Japan Synopsis
スワロウテイル
“This is the story of Yentowns in Yentown.”
An industrial section of Japan got the name of Yentown as many immigrants come to make money and hope to go home rich. A small group of people in Yentown try to work together to survive, there is a girl named Ageha who has no family, Glico the hooker, Fei Hong a poor immigrant from Shanghai, Arrow an ex boxer from the US and Ren the mysterious guy who seems to know too much about guns. Fortune shines upon them when they find a cassette that we'll get them rich but along with money trouble will always follow.
Drama + Crime in Japan
203 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Drama and Crime genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Swallowtail Butterfly itself).
Other Titles From OORONG-SHA
The 1995–1997 Japan Window
Swallowtail Butterfly holds position #42 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 Swallowtail Butterfly premiered alongside 42 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 42 other Japan films in 1996.
The 1083rd Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Audience Engagement
69 audience reviews — more than 70% of Japan films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 58th percentile among Japan films.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Swallowtail Butterfly, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- money laundering · 4
- illegal prostitution · 4
- counterfeit · 3
- money · 14
- prostitute · 39
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #1,404 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (69th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +0.5 points above the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Drama productions specifically: #611 of 1,933 (top 32%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Japanese |
| Spoken Languages | Mandarin, English, Japanese |
| Production Companies | OORONG-SHA, Pony Canyon, Nippon Herald Films, Fuji Television Network, Ace Pictures |
| Runtime | 2h 28m |
| Release Date | September 14, 1996 |
| IMDb | tt0117797 |