · 27
- boxing · 8
- japan · 454
- yakuza · 93
- high school · 88
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #1,739 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (62nd percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +0.3 points above the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Drama productions specifically: #752 of 1,933 (top 39%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Japanese |
| Production Companies | Bandai Visual, Office Kitano, Ohta Publishing |
| Runtime | 1h 47m |
| Release Date | July 27, 1996 |
| IMDb | tt0116767 |